[north_country_boy]

Going to purchase a SONY CDX GT50UI headunit (http://www.newimagecarhifi.com/scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=1604) but trying to find out what the crack is with the USB connection....

I understand you can play music from a USB storage device (any or iPod shuffle/ Sony equivalent etc?)

However does it also mean you can play music files saved on an external harddrive with a USB connection like this ( http://www.amazon.co.uk/Western-Digital-160GB-Passport-External/dp/B000JRSMM2/ref=sr_1_19/026-9858399-0238049?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1180539331&sr=1-19 )

Anyone tried/got one/got any knowledge on this? Much appreciated.....

[SA Chris]

I recently got the sony one with a standard headphone aux connection for less than that. Means you can plug in any kind of auxiliary player; Mini Disc (old school) MP3, even a set of decks, or got knows what will come out in the future.

[north_country_boy]

yeah, i know thsi already. But keen to find out about the USB as if you can play music files direct from a harddrive, it would save me buying an expensive music specific stroage device and just buy a huge portable hard drive for all my music....(such as the one in the link)

[SA Chris]

Sorry, hit the limit of my tech knowledge in that case.

[Jim]

I can't see why not as its powered by usb.
I'd be more tempted by something like this
a little dearer and a lot less storage but you can store a hell of a lot of music on 16gig. I recon only uncle would complain because its not 1 terrabyte of storage

[north_country_boy]

Yeah - looking for 80gb plus to get all my music on it though i'm afraid.........someone has mentioned....that the....

'USB devices go in the USB socket (obviously) but for hard drives most of these things depend on the file system of the hard drives. Try and check a manual for the headunit to check the file system (NTFS, FAT32) that is supported, most I have looked at don't work with NTFS. '

That mean anything to anyone? ordered the headunit, so once it comes i should know more....plus can try it out with the missus's harddrive....
 

[GCW]

NTFS and FAT/FAT32 are just file storage systems, essentially the way the data is recorded on your hard drive.  I use NTFS as it is better for the file sizes I sometimes use and for compartmentalisation and retrieval (in my opinion).  Sounds like it would be crap with your head-unit though.
Some SCIENCE
Some USEFUL STUFF

So the HARD DRIVE (also at Dabs with more info) is powered via USB, ao I assume the head-unit is OK for this?  I can't see there being a problem.

[north_country_boy]

Cheers GCW although i'm a little confused as to whether you think it will work or not?

Yes pretty sure it will power through the USB bus...

[GCW]

If your head-unit has USB power and you format as FAT32, it should be fine.  Only one way to find out.  What's the navigation like for finding your way around tracks?

EDIT:  Why can't I find the SONY CDX GT50UI on the Sony UK website?  Is it an old model?

[north_country_boy]

We'll have to find out.....

Ordered the headunit and my g/f has same harddrive for her music for use on her laptop, so will try with that first....beats buying a £200 80gb iPod!

Is it easy to format files as FAT32?

[Jim]

you don't format the files, you format the Hard drive. Windoze XP will not let you format it in fat 32 if it is above 32 gigs(if your using win xp).
I had to format a 100 gig Hard drive on fat32 recently for my media box and used fat32formatter from here
easy

[GCW]

Beat me to it Jim.
Most of the time with Plug and Play it'll be ready formatted in FAT32 anyway so I wouldn't sweat it.

[Jim]

also I challenge you to listen to 80 gigs worth of music in a year

[north_country_boy]

15months roadtripping in a van around europe? I'll give it a good go!!

[dobbin]

I got an ipod kit in my car. Its the best thing I spent my money on (except perhaps the car itself). You are completely tied into the ipod device (its a dock connector) but its fully controlled via the factory fit head unit and just simplistic brilliance.

The one thing I could think of that might stop your drive working via your USB socket is that the head units USB will be really low power. The drive will be configured to suck lots of juice and it may not be enough to work, or it might work but the fuse might get really hot and pop. Suck it and see Not-Dan_Varian, suck it and see.

[north_country_boy]

cheers Dobbin, that will indeed be my intended approach to this technological minefield! Will hopefully have the headunit mid next week, so will try it then...

[Jim]

Best to see If you could borrow a USB powered USB hard drive to see if it works I recon.
I've got one but its mains powered so no good to you

[north_country_boy]

Cheers Jim, yeah the missus has a smaller version of the one in the original link/post....

Done a bit of research on net today regarding headunit, and seems that with any USB device (i.e ipod/mp3 player) the headunit trickle charges the device while playing so may have enough power to run the USB harddrive

[north_country_boy]

Ok....so the headunit has arrived, fitted it at lunch all working kosher.....

Tried it briefly with the missus's harddrive.....powers up, and harddrive is working, but screen on headunit just says 'Read' (flashes slowly.....) ......so it seems the powering of the HD is not an issue, just how the files are saved/read from the drive....

Any advice before i reformat the drive to FAT32.....haven't read manual yet to see if this may be the issue....

[slackline]

Any advice before i reformat the drive to FAT32.....haven't read manual yet to see if this may be the issue....

Check to see what filesystem its currently using as it may well already be FAT32 (might save a few minutes, although it wouldn't do any harm to format it).

Make sure you back up anything thats already on your missus HD as changing the filesystem WILL wipe everything thats on there.

Reformatting it shouldn't be an issue though, I reformatted a Lacie drive to Ext3 (a journalised version of the GNU/Linux ext2 file system) without any problems.  Just plug it in and reformat as per any other drive.

[GCW]

Ok....so the headunit has arrived, fitted it at lunch all working kosher.....

Tried it briefly with the missus's harddrive.....powers up, and harddrive is working, but screen on headunit just says 'Read' (flashes slowly.....) ......so it seems the powering of the HD is not an issue, just how the files are saved/read from the drive....

Any advice before i reformat the drive to FAT32.....haven't read manual yet to see if this may be the issue....

How long did you leave it for with "Read" flashing?  Previous Sony Headunits I've had took about 5 minutes to complete the reading of a CD-MP3, so it may just need more time.  Plug it in on a longer trip and see what happens before you click Reformat.