hooking up HDD to DVD player

[bhome83]

So i wanna buy an external HDD and hook it up to my Oppo 980H dvd player that has a front USB port. I know it accepts HDD's (they have to be FAT32 formatted though) but was wondering if it would accept any size HDD as long as it doesn't have to use an external power supply? I was thinking about buying the biggest USB powered only HDD (western digital passport,320gb). Even though it is a large HDD does anyone know if this will indeed work with my DVD player, to play files off of? I'm assuming yes, because it is USB powered, but was curious if size mattered at all?

Also, could i (if i wanted to) hook up a HDD with an external powersource to my DVD player? I haven't tried it (would have to reformatt my current 500gb external drive to FAT32) but was curious if anyone knew of this working? THanks guys!

[ski]

No personal experience with that configuration, but this may help:
http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&q=Oppo+980H+usb+%22hard+drive%22

[kilgoretrout]

I'm assuming yes, because it is USB powered, but was curious if size mattered at all?
The fact that you are powering the drive soley by the power available from the usb port should have nothing to do with whether or not the drive will be properly detected by your dvd player. That will be a function of the firmware limitations built into the device. You could probably use a hard drive with an external power supply. They are generally more reliable than usb powered hard drives which have to be specifically designed to operate on the limited power available through usb. They are usually cheaper too.
Check ski's links though. There do appear to be some firmware limitations that may be troublesome. For example, one of the linked articles reported that the player would not recognize more than 700 files on any given drive. Another reported that if you have multiple partitions on your external drive only the first partition would be detected.

[bhome83]

thanks for the help guys. I read some stuff on the web about this players capabilities and it looks like it will take any USB hdd but like you said is limited to seeing the first 700 files. Didn't find anyone that tried a 320gb hdd, so ill cross my fingers and hopefully it will work. I always thought the bigger the HDD the more power it takes to get it going therefore this dvd player might not be able to handle it powered solely through the usb port.

[ski]

The 1st website("OPPO Digital DV-980H User Review") in my previous post's link has a user review for hooking up a 320 GB HD. Click on "here" in the Nov. 13, 2007 update at the top of the page.

[bhome83]

oops forgot to say i did read that link ski :) Good info, thanks! Hopefully i can find some more info/posts like that, that can confirm a larger external HDD (320gb) would absolutely work. I just dont want to go through the hassle of buying it and then for some reason it doesn't detect the drive. Probably will spring for it based off that one link though. i wont lose sleep over it :)