Best HU/External Hard drive Combo

[Remo Valentine 10+ year member]

As the title states...

What is the best Headunit and External Hard drive combination?

I know there are lots of people with different experience on this topic and I'd love some input.

I want to be able to run a hard drive (not a flash drive) (without secondary power) off of a headunit.

I'd like to know what HU has the best usablity, best interface, fastest read times, etc.

Thanks for the anticipated responses.

Click to read more...

 

[blazeplacid 10+ year member]

BEST would be a carputer

 

[tsenfw 10+ year member]

kenwood x791 + a huge flash drive

Why would you want a real hd when you have power problems and a flashdrive with folder would give you the same directory browsing?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220262

 

[Macklessdaddy 10+ year member]

Even cheaper.http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E1682014134

8&nm_mc=OTC-pr1c3grabb3r&cm_mmc=OTC-pr1c3grabb3r-_-Memory+(USB+Flash+Drive)-_-PQI-_-20141348

i agree 16gb holds a lot and you know the deck will power it

 

[steveklein 10+ year member]

Even cheaper.http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E1682014134
8&nm_mc=OTC-pr1c3grabb3r&cm_mmc=OTC-pr1c3grabb3r-_-Memory+(USB+Flash+Drive)-_-PQI-_-20141348

i agree 16gb holds a lot and you know the deck will power it

i think the alpinei iva-w505 also has a usb connection . would make sense for it to also be able to stick 16gb drive there, right? furthermore... we can expect over the next several years for these sizes to increase, possibly dramatically.

will the flash drives in the future ever draw more power than the ones draw now? basically, if in 2010 i can get a 128gb flash drive, could i in theory have 128gb of music on a flash drive that a head unit could play off of? or would the head units be unable to power larger flash drives?

 

[tsenfw 10+ year member]

Hey Remo Valentine, I just saw that you're in hartford, I'm in norwalk and go to waterbury regularly. I have an extra x791 that I replaced with an alpine 9887 (no usb support unfortunately) if you need a headunit.

 

[suland 10+ year member]

It is possible to make the adapter for USB hard drive with separate power source. The question is - do you really need so much space?

 

[steveklein 10+ year member]

It is possible to make the adapter for USB hard drive with separate power source. The question is - do you really need so much space?

Of course! I have my entire music (1900 albums) and movie (192 films) ripped to my hard drives and would love a solution to be able to carry around as much of this (if not all of it) in my car. seems like a 1 TB external hard drive would be a good fit for it. I could load up everything and plug it into a USB port on my head unit (the Alpine W505) and be able to watch any movie or play any music file on the go.

 

[kodak314 10+ year member]

Of course! I have my entire music (1900 albums) and movie (192 films) ripped to my hard drives and would love a solution to be able to carry around as much of this (if not all of it) in my car. seems like a 1 TB external hard drive would be a good fit for it. I could load up everything and plug it into a USB port on my head unit (the Alpine W505) and be able to watch any movie or play any music file on the go.

theres no hu that wil b able to support a 1tb harddrive, if it did itll probably take like 30 mins to even load it up

and there are no headunits that can play movies via usb except for the new kenwoods iirc