I'm thinking about getting an SSD to use with USB2 for all my lossless files, and was wondering if anyone can suggest a brand/model that they've had a good experience with when used with a NEX unit.
Any thoughts/ideas? Thanks.
I am running an older OCZ Vertex II and it works fine. Any of the consumer models should be fine; you do NOT want an "enterprise" model as those tend to have materially higher power consumption and may require external power instead of being able to take it directly from the USB port, and that will lead to instability.
There's also no reason to pay the (much) higher price the enterprise models come with; as the drive is not being written to power loss protection (which is the big difference with enterprise SSDs, along with more spare sectors) isn't worth anything in this application.
What's the capacity on your drive, and what did you pay for it?
topic detailed in previous post:
http://avic411.com/index.php?/topic/39131-what-is-the-optimal-usb-and-ssd-drive-typesize/
Pj, 120gb and I've had it for several years -- it's an older drive, but has reasonably-recent firmware on it.
Were I buying one now I'd pick any of the decent consumer SSDs in a size appropriate to your needs. Note that there remains a directory sorting issue (specifically, these head units do not sort directories on external storage, which is terminally stupid -- but it is what it is) so formatting it as NTFS is problematic; you can "sort" a FAT directory device using various third party tools, but NOT an NTFS one.
Hmm is that why my NEX doesn't recognize track numbers on my FLAC files? In Tag mode, it only lists the songs alphabetically, not by the number in the file tag.
That's a great price. Does it read/load files quickly?
Hmm is that why my NEX doesn't recognize track numbers on my FLAC files? In Tag mode, it only lists the songs alphabetically, not by the number in the file tag.
Pioneer has a terminal case of stupids across the board in this regard.
In "tag" mode it will not sort on track number PERIOD, which is idiotic if you drill to the album level. You're not looking for an individual song, you're looking for an ALBUM. To ignore the context is dumb.
What's dumber is that when in FILE mode it won't sort directories, so if you organize your disk as "Artist->Album->Songs" (which is logical) it will happily present both the Artist and Album lists without sorting them, but it does sort the "Song" (terminal) level of the structure, and as such will honor a numeric tag for the song title such as "01 SomeSong.xxx"
The idiocy of the people who programmed this thing continues to amaze me; with two updates to the firmware thus far you'd think they would have fixed this (and yes, I have reported it.) Then again the other manufacturers out there do this wrong too; it appears that stupidity is contagious in this industry.
So is there no fix to get the NEX to recognize track numbers in Tag mode? I was playing around with it for a while, but if I'm wasting my time, I'll give up. I might also reconsider getting an SSD in the first place if this is the case.
Because of these issues I don't even bother with stick/disc/card other than to have a backup in case my iPod goes on the fritz. The downside of an iPod is storage limitation and and cost for what storage is available. My lossless library exceeds what I could put on two 160GB iPod Classics. Now as I understand it, Apple has discontinued the Classic model... so snag 'em up while you can.
When/if I get another iPod, I already have a ziff-davis to msata interface sitting on my desk to mod the old iPod to ~500GB...!!!
Another alternative I've looked into but not followed up on lately is getting an Android HDMI stick (oft called a mini- or micro-PC) with it's own USB port for a USB SSD/HD, and use a fully functional media player on the stick. I may just go this route rather than get another iPod... but at this point I'm uncertain other snafus wouldn't pop up as with seemingly all these type of device interfacing nowadays.
I have no problem with the SSD in FILE mode, but I organized the directories in a logical way, and sorted them on the disk (which requires using a FAT format instead of NTFS.)
Works fine.
Pioneer still ought to pull the head out of their backside, considering that the base Android OS under this thing has a sort routine in it, and even if it didn't writing a quicksort (or hell, even a bubble sort!) is one of those "first semester" programming problems.
That's a great price. Does it read/load files quickly?
If you want fast (on the computer, not necessarily in the car), this is a bit pricier but VERY fast:
http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Extreme-Transfer-SDCZ80-064G-GAM46-Version/dp/B00KT7DOSE/
If you want fast (on the computer, not necessarily in the car), this is a bit pricier but VERY fast:
http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Extreme-Transfer-SDCZ80-064G-GAM46-Version/dp/B00KT7DO
Looks like that one is on sale for $34.99 right now. Might have to grab one of those.....
Looks like that one is on sale for $34.99 right now. Might have to grab one of those.....
The price drop happened a couple weeks ago, everyone I know bought several. Maybe they're ramping up to release their 128GB versions?
On a related note, is there any advantage in using a flash drive vs an SD card or vice versa?
Other than the SD cards that require exFAT (which the NEX units cannot read).....
I purchased a Samsung pro 64 GB sdxc card and formatted to fat32, filled with flac about 2 months ago, and have had no issues whatsoever. I am going to purchase 256 GB sdxc card and put movies and try it out next.Other than the SD cards that require exFAT (which the NEX units cannot read).....
I purchased a Samsung pro 64 GB sdxc card and formatted to fat32, filled with flac about 2 months ago, and have had no issues whatsoever. I am going to purchase 256 GB sdxc card and put movies and try it out next.
Nice. Let us know how the 256GB SD card works.
Should have SD card in hand tomorrow from Amazon. Will format after work, and put on the ripped dvds and converted m4v(converted to remove Apple's Protection) purchased in iTunes. I will post results.
I am posting the results of 256 gb sdcard formatted to fat32, and filled with ripped movies from dvds, and converted iTunes movies purchased and protection removed.
The sdcard was formatted by my macbook pro using the native disc utility, the head unit took a few minutes to read format, and voila, everything works as it should. I can shut it down, go into corner store, come back out and movie starts right where it left off.
I like this setup, because the rear will play the movies from sdcard, using dual zone, and i can have carplay, app radio, or whatever on the head unit. Whereas before i would have to mirror from usb2 or use usb1 for dual zone(which keeps me from using carplay).
Thanks joe. Did you get a Samsung again or did you buy a different brand SD card?
Thanks joe. Did you get a Samsung again or did you buy a different brand SD card?
I purchased one off amazon, PNY high performance, for 109.00. I reformatted the samsung 64 sdxc, and put it in a sony mini camcorder.
I use a crucial 240gb SSD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148694
Crucial M500 CT240M500SSD1 2.5" 240GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)it works great