> Having now (in desperation) read the destruction manuals, The STBox requires a FAT32 system but suggests a HDD, 500mb with 4 partitions.

Well, I don't know who wrote that for them, but if you've quoted it correctly it's insane!

500MB is about 20mins SD video, depending on bitrate. Perhaps 500GB was intended, that would be fine, the max supported under FAT32 is 8TB.

Note:
1KB = 1024B
1MB = 1024KB
1GB = 1024MB
1TB = 1024GB

Whatever the media, you cannot create a file larger than (2^32)-1 bytes (this is one byte less than 4 GB) on a FAT32 partition.

So using a HDD instead wouldn't solve the problem. I'm afraid that either your TV is crap or at least that its instructions are crap.

I suggest that you try to borrow an old HD, connect it to your PC via a powered USB caddy, format it as NTFS in Disk Management (BEWARE: make sure you format the right one), then connect it to the TV via the same USB caddy, and see if it will recognise it.

If it doesn't. Download a Linux Live CD image, eg whatever the current version of Ubuntu is, burn the CD, boot the PC from it, then off the right hand end of the menu options choose Disk Utility, and then partition and format the drive as Ext3, and try again.

If both these fail, I'm afraid your f**ked, though you could try looking on the manufacturer's website to see if there's a firmware upgrade that might solve the problem.

Limitations of the FAT32 File System in Windows XP.