So how do I get hold of this guy to purchase his drive?

You can PM him or look at the link enbedded at the botom of his post a few above this one

Takes care

Shadowman

Received my HDD last week, finally installed it today because I had issues with 2 stripped screws. Shipping was fast and installation was a cake.

Oh man right when it booted up jesus I thought my ear was about the blow. The beeping volume was high and it was pretty crazy. I fixed the volume and it is fine now. Some reason my coordinates are off by like 50 miles, I guess I will have to drive my car tomorrow so it can pick it up.

Garret is the best and I would recommend you guys getting his HDD service. It saves so much time because he makes everything easy. I would again get his service in the future if a Z5 ever comes out LoL.

Navigation Upgrade Discs Now Available Direct from

Pioneer's New Webshop!

Have you been contemplating about upgrading your navigation system with the latest maps? Now you can purchase the newest map databases for your navigation system as well as accessories (such as a backup camera or iPod* cable) from the comfort of your home.

In addition to updating streets on your navigation system, these discs also update the number of POIs (points of interest such as gas stations, banks, etc.), allowing you find what you need in the shortest distance possible.

The CNDV-80MT provides the Model Year 2008 maps for the AVIC-N4, AVIC-N3, AVIC-N2, AVIC-N1, AVIC-D3, AVIC-D2, AVIC-D1, AVIC-88D, AVIC-80D, AVIC-90D, and AVIC-9DVD

The CNDV-800HD provides the Model Year 2008 maps for the AVIC-Z2 and AVIC-Z1

Therefore, do we assume that the Z3 already has the 2008 maps?

Yes, the Z3 already has the 2008 maps.

quick question, i have an avic-z1 that i bought in 2006 and i had the flashing lights technique bypass on it until pioneer released the update for the freezing HD's which got rid of that bypass. i then re-bypassed it with the method listed on this site and was wondering if i bought this hard drive, would it get rid of that bypass? also, would it get rid of all the information i currently have stored on my hard drive?

The 2 wire bypass that you currently have installed will continue to work with the Z3 upgrade. If you buy a new drive, then you will lose the data currently on your hard drive, but I do offer an upgrade service, and I can transfer or exisiting data to a new drive. Check my ads by clicking the link in my sig below. PM or email me with any questions.

** UPDATE **

I received the Z3 hard drive from Garret today; I elected to pay for over-night delivery ato keep the momentum going and it arrived as promised included with it was a rather cool little multi purpose tool.

In any case as a reminder I had a Z1 with the original flasher card as created by DucatiBoy (which worked perfectly for the last couple years) so initially I swapped in the new hard drive; a painless process that in the end it took longer for the firmware update to complete once the unit was initially fired up when compared to the physical swapping of fhe hard drives. Everything worked perfectly and all of my secondary modules; iPod, BT, and XM came on line as if nothing had changed with the exception of my then needing to update the by-pass system being used.

Then I proceeded to remove the head unit and removed the by-pass original flasher module and then completed the simple 2 wire by-pass after which everything works perfectly.

I cannot speak highly enough for the manner in which Garret tended to my request and the product as recieved from him.

Takes care

Shadowman

Garret, Thank you for all of the support & help you gave me with making the transition from Z2 to Z3 as painless as possible it was very easy to complete the job. I was a little skeptical about do business at first but you were willing to talk with me over the phone and answered all of my questions and delivered my Z3 hard drive with instruction, map updates & the special tool to complete the job. Pioneer doesn't do that.

You have me as a customer 4life. Oh, by the way I decided to keep my old hard drive because when I do send you the new drive to you for map updates I can still use the old drive during the turn around time

Thanks again and keep up the good work

Harold from Calif

Garret produced as advertised once again! It is a painless upgrade with the instructions and cool torx tool included with the package. Again, thanks Garret, Great Job!

PSB

whats the unlocked drive do for us? im not sure i understand the importance of that...

does it happen to mean that we can now rip our mp3 discs to the drive?

whats the unlocked drive do for us? im not sure i understand the importance of that...

 

 

does it happen to mean that we can now rip our mp3 discs to the drive?

It allows you to connect the hdd to a PC for future upgrades without losing your music and personal data. You can not copy mp3's directly to the hdd. You can only rip audio cds, like usual.

I received the hard drive in 2 days and garret was able to work with me in a concern I had with the Toshiba service center.

Garret is great to deal with and his product came just as described.

I would recommend this service to anyone.

Wow, that was quick. I sent the payment on Halloween night ( Friday ) and received the HDD on Tuesday. I installed it today within 15 minutes and it works perfect.

Hehe, I also ordered an extra set of screws which I didn't need, cause the instructions warned me that they strip easily and a good screwdriver is needed.

