USB HDD not detected at all even though Y-cable and correctly formatted

[OliVerDeTerre]

Hello experts,

I am disappointed that my USB HDD is not being accessible with my three weeks old Amp.
Even though…

• the HDD is connected with Y-cable for enough power supply, and
• as well correctly formatted with NTFS, and
• it is a very common largely used Western Digital SE 1TB HDD

…the device is not at all found or mentioned in the WiiM Home app (but making sound showing that it‘s working).

For sure, I already created a ticket (#502907), but the answer is not really satisfying. The WiiM team is very friendly, and Ethan answered me, that they seem to have acquired the same HDD model. But that they connect it via a USB hub and that with this setting the HDD is accessible from the Amp. So the recommendation is that I should buy a USB hub as well.

But don‘t you think this recommendation still has the risk, that even with any USB hub, my HDD is still not accessible? Because what should a USB hub change in the setting as to my knowledge it has no real intelligence? And additionally, I asked Ethan from the WiiM support team, whether their Western Digital SE HDD was accessible via direct USB connection to the Amp without USB hub. Because if so, then there must be any other problem with the scan or connection to my data independent from USB hub usage. And buying a USB hub is somehow not nice.

I‘d appreciate any hint from you experts how I should proceed - does WiiM maybe have in general bigger problems in getting USB devices running and readable smoothly?

Many thanks and friendly greetings,
Oliver

 

[Brantome]

Whirring does sound like it’s maybe not getting the power it needs. Have you got another y-cable or power supply you can use?

Also, how many directories and tracks do you have on the drive - it is just holding music in folders say three or four deep, or are there lots of other non music files and folders? It could be it’s just taking a long time to scan

 

[OliVerDeTerre]

Dear Brantome,
for your super fast answer .
I changed the power adapter and the USB connectors of the Y-cable as well. Indeed, now the HDD isn’t whirring anymore but making constant silent sound - which seems more normal.
Yet, I can’t find the HDD anywhere in the Home App. Can you tell me where it should be found if the USB device was scanned successfully? Is it in the “Audio Input Mode” of the Amp settings (as attached screenshot), or should it be found in the general “Browse” section under “My Music” as additional device?
My HDD only contains music with maximum 3 or 4 levels of folder hierarchy. Normally one folder per album, all cleanly tagged and named. Around 10.000 songs. Some songs may have pretty long file names, can this be a problem? And what would be an appropriate scanning time from your point of view - is it measured in minutes, or hours, or even up to a day - should I wait this night and see if any scan might then have brought up my USB HDD in the Home App?
I am so eager getting things running as I love the WiiM concept (as well as listening my music ).
Many greetings, Oliver

 

[Brantome]

You should normally see it in both the places you mention - at the bottom of the Browse page or as the last entry under Audio Inputs in device settings. And under Home Music Share.

Your structure and number of tracks seems very reasonable - I probably have a similar folder structure but double that number of tracks and it normally detects and indexes those in a minute or so. Even if long file names were an issue, I’d expect it to perhaps ignore that as it’s more scanning the tags rather than the file names, although of course it has to open the file names to read the tags.

Are all your files tagged, and what format are they I.e. mp3, flac etc?

 

[OliVerDeTerre]

You should normally see it in both the places you mention - at the bottom of the Browse page or as the last entry under Audio Inputs in device settings. And under Home Music Share.

Your structure and number of tracks seems very reasonable - I probably have a similar folder structure but double that number of tracks and it normally detects and indexes those in a minute or so. Even if long file names were an issue, I’d expect it to perhaps ignore that as it’s more scanning the tags rather than the file names, although of course it has to open the file names to read the tags.

Are all your files tagged, and what format are they I.e. mp3, flac etc?

Yes, all files tagged. Approx. 90% FLAC, maybe 10% MP3.
One more detail: in an already three weeks old answer from WiiM support on my ticket #502972 they wrote: After reviewing your logs, we've discovered that the WiiM Amp can detect your USB hard disk but is unable to access it successfully.
What can this be - can detect but unable to access?

 

[Brantome]

Yeah, that does seem strange

Yes, all files tagged. Approx. 90% FLAC, maybe 10% MP3.
One more detail: in an already three weeks old answer from WiiM support on my ticket #502972 they wrote: After reviewing your logs, we've discovered that the WiiM Amp can detect your USB hard disk but is unable to access it successfully.
What can this be - can detect but unable to access?

yeah, that is a strange phrase. Maybe some incompatibility between the drive and Amp firmware, but again that would be unusual.
I’d get a cheap usb hub as they suggest and see if that helps, but it is a strange issue

 

[simbun]

I don't have an Amp, but doesn't it write its database files to the root of the attached storage? If on removal there's nothing there then I doubt it's even started indexing (no access).
Have you tried a standard USB key?

