jkeifer3

I am trying to use a large, 120 GB, solid state disk drive with USB interface, in the car. When I install the drive and go to USB media, the display indicates that there are no music files on the device. When I use a smaller, 4GB, thumb drive all is well.

Are there any limitations on the size of the device connected to the USB port in our cars? I wonder if the issue is because this drive is detected as a hard disk and not a device with removeable storage (as indicated by Windows 7)?

Any info would be helpful. Thanks much!

Outrage

The drive must be formatted using FAT32, not HFS+ (Mac) or NTFS (Windows).

jkeifer3

Ah, that's probably the problem I have it formated NTFS. Thanks for the pointout!

jadu

iTrader: (42)

I believe the maximum for FAT32 is 32 GB (dont know if that's changed)

Outrage

Microsoft's most recent implementation of FAT32 supports partitions up to 2 TB. The format command within certain versions of Windows will not allow the formatting of partitions over 32 GB, however.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/154997

Fear not, you can still format large partitions to FAT32 using a Windows application such as this:

http://www.ridgecrop.demon.co.uk/ind...at32format.htm

jkeifer3

Yes you are right. I was able, however, to come up with a sweet little utility that allowed the whole disk to be formatted FAT32. Cluster size must be greatly increased or there is a translation table maintained on the disk that allows accessing the larger volume. In any event, it works nicely. Thanks everyone for the suggestions!

jadu

iTrader: (42)

oh ok good to know

SNiiP3R

iTrader: (3)

FAT32 is not the only road block. Make sure that your drive does not exceed 999 folders. Each folder can have subfolders, but there is a limit as well. You can only have 8 subfolders. Also, each folder can have maximum of 255 files, you can add more, but it won't read the rest. And the total number of files you can have is 65,025

jkeifer3

Roger that

onexcite

I'm trying to use the 64gb usb but it won't recognize. So I guess the max we could use is 32gb

SNiiP3R

iTrader: (3)

I'm using 160gb external harddrive, works fine. You should try formating your USB drive to FAT32

jkeifer3

Yes, it must be FAT32 formatted.

My disk is a 128GB SSD and I find that trying to access the individual folders (alphabetical order) is quite slow and frustrating. I am considering just putting the music together in named playlist folders, ie., plist 01, plist 02, etc., to make it easier to surf the disk.

As you have quite a large external USB drive, I am curious as to how you have arranged that disk. I wish there was an iPod-type search capability for a USB drive.

UpodJohn

USB memory that can be used for MP3 and WMA playback.

The following device formats can be used:
• USB communication formats: USB2.0 HS (480 Mbps) and FS (12 Mbps)
• File formats: FAT16/32 [Windows]
MP3 and WMA files written in any format other than those listed above may not play
correctly, and their file names and folder names may not be displayed correctly.
Items related to standards and limitations are as follows:
• Maximum directory hierarchy: 8 levels
• Maximum number of folders in a device: 3000 (including the root)
• Maximum number of files in a device: 9999
• Maximum number of files per folder: 255

Once GraceNote has cataloged the USB drive click the Album/Folder name and tabs for artist, album... should be available for scrolling through. Or use voice command "Play Music".

jkeifer3

Thanks for the info. Is GraceNote something that runs automatically or do I have to do something to envoke it?

UpodJohn

GraceNote does not require any driver actions. It catalogs automatically. The larger the USB device the longer it will take to catalog. You should see a square white with red logo pop-up in the lower left corner of your media screen as it does it's business.

It is the info gathered by GraceNote that will allow the "play artist <name>" "play music" to function. If those commands are unavailable to you the USB drive may be not be scannable.