BMW X5
BMW Garage BMW Meets Register Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read

Post Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
      12-28-2019, 07:14 PM   #23
Paladin1
Brigadier General
Paladin1's Avatar
United_States
5458
Rep
4,437
Posts

Drives: 2022 iX xDrive50, DGM
Join Date: Jun 2019
Location: Midwest

iTrader: (0)

Garage List
Quote:
Originally Posted by slampert View Post
This issue is ripe for a fix in a forthcoming software upgrade. I'm gonna go thru the motions and test the various permutations. What idrive version are you presently running ?
iDrive v7/2019.53, so several iterations behind. Could be fixed by now with software updates, but I suspect not. There is a reference in the owners manual to a 128GB limit, but it doesn't specifically state a limit to what, and iDrive does in fact read and play music from a 256GB drive, maybe larger
Appreciate 0
      01-24-2020, 12:44 PM   #24
VTENGR
Lieutenant Colonel
1044
Rep
1,943
Posts

Drives: 2020 X5 M50i
Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: Atlanta

iTrader: (1)

Quote:
Originally Posted by Paladin1 View Post
OK - several personal observations about the USB drive from a few days of experimenting:

- iDrive will accept any of the common drive formats - FAT32, exFAT, NTFS. Doesn't seem to matter as far as playback and speed
- It will read any size up to 256Gb (could be more - that's the largest I tried)
- When you get beyond 128Gb, although iDrive will read the data and play albums and tracks normally, it will not "remember" where it was on the USB drive when you restart the car. Using a 256Gb USB drive, it will always start on the same album regardless of what you were playing when the car was turned off. And you don't get to pick the album. Could have something to do with buffer limitations. Inconvenient, but it only means you would need to select your music each time you drive, rather than have it automatically pick up where you left off.
- You have the option of using either the front console USB A, or the center console USB C ports to add a media drive. Micro USB sticks occupy almost no space, but do occupy a USB port. I've compensated in my car with USB A 12v inserts, front and back, and seem to have no lack of ports for power requirements.
- The USB menu as far as playback, appearance and function works exactly the same as the internal HD, and you could in fact have 2 USB drives connected simultaneously and select either from the Media menu.
- A 128Gb drive will hold over 750 standard CDs using FLAC (uncompressed) files. This is the practical limit of using the drive, rather than the 16,000 track limit described in the owners manual - 16,000 tracks (about 1,333 average CDs) would actually occupy over 200Gb (uncompressed), but could be stored on a single 256Gb drive, with the playback anomaly discussed previously. Or you could use two 128Gb USB drives and store 1,500 CDs for immediate playback, which in combination with the internal HD would allow storage of almost 1,700 average CDs copied in an uncompressed format, in your car. That's over 2 months of continuous music, played 24/7, selectable from a central menu, or actually, by voice.

That's it so far, but the most impressive thing I've found is the quality of the sound with the B&W system playing uncompressed files from a CD. Coupled with the control interface and the ease of management of your music library, the Media system in the X5 is pretty awesome.
I've just now started tooling around with listening to CDs off or my USB and I too am annoyed that everytime I start my car the USB reverts to some "default" location - not where it left off when I parked. It's pretty annoying to have to cycle through the various search features to play the CD you were previously listening to.

Did you ever find a fix, some hidden setting, FDL coding, etc.. to fix this?
Appreciate 0
      01-24-2020, 01:59 PM   #25
Paladin1
Brigadier General
Paladin1's Avatar
United_States
5458
Rep
4,437
Posts

Drives: 2022 iX xDrive50, DGM
Join Date: Jun 2019
Location: Midwest

iTrader: (0)

Garage List
Quote:
Originally Posted by VTENGR View Post
I've just now started tooling around with listening to CDs off or my USB and I too am annoyed that everytime I start my car the USB reverts to some "default" location - not where it left off when I parked. It's pretty annoying to have to cycle through the various search features to play the CD you were previously listening to.

Did you ever find a fix, some hidden setting, FDL coding, etc.. to fix this?
It worked for me reverting to a 128Gb drive, and reindexing the drive (described elsewhere, but essentially cycling 6 drives through the Media on iDrive 7). When you use a drive larger than 128Gb it will still play, but seems to lose it's way.
Appreciate 0
      01-24-2020, 02:00 PM   #26
VTENGR
Lieutenant Colonel
1044
Rep
1,943
Posts

Drives: 2020 X5 M50i
Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: Atlanta

iTrader: (1)

Quote:
Originally Posted by Paladin1 View Post
It worked for me reverting to a 128Gb drive, and reindexing the drive (described elsewhere, but essentially cycling 6 drives through the Media on iDrive 7). When you use a drive larger than 128Gb it will still play, but seems to lose it's way.
So when you stop and start your car it will pick up where you left off? My drive is only 128GB, so I don't know why I'm having this issue.
Appreciate 0
      01-24-2020, 02:02 PM   #27
Paladin1
Brigadier General
Paladin1's Avatar
United_States
5458
Rep
4,437
Posts

