Hard drives are not approved by BMW.

 

Exactly the reason why forums like this are SO essential

 

Hopefully, BMW will not follow in Apple?s footsteps and brick cars which use unapproved hard drives.

 

Just picked up the Dynex enclosure from BB, couldn't wait for mine to come in, and it doesn't work either so I guess I am going to have to buy a 16gb thumb drive. Can't figure out why it is not working wish I had another HDD to try in the enclosure.
You guys who haven't received your cars yet and plan on adding a hard drive please keep us posted on what works and doesnt work for you.
Thanks

 

Hi All

My setup in a BMW 528i 2008 with a 250 gb 2.5" SATA external hard drive connecting to the USB port in the center arm rest console for IPOD/USB device.

Instruction:
1. Install the WD Scorpio hard drive into the Thermaltake external enclosure (instruction is included in the Thermaltake external enclosure package)
2. Connect the hard drive enclosure via usb cable to your computer.
3. Download and follow instruction (see link below) to format the hard drive as FAT32. HARD DRIVE MUST BE FORMATTED AS FAT32 !!!
4. Transfer music files to your hard drive. I use mp3 192kb music file to the directory on the hard drive. You can create nesting directories to organize your music collection. I recommend no more than 500 files per directory to prevent long scrolling and more importantly to prevent files from not showing.
5. Connect the Hummingbird ipod Auto usb adaptor to the center rear passenger car charger. This may not look as nice but I am okay with the car charger in the rear passenger.
6. Connect the included USB cable in the Thermaltake EA2006 2.5" External Enclosure to the Hummingbird ipod Auto usb adaptor and to the DC in connector on the Thermaltake EA2006 enclosure to provide power to the hard drive. (Note: you will need to have the car engine running to get power to the hard drive). The hard drive will not be recognized by IDrive with the car engine turned off.
7. Connect the included USB Type A male to USB type 5-pin mini-B male on the Thermaltake EA2006 enclosure and to the USB port in the center console for IPOD and usb device in your car
8. From the idrive menu, switch to the AUX option. Use the idrive knob to select the AUX option, you will see USB. Wait for about 1-2 minutes and the USB indicator will change to the name of hard drive that was formatted earlier.
9. Select the USB hard drive name to see your music directory on the hard drive.

Troubleshooting:
1. Hard drive is not recognize.
Answer: Make sure you are getting power to the hard drive by turning on the car engine, and wait at least 1-2 minutes. If the problem continue, unplug all USB cables the hard drive, car charger adaptor, and center IPOD/USB device idrive console, turn off your car engine, reconnect all USB cables and start your engine again. Make sure to format the hard drive as FAT32 using the Fat32format.exe program.

Final words:

The hardwares described have been tested for several weeks without problem. I am sure you can choose other vendors hardware options. I would personal recommend the Thermaltake EA2006 2.5in Silver (or Black) External Enclosure IDE/SATA to eSATA/USB2 because it can works with larger capacity hard drive. Currently, the largest PATA hard drive in the 2.5" format is 160gb for consumer purchase. To get larger capacity than 160 gb you will need a SATA 2.5" hard drive. The Thermaltake EA2006 will only use a 2.5" SATA hard drive.

I hope this is helpful for those looking at using an external USB hard drive to use in their USB IPOD console for BMW 2008 model.

Requirement:
Hardware
1 USB Type A male to USB type 5-pin mini-B male (included with the Thermaltake EA2006)
1 USB Type A male to DC in power connection (included with the Thermaltake EA2006)
1 Thermaltake EA2006 2.5in Silver (or Black) External Enclosure IDE/SATA to eSATA/USB2.0
1 Western Digital, WD Scorpio 2.5-inch SATA Hard Drives, 250 GB, 1.5 Gb/s, 8 MB Cache, 5400 RPM
1 Hummingbird, For iPod Auto USB Adaptor - 2 Ports
1 Phillip screw driver (included with the Thermaltake EA2006)

Software
Fat32format.exe DOS program
Windows (Vista, XP, 2000, or NT)


I when to the local Fry's Electronic and Microcenter to purchase these hardwares.

Hummingbird, For iPod Auto USB Adaptor - 2 Ports
http://hummingbird.cc/displaydetail.php?pr...d1a1d000d76ef4e

Western Digital, WD Scorpio 2.5-inch SATA Hard Drives, 250 GB, 1.5 Gb/s, 8 MB Cache, 5400 RPM
http://www.westerndigital.com/en/products/...asp?DriveID=314

Thermaltake EA2006 2.5in Silver (or Black) External Enclosure IDE/SATA to eSATA/USB2.0
http://www.aerocooler.com/shop.cart?action...rod_id=EBTT2006

Tool to format hard disk for FAT32 with instruction
http://www.ridgecrop.demon.co.uk/ind...at32format.htm

Have Fun,

Jack

 

What hard drive did you put in the Dynex enclosure? I really think that the problems we keep seeing have to do with the power requirements of the drive itself. It seems as though the drive needs the most power to spin it up from a stop -- once it's spinning, everything works fine...

 

I have a 30gig toshiba in it, I think you are right it's not getting enough power to spin. A couple of times it started to spin but stoped light went out on enclosure then came back on.

 

We should probably start tracking the different drives and their respective results. Obviously, there are other variables like enclosure, etc. so it may be impossible to have a perfect data set.

If drives become too flaky, I wonder if the Samsung SSD would be a good idea?
http://www.samsungssd.com/

 

I expect this is the same route I take, although I will hide the power by popping out the panel which has the rear cigarette lighters and connecting to the back of the 12V supplies. I don't like visible wires

It might be useful to note that you CAN power up without having the engine running. When you normally push the "Stop/Start" button with your foot on the brake to start the engine, do the same thing but without your foot on the brake. Pushing the Stop/Start without your foot on a pedal will cycle through the different stages of electronics, one includes powering everything up but without starting the engine.

 

Well I am giving up on the hard drives tried three different hard drives, even one that runs at 4200 rpm, in two different enclosures and not one of them would work when hooked up to usb in center console . Also tried three portable hard drives with no sucsses. Seems like the usb does not supply enough power to spin any of the hard drives I tried. So frustrated. Looks like I might have to buy an ipod.