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Western Digital Elements Hard Drives

Journbon

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Hi All. I sent a email to Western Digital but I would like to get some opinions here too. I have been using the WD Elements 2TB external drives for a long time and never had a problem. I create Blu Ray ISOs using Rip to Image with Anydvd and play them on my OPPO BDP-93. Now the last 2 HD's Ive purchased have no problem with creating the ISOs but when I go to play them in the OPPO the drives are not recognized. The only difference I can see with the 2 most recent ones is an EAC on the back along with an additional label That isn't on any of my previous HDs. Are these bootlegs or from another country and maybe not compatible? IMG_20171009_164517.jpg IMG_20171009_164549.jpg IMG_20171009_164608.jpg

The first 2 are the ones that don't work and the 3rd one does. Any help is greatly appreciated
 
Hi All. I sent a email to Western Digital but I would like to get some opinions here too. I have been using the WD Elements 2TB external drives for a long time and never had a problem. I create Blu Ray ISOs using Rip to Image with Anydvd and play them on my OPPO BDP-93. Now the last 2 HD's Ive purchased have no problem with creating the ISOs but when I go to play them in the OPPO the drives are not recognized. The only difference I can see with the 2 most recent ones is an EAC on the back along with an additional label That isn't on any of my previous HDs. Are these bootlegs or from another country and maybe not compatible? View attachment 39310 View attachment 39311 View attachment 39312

The first 2 are the ones that don't work and the 3rd one does. Any help is greatly appreciated



I know what EAC means but not for a HDD, I assume your using your HDD in some kind of HDD caddy then to the Oppo 93 which is USB 2.0, I do the same with a Oppo 95 thru the rear USB 2.0 port. Are you formatting FAT32 or NTFS.


I use NTFS but i'm not a fan of WD. I use Hitachi drives, Take the drive(s) that don't work and plug it into a USB port on your computer. Does your computer see the drive?. If not it's your caddy or the drive. If nothing is on the drive format it with Windows and even give it a drive letter. The Oppo will not see or use the drive letter either. When you add ISO's to that HDD your computer will see that drive letter.


I will agree the EAC is something to do with a country code, But format is format.


I also assume there SATA III and not over 2TB or you have to format different if using Win7 (GPT) partitioning.



If those HDD are seen by Windows then the 93 should see it. But the 93 and 95 Oppo is slow for the player to recognize the HDD as a USB device. The newer 203/205 Oppo's recognize the HDD in almost a instant because there USB 3.0.


Being that your playing ISO's thru your Oppo 93 is telling me your using old firmware, You are aware that the Oppo 93/95 play FULL movie folders which is the same as a ISO even with the newest firmware and Cinavia free as it can never have Cinavia detection.


Does the HDD's even sound or feel like there spinning, Getting voltage from whatever source your using?.
 
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Refer here for info on the Eurasia Conformity mark: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasian_Conformity_mark

The EurAsian Conformity mark (EAC, Russian: Евразийское соответствие) is a a certification mark to indicate that the products conform to all technical regulations of the Eurasian Customs Union. It means that the EAC marked products meet all requirements of the corresponding technical regulations and passed successfully all conformity assessment procedures. The mark was introduced in August 2013.[1]


The product conformity mark according to GOST 50460-92, now replaced by EAC
Before this marking came into use, the prevalent product marking was GOST 50460-92: Mark of conformity for mandatory certification.

EAC-black-on-white.gif
 
I know what EAC means but not for a HDD, I assume your using your HDD in some kind of HDD caddy then to the Oppo 93 which is USB 2.0, I do the same with a Oppo 95 thru the rear USB 2.0 port. Are you formatting FAT32 or NTFS.


I use NTFS but i'm not a fan of WD. I use Hitachi drives, Take the drive(s) that don't work and plug it into a USB port on your computer. Does your computer see the drive?. If not it's your caddy or the drive. If nothing is on the drive format it with Windows and even give it a drive letter. The Oppo will not see or use the drive letter either. When you add ISO's to that HDD your computer will see that drive letter.


