Google Nest Community

bram73 · ‎12-06-2023

I'm trying to attach an external usb drive to Chromecast w/google TV. The drive is formated in FAT32 and plugged via a DEMKICO 6-in-1 multiport USB-C hub with a 65W BELKIN powersupply.
Chromecast always shows the drive is safely ejected (no matter how many times I unplug and plug the drive back in). The drive is correctly recognised by Chromecast (the volume name is displayed ).

@rider @Lampros @german_chacon @LovelyM @Jeran you all had the same issue? How did you solve this problem?

Any suggestion for a solution? Thanks.

Kimy · ‎12-19-2023

Hi bram73,

Thanks for posting here in the Google Nest Community. Connecting external USB hubs for storage expansion or peripheral devices to a Chromecast with Google TV is a hit or miss. These kinds of setups aren’t intended for the general use of Chromecast with Google TV. There’s no guarantee that they will work. Some users managed to pull it through, but we don’t normally recommend it as it may affect how the Chromecast device works. Kindly check out this basic guide: Move files from and to your Chromecast with Google TV.

I hope this helps. Let us know if you have questions or concerns with your Chromecast device.

Thanks,

Kimy

Kimy · ‎01-02-2024

Hi Mersaine,

Thanks for posting here. Like what was said, it is a hit or miss since it’s not an intended function. Here’s a video of Tech With Brett titled Maximize Your Chromecasts Full Capabilities. I hope this somehow helps. Let us know if you have other concerns with your Chromecast device.

Cheers,

Kimy

Mersaine · ‎01-03-2024

Hello Kimy,

I appreciate your video sharing. Ironically, the video from Brett three years ago is the one I used two years ago, and I purchased the exact same USB-C hub back then, which has been working perfectly fine. The USB controllers I use on it are still being detected by the Chromecast right now.

It's not about a "hit" or "miss"; it's always been a success with this hardware. The recent Android 12 update firmware seems to have interfered with the way the Chromecast interacts with the flashdrives in general, this new behavior has been reported by many users, not just in the googlenest community, but also on Reddit.

Instead of the "hit or miss" approach, I'm seeking to understand the updates made to fix or address the issue and enable the features to work properly again.

I have a phone on Android 12, and the same hub is working fine on it. The Android firmware development team of the CCwGTV may have unintentionally introduced a bug, affecting the flash drive detection. This could be a parameter that needs adjustment or a deeper issue. I'm not giving up; I bought this device and need the external drive to maximize its capabilities.

Rather than resorting to the "hit or miss" or "by design" answers, let's focus on fixing the issue. If you have the means to contact the developers of the CCwGTV firmware, could you please forward this issue regarding the Android 12 firmware update and the inability to access external drives?

The status in the parameters shows "USB drive is safely ejected" instead of the regular options to format and display storage capacities.

Thank you for your assistance.

Sincerely,

Mersaine.

bram73 · ‎01-03-2024

Hello Mersaine,

No, I still didn't find a solution. Pretty frustrating isn't it...
I hope Google will solve this issue soon.

Kimy · ‎01-03-2024

Hi folks,

Thanks for your replies. I suggest you send feedback via Settings > Help and Feedback. You may not get a reply, but that goes directly to the developers and engineers. Let us know if you experience any issues with the functionality of your Chromecast devices.

Warmly,

Kimy

Mersaine · ‎01-04-2024

Hello, I tried to send feedback like you said but the functionality isn't working nothing happens when I click on the button.

The link bellow : g.co/tv/help sends me right back here to this community.

Any chance you can try again to reach the dev on your side ?

Or maybe you could open a issue on the official Google issue tracker for us ?

We don't have the rights :

https://issuetracker.google.com/u/3/issues/new?component=166797&template=0

Thank you in advance for you help 🙏

Mersaine

Kimy · ‎02-01-2024

Hi everyone,

It’s great to discover that there are other things that we can do with products that we purchase outside of their actual purpose. Take vinegar, for example. It’s used for food-related purposes, but when combined with other herbs, it becomes a reliever for certain illnesses. A bottle of cola intended as a beverage for refreshments is oddly being used for cleaning stains on metal objects.

There are tech vloggers and techy individuals who managed to explore different usages for Chromecast with Google TV, and kudos to these people. But these kinds of setups aren’t intended for the general use of Chromecast with Google TV. Google can’t suddenly change something on its device just because certain techy individuals discovered (exploited) unintended usage. There are possible risks that may cause issues with the device in the long run. And if a system update happens to stop these explored usages outside the intended functions, Google is not obliged to restore them. These updates have their purposes, and if by chance they caused issues (bugs) in the normal usage of the device, then a correction would be made.

