Q10 Pro - Problem with the USB slave

[Sheogorath]

Hi,

This is my first post here. Greetings from a sunny Sweden! 

Question 1: My Q10 Pro recognizes my internal 2.0 terrabyte HDD, however, as soon as I connect the device to my computer using a USB 3.0 A-B-cable, the HDD stops showing on the device (won't be found neither through KODI or the file manager). As soon as I disconnect the USB-cable the internal HDD gets recognized again. This is frustrating as I want to use the USB-slave function for faster file transfer.  Would the solution be to format the drive? I think it's NTFS now but not 100% sure.

Question 2: my computer can't see the HDD in Windows 10 explorer. The device manager does see it though, but all options to format the drive are blurred out. Guess I have to remove the partition and add a new one? Which format should I choose if I do this?

Best regards,

/Hannes, Sweden

[Nice Monkey]

Good question if Slave mode is supported? As far as I remember it is nowhere in the specifications that it is?

Have an Xtreamer eXpress with an USB3 type-C port on it. Using the included Type-A to Type-C cable I connected it to my Win10 PC. It would show up under System devices as not installed first. Applying the correct drivers manually it finally showed up. In fact the new connection made the total media player visible with all memory resources available also those connected via USB not just the Internal HDD. Blazing fast access at HDD true transfer rates.

Documented the process in detail on the Xtreamer Forum but unfortunately that site has gone. So will need to reinvent the wheel myself to reproduce it.

[Sheogorath]

It does support slave mode as far as I know. The fact that the device mananger in Windows 10 sees the HDD when it's connected indicates this. The slave function was the main reason why I bought this device, actually. The range of media boxes with USB-slave, 4K-support and slot for an internal HDD is slim. The Q10 Pro is one of the few.

[Phil181]

To use as a slave, simply unplug everything (including HDMI) and plug the USB 3.0 port at the back, straight into the PC's USB port. 
It then show up in Windows as an external hard drive (just like a Seagate or WD drive etc.).  You can then use your PC to partition and format, transfer files, as required.  NTFS is always good 

[Sheogorath]

Thanks! But isn't it strange that neither KODI or the default file browser can see the drive when I have the USB-cable plugged in? When I unplug the cable the drive becomes accessible again!?

Anyhow, I will reformat it i Windows 10 and see if that resolves all issues.

[Sheogorath]

Removing the partition, adding it again and then formatting the drive resolved the issue with the HDD not being shown in the Windows 10 file browser, so that's that. A word of advice though: if you want to use the all of the capacity in the USB 3.0 port with a file transfer rate at about 600 Mb / s make sure you have drive that can write that fast. Mine capped out at about 100 Mbyte / s. Still good though.

A major problem remains, though: As soon as the USB-cable is attached it is as if the HDD is dismounted as far as visability in the Q10 Pro file browser or KODI goes. Basically, if I want to use the content that I have transfered I have to unplug the USB-cable or else I won't see the content on the HDD when trying to access it from the box instead of the computer. Not very troublesome but a stupid flaw.

[Mount81]

With most devices (including Media Players, Routers etc.) this how OTG USB connection should work with a PC. It is originally designed to be used as temporary, to configure, setup and format if necessary, after that disconnect and place the device to it's original place and operation. And I guess there's nothing more benefits you would get it from being somehow "always connected with USB to the PC". Would be also very uncomfortable in casual circumstances.

Edit: Tho' I would welcome some "ADB shell" solution (or an application) to get the ability to format the internal HDD through cable LAN connection from the PC to the BOX as well. Wouldn't that be just more comfy and practical?! (As it seams -incomprehensibly- that, even if these Android OS media Boxes with internal HDD options are current for a while now, there still isn't any Android based app that could do the job and format the HDD correctly from the Box itself).

[Sheogorath]

The plan is to have a USB-cable that runs through my apartment from the computer to the media box so that I can transfer files from the computer at high speed whenever I like, instead of having to rely on the slower home network. Having to unplug the USB-cable each time I want to access media through the box is really, really stupid, don't you think? 

[Mount81]

If your LAN isn't fats for this enough than there might be some other troubles. Is your Router a Gigabit capable and OK and well configured? Is your PC Gigabit capable? If it were so not, 100Mb/s still isn't a desperately low speed at all.  Maybe get a better (Gigabit) router (or configure it proper) and connect with Cat 5e UTP cables at minimum.

And first of all: use an FTP app on the Himedia Box to copy files from the PC, like: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=lutey.FTPServer->much faster than SMB.-> Try this first!

Doing this with the USB OTG way just isn't the proper way, and it's isn't designed for this at all.

[Sheogorath]

100 Mb/s is with the USB 3.0 cable. That's good enough for me. Over the home network it's usually under 8 Mb/s though. I will check out the FTP app you suggested but doing file transfers from the box instead of sitting by the computer seems tiresome as there's no mouse, keyboard etc. Maybe an FTP solution in Windows 10 would be an alternative although I most likely will use my USB-cable even if it means I have to plug it in and out.

[Mount81]

How long is your OTG cable? If you do the pluggings that often it must be extended somehow...

[Sheogorath]

Tried with a 1 meter (~3,3 ft) cable with the same results.

[Phil181]

100 Mb/s is with the USB 3.0 cable. That's good enough for me. Over the home network it's usually under 8 Mb/s though. I will check out the FTP app you suggested but doing file transfers from the box instead of sitting by the computer seems tiresome as there's no mouse, keyboard etc. Maybe an FTP solution in Windows 10 would be an alternative although I most likely will use my USB-cable even if it means I have to plug it in and out.

If you are only getting 8Mb/s you are probably still using Android 5.1?
A change to Android 7 does increase SMB network speed considerably (not as fast still as USB 3.0 but more acceptable for occasional file copy/transfer/move/deletion).

[Q10Pro Firmware 2.0.3 Kodi 17.3]