[wkndrdr]

Ok, so over the weekend I decided to buy a 500GB usb powered hard drive. Loaded all my songs on it and got the unsupported error. Then remembered it had to be formated to FAT32. Reformated and reloaded all my songs, then got the No Songs error. After a few trial and error I figured there must be a space limitation. so I recreated the primary volume to 150GB and reformatted as FAT, no problems. Then I resized the volume and reformatted again till I got the no songs error. Currently I have it set to 260GB. It gave the no songs error at 270GB. I have about 120GB worth of songs on the hard drive and it takes 45sec to a min until the device starts playing. So I've partitioned the rest of the drive as NTFS for files and such.

 

[Xaque]

Fascinating!

Honestly, it never even occurred to me to rock a USB powered HDD... and I have one sitting around.

I'll have to try it out!

 

[DOOM]

Fascinating!

Honestly, it never even occurred to me to rock a USB powered HDD... and I have one sitting around.

I'll have to try it out!

if you're going to do this solid state memory is the only way to go. even common road vibration will cause very short lifespans for the hard drives, not to mention weather and humidity extremes.

http://www.amazon.com/Transcend-External-Solid-State-TS128GSSD18M-M/dp/B001NS82C6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1292300395&sr=8-1


^^ this isn't bad - but something similar could probably be had for about half the price with a little more digging. it will also drastically eliminate any lag/wait time to next to nothing if at all.

 

[wkndrdr]

if you're going to do this solid state memory is the only way to go. even common road vibration will cause very short lifespans for the hard drives, not to mention weather and humidity extremes.

http://www.amazon.com/Transcend-External-Solid-State-TS128GSSD18M-M/dp/B001NS82C6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1292300395&sr=8-1


^^ this isn't bad - but something similar could probably be had for about half the price with a little more digging. it will also drastically eliminate any lag/wait time to next to nothing if at all.

Actually some head units do have virtual drives that are actual hard drives built in. These have been around for years. Although vibrations and environment conditions can affect hard drive lifespan, I don't think it's any more fragile than a cd or dvd player. That being said I would definitely not keep important data in the hard drive.

I did find an issue with the USB though. As I was driving home I switched to the USB mode and the system would give me an unsupported error. I turned the radio off then on and it was able to load the songs. I might also be hitting the folder/file number limit as I can only scroll down to a 1/3 of my collection.

 

[fishnbanjo]

I no longer need my CF adapter for downloading photos to my PC's since my network printer has that ability so I simply took my no longer needed 256Mb CF cards and formatted them as FAT 16 and loaded them up. They take up very little room and have no rattle issues plus they are cheap to replace should they fail and all my songs are backed up on my laptops SSD.

 

[DOOM]

since mobile device storage is doubling every year i'm fine with my 32 gb iphone and a proclip mount. better for tomtom and the occasional email in traffic.

 

[ifonline]

Actually some head units do have virtual drives that are actual hard drives built in. These have been around for years.

Sure, and these hard drives are undoubtedly isolated from vibration via shock mounts. Portable USB hard drives are not likely shock mounted.

Although vibrations and environment conditions can affect hard drive lifespan, I don't think it's any more fragile than a cd or dvd player. That being said I would definitely not keep important data in the hard drive.

CD and DVD skipping via vibrations is not a big deal, but damage to the very fragile innards of a physical hard drive is a very real possibility with the right shock. It is not a good idea to use a standard hard drive in a rough environment, and the robustness of a laser scanning an optical disc is very different from the robustness of an extremely thin metal read head (or heads) just barely floating above a metal platter that can be easily damaged.

 

[wkndrdr]

Sure, and these hard drives are undoubtedly isolated from vibration via shock mounts. Portable USB hard drives are not likely shock mounted.



CD and DVD skipping via vibrations is not a big deal, but damage to the very fragile innards of a physical hard drive is a very real possibility with the right shock. It is not a good idea to use a standard hard drive in a rough environment, and the robustness of a laser scanning an optical disc is very different from the robustness of an extremely thin metal read head (or heads) just barely floating above a metal platter that can be easily damaged.

Initially I created this thread to inform people of the usb limitations and not turn this into a debate whether having a hard drive in your car is a good/bad idea. For most people this isn't an issue since you'll be hard pressed to find any type of memory card over 250GB. But just to put things into perspective, ipod classics have micro hard drives in them, I don't own one, but I see people jog, hike, bike with them. My creative zen has a micro hard drive in it, that I use every time I go snowboarding and I've had that thing since 2004 and never had that thing skip, it did have an issue once of not turning on because of the temperature though. I would think micro hard drives would have even higher tolerances than a portable hard drive. I used to repair laptops and the hard drives in them are not mounted with any kind of shock resistance and people have no issues using laptops on public transportation or on flights. I wouldn't recommend shaking a hard drive while it's reading or writing but I think it's fine in a car, as long as you're not off roading.

