USB Hard Drive and SIRIUS XM Question

[ASHDUMP]

Does anyone know what the largest flash/hard drive can be used in the USB port? I have an external 500GB with all my music on it in folders and would like to use it. I have a feeling it wont work though.

Also, I have been a Sirius Subscriber for a long time. I really don't want to give it up. Is there a aftermarket module to get a Sirius signal. Kind of like what they make for GM cars for people who want Sirius and not XM?


Thanks!

 

[Wordman]

Also, I have been a Sirius Subscriber for a long time. I really don't want to give it up. Is there a aftermarket module to get a Sirius signal. Kind of like what they make for GM cars for people who want Sirius and not XM?


Thanks!

Not sure about an aftermarket part, but one thing I can tell you. I have a lifetime license with Sirius for my old car, and tried to get it transferred to my Genesis XM unit - since they're the same company and all now - but XM told me to pound sand. So I ended up renewing the XM license when the trial expired. Sucks, but there you are...

 

[dataguy]

As long as the drive is formatted as FAT and draws less power than one powered USB port, it should work. As far as flash drives, I've used a 32GB one without a problem.

On the Sirius question, not that I'm aware of. Which channels can't you get with the cross-programming and "Best of Sirius" package?

 

[ASHDUMP]

As long as the drive is formatted as FAT and draws less power than one powered USB port, it should work. As far as flash drives, I've used a 32GB one without a problem.

On the Sirius question, not that I'm aware of. Which channels can't you get with the cross-programming and "Best of Sirius" package?

Thanks for the response. I don't really like Oprah or O&A. I wouldn't want to spend more money for something I already have. I also have 5 subscriptions on Sirius so it would be nice to keep it that way.

....I have every channel Sirius has to offer imprinted in my head. I'd hate to relearn them all again!

 

[ASHDUMP]

Not sure about an aftermarket part, but one thing I can tell you. I have a lifetime license with Sirius for my old car, and tried to get it transferred to my Genesis XM unit - since they're the same company and all now - but XM told me to pound sand. So I ended up renewing the XM license when the trial expired. Sucks, but there you are...

That sucks.

 

[OBCT]

Does anyone know what the largest flash/hard drive can be used in the USB port? I have an external 500GB with all my music on it in folders and would like to use it. I have a feeling it wont work though.

Also, I have been a Sirius Subscriber for a long time. I really don't want to give it up. Is there a aftermarket module to get a Sirius signal. Kind of like what they make for GM cars for people who want Sirius and not XM?


Thanks!

I have a 1TB USB external drive that is partially loaded with mp3s (less than 50% full). I couldn't get it to work when hooked up to the USB input of a 4.6 w/ Tech Package. The DIS had an error displayed, something like "unsupported format".

I need to do more investigation into the file system involved (FAT/FAT32/NTFS?) and it's subsequent (in)compatibility, but I, as you, have a feeling that the sheer volume of my storage device could be culprit. I'll try to make time for some tests this weekend.

 

[ASHDUMP]

I have a 1TB USB external drive that is partially loaded with mp3s (less than 50% full). I couldn't get it to work when hooked up to the USB input of a 4.6 w/ Tech Package. The DIS had an error displayed, something like "unsupported format".

I need to do more investigation into the file system involved (FAT/FAT32/NTFS?) and it's subsequent (in)compatibility, but I, as you, have a feeling that the sheer volume of my storage device could be culprit. I'll try to make time for some tests this weekend.

Thats exactly what mine says. Keep me updated and let me know how you make out. I do know that when it is plugged-in, it lights up. So maybe it wont work because it is using other power? I know its a real hard drive cause I hear it spinning inside.

 

[STREETS]

Anyone know why the Genesis doesn't offer a internal hard drive? Seems a simple and inexpensive addition that most all other lux entry vehicles have?

 

[dataguy]

Anyone know why the Genesis doesn't offer a internal hard drive? Seems a simple and inexpensive addition that most all other lux entry vehicles have?

It does have a hard drive (on the Technology package). It's just not available to the driver to store music as was originally planned (or assumed). I think it's used for nav system map data.

 

[STREETS]

I meant music, picture storage. I use a 4 Gig thumbdrive, but an internal would assist in music search greatly.

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[dataguy]

Right. I'm just saying that it does have a hard drive. I'm not sure the story as to why they withdrew the user storage feature. Early specs and reviews said that it would support music storage, but it doesn't.

I'd be happy if they even allowed backup of system settings, phonebook, and presets to the hard drive or (better yet) a USB thumbdrive, but it doesn't do that either.

 

[MattG]

From what I understand, a large amount of files (like lots of albums) can get painfully slow as the head unit indexes them all.

As for why the production models don't allow the use of the internal hard drive for media storage. . . I don't know, but I strongly suspect that the system is vulnerable to a buffer overflow attack, and I am guessing that Hyundai didn't want people hacking the software on the DIS. There are a lot of things that people would want to do that would be just fine, but in terms of warranty, safety, and licensing agreements, locking it down probably seems easier from Hyundai's perspective.