I will agree the EAC is something to do with a country code, But format is format.


I also assume there SATA III and not over 2TB or you have to format different if using Win7 (GPT) partitioning.



If those HDD are seen by Windows then the 93 should see it. But the 93 and 95 Oppo is slow for the player to recognize the HDD as a USB device. The newer 203/205 Oppo's recognize the HDD in almost a instant because there USB 3.0.


Being that your playing ISO's thru your Oppo 93 is telling me your using old firmware, You are aware that the Oppo 93/95 play FULL movie folders which is the same as a ISO even with the newest firmware and Cinavia free as it can never have Cinavia detection.


Does the HDD's even sound or feel like there spinning, Getting voltage from whatever source your using?.

Thank you for taking the time!

I have never updated from the original Firmware on the OPPO because I heard that later firmware updates removed the ISO playback capability.
Never had to format any of the hard drives either. I plug them in and they are immediately recognized by Windows. Creating the ISO is not a problem.

They are connected to the OPPO via USB. I have over 15 other WD Elements 2TB drives and they work with no problem. Nothing over 2TB will work though. I believe it's because of the chip set in the OPPO. It's just the last 2 that won't wont be recognized. And since there were some differences on the back of the last 2 I thought maybe it had something to do with it. I buy them all through Amazon and this is the first time I've gotten them that looked like that.
 
Thank you for taking the time!

I have never updated from the original Firmware on the OPPO because I heard that later firmware updates removed the ISO playback capability.
Never had to format any of the hard drives either. I plug them in and they are immediately recognized by Windows. Creating the ISO is not a problem.

They are connected to the OPPO via USB. I have over 15 other WD Elements 2TB drives and they work with no problem. Nothing over 2TB will work though. I believe it's because of the chip set in the OPPO. It's just the last 2 that won't wont be recognized. And since there were some differences on the back of the last 2 I thought maybe it had something to do with it. I buy them all through Amazon and this is the first time I've gotten them that looked like that.







Take that drive and hook it up to your computer and format it NTFS, Give it a drive letter. It then should work. If it isn't formatted the Oppo won't see it.


If you update to the newest firmware on the Oppo 93 you won't be able to play ISO anymore but you will be able to play full ISO folders, Same thing, same size.



With the firmware you have now or the newest firmware the Oppo 93 will not work with the newer 4K TV's. You'll need engineering firmware so that it can work with old and new TV's. However you can flash backwards with the engineering firmware also.


Again i use SATA III Hitachi drives @ 7200RPM and 64MB Cache


You can use over 2TB with the Oppo 93, You just have to know what your doing :)


Удачи
 
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Take that drive and hook it up to your computer and format it NTFS, Give it a drive letter. It then should work. If it isn't formatted the Oppo won't see it.


If you update to the newest firmware on the Oppo 93 you won't be able to play ISO anymore but you will be able to play full ISO folders, Same thing, same size.



With the firmware you have now or the newest firmware the Oppo 93 will not work with the newer 4K TV's. You'll need engineering firmware so that it can work with old and new TV's. However you can flash backwards with the engineering firmware also.


Again i use SATA III Hitachi drives @ 7200RPM and 64MB Cache


You can use over 2TB with the Oppo 93, You just have to know what your doing :)


Удачи
Thanks. I'll give it a go when I get home from work. The drives are already formatted NTFS when I get them and when I plug them in Windows usually assigns them drive letter E but I'll re-format them. I'm going to look into other brands if this is going to be the norm from WD.

I don't have a 4K TV so no worries there.
 
Thanks. I'll give it a go when I get home from work. The drives are already formatted NTFS when I get them and when I plug them in Windows usually assigns them drive letter E but I'll re-format them. I'm going to look into other brands if this is going to be the norm from WD.

I don't have a 4K TV so no worries there.


I never purchased a new HDD pre-formatted before, Must be a Russian Federation thing.

