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TV and External Hard Drive

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Hi,

We have an LG 42LE5900 and wondered how to set it up so we could use an External hard drive in the USB ports.

Anyone else done this

Thanks

David
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Comments

  • custardy
    custardy Posts: 38,365 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    set up in what way?
    hook up the hard drive,the TV should scan for content (if its like my LG)
  • We currently have a 4gb flashdrive in the usb port, but when I tried one of my external hard drives (500gb) the tv wouldn't see it, wondered if I needed to change any settings or format the Hard Drive and only have certain content on it
  • custardy
    custardy Posts: 38,365 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    We currently have a 4gb flashdrive in the usb port, but when I tried one of my external hard drives (500gb) the tv wouldn't see it, wondered if I needed to change any settings or format the Hard Drive and only have certain content on it

    is the hard drive a 2.5" or 3.5"
    as in does it have mains plug or just a USB cable?
    what does the hard drive have on it?
    is it formatted in fat32 or NTFS?
  • Its one with a mains supply,

    The hard rive has a mix of documents, programs, music and films (mp3, flac and avi for music and films)

    No idea regarding fat or ntsc or evin 2.5 or 3.5m I can tell you its a seagate though. I guess if I have to reformat then I could picjk either fat or ntsc
  • custardy
    custardy Posts: 38,365 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Its one with a mains supply,

    The hard rive has a mix of documents, programs, music and films (mp3, flac and avi for music and films)

    No idea regarding fat or ntsc or evin 2.5 or 3.5m I can tell you its a seagate though. I guess if I have to reformat then I could picjk either fat or ntsc

    did you have it hooked up to the mains as well as USB while connected to the TV?
    I'm not home right now,so cant test

    from memory
    when you hooked up the hard drive,did the USB icon on the input list go 'solid' to show its connected?
  • Hi Custardy,

    I don't know whether to cry or not. I just tried again to see if any info came up and it loaded straight away. honest to god it never did anything before.

    sorry to have wasted your time.

    David
  • My LG usually recognises an external HD that is already plugged in when the TV is switched on. But sometimes it doesn't. Unplugging the drive and plugging it back (while the TV is on) in always causes it to be recognised.
  • You need to be careful if you are connecting a hard drive for recording purposes. I have 2 tv's (Sony & Samsung) which both insist on reformatting any hard drive which is to be used for recording purposes. That means it will wipe any data already on the hard drive. But the tv should warn you that it is going to do so.
  • Hi,

    I am not recording I just wish to play back. It seems while the TV has recognised the drive and will now play back audio files. It won't play AVI files.
  • custardy
    custardy Posts: 38,365 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    are the audio/video files in folders or just individual files?
    if in folders,try dragging one video file out of the folder and have it in the root of the drive.
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