[DerAlte]

Originally Posted by greenhorn

... I have around 120GB of music, and I feel really greedy and want my entire collection with me. Is this doable?

Depends. 120GB is unlikely to create a problem, but ...

* Some HUs will take a long time to negotiate the directory structure at start time, if there are a large number of directories / sub-directories

* Better to format it FAT32 - some HUs can't handle NTFS

[anky]

The point here is not of the size of hdd but the max no of files per directory and max directories that the HU can access . It will be mentioned in the manual regarding the max lever of directories and max directories and max files per directory and max files allowed in that order . Read the manual of the HU and you should know . As far as I know laptop 2.5" HDD do nt need ext power and 5v is enough , and is provided by the HU . Format the HDD in FAT32 and not NTFS . See laptop HDD are not as durable as original ext HDD that you buy so better to buy a true external HDD rather than putting a laptop HDD in a external case as they are more prone to shock hence failure.

[DerAlte]

Originally Posted by anky

... rather than putting a laptop HDD in a external case as they are more prone to shock hence failure.

Aren't laptop HDDs less prone to shock than other drives? Why would manufacturers use them in a laptop otherwise?

[anky]

What I meant is that you should buy the 2.5" laptop size HDD that com in original package as external drives and not buy the drive and then buy an aftermarket enclosure and putting the HDD in beacause the original EXTERNAL HDD are more tolerant to shocks than the ones we buy as internal laptop HDD and put it in the case . In any case you should use Solid State HDD if you can afford them as they consume less power and since no moving parts so less prone to shocks so less failure rates . No offence Der Alte . I too watched 'The Old Fox' / 'Der Alte ' when I was young .

[petroheadd]

Currently I am using a mobile hard disk 120GB with my JVC XR616. It has a splitter USB cable, i use the ciggerete lighter to supply power to one end and my HU USB for the other.
Sometimes the device reads it where as sometimes it simply does not and i have to plug out and plug in.
Normally it takes 5 seconds to load.
I have not filled it completely using approx 20 GB so can't comment how it will behave with a fully loaded disk.

This is what it looks from inside

[greenhorn]

Originally Posted by petroheadd

Currently I am using a mobile hard disk 120GB with my JVC XR616.

Petroheadd, is your HDD formatted into multiple partitions, or a single 120GB one ?

[Samridh]

Originally Posted by greenhorn

bumping up a REALLY old thread ( i know) but i have a 2.5" HDD enclosure which allows for external USB power

the catch is that its a 500 hdd is NTFS formatted. I have around 120GB of music, and I feel really greedy and want my entire collection with me. Is this doable?

Sir please pardon my ignorance on technical matters. But the facts that you stated are "exactly" the same as me. My Seagate 500 gb has 200 odd gb of music and I wanted all that in my car. I tried connecting the HDD through the usb port of my HU (Alpine 117) and the only message to be displayed was "No USB connected". Then I tried a freinds' HDD and asked my IT support in office to copy about a 100 GB of my music into this HDD after being segmented and formatted into FAT32. It still didn't work. I wanted to investigate the cause but decided against it owing to the slow banking on my Alpine HU. I went the old school way (not really ), I ordered for 7 strontium pollex 16gb pen drives. Filled each one of them to the brim, genre wise. Since all my pen drives looked alike, I wanted to earmark them. So I made identification cards (stating the contents of each pen drive - artist/compilation wise), laminated them, poked a hole on the top of the card and tagged each card with the corresponding pen drive. Since the drives are only 16 gb a piece, banking is only as good or bad as a 4gb pendrive and now I have the convinience of 15000+ songs at my disposal in my car. I shall definitely post a picture of how the smart identification card hangs out when a usb is attached. All this did not take more than 3 hours of my time. But surely worth it.

[greenhorn]

My plan was to have random play from my entire collection (which is how I usually listen to music on my desktop and laptop). It's just not that much fun having to switch manually. My current alpine 9870 doesnt even have aux in, so I'm open to buying any HU which can do this (current favourite is the JVC KD X40, but still not sure about it )

[Samridh]

Originally Posted by greenhorn

My plan was to have random play from my entire collection (which is how I usually listen to music on my desktop and laptop).

I know what you mean. Just that my listening preferences are mood based so I have the liberty of plugging in a pen drive that has what I want. Its biggest advantage is lesser banking time. I have read (on DIYaudio etc.) of many people who are running 250gb hdd's in their cars in FAT 32. My fear was when the banking of a 4-16gb pen drive is something that hurts me, how will I deal with my HU that may go berserk after being fed with 25,000 songs and 100's of folders (assuming the HDD would have paired with the HU).

[greenhorn]

Originally Posted by Samridh

I have read (on DIYaudio etc.) of many people who are running 250gb hdd's in their cars in FAT 32.

If there is a non Car PC solution for this, can you point me to it ?

[Samridh]

Originally Posted by greenhorn

If there is a non Car PC solution for this, can you point me to it ?

Ok let me check and get back to you!!

[petroheadd]

Originally Posted by greenhorn

Petroheadd, is your HDD formatted into multiple partitions, or a single 120GB one ?

Sorry for the late reply , its partitioned in 3 drives
i havn't filled it completely so dont know how much data the HU will be able to read.