 

[FreakyKiwi]

Connect the drive back to your Windows machine, run a check for errors and make sure to unmount it before disconnecting using the "safely remove hardware" option from the USB systray icon.

 

[Laramie]

Check from another device using Hi-Fi Cast, Plex, etc and see if the library is seen from there. I have the same issue in that the Wiim app is unable to see it but Hi-Fi Cast works just fine. I believe my issue is caused by a bug in the Wiim app and not the Amp itself. Sometimes a reboot 'fixes' it but only temporarily. Hopefully a fix will come.

 

[harkpabst]

Checking the NTFS permissions is another thing to do without much effort.

I assume that "Everyone" needs read/write access to the root directory and at least read access to the entire file system.

 

[simbun]

Checking the NTFS permissions is another thing to do without much effort.

I assume that "Everyone" needs read/write access to the root directory and at least read access to the entire file system.

I don't think NTFS permissions are a concern on Linux are they as they're not implemented by the filesystem? In this scenario (an unknown drive) they'll be determined by the mount options.

Just trying to keep the myriad of potential issues - including many out of our control - to a minimum.

 

[OliVerDeTerre]

Connect the drive back to your Windows machine, run a check for errors and make sure to unmount it before disconnecting using the "safely remove hardware" option from the USB systray icon.

Thanks FreakyKiwi - done

 

[OliVerDeTerre]

I don't have an Amp, but doesn't it write its database files to the root of the attached storage? If on removal there's nothing there then I doubt it's even started indexing (no access).
Have you tried a standard USB key?

Thanks simbun - there are no files being created on the HDD on the root level. So it really seems not to be accessible at all.

 

[OliVerDeTerre]

Check from another device using Hi-Fi Cast, Plex, etc and see if the library is seen from there. I have the same issue in that the Wiim app is unable to see it but Hi-Fi Cast works just fine. I believe my issue is caused by a bug in the Wiim app and not the Amp itself. Sometimes a reboot 'fixes' it but only temporarily. Hopefully a fix will come.

Dear Laramie - I don't know Hi-Fi Cast or Plex - but do you think library visibility under Foobar2000 is proof as well to be generally ok?

 

[OliVerDeTerre]

Checking the NTFS permissions is another thing to do without much effort.

I assume that "Everyone" needs read/write access to the root directory and at least read access to the entire file system.

Hello harkpabst - I checked, "everyone" has full read/write permissions

 

[simbun]

Thanks simbun - there are no files being created on the HDD on the root level. So it really seems not to be accessible at all.

Have you tried a normal USB key? If that works then it's definitely some interaction with the other drive (as support stated).

 

[OliVerDeTerre]

Have you tried a normal USB key? If that works then it's definitely some interaction with the other drive (as support stated).

Hello simbun,
for now I don't have an appropriate USB stick.
But wow!
After checking all other hints from above, and after playing around once again to connect the different USB males to the Amp female in different orders, doing reboots, etc. suddenly now "USB" became visible in the sources .
No clue why but big step forward . Also album arts and tags perfectly imported for those tracks, albums, genres etc. correctly scanned .
Though, the scan statistics is nonsense . It is changing (and up to now increasing) each time when I press "Rescan". Probably this problem seems already known as I glimpsed somewhere else in the forum...

Update: after 15-20 "Rescans" the statistics seems to come to a stable end:

Happy day

 

[harkpabst]

It's magic.

 

[OliVerDeTerre]

It's magic.

Hello harkpabst,
unfortunately it was magic for a short time, but it isn't anymore.
Since I had to move Amp+USB HDD from one corner of the room to another, and therefore unplug and replug to power again, USB HDD isn't detected anymore. Not at all. No scan possible. Even though I tried all alternatives again (reboot, order of USB connectors into sockets, everything).
It's frustrating and buggy .

 

[RezNam]

I have a similiar problem with the USB storage. After closing the app the USB storage isn't available and it's not visible für any other UPnP devices or apps like mconnect. USB still seems to be faulty. I hope there is a solution soon by upating the firmware or the app. I have already opened a ticket.