External Storage issue with Kodi & Android TV (Nvidia Shield TV Pro 2019)



Hello, 
Thank you all in advance for your time and responses.  I am new to Kodi and Android TV v11 (?) through using Nvidia Shield TV Pro 2019 v9.1.1.  I set up my Kodi on Windows 11 using a 5TB external hard drive.  It behaves as expected and plays both MP4 and ISO files with nice thumbnails for all media types on the Infowall setting. 

When I use the external drive in Kodi on Android TV Nvidia Shield TV Pro 2019, it does not treat the external storage in the same way. 

  • The movie poster style thumbnails in the Iconwall (No Infowall option is available) setting are replaced with small thumbnails and a file name in a larger black rectangle. 
  • The external drive is not visible to add video sources to Movies, TV Shows etc…  I am able to select specific folders (ie Kid’s Movies, TV Shows, Non-Kid Movies) as Favourites but not as additional video sources the way I can in Windows. 
  • Also, Kodi does not see any external hard drive jpeg images in Android TV (when trying to select a profile picture) but they are visible in the X-plore file manager app.  

Am I missing Kodi settings in Android TV / Nvidia Shield TV Pro 2019 that are not allowing for the external hard drive to be seen in much the same way as a Windows 11 PC?

I am running Kodi v21 Omega on all platforms.  I also have errors playing ISO files in Kodi (works on VLC) in Android TV but I understand from another thread that this will be corrected in a release after v21 Omega.

Thank you!