Not detecting HDD

Check my post here. I had the same case. Zidoo wouldn't recognize the drive. There was a small 15mb Microsoft Reserved Portion in front of the main portion and not visible in Windows.
The program that I used was GParted. You can download portable version and boot your computer to it from disk or USB drive. It will list all partitions and allow you to delete the first one without effecting the data on the second partition.

 

No. It's a PITA to keep offloading my movies and putting them back on the drive. NTFS should work! I'm downloading GParted to see what the problem is.

 

I downloaded GParted Live iso file. Not real sure how to use it. Still offloading my movies. Sounds like I don't need to though from your post?

 

Sending movies from one Zidoo to another is easy and works well. The one with local drives needs to have SAMBA share enabled. On the second Zidoo you just direct the sources to the first Zidoo.

My problem was between 2 Zidoos, both with local drives. They would lock up after playing movies from Zidoo 1 and trying to share it later to Zidoo 2. Couldn't find a solution. Changing IP's would temporary unlock them both but the lock would repeat after next test. I ended up taking the drives off one of the Zidoos. Now one Zidoo has local drives and second Zidoo is just a player, nothing to share, no SAMBA server. The drives are connected to Rasperry Pi 4 that works as SAMBA share and Jellyfin server.
All problems and issues between both Zidoos disappeared.

 

First you need to check if you have small system partition on your drive. This program will do that. If you do that's probably your problem. It's always safe to have backup. The program will preserve you files but you should have backup before you attempt the procedure just in case.

If you don't have the second partition you probably have a different problem.

 

Watched a tutorial on GParted. Seems very complicated, anything easier?

 

You should be able to install GParted Live on USB and boot your PC with it. You have to use a program to do that. Don’t just copy files. Once you boot your PC to GParted plug in the problematic drive on another USB port and the rest is rather easy.

 

Didn’t try other programs when I had this issue and can’t comment here. Nothing in Windows would show this partition.

 

Make sure when you’re working with GParted Live to check 10 times what the disk is you are working on. GParted could wipe out your Windows in split second without warning.

The computer will be running on small Linux USB boot disk. Your Windows internal hard drive will be fully accessible just like the drive you are trying to fix.

 

Followed the steps on this video Gparted Partition Tool Live USB Boot Drive Creation And Tutorial - YouTube. My computer said it was going to take 2+ hours to create this usb boot. Not sure what is going on, but I'm done!
All this BS to just watch movies from a media player.

 

Finally got the files to the usb drive. Started my computer and..... it didn't work.

 

Did you set the boot sequence of the PC to start from USB first? That would be in PC start up BIOS or some OEM utility that came with the computer. It does work. How did you get the files to USB drive? You need to use a program like Rufus to make the USB bootable, copying files or ISO won't work.

 

I followed the steps in the video I linked. Yes, I booted the computer from the usb but it did not work. The computer just came up like normal. Going to try and take the drive to a computer shop nearby.
This is how everything goes for me, nothing works as it should.

 

The tutorial you pointed out is 8 years old. Some things have changed over the time. Yumi program for making bootable USB has evolved with new options not mentioned in the video. If you have newer PC you are probably using UEFI instead of BIOS. The version of Yumi has to correspond to Gparted Live version for correct distribution. Over 2 hours to copy 500mb of files sounds wrong.

Maybe try the simple way from Gparted Live installation website "Windows Method A: Unetbootin" here.
UNetbootin webpage talks about "Installing Other Distributions Using UNetbootin.
Download and run UNetbootin, then select the "disk image" option and supply it with an ISO (CD image)".
This is the second half of the webpage and the option you need. It should work.

Another tutorial here. It shows Gparted Live USB installation using Rufus USB creation program and Mini Tool Partition Wizard. It would be very quick to install Mini Tool on Windows and check the effected drive if you see additional system partition. I didn't test it with Mini Tool when I had that problem and don't know if that would work but it's a quick download on Windows PC. If that doesn't show extra partition you probably need to use Gparted and Linux boot. Back then I had Raspberry Pi 3 a small board computer with Linux based OS and Gparted already on it. It was quick and easy to analyze and fix the disk. Didn't try any other software.

No , all this BS is to fix your drive that doesn't show up in Zidoo. The media player works .

 

I appreciate your help on this. I'm going to take it to a local computer shop I have used in the past. The owner is very good and probably won't charge me anything. If he can't figure it out (which I doubt) I will try these methods, you listed.
Thanks again!

 

I hope it works as advertised. I'm a little nervous about the 1.0.75 FW upgrade. Some people are having many issues.

 

Well, I guess I'm on my own trying to figure this out. The computer store wanted $160 and needed me to leave it for a few days. Not even sure he was going to be able to solve my problem.

Which solution/method do you think I should use from the above?

I was actually thinking of deleting the new volume on my drive and formatting again from scratch first to see if maybe a second time would fix the problem before trying your suggestion.

 

Well, more shenanigans. I downloaded the Mini Tool Partition Wizard, and it found a recovery partition just like yours did. I removed it and put it in the Zidoo bay, and it STILL doesn't recognize it!
The 16TB drive I have is a WD 161KFGX WD Red Pro NAS Hard Drive.
I have another WD 2TB drive WD20EARX that the Zidoo DOES recognize. Same file system, but it does not say it is GPT partition. The 2TB drive was formatted in my old computer using a SATA cable.
The only thing that makes any sense is that my 16TB drive needs to be formatted with a SATA cable inside my computer.
Any other suggestions?

 

I connected my drive to the internal SATA cable from my Blu-ray burner and formatted it again. Now the Zidoo can see my drive. I guess using a usb docking station somehow does not format it correctly with an android OS.

 

Some of those USB adapters or docking stations are not capable working with 16 TB drives or above. Another issue is the electronics used to map large drives tend to do some custom formatting. Glad you got it solved. At least you saved yourself $160 and got satisfaction of fixing it yourself