Homebrew Question External Hard Drive For SX OS

[MikeTheKnight2016]

If memory serves the MAX hard drive size that a MBR drive can handle is 2 TB .... I was wanting to use a 4 TB drive that I have laying around as my external drive for the switch.

My question is, will I have to do anything "special" or specific set-up to it since it is over the size limit, or will I just simply need to format it as exFAT and start copying over the XCI files?

 

[MikeTheKnight2016]

So I formatted the drive as exFAT and copied over all of my XCI files, but the switch can not "see" it.

Is there a way to utilize a 4 TB drive with the switch?

 

[milkyTommy]

normaly just format it on the primary partition in ExFat ... i only have test with a usb key (64gb in Exfat) and it's work well (with disgaea 1 complete .xci)

 

[MikeTheKnight2016]

normaly just format it on the primary partition in ExFat ... i only have test with a usb key (64gb in Exfat) and it's work well (with disgaea 1 complete .xci)

I have formatted the entire drive as exFAT but I did it from my computer and did a quick format. Should I do it a diff way?

The way you are describing above worked fine for my 500GB drive but is not working for my 4TB wall powered USB drive.

 

[Agusto101]

I have formatted the entire drive as exFAT but I did it from my computer and did a quick format. Should I do it a diff way?

The way you are describing above worked fine for my 500GB drive but is not working for my 4TB wall powered USB drive.

The máx is 2tb

 

[Reecey]

Also you really need a 2.5 not a 3.0, it’s risky using a 3.0 you might burn the port. You will also have to partition your hdd of to 2tb

 

[MikeTheKnight2016]

Also you really need a 2.5 not a 3.0, it’s risky using a 3.0 you might burn the port. You will also have to partition your hdd of to 2tb

You are saying using a USB 3.0 external drive could burn out the USB port on the switch docking station?

 

[MikeTheKnight2016]

Also you really need a 2.5 not a 3.0, it’s risky using a 3.0 you might burn the port. You will also have to partition your hdd of to 2tb

You are saying using a USB 3.0 external drive could burn out the USB port on the switch docking station?

 

[Irocadiext]

i dnt know what determines it but it seems that some drives just dnt work as of now. I have tried 3 ext hdd drives and 3 smaller flash drives and only 1 flash drive worked. all formatted exfat. also tried fat32 for the hell of it, made no difference.

 

[elm]

Also you really need a 2.5 not a 3.0, it’s risky using a 3.0 you might burn the port. You will also have to partition your hdd of to 2tb

Are you sure about needing a 2.5..... Do they even make 2.5 ports?

 

[MikeTheKnight2016]

i dnt know what determines it but it seems that some drives just dnt work as of now. I have tried 3 ext hdd drives and 3 smaller flash drives and only 1 flash drive worked. all formatted exfat. also tried fat32 for the hell of it, made no difference.

Thanks for the info! I have tried 1 64 GB flash drive, and one 500 GB external drive and they both worked. This 4TB external drive is not even recognized, but I have not tested what @Reecey said to try with formatting a 2TB partition and loading up everything there. I'll post back when I try that to update if it does/does not work.

 

[Reecey]

You are saying using a USB 3.0 external drive could burn out the USB port on the switch docking station?

I have read that using a 3.0 hdd can “possibly” burn out your port after long term use, your safer and wiser using a 2.5.

Apparently 4tb hard drives work but you need to partition the hdd of to the limit of 2tb for it to show up on sxos.

Check out my setup on the bottom of the page to give you all an idea what I am using and it works really well:-
https://gbatemp.net/threads/usb-on-to-go-harddrive-handheld-experience-thread.520999/page-3

 

[MikeTheKnight2016]

I have read that using a 3.0 hdd can “possibly” burn out your port after long term use, your safer and wiser using a 2.5.

Apparently 4tb hard drives work but you need to partition the hdd of to the limit of 2tb for it to show up on sxos.

Check out my setup on the bottom of the page to give you all an idea what I am using and it works really well:-
https://gbatemp.net/threads/usb-on-to-go-harddrive-handheld-experience-thread.520999/page-3

Can I partition the hard drive with a 2 TB exFAT partition w/o loosing my data on it? Or am I going to need to transfer the XCI files back to my PC, partition, then transfer XCI files back to new partition on drive?

 

[Reecey]

Can I partition the hard drive with a 2 TB exFAT partition w/o loosing my data on it? Or am I going to need to transfer the XCI files back to my PC, partition, then transfer XCI files back to new partition on drive?

No your xci files will be ok it will partition the 2tb with your xci in it and leave the remaining empty space.

 

[pre10c]

I have read that using a 3.0 hdd can “possibly” burn out your port after long term use, your safer and wiser using a 2.5.

Apparently 4tb hard drives work but you need to partition the hdd of to the limit of 2tb for it to show up on sxos.

Check out my setup on the bottom of the page to give you all an idea what I am using and it works really well:-
https://gbatemp.net/threads/usb-on-to-go-harddrive-handheld-experience-thread.520999/page-3

Usb3.0 is backwards compatible with usb2. It will work just fine, at usb2 speeds.

 

[MikeTheKnight2016]

No your xci files will be ok it will partition the 2tb with your xci in it and leave the remaining empty space.

So I wiped the drive, formatted a 2GB partition and set it as primary in exFAT format. Now when I turn on the switch and click Gallery, it will say there are no games on the SD Card for just a few seconds, then it will populate 4 games, and I get an error screen displaying basically telling me to reboot the switch. The drive itself is a Seagate - full link below (not promoting Amazon)

1. https://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Exte...7&sr=8-2&keywords=seagate+backup+plus+4tb+hub

 

[fille]

update to 2.2.1 beta and try again with 4tb,tx just released update.

 

[MikeTheKnight2016]

update to 2.2.1 beta and try again with 4tb,tx just released update.

Leave it formatted as exFat with the 2TB partition set as primary and 2TB of space set as "free space"?

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

update to 2.2.1 beta and try again with 4tb,tx just released update.

Just updated to 2.2.1

The issue seems to be SX OS crashing when it is populating the game library. I have roughly 356 GB of XCI files to load, and using 2.2.1 the first 5 games populated before things crashed and the error was displayed on screen.

EDIT -->
I'm having to step away to take the tykes Trick 'or Treating - but I am going to test my theory when I get back if it is possibly crapping out due to .nsp files. The first 5 games on my External Hard Drive are XCI files and the next one is a .nsp file.

As much as it is going to suck, I was going to try to do bits and pieces at a time and see if it is a corrupted XCI or NSP file causing the crash.

 

[fille]

my hdd is 1tb,but from their info it says support for big hdd's

 

[MikeTheKnight2016]

my hdd is 1tb,but from their info it says support for big hdd's

My assumption was correct. I took off all NSP files and only left the XCI files on the drive and it loads up perfectly. Must have gotten a corrupt nsp file or bad download. Sucks bc my 24 hr unlimited access to my warez site ran out 2 hours ago, lol.

 

[Reecey]

So I wiped the drive, formatted a 2GB partition and set it as primary in exFAT format. Now when I turn on the switch and click Gallery, it will say there are no games on the SD Card for just a few seconds, then it will populate 4 games, and I get an error screen displaying basically telling me to reboot the switch. The drive itself is a Seagate - full link below (not promoting Amazon)

1. https://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Exte...7&sr=8-2&keywords=seagate+backup+plus+4tb+hub

Are you sure you partitioned it correctly did you use mini tool partition wizard? Sounds like something went wrong.