SSD usb drive?

sieben1973 · 06-16-2011, 08:22 AM

Has any one used a SSD usb drive connected to the USB outlet?
Does it work?
Does the iDrive have limitation on how large the USB is as in can it read 256GB drives

?

Sharbotcom · 06-16-2011, 10:12 AM

The size (256GB) is not the problem. The power is. How much draw does the Solid State Drive need. There has been reported issues with draw of portable hard drives on initial spin up that draws too much power from the USB socket and therefore fails (BMW states they do not support portable drives, just memory sticks, iPods, etc.). Take a look at the specs for your particular SSD and see if the power requirements exceed 500mA you may be out of luck.

sieben1973 · 06-16-2011, 10:23 AM

great thanks
that is the answer i was looking for

Sharbotcom · 06-16-2011, 11:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sieben1973

great thanks
that is the answer i was looking for

Anything for a fellow Ottawan...

Please report back to use as to what the draw is, I'm sure there are a number of others who are interested if moving in that direction.
Bill

sieben1973 · 06-16-2011, 11:50 AM

I checked the usual suspects (laCie, iomega) no specs on power
i will try few more
I am picking up my new car soon and i will definitely get one of those drive
I will report back on if its working or not

Captain Chaos · 06-16-2011, 01:02 PM

There's a 2.5W ceiling with USB, so pretty much rules out every external SSD on the market right now as that'd be significantly under-juiced (most SSD drives pull 2-4A in 'real' terms).

You can get 256mb memory sticks but they make SSDs look like a bargain..!

LuvMyE92 · 06-17-2011, 06:27 AM

How in the world can you have that much music!?!?!?!?!? Good golly!

I seem to make do just fine with a few Gb on a stick. If I need more (different) tunes, I could just buy another stick. Very cheap, easy to swap in and out. I've got most of my music library contained in a 20Gb MP3 player that isn't full. Of course, I'm old and more than half of my library is on vinyl and I haven't loaded much of that...

sieben1973 · 06-17-2011, 06:57 AM

closing on 500GB of music
right now i am streaming it to my iPhone from my house but, 3G networks are not as reliable as one may think, and i have a suspicion that some of it is throttled.
So to have no " buffering, buffering...." while listening to a great tunes, i would like to somehow store it in the car.

Gran Turismo · 06-19-2011, 03:20 AM

No own experience, but according to a fellow F10 driver in another forum it seems possible to use an USB disk via an USB Y-Splitter cable with one end plugged into the USB port and the other end into a compact cigarette lighter power/USB adapter.

Personally I'll be fine with a tiny 64GB stick.

brask · 06-19-2011, 06:11 AM

I'm running a 128 GB USB stick, works fine now but I had some problems in the beginning with the music just freezing for some minutes and I couldn't change song. This was fixed to 95% on a software update 3-4 weeks ago. I now get this once a week only so seems still to be a software bug. I get the feeling it's related to the system scanning the device and indexing and having problems working in parallell for some reasons.

Anyway in the beginning I also tried some external USB disks and when BMW did the software update they saw warning messages of devices with more than 750mA so that seems to be the limit for external devices supported by the USB interface.

I'm running a F11 520d 2011/01 build.

sieben1973 · 06-28-2011, 07:42 AM

So here is the update
got my car, got a USB drive, listening to 320 GB of music (thats the short story)
I searched and searched and could not find any hard drive manufacture that would post how much power the portable drive need
so i went to my local computer store and picked up 320 GB Seagate Expansion Portable drive
PN:9SC2A3-572
The reason i picked this one is because its rated for USB2 only (should be less power)
and it spins at 5400 rpm (again less power)
I copied over 300GB of date to it
Most of my music in folders with pictures of the covers
and all my music plays without a problem and the covers are displayed on the screen
AWESOME

Asphire23 · 07-01-2011, 02:48 PM

I'm running with 320gb as well using WD My Passport. I read somewhere that the hdd has to be FAT32 format but mine is running NTFS fine.

lodewijkV · 07-01-2011, 04:10 PM

I tried it with a 500gb portable samsung (HX-MU050DA/SE3) drive, formatted to NTFS.
And it did NOT work!

It used 850mA so that's likely the problem.
Or it is because it is formatted as NTFS and not FAT32, so that's the next thing I'm going to try out.

sieben1973 · 07-05-2011, 07:00 AM

NTFS here

Thieutje · 01-27-2017, 03:03 PM

If you use a 12V powered USB HUB, it should work right to connect a SSD through USB

?

Almaretto · 02-02-2017, 01:32 AM

I have used up to 2TB in both FAT32 and NTFS without issue.

