Hello and Thanks to all the Great people here at AVIC411!

 

With Christmas just around the corner I'm sure there will be a lot of new AVIC-Z1 owners and if they are anything like me they will be Hacking and Moding there units even before they are installed.

 

My question...Is there an advantage or disadvantage to unlocking a virgin HDD? By this I mean a Brand New unit right out of the box.

 

My son will be receiving one as a gift and since he lives in another state I figured I would unlock the HDD before I travel to him for the install.

 

Merry Christmas...Happy Hanukkah & Season Greetings to All!!!

I would say the big disadvantage would be that if it's installed and it has some problem, then you might have voided your warranty. If Pioneer sees that you unlocked the hard drive they MIGHT not do free work on it thinking you messed with stuff. And so far the only thing we can really do it load some new backgrounds on it and change the boot image.

 

That being said I did spend the $50 and unlock the drive and changed the boot image and loaded some of my own images on there.

 

But it was months of using it and taking the chance I wouldn't need to return it before I messed with it. Unlocking the drive shouldn't cause any problems with the unit, so I feel it's safe to do. But I do think I voided my warranty messing with the hard drive.

 

So is the benefit worth the risk? Only the owner can decide....