USB External Storage Issue on Nvidia Shield

Streaming Devices / Hardware
1

Hi all,

Ok, so I’ve inserted a Sandisk USB memory stick to the Nvidia Shield and tried a number of times to get it to work without much success.

Initially, the stick started to randomly connect then disconnect which wasn’t very useful as, once I’d transferred my apps over from the Shield, they disappeared from view on the Shield screen.

Yesterday, I began the process of figuring out what to do next with the issue that I was presented with.

However, I was soon thwarted by the fact that, when I once again inserted the storage device, it didn’t connect at all.

The Shield recognised the stick as a Sandisk, but it gave me two reports on screen, one being that the stick was “Not Connected”, whilst the other read that it had been “Safely Ejected”.

I checked to see if I’d pushed the stick in securely, which I had.

I’ve also tried using the other port and this has presented me with the same result.

The question is, is it the ports on Nvidia Shield (unlikely, but you never know), or the USB flash drive itself that is causing the problem?

My question to the forum is what, if anything, can I do next, to try and get the stick, which it recognises, to connect successfully to the Shield?

If the answer is to try another device, should I avoid using a flash drive altogether, seeing as quite a few of mine have gone kaput lately?

I was also wondering, what storage devices come recommended by the forumites for this specific purpose?

Any advice that you could throw my way would be very much appreciated.

2

Did you go into the shield pro settings and configure the ports for data transfer or are they set up for power/charging only? Also make sure you have enabled the developer options and turned on USB debugging.

3

Hi Miki,

Thank for the reply. It’s much appreciated.

I’ll have to have a look at the USB ports as all that I know is that they’re on from what I’ve seen in the settings screen.

As for the USB Debugging aspect of your advice, I don’t believe that it’s on at the moment so I’ll also double check this.

I’ll report back to you with an update once I’ve put your advice into practice.

Regards

4

No problem. The settings in the Shield Are very extensive. It takes a bit of effort to set it all up. But once you do you’ll have countless hours of enjoyable use.

1 Like
5

Ok, as per the advice, I’ve turned on USB Debugging and checked whether or not the ports are in charging mode only which they’re not. The Select USB Configuration is showing as MTP.

The following screenshot is what I’m seeing when I go back to the Storage screen via Device Preferences in Settings:

IMG_4468
IMG_44683024×4032 2.57 MB

As before, under the SanDisk USB drive heading, it reads as “Not connected”.

Above this the status of the storage device reads as “SanDisk USB drive is safely ejected”.

These two status indicators appear the moment that I insert the USB stick, which means that I definitely did not eject the device myself.

This is somewhat perplexing to say the least, and I’m at a loss as to why this is happening.

I’ve noticed that you’ve included a link to a Nvidia user manual in your post.

Will this have the answer by any chance?

Regards

6

Sorry but do you not see where your setup is wrong? Please always read the settings in their entirety. You have enabled “transfer files to a computer using USB”. Now what does it say after that in the setting description?

7

I just tried this to see if I could help. I have a Sandisk 32. I ejected the 2TB that i had hooked up and plugged in the 32GB Sandisk. It worked fine.

A few comments. I always use the usb port furthest from the hdmi port. Also, the drives are formatted in NTFS. Third, I have transfer files usb unchecked and checked for local network.

1 Like
8

Thanks for the information about what settings I should and shouldn’t have enabled. I have now disabled the “transfer files to a computer using USB” setting.

Ok, I’ve taken a few additional steps to correct the issue, by formatting the USB stick on my Windows laptop to exFAT to start all over again.

This seemed to work initially which was something of a relief, although when I formatted it to internal storage for use on the Nvidia, the stick disconnected a reconnected again whilst it was formatting.

It appeared to work regardless, although my concern is that, once I’ve migrated the apps from the Shield itself over to the stick, it will disconnect again and I’ll lose access to the apps, and therefore have to install them all over again back onto the Shield.

I’m not entirely new to the Shield as such, but I am new to adding internal storage via a USB stick, so I’m wondering how do I go about preventing the stick from disconnecting and reconnecting as I would like to have a stable connection?

