PS3 external harddrive problem

I just purchased a PS3 and am having a hard time with the external hdd.

At first, it would not even recognize the drive, even though I formatted it Fat32.

After Googling suggestions, it said to format the first partition to Fat32, which I did and it now recognizes the drive.

The problem is, it says there is nothing on the drive, even though there is a movie and a music album.

I thought the problem might be the first unallocated partition, but I can't seem to wipe that partition -I used Minitool Partition Wizard.

Any advice appreciated.

Thanks,

Paul

 

I guess either no one had the problem or answer.

I was one day from returning the PS3 when I finally found the answer.:-D:-D

Anyone needing the answer, let me know.:dancer

 

I also have a PS3, but never got such problem.

 

Hit the triangle key and display all?

:-D


Sorry, I missed this thread or I would have helped ya out.

 

The answer to this was:

After creating 2 partitions on external drive and formatting to Fat32, create a folder named PS3.

Move videos to that folder.

The PS3 will now recognize the drive, but when you click on the subfolders, it will say "no titles".

As Adry said, you must then click "display" and now it will work.

When I contacted PS3 tech support prior to this, they said that external Hdds were not compatible!rolleyes

I can now access my vids and music from that drive.

 

Here's the solutions you're looking for and how to find it on your own;

in the root directory of your drive create folder and name EXACTLY, in CAPS;
VIDEOS - for movies/videos
MUSIC - for music/mp3
PICTURE - for your photos.

doing this will have the ps3 immediately see the drive and hitting enter or X will immediately show the contents of the folder. Without this setup, using triangle to Display All (as Adrynalyne mentioned), can be used, which I tend to prefer anyways, since you can browse all folders that way.

How to find this yourself;
just copy any or one of each respective file already existing on your PS3, from your PS3 to your drive; this will automatically create and name the folder for you.
if you don't have content stored on your PS3, copy it from the drive using the triangle, display all, command and then copy it back to the drive.

and lastly, about the partition you couldn't re-format, that was a logical/extended partition, to delete it, you would have to delete all the partitions it contained first, then delete that last, and if doing this and making a new one for the ps3, I suggest making it a primary partition.

I only now saw this thread myself.

 

Good to know. I didn't know that those directories would make things automatically display

 

After all the aggravation in looking for a solution, the one I have now is simple and does the job. That's what I'll stick with.
It shouldn't have been so convoluted and if PS3 tech support would put those directions on their Website, instead of just saying external hdds will work, I wouldn't have had such a headache.:banghead

 

Just found this to be able to stream movies in full.
When using an external hdd withPS3, if the movie is over 3.95 GB, it breaks up the movie into 29 minute segments.

This PS3 Media Server plays all my movies in full and it shows ALL drives in their entirety.

Also great for music and photos.

http://www.majorgeeks.com/content/p...ref=&ss=&siteurl=www.majorgeeks.com/&ref=&ss=

Also found out that using a wireless signal just doesn't cut it.
Just bought a 50ft Ethernet cable and my speeds went from 2.3gbs to 12.

This PS3 has a learning curve (at least for me) but it is really a pleasure once you get to know all it can do.

 

Thanks for the suggestion.
I wasn't aware of the UMS media server, I use the PMS media server, the one UMS is based on. I'll try out this new one and see how it compares. I can tell you that PMS is very good, so if this one is better, as it claims, it should be great!

The reason for your wireless vs wired speed is wireless on the PS3 is 'g' that is 802.11g which has a max bandwidth of 54 MB/s while the wired connection is 10/100 so you will get up to 100 MB/s with an ethernet cable. The connection speed of your wireless connection will also be determined by the strength of your signal.

The new gen consoles came, I believe, with 'n', so they should have a max bandwidth of 300 MB/s or thereabout, depending on which protocol they followed, but also came with gigabit ethernet (1000 MB/s), so wired is still faster.

 

I use my NAS to stream to the PS3.

:-D

 

The beauty about these software media servers, is that it can transcode the video and audio on the fly, if your video format is not supported by the ps3. Does a NAS do that? ... if it does, I may have to look into getting one in the future.

 

I downloaded the UMS server, but could not get PS3 to recognize it.

The PS3 Media Server, is instantly recognized and I don't have to add all movies, music, etc.

It simply shows all drives on my computer and away you go!

 

That I don't know. Probably not.

 

I tried UMS and initially it gave a lot of trouble to work... as you said. But for me, the problem was it wasn't even launching, it was giving an error to set up a java toolbox or something, but the problem was I didn't have the version of java it wanted.

On their site, UMS admin said to uninstall java, reboot, then reinstall java. So I uninstalled the version of java I had, which usually works for everything else, rebooted, downloaded and installed java runtime environment 64-bit for my OS; started UMS and it started, then I used my browser and reinstalled the other version of java that I had for browser and other stuff.

I recommend for both UMS and PMS, go to 'Transcoding Settings' and make tsMuxeR your primary transcoder, that means it will attempt to mux the video file to a compatible format instead of transcode, and only resort to transcoding it if muxing fails. That way, it will take up less bandwidth and much less resources on you PC.

You should try the media servers, they are really good... especially if your video formats are not always supported by your PS3, and from my experience, a minority of them are! The only fail safe supported format for PS3 is Xvid/Divx, everything else, including MP4s are a maybe... or as we say here, a hit or miss... unless of course, if you transcoded the video to the right format yourself before hand... which the media servers are there to save you from.

 

I have PS3 Media Server installed, but its so much easier to use my NAS (as long as the video is supported).

 

I understand, but so little of them are!

Sony acquired the license for the ps3 to play some of the first mp4 and H264 formats, and some other old formats, but never updated them, even up to now. And it is still better off as a media center than the ps4!

As a result, any new videos you get unless it's xvid or has been specifically formatted to support the PS3/Xbox 360, it wouldn't be supported. Most of that is due to newer better audio formats in the movie file, that the ps3 is not licensed to recognise.