Why doesn't my external hard drive work anymore?

hippy_hi

OK first off i'll admit that I don't have a clue here so you may need further information that I can get after. I have a 3000 series Phillips LCD TVFull HD 1080p,I am almost certain that is the series anyway. I bought an external hard drive -Iomega Prestige, I think it is 320GB. I don't use it for files or anything, just to hold films on it. I have a good 100 or so film on it at the moment but every time I put it into the back of the TV, I can see what film are on the drive, some photos also etc, but once I go to put one on, none of the films will start.

I have the Prestige about a year and a half and the TV about 2 and half years

If anybody could help that would be great.

Many Thanks

cookie1977

From the manual:

USB Memory Device Issues
• Devices connected to the USB port of your TV must be “Mass
Storage Class” compliant. If your device (digital camera. MP3 player,
portable hard disk, …) is not “Mass Storage Class” compliant it will
not be detected by the content browser of the TV.
• The following subsets of the Mass Storage Class specification are
supported.
• The implementation of the TV is based on the “Universal Serial
Bus Mass Storage Class Specification Overview” (v1.2, June 23,
2003) including all documents referenced by the document. The
document can be found on the USB standardization website
(www.usb.org).
• Full support of the USB Mass Storage Class Bulk-Only Transport
(bInterfaceProtocol = 50h).
• Full support of SubClass Code = 05h; SFF-8070i spec.
• Full support of SubClass Code = 06h; SCSI transparent command
set.
• For large USB memory devices, when you are in the Content
Browser, it may take a long time before you can access your files.
• When using a USB portable hard disk, and due to the high power
consumption of the hard disk, it is advised to use the external
power supply of the portable hard disk to guarantee proper
working under all conditions.

So your drive may not be compatible.

Atlantic Dawn

You should try going to the Philips website and checking is there a firmware update available for your tv, often the updates allow support for additional devices.

Magic Beans

What format are the films in?
Can the tv play avi files? Older tvs may not handle mkv files.

hippy_hi

Thank you all for your replies, the thing is the films used to play on the TV no bother but now they don't. First thing that happened a few months ago is that the film would freeze and now none of them will open. I also attached the Iomega to the play station 3 but that won't even recognise the connection at all. I don't know what format the films are on,they are mainly copies that I get from other people, but I think they are mainly DVDRiPXviD.avi or BRRiP Xvid.avi and are set up to be played via Windows Media Player.Does this matter as Windows media Player is obviously not on my TV or PS3?
Cheers

hippy_hi

Also when I was just looking at the specifications of my TV on Phillips I noticed that it says "Video Playback: NTSC, SECAM, PAL"under the title 'Tuner/Reception/Transmission'. Does this have anything to do with the format that plays on my TV from external drives?

ricman

Go to a library or netcafe,plug in the drive,it,ll say drive ,device detected ,wait 2 or 3minutes, click on dialog box, open folder to view files.The most likely cause of this problem, is theres a loose connection or a faulty board, inside the drive ,is a small circuit board ,connected to the hard disk.THE hard disk is most likely sata type,is probably working fine,it can be placed inside a pc ,or acessed thru a sata unit.A sata drive caddy is 20 euro ,you could get a technician to place the drive inside a caddy ,which would plug into the tv .if you buy a caddy in peats or maplins ,it would take an expert maybe 5mins to install the drive in a caddy.Is there any led lights coming on,its possible the power supply is faulty.Most tvs can play avi ,and wmv film ,file formats from any usb device.They used to play, so it must be a problem with the device ,drive,see here,http://www.google.ie/imgres?q=sata+drive&hl=en&sa=X&tbm=isch&prmd=ivns&tbnid=FK3-86p8oc_g7M:&imgrefurl=http://www.laptopparts101.com/hard-drive/&docid=_WEQpTsmIof1ZM&w=560&h
look for caddy SATA type, sata disk 3.5inch enclosure,
any computer shop,peats,maplins,pcworld sells them,

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hard-Drive-Caddy-Cost-Black/dp/B000I2JU6A
it should have a usb cable included,to connect to a tv or pc laptop.
i dont know the ps3 interface,it may have a menu,to detect external device, usb hardrive.

it 99 per cent likely,the hard disk inside the case, is still working perfectly, the case unit pcb,or power unit maybe faulty .