External USB HDD problems

[G]

I was trying to format it to work on the 360, and tried Googling if exFAT would be compatible with it. I couldn't find an answer, and went ahead with formatting. Literally like 10 seconds into doing it, I found out that it isn't compatible with the 360. So, I hit cancel.

A few minutes later I check "Computer", and the drive isn't listed anymore. Even after plugging it back in, it doesn't show up, like it's not recognized. Did I just brick my drive? Anyway I can get it working again, back to NTFS?

Also, what the hell do I need to use to format it to FAT32? I've searched Google, and all the results got me nowhere.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

It won't be there as it's not properly formatted.

Right-click "My Computer" and select "Manage". Scroll down to "Disk Management" and you should be able to see the drive there. Right-click the drive (probably says something like Unknown Drive) and select "Initialize". You can then format the disk and begin using it.

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Oh and as for your format issue, MS won't let you format drives larger than 32gb into FAT32 from Windows XP onwards (fuck knows why, probably to force people to upgrade to NTFS)

BUT, the workaround is to set up a Super Admin account and I just found the instructions to do so:

open your cmd prompt and type in: Net user administrator /active:yes

-note, you have to open your cmd prompt by finding it in your start menu, right clicking and select run as administrator. or if you didnt find it, look through your file explorer by searching for accessories (folder)

anyway, once you have done that, you need to select a password, and then you can log out of your account, log into the administrator account and open the command prompt again.



get your drive letter, mine was h:

you have to know the volume name of your drive as it does ask you, and to find that out type volume at the command prompt and then select 'n' to NOT change it.

and you type this at the prompt: format h: /FS:FAT32
enter your volume name

[G]

Okay, formatting now. I did it that same way last night, except not in the admin account. Maybe that's why it didn't work and said the volume was too big or something. Hopefully this works.

[G]

Yeah, same problem. Took like 3 hours to format 100%, but came back with "too big for fat32".

[#BROKEN Hasney]

Damn, only other way I can think of is downloading a Linux Live CD and formatting in that.

[G]

Is that going to be a ton of work?

[Vietnamese Crippler]

No. You download the image and burn it to a CD. Start the computer up and boot from the disk, allowing you to format to whatever you want.

I've never used the Linux Live CD, but I've used this program called GParted: http://gparted.sourceforge.net/download.php

It'll help you make the partition I hope.

[Funky Fly]

Aren't hard drives not supported by the 360? I thought they were pretty clear that only cameras and mp3 players could be attached. Flash drives too, but only if you're using Windows Connect Now to configure your online ish.

[Vietnamese Crippler]

Hard drives have to be formatted as FAT32. Most drives are NTFS.

[G]

Wow, this entire time I forgot I had a 4gb USB flash drive, which is natively FAT32. Gonna just use that for my movie viewing pleasure. :y:

[PapaGeorgio]

My external harddrive worked with 360 just fine. Have shit ton of movies and tv shows on it for my pleasure

[Vietnamese Crippler]

Streaming from my computer makes things so much easier.

[G]

Streaming from my computer makes things so much easier.

I'm using a second 360 which isn't in my network.