WD TV Live Compatibility? (3TB HD)

[Meddle33]

I was wondering if anyone could confirm or deny whether the WD TV Live device is compatible with a 3TB external hard drive.  I've been hearing mixed reviews for both sides and I was hoping if someone could clear things up.

More specifically, the hard drive I am curious about is the 3TB Western Digital My Book Essential, so if anyone has had experience with this specific device, their input would be much appreciated.

Also, on the subject of compatibility, does anyone know if the 3TB Seagate GoFlex Desk external hard drive is compatible?

Thanks!

[Wizer]

Yes it is compatible with 3TB drives on the latest firmware

Not sure about the Seagate but the WD drive should work 

[Meddle33]

Thanks Wizer! Helps me out a lot.

But I'm going to leave this topic open in case anyone can shed some light on the compatibility of the Seagate GoFlex Desk device.

[KenZoDK]

HI

I have the same prob. My wd tv live wont reconice my My Book Essential.

The wd tv live have the newest firmware.. nad i've tried a few diffent things (both usb ports on the wd tv live, with an usb stick and my book) but nothing works. I cant see the my book.

I hope you guys have any ideas what i can do to get the tings to work together,,

thx in advance

[walrus_nyc]

I just tried to hook up a brand new Seagate Backup Plus 3TB drive, with no luck.  As I understand it, this is the successor to the GoFlex devices, so I cannot speak for those.  Unfortunately the drive is not recognized.  I see it when hooked up to my Macbook, so the drive itself is fine.  Unfortunately I need to return it.

[Meddle33]

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walrus_nyc wrote:

I just tried to hook up a brand new Seagate Backup Plus 3TB drive, with no luck.  As I understand it, this is the successor to the GoFlex devices, so I cannot speak for those.  Unfortunately the drive is not recognized.  I see it when hooked up to my Macbook, so the drive itself is fine.  Unfortunately I need to return it.

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Thanks for the input.  It's nice to hear what other hard drives people have got to work with the WD TV, more specifically, non-WD manufacturers.  I know there is a device compatibility list on WD's website, but that only seems to cover WD products because I would hope it would be at least somewhat compatible with other storage devices.

[orenharel]

I have the earliest version of the player - WD TV HD Player (Gen 1).

I have no problems connecting up to 2TB, but I tried to connect a 3TB WD Elements external drive and it didn't work. I upgraded to the most recent firmware but it didn't help.

Any suggestions?

[orenharel]

Here are some suggestions that I read online - would any of these work?

1) If you split into 2 partitions, like 1.5+1.5Tb

2) Reformat drive using Windows 7

3) Here is someone who tried something else: I connected my 3TB HD to my laptop (running Windows 7) and deleted all "Seagate Backed Up Files" from the hard drive. I only left what was factory installed. Then I noticed the WD TV Live SMP had created a folder on the HD. Then - for no paricular reason - I moved 1 movie file to the root (top level) of the HD. I also placed 1 movie file in the folder the WD TV Live SMP created. All remaining movies (a total of 289 movies - mp4, avi, mkv, mpg) were in 1 folder, labeled "Movies". Maybe it was stupid, but my thinking was, I wanted to give the SMP every possible avenue to recognize media files.  I connected the Seagate 3TB HD back to the SMP while it was unplugged. I then plug the SMP in and it powered on, and within 30 seconds or so it was on the home page. Then I accessed the hard drive through the "Files" tab on the dashboard., instead of going through the "Video" tab - which showed nothing at the time. The movies were immediately found through the "Files" tab! They had difficulty playing through the "Files" tab, so I wen t back to the "Video" tab and "Ta-Daa!" all of my movies were there! ALL 289 MOVIES! And they all played! (I checked about 20 various movies and file types. No glitches and no pauses! It worked seamlessly!

[emma.steevee]

I had 3x 3TB (WDs) hooked up to my WDTV Live.  Not sure exactly what happened, but 2 of them crashed and lost the data.

I would be careful with attaching external 3TB drives to the WDTV.  At least with your backup. =)

[orenharel]

OK, thanks.

Mine didn't even recongnize the drive, so I guess that means that it is incompatable.