4K TV upscales 1080p to 4K, So you'll be stuck at 1080p forever.
 
I never purchased a new HDD pre-formatted before, Must be a Russian Federation thing.

4K TV upscales 1080p to 4K, So you'll be stuck at 1080p forever.

i'm in the US and all the WD Element drives I have brought have all been pre-formatted. I just plug and go. With the last 2 they were still pre-formatted and Windows sees them but OPPO just won't. I'm wondering if they are outsourcing them now or it's just a mix up but I'm looking for other external HDD brands now.
 
007.JPG
i'm in the US and all the WD Element drives I have brought have all been pre-formatted. I just plug and go. With the last 2 they were still pre-formatted and Windows sees them but OPPO just won't. I'm wondering if they are outsourcing them now or it's just a mix up but I'm looking for other external HDD brands now.


I use these

Hitachi Ultrastar HUA723020ALA641 2TB 64MB Cache 7200RPM 3.5" SATA III 6.0Gb/s Hard Drive




BTW what your buying is a pre-made HDD in a enclosure by WD, I'm not doing that. I make my own with a 3.5" drive and a Protronix USB 3.0 HDD caddy good up to 6TB.



I think the Oppo does not like the USB controller in those two or the HDD as those two are already seen by your computer but can't be seen by the Oppo. Those things usually have notebook HDD in them...You know how hot those drives get, That's why i make my own.
 
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If I were to go that route how do I hook them up to my OPPO? Those are internal drives right? Do I have to buy an enclosure for each one? Sorry for what seems like newbie questions. I've always used external HHDs.


Edit to add..Ah you answered my question. Maybe I'll give that a try instead. But Yes I agree with you. Something in these last 2 drives just doesn't agree with my OPPO
 
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If I were to go that route how do I hook them up to my OPPO? Those are internal drives right? Do I have to buy an enclosure for each one? Sorry for what seems like newbie questions. I've always used external HHDs.



The Protronix enclosure is $17.99 each and the HDD are between 49 and 56USD each...I will post the links for you in next message, What your using isn't any good HEAT.



Protronix Enclosure

Code:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Protronix-2-5-3-5-USB-3-0-SATA-HDD-Flat-Hard-Drive-Docking-Station-Enclosure-/131462848384?epid=1837626165&hash=item1e9bcbdf80:g:vmgAAOSwe0NZ2mU0



Hitachi HDD

Code:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hitachi-2TB-64MB-Cache-7200RPM-SATA-6Gb-s-3-5-Hard-Drive-PC-MAC-NAS-CCTV-DVR-/171354646563?hash=item27e5886823:g:QaQAAOxy5DtTllHH




P.S. The Protronix comes with everything, There is no drivers, It's USB 3.0 and comes with cables and all. Format the drive and it's good to go on any computer or Oppo to date. I have 6 of those caddys and drives and have more coming this week.




BTW you only need ONE Protronix, You can swap drives in a second...The only reason i have so many is i have more then 1 Oppo and more then one computer playing ISO/Folders/MKV etc.
 
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The Protronix enclosure is $17.99 each and the HDD are between 49 and 56USD each...I will post the links for you in next message, What your using isn't any good HEAT.



Protronix Enclosure

Code:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Protronix-2-5-3-5-USB-3-0-SATA-HDD-Flat-Hard-Drive-Docking-Station-Enclosure-/131462848384?epid=1837626165&hash=item1e9bcbdf80:g:vmgAAOSwe0NZ2mU0



Hitachi HDD

Code:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hitachi-2TB-64MB-Cache-7200RPM-SATA-6Gb-s-3-5-Hard-Drive-PC-MAC-NAS-CCTV-DVR-/171354646563?hash=item27e5886823:g:QaQAAOxy5DtTllHH




P.S. The Protronix comes with everything, There is no drivers, It's USB 3.0 and comes with cables and all. Format the drive and it's good to go on any computer or Oppo to date. I have 6 of those caddys and drives and have more coming this week.

