parts list:

1. usb to cigarette lighter charger adapter

2. cigarette lighter well plug

3. 2.5" external laptop hard drive (must be powered via a usb y-cable and be formatted with the fat32 file system.)

4. wire and terminals.

notes:

The problem with doing this has always been that the avic's don't supply enough power via the usb to spin up an external hard drive. I over came this problem using a $5 usb charging adapter and a 2.5" external usb hard drive with a y-cable. The head on the usb y-cable with the long wire is for data and the one with the short wire is for drawing power for the drive. The hard drive will have to be unpluged and pluged back in each time you start the car and after the unit has booted. As such, I would mount it some place easy to reach. I mounted mine next to the center console. The hard drive MUST be formatted fat32. Since, the fat32 file system can only recognize up to 127gb i wouldn't waste money on too big of a drive. I bought an 80gb hdd and ended up partitioning it down to 32gb as it was recognized by the avic much faster.

my system:

f700bt pioneer avic

hd radio tuner

80gb 2.5" ext hdd

8gb sd card

4 channel alpine v12 amp

2 6x9" 200 watt rockford fosgate fanatics

2 280 watt pioneer 6.5"

fat 32 can be bigger than 127 gb,, in my experience the boot up time of the harddisk deponds more on the file structure ( not to much maps in root ).

Also have you overcome the unplug problem ? if noet i've got the solution for you in one of my topics

oh cool! i wondered if that was possible to do with a relay.

viewtopic.php?f=34&t=24960&p=171125#p171125

I have a 2.5 250gb external. I also have a full size external that runs off of a power inverter. Same music files the 2.5 never wants to work right the full size loads faster and works 100% of the time. Also on the 2.5 sometimes it only loads the first song in every folder anyone else love to hate there d900?

so far no issues with my f700bt. I got a WD passport 250GB off of craigslist, quick formatted it to FAT32, loaded a bunch of music and movies on it. Purchased a DC to USB adapter from Harbor Freight for $5 and a mini-usb to USB Y cable from ebay for $3. The f700bt took a good 3 minutes to scan the harddrive, at the beginning I didn't think the unit was recognizing it. After it scanned It displayed everything as if I had my 8GB usb thumb drive hooked up.

Well I think I figured out how to load all my videos on an external with minimal wait time and no freezes. All the videos should were re-encoded to 640x480, 25fps, 400 bitrate, stereo 64 bit sound. The audio and video sync nicely and playback is pretty sharp, better than when I played videos from a usb pen drive without any re-encoding. The trick (or annoyance) to getting the minimal wait time and without freezes between skipping through files is to just load all of them in a single folder. I was getting freezes everytime I tried to switch folders within my video files, but once I copied all of them to 1 folder, it hasn't freezed at all. Whatever way you want to name your files to make it easier to scroll through would be a good idea if you have tons of videos loaded.

Does this work on an F90BT? I'd love to be able to leave an external HDD in the glovebox, powered by a switched ignition source to avoid having to unplug/replug everytime. Is anyone willing to post ebay and Harbor Freight links to see exactly what someone would need to buy to do this?

All u really need is a 5V cig lighter adapter and a mini USB to USB Y- cable. I don't know what the cig lighter adapter does to the 2 data lines though.

So one person said 250GB, while another said don't go over 80GB since FAT32 doesn't read over 127. Also, what seems to work best formatting wise...mutliple partitions of 32GB, just proper file sizing, etc to make it work efficiently. I'm surprised this thread hasn't flourished into a full on writeup of what works best, links of exactly what to buy, etc...not everyone has an iPod, and having 250GB of storage would be awesome!! Anyone wanna revise the parts list, and have we figured out how to avoid the unplug/plug requirement other than finding a switched 12v source?

FAT32 can go up to 8 TeraBytes. Anyhow here's something I drew up that might work. I'm not certain but I think you might need to disconnect the 2 data lines off inside of the cig lighter adapter.

Also I think you might need to isolate the 5V and ground coming from the AVIC and let the adapter supply the 5V only to the hard drive.

