I think it could also be power draw from the stick. The Note 3 probably cannot provide the necessary power to use the stick properly. Maybe treating it similar to an external hard drive where additional power is required to work.

Also, check file system the stick is using. If it's NTFS, the Note 3 will not recognize that format. Format to exFAT for recognition. But won't work regardless if there are power restrictions involved.

These are the only things I can come up with that can cause the issue.

 

Heres another thread about using external hard drives on the Note 3:

http://androidforums.com/samsung-galaxy-note-3/808235-note-3-external-drive.html

 

My guess is the power draw is too much for the Note 3. I use umpteen different ordinary USB drives and an old Samsung micro USB adaptor. It works everytime. I have never found an issue with them, even a Blu-ray ripped movie at best quality (A staggering 6.6Gig - "Blade Runner" , if your interested) works fine.

 

NFST or is it NFTS? formatted hard drives show the same thing on my note 2 and 3.

 

It's NTFS. Unless rooted, NTFS file formats will not work with Android. Only file formats compatible are FAT32 or exFAT. If given the choice, go with exFAT for greater compatibility and less file restrictions.