[jtmccabe]

Originally Posted by dmichael

Call me a spendthrift, but I'm now leaning towards a 32gb compact flash card. I am into photography so I can always use another card once I am ready to step up to more storage.

Bottom line is that flash memory has zero issues with 6FL and prices have been really coming down lately. In about a year, we may see 64gb cards for ~150

Jtmccabe, we are keeping our fingers crossed even though initial reports are not so encouraging. If this drive doesn't work out well for you, this may start to prove that some of our cars don't provide as much power at the usb port as others.

There were a few times when I was idling and the drive was in the process of indexing or loading, but it took longer than usual, so I stepped on the gas to give it some juice and then it would finish up quick after that. You know how your headlights tend to be a little dim at idle and then you step on it and they get brighter. same thing, the alternator kicks in and you get a bit more juice. maybe a coincidence though.

All Ipods work fine in these cars, so we can deduce based on the fact that all iPod have 1.8" or flash drives and most of us have tried with mixed results what are essentially laptop drives at 2.5" so besides the rotational speed, size does matter, less mass to move. Probably why the 1.8" Lacie drives work so well, besides the super slow-mo RPM speed, they are smaller and therefore require less power than 2.5", and I'm sure 2.5" needs less power to spin than 3.5" drives.

For me, flash memory won't be a good solution until it's at least 120 GB. Not because I'll ever listen to all that music in the car, but because I want to be able to listen to anything in my collection at any time, and I also don't want to have to spend hours figuring out what not to put on the drive. Of course, the car's 20,000-song limit will always force me to do the latter.

I think you're right about the power issue. When I pulled into my garage just now and the headlights came on, the music immediately stopped. It came right back on and started playing normally, but that initial power hit will probably always make it stop for a moment.

On my drive home there was more stopping than before during the first minute or so, and then it was fine again until the headlights came on. I'm thinking it was because the drive was colder this time (~44°F) so it was a little harder to spin. Then it warmed up and did fine.

I'm glad this drive at least sort of works, which is more than I can say for the others I've tried. I'll probably use it as a backup for when I don't have the iPod with me. To me, the occasional cutting out negates any sound quality or cost benefits over an iPod.

Hopefully we'll start to see the 160 GB 1.8" drives as external drives soon. Looks they only require about 1W.

[Meats]

Damn, I consider that bad news....

Is it safe to assume then:

Flash Media = Works for everyone
1.8in 4200 RPM Drives = Probably work for everyone (need more input)
2.5in 4200 RPM Drives = Work for most
2.5in 5400 RPM Drives = Work for few
2.5in 7200 RPM Drives = None reported working?

BTW, did a quick google search; an 80GB 1.8in drives costs about $120, 100GB is about $175. If you are willing to sacrifice some value, you could try either of those. With 20k tracks, 4MB/track would fill up the 80GB, 5MB/track would fill up the 100GB.

Buffalo 300GB for $150 = $0.50 per GB
Toshiba MK8009GAH 80GB for $120 = $1.50 per GB
LaCie Little Disk 60GB for $100 = $1.60 per GB
Toshiba MK1011GAH for $175 = $1.75 per GB
32 GB Flash Drive for $150 = $4.68 per GB

Originally Posted by jtmccabe

For me, flash memory won't be a good solution until it's at least 120 GB. Not because I'll ever listen to all that music in the car, but because I want to be able to listen to anything in my collection at any time, and I also don't want to have to spend hours figuring out what not to put on the drive. Of course, the car's 20,000-song limit will always force me to do the latter.

I think you're right about the power issue. When I pulled into my garage just now and the headlights came on, the music immediately stopped. It came right back on and started playing normally, but that initial power hit will probably always make it stop for a moment.

On my drive home there was more stopping than before during the first minute or so, and then it was fine again until the headlights came on. I'm thinking it was because the drive was colder this time (~44°F) so it was a little harder to spin. Then it warmed up and did fine.

I'm glad this drive at least sort of works, which is more than I can say for the others I've tried. I'll probably use it as a backup for when I don't have the iPod with me. To me, the occasional cutting out negates any sound quality or cost benefits over an iPod.

Hopefully we'll start to see the 160 GB 1.8" drives as external drives soon. Looks they only require about 1W.

[mrvuml]

I noticed in new PC Connection catalog today that they have Kanguru brand 80GB+ USB hard drives that they claim use 75% less power than other drives and have power-savings mode when not in use. Perhaps this (lower power drives) might be the solution. I'm tired of the ~50% chance that my WD Passport 60GB drive will appear when I start my car.

Anyone able to get playlists to appear on their USB hard drive? I can get them working just fine on USB flash drive but not on USB hard drive.

[mid-corner fun]

Anyone able to get playlists to appear on their USB hard drive? I can get them working just fine on USB flash drive but not on USB hard drive.

They work fine for me, I drop them off on the top-level directory.

[mrvuml]

Originally Posted by PeterM1

They work fine for me, I drop them off on the top-level directory.

Thats where I have them also but they don't appear on the display to select from. I get "Dir" but no "List".

[GeriFix]

Originally Posted by mrvuml

Anyone able to get playlists to appear on their USB hard drive? I can get them working just fine on USB flash drive but not on USB hard drive.

Yes, they are working on my Little Disk. Once iDrive has indexed the disk it seems to have found all the playlists and lists them alphanumerically, regardless of which folder they are located in.

[mid-corner fun]

Originally Posted by mrvuml

Thats where I have them also but they don't appear on the display to select from. I get "Dir" but no "List".

??? If I understand correctly, you need to go one level up via iDrive. Then you'll have 4 choices: Dir, Playlists, Genre & Albums.

Once the drive is indexed, you'll be able to navigate into these directories and select playlists etc.

[titsataki]

So I was tooling around looking for 1.8 inch drives and I found this:

http://www.xpcgear.com/xp1860gbl.html

What do you guys thing. About $80 and still 60Gb.
I am still considering it. (I am evaluating their return policies etc..)

Also 160Gb drives are starting to come up.

http://news.digitaltrends.com/news/s...s_reach_160_gb

http://www.businesswire.com/portal/s...13&newsLang=en

Cheers

Nick

[Meats]

Great find, I say go for it. I dont think we've had a solid test on an external 1.8" drive.

BTW, Newegg has a 60GB version:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...ago-_-22242004

Originally Posted by titsataki

So I was tooling around looking for 1.8 inch drives and I found this:

http://www.xpcgear.com/xp1860gbl.html

What do you guys thing. About $80 and still 60Gb.
I am still considering it. (I am evaluating their return policies etc..)

Also 160Gb drives are starting to come up.

http://news.digitaltrends.com/news/s...s_reach_160_gb

http://www.businesswire.com/portal/s...13&newsLang=en

Cheers

Nick

[jtmccabe]

Originally Posted by jkurgan

Great find, I say go for it. I dont think we've had a solid test on an external 1.8" drive.

For some reason I thought the LaCie 60 GB drives were 1.8". Couldn't find the size in their specs though.

[jtmccabe]

Well, I loaded about 12,000 songs onto my Buffalo 300 GB drive and when I plugged it in, it wasn't identified. I figured it would take a while to index so I left it plugged in for a while. I noticed that it sounded like it was having trouble powering up, but I thought it might be indexing, so I just let it run. Eventually I got tired of waiting and plugged my iPod back in. Now the screen says "Loading data from audio device" (?) forever, so I can't even use the iPod anymore. I tried reconnecting it a few times but it always does the same thing.

I guess the problem might be with the iPod, but I suspect I might have fried something by leaving the underpowered drive plugged in for too long. I'll try another iPod later and let you guys know. I think I might be done experimenting with hard drives.

[Meats]

Originally Posted by jtmccabe

For some reason I thought the LaCie 60 GB drives were 1.8". Couldn't find the size in their specs though.

You are right, it is.... so 1.8" drives are a safe bet.

[mrvuml]

Originally Posted by PeterM1

??? If I understand correctly, you need to go one level up via iDrive. Then you'll have 4 choices: Dir, Playlists, Genre & Albums.

Once the drive is indexed, you'll be able to navigate into these directories and select playlists etc.

When "List" doesn't appear, neither does Genre, Album and Artist. I think I may have figured out the problem. It seems to be in the format of the entries in the playlist (.m3u file). It appears that if they are not formatted exactly right the playlists (all of them) won't be recognized. After I created them with WMP on my PC I edited out the drive letter from each entry. When doing this it looks like its important to leave in a leading backslash ("\"). Although not having one works fine on the PC it looks like it won't work for the palylist on the USB device in the car. I continue to debug this problem.

[mid-corner fun]

When "List" doesn't appear, neither does Genre, Album and Artist.

I keep going back to this because it's not normal , at least not with my version of progman.

You should always be able to see List, Genre, Album, Artist, either in selectable or in grayed out form, depending on whether re-indexing is required or not. Yes?

And for the playlists, I'm doing the same thing as you. I'm taking out the drive letter and ":" but leaving the first backslash in place.

[jtmccabe]

Originally Posted by jtmccabe

Now the screen says "Loading data from audio device" (?) forever, so I can't even use the iPod anymore. I tried reconnecting it a few times but it always does the same thing.

I guess the problem might be with the iPod, but I suspect I might have fried something by leaving the underpowered drive plugged in for too long. I'll try another iPod later and let you guys know. I think I might be done experimenting with hard drives.

Apparently the car is fine and this has nothing to do with the Buffalo drive. My 6G iPod works fine and only my 5G has the problem, so far. I think it has to do with the new version of iTunes I just installed and big MP3 files or podcasts. More on this here.

[larryn]

Originally Posted by jkurgan

Great find, I say go for it. I dont think we've had a solid test on an external 1.8" drive.

BTW, Newegg has a 60GB version:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...ago-_-22242004

I ordered this for my 135i. I should have it by Tuesday, and will post my results. It's $40 cheaper than the LaCie, and my WD didn't work in the car either, just as others have found.

I was ready to order a old stock 5.5G ipod, as I use my ipod without a problem, other than I continually forget to take it out of the car for the rest of my commute. Hopefully, this little drive will do the trick.

[elzar]

This shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone, but I ripped the 30 GB 1.8" drive from my dead Dell DJ, got an enclosure from eBay, and it works in my new 328xi. It's a Hitachi 4200 RPM disk with a ZIF connector. Enclosures are $8, so I was able to reuse some old equipment for very little money. If I hadn't just tossed the rest of the components into the trash to end up in a landfill, I'd be proud of my recycling.

I just popped it in and made a few minute trip back and forth to the liquor store and the drive seemed to reindex every time I turned on the car. That may be because it never had enough time to do it fully; there's 17GB worth of stuff on there. Regardless, it seems that all 1.8" disks will work just like flash drives.

[mrvuml]

Originally Posted by elzar

This shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone, but I ripped the 30 GB 1.8" drive from my dead Dell DJ, got an enclosure from eBay, and it works in my new 328xi. It's a Hitachi 4200 RPM disk with a ZIF connector. Enclosures are $8, so I was able to reuse some old equipment for very little money. If I hadn't just tossed the rest of the components into the trash to end up in a landfill, I'd be proud of my recycling.

I just popped it in and made a few minute trip back and forth to the liquor store and the drive seemed to reindex every time I turned on the car. That may be because it never had enough time to do it fully; there's 17GB worth of stuff on there. Regardless, it seems that all 1.8" disks will work just like flash drives.

Can you post a link to the enclosure on eBay? I may sacrifice my old Dell 30GB DJv2 for this as my WD Passport 60GB drive won't start up reliably in the car.

[elzar]

Originally Posted by mrvuml

Can you post a link to the enclosure on eBay? I may sacrifice my old Dell 30GB DJv2 for this as my WD Passport 60GB drive won't start up reliably in the car.

Just search for 1.8 ZIF on eBay and you'll find about a hundred of them.

Taking apart the DJ is a little tricky. You need to remove the top and bottom rubber parts with a screwdriver, then remove some tiny screws inside (the screwdriver included in the eBay kit would come in handy here). Once those are gone, nothing will slide out until you pop off the scroll wheel. I was only able to do figure that out after absolutely destroying the rest of it. Maybe some pliers will pull it off the face. Good luck.

[AWD Addict]

I know it's been said, but my 2G Sandisk thumb drive works great. I'll be trying my 60G Firelite this weekend and will report back.

Indexing is fast and music sounds great! 6FL FTW!

[mrvuml]

Originally Posted by AWD Addict

I know it's been said, but my 2G Sandisk thumb drive works great.

I'm using an 8GB Sandisk Cruzer USB flash drive. Works great.

[dmichael]

I bought an Apricorn Aegis Mini A18-USB-60 from newegg. It has a 1.8" platter, 60GB. It comes with a very short captured usb chord about 4 inches, one of the reasons why I disliked the Fujitsu, but the Fujitsu was a 2.5" drive and would sometimes be slow to react when I used it with an extension cable, not so with the new 1.8" drive. The Apricorn doesn't have nearly as much storage space but it works just was well as any flash based storage I've used. Its much smaller and fits in the ipod pouch as long as you use an extention cable. Apricorn advertises that the drives are made by Hitachi, but mine came with a Toshiba model MK6008GAH. Same as in ipods. Built for low power consumption for consumer electronics like MP3 players. Our best bet is to stay away from these 2.5" laptop drives, they require too much power. If anyone has an old ipod or other HDD based MP3 player that you don't mind sacrificing or is already out of commission, reuse the drive in a new enclosure.

Link to 60gb Apricorn drive