Drives: 2022 iX xDrive50, DGM
Join Date: Jun 2019
Location: Midwest

iTrader: (0)

Garage List
Quote:
Originally Posted by VTENGR View Post
So when you stop and start your car it will pick up where you left off? My drive is only 128GB, so I don't know why I'm having this issue.
Yep, it works. Don't know if you have also done this:

https://g05.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh...reindex&page=2

I actually found using 6 drives on mine worked more reliably.
Appreciate 0
      01-24-2020, 02:11 PM   #28
VTENGR
Lieutenant Colonel
1044
Rep
1,943
Posts

Drives: 2020 X5 M50i
Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: Atlanta

iTrader: (1)

Quote:
Originally Posted by Paladin1 View Post
Yep, it works. Don't know if you have also done this:

https://g05.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh...reindex&page=2

I actually found using 6 drives on mine worked more reliably.
So you're saying I should "reflash" the index to get this USB to work right? I'll try but I'm skeptical that will fix my issue.
Appreciate 0
      01-24-2020, 02:39 PM   #29
VTENGR
Lieutenant Colonel
1044
Rep
1,943
Posts

Drives: 2020 X5 M50i
Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: Atlanta

iTrader: (1)

Quote:
Originally Posted by Paladin1 View Post
Yep, it works. Don't know if you have also done this:

https://g05.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh...reindex&page=2

I actually found using 6 drives on mine worked more reliably.
Ha - I just tried the 5 drives technique and it seemed to fix the issue. However I only had the car off for less than a minute, so maybe thats why. I'll find out soon enough.

Thanks for your help!
Appreciate 0
      01-24-2020, 02:49 PM   #30
Paladin1
Brigadier General
Paladin1's Avatar
United_States
5458
Rep
4,437
Posts

Drives: 2022 iX xDrive50, DGM
Join Date: Jun 2019
Location: Midwest

iTrader: (0)

Garage List
Quote:
Originally Posted by VTENGR View Post
Ha - I just tried the 5 drives technique and it seemed to fix the issue. However I only had the car off for less than a minute, so maybe thats why. I'll find out soon enough.

Thanks for your help!
You bet! So far mine has been permanent - apparently iDrive 7 has an index buffer capacity limited to 5 drives, so adding one extra must either wipe it out or bump the latest - in this case your newest drive. Avoids having to reset the entire database to factory settings - which I actually did once, but would prefer not to again. Glad it worked! Now if we could only use 256Gb drives....
Appreciate 0
      01-24-2020, 03:16 PM   #31
VTENGR
Lieutenant Colonel
1044
Rep
1,943
Posts

Drives: 2020 X5 M50i
Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: Atlanta

iTrader: (1)

Quote:
Originally Posted by Paladin1 View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by VTENGR View Post
Ha - I just tried the 5 drives technique and it seemed to fix the issue. However I only had the car off for less than a minute, so maybe thats why. I'll find out soon enough.

Thanks for your help!
You bet! So far mine has been permanent - apparently iDrive 7 has an index buffer capacity limited to 5 drives, so adding one extra must either wipe it out or bump the latest - in this case your newest drive. Avoids having to reset the entire database to factory settings - which I actually did once, but would prefer not to again. Glad it worked! Now if we could only use 256Gb drives....
Dang... Didn't work. Just got back in the car and it started from the default location again.
Appreciate 0
      01-24-2020, 04:51 PM   #32
Paladin1
Brigadier General
Paladin1's Avatar
United_States
5458
Rep
4,437
Posts

Drives: 2022 iX xDrive50, DGM
Join Date: Jun 2019
Location: Midwest

iTrader: (0)

Garage List
Quote:
Originally Posted by VTENGR View Post
Dang... Didn't work. Just got back in the car and it started from the default location again.
Might try an iDrive reboot as well, just in case.... If I recall, that may be why I used 6 drives.
Appreciate 0
      01-24-2020, 06:51 PM   #33
VTENGR
Lieutenant Colonel
1044
Rep
1,943
Posts

Drives: 2020 X5 M50i
Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: Atlanta

iTrader: (1)

Quote:
Originally Posted by Paladin1 View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by VTENGR View Post
Dang... Didn't work. Just got back in the car and it started from the default location again.
Might try an iDrive reboot as well, just in case....
No dice... Do you have different file types on your USB? I have a mix of FLAC & mp3. Could that be it?
Appreciate 0
      01-25-2020, 12:12 AM   #34
Paladin1
Brigadier General
Paladin1's Avatar
United_States
5458
Rep
4,437
Posts

Drives: 2022 iX xDrive50, DGM
Join Date: Jun 2019
Location: Midwest

iTrader: (0)

