How to use a usb hard drive for music

[poolzer]

With Vista and 7 not allowing FAT 16/32 to be an option for drives larger than 32gb, this will allow you to use your USB powered hard drive for music. Apple computers should be able to format their drives w/o the below program.

This SHOULD work on any usb powered mini drive of any size.

Mine is a Seagate 250gb

Download Download Fat32Formatter 1.0 - A software utility that helps you format drive larger than 32 GB to FAT32 - Softpedia
Unzip the program, open it and select the drive you want (ensuring there is nothing on the drive, it will be erased).
Click on the start button in the lower right corner.
Wait 2-5 hours depending on the size.

Add all the music you want in MP3 and WMA format. I made folders for specific artists, but if you just want random music or folders for different types of music you can do that as well.

No more than 255 songs in a folder.

When I had my thumb drive plugged in, when I would turn the engine on, it would go directly to the drive. With the USB powered hard drive, since it takes a second or 2 to turn on, the 4runner will go to the default audio you had it on last, so you have to select the USB option to go to it.

Once playing, hold down the random button for a second or 2, and it will cycle through ALL folders of music.

 

[nashman69g]

thanks...I can't wait till I get my 4runner so I can do this! Party Mode on.

 

[Jesse1983]

Thanks poolzer!!! :trophy:

Time for me to go find a 4Runner dedicated drive!

 

[Quentin]

Hmmm... I might have to take the T4R out to Best Buy for a shopping trip.

 

[dbjasper]

Thanks for the info. I'll def have to try it!!!

 

[BlueBelt]

Gracias!

Awesome post Poolzer. Fly Navy??? Hooyah.

 

[mpaquette]

When you're not using random, are you able to scroll through all of your folders? I had an 8GB USB flash drive laying around that I copied about 6GB of music to. Each album has it's own folder so no folder contains more than 255 files in it. When I try to scroll through the folders, sometimes it only displays what is on the screen and won't let me scroll. Sometimes it lets me scroll, but stops before I get to the beginning or the end. All of my files are vbr .mp3 files.

 

[poolzer]

If the vehicle is in motion, this is one of the features that is disabled (folder scrolling or song scrolling). Its quite annoying.

 

[SeattleMike]

Mine works when moving, it just takes a minute for the software to check the files.

 

[Titanpat57]

Great stuff Poolzer!:thumb3:

 

[mpaquette]

If the vehicle is in motion, this is one of the features that is disabled (folder scrolling or song scrolling). Its quite annoying.

That is dumb. Thanks for the heads up, I'll stop pulling my hair out now.

 

[poolzer]

Mine works when moving, it just takes a minute for the software to check the files.

So while driving, you can use the scroll feature on the right hand side when folders or song files are shown with multiple pages?

 

[evetsmd]

Hard Drive Formatting

Just as more info, Seagate has a wizard that will format a drive in Fat32.

 

[browntiger]

Do you have a link to the usb device that you use? I want to buy it online and don't want to worry about getting something that didn't work.

 

[SeattleMike]

Poolzer, thanks for doing all the research.

I bought a Toshiba Canvio 500GB for 80 bucks on Amazon, used your little program to quick format it as FAT32, copied all my ripped CDs to it, and now I have 120GB of music and plenty of room for more. Plugged it in and it never even hesitated to play. Thanks again.

 

[sp8ball]

Question for you guys:

If I set this up, i have a question about accessing the different folders.

If you have a folder on the hard drive called "Alice in Chains", and it has three album folders in that folder, what will i see when I scroll through the folders with the knob?

Just the top level folder, or the folders for the albums, too?

If I hit "play" on the Alice in Chains folder, will it play among all three folders, or sequentially across them?

Sorry if that doesn't make sense!

 

[Ni1522ke]

Just a quick question. Can this only be done in T4R's with the nav screen or can this be done in the SR5?

 

[emsmatt]

Poolzer, thanks for doing all the research.

I bought a Toshiba Canvio 500GB for 80 bucks on Amazon, used your little program to quick format it as FAT32, copied all my ripped CDs to it, and now I have 120GB of music and plenty of room for more. Plugged it in and it never even hesitated to play. Thanks again.

Hey Mike, How is the USB compared to using IPOD? Are the screen functions similar and fairly easy to scroll thru files like using an IPOD? I have 12K songs on my IPOD from ALOT of different artists and being able to scroll thru ARTIST>ALBUMS>SONG is very helpful when I dont feel like using the RANDOM function.

 

[SeattleMike]

Question for you guys:

If I set this up, i have a question about accessing the different folders.

If you have a folder on the hard drive called "Alice in Chains", and it has three album folders in that folder, what will i see when I scroll through the folders with the knob?

Just the top level folder, or the folders for the albums, too?

If I hit "play" on the Alice in Chains folder, will it play among all three folders, or sequentially across them?

Sorry if that doesn't make sense!

You don't see sub folders, it will just play sequentially but that sequence may not be the same on your drive as it appears on your computer, and if you press random it will play among those three. Pressing and holding random makes it pick from the whole drive.

Just a quick question. Can this only be done in T4R's with the nav screen or can this be done in the SR5?

Do you have a stock USB port?

Hey Mike, How is the USB compared to using IPOD? Are the screen functions similar and fairly easy to scroll thru files like using an IPOD? I have 12K songs on my IPOD from ALOT of different artists and being able to scroll thru ARTIST>ALBUMS>SONG is very helpful when I dont feel like using the RANDOM function.

It sucks. It's the slowest responding interface I've used since MusicMatch got bought by Yahoo! I've never tried using an iPod in it, sorry.

 

[emsmatt]

You don't see sub folders, it will just play sequentially but that sequence may not be the same on your drive as it appears on your computer, and if you press random it will play among those three. Pressing and holding random makes it pick from the whole drive.


Do you have a stock USB port?


It sucks. It's the slowest responding interface I've used since MusicMatch got bought by Yahoo! I've never tried using an iPod in it, sorry.

HAHA!!! Thanks, your reply of 'it sucks' paints a good enough picture. And your response to the Uberposter mod detailerextrodinaire answered my question.