Hi guys, does anyone have a device that can turn a portable HDD into a network drive, possibly with dnla server software. I bought a new sony tv and loaded a HDD full of films to play through the tv's USB port. Unfortunately, the tv tries to read the drive, gets about halfway through, then the TV resets itself. It keeps resetting itself until I unplug the drive. I found that if I run the hard drive through my laptop and run PS3 media server (a dnla server software) the TV can read the drive perfectly. I assume it's probably a corrupted file somewhere on the drive, as I tried a Clone drive (different brand) and the same thing happened. I'm wondering if anyone knows of a cheap solution to turn this drive into a network drive (the modem doesn't have a USB port, as its a telstra cable modem, and the other router is a time capsule, which can't read exFat format. The cheaper the better.
Way to turn portable HDD into network drive
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A good solution (but not cheap) is to buy a Synology NAS. It caters to multiple platform (Windows, Apple, Android etc). A NAS unit can support both internal HDD (2.5 and 3.5 inch) and external USB HDD and connects by LAN cable to the router.
edit : Synology DS214SE sells for $189.
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&p…Or you could consider changing your router to one which has USB and supports External HDD.
Can't change router its a telstra cable modem not Adsl, and the time capsule backs up all the networked computers seamlessly. I'm looking for cheap solutions in the less than $50 region.
You can add another router..
maybe a Raspberry Pi?I tried this an can't get the bloody thing to mount mt exFat drive. Dammit.
This would allow for the external USB HDD drive to be attached.
What would your recommendations for the 2 internal drives (each to be => 2 Tb) to have some (basic, pardon my ignorance) RAID capability?
Thanks
:)
Margaret (a HUGE fan of support at http://www.pccasegear.com/)Sorry for the late reply.
I'm using DS214 which supports 2 internal drives (supports both 2.5 and 3.5 drives and up to max capacity of 6TB each) with also 3 USB ports (2 USB3 at the back and 1 USB2 in front).
https://www.synology.com/en-global/products/DS214#spec
DS214SE, a slightly lower end model (lower RAM and only USB2 ports) is cheaper.
https://www.synology.com/en-global/products/DS214se#spec
Both models supports RAID.
Synology's model numbering can be a bit confusing. The first digit signifies the number of internal drive bays and the last 2 digit signifies the model year.
What do you need RAID for? I'm not running RAID (I think it's a waste of space and speed's just fine without it) but I do back my data up on an external USB3 drive plugged into my DS214. The backup runs automatically with Synology's back up app.
Thanks trex. I never understood the synology model numbering, before now :)
I wanted raid for security of my data, in case a drive crashes.
Thanks again,
:)
MargaretNot just you, I got confused by the model numbers too until I read about it somewhere.
Anyway, there are better opstions for backup, read below on why RAID is not suitable for backup. It helps when a hard drive crashes but…
http://serverfault.com/questions/2888/why-is-raid-not-a-back…
Catch of the Day had the WD TV Live for $78 MINUS a $10 code so it was delivered to me for $68. Not quite $50 but the best solution for media play back - it just works on everything!
I know it's not quite what you were looking for but what's wrong with plugging the HDD into a device that can play it? I don't think your TV is resetting because of a bad file, I think it's resetting because the drive is pulling more mAmps from the USB port on the TV than it can handle.
If you MUST have DLNA media server, maybe one of those cheap Chinese Android boxes with XBMC installed? I think XBMC is media server now also.
Strongly recommend the WD TV Live though. One of those things that Just.Works (tm). Plus the extras you can do like internet TV channels and streaming from network over SMB or DLNA.
I would go the WDTV Live route as well..
Its a great media player and also if, down the track you want to run Netflicks or Hulu, it can do that too.
Sounds like it is choking on some bogus metadata. You could either clean that up for all the files or find the troublesome file by removing half the files to reduce the list by half, then again etc until you narrow it down.
How would I find the bogus metadata? There are over 1tb of files on the drive. Any clean up tools?
I use iFlicks 2 on my Mac (iFlicks 1 is free on app store) but if you have the time you can do what I suggested re taking half the data off etc as an alternative. Since you are a Mac user I can suggest my config which is a Mac mini server and an ATV attached to the TV. Makes the browsing experience very slick and user friendly for non techos.