Garage List
Quote:
Originally Posted by VTENGR View Post
No dice... Do you have different file types on your USB? I have a mix of FLAC & mp3. Could that be it?
Mostly FLAC, but I'm sure some mp3. And I probably have close to 400 CDs on one drive in so pretty full. Too bad; shouldn't be this hard just to get Media to play normally in the car. I did follow the indexing instructions pretty faithfully - 6 different USB manufacturers, one file one each, FAT32 format.
Appreciate 0
      01-25-2020, 02:18 AM   #35
VTENGR
Lieutenant Colonel
1044
Rep
1,943
Posts

Drives: 2020 X5 M50i
Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: Atlanta

iTrader: (1)

Quote:
Originally Posted by Paladin1 View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by VTENGR View Post
No dice... Do you have different file types on your USB? I have a mix of FLAC & mp3. Could that be it?
Mostly FLAC, but I'm sure some mp3. And I probably have close to 400 CDs on one drive in so pretty full. Too bad; shouldn't be this hard just to get Media to play normally in the car. I did follow the indexing instructions pretty faithfully - 6 different USB manufacturers, one file one each, FAT32 format.
Oh you do FAT32 and not exFAT? My computer won't format the drives to FAT32 since they're larger than 32gb (or maybe a windows 10 thing). I only have the exFAT and NTFS as options. I'll try again with the USB. It's hard to find 5 unique brands. Maybe I doubled up without reakizing it since some of the USB were trsdeshow giveaways.
Appreciate 0
      01-25-2020, 01:57 PM   #36
Paladin1
Brigadier General
Paladin1's Avatar
United_States
5458
Rep
4,437
Posts

Drives: 2022 iX xDrive50, DGM
Join Date: Jun 2019
Location: Midwest

iTrader: (0)

Garage List
Quote:
Originally Posted by VTENGR View Post
Oh you do FAT32 and not exFAT? My computer won't format the drives to FAT32 since they're larger than 32gb (or maybe a windows 10 thing). I only have the exFAT and NTFS as options. I'll try again with the USB. It's hard to find 5 unique brands. Maybe I doubled up without reakizing it since some of the USB were trsdeshow giveaways.
Yeah - iDrive READS exFAT, but the instructions said FAT32 (or NTFS, which should work), and I ran into the same problem with manufacturers - hard to find 5 (or 6) different. I think the most important thing is using DIFFERENT drives, because it otherwise "thinks" you are using the same drive and doesn't flush the cache.
Appreciate 0
      01-25-2020, 04:32 PM   #37
VTENGR
Lieutenant Colonel
1044
Rep
1,943
Posts

Drives: 2020 X5 M50i
Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: Atlanta

iTrader: (1)

Quote:
Originally Posted by Paladin1 View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by VTENGR View Post
Oh you do FAT32 and not exFAT? My computer won't format the drives to FAT32 since they're larger than 32gb (or maybe a windows 10 thing). I only have the exFAT and NTFS as options. I'll try again with the USB. It's hard to find 5 unique brands. Maybe I doubled up without reakizing it since some of the USB were trsdeshow giveaways.
Yeah - iDrive READS exFAT, but the instructions said FAT32 (or NTFS, which should work), and I ran into the same problem with manufacturers - hard to find 5 (or 6) different. I think the most important thing is using DIFFERENT drives, because it otherwise "thinks" you are using the same drive and doesn't flush the cache.
Just went to BestBuy and bought another micro drive PNY brand (never heard of them, but it was the only micro USB that wasn't SanDisk branded). So far it seems to be working as you would expect but I haven't been out of the car for more than 15 or so minutes so I don't know if the car has gone into "deep" sleep. Heading out in an hour so that will be the true test.
Appreciate 0
      01-25-2020, 05:08 PM   #38
maczrool
Captain
154
Rep
602
Posts

Drives: 22 M50i Carbon Black
Join Date: May 2019
Location: Memphis

iTrader: (0)

Something worth noting is that your maximum capacity as measured in number of compressed CDs stored will diminish the more recent your collection is as a general rule. This is due to the fact that CDs have been mastered louder (higher average level) over the past 20-25 years and with increased loudness, observed compression ratios go down. There just isn’t as much room for compression algorithms to work with when the signal is pushed to the max all the time. Your choice of genre will also impact this.
Appreciate 0
      09-02-2020, 03:59 PM   #39
jimmiebimmer
Private
36
Rep
97
Posts

Drives: BMW
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: USA

iTrader: (0)

Quote:
Originally Posted by Paladin1 View Post
You bet! So far mine has been permanent - apparently iDrive 7 has an index buffer capacity limited to 5 drives, so adding one extra must either wipe it out or bump the latest - in this case your newest drive. Avoids having to reset the entire database to factory settings - which I actually did once, but would prefer not to again. Glad it worked! Now if we could only use 256Gb drives....