I'm so excited that everything worked so easily.

I wish Pioneer would make it easier to transfer music on the harddrive.

Thank you very much Garret.

I recently purchased 5 of the 60 GB drives to upgrade my AVIC-1's used in my Tundra service trucks. I carefully watched for difficulties with the change out and have compiled an extensive list of problems I encountered and another list of improvements or comments that might be helpful to anyone contemplating his product.

List of Problems

Okay so I really didnt have any problems. Everything went quick, easy and I did it like I was an expert using his instructions. But let's move on to the comments.

List of possible improvements/comments

1. I used a #1 phillips driver when removing the screws from the drive

rather than #0. I had no problem at all with stripping.

2. Instead of using 2nd day priority USPS delivery. Why not hire the Swedish Bikini Team to deliver the drives. This would would be a huge step forward toward total customer satisfaction.

Thanks for everything I look forward to the next upgrade.

2. Instead of using 2nd day priority USPS delivery. Why not hire the Swedish Bikini Team to deliver the drives. This would would be a huge step forward toward total customer satisfaction.

I like this idea. They would have to make a daily pickup from my house

Just got done with the upgrade! The 60 gig drive arrived in just 3 days and was well packaged. I was concerned as I was out of town and it had been raining for days, however the box was in perfect condition. The drive came out easily as per Garret's instructions and was placed on the kitchen table on a clean white towel. 3 of the 4 screws came out with moderate torque and a brand new #1 phillips head, however as advertised, the 4th head stripped. The metal is very soft, I'm surprised Pioneer got them in without deforming them. A dremel tool quickly removed the head and the remaining threads could be removed by hand. The drive was re-installed with 3 screws, and placed back in the unit. On power up the unit took approximately 90 seconds to update itself. The unit shows a horizontal bar graph that moves left to right as the operation progresses, once complete it takes you to a setup page where you will update the time. Once that was done the unit was up and running perfectly! What a great value! I got the disk for the firmware update from Pioneer, however after reading all the headaches on this forum, I just didn't want the hassel. 130 bucks gets you the 60 gig drive, the firmware update and the most current maps, what it dosn't give you is a headache and lots of lost time. PLEASE note: With the exception of your XM, FM, and equilizer presets most all stored info will be lost. I had to reinitialize my bluetooth phone, re-enter my address book, and favorites. Not really a big deal and it was expected. Again a great value for a great service. I'm sure a call to pioneer tech support would have taken longer.

THANKS!!!!!!!!!

Just wanted to give a thanks to Garret. Ordered a 30gig hdd and received it within 1 week shipped to Canada. No problems, everything was in the package as promised. Very easy upgrade and recommend anyone thinking on doing it to do it. Don't forget to buy the extra screws as I got 2 of 4 out without stripping but the last 2 wasn't as lucky!

I ordered one of Garret's 60gb HDD last week. The drive arrived from Texas on time, and in perfect condition. I picked up a Kobalt size 0 phillips screwdiver ahead of time from Lowes.

I followed the instructions that Garret included in his email to me confirming the shipment (next morning). It took about 15 minutes, I had no issues with the screws, they came right out.

The drive installed smoothly, booted up without problem and updated everything. When it restarted, I noticed the Pioneer screen said 2008. That was cool since I bought this Z1 in 2006.

Everything worked great, thanks Garret. I would reccomend this product 100%. Great deal, great service and great product.

Thanks again,

Socal_fun (Larry).

The mailman delivered my drive to Garret at 1:33 p.m. on Friday and he had it back in the mail at 5:44 the same day, priority mail. I had it before lunch on Monday. That is fast!

If you have trouble finding a Torx T8, try an auto parts store. I got a set of 8-9 sizes that fold into a handle for $5 and change at Advance Auto.

I got my drive yesterday and it was ready to go and works great! Shipping was prompt and the unit was well packaged. Thanks Garret!

yeah GT does great work. keep it up.

I ordered a new Z3 drive from Garrett at 7:30am Tuesday morning. Garrett replied 21 minutes later telling me the drive was in the mail. I received it on Friday (Thanksgiving delayed delivery a day) and installed it Saturday morning. It works great! The only issue I had was with those pesky little screws. I ended up using a method I read about here: a rotary tool with a blade to cut a straight slot for a larger screwdriver. I had to do that for three of the four screws, but it worked great and installed without a hitch.

Thanks, Garrett. You're a good man! A great value for the money!

Jim Johnson

Very responsive--great turn-around time. No worries with Garret!

got it today and put in today very easy and very handy tool.stripped 1 screw and wound up using a bigger screwdriver to get that one out.didnt have that dremel thing.worked out fine though,took a screw out my wifes laptop.she wont notice.thanks