External hard drive to android box - General Questions and Answers

Okay, so here's the dilemma. I have they MINIX neo x8 H. For the last couple of months I've had it connected to a laptop hard drive that I have stuck into an enclosure. That's where I kept all my movies. I have recently began running out of space. I also have a lot more media on various other hard drives and my laptop. I wanted to consolidate them all on to one drive. I bought a Seagate 3 terabyte external drive because it was on sale. The first thing I did when I got it home, as I do with all hard drives when I buy them, was to get rid of the crap they stick on it from the factory. I don't need auto backup software and since I'm using Android, and these are all Windows applications I really had no use for them anyway. So I formatted that and repartitioned it into several drives. I made a 1.5 terabyte partition for my movies, a 1 terabyte for the Disney and Christmas shows for the kids, a 100 gigabyte partition for my music, and then with the remainder of the space I made miscellaneous partition. I formatted them all NTFS, and when I put my stuff on it everything seemed fine. Windows has no problem seeing each drive, and I can play all the content perfectly. However, here's the problem. When I hook it up to the Android box, it only sees a couple of the partitions. As you know it will show your USB drives as, sda1, sda2, etc. Well, when I hooked it up it showed sda1, sda3 and sda4. Sda2 did not show and also, it showed sda1 as blank. When I unplugged it and hooked it back up to my laptop, everything was fine.
I tried messing with it a little bit, set the first partition is primary, tried setting partitions to active, nothing really made much difference. I then merged the last two partitions, and merged the second and third partitions after that. That left two partitions, and Android will not see either one of them now. When I go into my file explorer and go down to dev/block I can see sda1 and sda2 there but cannot access them. Please help me so I don't have to fix it with a hammer or a big rock.

