Western Digital WD TV HD Media Player - a HTPC replacement??

[marsilians]

Most USB enabled DVDP and components cannot read NTFS. FAT 32 is the way to go.

Also if it helps, you can try logical partitions (diff drive letters) to enable a bit faster access as they will always read one of the logical partitions instead of the whole drive which may take some time when traversing on screen.

 

[illusion]

Most USB enabled DVDP and components cannot read NTFS. FAT 32 is the way to go.

Also if it helps, you can try logical partitions (diff drive letters) to enable a bit faster access as they will always read one of the logical partitions instead of the whole drive which may take some time when traversing on screen.

Hmm thats true but does WD TV Read partitions ?


In fact this is what i was thinking. Create two partitions of say 300 gb and 700gb. Format 300 GB to fat 32 using Swiss knife/Partition Magic . This will store all SD content / Music. Balance 700 gb will be for HD content. I want to make max two partitions . Any other suggestion on the partition sizes are also welcome !

 

[tinny9]

hello guys

pls help

i have purchased wd 1TB my book hard drive

can u tell me in which format should i format it to achieve better performance i.e. NTFS or FAT32 format?

thanks again...

 

[illusion]

hello guys

pls help

i have purchased wd 1TB my book hard drive

can u tell me in which format should i format it to achieve better performance i.e. NTFS or FAT32 format?

thanks again...

NTFS any day. Much secure and you can store huge HD MKV files without any size limits ! :yahoo:

 

[tinny9]

NTFS any day. Much secure and you can store huge HD MKV files without any size limits ! :yahoo:

thanks bro for ur reply

one question more

what should i do abt the software already present in the WD hard drive

is it useful, what are its uses, if delete them all will it hinder the drive performance?

should i take a back up of it?

thanks

 

[illusion]

thanks bro for ur reply

one question more

what should i do abt the software already present in the WD hard drive

is it useful, what are its uses, if delete them all will it hinder the drive performance?

should i take a back up of it?

thanks

But your HD Drive must already be in NTFS !

 

[tinny9]

But your HD Drive must already be in NTFS !

NO its fat32
my pc hard drive is NTFS

 

[marsilians]

Hmm thats true but does WD TV Read partitions ?


In fact this is what i was thinking. Create two partitions of say 300 gb and 700gb. Format 300 GB to fat 32 using Swiss knife/Partition Magic . This will store all SD content / Music. Balance 700 gb will be for HD content. I want to make max two partitions . Any other suggestion on the partition sizes are also welcome !

Sorry for any confusion - I meant that DVDPs that have USBs able to read only FAT32. Also my oppo can read multiple partitions.

 

[thevortex]

Actually anything Apple will beat just about everything else. No guys, I am not an Apple fanboy and I don't have any plethora of Apple products. Just an iPod and a MacBook Pro. But the way Apple makes/manufactures things is just too good. You'll never hear complaints about Apple say the way one hears about Windows Vista.

@Spiro - I've used XBMC on Windows XP and it kind of sucked. Took up too much system resources and way too intrusive. I like my media player to be in the background, but XBMC was always in the foreground. Not sure how it performs on Apple though. Only thing with Apple is they are pretty locked systems. You will need to check if it supports Divx, FLAC/ALAC and other content ripped from a CD/DVD. It just might ask for the original CD/DVD or a digital certificate that the song/movie has been bought on iTunes or Microsoft Store, etc. This would mean most of the content played on WDTV and others will be a no go on Apple TV.

For precisely that reason, Moserw, XBMC can be run in Windowed mode. That way it will not be in the foreground all the time.

If you are looking for a Media Center application there can hardly be many better than Media Portal. The fact that its free and open source is just icing on the cake.

If you are looking for commercial software, I rate JRiver Media Center very highly.

 

[moserw]

For precisely that reason, Moserw, XBMC can be run in Windowed mode. That way it will not be in the foreground all the time.

If you are looking for a Media Center application there can hardly be many better than Media Portal. The fact that its free and open source is just icing on the cake.

If you are looking for commercial software, I rate JRiver Media Center very highly.

I've used J. River in the past and yeah it's very good. Gave up on it when I moved to freeware. I've not used Media Portal though, will give it a try.

 

[spirovious]

So mant MPs-

HDD Media Players & Recorders - Wholesale Portable HDD DVR - External HD Media Player - From China

 

[illusion]

So mant MPs-

HDD Media Players & Recorders - Wholesale Portable HDD DVR - External HD Media Player - From China

Partitioned My maxtor today into two partitions :-

650 Gb - FS NTFS - Primary
350 Gb - FS fat 32

When I was copying my DVD rips , surprisngly one of the movies failed to copy. The error given was : " Data Cyclic Redundancy check". I was shocked.

Before leaving for Office - I started scan disks with "Fix File System Errors" and "Attempt Recovery of Bad Sectors" in both the partitions. I hope it solves the problem.

@MBR - Any idea why that may have happened ?

 

[moserw]

Try SpinRite, works very well.

Partitioned My maxtor today into two partitions :-

650 Gb - FS NTFS - Primary
350 Gb - FS fat 32

When I was copying my DVD rips , surprisngly one of the movies failed to copy. The error given was : " Data Cyclic Redundancy check". I was shocked.

