External Hard Drive problems...?

[Jan Juc]

Guys, I've scanned through countless threads and found nothing, and I am slightly computer-******ed so could I possibly get some help with the following problem:

* I have a relatively new laptop, running Vista and recording programs using Windows Media Player.

* I have recently bought a WD Elements 400GB hard drive, hoping to dump stuff saved onto the laptop over to the external HD.

My problem is, some files have saved (been and to be copy/pasted to external drive) whereas others have not. Eight of the twelve files copied across, with an error message saying something like "external hard drive full / files to big to transfer".....

Some points of note:

* all files are Windows Media Player, all files are pretty much the same (horse racing replays ranging from 20/30 mins to 90 mins), obviously different sizes but all same format.

* 400GB external drive (in reality 376GB or something), has eight of the above files copied across (say 20-25GB), leaving a truckload free.

* files remaining are 2/3/4 GB in size.


My questions are:

* How can a 400GB (376GB) hard drive be ''full'' with only eight files or 20ish GB on it?

* Why won't 4 of the original 12 files copy across when the other eight of similar size did?

* Why am I such a ret@rd?



Cheers guys....

 

[Parabola]

Some externals do weird things, I had one that wouldn't let me copy certain file types. try formating the hard drive, that might help, but be sure to get everything off it first.

 

[Jan Juc]

By formatting, do you mean....

''Copy stuff (8 files) from external drive back to laptop, delete/clear stuff from external, then clear/reset (?) external drive" ???

 

[Parabola]

Basically yeah, I'm not sure how to reformat a drive with windows, do a google search and you should find the info you need.
I'm not sure if it'll work though mate, but it's worth a try

 

[Gman]

Firstly try creating a folder under the root dir ( eg create a folder in the new drive ) and copy the files in there if no good,

Formatting the drive is a good idea, then copy files and once agin if your not successful,

Personally, I'd run chkdsk. Reason I say this is that there may be bad sectors on HD (Even though its new, WD are the cheapest HD's to buy, I'd be buying Samsung these days) and if that i sthe case that your HD has bad sectors than your HD will show less storage.
Dont worry if that is the case it should be under warranty. Visit WD website.

 

[Gman]

By formatting, do you mean....

''Copy stuff (8 files) from external drive back to laptop, delete/clear stuff from external, then clear/reset (?) external drive" ???

Yep, make sure you have a copy of the files on your notebook ( Eg copy them back if you have no copies of them on your notebook ) Then through windows explorer locate what the External Hard Drive is known as ie E: Drive, F: Drive etc
Right click on the drive and select format. This will erase all data on the external Hard drive

MAKE SURE you select the External Hard Drive and not any other drive Eg notebook drive

 

[Jan Juc]

Cheers guys, will try all this again tonight - find it amazing that something purchased 'out of the box' may already have bad sectors / dodginess about it.....

 

[Parabola]

Cheers guys, will try all this again tonight - find it amazing that something purchased 'out of the box' may already have bad sectors / dodginess about it.....

Yep, welcome to the world of tech

 

[ausfatcat]

is it a brand name external like a one touch.

 

[Jan Juc]

is it a brand name external like a one touch.

* I have recently bought a WD Elements 400GB hard drive, hoping to dump stuff saved onto the laptop over to the external HD.

Could it have something to do with the size of the four files that won't copy over (4.1G, 4.2G, 4.7G, 4.8G)????

 

[spookism]

Hey

I have just brought a WD Elements 500Gb and it works easily on the Computer in term of loading up files. I went to plug it into my Panasonic recorder (XW-380) and it came up "Incompatible USB" despite both of them being USB 2.0?

Any one have an answer as to why it isn't working?

 

[Fevola99]

FAT systems have a max file size of 4gb. format the drive to NTFS

 

[spookism]

FAT systems have a max file size of 4gb. format the drive to NTFS

Thanks

 

[Dagless]

Hey guys, I recently purchased a new TV (Panasonic Viera, usb input to play n go) and for anyone who knows of the TV setup if only accepts AVCHD or .m2ts.

The hard drive is formatted to exFAT (As it needs to be for the TV to even recognise it) and I got tsmuxer to convert the files to AVCHD and/or m2ts. I coverted then (Extension suggested as much anyway) and tried to put then on my WD Elem. external to plug in but it still doesn't recognise any playable files.