Why are you using exfat for a hdd? Format the hdd to NTFS and try again/connect it to the time capsule.
Otherwise a raspberry pi or similar would work fine for dlna, or plug straight into the tv.Ntfs won't work with Apple products, and exFat is compatible with file sizes over 4gb and the TV.
NTFS 3G and MacFUSE
or even better Paragon NTFSNeither of which you can load onto a time capsule
@thorton82:
Not sure why Time Capsule is even relevant? Load it onto your Mac… then your mac can write to NTFS.@thorton82:
1) NTFS may play nicer with your TV.
2) Yeah, I can now see why Time Capsule is relevant…
HFS+ will work with Time Capsule and can cope with large file sizes.
If you need to be able to access the drive on Windows computers, you could create a small FAT32 partition and load HFS Explorer onto it. Only gives you read access though.@scubacoles: thanks for the advice Scubacoles, but I don't think you are grasping the problem. I have a tv, a telstra cable modem with no USB port and a time capsule. My tv crashes when I plug the hard drive in, but the problem is not with the format. The TV can read about half the drive before it starts a slow loop of restarts. The TV can read the drive when I plug it into my Mac and run a dnla server. I have no pc just multiple macs on a network, and a sony tv that doesn't like the usb drives (I'm assuming it's a data problem, as mirrored drives have behaved the same way). I'm basically looking for a dnla server that can take a plug in hard drive (exFat) as it takes hours to copy the drives) and is always on. Another router is fine I'm guessing, I'll just turn off the wireless.
My suggestion is a travel router, like http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00G1YC85E
There are lots of these around at various price points, and many will allow DLNA streaming. Since they are their own WiFi access point, you can either join your local network, or create a new one, just for the streaming.
This particularly comes in handy for chromecast in hotel rooms, where you can avoid the hotel network and associated hassle.
Get one with a decent in built battery, so the hard drive and access point can be powered without a plug nearby.
You may have to bin the exFAT though, most solutions just won't want to touch that licence-encumbered PoS.
That looks like a great solution, cheers
A cheap solution that may work: if Ramrunner is right about this "I think it's resetting because the drive is pulling more mAmps from the USB port on the TV than it can handle.", then by using a Y cable similar to this http://goo.gl/PyuFGd, connect the power cable to a USB power source, and only the data cable to the TV.
I don't think that's the case, on of the USB ports is a high voltage port for other devices. It still doesn't work.
From your reply am not clear whether this failed, or you believe it will fail. Have you tried connecting the power cable to a separate USB power supply/adapter, and only the data cable to the TV?
It's a portable hard drive, no power cable. Usually when the hard drive draws too much power, for example when I plug it into a hub with more than one drive, it makes wierd sounds and the LED glows red. That doesn't happen with the TV. I think it's more likely wierd metadata.
@thorton82: For portable hard disk drive (PHDD) the data cable is also carrying the power. This can result in not enough power, a known issue when connecting a PHDD to some devices, notably the Wii, see http://goo.gl/YL7Hsa & http://goo.gl/R7YIg
Your setup may be similar in that the TV may be unable to supply enough power to the PHDD, and so this insufficiency of power may be causing the problems.
This is a very cheap hypothesis to test, and if correct would be a cheap solution, as Y cables on ebay are available for less than $5. The risk is that the power from from the USB adapter could pass via the cable to the TV, and damage the TV. However this didn't happen for my setup.
To minimize this risk, when connecting the PHDD:
1. Turn the TV off; 2. Disconnect TV power cable; 3. Connect the 'power' USB lead of Y cable to the USB power supply; 4. Connect Y cable to PHDD; 5. Connect other USB lead of Y cable to TV; 6. Connect the TV power cable; 7. Turn the TV on.
Reverse this procedure whenever disconnecting the PHDD from the TV.
Hope this helps.
dont just mirror the drive to a new one. I know its painfull but copy the movies over 1-5 at a time.
I have trouble with our PS3 reading movies sometimes, computer sees tham fine but PS3 says the folder is empty. If I move the movies/tv shows to another folder it can then see them for some reason.
No idea about the looping reset though.Can you try a powered external drive instead of portable and see if its not just at the limit of supplying power to the drive via usb?
What happens if you just plug it into a media player like WDlivestreaming, and just plug it into the tv? I don't think that has a DLNA server, but you'll be able to play files.