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Just ordered my shield and accessories have a few questions. PLEASE HELP!

So I just ordered my shield, remote, and micro sd. I'm really curious as to if I made a good combination of hardware. I picked up the 16gb version, nvidia remote, and the new fastest sandisk Mico sd. Here's my questions.
-I got the brand new sandisk uhs-ii u3 micro sd, I know the bus speed for micro SD on the shield is only rated uhs-1. Can I format it as adoptable storage using the USB 3.0 adapter so I can get the high speed the card is rated for or will I have to use the micro SD slot for adoptable storage and have my card speed throttled to the slower r/w bus speed. If this is the case should I have opted for a uhs-1 card for half the price
-I also have a USB 3.0 4TB external hard drive full of movies that I currently plug into my LG TV. It is formatted NTFS, will I be able to plug it into my shield and use it as my new media player since the one on my TV is kinda clunky. Can I read and write to NTFS on my shield?
- I also have an Samsung 840pro 250GB SSD in a USB 3.0 enclosure which is formatted exfat. Could this drive be used as adoptable storage via USB 3.0? Pretty much the same as question 1. Can adoptable storage be configured threw USB instead of micro SD, if this is the case do I really need the Micro SD card?
- Will a USB 3.0 hub work on the shield so I can plug in a dongle for a wireless keyboard, my 4TB drive, my SSD, and Micro SD in 3.0 adapter?
- Are the gaming controllers and remote Bluetooth or do they also require a USB receiver.
- Will rooting and installation of custom recovery and rom enable some of the features above that can't be achieved stock?
My needs for the device will be for gaming and playing my local video files and some kodi, so I would like enough storage to install many games. All of my large video files will be stored on my 4TB external. I was hoping to have all my games installed on device threw adoptable storage but would like to get the high speed from my SD card to run games
All answers and suggestions welcomed.
Should I have just opted for the 500GB pro shield?
Here's what I ordered
-also can I use a Xbox or Dualshock 4 controller instead of the included Nvidia one?

AndroiderM said:
So I just ordered my shield, remote, and micro sd. I'm really curious as to if I made a good combination of hardware. I picked up the 16gb version, nvidia remote, and the new fastest sandisk Mico sd. Here's my questions.
-I got the brand new sandisk uhs-ii u3 micro sd, I know the bus speed for micro SD on the shield is only rated uhs-1. Can I format it as adoptable storage using the USB 3.0 adapter so I can get the high speed the card is rated for or will I have to use the micro SD slot for adoptable storage and have my card speed throttled to the slower r/w bus speed. If this is the case should I have opted for a uhs-1 card for half the price
-I also have a USB 3.0 4TB external hard drive full of movies that I currently plug into my LG TV. It is formatted NTFS, will I be able to plug it into my shield and use it as my new media player since the one on my TV is kinda clunky. Can I read and write to NTFS on my shield?
- I also have an Samsung 840pro 250GB SSD in a USB 3.0 enclosure which is formatted exfat. Could this drive be used as adoptable storage via USB 3.0? Pretty much the same as question 1. Can adoptable storage be configured threw USB instead of micro SD, if this is the case do I really need the Micro SD card?
- Will a USB 3.0 hub work on the shield so I can plug in a dongle for a wireless keyboard, my 4TB drive, my SSD, and Micro SD in 3.0 adapter?
- Are the gaming controllers and remote Bluetooth or do they also require a USB receiver.
- Will rooting and installation of custom recovery and rom enable some of the features above that can't be achieved stock?
My needs for the device will be for gaming and playing my local video files and some kodi, so I would like enough storage to install many games. All of my large video files will be stored on my 4TB external. I was hoping to have all my games installed on device threw adoptable storage but would like to get the high speed from my SD card to run games
All answers and suggestions welcomed.
Should I have just opted for the 500GB pro shield?
Here's what I ordered
-also can I use a Xbox or Dualshock 4 controller instead of the included Nvidia one?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can anyone help with some of these questions? I canceled the 16gb version and opted for the pro. I also canceled the sandisk micro sd. Can I use my Samsung ssd in usb 3.0 enclosure as adoptable storage? Would I benefit any from it as far as load times on games or should I just install to internal 500gb drive? What are the advantages of a custom rom over rooted stock rom. With stock rooted rom can I install all the same apps from Google play or will I have more options with a custom rom? Also I see custom roms of full android 6.0 without nvidia skin overlay. Are there any real benefits this and will I lose any functionality? Any help is appreciated, responses please! I get my shield Tuesday.

