how to use a hard drive with the usb port?

[untouchableE82]

everytime i try to connect a hard drive for instance to the car using the usb port, and when i go to click on usb. it continuously says insert usb, so i dont get how exactly do i connect a harddrive to the car using the usb port?

[m7ammed]

well its either not getting enough power , it is the wrong format so its not reading it . I've read somewhere on the forum that HD usually need more power to work

[atr_hugo]

Try starting with the sticky at the top of this forum: http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19876

[lib]

Hate to point you away from 1addicts but the best thread I've seen on this so far has been on e90post:

"USB hard drives that work with 6FL"
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=96309

[1Ronnie]

Actually this should be a specific FAQ question ... as adood84 said, more often than not this is because there is not enough power in the BMW's Aux port to run up the disk. Some drives work in some cars, but others have used 12 volt adapters to provide the power to drive it.

In other cases, it is due to the formatting of the drive. The BMW sound system only supports FAT or FAT32, therefore you are limited (oversimplification) to a 32Gb partition, which means that large HDDs are of little added value.

Honestly, most success is had with USB memory sticks, or iPods.

[SV Concepts II]

If you're feeling lazy, a 32GB usb memory stick will cost you $60 and will hold roughly 3100 songs at 10mb per song. Easy plug and play method with slightly less disk space.

[hotpants]

Originally Posted by 1Ronnie

In other cases, it is due to the formatting of the drive. The BMW sound system only supports FAT or FAT32, therefore you are limited (oversimplification) to a 32Gb partition, which means that large HDDs are of little added value.

gotta disagree. here is how i got my 320gb HD to work in the car:

http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13970

[vanbmw]

I am happy with my USB memory stick. Works great, holds lots and it is inexpensive. I can't imagine needing more songs then I have already. If I ever filled mine up I'd just get a second USB stick.

[1Ronnie]

Originally Posted by hotpants

gotta disagree. here is how i got my 320gb HD to work in the car:

http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13970

Yes ... that's the over-simplification, I acknowledge that I took a shortcut here. I wasn't trying to say it couldn't be done, just trying to provide a relatively simple answer to a potentially complex problem.

[DTNJNQ]

I also installed a hard disk. I needed an additional power supply to make it work.

http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15374