I hope this sheds light on the situation. Let us know if you have other questions or concerns.

Thanks,

Kimy

Mersaine · ‎02-01-2024

Hello,

I appreciate your response, but I am wondering where Google stated that connecting a USB drive through a USB-C Hub on a Chromecast with Google TV "isn't intended for the general use of Chromecast with Google TV" or "There are possible risks that may cause issues with the device in the long run".

As far as I know, it is explained on their official support webpage how to do so : https://support.google.com/chromecast/answer/11276506?hl=en-AU

Therefore, it seems to be officially supported.

Moreover, the end of the support page directed us to this community in case of any issues.

That is why we came here for support, hoping that you can help us reach the dev.

Here is the official statement about it:

3. Expand your Chromecast’s storage

To expand your Chromecast’s storage, you’ll need a:

Compatible USB-C hub with a power delivery port.

USB-C charger (higher than 1.5 A/7.5 W).

Portable storage device, such as a USB stick or SD card.

If you use a USB storage device, use USB 2.0 or greater speeds.

To expand your storage: Connect your Chromecast to your TV’s HDMI port.

Connect the USB-C hub to your Chromecast.

Connect the USB-C charger to a power socket and to the power delivery port of the USB-C hub.

Connect your USB storage device to the hub. You’ll be prompted to reformat the storage device in order to expand your system storage.

If you are unable to help us, could you please redirect us to someone who can, or perhaps open an issue on the official Google issue tracker for us?

We don't have the permissions:

https://issuetracker.google.com/u/3/issues/new?component=166797&template=

As explained before, the Android firmware development team of the CCwGTV may have unintentionally introduced a bug, affecting the flash drive detection. This could be a parameter that needs adjustment or a deeper issue.

It's the users and your community duty and responsability to report it so they can be aware of it and fix it.

Thank you very much for your help 🙏

Mersaine

Best regards,

Kimy · ‎02-08-2024

Hi Mersaine,

I think I understand now where the confusion happened. I suggest you clear the cache and cookies so you can see the changes on that page. That was changed long ago.

Regards,

Kimy

Mersaine · ‎02-08-2024

Thank you for reaching out and for your suggestion regarding clearing the cache. I appreciate your concern.

However, upon checking the HTTP headers of the webpage, it appears that the page was modified at the specific date and time of "Fri, 09 Feb 2024 01:44:48 GMT," coinciding with the time of your message.

Is this your interpretation of "long ago"?

It seems you would rather edit a webpage than acknowledge your inability to assist us. 😞

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
P3P: CP="This is not a P3P policy! See g.co/p3phelp for more info.", CP="This is not a P3P policy! See g.co/p3phelp for more info."
Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=31536000; includeSubdomains
Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8
Date-Last-Modified: Fri, 09 Feb 2024 01:44:48 GMT
Expires: Fri, 09 Feb 2024 01:44:48 GMT
Cache-Control: private, max-age=0
Content-Security-Policy-Report-Only: object-src 'none';base-uri 'self';script-src 'nonce-GXmk7nv/vM/5Ibu4yySl' 'unsafe-inline' 'unsafe-eval' 'strict-dynamic' https: http: 'report-sample';report-uri https://csp.withgoogle.com/csp/scfe
X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff
Content-Encoding: gzip
Server: support-content-ui
X-XSS-Protection: 0
X-Frame-Options: SAMEORIGIN
Set-Cookie: NID=511=g9QAEMUfXDO2RggP4Y91VOax6_5-l5qSDE5Y6dVXyhBGSKHv3Xa8wUoiMoG8ciho6aMBD-z4Ep4W0GO6fKmSKrwrKmIzny0WJtxz6SGeEnSqOlxnyrCcOaF4sBzTPAheB3CM84WErJexFe7oXkQ02MT-RhxQQ89zR5hq9w0q1B0; expires=Sat, 10-Aug-2024 01:44:48 GMT; path=/; domain=.google.com; Secure; HttpOnly, NID=511=g9QAEMUfXDO2RggP4Y91VOax6_5-l5qSDE5Y6dVXyhBGSKHv3Xa8wUoiMoG8ciho6aMBD-z4Ep4W0GO6fKmSKrwrKmIzny0WJtxz6SGeEnSqOlxnyrCcOaF4sBzTPAheB3CM84WErJexFe7oXkQ02MT-RhxQQ89zR5hq9w0q1B0; expires=Sat, 10-Aug-2024 01:44:48 GMT; path=/; domain=.google.com; Secure; HttpOnly
Alt-Svc: h3=":443"; ma=2592000,h3-29=":443"; ma=2592000
Transfer-Encoding: chunkeded a bug, affecting the flash drive detection. This could be a parameter

Kimy, considering the duration of these exchanges, it would have been quicker for you to submit a bug report to the developers on our behalf, rather than expending energy on admitting you are mistaken.