06-16-2011, 08:22 AM	#1
sieben1973 Private First Class 7 Rep 130 Posts Drives: 2011 "dark grey" 528i Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: QC iTrader: (0)	SSD usb drive? Has any one used a SSD usb drive connected to the USB outlet? Does it work? Does the iDrive have limitation on how large the USB is as in can it read 256GB drives?
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06-16-2011, 10:12 AM	#2
Sharbotcom First Lieutenant 28 Rep 396 Posts Drives: 2011 535xi M Sport Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Sharbot Lake, Ontario iTrader: (0)	The size (256GB) is not the problem. The power is. How much draw does the Solid State Drive need. There has been reported issues with draw of portable hard drives on initial spin up that draws too much power from the USB socket and therefore fails (BMW states they do not support portable drives, just memory sticks, iPods, etc.). Take a look at the specs for your particular SSD and see if the power requirements exceed 500mA you may be out of luck. __________________ 2011 535i xDrive, Dark Graphite Metallic, Veneto Beige Dakota Leather, Technology Package, M Sport Package, Executive Package delivered Christmas Eve '10, Mods - quad tips, 20% tint, JB4.
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06-16-2011, 10:23 AM	#3
sieben1973 Private First Class 7 Rep 130 Posts Drives: 2011 "dark grey" 528i Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: QC iTrader: (0)	great thanks that is the answer i was looking for
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06-16-2011, 11:50 AM	#5
sieben1973 Private First Class 7 Rep 130 Posts Drives: 2011 "dark grey" 528i Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: QC iTrader: (0)	I checked the usual suspects (laCie, iomega) no specs on power i will try few more I am picking up my new car soon and i will definitely get one of those drive I will report back on if its working or not
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06-16-2011, 01:02 PM	#6
Captain Chaos Lieutenant 6 Rep 473 Posts Drives: cars n stuff Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: UK iTrader: (2)	There's a 2.5W ceiling with USB, so pretty much rules out every external SSD on the market right now as that'd be significantly under-juiced (most SSD drives pull 2-4A in 'real' terms). You can get 256mb memory sticks but they make SSDs look like a bargain..! __________________
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06-17-2011, 06:27 AM	#7
LuvMyE92 Occasionally frequent poster 3000 Rep 2,744 Posts Drives: CT5V-Blackwing Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: RTP NC, USA iTrader: (0)	How in the world can you have that much music!?!?!?!?!? Good golly! I seem to make do just fine with a few Gb on a stick. If I need more (different) tunes, I could just buy another stick. Very cheap, easy to swap in and out. I've got most of my music library contained in a 20Gb MP3 player that isn't full. Of course, I'm old and more than half of my library is on vinyl and I haven't loaded much of that... __________________ Current inventory: F22 & G05 Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing w/3 pedals Past: E24,E28(3),E34,E36,E37,E38(2),E39(4),E46,E89,E92 (obviously),F01,F06,F10,F30,F87,G12,G30(2),G82(2)
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06-17-2011, 06:57 AM	#8
sieben1973 Private First Class 7 Rep 130 Posts Drives: 2011 "dark grey" 528i Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: QC iTrader: (0)	closing on 500GB of music right now i am streaming it to my iPhone from my house but, 3G networks are not as reliable as one may think, and i have a suspicion that some of it is throttled. So to have no " buffering, buffering...." while listening to a great tunes, i would like to somehow store it in the car.
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06-19-2011, 03:20 AM	#9
Gran Turismo Alpina Addict 3 Rep 101 Posts Drives: Alpina B4 S Coupe AWD Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Switzerland iTrader: (0)	No own experience, but according to a fellow F10 driver in another forum it seems possible to use an USB disk via an USB Y-Splitter cable with one end plugged into the USB port and the other end into a compact cigarette lighter power/USB adapter. Personally I'll be fine with a tiny 64GB stick.
	Appreciate 0 Quote

06-19-2011, 06:11 AM	#10
brask New Member 25 Rep 14 Posts Drives: F11 2011 520d Touring Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Sweden iTrader: (0)	I'm running a 128 GB USB stick, works fine now but I had some problems in the beginning with the music just freezing for some minutes and I couldn't change song. This was fixed to 95% on a software update 3-4 weeks ago. I now get this once a week only so seems still to be a software bug. I get the feeling it's related to the system scanning the device and indexing and having problems working in parallell for some reasons. Anyway in the beginning I also tried some external USB disks and when BMW did the software update they saw warning messages of devices with more than 750mA so that seems to be the limit for external devices supported by the USB interface. I'm running a F11 520d 2011/01 build.
	Appreciate 0 Quote

06-28-2011, 07:42 AM	#11
sieben1973 Private First Class 7 Rep 130 Posts Drives: 2011 "dark grey" 528i Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: QC iTrader: (0)	So here is the update got my car, got a USB drive, listening to 320 GB of music (thats the short story) I searched and searched and could not find any hard drive manufacture that would post how much power the portable drive need so i went to my local computer store and picked up 320 GB Seagate Expansion Portable drive PN:9SC2A3-572 The reason i picked this one is because its rated for USB2 only (should be less power) and it spins at 5400 rpm (again less power) I copied over 300GB of date to it Most of my music in folders with pictures of the covers and all my music plays without a problem and the covers are displayed on the screen AWESOME
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07-01-2011, 02:48 PM	#12
Asphire23 New Member 1 Rep 15 Posts Drives: 2011 BMW 528i Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Diamond Bar iTrader: (0)	I'm running with 320gb as well using WD My Passport. I read somewhere that the hdd has to be FAT32 format but mine is running NTFS fine.
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07-01-2011, 04:10 PM	#13
lodewijkV Private 5 Rep 61 Posts Drives: Snowwhite Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: Belgium iTrader: (0)	I tried it with a 500gb portable samsung (HX-MU050DA/SE3) drive, formatted to NTFS. And it did NOT work! It used 850mA so that's likely the problem. Or it is because it is formatted as NTFS and not FAT32, so that's the next thing I'm going to try out.
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07-05-2011, 07:00 AM	#14
sieben1973 Private First Class 7 Rep 130 Posts Drives: 2011 "dark grey" 528i Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: QC iTrader: (0)	NTFS here
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01-27-2017, 03:03 PM	#15
Thieutje 24FITcoach 32 Rep 76 Posts Drives: BMW F11 M550xd Join Date: Nov 2015 Location: Belgium iTrader: (0)	If you use a 12V powered USB HUB, it should work right to connect a SSD through USB ?
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02-02-2017, 01:32 AM	#16
Almaretto Major General 2374 Rep 8,364 Posts Drives: Test Vehicles Join Date: Dec 2015 Location: Mountain View, CA iTrader: (0)	I have used up to 2TB in both FAT32 and NTFS without issue.
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