Hi, i once had my head units HDD die in my 07 ls460l and fixed it by replacing the whole head unit. It wasnt the hardest thing but i was wondering if this is a common problem or a fluke? I did read lately in the manual to wait 6 min after powering the car down before disconnecting the negative terminal. I know i never did that in the past. Is it possible thats what lead to the Hard Drive failure in my old head unit? Im only asking because any time i disconect my cars battery i cross my fingers when the head unit needs to load back up lol. I bought an obd2 backfeeder for battery swaps but i dont think its a good idea to use it during repairs right?

 

How many other hard drives do you have that are still spinning after almost 20 yrs?

 

I have several old hard drives that are still usable. My oldest one is from 1998-1999 and still operational (if I feel weird enough to actually use it. LOL). With that being said, HDDs installed in the equipment exposed to vibrations, temperature changes and frequent power cycling (like in our cars) are not living anywhere as long as those installed in our PCs. I'd say that head unit with HDD inside dying of the old age is to be expected. I don't know if anybody ever tried to convert those to SSD or maybe newer HDDs, but this is what I would try if I had one of those old units in my hands. Not sure if there is a market for that kind of stuff though.

 

Your point is well taken, but remember that in terms of hours these hard drives do not accumulate many. Moreover, they spin when the cabin temperatures are nice and comfortable, since there is typically a human in there. With the LS' cushy ride, they don't experience much in terms of vibration either. So, I will not be surprised if these HDs last a long time.

Having said that, no-one uses HDs anymore, they all moved to SSDs.

Just curious, how many of you have actually ripped songs on the hard drive and are actively listening to them? I suspect most of us have installed some sort of bluetooth capability and are streaming music from our phones.