my external hardrive wont work on ps3

[stevie.boy2007]

Ok so I bought a new external hard drive so that I could store my movies on it and watch them on my ps3. I'm pretty smart when it comes to this stuff and I usually dont have a problem, but this one is stumping me. So its a toshiba 1TB usb 3.0 hard drive. I tried erasing the hard drive out of the box (even though there was nothing to erase) and formatting it in FAT32 mode. then I created a partition just like I have every time before. usually this works, but after I did this I put a few movies on the HD and tried plugging it into the PS3 but it still doesnt recognize any of the files. I read somewhere that I should try getting a USB 3.0 power hub because since my HD only has a usb3.0 cable and no power cord, my PS3 slim may be incapable of powering the HD properly. But I wanted to ask what everybody thought before I spent the money (money I dont really need to spend right now) on something if it wont work. Im running out of tricks to try and nothing is working. Please help. any advice would be greatly appreciated.

thanks,
Steve

 

[JTToft]

I know next to nothing about PlayStations. That said, try formatting the entire hard drive in FAT32 with only one partition. Perhaps the PS doesn't play well with multiple partitions?

I doubt a lack of power is the issue. But perhaps look up the spec to see how much the PS3 can provide on its USB-ports?

 

[dyt1983]

edit: to remove personally identifying information not relevant to the thread.

 

[stevie.boy2007]

no files

it recognizes the hardrive, but when you select the drive, it says no files found.

 

[hallux]

Does the PS3 support GPT drives or does it have to be MBR? To check that, open disk utility, select the drive level (not one of the partitions) and look at the bottom of the window for the partition map scheme.

 

[dyt1983]

edit: to remove personally identifying information not relevant to the thread.

 

[stevie.boy2007]

That means you are trying to play MKV or AVI files or something with video codecs that are not supported on the PS3. Use MP4/H.264 videos for easiest compatibility.

I tried converting the files to mp4. still nothing. I looked up the codecs able to be played on ps3, and avi files ARE indeed able to be played on ps3. It was a good thought, but you were mistaken.

 

[dyt1983]

Actually if you read what I wrote, it says AVI files with codecs that are not compatible on the PS3. Not all AVI files are playable on the PS3, so maybe your interpretation was mistaken. AVI is a container; codecs are the formatting of the data inside the container. Using a PS3 incompatible codec inside an MP4 container will also result in a file that cannot be played on the PS3. Using an H.264 profile that doesn't work on the PS3 will have the same result despite being a supported codec.