Help using PBO as external drive from desktop

[teppscan]

I've seen a number of references to the ability to connect a PBO with an internal hard drive to a desktop PC via the USB interface so that the PC will be able to access the PBO's drive. I'm assuming this means I could access the PBO HDD with my desktop's tools and rename, move, delete, or otherwise manage files and folders just as I would on any other drive connected to my PC? This would solve a lot of problems for me, but I haven't been able to get it to work, and I can't find any documentation or relevant posts here that answer my questions. I just recently got my PBO, but I haven't updated the firmware. I have added a WD 500GB internal drive, and I have also successfully connected WB 500GB Passport external USB drives (they work great). The desktop I want to connect to is running XP service pack 3 and is not networked.

Now, when I plug the USB cable from the desktop to the mini "data transfer" USB port on the back of the PBO, my desktop indicates a bad USB device or connection. If I make this connection while viewing the PBO GUI, I get a pop up asking if I want to power down to go to PC connect mode? I can find no reference to this procedure anywhere. What is the proper sequence of events? Should the PBO be turned on or off when the connection is made? I Should I be watching the PBO GUI or the desktop screen (I am using the same LCD screen to view both the desktop screen and the PBO GUI, so I can't see both of them at the same time)? Which end of the USB connection should be plugged in first? Am I using the right port on the PBO? WTF??!!! I need newboy help please.

[mrsmith1956]

I had this same line of question answered in an earlier thread.

When you are using the PBO with the mini connector it will only function as an external drive. There will be no video display.

The way I do it is with both devices off I plug the PBO into a USB port on the computer. Then boot the computer. And finally turn on the PBO with the switch in the back. The computer will recognize it as an external drive and be usable.

You will notice the lights on the front of the PBO will not be the same as when it is being used as a media device. When using it as an external drive there is no need to turn on the display television or whatever display device you are using.

Hope this helps you.

[teppscan]

Thanks, but when I switch the PBO on I get a "USB device not recognized" error message. I have another desktop where I will try it perhaps tomorrow and see if it will work there. Thanks again.

[gilzow]

teppscan, i'm having the EXACT same issue as you. Also running Windows XP SP3. PBO is updated to firmware P05 Rev2 (bbotcode 18). Western Digital 120GB drive installed in the PBO with a couple of movies on it that I transferred to the hard drive via a USB jump drive. When I attempt to connect the PBO to my computer as an external hard drive, I receive a "USB device not recognized" error message. I've tried using both the USB cable that came with the PBO as well as other cables to make sure it wasnt just a bad cable.

Any ideas?

[gilzow]

Came across another thread that mentioned you should not have the USB WiFi Dongle connected when connecting the PBO as an external drive. Sure enough, once I disconnected the dongle, and reconnected the PBO, windows was able to recognize it. HOWEVER, when I try to access the drive, Windows states that the

drive is not accessible: The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable.

The drive shows up in Disk Management as 4 partitions, with all 4 marked as being healthy.

Any ideas on why I'm not able to access it?

[aasoror]

Came across another thread that mentioned you should not have the USB WiFi Dongle connected when connecting the PBO as an external drive. Sure enough, once I disconnected the dongle, and reconnected the PBO, windows was able to recognize it. HOWEVER, when I try to access the drive, Windows states that the The drive shows up in Disk Management as 4 partitions, with all 4 marked as being healthy.

Any ideas on why I'm not able to access it?

Well done researching the issue gilzow ..
Indeed all peripherals should be disconnected prior to connecting the box.
If that didn't work and changing the cable and ports and power up sequence didn't do the trick then the box might be defective.

Now for your issue gilzow .. since apparently you are past the "USB device can't be recognized".

Its correct to find 4 partitions on your disk (NTFS which should be accessible from the PBO and when the PBO is connected to your PC, an EXT partition for system packages and other OS related needs, a SWAP partition (again for the OS) and last partition is unallocated space).

Have you tried to use the disk manager to format the NTFS partition ? this might do the trick.

[teppscan]

Came across another thread that mentioned you should not have the USB WiFi Dongle connected when connecting the PBO as an external drive. . . . .

Interesting. I've been trying to connect the PBO to a PC I use with my television, for which I use a USB dongle to connect a wireless keyboard/joystick-mouse. It's not a "wi-fi" device, but it is obviously a wireless transmitter. I'll pull the dongle before powering on the PBO and see what happens. If it works, I'll hopefully be able to plug the dongle back in, but if I can't I can work around that.

[aasoror]

Interesting. I've been trying to connect the PBO to a PC I use with my television, for which I use a USB dongle to connect a wireless keyboard/joystick-mouse. It's not a "wi-fi" device, but it is obviously a wireless transmitter. I'll pull the dongle before powering on the PBO and see what happens. If it works, I'll hopefully be able to plug the dongle back in, but if I can't I can work around that.

He didn't mean USB devices connected to your PC, he meant additional USB devices connected to your PBO (like a wifi adapter or an external drive)

[teppscan]

He didn't mean USB devices connected to your PC . . .

Oh, no I use an external drive, but I've already been disconnecting it before trying this.

[teppscan]

As I said, before trying to connect the PBO drive to the PC I've been disconnecting an external USB drive, but I've been unplugging it at the drive and leaving that USB cable plugged into the host port on the back of the PBO (I didn't know having an unterminated cable plugged in made any difference). After reading the posts above, I got the idea to try removing that cable altogether before powering up the PBO. It worked; the PC operating system recognized the PBO as an external drive, and I was able to do the file management chores I needed. Thanks to everyone for your assistance; it made the difference.

By the way, I only saw one partition, which is good because I already have several on that system and drive letters are getting scarce. The bad news was that I discovered I've already used more than 80% of my 500GB internal drive. I've got only about 85GB left.