MAJ_Jimbo

Folks - forgive me for the stupid question, but wondering why only a thumb drive will work on the USB port on the 2011 Maxima? I have a 16GB thumbdrive with all my music on the USB port and it brings it up no problem, but when connect my external harddrive, a small Seagate portable drive (essentially a laptop drive in their portable case), it does not recognize it.

Anyone out there have any ideas, options, or recommendations??? Would like to hook up my 250GB harddrive as opposed to my 16GB thumbdrive. Any help, would be GREATLY appreciated...thanks!

Jimbo

Joey D

It could possibly have to do with your "Root Folder". The max doesn't venture too far beyond your root folder. So for example on your thumb drive you probably have all of your songs showing immediately after you open the hard drive file, or in one folder after that. Whereas when your Seagate is hooked up you might have it archived pretty far deep into a couple folders. That should work, but if that's not the case for you I'll keep investigating and try mine tomorrow.

PS MORE than 16GB?! how many songs do you have?!

vascott1

The other issue that you might be running into is the USB port might not provide the power needed for that drive. I have not tried an external drive myself but I know their power requirements are quite a bit higher than thumb drive or even the drive in a drive based iPod (which is what I have tucked in my center console)

maxud

I would agree with you. Alot of times external drives ship with dual USB cable for that exact reason. You may need more Amps than the USB port provides. If your drive has external power adapter hole, try plugging separate power adapter into drive, while USB is connected to Maxima's USB port. If you got no external power, you are most likely SOL.

Car Addict

I just got a 64gb ipod, used to use a flash drive. the ipod is a lot better because the music starts playing after only a few seconds compared to about 30 seconds with the flash drive.

djtonyg

iTrader: (1)

I also use the same ipod!

MAJ_Jimbo

Folks - Good discussion. Here are a few comments.

First, I have a lot of songs - presently 38Gigs.

Second, not sure what flash drive you were using, but the 16GB flashdrive is immediate, i.e., immediately see the folders in root and immediately play the songs from whatever folder - no issues whatsoever there.

Third, didn't think about the power issue. I'll see if the harddrive light comes on when I plug it in. If it doesn't, then I suspect you may be correct about the USB port not providing enough power - but damn, we are only talking minimal power for a laptop drive embedded in a Seagate Expansion Portable Drive...but who knows how the port is built. No "Y" cable for power - only have a separate one, but he "Y" cable is for a computer, i.e., uses two USB ports - one for data and one for power.

Forth, harddrive is setup exactly like the flashdrive - folders then music in folder - no digging down into multiple folders for the music.

I was thinking of calling NissanUSA, but I'll hold off because you all brought up a good point on the power issue which may be the situation. I'll investigate further. Again, if the light on the drive does not light up, then it more than most likely a power issue in which whatever is hooked up for data has to be very minimal power (i.e. flashdrive) and/or supplemented by power, iPod, Archos, etc.

Thanks - I'll let you know the results...

Jimbo

MAJ_Jimbo

UPDATE>>>

Folks - just put the harddrive in the car. It powers up - no problem. See the light on and hear the harddrive spinning, get that message "Check USB Device" and don't see anything. So the power is not an issue. I'm thinking possibly the formatting may be an issue. But going to test that with a thumbdrive, i.e., you have FAT, exFAT, NTFS, etc. The external Seagate Drive is exFAT, but I'm going to format another thumbdrive with that file system and try it in the car to see if it works - if it does, well then I'm at loss at that point.

Jimbo

maxud

Your power light will be on even when hard drive does not have enough power to work properly. I have an external laptop harddrive, if I don't plug both USB cables in, I will have the light, the hard drive will spin, but not operate properly.
FYI, external laptop drives peak draw about 1Amp of current, the USB ports on my computer are rated at 500mA per port. Different motherboards may have different amp capacities.

Your drive came with a Y-usb cable. One of the leads has both data and power, second lead is only additional power, no data connection. Make sure the main lead with Data and power is connected to the Maxima's port.

Here is another solution, get one of those cigarette lighter to usb adapters. Plug data/power plug into Maxima USB port, plug the second power into cigarette adapter. That should probably work ok.

There could be one other problem. The Maxima headunit software has to be able to understand large capacity storage. I know my 09 has issues with large CF cards and we are talking 4gig, not anywhere near 250gb.
Hopefully the new units can handle it.
Max

MAJ_Jimbo

Roger - I'll try that...formatting the disk now in FAT32 via instruction on the web and through Command prompt. But with the Y cable...this is a Seagate - only came with USB to miniUSB connector, now I do have a Y adapter on a enclosure I'm not using, but which is the power and data and which is just the power? The Y cable has a thinner cable with USB and a thicker cable with USB, I imagine the second is data and power?

