Wanting to use an external but having few issues.

i posted this in the stickied thread yesterday but i got no response.
anyway, i'll try to keep it short.
i got a 2tb my book with a usb3. it came in a green box (old model. new ones come in blue). i tried formatting it, reallocating, changing to exfat, plugging fast but it didn't work on my ps4. it's discoverable but gives and error in the last step to activate as an external.
searching around, the only thing i've yet to try is using another usb3 cable.
any idea what i can do? anyone else with a my book working fine as external for their ps4?

if all fails, what are good compatible 2-3tb externals with good prices?
other than this.