iDrive hard drive replacement?

[dolby]

Has anyone been able to do this? I would figure you could do a drive copy in linux and then increase the size of the music partition. For me, 12g is not enough and using an external drive is slow to startup.

Dolby

[tom @ eas]

Originally Posted by dolby

Has anyone been able to do this? I would figure you could do a drive copy in linux and then increase the size of the music partition. For me, 12g is not enough and using an external drive is slow to startup.

Dolby

It depends on what the BIOS is set for, this may or may not work. This would also be a very expensive lesson if a mistake was made.

I would simply get a 160GB iPod and call it a day. 40,000 songs is more than enough to carry on a trip.

[Steveo]

I installed Rockbox on my IPod 60GB,
its great just using the standard ipod cable with USB 6FL option,
quick boot time, quick navigating times, parametric equalizer and a sh** load of settings,
way better than standard Ipod software

[Technic]

Originally Posted by dolby

Has anyone been able to do this? I would figure you could do a drive copy in linux and then increase the size of the music partition. For me, 12g is not enough and using an external drive is slow to startup.

Dolby

The HDD space is managed and partitioned for both current and future features and upgrades -like the new MY2010 Voice Control, and the Satellite imaging snapshot of location á la Google Maps (in the GT), which require part of the free space currently available for Navigation. Changing the total capacity of this HDD without a change in its OEM BIOS will definitely cause conflicts with software updates and coding of the CIC.

And that's assuming first that you can mirror/copy this HDD into another straight and that it will be electronically and physically compatible with the OEM slot/mount.

So, get a bigger iPod.

[dolby]

I have a 60gig ipod and it works fine, but I hate waiting for it when I start the car. It seems to take a couple of minutes before it will play music. BTW, I am using the ipod as a drive rather than using the BMW ipod cable.

I don't think there are any BIOS issues with installing a new hard drive with any modern HDD controller. From what I understand the HD in the car is a 2.5" 5400rpm drive of maybe 40gig?

What I was thinking of doing would be to mirror the drive to a 120 or 160gig and then just increasing the music partition to fill the rest of the drive. Of course, I would leave the OS and Nav partitions alone. This is done in PS3's all the time.

I have to admit, I might be a little scared to try it. But the more I think of it the more I want to try it.


Dolby

[kmarei]

added benefit if you get a 7200rpm drive is faster data transfer
so maps should load faster
so will songs
worst case
just put the old drive back in

[dolby]

Originally Posted by kmarei

added benefit if you get a 7200rpm drive is faster data transfer
so maps should load faster
so will songs
worst case
just put the old drive back in

That is exactly what I am thinking.

If it is not broke, improve it!


Dolby

[Technic]

Originally Posted by dolby

I have a 60gig ipod and it works fine, but I hate waiting for it when I start the car. It seems to take a couple of minutes before it will play music. BTW, I am using the ipod as a drive rather than using the BMW ipod cable.

I don't think there are any BIOS issues with installing a new hard drive with any modern HDD controller. From what I understand the HD in the car is a 2.5" 5400rpm drive of maybe 40gig?

What I was thinking of doing would be to mirror the drive to a 120 or 160gig and then just increasing the music partition to fill the rest of the drive. Of course, I would leave the OS and Nav partitions alone. This is done in PS3's all the time.

I have to admit, I might be a little scared to try it. But the more I think of it the more I want to try it.


Dolby

It could work of course, but still the issue of the bit to bit copy of the OEM HDD could hinder any swap.

There could be also a limit in capacity after which a bigger HDD will be useless. A HDD swap was done already in a VW OEM RNS-510 HDD Navigation, from 20Gb to 120Gb, for the same purpose of increasing the music storage partition as yours, however it only recognized 80Gb out of the 120Gb.

[808MGuy]

Originally Posted by dolby

I don't think there are any BIOS issues with installing a new hard drive with any modern HDD controller.

That's a big assumption to make. I've seen many situations where this can't be done including some stand alone DVRs. The BIOS could not be copied and was not obtainable unless you had proper authority. There's good chance that will be the case with the iDrive too. Besides, why would you want to increase capacity to store only 128kbps WMA files? An external drive or iPod is your best bet for high quality audio storage. My 64GB USB flash drive starts playing as soon as I turn on the car. It will play whatever was playing last and in about 10 seconds (while it is still playing) it will scan the drive and make all the other directories available.

[tom @ eas]

Originally Posted by 808MGuy

That's a big assumption to make. I've seen many situations where this can't be done including some stand alone DVRs. The BIOS could not be copied and was not obtainable unless you had proper authority. There's good chance that will be the case with the iDrive too. Besides, why would you want to increase capacity to store only 128kbps WMA files? An external drive or iPod is your best bet for high quality audio storage. My 64GB USB flash drive starts playing as soon as I turn on the car. It will play whatever was playing last and in about 10 seconds (while it is still playing) it will scan the drive and make all the other directories available.

We ran into a similiar issue back on 06 when we were cracking open iPod minis to pirate the 4GB Compact Flash drives to use in SLR cameras when flash media was still at a premium price.

More info can be found here: http://photo.net/equipment/hitachi/mp3microdrive/

[dolby]

Originally Posted by 808MGuy

My 64GB USB flash drive starts playing as soon as I turn on the car. It will play whatever was playing last and in about 10 seconds (while it is still playing) it will scan the drive and make all the other directories available.

That is exactly what I am looking for. Maybe I will pick up a 64gig flash drive. Which one are you using? If that is the case, I have no reason to upgrade the drive. Besides, uploading songs from a thumbdrive is SLOW.

BTW, do you think with a name like dolby I would be listening to 128k WMA files?

dolby

[kmarei]

after you test this and it works
try it with a 128GB SSD drive

[808MGuy]

Originally Posted by dolby

That is exactly what I am looking for. Maybe I will pick up a 64gig flash drive. Which one are you using? If that is the case, I have no reason to upgrade the drive. Besides, uploading songs from a thumbdrive is SLOW.

BTW, do you think with a name like dolby I would be listening to 128k WMA files?

dolby

I remember reading that anything uploaded to the iDrive HDD is converted to 128kbps WMA. I'm using a OCZ Rally 2 drive. I know other people have used the Corsair Voyager drive too with no problems. I just like the OCZ because of the metal case because I tend to throw that drive around.

[808MGuy]

Originally Posted by tom @ eas

I would simply get a 160GB iPod and call it a day. 40,000 songs is more than enough to carry on a trip.

I can't even put enough stuff on my 64GB flash drive to use up 10GB! About 2GB of that is uncompressed .wav files that I use for critical listening and tuning.

[dolby]

Originally Posted by 808MGuy

I remember reading that anything uploaded to the iDrive HDD is converted to 128kbps WMA. I'm using a OCZ Rally 2 drive. I know other people have used the Corsair Voyager drive too with no problems. I just like the OCZ because of the metal case because I tend to throw that drive around.

I don't recall hearing a difference in the files that are imported into the iDrive HDD. Most of my music collection is 256k to 320k CBR mp3's. Just to make sure I checked the free space in the iDrive HDD and I am showing about 600meg free after uploading 12gig. If it were to convert mp3s to 128k wma files I should have at least seen 6gig free.

Thanks for the reco on the Thumb drive....I will order one of them from newegg and give it a try. That will be a much simpler solution than swapping out HDs.

At the moment, I have about 55gig of music and the 64gig should keep me going for a while.


dolby

[x3m75]

Hi Guys,

I have a broken HDD in my CIC system, it's a retrofit so BMW warranty is not valid. Do you know where I can find an image of the Harddrive or if someone can make a disc clone of their hard drive and post it here?

Regards
Chris