 

[OBCT]

Thats exactly what mine says. Keep me updated and let me know how you make out. I do know that when it is plugged-in, it lights up. So maybe it wont work because it is using other power? I know its a real hard drive cause I hear it spinning inside.

Well, I did some reading, and the File Storage format is indeed the cuplrit. For the Genesis to recognize a USB device, the file structure must be in FAT format.

I'm currently reformatting my external hard drive to exFAT (ie. FAT64), which is the only other option available in Windows Vista (due to the large volume 1 TB storage), and we'll go from there.

Unfortunately, I do not expect this experiment to work. Reading page 4-117 of the Owner's Manual, where it goes into some detail the stipulations for successful USB device connectivity, I found out some bad news. The manual only lists FAT12, FAT16 and FAT32 file storage types as compatible to the Genesis. I'm taking a shot in the dark that the exFAT format will work as well, but certainly not holding my breath. Note that there are other stipulations as well.

 

[OBCT]

So, I've finished re-formatting my external hard drive from NTFS to exFAT. It took ~9 hours to do, hooked up via USB 2.0 to a Windows Vista PC. This is not a fast process on a 1 TB drive!

I have also re-transfered music to the drive. It is all in mp3 format and between 96 kbps and 320 kbps bitrates, totalling 533 songs @ 2.8 GB. I added some tracks to the root folder and some to a subfolder (for experimental purposes).


NOTE: I also tried to add music to the freshly formatted drive from a different computer I have lying around, without success. After some digging, I found out that Windows XP is not natively compatible to the exFAT file structure, hence the problem with my older, Windows XP rig [though there is a driver update from Microsoft which fixes the incompatibility here]. This has me thinking very bad thoughts about the likelihood of the Genesis successfully connecting with an exFAT drive.


I'll do an official test w/ the Genesis ... hopefully later today ... or soon. We'll see what happens.

 

[OBCT]

UPDATE:

I tested the 1 TB external hard drive, formatted as exFAT file system, with almost 3 GB of mp3 music tracks loaded, on my Genesis w/ Tech Package.

Result: Unsuccessful. Error displayed on DIS: "Initialization Failed".


This result is pretty much as I expected. My next batch of tests will be performed the same way with a 32 GB USB flash drive I've got stashed somewhere. I'm disappointed that my large volume external hard drive is incompatible with the Genesis, but if the 32 GB thumb drive is compatible, that will be more than sufficient for my portable music needs.

 

[ASHDUMP]

Thanks for the update. I'm still trying to figure out how to reformat my external hard drive from NTSF to FAT.

 

[morsegeek]

Thanks for the update. I'm still trying to figure out how to reformat my external hard drive from NTSF to FAT.

This article should help: http://www.ehow.com/how_4916857_format-external-hdd-fat-windowsxp.html

 

[OBCT]

Thanks for the update. I'm still trying to figure out how to reformat my external hard drive from NTSF to FAT.

The reformat should be possible with any operating system.

After hooking up the hard drive to a Windows Vista machine via USB (and letting it auto-detect the device and install the drivers), I went to My Computer, where it shows all the local and networked drives. If it detected and installed the drivers for the device correctly when first connected (which it did for me and should for you), the external drive will appear as it's own drive in My Computer, most likely named "Local Drive [K:]" or "Local Drive [L:]" or something similar.

From there I right-clicked on the drive, selected "Properties", and found out what file format it was currently using. It was not FAT, so I exited Properties and right-clicked on the drive icon again, this time selecting "Format". From there, I chose the File Storage format and allocation size I desired and clicked "Format".

NOTE: Choose 1024 as the allocation size. (This is one of the recommendations given in the manual for proper functioning with the Genesis).


If you are not running Vista, I'm sure the process will be different but somewhat similar on other OSes. If you're really stuck, Google it.


EDIT: morsegeek beat me to it.

 

[GripperDon]

My 16GB works great

 

[OBCT]

I couldn't find a 32 GB USB stick after a brief scrounge, so I tested a 16 GB drive (filled with 15 GB of mp3 tunes) today instead, with great success.

Not only did the USB-connected music sound great in the Genesis (certainly better than I expected for 192 or 224 kbps encoded mp3 tracks), but I discovered that the "Random Play" function works beautifully with this type of media - it successfully randomizes the entire 15 GB of audio tracks (over 3000 songs), including those hidden in deep sub-folders 3 levels down from the root folder. So cool. Now I can rock out to all my music on random (like the perfect radio station), skipping songs as I please if I'm not in the mood. I like.

Also, the load times for me in this scenario were thoroughly acceptable. I think I'm sold on the whole USB audio concept. Hyundai implemented this feature well in the Genesis.

There are a few features I would like to see added to this part of the system in the future, but they're not essential IMO. Some ideas: folder/album/artist/genre-specific searching/sorting/playing/randomizing functionality, in-folder album art detection and display option for current song, scrolling in-depth detail display of current song info, cross-fading between songs, etc.