Jimbo

MAJ_Jimbo

By the way...if you want to format in Windows 7, bring up command prompt, then type in fomrate /FS:FAT32 X: where X is your harddrive, thumbdrive, etc., that you want to format - think it works for 1TB or less, but I noticed my thumbdrives are FAT32 so just "testing" that theory, but will try the Y cable as well for additional power. By the way - formatting in FAT32 takes F-O-R-E-V-E-R.

UPDATE - Yea...this does not work at all - basically it will act as if it's formatting, but in the end, it will give an error that it could not format because the drive is too big. See my post below on the solution using the program to download and use via windows command prompt (I used it in Windows 7 32bit edition).

Joey D

Yeah your error is the same I get when I just plug in my Zune. And I know that doesn't require nearly as much power.

proy1458

I wish I could hook up my Zune Somehow.

MAJ_Jimbo

Ok Max Guys - Total Success!!!!

Here is the latest update to get a 250GB Hard Drive to work in your Maxima. I did a lot of research and here is the data from it:

1. You can't use NTFS or FATex file system. You have to format whatever flashdrive or portable hard drive in FAT32 file system for the 2011 Nissan Maxima w/USB port to recognize the data.

2. As you'll find out, FAT32 is not available in Windows Vista or Windows 7 - only NTFS or exFAT, so you have to go to: http://www.ridgecrop.demon.co.uk/ind...at32format.htm (or search google for: fat32format by Ridgecrop - should be first one that pops up). Read the information, follow the instructions to the tee, and download fat32format program (free).

3. Once you run the program from a DOS command prompt within windows, it will format the drive extremely quick - my 250GB Western Digital 2.5 inch Scorpio formatted in less than 10 seconds.

4. Now just populate your hard drive with music. I populated with root folders, i.e., Fleetwood Mac Greatest Hits was the folder, and the music was in the folder.

5. The hard drive is sufficiently powered and played the music from the USB port on the 2011 Nissan Maxima, as it did on my 16GB flashdrive (DataStick Pro by Centon) - played immediately - no delay - no wait.

So I've cracked the code and now can use my portable 2.5 inch, 250GB hard drive (SATA drive in eSATA enclosure) in my 2011 Nissan Maxima - again, this is with the USB port - not sure what the earlier Maxima's have.

Let me know if you have any questions.

BTW - ADMIN - Recommend as a "How to Sticky" - this will help others - only applies to external hard drives, don't know about Zune's or other types of devices.

Jimbo

iMAK

WOW greate news, I will try it and report back...

gtmassive75

iTrader: (1)

Good work "Jimbo"...

jasn

To format an external drive larger than 32GB using Win 7 call up the DOS prompt (cmd.exe) and type in:

format /FS:FAT32 X:

Where X is the drive letter.

Compusmurf

Added link in FAQ, not a sticky.

MAJ_Jimbo

Jasn - this does not work - tried this with the portable harddrive and it will act as if it's formatting the drive which will literally take forever, but it will come up with an error the drive is too large. Look at my post above talking about the program to download that is free - it will not only work but will format the drive in 20 seconds or less...that is using a new harddrive, might take a couple of minutes with one with data...

Jimbo

pchichi

Hi! I'm new to the site and I've already found some incredible information. I have an '09 Nissan Maxima SV. I was wondering if there is a USB port that I'm not aware of on this model

Car Addict

I could be wrong but i think the 09s only had a flash card reader. No usb.

maxud

No usb on any 09 Maxima. For 2010 Nissan upgraded the headunit that supports USB. My 2009 SV Premium has CF card and native apple iPod interface that does not support charging of later iPhones.

mmonacel

Hmmm.... I have a 500GB Western Digital portable HD and I reformatted to FAT32 using the utility posted by MAJ Jimbo. I've put one album worth of MP3s on the drive but no dice. I get the "check device" error message. I can get it to work just fine with a 2GB thumb drive I have however so I know the interface works fine. The drive doesn't use an external power source or have a separate USB connector for power. Could it be that my drive is too big?

Compusmurf

mmonacel, it probably draws more power than Nissan supplies through the port. Drives can be finicky like that.

mmonacel

Any sense of what Nissan supplies through the port? This might help me (and others) find a drive that is compatible. HDs can be tough to return to Best Buy so I'd like to take a targeted approach to finding one that will almost certainly work.

Also, maybe this is a good place to list out external drives that are known to work...

mmonacel

Looks like there is a 128GB limit that is recognized by the port. My USB thumb drives were working fine (FAT) but my portable hard drives were not (FAT32 and 500GB). I reformatted one of the portable drives down to 10GB FAT32 and found that it worked and then whittled it down to determine the 128GB limit. Unfortunately it seems that someone else has already done this (despite my prior searching)

http://www.nissanclub.com/forums/200...ml#post3994715

It's worth reading the above post though since there is also a 255 folder limit which (according to the post) seems like is generated by the on-board computer based on the file metadata and not your original file structure on the drive.

If you have a drive laying around larger than 128GB you'd like to use, then you can go into Windows Disk Management (Start > Control Panel > System and Security > Administrative Tools > Create and Format Hard Disk Partitions) and delete the partition for that drive and create a 128GB partition (131072 MB). From there you can use tool referenced by MAJ_Jimbo, but I used the GUI version which is easier since it's just point and click (http://www.ridgecrop.demon.co.uk/guiformat.htm). Once formatted you should be able to add you music and connect right up.

Enjoy!

Now how do we get an upgrade to have the computer recognize a serious music collection? It's an odd limit given modern BIOS / OSes have long since surpassed that threshold years ago. The 128GB limit number however makes me think it's a hardware / OS limit and not an arbitrarily assigned one.

dru500a

If the guy from NC is correct and there's a 255 folder limit (which I assume each folder would be an album), then we are actually limited to the amount of GBs we can actually use right? I mean, even with great quality audio we wouldn't use up 128 GB. My math is bad so I may be totally off.

It was stated that "at 160kbps AAC compression 255 folders works out to about 16GB". In that case I think a flash drive would work best for me.

In any case, what audio formats can be used?

Has a solution been found for video through usb?

mlfca

I purchased a 32GB stick and put about 20GB of music on it. It works fine except it take about 1 min to read the stick everytime I start the car and it does not remember the last song I was playing (It starts at the first album). Also, why wont it list the artist rather than the album name? If anyone has any tips please pass them along.

Thanks,

Car Addict

My flash drive took a long time to start playing too, but it did play from where it left off. Seems like the max cant handle more than a few hundred songs without a long delay. Read the manual to make sure you have the proper file format and encoding settings. I eventually just got an ipod and it works much better now.

dru500a

Do you guys ever use the Music Box, the hard drive? It sounds cool to have but in practice it's not practical to use since the only way to get music on there is via CD ripping.

mlfca

I actually would not have a problem spending $20 for a stack of blank CD's and ripping my music to the music box but the ones that I have tried did not bring the album art work plus it will take time.

I may do it. I do have the read the manual as well.

dru500a

I think I'll take the time and do it too, but just for my favorite and most listened to albums and just keep my current hits/singles on a flash drive. I feel like I need to utilize it since it's there.

As for your album art work issue, try http://www.nissanusa.com/gracenote/
It fixes missing info. It mentions title specifically, but I'm guessing/hoping it fills in all missing info. I have not used it yet so I'm not sure.

mlfca

Thanks for the link!

craigm1

have a 120gb western digital hard drive in my 2011 maxima paid $20 bucks for the drive formated it fat32 have 60gb of music on it so far no issues takes about 20 seconds to load up well worth it for all the music that's available.

craigm

1ll35t

I see that this a fairly old post but what I am looking to do is tether into my factory radio by adding a USB interface so I can connect an iphone. I have a 2012 with the standard bluetooth for phone only.

I looked at some GROM components on ebay but they cannot guarantee compatibility for my year. They say if the radio is CAT/SAT capable it should work. The car is SAT ready as I do have Sirius.

Does anyone have any advice?

PalmettoFellow

The issue from the OP has been solved, but I just had to chime in with some USB info. The standard for USB is to provide .5 amp of power. Anything that claims to be USB must give this much power or it's not USB. Any hard drive (or other device) that does not require the use of more than a single USB port will only draw .5 amp or less.

This sorta applies to smart phone charging as well. You can't physically get more than a half amp out of a standard USB port on a PC. There is a chance that the USB port in our car is capable of charging greater than a half amp, but you'll seldomly find a USB port on a PC or laptop that is capable of delivering more than a half amp. Please correct me if this is bad info, I believe it to be correct. The powers that be have defined higher amp current charging over standard USB ports, but I am not sure how widespread this is.

As an android user, I have an additional hurdle to overcome. Many car chargers on the market fail to short the two data pins together and my phone thinks it's connected to a USB port and only draws a half amp. The charger could be rater for 2.1 amps, but unless my phone thinks it's a charger and not a USB port, it will never draw more than a half amp. There are tutorials on how to short pins 2 and 3 together. If you are having this problem do some research in this area.

I am not sure what would happen if you modified the USB cable by shorting out pins 2 and 3 and then tried to charge an Android phone off the Maxima's built in USB port. Your phone would be trying to draw a full amp, and I don't really know if the Maxima would supply that amp, or if fuses are going to start blowing or what. Does anyone with an iPhone get a full 2.1 amp charge off the supplied USB port in the maxima? If so, this Android fix should be "safe".

lonewolf11

hey, i have a nissan maxima 2010 sv edition, i think like yours, im wondering can i play my iphone 4 in my car or use a usb to play my music, excuse me for my dumb questions, im jus dying to use my music on my iphone or usb and tired of listening to the radio and cd's

Car Addict

You can play music with USB flash drive or iPhone/iPod

art2go

I have a 2012 Maxima SV with a hard drive. Can you copy songs from a memory stick onto the hard drive?

Car Addict

You can only copy store bought CDS