External Hard Drive as Music Source?

[whodini]

Hi all,
Has anyone used or using an external Hard Drive as a source for music plugged into the usb ports in the centre console of the Leon,I am not very technical,so not sure about power requirements,size restrictions,possible damage etc.
Leon model I have is 1.8 ST FR DSG Auto
Thanks

 

[Jaco2k]

None of my business, but.... why? With current memory card capacities, isn't that a bit overkill?
If you really must do it, judging by the way it charges my phone, I would estimate the car USB ports put out a decent amperage amount (I estimate around 3A or so...) which should be probably enough to power a portable 2,5" HDD.
Not so sure about which formats the car reads, though - I guess you would need to format it to FAT32 or exFAT, although the second really is more for memory cards.
You would get no damage from plugging the drive in - the circuit will either have enough juice to power the drive or... not power the drive at all, so it is easy to find out

 

[weasley]

I am using an old iPod Video (5th gen) for this - it is essentially an HDD with some user software on it. Works fine; you can pick them up cheap and the car recognises it as an iPod and gives you all the controls you want to play music in various ways, plus manage it via iTunes if you want to (or you can set it up as a simple HDD for drag/drop file management).

 

[Shaady]

With the size of memory cards these days I just don't know why you would bother with a HDD connected like that.

Even if the USB port has enough power to power it driving around with a HDD spun up isnt going to do it any good, most likely it'll either destroy itself when you go over a pothole or the like or you'll shorten its life drastically with all that movement.

Reckon your best bet is either a memory card or phone

 

[matt_s]

I'd seriously advise getting a cheap ipod to chuck in the glovebox. I ran with an SD card because my car didn't come with an mdi lead for the first week i had it and there was a noticeable improvement in sound quality going from the card to the ipod. I'd just copied the songs from my computer to the card so it's playing identical files from the ipod and sd card.

 

[Big Col]

just agreeing with some of the previous comments - a traditional hdd wouldn't last long rattling about in a car.

 

[Jaco2k]

Well, one even better suggestion is to get a Spotify subscription and be done with it

 

[whodini]

Well,I have around 4tb of music on hard drive ripped from my collection of vinyl and CD,yes I have a big collection!
I subscribe to Google Play,Tidal and Deezer but prefer not to stream over 4g only WiFi.
Yes I could use memory cards,but again I prefer my music on one source as my musical choice changes rapidly.
I probably sound eccentric and I guess I am,but that's me.

 

[Jaco2k]

Well,I have around 4tb of music on hard drive ripped from my collection of vinyl and CD,yes I have a big collection!
I subscribe to Google Play,Tidal and Deezer but prefer not to stream over 4g only WiFi.
Yes I could use memory cards,but again I prefer my music on one source as my musical choice changes rapidly.
I probably sound eccentric and I guess I am,but that's me.

No, I totally understand you - I also ripped my whole collection of over 600CDs and juggle them in and out of memory cards, but ever since I got used to the luxury of Spotify ondemand on the car, I am quite sorted.
Of course, I don't know your reality about data costs, but I have a mobile connection of 100mbits on my phone without data limits and pay a reasonable 26€ per month, so I resort to the convenience of Spotify.
A SSD could probably be a solution for you, but I think that anything over 1tb is still too cost prohibitive.
You could get a USB external enclosure and mount a SSD inside.
A traditional HDD is not going to live well in a car.

 

[russbellrfs]

I have a 500gb portable hdd that Ive had for for a few years. Never skipped at all.

What Ive done is got sum adhesive velcro strips and put a few in glove box and on hdd case and a flat usb cable so the lid shuts.

A 500gb SSD would set u back £100ish and an enclosure about £10.

 

[paddy6789]

Well, one even better suggestion is to get a Spotify subscription and be done with it

Especially as its like 99p for 3 months subscription that can be cancelled any time!

 

[ukoldschool]

with that amount of music it would be worth investing in a hacked ipod classic with a 10tb drive.. that way you at least get the file structure of iTunes and control (although searching through that amount will be tiresome... its bad enough for me with 120gb of music..)

 

[LouG]

I agree with the I Pod advice, I've got 55 Gb of tracks on mine, and I'm thinking of getting a cheap 256 Gb I Phone or 128Gb I Pod so that I can have lossless tracks in the car. Even the current AAC tracks sound great on SEAT sound .
I also use Spotify, Amazon Music free and Apple Music for android for variety. The latter does not support AA yet, but does play through B/T.