USB Disk in W212

[mbenz76]

Thinking of putting a spare 500GB USB Disk I have (Western Digital Passport drive) in my new car when it arrives as I understand I can connect these as well as an iPod etc.

Has anyone connected a USB disk and is there anything special I need to do (folder structure, disk format etc.)?

Can I put music AND video on it? And what format video can it play if so?

I wanted to get it ready for when I get the car so I can just pop it in the glove box and go

 

[mbenz76]

Any ideas?

 

[Diesel Benz]

If it is like the W212 media interface:

the main restrictions appear to be FAT file format (up to 32 GB per partition) and 1000 files within 8 directory levels (the manual does not mention any max number of files per folder, it used to be limited).

You can have multiple partitions and select an active partition. I understood up to 4 partitions being supported. In this case a 500 GB drive cannot be fully used.

You can find drive current consumption limits and supported file format info from the link.

 

[mbenz76]

What link?

And when you say FAT, do you know if FAT32 has been tried and tested to give larger partition or not?

Thanks

 

[johny5_uk]

Why restrict yourself to a hard drive when you can have so much more plugging in an ipod?
Wont you end up browsing music with the clunky file system as oppose to nicely laid out artists/albums etc on the ipod?
if you dont own an ipod, hey you just bought a new E350, so splash out on one that your Mercedes would love

 

[Diesel Benz]

What link?

The link:
Interactive Owner's Manual [In depth | COMAND | Operation with Media Interface*Media InterfaceiPod®Media InterfaceUSB mass storage deviceMedia InterfaceMode]

 

[Diesel Benz]

Why restrict yourself to a hard drive when you can have so much more plugging in an ipod?
Wont you end up browsing music with the clunky file system as oppose to nicely laid out artists/albums etc on the ipod?
if you dont own an ipod, hey you just bought a new E350, so splash out on one that your Mercedes would love

Well, people have different preferences. I don't see a point in buying an expensive hard drive in a white box instead of buying a cheap memory card or USB stick or drive. I'm not sure about the media interface but the iPod interface was slow in older cars. It would be a hassle to take care of the iPod if you wanted to use the same device in the car and elsewhere.

 

[mbenz76]

Thanks

I have got an iPod, but even with that I only get 160GB of space, and I wanted to be able to leave it in the car, which I don't want to do with the iPod as I use it elsewhere.

I will try it out when I get the car and see which I prefer in terms of navigation, because I do want it to be smooth and easy. If iPod is the way to go, then I could be tempted to buy a new iPod for personal use and leave my current one in the car.

 

[Aoraki]

If iPod is the way to go, then I could be tempted to buy a new iPod for personal use and leave my current one in the car.

That's what I've done, works ok for me. Got some 2500 tracks on it but rarely listen to more than a favorite 100 or so but the choice is there.

 

[mbenz76]

Going to give both methods a try when I get the car and see which works best for me. Leaning towards the iPod though after reading this and the Comand guide linked above.

Does anyone know if video files from the iPod will play on Comand?

 

[Honey Bear]

If it is like the W212 media interface:

the main restrictions appear to be FAT file format (up to 32 GB per partition) and 1000 files within 8 directory levels (the manual does not mention any max number of files per folder, it used to be limited).

You can have multiple partitions and select an active partition. I understood up to 4 partitions being supported. In this case a 500 GB drive cannot be fully used.

You can find drive current consumption limits and supported file format info from the link.

Windows will only lets users format up to 32gb in FAT. There are command line hacks and plent of GUI software (freeware) that will allow you to format more. I currently have a 500GB freecom Mobile Drive Classic formated in FAT connected to my xbox for all my media.

 

[Diesel Benz]

Windows will only lets users format up to 32gb in FAT. There are command line hacks and plent of GUI software (freeware) that will allow you to format more. I currently have a 500GB freecom Mobile Drive Classic formated in FAT connected to my xbox for all my media.

So have you tested if this additional space will be recognised by the car? And if it only allows 1000 files, why would one want more empty space formatted?

 

[Honey Bear]

So have you tested if this additional space will be recognised by the car? And if it only allows 1000 files, why would one want more empty space formatted?

