USB hard drives that work with 6FL

ishaqmir · 07-09-2011, 01:40 PM

Hi everyone

Connected an old USB2 100gb hitachi HDD in enclosure to the USB port under armrest on my 630i Conv 2008, works flawlessly without any glitches, but I'm just worried that it may blow something in the car and won't be covered under warranty. Do I have anything to worry about? I dint mind if the HDD gets damaged, just don't want anything to go wrong with the car. Thanks

kaigoss69 · 07-23-2011, 09:19 AM

Well I got tired of the 10 minute wait every time I get in the car so in hopes of improving the speed a litlle bit I ordered this drive:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ZN6PX097R3NW1R

I think it is a great deal and it has been proven to work with our cars. I'll report back.

RacerUnderTheSon · 08-06-2011, 10:05 PM

I got an Patriot Xporter XT Rage (64 GB). I loaded it with 40 GB of music and the indexing took forever. After a 30 min drive the artist/album/track fields were still grayed out... I erased all but a few GB and the problem persisted.

Then I reformated the drive and placed about 12 GB on it. Music starts playing about 7-10 seconds after getting into car and complete indexing is available soon after.

The point is, the drive worked much better after reformating it (FAT32). I used a free version of Acronis True Image to format.

ajscratch71 · 08-08-2011, 03:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kaigoss69

Well I got tired of the 10 minute wait every time I get in the car so in hopes of improving the speed a litlle bit I ordered this drive:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ZN6PX097R3NW1R

I think it is a great deal and it has been proven to work with our cars. I'll report back.

Yep, I saw your post and ordered one from compusa/tiger direct. I put about 40 GB worth of mp3's on it and it works like a champ!
Initially, I had created six folders and grouped them according to genre. However, I did have one little issue: two of the folders were pretty large, one with over 3,500+ files and the other a little over 3K. I had the drive hooked up for about 35 minutes and it never indexed those two folders, so I got impatient. Anyhew, I created one subfolder in each folder and now it takes a couple of minutes for my music to index once the car is started.

Hope this helps!

AJ

algreen345 · 12-05-2011, 08:16 PM

I have a two week old 2011 335d with the 6FL. I first bought a 32G usb flash drive and loaded 320kps MP3's, but the decoder in our cars isn't very good. So I converted some FLAC files to WAV and they sound pretty good. Not much deep bass in the Professional radio, but the clarity is good and its pretty musical.

But 32G doesn't hold much, so took a WD 320 Scorpio Black drive I had from a laptop and filled it with WAV files. The drive is formatted as FAT32, and I put it in a TrekStor 2.5" enclosure I bought at Microcenter for $5.

It only has one USB connection, and it powers up perfectly in the 6FL USB port. It takes a few minutes to index the drive, but it works.

And btw, the Scorpio Black spins at 7200rpm, so its also pretty fast. The Trekstor enclosure comes with a nice leather case, which I hope will help protect the drive from bumps and rattles.

rcurley55 · 12-06-2011, 01:10 AM

I'm using a portable 2.5" WD120GB drive with 40GB of music. The files are organized by artist, then album. When browsing the directory, the music plays perfect. The car indexes the drive very quickly; however, when you use the tags to select an album, then try to start playback, the car says the file cannot be played.

Any idea on what's wrong?

Ryebread · 12-11-2011, 03:33 PM

I should have known not to trust my SA.

The front usb port, in my glove box, will not ready my thumb drive, I was misinformed.

the usb port in the center console, will read it! but I can't transfer music, only listen to it. which sucks.

so if my ipod will work from the center console, and not the glove box. and my iphone is the same way, what is the purpose of the usb in the glove box?

mr_milo · 12-12-2011, 04:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ryebread

so if my ipod will work from the center console, and not the glove box. and my iphone is the same way, what is the purpose of the usb in the glove box?

You use the USB in the glove box to transfer music to the HD in the CIC. It is also used to update the maps on the CIC. The problem with the music in/on the CIC is that it doesn't have album art whereas the usb in the center console will allow album art if the tags have it.

techead · 04-24-2012, 08:06 AM

Hi all, new member, been reading this USB thread with interest, seeking to deploy my full mp3 collection in car (f11 520 se).

Anyone linked up a PC directly to either the glove or centre USB ports? Wondering if its possible to directly manage the in car HDD from a PC eg laptop in car. Problem is once material is written to the car's HDD, no way to manage the file system.

Thanks.

ins1dez · 06-01-2013, 12:36 PM

Have you guys tested any SSD's?

the_rangdo · 06-01-2013, 01:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ins1dez

Have you guys tested any SSD's?

Go back a couple of pages to post #511

ins1dez · 06-01-2013, 01:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by the_rangdo

Go back a couple of pages to post #511

Yes i've seen your post. I was wondering about Samsung 840 or Sandisk , or Intel , they have good prices for 120/128GB version :P

the_rangdo · 06-01-2013, 01:50 PM

I can't remember the specs any more but it all comes down to the start-up power requirement of the SSD chipset.

I did try a Crucial drive but it never initialised properly and had a habit of tripping out the audio. The Corsair was the 2nd drive I tried, worked perfectly straight away (and still is in my F11)

ins1dez · 06-01-2013, 04:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by the_rangdo

I can't remember the specs any more but it all comes down to the start-up power requirement of the SSD chipset.

I did try a Crucial drive but it never initialised properly and had a habit of tripping out the audio. The Corsair was the 2nd drive I tried, worked perfectly straight away (and still is in my F11)

Yep I read your post, but that SSD is kinda old.

I'm interested about Samsung 840 basic/PRO, Crucial m4 or m500, Intel 320/520/525, the new models.

the_rangdo · 06-01-2013, 05:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ins1dez

Yep I read your post, but that SSD is kinda old.

I'm interested about Samsung 840 basic/PRO, Crucial m4 or m500, Intel 320/520/525, the new models.

Well if 120gb is enough for you, who cares how old it is. Newer won't play your songs any better

If you want bigger, then as I said you're going to have to investigate the power consumption of the various chipsets, especially the initial start up spike. You've got a benchmark with my Corsair, that had a particularly low current draw. The Crucial at the time had low operational current requirements but the start up requirement was more than my USB socket could provide.

Of course, finding the detailed specs can be challenging.

Bicax · 06-02-2013, 02:31 PM

I'm using a 500Gb Lacie Littledisk (I know it's overkill, but it's what I had when I decided to give it a try), and it takes maybe 20 or 30 seconds between when I open the car and when music starts playing.

Is an SSD that much faster? I wouldn't mind having instant music, and I could use the littledisk for something else.

the_rangdo · 06-15-2013, 07:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ins1dez

Yep I read your post, but that SSD is kinda old.

I'm interested about Samsung 840 basic/PRO, Crucial m4 or m500, Intel 320/520/525, the new models.

OK, now you've jinxed me - the Corsair decided to pack up today. Started stop/starting yesterday, and plugging it into my PC it struggles to be recognised and when it finally is it can't hold a transfer.

All those you listed have high current draws, I'd be interested to hear if you got any to work but if they go over 500mA draw you're overloading the USB specs.

e.g. M500. Idle isn't too bad (double the F120 I was using) but the max read at 2.37W is getting close to 500mA. And writes (not that you need to do any) are way over. Finding the startup spike isn't easy, some of the drives in real-world test use >4W which nearly 1A!!

Today I picked up a 120GB Sandisk Pulse, only £69. Can't find many specs on it at all, the Sandisk Ultra power specs aren't too high so I took a gamble that this would be o.k.

Tested o.k. with a couple of albums, recognised quickly. Now I've just got to load it up with 120GB

ins1dez · 06-16-2013, 04:16 PM

Yep sandisk is very cheap.

I am looking for Intel 330 180gb or something similar.

No problem if they use more power, use USB Y Cable

rollinstone157 · 06-16-2013, 06:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ins1dez

Yep sandisk is very cheap.

I am looking for Intel 330 180gb or something similar.

No problem if they use more power, use USB Y Cable

Quote:

Originally Posted by the_rangdo

OK, now you've jinxed me - the Corsair decided to pack up today. Started stop/starting yesterday, and plugging it into my PC it struggles to be recognised and when it finally is it can't hold a transfer.

All those you listed have high current draws, I'd be interested to hear if you got any to work but if they go over 500mA draw you're overloading the USB specs.

e.g. M500. Idle isn't too bad (double the F120 I was using) but the max read at 2.37W is getting close to 500mA. And writes (not that you need to do any) are way over. Finding the startup spike isn't easy, some of the drives in real-world test use >4W which nearly 1A!!

Today I picked up a 120GB Sandisk Pulse, only £69. Can't find many specs on it at all, the Sandisk Ultra power specs aren't too high so I took a gamble that this would be o.k.

Tested o.k. with a couple of albums, recognised quickly. Now I've just got to load it up with 120GB

The Y-cable is exactly how I got around the power draw requirements. I have a dual USB slim power plug in the 12V socket in the armrest, and a USB y-cable. With 1.5A of combined power, I can spin up practically any laptop drive!

I'm considering switching to a very high capacity flash drive though--when I had my mac >1 year ago I could use DoubleTwist and sync to the hard drive, but the Windows version won't do that for me, and I haven't come up with a workaround yet.

skylar.sutton · 06-16-2013, 11:48 PM

Just weighing in with my experience.

I just wasted an hour of my life formatting an HP v165w to FAT32 and fiddling with it - but the car simply won't recognize it.

I tested an old 4GB drive I had laying around and it fired right up with no problems. Both work in my PC, and both are formatted FAT32 - so I can only assume there is something goofy with the HP's firmware/file IO.

On to the next flash drive.

the_rangdo · 06-17-2013, 02:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rollinstone157

The Y-cable is exactly how I got around the power draw requirements. I have a dual USB slim power plug in the 12V socket in the armrest, and a USB y-cable. With 1.5A of combined power, I can spin up practically any laptop drive!

It helps when there's a 12V socket in the armrest

No such luck for me

Bicax · 06-17-2013, 02:58 AM

For those of you who are using an SSD connected to the armrest USB, how long does it take for music to start playing from the moment you open the car? If anyone could time it, I would appreciate it.

If you could specify the type of files that you use as well as the size they are occupying it would help.

07-09-2011, 01:40 PM	#529
ishaqmir Registered 0 Rep 2 Posts Drives: BMW 630i Sport Convertible 08 Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Solihull, UK iTrader: (0)	Hi everyone Connected an old USB2 100gb hitachi HDD in enclosure to the USB port under armrest on my 630i Conv 2008, works flawlessly without any glitches, but I'm just worried that it may blow something in the car and won't be covered under warranty. Do I have anything to worry about? I dint mind if the HDD gets damaged, just don't want anything to go wrong with the car. Thanks
	Appreciate 0 Quote

07-23-2011, 09:19 AM	#530
kaigoss69 Brigadier General 300 Rep 3,969 Posts Drives: '08 335i Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: JAX iTrader: (6)	Well I got tired of the 10 minute wait every time I get in the car so in hopes of improving the speed a litlle bit I ordered this drive: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ZN6PX097R3NW1R I think it is a great deal and it has been proven to work with our cars. I'll report back. __________________ Mobridge DA2 > JBL MS-8 > ARC XDi 600/4 > JBL Gti 408 Mids & Vifa OT19 Tweeters; PG Ti2 1600.5 > Morel HCW-10 & IDMax 15
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08-06-2011, 10:05 PM	#531
RacerUnderTheSon Second Lieutenant 13 Rep 210 Posts Drives: 2011 Space Gray 335is Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Orange County, CA iTrader: (0)	I got an Patriot Xporter XT Rage (64 GB). I loaded it with 40 GB of music and the indexing took forever. After a 30 min drive the artist/album/track fields were still grayed out... I erased all but a few GB and the problem persisted. Then I reformated the drive and placed about 12 GB on it. Music starts playing about 7-10 seconds after getting into car and complete indexing is available soon after. The point is, the drive worked much better after reformating it (FAT32). I used a free version of Acronis True Image to format. __________________ DCT, 19" 313s, 30% tint, Clear Reflectors, Nav, PDC, H/K+BSW Speakers, Infinity 10" subs
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12-05-2011, 08:16 PM	#533
algreen345 Registered 0 Rep 1 Posts Drives: BMW 335d Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: New York iTrader: (0)	WD 320 I have a two week old 2011 335d with the 6FL. I first bought a 32G usb flash drive and loaded 320kps MP3's, but the decoder in our cars isn't very good. So I converted some FLAC files to WAV and they sound pretty good. Not much deep bass in the Professional radio, but the clarity is good and its pretty musical. But 32G doesn't hold much, so took a WD 320 Scorpio Black drive I had from a laptop and filled it with WAV files. The drive is formatted as FAT32, and I put it in a TrekStor 2.5" enclosure I bought at Microcenter for $5. It only has one USB connection, and it powers up perfectly in the 6FL USB port. It takes a few minutes to index the drive, but it works. And btw, the Scorpio Black spins at 7200rpm, so its also pretty fast. The Trekstor enclosure comes with a nice leather case, which I hope will help protect the drive from bumps and rattles.
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12-06-2011, 01:10 AM	#534
rcurley55 Private 4 Rep 99 Posts Drives: 2010 535i Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: SF, CA iTrader: (0)	I'm using a portable 2.5" WD120GB drive with 40GB of music. The files are organized by artist, then album. When browsing the directory, the music plays perfect. The car indexes the drive very quickly; however, when you use the tags to select an album, then try to start playback, the car says the file cannot be played. Any idea on what's wrong?
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12-11-2011, 03:33 PM	#535
Ryebread Diesel Fitter 37 Rep 424 Posts Drives: 335d m-sport LMB Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: Philaburbia iTrader: (2) Garage List 2013 VW Golf R (awd ... [10.00] 2011 BMW 335D m-sport [0.00]	sorry I should have known not to trust my SA. The front usb port, in my glove box, will not ready my thumb drive, I was misinformed. the usb port in the center console, will read it! but I can't transfer music, only listen to it. which sucks. so if my ipod will work from the center console, and not the glove box. and my iphone is the same way, what is the purpose of the usb in the glove box? __________________ lemans 335D m-sport SOLD rising blue Golf R SOLD sepang blue Audi S3 Last edited by Ryebread; 12-11-2011 at 04:15 PM..
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04-24-2012, 08:06 AM	#537
techead Registered 0 Rep 1 Posts Drives: bmw 520d se f11 Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: United Kingdom iTrader: (0)	BMW USB connection Hi all, new member, been reading this USB thread with interest, seeking to deploy my full mp3 collection in car (f11 520 se). Anyone linked up a PC directly to either the glove or centre USB ports? Wondering if its possible to directly manage the in car HDD from a PC eg laptop in car. Problem is once material is written to the car's HDD, no way to manage the file system. Thanks.
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06-01-2013, 12:36 PM	#538
ins1dez iN dA cLuB 29 Rep 500 Posts Drives: E90 Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Romania iTrader: (1)	Have you guys tested any SSD's?
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06-01-2013, 01:50 PM	#541
the_rangdo First Lieutenant 18 Rep 339 Posts Drives: 528i F11 (2015) Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Rochdale iTrader: (0)	I can't remember the specs any more but it all comes down to the start-up power requirement of the SSD chipset. I did try a Crucial drive but it never initialised properly and had a habit of tripping out the audio. The Corsair was the 2nd drive I tried, worked perfectly straight away (and still is in my F11) __________________
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06-02-2013, 02:31 PM	#544
Bicax Second Lieutenant 10 Rep 206 Posts Drives: 2010 BMW 335d (E91) Join Date: Apr 2013 Location: Barcelona iTrader: (0)	I'm using a 500Gb Lacie Littledisk (I know it's overkill, but it's what I had when I decided to give it a try), and it takes maybe 20 or 30 seconds between when I open the car and when music starts playing. Is an SSD that much faster? I wouldn't mind having instant music, and I could use the littledisk for something else.
	Appreciate 0 Quote

06-16-2013, 04:16 PM	#546
ins1dez iN dA cLuB 29 Rep 500 Posts Drives: E90 Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Romania iTrader: (1)	Yep sandisk is very cheap. I am looking for Intel 330 180gb or something similar. No problem if they use more power, use USB Y Cable
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06-16-2013, 11:48 PM	#548
skylar.sutton Enlisted Member 0 Rep 34 Posts Drives: '08 335xi (Graphite) Join Date: Mar 2013 Location: Ohio iTrader: (1)	Just weighing in with my experience. I just wasted an hour of my life formatting an HP v165w to FAT32 and fiddling with it - but the car simply won't recognize it. I tested an old 4GB drive I had laying around and it fired right up with no problems. Both work in my PC, and both are formatted FAT32 - so I can only assume there is something goofy with the HP's firmware/file IO. On to the next flash drive.
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06-17-2013, 02:58 AM	#550
Bicax Second Lieutenant 10 Rep 206 Posts Drives: 2010 BMW 335d (E91) Join Date: Apr 2013 Location: Barcelona iTrader: (0)	For those of you who are using an SSD connected to the armrest USB, how long does it take for music to start playing from the moment you open the car? If anyone could time it, I would appreciate it. If you could specify the type of files that you use as well as the size they are occupying it would help.
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