 

[ifonline]

If you don't want to turn this into a debate about the limitations of using off the shelf hard drives in vehicles, then stop trying to argue your point about how you think it should be ok to use hard drives in vehicles.

 

[wkndrdr]

If you don't want to turn this into a debate about the limitations of using off the shelf hard drives in vehicles, then stop trying to argue your point about how you think it should be ok to use hard drives in vehicles.

'nuff said....

I was re-reading the manual and came across this tidbit:

• Do not use a device such as a card reader or hard drive as the device or your files may be damaged.
• Do not connect your USB flash memory device using a hub.
• Do not use an extension cable to the USB adapter cable equipped with your vehicle.
• Do not keep a USB flash memory device in the vehicle. Direct sunlight and high heat will damage it.
• We recommend backing up your data before playing a USB flash memory device.

It looks like they do not recommend using hard drives as a source for music playback. I'm gonna have to rethink using the hard drive as well since I'm hitting the 700 folder limit. It would be too difficult to manage the files if I squeezed all the files under 700 folders and a waste of a hard drive to not be able to hold all my files.

 

[CMT1]

Hdd

Wkndrdr - I tried your idea - awesome !!! Mu old 40gig ipod (with a HD), got the unsupported version. I was using a flash stick but it could not hold my itunes collection.

I experimented with a 120gb HD it worked so i went out to G33ks.com and bought a 40gig, ang case for 20$. The SSD is a great idea but a 75$, i can buy 5 of the refurb 40gigs (plus i keep itunes on my desktop / laptop & usb backup disk). I just drag the folder to the usb HD, remove the DRM files (6 albums) and all my music is there.

GREAT IDEA !!!

Thanks

 

[CMT1]

An addenum for the space & subwoofer

Well i've been using the enclosed hd for 3 months now. Twice upon starting the car it said no data. I had to unplug it a replug it in - works fine.

Also i noticed that the SUB was a little weak, so i copied the folder of music to my PC's HD, set a EQ curve in GoldWave and processed the files. The result is a little more "bottom end" in the music.

Note: I would not recommend doing that to the "original" digital music files, use a copy and initially use a small quantity sample of files (with 2500+ files on the program to set EQ and normailization ran for > 2 days (on a q6600 w/ 4 gig)).

 

[FamilyGuy]

I had tried leaving my old iPod nano permanently connected in the arm rest, but I found it very unreliable b/c of the cold. I would get the no data or unsupported errors unless I brought it inside with me every time I got out of the car.

 

[PJ271]

I just stream from my phone with a BB Gateway. All my music + Pandora, no wires.

 

[11_Blk_X_Tour]

I just stream from my phone with a BB Gateway. All my music + Pandora, no wires.

How? IM looking to stream from my HTC EVO

 

[proudfreemason]

Guys, I JUST BOUGHT A BRAND NEW 1.8 Gig (Small) IPOD NANO for my Wife when she is jogging. However, I am getting "unsupported ver" when I plug it in. I plug in my old IPOD stick and get the exact same error. Now, the IPOD NANO is brand new and is small, why would I be getting this message? Can anyone help me, I am getting really frustrated with this one..

 

[FredCl]

I have 2 Ipods one of them received an update to the system file and didn't work anymore in the car either (Not in the CT NOT in the BMW and it also does Not work in my GoldWing anymore). The other one I did NOT update and still works fine. This might be the cause. As far as I know you can't undo this update.

 

[Xaque]

I have 2 Ipods one of them received an update to the system file and didn't work anymore in the car either (Not in the CT NOT in the BMW and it also does Not work in my GoldWing anymore). The other one I did NOT update and still works fine. This might be the cause. As far as I know you can't undo this update.

It is possible to downgrade an ipod... there are directions through out the internet. (It's just not a standard option, so you probably wouldn't find any documentation in the Apple site.)

 

[proudfreemason]

Well, I have an IPOD that is 4 years old, it does not work either? I am very confused on all of this, as I have plugged in nemerous IPOD's into the CT and NONE OF THEM WORK! I am EXTREMELY frustrated by all of this. I called HONDA CANADA and spoke to someone about this and they referred my back to the manual which states NOTHING about the issue. Thanks for the effort, but I am not sure it's an update file in this case...

 

[Xaque]

Well, I have an IPOD that is 4 years old, it does not work either? I am very confused on all of this, as I have plugged in nemerous IPOD's into the CT and NONE OF THEM WORK! I am EXTREMELY frustrated by all of this. I called HONDA CANADA and spoke to someone about this and they referred my back to the manual which states NOTHING about the issue. Thanks for the effort, but I am not sure it's an update file in this case...

Time to troubleshoot:

When you plug it in, does it charge? - If not, it may be that the USB port isn't hooked up to the car (problem in manufacturing).

If it does charge, what exactly happens when you select "AUX" on the radio? Do you have NAV? If so, what is displayed on the "Audio" screen?

What happens on the iPod?

Are you able to put Mp3 files on a USB stick and read that?

I see that you are getting "Unsupported Version" displayed... but where exactly are you seeing this?