Everyone tells me that my 300gb hdd wont be able to connect/read to the head unit ill be installing tomorrow. But none of them can tell me why. do any of you know? And if i cant it seems most flash drives do connect without a problem, but say for example if it exceeds past a certain amount of gb will it reject it like it apparently does with the HDD? in case you need specs its a Western digital passport 300gb

thanks for your time and i appreciate any help you guys can give me

also if this thread is already covered im sorry!

 

The amount of disk space detected often depends on the operating system of the head unit. Most, if not all, are limited to very small drives. You can check the specs with the manufacturer.

 

Is it a question of the file allocation table? I had a similar issue plugging a 250 gig hard drive in my Ford F150 with Sync. I had to format the hard drive FAT32 vice NTFS and it had no issues reading the contents. Makes for a great road trip mix when you have 20,000+ songs on tap.

 

Don't know. I just recall that with my Kenwood DDX516 there is a limit to the size of the disk the unit will access, as well as the number of subdirectory levels it can read. I've got a newer DDX470, and that manual states it will read both FAT 16 and 32 disks, but doesn't mention anything more specific. The only thing I ever used the USB input for was an 8gb flash rive containing jpgs to use as background screens to replace the ones included with the unit.

 

I'd play it safe and buy a 32GB thumb drive. I'm currently using that in my INA-W910. Any higher it would be formatted in exfat or NTFS and would be unreadable by headunits.

 

well the radio i picked up is 2013 model. sony xav 701hd. i read something about formatting with fat32 to make it work. how would i go about doing so?

 

so there is a chance that with newer models it will read larger storage units?

 

I'm a Mac-user, but of you use a PC, it's going to be about the same. Use your disk utility program to format the disk however you choose. There should be multiple options to pick from, and.or you can probably download some free utility to use if Windows won;t do what you want.

 

Only thing I can say is check the manual the head unit came with. Or, just try it and see.

 

I downloaded a fat32 format utility. There are a bunch out there. Pretty safe pulling anything down from CNET.

 

thanks guys i appreciate the help

 

You also want to consider that the usb line may not provide enough power for a hdd.

 

id be screwed then because the usb port cables are integrated into the head unit. if that were the case id just sat f**k it and get a classic 130gb ipod since a hdd wouldnt work.