I like my music a lot and i have this crazy idea on buying a Audio Deck that is USB compatible for an External Hard drive.
My idea is to plug my external hard drive into my car and it will let me enjoy my music that i have from my computer.
I see it as it’s CD free, People can’t take your Cd’s from your car and if you go to your friends place or any1 place and you listen to music there you can ask them for it and instead of burning cd you can run to your car and pull out ur external hard drive and plug it into their pc and upload their music to the external hard drive.
So my question are:
Is there an audio deck that has a usb compatible for an external hard drive?
What Wiring will i need to do this project?
Has any1 done this before?
Has any1 though about this idea?
Is it a bad thing and why?
Please give me a feedback since i want peoples suggestion.
I don’t think I’m posting this in the rite section admin please feel freely to move it to the proper section.
Well, there are many available decks that will read from a usb key. However the device signing between a key and drive may be different. I’m not sure, PHDD and Key’s register different, obviously as an HDD and a portable media device. So it may be an aspect of trial and error, likely error as most things go.
As well, on a side note just becuase it a portable HDD doesn’t mean it’ll like being bounced around in a car. To this, I sould suggest an SSD to where there are no moving parts. or a reasonably larg USB key I think you can get 32Gig now…
Thats all I can think of at the moment, I’ve thought about a Car-Puter before but never did more than a few hours worth of reasearch into the idea.
car pc! ftw
the possibilities of expansion are endless!
Have one right now that has obd hooked up, micro controller with accelerometer, temp sensors, and all the music u want!
but u have to know what ur doing if u want anything more then just music.
im crazy…next on the list is probably a DSP, and maybe my own ECU (but for this i need the knowledge possessed by the people who tune these cars which is insane! and probably a bunch of motors lol)
or get a deck with ipod hook up and buy an ipod… not only will u ahve all ur music in the car but with u at all times
my kenwood came with a long usb cable built right in all you have to do is plug in ur usb drive with compatible sound files and push play i plugged my 30g ipod video in loaded with songs and had endless music they are awsome but u really gotta shop for the most user friendly ones casue some dont let u get to the songs to pick a specific song
sorry to be the one to tell you. The max you can run on a deck is 32GB from a usb. External hard drives cannot be supported. I have tried all deck on the market as of March 22nd, 2009. Alpine is working on something to work these problems out. Alpine is also the only company that can support a 32GB. The alternative to this problem for big GB of music is to buy and alpine media deck, buy an ipod classic with 260GB, plug in and jam.
wtf, no it dosnt LOL, the FILE dosn’t change at all. The firmware just reads it smaller.
Example: 3 mb song, the hardrive reads it as 0.5mb. The song is still 3mb but displays it as 0.5mb so it tricks the firmware of the device using it to think its smaller then it actually is, therefor bypassing any hardware restrictions.
Ok cool guys great info,
So the deck that i was looking at is Alpine iDA-X303
I was looking at the info of just these two
The Beauty of USB for Other Devices
With a dedicated USB input and USB cable in addition to iPods, you can securely connect MP3 players like the iRiver Clix, Creative Zen, or Toshiba Gigabeat, using the MTP protocol or even connect USB memory devices like thumbdrives and USB hard drives. Song lists on USB devices are displayed in alphabetical order, and allows eight levels of file / folder search capabilities. This unit will find music files while ignoring other file types on the device.
Quality Sound
Get the best iPod sound experience thanks to a digital USB Connection and a dedicated 24-Bit D/A converter. Or better yet, go all the way by adding an IMPRINT Sound Processor for the most ideal sound experience in your vehicle. The optional PXA-H100 is a small, inexpensive unit that corrects all the acoustic problems in your vehicle for ideal sound clarity and imaging. It’s a huge advantage you won’t find anywhere else! When the PXA-H100 is connected to the iDA-X303 you get better sound, faster.
I have the plan already for where to place the PHDD and I will have to put some type of padding around it. It’s just the wiring on how to power the PHDD and i want my wiring to be neat b/c i hate messy and i just don’t want to damage the PHDD, the Deck and the car.
Just go to thesource and get a power converter, plug the hd into it inside glove box, cut the input wire of the converter and splice it into your cigarette lighter. If the USB is in the front of your deck you can run it behind your deck through the side and into the front, if theres one also in the back just plug it in there.
For the USB connector it will be fine on either front of back, but if its in the front it will mean theres a wire comming out and will look a bit messy, alternatively if you dont mind voiding your warranty you can open it up, cut the USB wires, extend them through a hole in the back of the deck and connect a female USB plug, its easy to do but if you need any help feel free to ask me.
Well scott i didn’t buy no deck yet all i have is the car and phdd. But if i can’t get that deck i’ll find a way to get something similar to it.
I think 2001 would have the deck
I’m going to need a new one :rolleyes:
