[dmichael]

Originally Posted by jtmccabe

Well guys, I thought I'd give the Buffalo drive a try but decided to go with the 5400 RPM 250 GB model (HD-PS250U2), which was quite a bit cheaper than the 300 GB one that was reported to work. It did not work.

Jtmccabe, I appreciate your efforts to document the working and non-working drives, so please don't take offense, but the 300gb Buffalo drive is 4200rpm not 5400. I called customer service and they confirmed it. I believe their website documents this with a footnote.

I thought there was a 2nd person that bought the 300gb Buffalo Tech, but that person never got back to us to let us know if it works or not. Certainly is expensive, but if it works perfectly with the car, then you definately have no want for more space and then its a one and done thing.

If anybody else has the 300gb Buffalo unit, please let us know how well it works.

[AWD Addict]

Yeah, major props to jtmccabe for this.

THANKS!

[dmichael]

More on Buffalo tech 300gb...

The Buffalo tech website no longer lists a 300gb drive, looks like they replaced that with a 320gb drive. I was getting ready to pull the trigger on this one but it looks like the 320 version is 5400 rpm so I would not count on it working too well with 6FL.

[323d]

one question, if i leave my USB hard drive plugged in to the car even when my engine's off and key's out, will it still drain power?

[dmichael]

Originally Posted by 323d

one question, if i leave my USB hard drive plugged in to the car even when my engine's off and key's out, will it still drain power?

Not suppose to, its suppose to automatically cut power in 5-10 mins or so, but you should test this yourself, leave the drive out in the open, remove the key, close the car and come back in 10 mins to see if the drive LED is still on. Officially, BMW's 6FL option does not support USB hard drives. Unofficially, it supports a few that do not draw a lot of power, there seems to be a pattern of 4200rpm drives that work versus higher rate of RPM which suggests that the faster the disk spins the more power it needs. Looks like there is some threshold that can vary a bit from car to car where certain drives work becuase they draw power that is under the threshold.

[jtmccabe]

Originally Posted by dmichael

Jtmccabe, I appreciate your efforts to document the working and non-working drives, so please don't take offense, but the 300gb Buffalo drive is 4200rpm not 5400. I called customer service and they confirmed it. I believe their website documents this with a footnote.

No, no, I never make misteaks.

I corrected it to 4200 RPM. I guess some websites are advertising it incorrectly as 5400 RPM. Funny, but a search of Buffalo's site for HD-PS300U2 turns up nothing.

[dmichael]

Originally Posted by jtmccabe

No, no, I never make misteaks.

I corrected it to 4200 RPM. I guess some websites are advertising it incorrectly as 5400 RPM. Funny, but a search of Buffalo's site for HD-PS300U2 turns up nothing.

Looks like they replaced the 300gb version with a 320gb version (HD-PS320U2 vs. the old HD-PS300U2). the newer version is 5400rpm where the older 300gb version is 4200rpm. some stores are already selling the newer version (usually a bit cheaper then the old 300gb version too) but other stores still have in stock teh older 300gb version. I'd bet dollars to donuts the new 320gb will not work well.

[bimmernupe]

I'm starting to have an issue where mine will switch back to radio. Then when you look in AUX, instead of showing the name of my HD it only says USB. After a few minutes the name will show again or sometimes I have to unplug and plug back in.
I think I may need a software upgrade, but not sure. My build date is either 9/07 or 10/07 (picked up @ Welt 10/27) and I thought this switching issue was solved a while back.
I have not made changes to my HD since putting it in the car. I have the Iomega eGo. Any thoughts?

[jct0518]

That kinda happened to me..some times it did show up and some times it did not..I just changed the cable and it worked like a charm..

[mid-corner fun]

The cable is very important. I ordered custom length cables (6in) both for reliability as well as a clean install. I wish I had these cables when I started testing drives, most of the drives came with long or y-usb cables (the passport being the only exception)

[Meats]

Regarding the cables... is a shorter cable preferable, or a specific brand of cable? I've been waiting to purchase another USB HD until I get everything straight.

[mid-corner fun]

Originally Posted by jkurgan

Regarding the cables... is a shorter cable preferable, or a specific brand of cable? I've been waiting to purchase another USB HD until I get everything straight.

Shorter cables are preferred but quality seems to matter as well. I've seen a couple of references in the USB/HD threads of thicker cables working better than thinner ones (avoiding intermittent disconnect problems). I have 2 tests coming up:

This 6inch cable for harddrives with USB Type A connector:
http://www.newnex.com/images/UH2-AAR01large.jpg

And this 3inch cable for HDs with mini-USB connectors (part of a USB Sandisk cardreader):
http://www.sandisk.com/Assets/File/D...in1-reader.jpg

Once I get both of these, I'll start trying new drives again.

[cheapguy69]

Is the running consensus that the problem is the power requirements of the drive? I'm considering going with a lower power option. The run of the mill external drive listed in this thread draw 5 Volts at 1 Amp. Smaller drives like those used inside the iPOD and Zune use 3.3V (http://sdd.toshiba.com/main.aspx?Pat...Specifications). A little more expensive but possibly more reliable. They could be plugged into a case such as http://insidecomputer.stores.yahoo.net/enc18aluz.html.

[furui]

Originally Posted by jtmccabe

Working drives:
.

This should be Wiki'd and stickied!

[Meats]

The 1.8in drives are gonna cost around $1.70/GB, the 2.5in drives are gonna cost around $0.65/GB.

To put that into perspective, a 160GB Ipod Classic goes for $300, which is $1.88/GB.

Hopefully there will be a solid 2.5in solution, otherwise the 1.8in drives are not much cheaper than an Ipod.

[cpippolo]

I'm one of the people who got an Iomega 4200 rpm drive to work in my car. However, its been pretty problematic. It frequently hangs up between songs, and often switches back to the tuner because it loses the USB connection with the hard drive. I switched to a USB flash drive (holds much less, I know) and it has performed pretty flawlessly so far (less than a week at this point). I've also had some other gremlins with my radio and am wondering whether the hard drive has had anything to do with them.

Just wanted to let you know that even when it works, it doesn't work that well. If you can survive with 8 or 16gb of memory, the flash drive may be the way to go. I'll keep my hard drive for long trips, but don't expect to use it often at this point.

[bimmernupe]

Originally Posted by cpippolo

I'm one of the people who got an Iomega 4200 rpm drive to work in my car. However, its been pretty problematic. It frequently hangs up between songs, and often switches back to the tuner because it loses the USB connection with the hard drive. I switched to a USB flash drive (holds much less, I know) and it has performed pretty flawlessly so far (less than a week at this point). I've also had some other gremlins with my radio and am wondering whether the hard drive has had anything to do with them.

Just wanted to let you know that even when it works, it doesn't work that well. If you can survive with 8 or 16gb of memory, the flash drive may be the way to go. I'll keep my hard drive for long trips, but don't expect to use it often at this point.

I was having the same issue and when I took it in for an unrelated issue, I told them about the switching issue. They updated the software, but I am still having the same problem.

[mid-corner fun]

I installed the 6" custom USB cable, couldn't be happier with the result! I regained usage of most of the armrest space as you can see and the drive still works great.

[amdave]

Does anyone have a voltmeter and is willing to test the voltages and currents across the USB leads out of the car? Mine is broken or I'd do it.

http://pinouts.ru/Slots/USB_pinout.shtml has the pinouts for standard USB.

As has been posted, the standard Pin_1 output is 5V with a current of 500mA. I suspect that the vehicle is outputting 5V and 500mA at the origin of the USB port in the radio somewhere. I'm not certain this is making it all the way to the port in the arm rest. Given the variability inherent in the USB standard voltages (4.75-5.25), I would guess that some people aren't getting enough voltage because we're actually quite far from the power source.

The idea of variable cable sizes has been brought up and I think that's part of the answer - I haven't pulled up my console yet, but I'd wager that they're using pretty thin cable (<24AWG) for a run of >1m. It'd be fair to expect a voltage drop across that kind of distance with a really thin cable. I also think this is why supplemental power is working for most drives.

I'd be interested in seeing what the voltage and current readouts are from Pin_1 from cars that are having success and ones that aren't.

The other side of this story is, of course, the variability in specifications on individual drives. Some may require slightly more power than others, which is what I think is happening with the passport drives.

[dknightx]

Originally Posted by dknightx

I like the look of the Buffalo 300 GB that has been mentioned above, and I found another one that looks like it could fit the bill:

Fujitsu RE25U300J

It is 300GB, 4200 rpm (checked the Fujitsu spec sheet), USB powered, has a built-in wrap-around USB cord, and can be found for less than $200! I'd love to see if somebody has tried this drive yet.

I've not seen anybody respond to my post from December about the Fujitsu drive above, but I can confirm that it works flawlessly on my just delivered 2008 E93! I was able to find the drive on eBay for $110 shipped, so it was a bargain compared to the other high capacity offerings.

It does take some time to "show up" when the car is first turned on; I'd guess 1-2 minutes; but I think that is pretty common from what I read here. It has a built-in USB cable that is about 6 inches long. I've not found a good way to mount it to the armrest yet, so it is just sitting on the shelf inside like the picture two posts up from mine.

-Dave

[KanosWRX]

Has anyone just tried a flash drive? Do they operate faster, i.e. load songs faster. I see slow start up times of 1-2 minutes just wondering if that happens on flash drives too? Im trying to figure out which one to go with. Would like 40 gigs but could probably make due with less if its much quicker.

[dmichael]

Originally Posted by dknightx

I've not seen anybody respond to my post from December about the Fujitsu drive above, but I can confirm that it works flawlessly on my just delivered 2008 E93! I was able to find the drive on eBay for $110 shipped, so it was a bargain compared to the other high capacity offerings.

It does take some time to "show up" when the car is first turned on; I'd guess 1-2 minutes; but I think that is pretty common from what I read here. It has a built-in USB cable that is about 6 inches long. I've not found a good way to mount it to the armrest yet, so it is just sitting on the shelf inside like the picture two posts up from mine.

-Dave

Dave,
Thats quite a bargain at $110, everything out there is over $200, ebay or otherwise.