tickerguy

No! 64Gb+ cards are SD/XC and those cards require exFAT due to how their internal block allocation system works. If you reformat them to either FAT32 or NTFS you are begging for them to lose your data. They become unstable due to interaction between the data management algorithm in the controller (internal to the card) and the filesystem format. All these cards essentially require exFAT as a format to remain stable over time. The adoption of a proprietary, license-required format (exFAT is a Microsoft product and manufacturers have to buy a license to use it in their products) fo

It is not gapless off a SSD or SD card, which is a (IMHO) big f-up on Pioneer's part -- it is simply not difficult to open the next file in sequence and read the first couple hundred kilobytes "on the come" in the anticipation of a sequential play. Hell, my Phatbox was capable of it TEN YEARS AGO (and is still in my Jetta.) Especially being an Android device (as the NEX is), this is galling. It is simply crap software design exactly as is the folder sort failure, and is only a bit more difficult to do than the folder sort. However, the iPod is not a panacea; it does indexing too, jus

Ok, so you're right up against the limits. I would not be surprised if it takes an utterly ridiculous amount of time to index it the first time around -- but I'll bet it is not hung.

How big a drive? My SSD takes ~10 minutes to index from new and sits for a good long time at "99%" before it's finished -- but it DOES finish. Once indexed if you change it the drive will go to "99%" more-quickly, but then sit there for several minutes before it completes. Also normal. 2 hours sounds ridiculously excessive but it might not be if it took 20 minutes to get that far....

It will sit at 99% for a LONG time -- but it's still going, it's NOT hung. Wait. This is a one-time deal; once it's indexed it comes up in a few seconds on subsequent turn-ons.

No, it is not; I have tried it with NTFS (what I started with on the SSD) and reformatted it using FAT32 to be able to fix the problem.

It just reads the directory tree in order as on the disk.

Exactly as noted. The unit does not sort folders, it displays them in the order they are on the disk. This is a serious screw-up on Pioneer's part as it's a literal single line of code to perform the sort. SONGS are sorted within a folder, so if you have the track filenames as "01 -- Some name", "02 - Some other name", etc it works as expected. HOWEVER, if using the tag browser it's not because track NAMES (in ID3 tags) do NOT, as a matter of rule, have track numbers and thus when the unit sorts the ID3 tags (and yes, it does at the bottom level!) the album plays in ALPHABETICAL track o

The indexing is a one-shot unless you change files on the drive, then it requires some time again (but not nearly as much.) On a startup after the disk has been previously attached it takes maybe 20 seconds before it starts playing. The first read takes several minutes. This is with a 120Gb SSD. Note that you can format either in FAT32 or NTFS, but beware that folder (not song!) sort order is a problem; you can sort a FAT directory drive, but NOT a NTFS one.

Yep -- works fine. The Sub output can be enabled separately.

It's nice of them to put a thermal sensor in there and shut it down instead of it just burning up..... With that said with these "modern" fan-enabled units I pay close attention to how things mount to make sure the fan and finned areas (heat sinks) are unobstructed by cables and such when the dash is put back together. Hope you found the problem.

SSDs are only getting cheaper..... BTW ignore the naysayers on laptop drives not working ok in a car. I have had a 100gb pile of spinning rust in my Phatbox that sits in the rear of my VW Jetta Wagon (in the CD changer location) now for a hell of a long time (coming up on 10 years!) and it's still working just fine.

That should work but costs you the other USB port. I have a USB-3 enclosure with said "dual" cable, but I don't need it since I have a SSD in the enclosure, and I don't want to rip the unit out of the dash again to get to the back or I'd test it for you (I do have a decent assortment of old laptop drives laying around.)

What would be the purpose?

Works on both USB1 and 2. I am currently on 2 with "1" wired into my center console for other purposes. Note that a rotating media drive will likely NOT work reliably and may not work at all due to power consumption problems (it draws more than the head unit can reliably deliver.) Most SSDs (watch the specs!) require much less power and will function fine; if you want to use spinning rust you need to supply external power to the enclosure beyond the USB port itself. Both music and video are on the drive. Flawless.

120Gb SSD, OCZ Vertex II in a USB-3 external case. Formatting in both NTFS and FAT work, but I run FAT because I can sort FAT directory trees (for FILE ordering) but not NTFS ones and the head is too dumb to do it on its own. 32GB SD cards (several) work fine (FAT32 formatted.) NONE of my exFAT cards (64GB+) work as exFAT is not supported.

You can turn off time alignment and leave auto-eq on. Whatever you dial in is independent of Auto-EQ, if you ran it and have it enabled. The microphone you use for the autoEQ matters as well; the MC20 thing Pioneer sells is garbage (better than nothing, but....) A $40 mono condenser omni that I happened to have laying around produces MUCH better results than the MC20 does. The problem with auto time alignment is that it is a process that has material potential for error when the speaker doesn't have a straight shot at the microphone, and many do not, especially in an environment with

You have to initiate pairing with both and it will automatically connect back to the last one you used the next time it is turned on. If that one is not in range and on it will NOT try to reconnect to the other(s) you have paired previously; you have to manually select it.

Yes.

The NEX units are Android-based. This has been determined with certainty. In any event a sort routine is one of the first things any programmer learns; both bubble and quicksorts are trivial pieces of code.

There is simply no excuse for this on an Android-based head unit given that it's literally one line of code to sort the list.

Download "DriveSort" and run that on the SD card; it will fix that. Yes, you have to run it again when you add a new folder. This is a serious brain fart on Pioneer's part (sorting a returned list is one function call in Android) but until they fix it (if they do) at least there's a workaround.

Use "File" at the top level.

Of course you don't have to use switched power, but note that the parasitic load on most car batteries with the vehicle "sleeping" is in the neighborhood of 40-50 milliamps, which sums to the neighborhood of 1/2 watt or thereabouts. If you wish to put several times that load on your battery when the vehicle is off simply to have a disk on your head unit you're free to do it but I strongly suggest you think long and hard before doing so, especially if there are times that the vehicle sits un-driven for days at a time.

Nope on the USB power remaining on when shut down (assuming you mean ignition off.) Yes, you can provide an external power supply, and I would if you're going to use a spinning rust disk. Most USB3 external enclosures are shipping with a dual-USB plug on the other end, which consumes both USB ports but provides 1 A @ 5V, which is at least 5 watts. That's probably enough. The other option is an external supply that will accept 12V but then you need to find switched 12V power for it; the lighter in the console is switched (the one in the arm rest is unswitched.)