mobile harddisk recommendations

[VJ]

Hello,

I'm looking for a mobile hard disk for use in a car (to connect to a car stereo). The car stereo has a single USB port that supplies up to 500 mA.
The harddisk would be put in the glove compartement, but will most likely not be fixed.

Which drives are recommended for this purpose?
(I have been looking at the iomega ego, the Seagate FreeAgent Go (but it seems to need 2 usb ports) and the Lacie Rugged mobile drive)
Any other makes that are interesting for this purpose?

Would it be better to mount the drive fixed?

Or would you guys go solid state (e.g. usb memory stick, cardreader+memory card, ...)?

Jörg

[Dr Mordrid]

In my experience the Seagate FreeAgent's are very good. While they supposedly "need" two USB ports (one for power) I've found this not true 99% of the time as ours run fine using just one. Use a high quality cable and it's a go with devices that have adequate USB power (I could think a car would have gobs).

A big plus is the 5 year warranty.


Don't bother installing their software. In fact I copied its original contents to a backup folder (just in case I ever need them) and erased them from the portable drive.

As far as Western Digital portables go: I've bought two and neither are still running.

[UtwigMU]

Just get 32GB thumbdrive, that's 5000+ music at high quality, more than 350 CDs.

[VJ]

Dr Mordid: cool, that is great news; the Seagate has my preference of all the hdd based things (I like the performance and reliability of my other Seagates, and indeed the 5 year warranty is great). To be sure, could you check in the device manager how much power it draws? The radio-spec shows it supplies 500 mA, which is the full power usb spec.

UtwigMU: Yes, that is an aternative... However: all my cd's are ripped in high quality, and yield well over 32 GB. Add to that that the radio is actually a navigation system that can also play back movies... Along the same lines, I also consider large CF cards (they also exist in these capacities) with a cardreader: I could use the cards in my camera when travelling.

I will have to inquire how well the radio can cope with large drives, as these may take too long to read/index.
I might get the Seagate anyway, if it doesn't work for this purpose I still have uses for it (don't really have a true portable storage.

Another alternative is to use my iPod (80 GB). The radio has more functionalities than with regular usb drives (album art, search facilities, ...), but I'm a bit weary when it comes to leaving it in the glove compartment.


Jorg

[LvR]

IMO you are going to find the drives may be electrically compatible, but the head unit will refuse to talk to it ................... tried a few different brands in on the JVC unit I have in the car and none would work.

Sodded off to the audio shop and stuck the drive in every head unit on display and couldn't find a single one that would read the 160G external drive (Mecer unit with a Seagate drive) - no smoke came out of any of them though .

My Mecer unit apparently only needs a single USB port to power it properly - all laptops, and PCs I stuck it into have always been happy with it.

Back to thumdrive I had to go - SD to USB also works well here.

[VJ]

Yeah, that is my fear...
It is a new model Pioneer unit, and I have read that existing models have issues with large drives (e.g. reading starts, but playback stops after a few seconds, or reading doesn't even start).

I know my best bet is a thumb drive (or memory-card + reader) or an iPod (via optional cable), but wouldn't mind trying stuff. But trying things are not compatible by specs (e.g. power requirement) is pointless. :-)

Jorg

[VJ]

I ordered the optional iPod cable(it was suprisingly cheap, most likely it is realy just a cable with no additional electronics.

I may still get the Seagate drive, as it can be very convenient to have a large, portable storage. I just wonder what the added value of the supplied software is, as there is an open source variant to acchieve the same. The concept of running software from a portable storage is appealing when attending conferences (where one can/has to use one of the pc's supplied).

And the memory-card + cardreader is also something I keep open (esp. as I intend to get more storage for my camera)


Jörg