topic Re: External Drive problem with Windows 10 in Arlo Pro 3

External Drive problem with Windows 10

iainf61 — Thu, 18 Mar 2021 09:43:29 GMT

I plugged a Western Digital 1TB USB drive into my SmartHub. The Hub formatted it to FAT32 and all seemed to be working fine. But when I try connecting the WD Drive to my Windows 10 PC it doesn't recognise it, no drive letter, it doesn't appear in Disk Management - though it does in Device Manager saying "This device is working properly".

If I connect the drive to a Chromebook it appears but when I play the videos I only get sound. Which I think is a Chromebook problem rather than an Arlo one.

I've seen another discussion on her with similar symptoms but no solution.

Seems like Windows 10 doesn't like the way Arlo formats larger drives?

Re: External Drive problem with Windows 10

iainf61 — Thu, 18 Mar 2021 11:45:16 GMT

So using the WD Dashboard diagnostic tool it looks like Arlo has created a partition which Windows 10 can't read. 🙄 I'm going to try reformating this drive to make it usable again and use a smaller capacity USB stick with the Hub.

It would be helpful if there was advice on a maximum size of drive to use.

Re: External Drive problem with Windows 10

jguerdat — Thu, 18 Mar 2021 13:43:08 GMT

First, I'd strongly recommend a thumb drive instead of a hard drive for local recordings. Easier to extract and insert and no issue about power. A 32-64GB drive will hold an awful lot of videos.

Anyways, Arlo doesn't create a partition - it simply creates an Arlo folder in the root directory. If there are multiple partitions (external drives may have a hidden or small partition for manufacturer-supplied utilities/use) remove all partitions before formatting. Since W10 doesn't natively support FAT32, it's just easiest to format it after attaching it to the hub. You can use a FAT32 formatting utility but the hub makes it easier.

Re: External Drive problem with Windows 10

iainf61 — Wed, 31 Mar 2021 09:38:14 GMT

Thanks . I managed to recover the 1TB drive for other use, and have switched to a 64GB thumb drive which seems to be working fine.