It's ok if you can't help us, could you please instead redirect us to someone who can, thank you very much for your help 🙏.

Mersaine

Best regards

Chromecast12bad · ‎02-15-2024

Bad form Google.

A user's/consumers's intended purpose is different from a corporate indended purpose and when your purposefully break the customer's indended purpose (which is what is happening), all you have done is caused a Financial strain to people.

You do know it is illegal in some countries to purposefully destroy the customers intended purpose for a product? and it was never a "hit or miss" before.. so I got no idea where you were pulling that from.

Mersaine · ‎02-08-2024

Thank you for reaching out and for your suggestion regarding clearing the cache. I appreciate your concern. However, upon checking the HTTP headers of the webpage, it appears that the page was modified at the specific date and time of : "Fri, 09 Feb 2024 01:44:48 GMT," coinciding with the time of your message.

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
P3P: CP="This is not a P3P policy! See g.co/p3phelp for more info.", CP="This is not a P3P policy! See g.co/p3phelp for more info."
Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=31536000; includeSubdomains
Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8
Date-Last-Modified: Fri, 09 Feb 2024 01:44:48 GMT
Expires: Fri, 09 Feb 2024 01:44:48 GMT
Cache-Control: private, max-age=0
Content-Security-Policy-Report-Only: object-src 'none';base-uri 'self';script-src 'nonce-GXmk7nv/vM/5Ibu4yySl' 'unsafe-inline' 'unsafe-eval' 'strict-dynamic' https: http: 'report-sample';report-uri https://csp.withgoogle.com/csp/scfe
X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff
Content-Encoding: gzip
Server: support-content-ui
X-XSS-Protection: 0
X-Frame-Options: SAMEORIGIN
Set-Cookie: NID=511=g9QAEMUfXDO2RggP4Y91VOax6_5-l5qSDE5Y6dVXyhBGSKHv3Xa8wUoiMoG8ciho6aMBD-z4Ep4W0GO6fKmSKrwrKmIzny0WJtxz6SGeEnSqOlxnyrCcOaF4sBzTPAheB3CM84WErJexFe7oXkQ02MT-RhxQQ89zR5hq9w0q1B0; expires=Sat, 10-Aug-2024 01:44:48 GMT; path=/; domain=.google.com; Secure; HttpOnly, NID=511=g9QAEMUfXDO2RggP4Y91VOax6_5-l5qSDE5Y6dVXyhBGSKHv3Xa8wUoiMoG8ciho6aMBD-z4Ep4W0GO6fKmSKrwrKmIzny0WJtxz6SGeEnSqOlxnyrCcOaF4sBzTPAheB3CM84WErJexFe7oXkQ02MT-RhxQQ89zR5hq9w0q1B0; expires=Sat, 10-Aug-2024 01:44:48 GMT; path=/; domain=.google.com; Secure; HttpOnly
Alt-Svc: h3=":443"; ma=2592000,h3-29=":443"; ma=2592000
Transfer-Encoding: chunked

Is this your interpretation of "long ago"?
It appears that you prioritize editing a webpage over acknowledging your inability to assist us. :-(.
Kimy, considering the duration of these exchanges, it would have been quicker for you to submit a bug report to the developers on our behalf, rather than expending energy on admitting you are mistaken.
If you are unable to help us it's ok, please redirect us to someone who can, or perhaps open an issue on the official Google issue tracker for us?

We don't have the permissions:
https://issuetracker.google.com/u/3/issues/new?component=166797&template=

As explained before, the Android firmware development team of the CCwGTV may have unintentionally introduced a bug, affecting the flash drive detection. This could be a parameter that needs adjustment or a deeper issue.

It's the users and your community duty and responsibility to report it so they can be aware of it and fix it.

Thank you very much for your help.

Mersaine

Best regards.