Look through the forum and most of your questions will be answered, also, should have stuck with the 16gb

AndroiderM said:
So I just ordered my shield, remote, and micro sd. I'm really curious as to if I made a good combination of hardware. I picked up the 16gb version, nvidia remote, and the new fastest sandisk Mico sd. Here's my questions.
-I got the brand new sandisk uhs-ii u3 micro sd, I know the bus speed for micro SD on the shield is only rated uhs-1. Can I format it as adoptable storage using the USB 3.0 adapter so I can get the high speed the card is rated for or will I have to use the micro SD slot for adoptable storage and have my card speed throttled to the slower r/w bus speed. If this is the case should I have opted for a uhs-1 card for half the price
-I also have a USB 3.0 4TB external hard drive full of movies that I currently plug into my LG TV. It is formatted NTFS, will I be able to plug it into my shield and use it as my new media player since the one on my TV is kinda clunky. Can I read and write to NTFS on my shield?
- I also have an Samsung 840pro 250GB SSD in a USB 3.0 enclosure which is formatted exfat. Could this drive be used as adoptable storage via USB 3.0? Pretty much the same as question 1. Can adoptable storage be configured threw USB instead of micro SD, if this is the case do I really need the Micro SD card?
- Will a USB 3.0 hub work on the shield so I can plug in a dongle for a wireless keyboard, my 4TB drive, my SSD, and Micro SD in 3.0 adapter?
- Are the gaming controllers and remote Bluetooth or do they also require a USB receiver.
- Will rooting and installation of custom recovery and rom enable some of the features above that can't be achieved stock?
My needs for the device will be for gaming and playing my local video files and some kodi, so I would like enough storage to install many games. All of my large video files will be stored on my 4TB external. I was hoping to have all my games installed on device threw adoptable storage but would like to get the high speed from my SD card to run games
All answers and suggestions welcomed.
Should I have just opted for the 500GB pro shield?
Here's what I ordered
-also can I use a Xbox or Dualshock 4 controller instead of the included Nvidia one?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
techjunky90 said:
Look through the forum and most of your questions will be answered, also, should have stuck with the 16gb
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah ended up swapping for 16gb again and gonna use my Samsung ssd adopted. Found the answers to most questions just trying to decide rather to flash full android m or just root factory firmware.

Why not the 500gb with adoptable though. Isn't it a hybrid drive or just a regular 5400rpm hdd

AndroiderM said:
Why not the 500gb with adoptable though. Isn't it a hybrid drive or just a regular 5400rpm hdd
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think the drive is a Hybrid. Pretty good chance that NVIDIA just used a USB 3.0 to SATA chip to service that 500gb drive. So I see no reason why you couldn't have just done it yourself.
How do you know the device did not come with the remote already? I purchased the 16gb and decided I did not want the remote so I didn't buy it, yet surprisingly it was in the retail box anyway.

As far as I know it's just the shield and the controller in the box according to the Amazon description and pictures. They do sell a bundle that has the remote included but I'm pretty confident mine has no remote. You cannot add, change, or remove storage internally on the shield nvidia made sure of that.

Weather to Pro or not to Pro, you can find some more opinions here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/shield-tv/help/buying-16gb-128gb-sdcard-500gb-t3399659
It all comes down to what you want to use the Shield for. If your installed games are not going to exceed those 16GB of flash (which of course will be less) I see no reason to get the Pro. Another valid point is the price difference: for the 100€ difference, I could get a 2-4 TB HDD.
On another note, I think you can find more answers around here: https://forums.geforce.com/default/board/159/shield-android-tv/

Yeah I was talking about getting a bigger usb 3.0 drive and using one of the included usb 3.0 ports. That's actually why they are there.

SkOrPn said:
Yeah I was talking about getting a bigger usb 3.0 drive and using one of the included usb 3.0 ports. That's actually why they are there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Gotcha I plan on it, I have a 256gb ssd in enclosure I want to use as adopted storage and a 4tb wd external for media storage

Personally speaking, for my family anyway I just add drives to the home server, or retire them for bigger ones. Building a Windows home server 5 years ago was the best thing I ever did for media consumption. Sadly I only have 3 SATA ports so I am limited to the amount of drives I can add
Sent from my SM-T700 using Tapatalk

One thing I forgot to mention: adding USB devices through a USB port will limit the speed and latency at which they are accessed.