Any suggestions?

 

[TRAWP]

Have you had a google of the the TV to see if the files need to be in a certian directory to read?

 

[Dagless]

Have you had a google of the the TV to see if the files need to be in a certian directory to read?

Yeah, doesn't seem to have much info online unfortunately.

 

[the PILL]

its the fat32 file system ... it only supports up to 4 gig transfers....


Convert it to ntfs which can be done quite easily with out losing any data...


How to convert a FAT volume or a FAT32 volume to NTFS
Note Although the chance of corruption or data loss during the conversion is minimal, we recommend that you perform a backup of the data on the volume that you want to convert before you start the conversion.

To convert an existing FAT or FAT32 volume to NTFS, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, and then click Command Prompt.
2. At the command prompt, type the following, where drive letter is the drive that you want to convert:
convert drive letter: /fs:ntfs
For example, type the following command to convert drive E to NTFS:
convert e: /fs:ntfs
Note If the operating system is on the drive that you are converting, you will be prompted to schedule the task when you restart the computer because the conversion cannot be completed while the operating system is running. When you are prompted, click YES.
3. When you receive the following message at the command prompt, type the volume label of the drive that you are converting, and then press ENTER:
The type of the file system is FAT.
Enter the current volume label for drive drive letter
4. When the conversion to NTFS is complete, you receive the following message at the command prompt:
Conversion complete
5. Quit the command prompt.

 

[Dagless]

its the fat32 file system ... it only supports up to 4 gig transfers....


Convert it to ntfs which can be done quite easily with out losing any data...


How to convert a FAT volume or a FAT32 volume to NTFS
Note Although the chance of corruption or data loss during the conversion is minimal, we recommend that you perform a backup of the data on the volume that you want to convert before you start the conversion.

To convert an existing FAT or FAT32 volume to NTFS, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, and then click Command Prompt.
2. At the command prompt, type the following, where drive letter is the drive that you want to convert:
convert drive letter: /fs:ntfs
For example, type the following command to convert drive E to NTFS:
convert e: /fs:ntfs
Note If the operating system is on the drive that you are converting, you will be prompted to schedule the task when you restart the computer because the conversion cannot be completed while the operating system is running. When you are prompted, click YES.
3. When you receive the following message at the command prompt, type the volume label of the drive that you are converting, and then press ENTER:
The type of the file system is FAT.
Enter the current volume label for drive drive letter
4. When the conversion to NTFS is complete, you receive the following message at the command prompt:
Conversion complete
5. Quit the command prompt.

1) it's exFAT nowadays with 7

2) My television only recognises it when it is formatted to exFAT. Won't recognise it if it is ntfs.

I hate AVCHD formatting (The format dual released by sony and Panasonic, and is what their current array of digital cameras are saved as. That's what the plugin is primarily for, however you can attach any normal external HD from what I've read at whirlpool).

 

[TRAWP]

If its running FAT32 its defiantly your issue, didnt see what file format you were running... Normally external devices are formated as NTFS unless it is a Flash Disk.

 

[Dagless]

If its running FAT32 its defiantly your issue, didnt see what file format you were running... Normally external devices are formated as NTFS unless it is a Flash Disk.

Yeah had to format TO exFAT.

Problem MIGHT be that it needs to be FAT32 formatted for the TV to recognise it, though I wouldn't think that would be the problem (Though ex doesn't have a strong support base outside of the PC atm)

 

[Dagless]

I'm not too bothered because most of the time I simply use CovertXtoDVD to convert my avi formatted movies to ISO and just burn then straight to DVD. Just woulda been convenient (Not that it is a quick process to covert avi to AVCHD)

 

[TRAWP]

Read this

Reformat the disc to exFat using Vista, it wont currently be formatted out of the box to exFat.

 

[Dagless]

Read this

Reformat the disc to exFat using Vista, it wont currently be formatted out of the box to exFat.

What am I meant to be reading? I know the dif. between Fat32 and exFAT (64), but my HD is already formatted as exFAT (using Win 7), out of the box it was ntfs

 

[Borgsta]

So what is the actual problem at the moment Zarko?

 

[Dagless]

So what is the actual problem at the moment Zarko?

The TV won't recognise any playable files on the hard drive, despite them being formatted to AVCHD and/or m2ts.