Is this an issue that has happened with anyone else at all, or is this unique to my situation and experience?

9

I can’t honestly say what else may be your issue. The Shield has lots of space for apps and I only ever used a 64GB Sandisk for external storage so I could eject it and transport it. I did take a 256GB EVO SSD and then split the drive to %10 internal and 90 external, just to see if it could be done and it can. Worked perfectly.
The link I provided for the Shield Pro manual, covers a wide range of options and settings.

10

I’m gonna guess the Shield doesn’t like that particular sandisk usb drive. To make sure try another usb drive. They can be finicky.

1 Like
11

Thank you Miki and MNBob for the info that you’ve provided to help me to get the USB stick up and running on the Shield. It’s very much appreciated.

It looks as though the bulk of my problem has been solved by my formatting the memory stick on a Windows laptop.

After this was done, the Shield recognised the drive instantly and allowed me to format it for internal storage purposes.

However, what I can’t seem to fathom, is why the flash drive keeps on randomly disconnecting and reconnecting all the time.

When I checked the drive’s health on Windows, it gave it a clean bill of health, so I’m not entirely sure that the flash drive would be the cause of the connection/disconnection issue.

My only option by the looks of it is to try another flash drive to compare and contrast, so as per your advice Teehar that’s what I’ll do and report back with my findings.

2 Likes
12

Best of luck mate, hope it does the trick.

13

image
image3024×4032 3.73 MB

Also get a usb hub from Amazon

14

Hi Sikhs Sikhs,

Thank you for the advice. It’s much appreciated.

Are you saying by advising this that you had the same connection/disconnection problem on the Shield and this was what solved it?

I haven’t yet tried Teehar’s solution as my focus of attention has been on another tech problem with a brand new Crucial X9 Pro external SSD.

For whatever reason it didn’t like Windows 10 or Windows 11 when I decided to update the OS to see if that would work.

And yet it was ok with an iPad and Mac Mini so it’s been a bit of a head scratcher for me to say the least.

Needless to say, that I’ve given up on the thing and it’s being returned to whence I bought it from.

I’ve decided on buying a Samsung T7 as a replacement for it and I’m crossing my fingers that this won’t do the same.

Then, once I’ve transferred all the data on my spare USB stick over to the T7, I will then try out Teehar’s suggestion and use it to see if using a different flash drive works for me.:crossed_fingers:

15

I hooked up a 256Gb Samsung Evo SSD to my Shield pro and it’s never failed. Fingers crossed. :crossed_fingers:

16

Hi Miki when you record using Tivimate do you use standard record or custom record?
I have read that custom record doesn’t fail as much as standard record if a stream buffers.
What is your experience of it?

17

Yes I record only with TiVimate. Using the “Record” is for “immediate” recording of say a program you are watching now. “Custom recording” is for the Scheduling of a “future” program or event or for things like series. The two aren’t the same in that regard, but should still use the same program for recording once the stream is initiated. So I imagine the Custom Recording just has additional programming that must use a clock and calendar module. I have never tried the immediate “Record” of something I’m watching but will now once I find a program I want to 2 watch for a long period of time, just to test it out. So far with the P6L I have not found any problems with recording and the recording does not stop or disconnect when the feed does buffer, unlike any other device I’ve ever used. Absolutely no loss of quality. My experience was the same for the Shield Pro but I had recordings that failed due to buffering.
FYI I am going to install ADM next week, and record something in Stremio to see how well it works. Still kicking the tires on this P6L.

1 Like
18

I sort of had the same problem a while back and it appears to be Nvidia recommend certain brands.At first i used a sandisk but it must have been too slow then i tried a faster read / write one and its worked for years.

19

i have a WD 2TB SSD that i’ve used formatted to ntfs for Shield and Exfat for my android boxes that work’s great for recording..unhook and and download to my comp…never had a poblem with the WD drives

1 Like
20

I had the same problem when i updated my shield to the latest update.It finally stop having the issue with my flas h drive.