OK how would you guys setup this is what I now have ordered and has already shipped so no going back. Idc if I use adoptable storage or not unless it benefits me. My usage will be downloading large torrent files and copying them to 4tb drive using shield as player, lots of large file gaming, kodi, Internet browsing and that's about it. Maybe hangouts
What I ordered:
Shield pro 500gb
Remote
Controllers
Bluetooth keyboard
Whatever I already have:
Samsung 256gb ssd
4tb wd my book
500gb hdd out of ps4

I wouldn't worry about adaptable storage. keep your external drives mounted as removable storage and have your apps and games all installed on your internal drive, keep the external drives just for media. I can't see you filling up 500gb with android apps and games any time soon.

Mr Creosote said:
I wouldn't worry about adaptable storage. keep your external drives mounted as removable storage and have your apps and games all installed on your internal drive, keep the external drives just for media. I can't see you filling up 500gb with android apps and games any time soon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Edit: I think I've got it figured out just gonna root stock rom and sideload whatever I can't get directly through playstore.

Debating whether or not to exchange 16GB for Pro

After using a 16GB Darcy for 10 days I'm now tempted to exchange it for a Pro. Basically, I could use the extra space. I was going to buy a USB 3, 500GB ssd for adopted storage which will put me at the cost of a Pro anyway. I tried adopted storage on Darcy with a 320GB HD and set it all up, but as soon as I opened ES file explorer and gave it the permission it asked for, I lost access to the disk and had to forget it then reformat it. My guess is I should have Denied that permission request because once ES cached it's files and wrote to the disk it must have invalidated it. I'll know that for next time but my point is that adopted storage on Android can be tricky. So I'm wondering, can you hear the SSHD in the Pro spin when things are quiet? That would be a con for me. And the biggest con is the lack of ir blaster on pro remote. I have volume on my TV working with this and how would I accomplish that with the Pro? I don't believe CEC can control volume on my TV. Just CEC power control is working for me. If someone with some experience with these models can chime in here it will help me make a decision. Thanks.

DJarkIV said:
After using a 16GB Darcy for 10 days I'm now tempted to exchange it for a Pro. Basically, I could use the extra space. I was going to buy a USB 3, 500GB ssd for adopted storage which will put me at the cost of a Pro anyway. I tried adopted storage on Darcy with a 320GB HD and set it all up, but as soon as I opened ES file explorer and gave it the permission it asked for, I lost access to the disk and had to forget it then reformat it. My guess is I should have Denied that permission request because once ES cached it's files and wrote to the disk it must have invalidated it. I'll know that for next time but my point is that adopted storage on Android can be tricky. So I'm wondering, can you hear the SSHD in the Pro spin when things are quiet? That would be a con for me. And the biggest con is the lack of ir blaster on pro remote. I have volume on my TV working with this and how would I accomplish that with the Pro? I don't believe CEC can control volume on my TV. Just CEC power control is working for me. If someone with some experience with these models can chime in here it will help me make a decision. Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have had the shield pro for almost a year now, never heard the hard disk, control volume with the shield fine, if it cant then the settings is in your tv to use external volume source. I may also add been rooted since day one with zero problems that I didnt cause myself

jionny said:
I have had the shield pro for almost a year now, never heard the hard disk, control volume with the shield fine, if it cant then the settings is in your tv to use external volume source. I may also add been rooted since day one with zero problems that I didnt cause myself
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the info. I want to clarify that ES didn't ask for root permission regarding the adopted storage. It was simple storage permission request, "access storage, photos, etc." ES may have viewed it as external storage although it was setup as internal through Android. I'll have to experiment with that again to confirm that's what happened.

DJarkIV said:
Thanks for the info. I want to clarify that ES didn't ask for root permission regarding the adopted storage. It was simple storage permission request, "access storage, photos, etc." ES may have viewed it as external storage although it was setup as internal through Android. I'll have to experiment with that again to confirm that's what happened.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use to use es when I first rooted but my personal opinion is it sucks, I now use Xplore

jionny said:
I use to use es when I first rooted but my personal opinion is it sucks, I now use Xplore
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I couldn't agree more. ES has practically became malware over the years. On my phone I use Amaze. I installed Amaze on the Shield but can't use it without a mouse. I just downloaded Xplore as you recommend and will give it a try. Speaking of mouse, I'm looking to purchase a Bluetooth RII i8 mouse/keyboard/ remote. Is Bluetooth the way to go over Wifi-Direct on newer Shields?