Has anyone found a solution other than this? Seems pretty ridiculous, like some garbage homebrew solution or like I'm adding code to a rooted Android phone to get Bluetooth to work properly.


Sigh...
Appreciate 0
      09-02-2020, 06:09 PM   #40
Paladin1
Brigadier General
Paladin1's Avatar
United_States
5458
Rep
4,437
Posts

Drives: 2022 iX xDrive50, DGM
Join Date: Jun 2019
Location: Midwest

iTrader: (0)

Garage List
Quote:
Originally Posted by jimmiebimmer View Post
Has anyone found a solution other than this? Seems pretty ridiculous, like some garbage homebrew solution or like I'm adding code to a rooted Android phone to get Bluetooth to work properly.


Sigh...
Roger that. I don't know if more recent iDrive updates have fixed it, or if BMW even knows or acknowledges it's a problem. The problem is the buffer - which by itself is a good thing, until it buffers the incorrect information and you can't clear it. Even a simple menu option "Clear Buffer" would work, but not forthcoming I would guess. The above solution - convoluted as it is - clears the buffer storage and makes it work. I wish someone could find a simpler way, but iDrive 7 is way too complex IMO for its own good.

Last edited by Paladin1; 09-02-2020 at 06:17 PM..
Appreciate 0
      12-10-2020, 04:54 PM   #41
jimmiebimmer
Private
36
Rep
97
Posts

Drives: BMW
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: USA

iTrader: (0)

Quote:
Originally Posted by Paladin1 View Post
Roger that. I don't know if more recent iDrive updates have fixed it, or if BMW even knows or acknowledges it's a problem. The problem is the buffer - which by itself is a good thing, until it buffers the incorrect information and you can't clear it. Even a simple menu option "Clear Buffer" would work, but not forthcoming I would guess. The above solution - convoluted as it is - clears the buffer storage and makes it work. I wish someone could find a simpler way, but iDrive 7 is way too complex IMO for its own good.

Ugghhh, I finally bit the bullet and did this. Trust me, the actual process of doing this isn’t as ridiculous or difficult as all the opining here suggests.

A few brief notes from my experience:
  • I used 6 drives EXCLUDING the “permanent” drive
  • 3 of the drives were SanDisk models
  • 2 of the above 3 SanDisk models were of the same “product line”
  • I used one MicroSD to USB A adapter as one of the above 6 drives (MicroSD card is also SanDisk)
  • Everything was formatted FAT32 and, if not possible, formatted NTFS
  • I put a different song on each drive
To avoid iDrive “confusing” any of the drives, I renamed each in Windows Explorer. Below you’ll see the drive used as its referenced in the “Hardware” tab of the drive’s “Properties”, what I renamed the drive, the drive’s model name, and in what order each went in the plug in/play a few seconds/unplug sequence:
  1. SanDisk ExtremePro USB Device / 128GB Sandisk ExtremePro / SDCZ88-128G / First
  2. Generic USB SD Reader USB Device / 4GB MICROSD / Kingston FCR-MRB / Second
  3. SanDisk Ultra USB Device / 64GB SanDisk Ultra USB 3.0 / SDCZ48-064G / Third
  4. General UDisk USB Device / 1GB GENERAL / (no markings on this drive) / Fourth
  5. USB SanDisk 3.2Gen1 USB Device / 32GB SANDIS / SDCZ48-032G / Fifth
  6. Flash Disk USB Device / READIFFOUND / (no markings on this drive) / Sixth
So far, so good. Still, this dog and pony show is completely unacceptable for a brand that tries to position itself as “premium.”
Appreciate 0
      05-22-2022, 06:47 PM   #42
DRonyYon
Registered
DRonyYon's Avatar
0
Rep
1
Posts

Drives: X5
Join Date: May 2022
Location: USA

iTrader: (0)

Well, I think it all depends on everyone's personal preferences. Personally, I prefer USB drives because I have a large collection of music and I'm afraid that my car HD might crash and I might lose something important and have to do data recovery. Maybe I'm wrong, I just don't really understand new technologies and all this stuff with storage. Some of my friends laugh because I turn off the computer so that it can rest if I leave the PC. I don't know why, but I feel safer doing this. The same situation is with listening to music in the car. I'm afraid that if I overload the HD with music, it will spoil. This is my personal opinion, but it doesn't mean that I'm right, it's just easier for me to store music on usb.

Last edited by DRonyYon; 05-24-2022 at 05:08 AM..
Appreciate 0
Post Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off



All times are GMT -5. The time now is 04:16 PM.




xbimmers
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.
1Addicts.com, BIMMERPOST.com, E90Post.com, F30Post.com, M3Post.com, ZPost.com, 5Post.com, 6Post.com, 7Post.com, XBimmers.com logo and trademark are properties of BIMMERPOST