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General discussion

External Hard Drive compatible with portable DVD player

Apr 13, 2011 1:11AM PDT

I am hoping to use my portable DVD player with USB drive (Seagate 500 GB) to play movies on the go. I can't figure out how to make this work. I formated the HDD into FAT32 (with 1 partition) and tried some of my home movies in a few different formats, but the DVD player still says "device not supported". The DVD player does not say what format it plays, just that it is compatible with DVD +,-,R,RW, Jpeg and MP3, so what video format would that be? Is the problem that my videos are not in the right format (tried AVI and MP4), or that my HDD has a partition, or that my HDD doesn't have an external power source, or that my DVD player is not compatible with an external hard drive? I know this is possible because my friend does it and he can't figure out why mine won't work. Can I make what I have work or do I need out buy a different HDD or a DVD player that supports divx?

Discussion is locked

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Looks like none are supported.
Apr 13, 2011 2:14AM PDT

DVD +,-,R,RW, Jpeg and MP3, so what video format would that be?

That tells me that only Videos on DVD are supported. It's a shame no make or model of the player was supplied. Can I ask why this was not told?
Bob

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dvd player
Apr 13, 2011 2:47AM PDT

Sorry, the model of the DVD player is Sylvania SDVD7061. I googled it to try and find any additional info on video types supported but I couldn't find anything regarding that or what the USB port can be used for.

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traded it in, still doesn't work
Apr 13, 2011 10:27AM PDT

So disregard the previous post, I thought that it probably wasn't working because the DVD player didn't support divx (or any other than I tried) so I swapped it up for this one: http://www.futureshop.ca/en-CA/product/rca-rca-10-portable-dvd-player-drc99310u-drc99310u/10148329.aspx?path=7f848455b6e352f9ba6ad47d2ea40168en02

It still doesn't work though. When I plug my HDD in, the lights on the HDD flash but won't stay on, and the portable DVD player says device not supported. I am thinking that it probably isn't getting enough power. So I guess I am now wondering if their is a way to modify this, like if I partitioned the drive in half, would it require less power? Is there some sort of splitter cable out there that will allow me to plug in my HDD to a wall outlet as well as to the portable DVD player, or a small battery pack I could hook it up to? Do certain HDD require less power than others? Sorry for all the question, I am not a technical person and I feel like I have bit off a bit more than I can chew!!

I do have a large 1 TB exernal hard drive (plugs into the wall) that I use for all of my pictures and it reads that fine, even though it isn't in FAT32 format. I will try to put a movie on there to see if I can get it going, then maybe try reformatting my 500gb back to NTFS and make a smaller partition, see if that helps? Any other advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

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update
Apr 13, 2011 12:34PM PDT

So I tried to access some of the media on my 1 TB HDD and it won't read it, most likely because it is NTSF and not FAT32. I have too much on there to re-format it so using that one isn't an option, but the fact that the DVD player recognizes the device so I am thinking that it is a power issue, just don't know how to solve it, other than to go buy a different external hard drive that isn't USB powered.

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By any chance this Hdd. is 3.5"?
Apr 14, 2011 12:43AM PDT

If it is, Then I would tend to agree with you. Of course a powered external enclosure shouldn't cost all that much. Or even a complete unit might only cost around $50. If you have that, you can try and find out if it's power issue or format issue or both.

Of course external power isn't all that handy if you want to watch while traveling. In that case, maybe give 2.5" Hdd a try.

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USB 2.0
Apr 14, 2011 3:01AM PDT

On the box it says USB 2.0, is that referring to the power required? I think I read on their website that it requires 500 milliamps, but I can't find any info about how much the USB port on the DVD player puts out. Would it work to use a Y cord and have 1 end plugged into the DVD player and the other to an a/c adapter? I have an adapter in the car that plugs into the cigarette lighter and has a USB port and house plug, just wondering if it would put out too much power and wreck the HDD?

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No no...your Hdd. is to valuable to experiment with.
Apr 14, 2011 6:42AM PDT

Generally the 110v power connection have a round connector. Give us a general idea of how big the case is.

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Ok I take back part of what I said.
Apr 14, 2011 11:12AM PDT

I just didn't want you to make the cable yourself. They do have such cable available out in the market place. I have not use one so I have not idea how effective it might be. The cable That I have seen uses the middle connection as a usb power connection (because there is no data line there).

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Correction;
Apr 14, 2011 11:41AM PDT

the middle is the data connections and the short end lead is the usb power connection. By the way this does work for a 2.5" harddrive because I have tried with a 110v. usb charger. Have not try it with a 3.5" Hdd. because I don't have such cable. One of these day when I get an adapter for it I will try it. Reason I am not sure about the 3.5" is because they do require a little bit more power than the 2.5" drive.