I have a 1TB "Green" drive by Fantom that I use with my WDTV. The problem is that during playback videos, the WDTV will just lose the connection to the drive completely (it just disappears as if it's unplugged). It happens on all types of files, although I predominantly watch .avi's encoded with Xvid.

I'm pretty sure that Fantom drive uses a Western Digital drive in the enclosure. Since the drive is considered "green" could it be auto-powering down? That doesn't make alot of sense as it should be spinning the platters while the movies are playing. Thoughts?

Anybody?

Have you tried switching the USB cable? Almost sounds like a bad connection of some sort. It could be the drive itself, but I doubt it.

I use a Green WD in Verbatim enclosure and nothing like this happens...must be the cable...

That's an interesting theory, and one I hadn't considered. I've never had a bad USB cable before, and the one I'm using is new--but it sounds plausible. Thanks!

That's an interesting theory, and one I hadn't considered. I've never had a bad USB cable before, and the one I'm using is new--but it sounds plausible. Thanks!

If it turns out to not be a defective USB, check the manufacturer manual to see if maybe it does have a sleep mode, or some other power saving feature. One question though that can rule that out, does it disconnect at random times, or is it always a certain amount of time into a movie?

It's entirely random. Sometimes I can get all the way through a film, other times it can't make it through an 18 minute 3 Stooges reel. When it disconnects I often just turn the drive off and on again, allow the WDTV to re-scan the drive, and I can go back to watching. That doesn't mean it won't disconnect again--only that after the drive is powered off and on that the WDTV sees it again.

Also, the Fantom drive I'm using is one of their "green" models and does supposedly auto-power down when not in use. I suppose that could be the problem, but it doesn't make sense because if the WDTV is reading a video file, it should constantly be accessing the drive, which should stop it from going into a sleep mode.

I have had zero problems with all green model drives that I own. I only own Western Digital. My suggestion, use that drive for something else and get yourself a Western Digital.

I have only ever had one western digital drive fail under warranty and they sent me one 3 times the size of my original. Others complain, but I find that the company makes the best products in this industry. It is always worth the 5-10 difference.