Wi-Fi & connectivity

[SgdLA]

Totally WRONG.  My 1T flash drive is not recognized by my Roku Ultra and Roku doesnt seem to even know the answer.  I have several smaller flash drives that work.

[RokuTakashi]

Hey @SgdLA

Thanks for posting!

We understand that your Roku Ultra doesn't recognize your flash drive, and we'd love to help you. Commonly, Roku devices may fail to recognize or detect USB drives because it requires more power than the Roku device can provide. This message might appear on the Home screen: "This USB device requires more power. Use power adaptor if available. For more help visit go.roku.com/USB". Also, if the USB drive has indicator LEDs, they may also turn red or flash to indicate insufficient power. For more info, check these articles for troubleshooting steps: 

Why does my Roku streaming device not recognize my external USB drive? 

How to use Roku Media Player to play your videos, music and photos

If the issue persists, please don't hesitate to let us know!

Sending you the best,
Kash

[SgdLA]

Its amazing how many horrible answers continue to come in on this topic.  I've been using Roku devices and USB flash drives ever since the first Roku players hit the market.

I stated simply:  WHAT IS THE MAXIMUM SIZE GIG usb drive that Roku devices can read?!  I didnt ask how to format or power devices.  USB devices are now available with more than 2T media on them, but ROKU devices dont seem to be able to read devices larger than 1T.  If 1T is the maximum size, please state so.. and please add this to all Roku documentation.  If the answer is unknown, please do not state random numbers as fact... also please read before replying.

Sadly, the Roku "experts" seem to read 1 or 2 words of a post and then post elementary "fix-it" steps that do not address what the user asked about in the first place.

[TYLERC161]

Agreed. 

Let me know if you ever find the answer. 

[TYLERC161]

Heh. I'm getting a non-answer.. I simply asked what is the biggest USB device that it can detect...

They said: 

Hi Tyler,

Thank you for taking the time to reach us. We understand you need some information about your TCL TV. Rest assured we are here to assist.

In regards to your concern, the USB Flash drive that will work on the TV is a 2.0 flash drive and should be in FAT 32. 

We hope this helps.

---GET BENT.. I understand English is not the native language, but I literally work on the daily with teams in the Philippians and this was my only response I could give

-=-==-=-
Hi,

Thank you for the reply. This DOES NOT HELP at all..... You have not answered the question I asked........

I am specifically asking for the maximum amount the system will recognize.

Allow me to spell this out for you with questions:

1) Can I plug in a 1TB usb drive into the TV and have the TV recognize it?
2) Can I plug in a 2TB usb drive into the TV and have the TV recognize it?

3) Can I plug in a 10TB( terabyte ) usb drive into the TV and still have the TV recognize it?

4) Can I plug in a 20TB  terabyte ) usb drive into the TV and still have the TV recognize it?

Please reply in in the form of 1,2,3,4 for each question. Thank you.

[TYLERC161]

I wont lie, I work for Apple support. One of the only few remaining support lines available. WHILE, certain advisors will turn this kinda question away, and while we use 'articles' to email to someone for help; people like me know their **bleep** because we've been developers before... SOMETIMES there just isn't the answer you're looking for, but this is where a REAL tech'y comes in to understand the REAL "tech'y" on this stuff. It's SUCH a simple questio: HOW MANY GB OF USB CAN I USE PLUGGED IN

WHY is it so hard to just get a simple answer? This support of Roku and TLC blows my mind how unhelpful they are, and I'm a new customer WELL versed (obviously) at this point

Like, I literally read the manual too, and the manual states SO MUCH more information that wasn't provided by support. Like: what formats, mkv, avi, mov etc etc.. (which I already knew) and in fact the manual even goes on to say usb 3.0 (which is a no brainer post A/D 2015)... blows my friggin mind the ignorance... like.. *blep* lemme work for you and show how much more there is to offer than the people you pay $5/hr overseas is worth. jfc

Not that I expect more from Samsung, Toshiba, Roku, or anyone else. but fuuuuuuuuu: imagine if Apple Support gave as many f's as everyone else do. The word would end because people call apple with Facebook issues all heckin day. Goshdarnit this amount of support here is so freckin weak; I'm literally 3 hours deep into my own question and no single thought from support is worth an heck. 

/rant

[RokuJohnB · Accepted solution]

Hi @TYLERC161,

Welcome to the Roku Community, and thanks for keeping us posted!

We will be more than happy to assist you further with this inquiry. You're probably safe with a drive up to 2TB, but power may become an issue if you're trying to power the drive from the USB port. USB drives can be formatted with different file systems. Roku devices support USB drives that are formatted with the FAT16, FAT32, NTFS, EXT2, EXT3, exFAT, and HFS+ file systems.

If you don’t know which file system is used, insert the USB drive into an available USB port on your computer. When the drive appears on the desktop, right-click on the icon with your mouse and select Properties on your PC, or Get info on your Mac. 

You may also check out this support article here.

Kind regards,                                                                                                                                      John

[TYLERC161]

Thank you for an answer, John

I understand that power delivery may be an issue, particularly with drives over 1tb. 

Lets assume though that I have a powered device, running on it's own power, and I plug it into the TV..

This is the answer we're looking for.

--At this point, I'm just going to go ahead and try some drives and test them to see what the TV can ACTUALLY handle, and will post them to my YouTube @OfficialTyCat - that way, everyone else asking the same question will get the answer they want... ESPECIALLY since this post is coming up in the top 10 SEO (search engine optimization)  of Google.  

[TYLERC161]

Thanks for the suggestion. I appreciate the reply, honestly.

I'm in the QA realm and ultimately was even wanting to test a NAS that could act as USB as well. I know users like me are an edge case scenario; so that's especially why I appreciate the hasteful reply. 

Cheers

[Zorman]

I have been running a 4tb wd 3.0 with mp4 movies on it. I just tried the wd black P10 5tb with around 70 mp4 files and it ran great. It was snappy and remembered where i left off on the movie. Hope that helps.