Handy trick to allow external HD's bigger than 32GB
 

Hey guys,

I wanted to share a little trick that I discovered the other day.

As you all know, you can add a portable HD or memory stick to your 991 to stream music. The only problem is that it has to be formatted in FAT32 format. NTFS and exFAT are not supported, meaning your partition size cannot exceed 32GB of space.

Personally I have a 1TB drive in my car, and was only able to use 32GB per partition. I got around this by making a few partitions of 32GB, but this still wasn't ideal as I wanted all my music in a nice list.

I then found this free tool: http://tokiwa.qee.jp/EN/Fat32Formatter/index.html

It allows you to format your external drives in FAT32 format, but doesn't keep the annoying 32GB limit. I have formated my drive as a 1TB FAT32 partition, and so far I've put about 200GB worth of music on it.

PCM plays its perfectly, and only the first time you connect your drive, it takes a while to build the whole media library in the car. After that it's just as fast as the build-in jukebox that comes with the car.

Hope this information comes in handy to some :)

ps; i know i could have used a 160gb ipod as well to go above the 32gb limit, but i wanted a bigger drive still, and I hate iTunes.

Thanks! That's a usefull trick

What type of 1TB drive do u have installed? Does it get enough power from just the USB port?

I have this one:
It's very small, and works just via the USB cable. It's USB 3.0 so nice and fast for on the PC, and also works with 2.0 for in the car.

I ah e a 160GB iPod now but it won't hold all my music. So a bigger drive would be nice. My prob with the USB port was that it wouldn't always play all my songs. No idea why either. But on the iPod they a play. Did u encounter that with the drive u are using?

No issues so far. All my files are MP3 though. I'm not sure if your files were maybe a different format.

Can you check if BT streaming works with your USB plugged in?

I've recently discovered that it does not work with an ipod. I like having my music on an USB connection and using apps like WAZE and Pandora for BT streaming. It would be awesome if they work with a USB drive.

I use a Silicon Power Armor A15 2.5", USB 3.0 1TB drive. This drive is certified to meet drop test/shock standards. There was no need to reformat it out of the box under Win7 so all 1TB (less their OEM stuff like back-up s/w) was addressable. I use it to hold .wav files. Tomorrow I go in to the dealership because they say metadata for .wav files should work on PCM 3.1 but it doesn't on my car.

Great tip - thanks for posting!

I am not quite sure what you mean. I don't have any issue using BT audio streaming and having an Ipod connected to the USB port at the same time. The BT stream was music from my android phone.

On My car (13 c4s) if I have an ipod connected with a USB cable I will not be able to stream audio from a droid phone (galaxy S3). Phone calls work fine with BT but not other media audio. The media audio option under Settings->BT disappears as soon as I plug in the ipod. If I take out the Ipod it works fine. It was driving me nuts and I had not made the connection, I actually found the solution here on 6S but I can't find the thread right now.

I get it. That shouldn't happen. I will check this again today with both my Ipod and a USB stick or drive and revert.

ma991-- I tested this a bit ago and I have no trouble with either a USB stick or an Ipod connected to the USB port and switching between that media option and my phone streaming to the BT AUX media option. In my mind this indicates that either Porsche changed something in the PCM s/w (I have 3.41 and they say that is the most up to date version for my car) or Samsung changed something in the BT stack from my SGS1 (Captivate) to your SGS3. Hope this helps.

That definetly helps, thanks. I'll keep digging to see if I can find anything else.

Can USB hub be connected to the USB and still be able to access multiple devices via PCM connected to the multiple usb ports on the hub? I haven't tried it yet but thought someone must've. I would assume this wont work ...