oh no man, i am just a ***** cat, how would i dare to mod the new LS if i get it? bone stock for me

 

I think this particular mod that we are discussing here, will appeal to many people. i know that most mods are a matter of taste and the target audience may not want to mod there LS's but young or old and everyone in between will appreciate the convenience of having more room to hold more music.

 

Don't forget that if this mod is done properly, it should allow direct file transfer from a PC. Beats ripping hundreds of CDs one by one fore sure. Well it's all theories for now.

 

What's all the fuss about modifying/hacking through the Hard Drive of the new LS?

Personally... I don't see anything wrong with........

Oh I see what you mean.

I forgot that its only the JDM models of this new LS that get the 30 GB HDD for G-link in addition to the 8 GB audio server while outside Japan markets only get an 8 gig unit.

 

Um it is actually confirmed that the US version also has the same 30GB harddrive, 8GB of which is partitioned for music and the rest of which is used for navigation. Also, the G-link you're talking about...I thought that's just a wireless phone/data service? What does it have to do with the harddrive? Can it be somehow used to download music wirelessly as well?

 

CL Noob here. I drive an LS and the only real complaint I have is having to use an FM transmitter for my iPod. And the FM band here in Orlando is very crowded, so it's hard to get optimal sound quality that way. So if the HDD is moddable in the 460 I'd be interested, and I might be willing to attempt some of the hacking. One possible option though - in flipside909's review/pictures it looks like there's now an aux in jack inside the center console next to the (existing) power outlet. Can anyone verify if that *is* an audio in jack? None of the official Lexus info I've seen mentions it, but it would be a definite step forward (if not as nice as the full integration in some other cars - doesn't at least once of the Scions have it now too?)

 

yes i believe it's very likely that there is an aux jack. the 2is has it so i won't be surprised if the ls460 has it. the hdd is nice, but i hate the idea of putting an audio cd and let it rips it, it will take forever to fill up that 8gb.

i would just put in a mp3 cd....

welcome to cl!

 

Nifty - I re-read flipside's article and he does specifically say it's an audio input jack. So that's cool. Is it verified that mp3 CDs will work?

 

the 2is can play mp3 cd. the gs450h can play mp3 cd. i can only hope lexus is not stupid enough to NOT include mp3 cd capability on the new LS

 

location is probably the same was the japanese unit - right behind the nav monitor. the only problem would be the space because anything larger than the 30 gb probably won't fit. maybe if you remove that metal piece that's there, something larger will fit (see pic 2). then another problem will arise...the cooling of the HD.

see links here for location of HD:
pic 1
pic 2

pics taken from this thread

 

Thanks for the awesome pics and info BUT......you must be joking right? When we say a harddrive LARGER than 30gb we're talking about the data capacity not the physical size.

From the pics it looks like it's a standard 2.5" HDD so one can swap it with one of the 100gb ones currently available on the market. We just need to figure out the layout of the filesystem.

 

yeah i was thinking about the old 3.5" ones.

 

That wouldn't be a very wise thing to do trying to stuff an old 3.5" into a slot designed for 2.5" for sure.

100GB (minus the partition for map data) from a 2.5" is more than enough for music, much more useful than 8GB, at least.

EDIT: Unless of course somebody figures out how to run custom software stored on the HDD, in which case we can dream about developing a DivX/XviD video player, a PlayStation emulator (and link the steering wheel/pedals/shifter to Gran Turismo), and/or a Linux system.