GPS/NAV HU idea

[Stuck CAPS]

I've been in Germany the past couple weeks, and picked up an external hard drive very cheap over there. It's a 1TB USB operated (no power cable) External HDD. I was wondering, since you can usually run a flash drive for music, could I reformat my hard drive to a FAT32 system, and run all my music from there, and keep it mounted?

Edit: Keep it mounted, as in build a mount for it. Also, I was wondering if I could run one of the USB ports through the back (just splicing) and keeping the front capped off (so I can still use the port when I want to plug, say an iPod, in.)

Edit2: Also, sorry 'bout the title, had another idea which I found wouldn't work when writing this. Also, for mounting, I'm thinking right above that closing part in the glovebox.

 

[preacher35]

Hmmm... This is an interesting question. First of all, I am assuming that this is a mechanical drive per your "HDD" description, rather than a solid state drive. If we were talking about an SDD, I would say that "YES", your idea would work if formatted as Fat32. But you have have two problems that I can think of (and I'm sure that I will be quickly corrected if I am wrong): 1- mechanical HDD's require significantly more power than a USB flash drive and it is doubtful that you HU USB cable is putting out enough power to support it; 2- even if it did put out enough power, your search times would probably be ridiculously long as the firmware on your HU was not designed for mechanical HDD sector searches. But hey, give it a whirl.

 

[Asmara]

I've been in Germany the past couple weeks, and picked up an external hard drive very cheap over there. It's a 1TB USB operated (no power cable) External HDD. I was wondering, since you can usually run a flash drive for music, could I reformat my hard drive to a FAT32 system, and run all my music from there, and keep it mounted?

Edit: Keep it mounted, as in build a mount for it. Also, I was wondering if I could run one of the USB ports through the back (just splicing) and keeping the front capped off (so I can still use the port when I want to plug, say an iPod, in.)

Edit2: Also, sorry 'bout the title, had another idea which I found wouldn't work when writing this. Also, for mounting, I'm thinking right above that closing part in the glovebox.

It really depends on the radio and how the hard drive is *seen* by the radio. It might work but you just need to check compatibility with your radio. Otherwise, in principle this would work fine. I'd think about mounting it in the little cubby in front of the shifter if it is the size I'm thinking it is since it doesn't require external power.

 

[toiday]

External HHD, the kind with spindles in it, is a bad idea since your 4Runner will be bumpy while running. Other consideration is most player will not recognize a flash drive that is too large. If yours can support up to 128GB USB drive, that is still a lot of mp3 songs.

 

[Stuck CAPS]

External HHD, the kind with spindles in it, is a bad idea since your 4Runner will be bumpy while running. Other consideration is most player will not recognize a flash drive that is too large. If yours can support up to 128GB USB drive, that is still a lot of mp3 songs.

Meh, I guess.