Gp2x External Hard Drives

[krazyandproud]

OK, so I just got my GP2X and I'm very impressed. There's one problem though. I bought the cradle with it, and I have an external hard drive with all my videos and music in supported formats, but the problem is: When I plug in the hard drive (the hard drive plugs into a seperate power port, it does not need power from the cradle) The green light shows up above the port showing its connected, but even after I adjust all the options (I even tried restarting the system, checking the options, etc.) It doesnt detect the hard drive. Could it be because I'm using GP2X power and not the AC Adapter? Do all the files have to be in the root directory of my hard drive? Do I have to format my hard drive or anything like that before using, and how?

Anyway, I'd just like some help with this please. It's really bugging me.

Thanks in advance! :lol:

 

[TelcoLou]

Ah, I was given help for this very problem, and because I'm a really nice guy, I'll share:

You need for format the HDD as FAT32, and partition it if it's >30GB.

 

[jimmyslam]

Really??? So i we try to plug somethin like 300 Gb needs 10 partitions???

 

[don]

No, that's nonsense. Fat32 partitions can be almost as large as you want them to be (like, 2TB limit or something), but Windows can't format larger partitions than 32gb. So with external tools you'll be able to have a single 300gb partition. Keep in mind that the file size limit will be 2gb instead of 4gb with partitions 2gb IIRC.

 

[Jaylink]

Hi ^^

just format your hdd with windows to ntfs file type, then open download this fat32 format tool -- http://www.jaylink.nl/GP2X/fat32format_-_fat32_all_hdd.zip

unpack the files to your root of c:
then open - CMD (command line)
then type a few times cd.. (enter) to get in the root of c: or go to your fat32format directory

then take a look what drive name you got for u'r new hdd
then type in the CMD -- fat32format X: (X = your gp2x hdd letter)
enter, and after a few seconds your new hdd is fat32 ^^

i used it many times (i got a lot of old 80 gb hdd's and 200 gb's perfect for hollydays), and it's working like charm

Enjoy and Good luck

 

[Hippo]

I can also vouch for fat32format, worked a treat on my portable 40gb drive.

 

[TelcoLou]

No, that's nonsense. Fat32 partitions can be almost as large as you want them to be (like, 2TB limit or something), but Windows can't format larger partitions than 32gb. So with external tools you'll be able to have a single 300gb partition. Keep in mind that the file size limit will be 2gb instead of 4gb with partitions 2gb IIRC.

Nonsense, huh? :lol:

 

[krazyandproud]

Wow. Lots of replies. Thanks!! Anyway. I'm in a sense sharing my hard drive with my dad and he already has app. 150gb of songs on there and theres no way we could temporarily move it to our computers hard drive. So, will formatting remove everything from the drive?

 

[retro-haven]

Wow. Lots of replies. Thanks!! Anyway. I'm in a sense sharing my hard drive with my dad and he already has app. 150gb of songs on there and theres no way we could temporarily move it to our computers hard drive. So, will formatting remove everything from the drive?

Yes

 

[Miika]

Wow. Lots of replies. Thanks!! Anyway. I'm in a sense sharing my hard drive with my dad and he already has app. 150gb of songs on there and theres no way we could temporarily move it to our computers hard drive. So, will formatting remove everything from the drive?

Yes formatting will remove everything. You cuold burn some of the stuff on DVD's.

 

[Titcher]

You could use partition magic to downsize the original partition, create a FAT32 one in the new space, copy all the stuff you can fit over, and keep doing it repeatedly until everything is on the FAT32 partition. I don't think partition magic is free though, I'm sure there's some form of trial version though.

 

[krazyandproud]

Thanks again for the replies. I think I'm going to check out that partition magic thingamabobber, and if that fails, I might be able to hire our computer guy to let us put all of those files onto one of his many, many, hard drives while we format it.

EDIT: Ok, I downloaded the trial version of partition magic 8 and it is only a demonstration. Once you try to execute any action on it, It says this is only the trial version. Buy the full version today! So, I'm downloading an older version of partition magic which seems like its not a demo. Update coming soon...

EDIT: Uggghhh...There is no way I'm going to be able to use partition magic without buying it. Any more ideas anybody? (hehe...I want to play my games on teh gp2x so badly...)