Arlo not working with WD 2TB external drive. Able to format but computer can't read stored files.

[HoustonRender]

Hello, I am not fully sure if my model belongs to VMC4030 series or not, but it is an Arlo Pro wirefree camera system with Netgear base station. 

I have been trying to connect my newly bought WD 2TB external drive with this base station. Through my phone setup, I am able to format it; however, once i formatted it, I cannot read stored files from the drive in my computer. 

Can some one please help me out? 

Thank you. 

[TomMac]

First check the model of the base unit as it needs to be a 4000 model or newer... then I would try the web access over the app as I find it more stable.

https://my.arlo.com

Also it is much easier to use a usb speedstick of 64gb or so as you can move it  to another port without issue

[michaelkenward]

---

@HoustonRender wrote:

I have been trying to connect my newly bought WD 2TB external drive with this base station.

---

USB 2 or USB 3?

[HoustonRender]

I believe WD 2TB is USB3.0

The base station formatted this WD 2TB hard drive successfully, which is confirmed through readings on app.

However, when I unplugged the WD 2TB hard drive from the base station, and connected it with my Win10 computer, the computer cannot find the hard drive at all, not even talking about read any files saved in this WD 2TB external hard drive.  

Could you give me advise how to resolve this problem?

[HoustonRender]

I just wanted to update my base station model, it is a VMB4000

[JessicaP]

Hey HoustonRender,

If the Arlo Base Station says the format on your external hard drive was successful, you may need to check with your computer if your computer is unable to find or read the external hard drive.

[HoustonRender]

Hello, Jessica,

The computer was able to find and read this new external hard drive from WD, before Arlo Base Station formatted.

After Arlo Base Station formatted this WD external hard drive (2TB), computer (Win10) cannot find this hard drive at all, but is able to reject it safely.

This is my second WD external hard drive having the same issue. Originally I thought the problem came from WD external hard drive, and I returned it to BestBuy for another new one. Still Win10 failed to read this WD external hard drive formatted through Arlo Base Station.

Is it because Arlo Base Station formatted the WD external hard drive into any non-readable way, which is not compatible with Win10?

Please advise.

Thank you.

[jguerdat]

Arlo formats the drive in FAT32. I wonder if you have multiple partitions on the drive (not uncommon). W10 won't format that size drive as FAT32 but will read it. Check using the Disk Management section of the Microsoft Management Console utility built into W10.

[HoustonRender]

The drive was bought as a completely new one. Before Arlo formatted it, I checked it with W10, and there was no multiple partitions with this new WD 2TB hard drive, because I only see one partition in this new external drive.  

Once Arlo formatted the drive, I disconnected the drive with Arlo base station, and connected the drive with my Win10. Win10 is able to find there is a USB connected so that I can eject it out; However no hard drive is detected under "My Computer".

[michaelkenward]

Partitions are not always obvious in Windows Explorer.

Disk Management is more reliable.

But if Arlo formatted it that should not be an issue.

[StephenB]

---

@HoustonRender wrote:

However, when I unplugged the WD 2TB hard drive from the base station, and connected it with my Win10 computer, the computer cannot find the hard drive at all,

---

That sounds like the hard drive itself has failed.  Maybe try downloading WD's lifeguard utility, and see if it can find the drive.

[unka2m]

I had the same issue with a new WD easystore 2TB ext. hard drive not being recognized at all after trying to have my Arlo Pro 3 base station hub VMB4540 try to format the drive. I thought it may be a faulty drive so I bought another brand new one of the exact same model and ended with the same results.  I found somewhere in this Arlo Community forum that  somebody referred to using a tool to format http://www.ridgecrop.demon.co.uk/index.htm?guiformat.htm.  I tried it and it did not work for me. I searched the internet and found a  video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrUOOsioP6g that explained how to format a 2TB hard drive with FAT32 using Command Prompt on my Windows 10 computer. I tried the commands with one of the hard drives and everything went well until the formatting. I started it to format and it took about 45 mins. to get to 20% finished, so I went to bed and let it continue. I woke up in the morning to see that the formatting failed with the message "Virtual Disk Service error: The volume size is too big." After some thought, I decided to combine both things together and try it. This worked! The 2TB hard drive is formatted, recognized and records activated recordings from my four cameras and after using the "safely remove device" button located in Arlo settings/ hub/external storage device window and then plugged into my computer, I can view the recordings on my computer. I then did the exact same thing to the original WD easystore hard drive with the same results. I now have two 2TB hard drives formatted to FAT32 that I can use to switch out if I choose not to have them overwrite the videos. These are the steps that I used to format the hard drives. I hope this helps.

1) Go here and download this file to your desktop of your computer so it can be used later. http://www.ridgecrop.demon.co.uk/index.htm?guiformat.htm

2) Press Windows symbol and the x at the same time to bring up the menu on the left of the screen.
3) Choose Disk Management.
4) In the lower part of the window, note the "Disk Number" that corresponds to the hard drive that is desired to be formatted. This number will be  used in the Command Prompt. Example: "Disk 1". MAKE SURE to choose the proper one or you could wipe out your main disk.
5) Keep Disk Management on the computer screen along with Command Prompt to be able to see how things progress as the commands are executed.
6) Left click Windows Start on lower left of desktop.
7) Scroll through computer apps and choose Windows System.
😎 Use drop down menu to Command Prompt.
9) Right click Command Prompt and choose "More".
10) Select "Run as Administrator".
11) In Command Prompt, type "diskpart" (no quotes) then hit enter.
12) Type "list disk" (no quotes) then hit enter.
13) Type "select disk (whatever disk number was noted previously)" No quotes or parenthesis. Then hit enter. Example: select disk 1
14) Type "clean" (no quotes) then hit enter.
15) Type "create partition primary" (no quotes) then hit enter.
16) Type "active" (no quotes) then hit enter.

17) Stop there with the Command Prompt window. The video referred to earlier goes on to start formatting but do not do this.
18) On the Disk Management window, right click on the area of the selected disk that reads "Active Primary Partition". This is in the lower part of the window.
19) Choose "Drive Letter and Paths".
20) Click on "Add".
21) Choose "Assign the following drive letter" and select a letter for the drive that is not assigned to anything already on the computer. Example: M

22) Click "OK".

23) Note that on the Disk Management window that the disk being formatted now shows the drive letter that you have selected.

24) At this point, open the file named guiformat.exe on the computer desktop that was downloaded earlier that is the tool to format the drive.

25) Make sure that the drive letter indicated in the top of this tools window is the correct drive that is desired to be formatted.

26) Assign a Volume Label if a name for the drive is desired. Example: Arlo Backup

27) Make sure "Quick Format" box is checked.

28) Click "Start".

29) When formatting is finished, "Safely Remove Hardware"/"Eject Device" and unplug from the computer.

30) Now when the hard drive is plugged into the Arlo Pro base station and you log into your account, the external storage device name (the Volume Label) should be visible and showing "Ready" to use. DO NOT hit the format button on the Arlo site. The device is all ready to go and will begin recording as soon as the base station has recognized the drive.

Note: There are alternative ways to get to Command Prompt and Disk Management but these are the ways that I accessed them. Again, I hope that this works for everyone else as well as it worked for me.

[Oberon2]

I had the same issue until I connected the WD 2TB that was formatted using the Arlo format to a Linux desktop - it mounted perfectly on Linux but Windows 10 would not allow me to assign a drive letter/mount it. It is either an issue with Windows 10 not liking the Arlo FAT32 partition/Volume or Arlo's format option. At present I am doing a two step Arlo->Linux->Windows until it is working natively with Windows - sorry not much more help but at least you can get your recordings this way.