Look, FAT is a file format, we can make FAT12 and FAT16 redundant as well they are before my era and basically pre-historic, meaning the car won't even bother to read these. FAT32, well that's still current. The 32GB limit is purely there because of Microsoft and their "performance" issues. The reason for the 32 in FAT32 is because it uses 32-bit cluster values. The ONLY limitation to FAT and in particular FAT32 is the individual file size. A max of 4 gigs. Please correct me if I am wrong, I'm sure you'll enjoy that.

If you have a spare drive hanging about then format it and give it a try. I'm more than sure it will work.

If the car itself will only ever read 1000 files in 8 directories then that's all to do with the car.

However, can you or anyone else truly say it will not work? Have you physically tried it? Have you tested it?

 

[Diesel Benz]

Look, FAT is a file format, we can make FAT12 and FAT16 redundant as well they are before my era and basically pre-historic, meaning the car won't even bother to read these. FAT32, well that's still current. The 32GB limit is purely there because of Microsoft and their "performance" issues. The reason for the 32 in FAT32 is because it uses 32-bit cluster values. The ONLY limitation to FAT and in particular FAT32 is the individual file size. A max of 4 gigs. Please correct me if I am wrong, I'm sure you'll enjoy that.

If you have a spare drive hanging about then format it and give it a try. I'm more than sure it will work.

If the car itself will only ever read 1000 files in 8 directories then that's all to do with the car.

However, can you or anyone else truly say it will not work? Have you physically tried it? Have you tested it?

I can tell what works with the car. If you claim something else works with the car, why should I prove that?

Something pre-historic is typically compatible with most everything, try NTFS formatted cards on a Comand? Do you think it is better to be modern or have something that works?

 

[Honey Bear]

I can tell what works with the car. If you claim something else works with the car, why should I prove that?

Something pre-historic is typically compatible with most everything, try NTFS formatted cards on a Comand? Do you think it is better to be modern or have something that works?

I don't claim anything. But hey, I know pride can be tough to swallow ;-). Why would you try nfts? You don't need all the security measures in a system that will just read files.

Clearly you're just trying to goad me into arguing with you and you're troll like comments. It stops here! This is my last comment on this thread. If you don't want to welcome knowledge, and accept that someone else might know something you don't, then that's up to you. The sad thing is there will be a point in future where you'll actually use this if it works.

Anyway it's for your benefit not mine. "your" meaning everyone in posession of a w212.

If the car doesn't support it then - Oh well. Its meant to be a modern car. Clearly not very modern anymore.

It's easy to read and instuction manual, anyone can do that. What's difficult is when you explore and try to find a way around the limits shown to you. That's what keeps This world evolving.

You can say whatever you like now. Remember this is my last post on this thread I'm not going to fall into the trap of arguing with a troll and then getting banned.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Diesel Benz]

Look, FAT is a file format, we can make FAT12 and FAT16 redundant as well they are before my era and basically pre-historic, meaning the car won't even bother to read these. FAT32, well that's still current. The 32GB limit is purely there because of Microsoft and their "performance" issues. The reason for the 32 in FAT32 is because it uses 32-bit cluster values. The ONLY limitation to FAT and in particular FAT32 is the individual file size. A max of 4 gigs. Please correct me if I am wrong, I'm sure you'll enjoy that.

If you have a spare drive hanging about then format it and give it a try. I'm more than sure it will work.

If the car itself will only ever read 1000 files in 8 directories then that's all to do with the car.

However, can you or anyone else truly say it will not work? Have you physically tried it? Have you tested it?

I don't claim anything. But hey, I know pride can be tough to swallow ;-). Why would you try nfts? You don't need all the security measures in a system that will just read files.

Clearly you're just trying to goad me into arguing with you and you're troll like comments. It stops here! This is my last comment on this thread. If you don't want to welcome knowledge, and accept that someone else might know something you don't, then that's up to you. The sad thing is there will be a point in future where you'll actually use this if it works.

Anyway it's for your benefit not mine. "your" meaning everyone in posession of a w212.

If the car doesn't support it then - Oh well. Its meant to be a modern car. Clearly not very modern anymore.

It's easy to read and instuction manual, anyone can do that. What's difficult is when you explore and try to find a way around the limits shown to you. That's what keeps This world evolving.

You can say whatever you like now. Remember this is my last post on this thread I'm not going to fall into the trap of arguing with a troll and then getting banned.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk