[100mph]

I took a quick look on the net and can't really seem to find any IEEE or other official USB power specs.

Perhaps someone smarter than me can find this info or better yet maybe beat it out of BMW what their ports capability is.

It appears a few other portable HDD's have a power input 'just in case' but they are of the more traditional DC plug design that perhaps could be fitted to the 12v power plug in the armrest for a better universally compatible solution

Or perhaps this http://www.sunshinesolar.co.uk/khxc/.../USBADAPT.html would work for the WD with their advanced cable.

[Zagor]

The USB standard specifies 500mA per port. (See here, or full spec here.) This is less than most 2.5" drives need for spinup. Many PCs actually will supply more than 500mA, but not all. Therefore some disks come with extra power cables or other solutions.

As for drive longevity and skip protection, I have an mp3 player with a 2.5" drive that I've been using for about four years now. The last year it has been in my arm rest, connected to my aux port (too old car for 6fl). It powers on whenever I start the car and turns off when the car is turned off, so it's pretty much the same situation as for 100mph. There has not ever been a single indication of problem with this disk.

Another thing that is good to know is that laptop drives are only vulnerable in the very short moments they are reading/writing from disk. Even when spinning, if no read/write is happening the heads are safely parked in a shock-resistant zone. Many disks use aggressive read-ahead caching that further minimize the time spent "on the platter".

Combine this with the fact that all MP3 players need to buffer data in memory to decode it, and you'll find that your disk is actually in shock-protection mode most of the time. (You only really have to buffer a fraction of a second, but most implementations load far more into memory, because the gain far outweighs the little extra memory use.)

In short: You'll be fine!

[drwtsn32]

I just tried a second WD Passport drive... a 250GB model. Same problem; drive doesn't spin up when connected to the car's USB port.

[imaznumkay]

Originally Posted by OC 335i

Not trying to start an argument but there is a distinctive difference between a portable hard drive than a hard drive on the move. When WD designed the HD their intentions were from move to one place to another, then be used stationary at a computer. Not to be spinning and incurring shock while running.



The heat in your car much hotter when sitting for hours on a 90 degree day. Prolonged exposure to heat may cause data loss. There is a reason hard drives fail when there is inadequate cooling. This may not happen right away, but the effects could take its toll over time.



IPods are designed differently with different uses in mind. Even non-Nano Ipods are not good for running (there are documented cases). Good luck.

Info on Ipod from Apple:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.h...num=60920#faq9
Skip Protection

Question: Can I use iPod while running, or doing other activities? Will my music skip?
Answer: iPod was designed for people with an active lifestyle. It is compact and lightweight enough to take with you wherever you go. It was designed to fit comfortably in the palm of your hand or to be slipped into a pocket or purse for easy transport. iPod offers up to 20 minutes of skip protection — twice that of other hard drive-based MP3 players on the market — so you can enjoy outdoor athletic activities without missing a beat. Also check out the skip-free iPod shuffle and iPod nano.

Question: How does iPod provide skip protection?
Answer: In addition to the hard drive, iPod has a memory cache. It is made up of solid-state memory, meaning that it has no mechanical or moving parts, so it is not affected by movement of the device. iPod skip protection works by preloading up to 25 minutes of music to the cache at a time. iPod plays music from the memory cache rather than the hard drive, so even rigorous activities won't cause music to skip.

Info straight from WD:
Environmental Specifications
Temperature (English)
Operating 41° F to 104° F

thought nanos used flash memory....correct me if im wrong
i never thought of using a portable hdd as an alternative to an ipod,
nice writeup!

[Zagor]

Originally Posted by drwtsn32

I just tried a second WD Passport drive... a 250GB model. Same problem; drive doesn't spin up when connected to the car's USB port.

Two things to try:

1) WD 2.5" disks of generation ML40 and newer have a feature called Reduced Power Spinup. Open up your Passport enclosure and ensure that the drive has RPS enabled. If not, you need a special jumper shunt to enable it.

RPS greatly reduces the time the drive draws >500mA, which increases the chances of it being able to spin up on systems with "less generous" USB ports.

2) If all else fails, you may want to try some 4200 rpm disks. They generally (but not always) use less power on spinup.

[tman]

Originally Posted by drwtsn32

I just tried a second WD Passport drive... a 250GB model. Same problem; drive doesn't spin up when connected to the car's USB port.

Did you try a different cable (sorry, I only skimmed the thread)?

[OC Guy]

Originally Posted by imaznumkay

thought nanos used flash memory....correct me if im wrong
i never thought of using a portable hdd as an alternative to an ipod,
nice writeup!

They do. Hence why I said non-nano.

[drwtsn32]

Originally Posted by Zagor

1) WD 2.5" disks of generation ML40 and newer have a feature called Reduced Power Spinup. Open up your Passport enclosure and ensure that the drive has RPS enabled. If not, you need a special jumper shunt to enable it.

Very interesting.. I'll give that a shot. I don't have the Passport drive in front of me right now, but I'm not sure how to open that thing. I don't recall seeing any screws.

[drwtsn32]

Originally Posted by tman

Did you try a different cable (sorry, I only skimmed the thread)?

Yeah, with the second drive I tried the cable that came with it. I doubt the cable is the issue anyway as both cables worked flawlessly when the drives were plugged in to a PC.

[imaznumkay]

Originally Posted by OC 335i

They do. Hence why I said non-nano.

OHHH i must've misread sorry bout that

[purplewidow]

Originally Posted by Spool

sheesh, 160 gigs? You can put every single song ever recorded in 24 different languages.


Would this work with TV nav and go? store movies in here and play it through the Nav?

still no good for me i have over 500 gigs of music!!!!! over 320 gigs of the Grateful Dead Alone!!!!! 160gigs is nothing but way more than an i pod...but can i use it like an ipod and carry it in my pocket and listen to it with headphones NOOOOOOOOOO can i put it on a dock stero and play it straight from the WD?NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!! can i watch movies on it like an ipod...noooooooo!!!! can i easily transport it to another car like an ipod NOOOOOOOOOO so sry not worth it for me...ipods are revolutionay i never heard of someone going nuts over an external hardrive and i should know i have a terabyte and friends who have bought one to grab my music stash!!!! still awesome that you can have more than an ipod can hold...but the other functions (which are a lot)just aren't there!!!!!!!!!!!

[USCTrojan4Life]

So I tried this last night. Picked up a 60gb WD Passport, reformatted just like 100mph said to do, and it worked like a charm!!! I'm so glad i foudn this solution. Easily saved myself a few hundred bucks.

btw...instead of creating 27 folder for A-Z, i created half as many by doing A-B, C-D, and so on. Much better imo.

[Pyranha]

Originally Posted by purplewidow

still no good for me i have over 500 gigs of music!!!!! over 320 gigs of the Grateful Dead Alone!!!!! 160gigs is nothing but way more than an i pod...but can i use it like an ipod and carry it in my pocket and listen to it with headphones NOOOOOOOOOO can i put it on a dock stero and play it straight from the WD?NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!! can i watch movies on it like an ipod...noooooooo!!!! can i easily transport it to another car like an ipod NOOOOOOOOOO so sry not worth it for me...ipods are revolutionay i never heard of someone going nuts over an external hardrive and i should know i have a terabyte and friends who have bought one to grab my music stash!!!! still awesome that you can have more than an ipod can hold...but the other functions (which are a lot)just aren't there!!!!!!!!!!!

Ummm...this thread isn't about anything other than playing MP3s in an e9X with 6FL. It's great that the almighty IPOD can dock in a stereo and play videos on a very very small screen. great. But $ for $ a portable HD beats the IPOD like a rented mule for the purpose stated in this thread.

-C
e92 335i Barbera/Cream w/250GB of musicky goodness on a WD PAssport.

[gloster]

BMW specifically says not to use hard drives with the USB port. I don't know why, and of course we can ignore them, but it does say it. Page 18 of the radio manual, "Do not connect USB hard disks".

I have used both an ipod and a thumb drive so far. Both worked very well. But the thumb drive stays powered on, even with the car locked. In fact, it appears to keep "playing" while I'm gone since I'll come back in the middle of a different song.

On a different thread, someone mentioned that some thumb drives appear to power down properly while others stay powered on.

[USCTrojan4Life]

Originally Posted by gloster

BMW specifically says not to use hard drives with the USB port. I don't know why, and of course we can ignore them, but it does say it. Page 18 of the radio manual, "Do not connect USB hard disks".

I have used both an ipod and a thumb drive so far. Both worked very well. But the thumb drive stays powered on, even with the car locked. In fact, it appears to keep "playing" while I'm gone since I'll come back in the middle of a different song.

On a different thread, someone mentioned that some thumb drives appear to power down properly while others stay powered on.

My harddrive turns off when i shut down the car. I think i read that the usb power stays on for like 30 seconds after the car gets shut down. I tested it last night, and when i shut the car off and started back up, the song picked up right where it left off. Works flawlessly for me.

[gloster]

It does seem to be device dependent. I even tried propping up the door to the center console so I could see the glow from my thumbdrive. It stayed on "forever".

[Pyranha]

Originally Posted by drwtsn32

Very interesting.. I'll give that a shot. I don't have the Passport drive in front of me right now, but I'm not sure how to open that thing. I don't recall seeing any screws.

I'm having the same problem with my drive....wonder why the difference in power supply to the USB port between various e9Xs? Also....the passport has no screws and can only be taken apart with a moderate amount of force. If you plan on returning the drive I wouldn't recommend it.

-C

[Pyranha]

For those with power issues preventing their USB drives from spinning up, here are some inexpensive parts that might solve the issue:

USB car power adapter: http://www.xpcgear.com/usbcaradp.html

Dual USB input cable: http://www.shopaddonics.com/itemdesc...2USBPC&eq=&Tp=

I'll be ordering tomorrow and I'll report on my results.

-C

[drwtsn32]

Originally Posted by gloster

It does seem to be device dependent. I even tried propping up the door to the center console so I could see the glow from my thumbdrive. It stayed on "forever".

The car stays somewhat "powered up" after you shut it off... for I think about 10 minutes. Maybe the USB drive shuts off after that?

Mine definitely does not keep playing when the car is off though. Usually when I start the car the next time it resumes at exactly the same point. Sometimes, though, it will start on a completely different song. I think that's a glitch.

[drwtsn32]

Originally Posted by Pyranha

Also....the passport has no screws and can only be taken apart with a moderate amount of force. If you plan on returning the drive I wouldn't recommend it.

Yeah, I noticed that there doesn't seem to be an easy way to take this apart. And I doubt there's a low power spinup jumper on it anyway. If there was, wouldn't WD enable that by default? Why would you ever NOT want it that way for a bus-powered USB drive?

Anyway, I'm jealous that some of you have gotten it to work. I wish I could have my entire library with me. I hate having to go through and hand pick which folders I want on my 16GB flash drive!

[drwtsn32]

Originally Posted by Pyranha

For those with power issues preventing their USB drives from spinning up, here are some inexpensive parts that might solve the issue:

I thought about doing that exact thing... except WD has a dual USB cable specifically designed for the WD Passport that you might want to use instead. I linked to it in a previous message in this thread.

I bet it would solve the problem, but you'll end up with quite a few cables in the armrest.

[hl0m4n]

wow this is a great find. now i don't have to rip apart the dash to get the ipod adapter install. great alternative