Thanks. I'll give it a go. I like to try different things. Doesn't seem complicated at all.
 
Thanks. I'll give it a go. I like to try different things. Doesn't seem complicated at all.


The 93 & 95 and older players support only MBR partitioning, which is limited to 2TB volumes max. Newer players support GPT partitioning which removes that limit.
 
Brief update. No word back from WD yet. Tried a quick format, no luck. Doing a long format but I'm not that hopeful. For the future I might look for an alternative way to play my Blu ray ISO's. I know my OPPOs won't last forever. Maybe even go back to burning discs.
 
Long format waste of time it still won't work. Those 2 WD drives built in USB controller is N/G with the Oppo or the area of the HDD you can't access the Oppo don't like it. Return them comrade. It's a WD HDD problem because they work with the Puter and not the Oppo.
 
Brief update. No word back from WD yet. Tried a quick format, no luck. Doing a long format but I'm not that hopeful. For the future I might look for an alternative way to play my Blu ray ISO's. I know my OPPOs won't last forever. Maybe even go back to burning discs.


If your Oppo blew up 10 years from now for $99.99 Oppo restores it for $99.99 and ships it back to you for free.
 
I did the long reformat and as expected it didn't help. I returned the last one I just brought.

Someone from the WD message board posted this to me and I'm going to give it a shot with the other one when I get home.

"Check your HDD's for what Partitioning they are using

I'll take a guess that your 15 2TB Working HDD's are MBR Partitioned

and your 2 New / Non Working are GPT (GUID) Partitioned .. (Which almost all New WD HDD's are factory partitioned)

if that's the case ... then you'll have to convert or format your 2 new HDD's from GPT to MBR."
 
I did the long reformat and as expected it didn't help. I returned the last one I just brought.

Someone from the WD message board posted this to me and I'm going to give it a shot with the other one when I get home.

"Check your HDD's for what Partitioning they are using

I'll take a guess that your 15 2TB Working HDD's are MBR Partitioned

and your 2 New / Non Working are GPT (GUID) Partitioned .. (Which almost all New WD HDD's are factory partitioned)

if that's the case ... then you'll have to convert or format your 2 new HDD's from GPT to MBR."



I answered your questions about your HDD yesterday about MBR and GPT and how the 93 & 95 work. GPT is used for OVER 2TB usually but will NOT fly on your Oppo but will fly on your computer.GPT works on the 203/205 Oppo's. That's where i have a 6TB drive on them.


Partition and format two different meanings.




Thanks. I'll give it a go. I like to try different things. Doesn't seem complicated at all.


The 93 & 95 and older players support only MBR partitioning, which is limited to 2TB volumes max. Newer players support GPT partitioning which removes that limit.



Why WD Partitioned a 2TB GPT is beyond me, These drives i seen many DOA and a waste of money. But that's what you like. And WD expects them to be used without a OS on them that's why. If you could after watching 1 movie you couldn't even touch the drive inside it's so hot.
 
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I answered your questions about your HDD yesterday about MBR and GPT and how the 93 & 95 work. GPT is used for OVER 2TB usually but will NOT fly on your Oppo but will fly on your computer.GPT works on the 203/205 Oppo's. That's where i have a 6TB drive on them.


Partition and format two different meanings.







The 93 & 95 and older players support only MBR partitioning, which is limited to 2TB volumes max. Newer players support GPT partitioning which removes that limit.



Why WD Partitioned a 2TB GPT is beyond me, These drives i seen many DOA and a waste of money. But that's what you like. And WD expects them to be used without a OS on them that's why. If you could after watching 1 movie you couldn't even touch the drive inside it's so hot.

Thanks for all your input badnews (and patience). I'm learning new stuff everyday. I never heard of MBR and GPT before. A quick search told me how to check to see which one the drive has so I'm going to check when I get home. I'm not comfortable using WD anymore so they're history.
 
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