BenzC400

Does anyone know if there is a way to upgrade the music register capacity? 10GB is just too small. I'd like to have at least 20GB, or even more. Hard drives are so cheap I don't know why MB would only include a 10GB drive. A 256 GB solid state drive is about $100. I wonder if it's as easy as changing out the hard drive in a PC. I know I could use an SD card or USB drive, but I think a larger capacity music register hard drive would be more convenient.

tgrx1901

10 Gb was too small for me too but I got round it by using a 32Gb SD card.

Cheaper, faster and no risk of damage!

BenzC400

I have an SD also but would like to have a larger capacity music register hard drive. Cheaper isn't an issue. If it can be done, I'd ask the MB dealer to do it. I sure most owners would like a larger music register. There may be some technical reason the register is limited to 10GB. Even the S-Class only has a 10GB music register.

digitallust_aus

I wouldn't imagine it would be too difficult to upgrade at all.
FYI Sandisk now do a 512gig SD card

BenzC400

Maybe there isn't a separate hard drive for the music register. Maybe it's a partition on the navigation hard drive.

ManiacGT

If its like BMW, its a partition, meaning removing it leaves no multimedia systems running and you'd need to clone the existing data sector by sector into a new hard disk and hope the system will recognise it. To be fair if you're IT savvy its not difficult. Its probably more difficult taking the dashboard apart to get to the HD.

Mr Enigma

On the W204 forums I think there are some threads that have expanded the music register.

Also there is a video or two on youtube showing how you can get to the internals behind the CD/DVD player.

Personally I would just use a USB key which is what I have done in all of my cars that allow it. I wouldn't want to risk bricking the system!

bowler900

Just hang a portable hard drive on one of the USB ports, I have a 2Tb on mine.

Mr Enigma

I normally use a 32/64 GB USB key but I was thinking about using something like this:

http://store.westerndigital.com/stor...FeHLtAodTkkAww

That way I can edit my music without taking the HDD out of the car if I have it hooked up to my home WiFi.

Question: Does the USB port switch off when the car is shut down and locked? I don't want to risk draining the car battery if I don't drive it for a long time and this HDD plugged in. Does anyone know?

rapalax

I would highly discourage the use of a conventional hard drive for this purpose. The main reason is temperature... conventional hard drives have high speed moving parts that weren't designed to be used in the crazy temperatures the inside of a car sees (cold or hot).

I would stick with flash memory, found in USB thumb drives, SD cards, and SSD hard disks.

ManiacGT

Not to mention the power draw on a physical HD from the USB port. The last thing you want is to burn out a port. Stick with MicroSD or USB memory sticks.

tgrx1901

Interesting portable drive Mr Enigma but you may want to double check that it can use USB power. Reviews of it that I have read imply that it runs off an internal battery and has to be powered/recharged from a mains charger.

That would limit its usefulness in your car.

Mr Enigma

I don't have the drive. It was only a thought about what I could do to wirelessly access the music from the home wifi and update easily. I had a quick look online and it looks like it will charge off the USB and a mains charger is supplied if you want to charge it through the mains. Whether it will be able to draw enough power from the car's USB is a separate issue though. I suspect this shouldn't be a problem as the standard USB is able to power a normal HDD and charge a phone...


An alternative option is to get a solid state USB stick with networking capabilities which will not have this problem and also will address subsequent issues highlighted in further posts. I found this:


http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/data-s...pid=display~RR


http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/data-s...ml#srcid=11026


That could do the same job. The second has an SD cards so you can expand the memory...


Only thinking out loud at the moment. I haven't got the car yet!

tgrx1901

Thanks for those links. I didn't even know wireless USB sticks existed!

Like you, I'd be interested in being able to update my in car music remotely (when it was in the drive) without removing the media device.

Must take a trip to PC World for a look.

Mr Enigma

Obviously buying online will be cheaper still and there there may be other options. I know there are also wireless SD cards - eyeFi is an example.

I'm not sure of whether you can write to the drives over wifi - I hope so. I haven't done much research to be honest...