using a hard disc drive with media device interface

[ajc]

Hi All,

Tried hunting for other posts on this but no luck.

I have factory MDI in my car with the USB attachment, RCD510. instead of purchasing the additional ipod cable I decided to just get an External hard drive, put all my music on that and use it instead - thinking this would work just like an ipod would.

First attempt failed miserably I just copied entire itunes library to the ext hard drive. turns out (after reading the manual) the USB attached drive must be formatted to FAT 32 partition, meaning the max I can put on there for music is 32 gig.

Fixed that up, created the FAT 32 partition, works on the first song, but its taking forever to search the folders for the next song, and skips during the tracks when I try to put it on mix play etc.

Also cannot get it to access the other folders with music in it.

So does anyone know if there is a maximum no. of folders/mp3 that you can have and have the MDI function properly? Or is it a maximum files in EACH folder?

How should i structure the files in there? just all in one single folder? at the moment they are organised in different folders depending on artist.

ALso any tips or links telling instructions on how to make playlists?

any tips/advice/suggests much appreciated! Getting pretty close to buying the ipod cable instead!

[Pepe]

Didn't see this thread before...

I'm pretty sure I saw something in the manual about USB/HDD folder depth being limited to 7 deep. There's also something in there about play order and stuff like that too.

Definitely saw the FAT32 thing too, but FAT32 has a 2TB limit? It wouldn't surprise me if there was a limit in the RNS somewhere though. 750GB 2.5" drives are around $100 now, so that's a tempting thought, if you can still fit it in the console with the space the MDI takes up. I also found the USB interface to be a bit slow, so I think a large HDD might cause some grief anyway.

I'm not aware of a way to make a play list based on USB? That seems like the primary advantage of an iPod vs raw storage. You do get much more flexibility with the raw storage in terms of folder structure (but that's just one more music repository to manage then).

I'm going to be picking up a 3rd Gen 64Gb Touch in Sept on the cheap when the new 4th Gen Touch comes out as my old Nano didn't survive the washing machine very well (damn jetlag)... I just don't want to have the hassle of managing music in so many different places (I use my iPod at the gym and flights, so it's not just for the car).

[team_v]

Just get a 4Gb usb stick and use that.
You seriously won't be able to listen to more music than that in a single daily drive.

Put all the music in the root folder and let it play from there.

Also note that with bigger harddrives it will take longer to read and will cause delays.

[blutopless2]

i have tried using a usb stick with mine and it doesn't play for more than 15 seconds on the first track and then stops and all the buttons stop functioning on the screen. only way to regain control is to disconnect the usb stick.
i have reformatted the drive to ensure it is set to FAT32 and redone the mp3 conversion but it still wont play from the usb drive.

[team_v]

i have tried using a usb stick with mine and it doesn't play for more than 15 seconds on the first track and then stops and all the buttons stop functioning on the screen. only way to regain control is to disconnect the usb stick.
i have reformatted the drive to ensure it is set to FAT32 and redone the mp3 conversion but it still wont play from the usb drive.

Could it be that the format of the iTunes library is the issue then?
They may have some sort of write protection on them so that you cannot just copy them off onto a portable drive.

[ajc]

Thanks for that,

When trying to format the HDD, the max size I could make the partition while still using fat32 format was 32 gig. otherwise it forced me to use NTFS.

I already have the HDD so would rather use that than a 4gig USB stick.

I have tried a few combo's out with the HDD since first posting the thread, if i had too many folders available, it didnt work - eg i had all the artists in folders under their name, under a main folder labelled 'music' it didnt work, and would skip and freeze like you said.

What i have now, is a main folder labelled 'music' leading to subfolders labbled 'A-D' 'D-K' with the artists folders then in those folders and it works great, seems you cannot have too many folders in one directory, if that makes sense! Although this works for certain things - ie if you want to listen to a certain artist only, it wont mix between folders(and therefore artists) at all in the way i have it set up - a problem which would be fixed with a pro gramme that could create playlists on the external hard drive.

What ive got currently is the 4 gig SD card with music files all on it with no folders which shuffle plays fine, and the hard drive organised as explained above for if i want to listen to a specific artist/album.

Hope this helps people, but still looking for a better alternative.....

[ajc]

Also, the HDD is a 160 gig WD one that I picked up for 62 bucks from JB, ive just got it between the seat and the centre console where it seems to sit okay out of the way (possibly issue if seat moving back and forward but with just me driving it not an issue).

Currently how I have it set up doesnt seem slow at all.

[blutopless2]

Could it be that the format of the iTunes library is the issue then?
They may have some sort of write protection on them so that you cannot just copy them off onto a portable drive.

not using itunes library. have converted straight to mp3 format from a cd. what i was hoping to do is copy the mp3 files onto the RNS510 internal hard drive, but it doesn't recognise the music.
might try itunes format (M4a) and see if that works.

[Maverick]

Thanks for that,

When trying to format the HDD, the max size I could make the partition while still using fat32 format was 32 gig. otherwise it forced me to use NTFS.

You can create a fat32 volume greater than 32GB, google it. There are plenty of people with a 500GB+ hard drive running via the MDI connector.

I have tried a few combo's out with the HDD since first posting the thread, if i had too many folders available, it didnt work - eg i had all the artists in folders under their name, under a main folder labelled 'music' it didnt work, and would skip and freeze like you said.

You NEED to have folders or you will have problems. I have information on my website about how the music should be laid out.