USB port

[Rob100]

Hi All

My facelift Leon has a usb port that so far i have used to plud a 2gb memory stick in. But i never get round to changing what i have stored on it...

Has anyone tried plugging a portable external hard drive, the sort powered by the usb, into the usb port? 500gb of storage would make a nice back up for my cd collection and would give me a bit more variety in the car

Not sure if the car would power a hard drive so would be interested to see if anyone else has tried before I pop over to PC world

 

[ross27]

I always though that it depended on the file system of the storage.

FAT32 would be readable, whereas NTFS is not.

I could be totally wrong though

 

[penfold uk]

Never thought about using an external drive. I'll give it ago in the morning.

 

[GainfulShrimp]

I believe many devices have a 2gb limit but if you've used flash based storage bigger than 2gb successfully, the only other problem would be providing enough power. Platter based storage is far more vulnerable to shocks and bumps, though...

 

[Igor23]

Freecom do a range of shock resistant usb/12v 2.5" powered hdd's, I find that a 32gb pen drive works well as long as you stick to a maximum of 6 root folders, finding individual tracks can be a pain tho'.... http://www.freecom.com/ecproduct_detail.asp?ID=3970&CatID=400

 

[KzJF]

I use a 8GB mp3 which is constantly connected to the car..
I don't understand the point of using a shock-resistant device - was anybody in a situation where shocks killed their external harddrive?

 

[GainfulShrimp]

Yes. I've dropped one about 2ft onto carpet and turned it into a clicking paperweight.

 

[Igor23]

Yes. I've dropped one about 2ft onto carpet and turned it into a clicking paperweight.

HDD's are incredibly sensitive to shocks, I work building servers, and we had a delivery of HDD's from a well known e-tailer, these drives were packed in a thin layer of bubble wrap, rather than the usual foam cocoon, out of 10 drives, 6 have shown signs of failing and 3 have failed completely, prior to this job, I worked repairing laptops for DSGI, the most common failure (apart from accidental damage) was dead HDD's. I don't trust HDD based music players, solid state works in cars so much better...

 

[KzJF]

Assuming you are driving a Seat Leon MK2, the USB port is placed deep inside the dashboard.
It's like a cave in there - I keep my mp3 connected and placed inside, it's barely noticeable..

The car must roll 10 times before my music box rolls out of its secret cave.

 

[eltawater]

Assuming you are driving a Seat Leon MK2, the USB port is placed deep inside the dashboard.
It's like a cave in there - I keep my mp3 connected and placed inside, it's barely noticeable..

The car must roll 10 times before my music box rolls out of its secret cave.

Not quite.

My USB port is in a compartment beneath the drivers seat. Given the amount of bumping and thumping my back gets from the various potholes around here, I dread to think what a hard drive would suffer.

Stick to solid state drives, a decent 16GB one is next to nothing these days, and it takes up far less space. Given the limitations of the Leon stereo, you'll reach the limits of your patience for finding a track before you hit the disk space limits

 

[dimension_fm]

Does anyone have any idea of a 8+ gb flash drive that works? i have tried a few but only seem to be able to use 4gb max?

 

[GainfulShrimp]

I'm still very happy using data CDs of mp3s (and occasionally plugging in my mp3 via the analogue AUX socket and selecting tracks on the device). I sometimes wish that I had more tunes per CD but I think I'd find it frustrating dealing with the kludged solution of pretending my USB device is a CD changer and only having 5+1 playlists etc etc. If the USB connection had a better navigation/interface and dealt with named folders well, I think I'd prefer it, as the steering wheel controls are very useful!

 

[product]

Rob100 is talking about facelift Leon Mk2, I think the last three posters missed that bit...

The facelift stereo is much more friendly to using external USB sticks, the navigation makes sense and you can scroll through loads of albums/folders pretty easily. I'm running an 8GB stick too with no issues - also been meaning to try the USB-powered backup hard drive we have at work...

For me the key to easy navigation is that the new stereo can handle multiple levels of folders, so you can have a folder for each artist or genre for example, and then within that folder have sub-folders for each album.

dimension_fm - I never tested the limits of the pre-facelift USB port, but 4gb wouldn't surprise me...

 

[dimension_fm]

cheers product, anyone else tried any others or know the max limits? oh and sorry for hijacking the thread.

 

[Rob100]

- also been meaning to try the USB-powered backup hard drive we have at work...

I agree, the facelift stereo is very user friendly, selecting a track is straightforward. Let me know how you get on with the backup hard drive, if it works i'll go shopping!

many thanks

 

[KzJF]

Rob100 is talking about facelift Leon Mk2, I think the last three posters missed that bit...

The facelift Leon stereo is much more friendly.....[SNIP]

Thank god, I thought I was going nutters..

The facelift stereo is like a small mobile-phone folder navigation system, with a 'previous folder' button, 'play track' button and an 'info' button etc.
You get the point.

Does anybody's facelift Leon USB jack sit under the driver's seat? or is it inside the dashboard?

 

[Rob100]

Does anybody's facelift Leon USB jack sit under the driver's seat? or is it inside the dashboard?

Mine is set back under the dashboard, next to the aux plug, on the same central console as the gearstick / handbreak. Its a nice tidy design with a sliding cover when its not in use.