Related

[Q] external drive

there is a usb hookup.. so the question is raised, in my mind, can you hook up an external hard drive and thus rendering the 13gb a non issue (at least in the area of video/audio files).
anyone had experience with this?
I've been able to use my flash usb thumb drives without any problems, however when I plugged my WD 1Tb storage drive into the GTab, used ES File explorer to open usbdisk folder but did not see any files listed.
If you want to use a external usb hard drive for movies/files it has to be formated fat32 and it will work.
I have connected with 16gb, 32gb, 64gb and a 500gb Western Digital HD (usb powered). All work fine, but best to NOT remove the USB until the G is placed in sleep mode. There appears to be an unmounting issue that also blows up the app index. Apps can vanish and then not appear again until rebooting.
Archos 101 seems to have a similar issue, so maybe Froyo related.
rushless said:
I have connected with 16gb, 32gb, 64gb and a 500gb Western Digital HD (usb powered). All work fine, but best to NOT remove the USB until the G is placed in sleep mode. There appears to be an unmounting issue that also blows up the app index. Apps can vanish and then not appear again until rebooting.
Archos 101 seems to have a similar issue, so maybe Froyo related.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I try to put mine to sleep before I pull out my thumb drive as well, but sometimes I forget and as soon as I yank it, the tablet reboots. Ugh!
I bought a 500gb Seagate the same night I got my tablet (been needing a portable hd for a while). It wouldn't work on either the tablet or my PS3. Definitely a format thing. As mentioned earlier, it needs to be formatted Fat32.
Just an FYI, formatting a big hd to Fat32 isn't the easiest thing in the world to do. Windows 7 won't do Fat32 and 95 has a size limit (32 gb maybe?). HP has a program you get download from their site. It works on any make, not just their's. If anyone needs it, I still have it on my PC at home.
J_Bone said:
I bought a 500gb Seagate the same night I got my tablet (been needing a portable hd for a while). It wouldn't work on either the tablet or my PS3. Definitely a format thing. As mentioned earlier, it needs to be formatted Fat32.
Just an FYI, formatting a big hd to Fat32 isn't the easiest thing in the world to do. Windows 7 won't do Fat32 and 95 has a size limit (32 gb maybe?). HP has a program you get download from their site. It works on any make, not just their's. If anyone needs it, I still have it on my PC at home.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What is the app called? Work with Vista? I tried formatting a 1gb HD to Fat32 via DOS commands, but failed.
As far as USB, main issue for removing while G is asleep (besides random reboots) is that removing while awake seems to be a main reason apps vanish until a reboot.
If I need to format a big, big hard drive to FAT32, I'll boot up a Linux LiveCD (usually Ubuntu or Knoppix) and use gParted to do it.
rushless said:
What is the app called? Work with Vista? I tried formatting a 1gb HD to Fat32 via DOS commands, but failed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is a different site but I think it is the same program. One of the comments said it didn't work on Vista business but YMMV. Worth a try.
http://hp-usb-disk-storage-format-tool.software.informer.com/
I went and checked my reformatted portable drive a few minutes ago and the tablet doesn't recognize it. It actually says there are no files in that directory. The drive is working on my pc and PS3. I put a small 4 gb stick in the tablet and it read it fine.
Any ideas?
It recognized my Ipod 120GB classic in disk mode. It also appears to be hot swappedable.
papote18 said:
It recognized my Ipod 120GB classic in disk mode. It also appears to be hot swappedable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is hardware wise. Software wise, depending on ROM, it can crash your tablet. I try to put it to sleep before pulling my flash drive out. If not, sometimes it will go black and I'll see the boot animation.
I went to the link above looking for the Fat32 > 32 gig tool and it was not available.
If you need this tool, Google for "HP SP27608" and there are a few places where you can download it. HP didn't even have it on their FTP server -- don't know why they have quit offering it?!
Rev
Hi,
Sorry for the late post, but I just got around to trying a bunch of my USB flash drives, and Gtab doesn't see any of them ...
The LED on the drives flashes for a second, then goes off.
Do I have to mount it or something?
Jim
same problem here too. Is there a way to mount a USB drive without formatting? I do not want to loose my collection.
I've never had an issue with my Flash drives (VEGAn or TnT Lite). Are the drives formatted to FAT32?
I have had an issue with a 32GB USB flash drive not showing up on the gtab. I plugged it into my win7. Machine, moved files off, formatted fat, put files back on and it worked fine in the tab.
Another note, using vegan, I never sleep the device to get the drive out. Just wait a second and Yank it. Never been an issue for me.
I have noticed that my flash drives don't mount 100% of the time and sometimes require dis/reconnecting. Also I have a 1tb wd my passport. I formatted the whole drive fat32 and the gtab wouldn't see it. I then formatted just a partition of 120gb in fat32.....still no dice. I then reduced the partition to 32gb nd the gtab sees/reads/writes no problem.
I'm wondering how that other Guy got his 500gb to mount....
I'd like to know how folks have been able to get their external hard drives recognized as well. I have tried stock and tnt lite roms. Also tried several different hard disks all formated fat32. Even repartioned disks to 8GB and still no joy. Flash drives I own all work OK. Just can't use hard disk as yet. Even tried new rom image that came out today, no luck. Am I missing or not doing something?
The usb port does not supply enough power for external hard drives. I tried several and they did not show up in dmesg. When I used one with external power, the drive was seen and the partitions, but was not mounted.
The usb port does not supply enough power for external hard drives. I tried several and they did not show up in dmesg. When I used one with external power, the drive was seen and the partitions, but was not mounted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, but 2 out of 3 drives I tried use ext power. still no work.
Can anyone who has this working please post what drive they are using?

USB Drive Mode

I am not sure if this problem is related to the G-Tab or Cyanogenmod in general.
I have the 10" VS Gtab running CM 6.1-B4. I have an extra 16 GB MicroSD installed as well. Trying to mount on Win7 Home Premium 32Bit.
Obviously I wanted to be able to see my tablet's storage space in Windows and copy files to and from it, but when I plugged the Tablet in after installing CM 6.1-B4, I couldn't see the Tab's storage space on Windows.
I should NOTE here that I am only trying to see my additional 16GB MicroSD here
Tried USB Debug On and Off. Tried to turn USB copying on and off via the status windows at the top of the CM screen, nothing.
Then I was looking through Winamp for Android's settings and found the USB Auto Mount. Voila, I now have my 16 GB MicroSD available in Windows 7. I may not have been the first to stumble across this, I don't know for sure. Everything I've searched for as a solution just simply told me that CM6.1-B4's USB Drive mode was broken and was on their to-do list to fix in the next stable release for the GTablet. So naturally I was very excited when I stumbled across this "fix" and thought I should share it with the community.
Love XDA and this entire community.
RogueAngel2k
"Caution, I void warranties."
I have Winamp set to mount the sd2 card but my win 7 (64bit) machine is still not seeing the card. This is making me a little nuts. I tried putting the card into the machine and transferring the music directly onto the card but when I re-inserted the card into the Gtab it doesn't show any music, it doesn't seem to find anything, just tells me that it is scanning - to infinity, doesn't ever seem to stop scanning and never finds anything.
I'm about to give it another try and see if I can come up with something that works. If I do I'll post it here.
R
usb
Try reformatting the card... after copying your music over, check the "hidden" attribute isn't set. Will be waiting your reply