DJarkIV said:
I couldn't agree more. ES has practically became malware over the years. On my phone I use Amaze. I installed Amaze on the Shield but can't use it without a mouse. I just downloaded Xplore as you recommend and will give it a try. Speaking of mouse, I'm looking to purchase a Bluetooth RII i8 mouse/keyboard/ remote. Is Bluetooth the way to go over Wifi-Direct on newer Shields?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My personal experience with the RII i8 with the shield is doesnt work very well, maybe just my experience. I happened upon a logitech K400 plus keyboard/mouse and it works flawless, only disapointment is I rather have something smaller like the i8

DJarkIV said:
Thanks for the info. I want to clarify that ES didn't ask for root permission regarding the adopted storage. It was simple storage permission request, "access storage, photos, etc." ES may have viewed it as external storage although it was setup as internal through Android. I'll have to experiment with that again to confirm that's what happened.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
my guess is that is what happened, personally I believe es explorer is garbage at one time the best but not anymore, I use Xplore

I've a 2017 16gb model with a 250GB Samsung EVO SSD in a USB 3 enclosure. I filled it with 50+ games (more than 10 of LightSpeed Studios) and emulators, the speed is awesome and the problems non existant. The free space is aroud 100 GB.
For file management I use Solid Explorer. It's not remote friendly, but you can use it very well with the joystick.

cyberdionisio said:
I've a 2017 16gb model with a 250GB Samsung EVO SSD in a USB 3 enclosure. I filled it with 50+ games (more than 10 of LightSpeed Studios) and emulators, the speed is awesome and the problems non existant. The free space is aroud 100 GB.
For file management I use Solid Explorer. It's not remote friendly, but you can use it very well with the joystick.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I ended up keeping the 16GB darcy and added a 500GB Samsung T5 SSD as adopted stage. Seems like a good setup so I'm happy. I also have a new USB 3 hub on the inner port. Now I just have to figure out how to bypass the convertible mode on the outer port so I can have adb on without losing the ability to hook up media/storage devices to that port. I may have found a way but it requires a factory reset after the build.prop string is added. I'll get around to trying it out soon.

Sorry to barge in on this convo - but I have a similarish qu. I've just bought the 16Gb today (not shipped yet) and will be either using a 256 flash drive, or my 1TB WD USB 3 HDD.
The thing that's putting me off is the fact that when you add the HDD/SD to the Shield, it can't be read on a PC afterwards. So how on earth would I transfer anything to it once it's been formatted by the Shield?

jonboyuk said:
Sorry to barge in on this convo - but I have a similarish qu. I've just bought the 16Gb today (not shipped yet) and will be either using a 256 flash drive, or my 1TB WD USB 3 HDD.
The thing that's putting me off is the fact that when you add the HDD/SD to the Shield, it can't be read on a PC afterwards. So how on earth would I transfer anything to it once it's been formatted by the Shield?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're not barging in, that's what xda is for. So I'm not sure what your goal is but if you want to add to the Android internal storage then you will keep that Drive of your choice plugged into the Shield and consider it integrated. To transfer files back and forth you could use another drive of your choice which would just be a transfer drive. That Drive is not formatted by the Shield but it's readable and you can manage it with a file manager. My preferred method would be just using a usb 3 cable (usb a to usb a) Shield to computer directly. It's basically the same way you would hook up your phone to the computer to transfer files. Another way which is supported by most file managers would be wireless transfer. You have a lot of options. I recently just added a Samsung SSD as adoptable storage which is now considered part of the internal storage. It's working well.

DJarkIV said:
You're not barging in, that's what xda is for. So I'm not sure what your goal is but if you want to add to the Android internal storage then you will keep that Drive of your choice plugged into the Shield and consider it integrated. To transfer files back and forth you could use another drive of your choice which would just be a transfer drive. That Drive is not formatted by the Shield but it's readable and you can manage it with a file manager. My preferred method would be just using a usb 3 cable (usb a to usb a) Shield to computer directly. It's basically the same way you would hook up your phone to the computer to transfer files. Another way which is supported by most file managers would be wireless transfer. You have a lot of options. I recently just added a Samsung SSD as adoptable storage which is now considered part of the internal storage. It's working well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haha I know, I'm just being courteous
That makes perfect sense though. In which case I might use the 1TB hard drive for removable storage (movies etc) and then get a 128Gb flash drive to replace the integrated 16Gb (ie adoptable).
The other thing is, I didn't buy the Shield controller. I do have a spare Xbox One & PS4 pad. Do they work equally as well - bearing in mind that I'll be using it for PC streaming, emulation and Android gaming?
Cheers!

