USB Device Audio

[RichardP]

Probably not the best place for this, but I'll start here anyway.

2014 model year M6 GC I have inconsistent behaviour when using a 1TB portable hard drive connected to the USB socket in the arm rest.

About half the time it will carry on playing from where it left off, resuming the track from the selected Album/Artist or whatever. The other half it will reset to playing the same track, I 'think' it's the track that was first added to the hard drive.

Also, I've noticed that sometimes the only search capability I have is to browse the folder structure on the drive, the Artist/Album/Genre options are all disabled. Other times the items are all enabled and I can browse at will.

I've not yet determined is the two are linked, i.e. if I can select Album/Artist/Genre then the track continues, if only folder navigation then it restarts from scratch.

Has anyone had similar issues and found a solution, or am I just expecting too much to be able to use a 1TB hard drive?

[Jblack4083]

I'm not 100% sure on this but try using a smaller drive. The 1TB capacity is probably too much for the computer to index and cache. Also, the 1TB drive is most likely a traditional external. Using a flash drive would allow the computer to access data on the drive a lot faster since flash technology is faster than HD technology.

[RichardP]

I was quite (pleasantly) surprised that it worked at all! But what I can't understand is that it works intermittently and in apparently two different ways.

Once indexed the index should be stored on the drive for quick access next time the drive is detected, so I don't think it's that simple. The actual size of the drive should be pretty much immaterial, so long as the format is supported, number of tracks and access speed could be relevant, but they don't really explain the variability. I can try a small USB flash drive to see if it behaves the same, but using a smaller drive would mean I can't have access to my entire music library.

It does not appear to be related to the car powering down after a longer period of use, it's not worked a few minutes after shutting down (filling up with Petrol for example) and worked after being left over night.

It does not appear to be related to the sequence that the car is powered up, using the handle to unlock (keyless entry) and then turning the ignition on quickly for example compared to unlocking with the key, opening the boot then opening a door and turning on the ignition. If you use the keyless entry, you can start the car and drive off about 30 seconds before the Nav system comes alive, but it appears to make no difference as to the way the drive is detected.

I'm trying providing 'dual power' to the USB connector, both from the USB socket and via a USB power adapter in the lighter socket, the drive came with a dual connector USB lead, just in case the power requirement is marginal. So far it's not lost the track position, but I've only tried it 2 or 3 times.

[bjayfan]

Originally Posted by RichardP

Once indexed the index should be stored on the drive for quick access next time the drive is detected

I was under the impression that the index was built in the iDrive memory and is not stored, but rebuilt every time. It was a real pain on older cars/iDrive, the new one is much faster though.

[RichardP]

I'm not sure where the index is stored, there are various possibilities, but whatever, the index should be stored somewhere! I'll have a look on the drive next time I update it and see if there is an index file/folder.