[NickD]

One of my external drives has not one but two USB connectors on it to get sufficient power from a desktop computer. Big question is, does that USB socket in the Cruze have enough power to run a hard drive?

Then hard drives besides being a lot more expensive, are electro-mechanical devices with a very limited temperature range, not suitable for automotive applications, plus all that extra space. Recently picked up a name brand 16GB flashdrive for five bucks. Not enough, get 2, 3, 4 or 5. Like that shorty Sandisk, only sticks out about a quarter of an inch.

-22*F outside? Work perfectly fine.

 

[NickD]

Hard drives are a constant problem around here, darn kids won't back up their data and cry when the lose it. And stupid Windows wants to store all unreplaceable data on drive C. Couldn't have picked a worse place to store it.

Did you ever read that warning label that comes with a hard drive? Don't even plug it in until it reaches room temperature.

Looking at one of my kid's HD's right now with over 400GB of architectural drawings on it that represents thousands of hours of work on his part. Crashed, I can't repair it, best price I could find is 3,000 bucks in an attempt to have it professionally recovered. If they can recover that data. Kid doesn't have the 3,000 bucks, I am not paying it.

Get sick of saying to make backup's. My key computer is not even online, everything that goes into it has a virus check first, plus it has two extra harddrives for backup. The real important stuff, burn a CD, not one but two.

 

[NickD]

Struck a nerve here or

Latest gimmick in hard drives are solid state ones, employing all flashram chips on the inside, like this one for 320 bucks.

For the same price could buy 30 16GB flashdrives with the same memory capacity. With the advantage, you don't have all of your eggs in one basket.

 

[NickD]

This is what I am using in my Cruze, even called a Cruzer fit flashdrive by Sandisk.

Holds around 6,000 average songs, can use folders, subfolders, etc. Using folder view in the Cruze can find your genres instantly, albums, then the individual song. Runs around ten bucks, lifetime warranty.

Comparing flashdrives with a solid state drive is relative for value. If one flashdrive craps out, just a little lost. If that solid state drive craps out, lose everything. Another word for it, is common sense.

 

[NickD]

Problems in connecting a smart phone and using the aux phone jack input. These things are limited in volume so they won't get sued blowing your ears off. Then you have to play with your phone while driving to select your tunes. Solution, copy your tunes to a flashdrive.

Also problems with a smart phone trying to read your MP3's with a USB cord, solution, copy your tunes to a flashdrive.

Now problems trying to read off a hard drive, solution, copy your tunes to a flashdrive.

 

[NickD]

I have no problems using my iPhone via USB

Ha, would if you tried to hook in an Android phone into a Iphone docking station. Only problem we had with iphones was paying Apple 90 some cents to license a track, when we had tons of CD's around here we could convert from for free. Did Apple change this since about five years ago?

Can you select your songs from your radio? US Cellular, the company we are stuck with as the only one that lets our cell phones work in our home is finally selling iphones. Maybe we should look into them.

 

[NickD]

Was way back in the late 80's, my Macs HD crashed killing the Apple AOS that was preloaded on it. Contacted Apple, wanted $300 bucks more for the OS on this thing, even though I was a registered user. So said goodbye to Apple.

First Apple that was in my home in about a few months ago. Wife fell in love with an ipod 4 so got her one for her birthday. Battery on this thing was always going dead, so got her a car charger. $$$$. This is in regards to plugging things in to external devices. Somehow that cord got tangled in her feet and broke that thin bidirectional plug that fits into it. Was another 21 bucks out the window. Just a minor disadvantage of having cords all over the place.

Also the reason why I am totally ignorant on Apple, but did need a Mac to operate my Kurzweil, that quickly went away when they switched to IBM, so was getting robbed less by Billy.

If I were a flashdrive salesman for what little these things sell for, would have to sell a ton of them just to pay the rent.

 

[NickD]

I've had all my CDs ripped to iTunes for years, and yes, I can select music and control iPod functions from my radio. Works great.


Sent from AutoGuide.com App

Kind of verifies, the designers of the Cruze radio also had iphones. Too bad they didn't put this in the owners manual, just says, MAY not work with all phones.

When RCA came out with that large hole 45 rpm record, had standards back them, took them over 17 years for the record industry to accept it. So much for standards today, everybody is different.

 

[NickD]

It may be a hard drive problem. My ipod can load, but sometimes gives me an error saying data not supported or it disconnects. But anyways when i connect my hard drive to someone elses car, it only loads artists r-z. ...LAME! It there a way to reprogram an external harddrive to default setting? If so, how?

You mean like reformatting an HD, sure, most any computer can do this. Older versions of BIOS, could even to a low level format. Programs like System Mechanics Pro have a HD scrubber program so not even the CIA can read it.

 

[NickD]

Thinking back with kids downloading MP3's off the internet, many of these were loaded with a virus. A virus is essentially a DOS command, the can really do nasty things to an HD, like wipe out the master boot record, or screw up the FAT, file location table. These are programs that keep track of what you have on your drive, where the stuff is stored, which sectors bits are in, and the sequence of these sectors.

Anther means of getting a virus is in a *.jpg file, these guys that do stuff like this are nasty. To make matters worse, switched from PROM to flash ram. PROM drives could be reformatted because this firmware was fixed, a virus that changes this firmware, the controlling program for the heads and drive motor can literally physically destroy a drive, these drives are history.

Just saying, depending on your source of MP3's, this could well be the problem with your drive. Only takes one MP3 to mess up everything.

 

[NickD]

Nice to know that USB port has enough power to fire a hard drive. Could toss in a USB cable to charge a phone if need be.

One thing I couldn't help but notice with an OE radio system, don't provide any specifications, whatsoever. Must be some highly classified material.

 

[NickD]

"My Space" was really a major problem with the FAT, kids couldn't stay away from that virus site. More complications, when you buy a new computer, can't even provide the OS on CD's anymore, and if the kids don't back that up, screwed. Ha, even my older kids.

Then Windows insisting on putting all your data on Drive C, just asking for problems, first drive to crash and even destroy the HD, another new problem. Can't tell my kids nor my wife to make backups, gave up. One son finally listened after he lost everything, but at least I had plenty of backup for a bunch of video's and his wedding photos of my granddaughter growing up for the last four years. Other son lost 500 GB of ACad drawings, still have that drive on my desk, best price I could find so far is 3,000 bucks for a non-guaranteed recovery. I am not paying this.