[Q] External USB HDD Support

Does Someone has successfully attached an external usb disk to the gtab using Vegan Beta 5? Is not working for me, not even recognized. It is formatted on Fat32 and my Archos 101 see it. Any suggestions???
chpimentelpr said:
Does Someone has successfully attached an external usb disk to the gtab using Vegan Beta 5? Is not working for me, not even recognized. It is formatted on Fat32 and my Archos 101 see it. Any suggestions???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you looked for the usb drive in a file manager? There is no popup when you plug it in.
chpimentelpr said:
Does Someone has successfully attached an external usb disk to the gtab using Vegan Beta 5? Is not working for me, not even recognized. It is formatted on Fat32 and my Archos 101 see it. Any suggestions???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
I have been using my external Western Digital usb 500gb disk with gtab. I am on Vegan 5.1.
The first time i hooked it up, it did not work. Gtab did not see the usb hdd and usbdisk did not show anything at all. I tried it couple of times in vain,
Then i powered down the gtab, unplugged the usb hdd and restarted the gtab. After gtab booted up i gave it some more time before touching the tab. Then i hooked up the usb hdd and allowed gtab to scan / read the usb hdd. I took a while ( maybe based on amount of data you have in usb hdd) and then i when to file manager, usbdisk and i could access all my files on usb hdd. it is fat32 formatted.
Try couple of time and allow gtabl to read through all the files . I will work.
Let me know if that helped.
thebadfrog said:
Have you looked for the usb drive in a file manager? There is no popup when you plug it in.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nothing...
New2Android said:
Hi,
I have been using my external Western Digital usb 500gb disk with gtab. I am on Vegan 5.1.
The first time i hooked it up, it did not work. Gtab did not see the usb hdd and usbdisk did not show anything at all. I tried it couple of times in vain,
Then i powered down the gtab, unplugged the usb hdd and restarted the gtab. After gtab booted up i gave it some more time before touching the tab. Then i hooked up the usb hdd and allowed gtab to scan / read the usb hdd. I took a while ( maybe based on amount of data you have in usb hdd) and then i when to file manager, usbdisk and i could access all my files on usb hdd. it is fat32 formatted.
Try couple of time and allow gtabl to read through all the files . I will work.
Let me know if that helped.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, will try that... I'm using a WD 750GB
Didn't work for me... will try to reformatted to see if that helps...
chpimentelpr said:
Didn't work for me... will try to reformatted to see if that helps...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That didn't work either... will try CM6 Rom to see if can detected the usb hdd.
Hasn't worked for me either. I have a FAT32 USB hard drive that never shows up under usbdisk. I am running Vega-Tab b5.1 and the USB port is working; my evidence is a working USB keyboard, and a green light on the hard drive indicating it is connected. I will try again but so far nothing.
For those of you for whom this doesn't work: I wonder if maybe there's more than just a single FAT32 partition on the hard drive? Maybe there's a hidden partition that might not be normally visible?
Jim
jimcpl said:
For those of you for whom this doesn't work: I wonder if maybe there's more than just a single FAT32 partition on the hard drive? Maybe there's a hidden partition that might not be normally visible?
Jim
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How would one check for this? (Using WinXP)
worked for me
I think you have to have a FAT32 format to get the drive recognized. I had a 100GB thin, portable drive and it worked just fine. It shows up as /usbdrive. This worked before the latest update of the base OS and still works for me.
anjenaire said:
How would one check for this? (Using WinXP)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can try to go to Computer Management==>Disk Management to see what shows up there for the USB drive, but, that might now show some weird partition types. It would show the unallocated space but not the unknown partition type.
Or, try to go here:
http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/downloads-free-software.htm
and download "Partinfo" and run that, and see what that says. That dumps out a bunch of info on partitions on the drives that your machine sees.
Jim
jimcpl said:
You can try to go to Computer Management==>Disk Management to see what shows up there for the USB drive, but, that might now show some weird partition types. It would show the unallocated space but not the unknown partition type.
Or, try to go here:
http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/downloads-free-software.htm
and download "Partinfo" and run that, and see what that says. That dumps out a bunch of info on partitions on the drives that your machine sees.
Jim
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As has been mentioned in other posts, for the drive to work, it appears that you'd need to have only a single FAT32-formatted partition on the drive. If either Disk Management or Partinfo show that there's more than that, then that may be why the Gtab can't see or mount the USB drive to /usbdisk.
Just guessing here...
Jim
I just get rid of the hidden partition, and now is a single fat32 partition. Will check and write back with results.
chpimentelpr said:
I just get rid of the hidden partition, and now is a single fat32 partition. Will check and write back with results.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It sounds like you did find a hidden partition on your drive? If that's the case, was at the beginning of the drive, or somewhere else (at the end)?
I'm kind of assuming that the Gtab may only be able to see a FAT32 partition that starts at the beginning of the drive, but not 100% sure about that.
Jim
jimcpl said:
You can try to go to Computer Management==>Disk Management to see what shows up there for the USB drive, but, that might now show some weird partition types. It would show the unallocated space but not the unknown partition type.
Or, try to go here:
http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/downloads-free-software.htm
and download "Partinfo" and run that, and see what that says. That dumps out a bunch of info on partitions on the drives that your machine sees.
Jim
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This particular drive only has one partition and uses FAT32 format. It is an 80GB drive (and nearly full). My other portable drive uses NTFS. The FAT32 drive says it is "healthy, active, primary partition" under "Disk Management". The graphic (Windows 7 PC, I am at home now), shows only one partition where as my "C" drive shows three separate partitions: one 30MB, one 14.65 GB and one 916.83GB.
Still scratching my head. No big deal as long as I have an internet connection and upnplay capabilities.

[Q] Help!! Connecting External Hard Drives

I have two Hard drives, one is a 320Gb (Portable Seagate momentus) which I successfully formatted to exFAT and can access & copy files back and forth through my OTG cable to the S5. It mounts perfectly as USBDRIVEA without the need for paragon NTFS+exFAT.
My second hard drive however is a different story together, I'm quite new to Android though I pull a brave face about it. It's a 640 Gb (Portable western digital) hard drive that worked well at first as NTFS with paragon until recently when it couldn't mount anymore. I resorted to formatting it as well and it worked the first time after mounting only to revoke access on the second attempt at transferring files.
Please assist as I'd rather use a bigger drives to store my files. Any reason why it doesn't on double its storage size?
GizoMot said:
I have two Hard drives, one is a 320Gb (Portable Seagate momentus) which I successfully formatted to exFAT and can access & copy files back and forth through my OTG cable to the S5. It mounts perfectly as USBDRIVEA without the need for paragon NTFS+exFAT.
My second hard drive however is a different story together, I'm quite new to Android though I pull a brave face about it. It's a 640 Gb (Portable western digital) hard drive that worked well at first as NTFS with paragon until recently when it couldn't mount anymore. I resorted to formatting it as well and it worked the first time after mounting only to revoke access on the second attempt at transferring files.
Please assist as I'd rather use a bigger drives to store my files. Any reason why it doesn't on double its storage size?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thats odd it works fine with my 1000 Gb hard drive, did you unmount your HDD in paragon settings before you disconnect?
Yes immediately after completing the format I was able to mount on the phone as it recognized it as USBDRIVEA even without opening ParagonNTFS which I then checked in any case to get the file directory to use with root explorer.
I dismounted the drive successfully through paragon, then again on the notification panel to safely remove and that's the end of it. Next time I tried to mount I got the "OEM Evaluation" notification under the same drive I had previously mounted. I even restarted my phone assuming there was a problem with my OTG cable.
I've reformatted to the default NTFS, I can only view but not transfer to my drive from the phone or vice versa.
Another thing, on NTFS format I still get a "blank drive" notification on mounting though I can view the contents. Uninstalled paragon twice as well.

USB Pen revival

Hello there,
Hope you'll may be able to help me ????
I have a very special need and I don't know if it fits to that forum... ?
My USB pen broke up, it's a 64 GB GB pen drive and the problem is it is my boot drive.
It's a Multipartition Linux drive and I used it until yesterday night..
All of the sudden it stopped working now if I booot up my computer the bios doesnt load even the drive table.. Where it shows normally the ram disk and the Pendrive named "Extreme"
Further more if I start my windows computer and try to insert the pen for using the ntfs partition to share data, the lovely blimp sound gets thrown but the pen doesn't get shown... Sometimes after half an hour a "Removable Drive L" gets shown but it's still not available even due diskpart util, which shows a empty removable media with 0byte
How can I fix that it's sooo important to make it working again even if it's just one time there is a backup needed!!!!
It is getting really hot while being connected but my USB mitm proxy just said that it responds with 0x00000000
Here is a screenshot

Categories

Resources