I have a 160GB 2.5" HDD installed as per the previous diagram with a Y cable hooked up to the USB of the AVIC and the other end to power adapter to the cigarette socket yet the AVIC still doesnt seem to recognize the drive. Is there something im doing wrong? The harddrive is formatted to FAT32 and has a single partition which totals up to be about 142 of space - only 40gb or so of which used. Should I reduce the partition size?

Did you try and isolate the 2 data lines from the charger? Also try and isolate the 5V and ground coming from the AVIC, so that only charger is supplying power to the hard drive.

U can do it on the Y-adapter, just need to strip the cable jacket and cut off the wires u want.

Did you try and isolate the 2 data lines from the charger? Also try and isolate the 5V and ground coming from the AVIC, so that only charger is supplying power to the hard drive.

 

U can do it on the Y-adapter, just need to strip the cable jacket and cut off the wires u want.

That was it actually - had to just switch the usb cables and it worked. I guess the one I was plugging into the AVIC was only suppose to be for power and not data.

It recognized my music folder with 450+ sonds and my music video folder with 150+ videos - total harddrive space is 142gb with about 40gb being used.

Now my only problem is that while playing videos the whole AVIC system seems to just drop in performance by 100%. The videos are choppy (even though the sound is fine) and the buttons take 5-10 seconds (or sometimes do not respond) to respond. I have my videos encoded in DVIX which plays perfectly (same videos same codec) when burned and played off a DVDR instead of the USB HDD. Ive also tried both a 5400rpm 2.5" HD and a 7200rpm 2.5" with the same performance issues. What could it be? Do I need to reencode it to a different codec (mpeg4?) or lower quality to get it to play properly using a usb hd?

Thanks!!!

P.S. Attached is a picture showing the specs of the videos I have encoded now.

Bump for a great subject! I've kind of got the same issue where when I play videos from my SD, the reaction time is obnoxiously slow, some movies lag while others are perfectly fine (I think it's a resolution thing then), and I've learned to NEVER use the steering wheel volume controls because one click and it'll go shooting to full blast or all the way down. I'm guessing the machine is reacting slowly for some reason, so it sees one click from the steering wheel, then it's slow reaction sees tons of clicks and it goes wild. The only way to stop it is to use the manual knob.

I've got an extra external 2.5HDD case, I'm looking to buy a larger 1 or 2 TB external HDD for the movies hooked up to my laptop, so eventually swapping drives around with different computers will get an me extra drive that I'll throw in that extra case and it'll be dedicated to use with my F90BT. Honestly, I'm still surprised this thread hasn't turned into something obnoxious like 15+ pages of what people have been using. A 32GB iPod is fine and all, but a 250GB dedicated HD would be awesome to just leave stuffed in the glovebox until I needed to add more movies to it.

My current external HDD has full size and Palm Treo movies on it, so making and formatting movies into the resolution that AVIC needs would be time consuming, but worth the headache once it's all done.

This is a repost from another thread, but it pertains to this subject of being able to use an external HDD to supply music/videos for those of us w/o iPods.

Doesn't the iPod convert movies and and music into it's own specific format? This might sound too easy, but what about loading an external HDD with movies and music in the iPod specific format, folder arrangement, etc...maybe the deck would just default and think it's an iPod.

All my computer, external HDD's, cables, etc are in Boise and I'm in Seattle, but I was playing with my little brothers iPod while helping him load music, and when it was plugged into his PC, it opened up just like a thumbdrive with folders for pics, music, etc. Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't it convert all of it's music to mp4a...what about movies?

I was reading this thread, but it still sounds like there are hitches on how quickly it recognizes and plays the files. Maybe it's something as simple as a complete format change of file types and folder structure as to how they're placed onto the hard drive instead of compressing/converting based on resolution only. Am I still way off here then?

This post was copied over from this thread. http://www.avic411.com/forum/viewtopic. ... 0&e=221650

No matter how many times you ask in different threads, the facts aren't going to change. And that is, its not going to happen.

Once again, that's not an answer as to why, it's just a no. I don't have any HDD's here to try it myself, but maybe those who are reading this can try what I asked about creating the folders in the same structure as an iPod and saving their music/videos in the same format. Since these units are supposedly built around iPod intergration, maybe changing how we store the files on the drive can help reduce the lag. Unless you, in your infinite 4000+ post wisdom , knows of a post that someone has done it EXACTLY what I'm asking about, how about you don't reply then since I already know your stand on the subject. I've got your .02, deal.