That makes perfect sense though. In which case I might use the 1TB hard drive for removable storage (movies etc) and then get a 128Gb flash drive to replace the integrated 16Gb (ie adoptable).
Just to clarify, it won't replace the 16GB internal storage but add to it. The Android System will still remain on the 16GB internal but the drive you add as adopted will contain the Data portion after you set it up and have the Shield "move Data" to it. It's not a perfect system and some apps will still prefer to install to the 16GB. But if you enable developer options and check "force apps to external regardless of manifest" you will have the ability to move the stubborn apps to your adopted storage drive.
The other thing is, I didn't buy the Shield controller. I do have a spare Xbox One & PS4 pad. Do they work equally as well - bearing in mind that I'll be using it for PC streaming, emulation and Android gaming?
As far as the controller, I'm not 100% sure. If those controllers use Bluetooth to pair they should work. You can select settings-add accessory and attempt to pair them. If you look around you will find that answer.

If you change the external storage as a GPT drive instead of MBR. the nVidia Shield can use it for added internal storage. But it won't do it without this change which you can do on a Windows PC with Disk Management.You don't need a PRO.

orbinick said:
If you change the external storage as a GPT drive instead of MBR. the nVidia Shield can use it for added internal storage. But it won't do it without this change which you can do on a Windows PC with Disk Management.You don't need a PRO.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, we're way of topic at this point. I decided a while ago I'm not exchanging for the Pro. Instead I added a Samsung T5 500GB. Your post is very interesting, can you explain further? I'm a Mac user so I did originally format my disk with the GUID partition scheme (GPT) before setting it up as adoptable storage. But from my experience, you can pretty much add just about any disk I ever tried as adoptable storage regardless of the partition scheme. The Shield ends up formatting it beforehand although I'm not sure if it changes the partition scheme for you. What more can you do with GUID that you can't do with MPT?

Best Drive Formatting for Live Channels/DVR and/or Plex?

New Nvidia Shield user here... So I have a 500GB external HD that I am connecting to my new Shield. I, for the most part, want to utilize that HD for recording Live Channels DVR and Plex. I understand the two types of 'formatting' that can be done to the HD - Formatted as Adaptive (Device) storage, or Removable Storage.
For the above scenario (i.e. mostly for DVRing in Live Channels and/or Plex) which type of formatting would be the best to use for this 500GB drive?
Also, could I format a fast USB 128GB flash drive as Internal (Device) storage, then have the 500GB drive formatted as Removable connected at the same time? Any benefit to having this kind of setup? Or can any DVR recording (either Live Channels or Plex) write specifically to the removable storage?
Just curious as to the best way for me to format this drive for the purpose of Plex and DVRing live TV. Any thoughts appreciated.
-Chimp (Tom)

Does connecting USB drive give you longer live TV pausing times? Like over an hour or is Plex live TV pause limited to a certain time?

Adding additional storage, internal, external, Plex?

Apologises if this is covered elsewhere but I couldn't find exactly the info.
My Shield 2017 16GB has less the 2GB of free space left so looking at adding additional storage. I know that I can add to internal and/or external. I know that internal will allow apps and movies to be saved locally but sometimes I'm away on business or leisure in a hotel and if saved as internal then I can't plug the USB3.0 HDD into the hotel TV or my laptop to watch a movie that I've downloaded.
Would I be better using an additional HDD as external storage allowing me to plug it into other devices to watch stuff or could I use Plex? Then I can leave the HDD at home at watch it remotely, this won't work though if the hotel TV hasn't got Plex on it?
I understand a USB3.0 flash drive doesn't like being used as a permanant external storage and often fail.
Just some advice, pro's and con's which way to go would be appreciated.
Thanks

I had shared hdd (nas or hdd) mounted to shield, Plex was happily using that as a storage. Plex database was on internal storage. I tried to connect hdd directly to shield, it was working fine as well.
If you leave your shield at home, then you are depending on hotel tv or you can buy cheap streaming box (like mi box). Shield is powerful enough to transcode on the fly. Only is pitty to leave powerful device at home. For example if you want to play games.
Btw, I have mi box as well and it was good streaming box before upgrade.
Sent from my XT1635-02 using Tapatalk

Id get an addition SSD...use one for extra internal storage, and use one for external that you take with you..Best of both worlds.

space drain in Shield TV 2019 Pro 16Gb

My shield start lost space on storage, no metter I use shield or not. In control storage apps 3Gb other 0 Gb and free now 4 Gb, tomorrow will be 3 Gb. I try factory reset, its not working. I have HD VideoBox, ViMu player, NUM, Torrserv all last version,

I use a USB 256GB stick in my shield. In settings you can install the USB as removable or integrated. If you integrate the USB stick almost all your apps will transfer to it and new apps will install to it.