Before leaving for Office - I started scan disks with "Fix File System Errors" and "Attempt Recovery of Bad Sectors" in both the partitions. I hope it solves the problem.

@MBR - Any idea why that may have happened ?

 

[illusion]

Try SpinRite, works very well.

Thx for the suggestion buddy but this is the reason why Spinrite is not advised by many people:-

Why Spinrite is not on my Data Recovery Software List. | My Hard Drive Died! | Scott A. Moulton

 

[spirovious]

Partitioned My maxtor today into two partitions :-

650 Gb - FS NTFS - Primary
350 Gb - FS fat 32

When I was copying my DVD rips , surprisngly one of the movies failed to copy. The error given was : " Data Cyclic Redundancy check". I was shocked.

Before leaving for Office - I started scan disks with "Fix File System Errors" and "Attempt Recovery of Bad Sectors" in both the partitions. I hope it solves the problem.

@MBR - Any idea why that may have happened ?

This error comes when platter gets partially damaged/scratched.
The same error comes with copying DVDs to HD too.

 

[illusion]

This error comes when platter gets partially damaged/scratched.
The same error comes with copying DVDs to HD too.

Hmm you are correct there. But my maxtor is not even 4 days old !

 

[moserw]

Hmm you are correct there. But my maxtor is not even 4 days old !

Then should not have a problem as it would be covered under warranty.

Thx for the suggestion buddy but this is the reason why Spinrite is not advised by many people:-

Why Spinrite is not on my Data Recovery Software List. | My Hard Drive Died! | Scott A. Moulton

Actually never had any issues with SpinRite. In fact I'm very much indebted to it since it recovered a lot of photos that were not backed up.

Another product you can try is HDD Regenerator, even this worked very well for me. Of course it was an old 80 GB WD HDD but one that I used for my OS. Even if it does not recover at least it marks off the bad sectors so they will not be used. That same HDD is serving me very well even now without any issues except for some bad sectors that cannot be used. If you can get Hiren's BootCD, has a lot of useful recovery tools. May not be useful right now, but still a great thing to have lying around for emergencies, it has come in handy many a time for me from bad HDD to even bad RAM diagnostics.

 

[illusion]

Then should not have a problem as it would be covered under warranty.



Actually never had any issues with SpinRite. In fact I'm very much indebted to it since it recovered a lot of photos that were not backed up.

Another product you can try is HDD Regenerator, even this worked very well for me. Of course it was an old 80 GB WD HDD but one that I used for my OS. Even if it does not recover at least it marks off the bad sectors so they will not be used. That same HDD is serving me very well even now without any issues except for some bad sectors that cannot be used. If you can get Hiren's BootCD, has a lot of useful recovery tools. May not be useful right now, but still a great thing to have lying around for emergencies, it has come in handy many a time for me from bad HDD to even bad RAM diagnostics.

I used "Recover4all" and it worked wonderfully before.

Ok it seems the movie copies fine. I mean I saw it give an error but still.. . Wonder whats going on here !

 

[venkatcr]

Partitioned My maxtor today into two partitions :-

650 Gb - FS NTFS - Primary
350 Gb - FS fat 32

When I was copying my DVD rips , surprisngly one of the movies failed to copy. The error given was : " Data Cyclic Redundancy check". I was shocked.

Before leaving for Office - I started scan disks with "Fix File System Errors" and "Attempt Recovery of Bad Sectors" in both the partitions. I hope it solves the problem.

@MBR - Any idea why that may have happened ?

Since you are just starting, it is not advisable to move forward unless you remove the error. The drive could have physical damage and may need to be replaced.

It may be a good idea to do one of the following two:

1. If you have a copy of the error report, take it back to the dealer and ask for a replacement. If not, and you come across the error again, take a screen shot and report to the dealer.

2. Before copying any more files, repartition the drive and do a low level format. That might set things right.

Remember, unless you are using the 64 bit version, all MS OS have a file size limit, and you are using huge partitions. Look into the OS specs, and see the max partition size they support. This will not be in the manual or specification. Either check with MS Tech support, or surf some OS forums and look at experience that people have had. See if you can partition the drive again to keep each partition to a size that is slightly less than what the OS supports.

Cheers

 

[illusion]

Since you are just starting, it is not advisable to move forward unless you remove the error. The drive could have physical damage and may need to be replaced.

It may be a good idea to do one of the following two:

1. If you have a copy of the error report, take it back to the dealer and ask for a replacement. If not, and you come across the error again, take a screen shot and report to the dealer.

2. Before copying any more files, repartition the drive and do a low level format. That might set things right.

Remember, unless you are using the 64 bit version, all MS OS have a file size limit, and you are using huge partitions. Look into the OS specs, and see the max partition size they support. This will not be in the manual or specification. Either check with MS Tech support, or surf some OS forums and look at experience that people have had. See if you can partition the drive again to keep each partition to a size that is slightly less than what the OS supports.

Cheers

Hmmm . Low level format on a HDD , no sir I rather give it back.


Now the best part . I did a complete check on the NTFS partition and no errors were found. I am beginning to believe that this is a Freak Case that happned here. Are there any good diskc hecking tools for NTFS partitions. I used to use Norton Disk Doctor for Fat 32. Is there any similar software for NTFS ?


@ MBR - Any word on that WD TV update ?