Smart TV won't read files from a particular USB drive.

[CudaMan]

Hmmm. My searching hasn't been successful as of yet.

Vizio P55. I've used various portable hard drives in the USB port for video playback.

My newest portable HD, though, a 500GB Seagate Slim, doesn't show any files in the TV menu. The drive is chock full of videos of various formats. The TV just shows a gray "DLNA" folder, with a couple folders inside which also contain no video files. It works fine in my computers. Normally the TV menu shows all the video files in a list, within their folders.

What giveth?

[thesameguy]

Unsupported file system? The drive is probably formatted NTFS, and the TV probably only reads FAT32.

[Reynard]

I concur.

[FaultyMario]

Coincidentally, what's a good file system for large files (+5Gb satellite image mosaics) that can work well with both PCs and Macs?

[thesameguy]

There really isn't one. The only way to store a big file like than in Windows is NTFS. Macs can read NTFS but can't write it. Macs can only write efs, which Windows can neither read nor write. There are plug-in drivers you can buy for each OS that support additional file system types. You might find the easiest way to approach this is with network storage that shares with SMB. Then both client systems are abstracted from the actual file system and are just reading/writing SMB. The actual file system could be efs or NTFS or something else entirely. Lots of cheap ways to execute that.

[CudaMan]

Unsupported file system? The drive is probably formatted NTFS, and the TV probably only reads FAT32.

Really? It's 2015! [rant directed at Vizio, not you!]

[thesameguy]

Since NTFS is Windows-only there aren't a lot of devices that support it outside of Windows. You'd be hard-pressed to find any consumer device that reads NTFS, whether it be the stereo in your car or your TV or your bluray player.

You can work around this issue by reformatting your external HDD to fat32 using a 3rd party utility, just remember that the maximum file size for a fat32 volume is 4gb. Sometimes that's a problem, especially for things like bluray rips. The maximum theoretical partition size of fat32 is 8tb, so 500gb is not a problem... it's just Windows won't do it for you.

[CudaMan]

Interesting update, I bought a new portable hard drive which is also NTFS and the TV reads files from it just fine.

Just something about that one drive, I suppose.

[thesameguy]

Are these 2.5" drives without an external power adapter?

[CudaMan]

Yeah, both of them.

[thesameguy]

Likely the USB port doesn't put out enough power to run the old one. You're lucky didn't toast the drive trying!

[CudaMan]

Not sure. I'm thinking it's a software problem now. Both drives work intermittently. Seems to be the secret sauce is this:

1. Turn on TV with drive plugged in already.
2. Wait for TV to say it can't find OTA signals and enter endless loop of reboots (it only does this with a drive connected from start-up).
3. Unplug drive.
4. Force turn-off TV.
5. Turn on TV.
6. Plug in drive.

I should try a firmware update on the TV. I've also ordered a flash drive strictly for TV use, which I'm hoping will work more consistently than a mechanical drive.

[thesameguy]

My money is still on current - and it could be just a matter of inrush current rather than continual draw. A flash drive should totally solve the issue.

[CudaMan]

Except I totally forgot a flash drive is FAT32, so large files (Monaco*cough*) don't fit.

NTFS makes for non-use with any Mac, in my experience.

Surely there's an easy solution I'm overlooking in my perpetually jet-lagged state. :)

[Yw-slayer]

Buy a new TV and flash drive!

Or stream it to your TV using the video out from a notebook.

[thesameguy]

Except I totally forgot a flash drive is FAT32, so large files (Monaco*cough*) don't fit.

NTFS makes for non-use with any Mac, in my experience.

Surely there's an easy solution I'm overlooking in my perpetually jet-lagged state. :)

No, there's not. :)

Macs will read NTFS but can't write it.

[CudaMan]

The TV crashes when trying to read the new USB flash drive, so there went that idea.

Can't find any way to update the TV via the internet or menus, so Vizio support will be my next step whenever I get a chance.