Been using my external hard drive to watch movies on my DVD player via the USB port for quite sometime now. Yesterday my DVD player wouldn't read the external drive. Tried a flash drive in the USB port and my DVD player can read it. Anyone know what can I do?

How big was the external HDD and did it have its own power supply, If it didnt its possible it has simply fried the USB port by pulling too much power through it.

Looks like its the first sign that the external HD is on its way out... these external USB drives are a nightmare i dont know what it is but after a while of keep pluggin them in and out they all end up failing..iv been through 3 already

My bad, I read as though USB stick did not work either, hence my suggestion the USB port is fried.

I agree with 2008bangkok, sounds like the external is dieing, does it work when connected to your PC ??

Maybe try another USB lead.

Yes, it works fine when connected to the computer. Only does not read when connected to DVD - USB port. It is a Toshiba hard drive in Sata box.

If it's a 2.5" drive without external power supply it might be a power issue. Does the drive spin up when connected?

The drive will require more power when starting up, maybe the DVD cannot provide enough power anymore - but it's still enough for the thumb drive.

Regardless of 2.5" or 3.5", try another USB cable. Sometimes cables of poor quality (bad shielding) or cables that are too long cause troubles. The thicker and shorter, the better. Once with extra shielding (a cylindrical box near one end) are better, too.

If 3.5" with external power supply, I assume the harddisk spins up (-> noise), does it?

Does the DVD try to access the drive ('initializing...' or similar) or not detect the drive at all.

If it detects the disk but fails listing the contents, it might be a file system issue. Run chkdsk on your PC, or try emptying the drive and see if the DVD player can read it.

Did you change anything on the disk since it last worked?

Yes, it detects the disk but fails listing the contents.I ran the scan disk as suggested but the problem still exists.I converted some existing files but did not change anything on the disk. I will try the other suggestion about using a different cable. It is a 2.3 USB external 500 GB hard drive.

Not that you would have chnaged it but you can also check that it is still a Fat or Fat32 disk and not NTFS if it is NTFS then it will not be read on DVD drives

How many Gb is the thumb drive?

Because some (old) DVD players supports only small drives.

And for the external HD, it must be formatted FAT/FAT 32 to be read and sometimes DVD USB power supply is not enough for the HD.

I checked it is fat32.Flash drive is 4GB.The external hard drive has been working fine for a few months playing movies on the DVD player. For some reason yesterday, it will load but not list the contents on the DVD player.

Might be some files you copied to the drive recently that cause troubles to the player due to a 'bug' (error) in the player's software (aka firmware). Might be a specific file that contains characters that cause the player to stumble, or a cascaded directory structure, the numbers of files on the drive, etc. Just guessing here.

To verify this theory you could copy the files from your hdd to your PC and then wipe the disk by reformatting (with FAT or FAT32). Then test again, then copy one file that you know that works and test again.

I understand it is a 2.5" drive that has no external power supply. If the drive spins up and keeps spinning, the power supplied via the USB port of the player should be OK. This is something you can check just be listening - any up and down spinning signals a power issue (not enough power). However, based on what you wrote in your last post, it doesn't seem like a power issue to me,

Thanks Welo. I did what you suggested and deleted recent files I copied. It now works. Must have been a bad file as you say. Thanks again for your help.