Well I don't have to answer why because I already know why. If you want to know why, search through the numerous over the last two years explaining why. And why really doesn't matter if the fact is its not going to happen.

Like I said, unless YOU can show me an EXACT thread where someone tried putting everything onto the HDD in iPod file structures, formats, etc and it turned out to be a complete waste of time, then I'll shut up and quit questioning your holyness.

I got told for years that a 6spd swap into my 740iL wasn't possible...it wouldn't run right cause the computer looks for the 5spd auto only, the engine was tuned for the autos shifting points, the OBC will give "trans failsafe" messages all over the place, it won't even start, yada yada yada. Guess who's got an M5 6spd running perfectly fine in his 7 with a simple software tweak. If we all took "no, it can't be done" for an answer, it'd be a sad ass world we live in. I've already gotten your .02 man...really.

Time for my two cents. I have been running a hd in my car with f900 for over a year I think and when I had just gotten my hu I was thinking of buying an ipod. This was mainly because the Ipod user interface seemed so much user friendly. that was untill I found the f#$#$ ipod still needs a damn cable which transfers the music in analogue. Boy was I mad. So what I am trying to say is that if you make your hd like an ipod it might get into the same problem. The unit thinks its an actual ipod and would not actually play the music unless the analogue cable was conected. I mean com on how f*#@$# cheap could you be to mess up with a digital signal. I mean if pioneer wanted me to buy a different type of usb cable for it I would have gladly bought it but a non digital cable, I think not.

You know what though I never thought of that idea my self so what I am gonna do is convert a bunch of albums, put em on my 8 gig flash drive and see if the performance differs.I can tell you one thing though, the speed of the unit reading ur music files directly related to how many mp3s or other formats you have on a hd or flash drive.

The signal has to get converted to analog from the source before it hits your speakers anyway. It makes no difference weather it gets converted from the iPod to the unit or if the unit converts it from the HDD. In the end, by the time it gets to your speakers, its analog.

Like I said, unless YOU can show me an EXACT thread where someone tried putting everything onto the HDD in iPod file structures, formats, etc and it turned out to be a complete waste of time, then I'll shut up and quit questioning your holyness.

 

I got told for years that a 6spd swap into my 740iL wasn't possible...it wouldn't run right cause the computer looks for the 5spd auto only, the engine was tuned for the autos shifting points, the OBC will give "trans failsafe" messages all over the place, it won't even start, yada yada yada. Guess who's got an M5 6spd running perfectly fine in his 7 with a simple software tweak. If we all took "no, it can't be done" for an answer, it'd be a sad ass world we live in. I've already gotten your .02 man...really.

It still won't work, no matter how you structure your hard drive. iPods connection does not work through direct file access. Apple has a special protocol that is used to access their units, so only an iPod can present itself as an iPod to any external device. While _theoretically_ it might be possible to emulate iPod, if you use a full computer instead of a hard drive, for one it would be cheaper to just get an iPod, and even if you tried writing an emulator, Apple's lawyers would eat you alive long before you'd get it working.

You can as people to go to lengths doing absolutely useless things, but just take a word from people who actually know how this things work. It is not possible.

By the way, DACs in iPod aren't any owrse than ones in AVIC, so using analog connectors is not going to degrade your sound any. And by using iPod's processing instead of AVIC's, navigation will run faster, too.

Would a cigarette lighter put out more power than another usb via computer? I bought a 160gb external 2.5" drive. (Made by NESO) Anyways I plugged it in to the head unit, then carried my laptop out and plugged the power in, into it. IT still didnt recongnize it. Any ideas?

Bump so I can get updates on this thread again.

Bump so I can get updates on this thread again.

Are you stupid or something?

Really, though.. You got banned for freaking out in another thread after you were told this isn't happening, so you create new account and respond to all these threads after a week, as if something magically changed?

I'll tell you what, I'm waving my magic wand, just for you. Whatever you want to work should be working now.