External Hard Drive to TV USB

[codeseven]

Hey guys. This is a very general TV question so I'm not sure if it is even appropriate for this site, but I thought I'd ask anyway. Right now I have a 32" Sharp Aquos LCD TV. It has a USB drive on it. I am able to plug my flash drive into it (a 1GB FAT32 drive) and the TV recognizes it no problem. However I tried hooking up my external hard drive to it and the TV returns an "unrecognized" error. I have tried formatting my hard drive to both NTFS and FAT and neither worked. Does anybody know how I could get this working or why I am getting this error in the first place? If any specifics are needed just let me know and I'll get them. Thanks!

[codeseven]

Figured I'd bump this in hopes to get some assistance

[edDV]

Usually FAT32 works in these types of devices.

Try to find a forum on your TV model over at avsforum. Other users can probably help you. Or call Sharp.

[redwudz]

I'm going to assume your external hard drive has an external power supply as USB is a bit underpowered for most hard drives.

How did you format the external hard drive to FAT32? If you used Windows, that could be your problem.

Try using SwissKnife. It works much better. http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/Hard-Disk-Utils/SwissKnife.shtml

I would also try a ~500GB or smaller HDD, though some have had success with 1TB HDDs.

If you still have problems, follow edDV's advice and check with the TV manufacturer or Sharp TV related forums.

[codeseven]

Yes the external HD has a power supply, and I did indeed format via the Disk Management utility preloaded in Windows. I will give that SwissKnife a shot, and if no luck I will report back here and follow edDVs suggestion. Thanks guys!

[SLK001]

I have a 42" Sharp Aquos LCD TV that also has a USB port on it. The manual says that this port is a SERVICE TERMINAL only.

[jman98]

I'm going to say what I've said before. TVs are NOT "plays everything" type media players and expecting them to do such is just setting yourself up for frustration. You'd really be better off just getting a media player if you're going to be playing a lot of stuff rather than come back here later and ask why your TV can't handle DTS audio or AAC audio, etc.