Mondeos USB port

Stocky58 · 05-06-2012, 08:09 AM

I really like the idea of having say 16gb of music in the car via usb.

If anyone is interested I have installed a 500gb hard drive to the usb connection. Just buy a portable hard drive that is powered by usb. Mine is a Toshiba only cost $80. The only catch is you need to re-format the hard drive. The format most commonly used in hard drives is NTFS and needs to be formatted to FAT32 format. This is easily achieved by free converters found on the internet. The Mondeos sound system only recognises the later format. I currently have over 50gb of music in the car and it all works as it should.

Oh, Vehicle is late 2010 modeo zetec diesel.

Cheers

JimStone · 05-06-2012, 10:24 AM

I thought about a similar setup, but on a whim I decided to try out a micro USB drive in my MC Zetec - in this case a LEXAR 32GB Echo ZX Backup Drive

Works far better than I anticipated; returns to same place every time, smooth transitisions, very short loadup time (longest so far has been less than 5 seconds); in fact it has been working so well I have not bothered to plug in my ipod. To top it off, it's so small it does not extend out past the USB plugin port so you can still use that miniscule glove box

.

The real key I have found to making the USB approach work is to plan your folder arrangement carefully, otherwise it's a pain in the *** to navigate while driving. I have ended up using a genre/period/artist/album structure (works a treat with the "shuffle folder" function) with a couple cross genre generic playlists and a few 'mood' playlists thrown in for good measure.

Lovin the stock sound system!!!

steve289 · 05-06-2012, 04:23 PM

has anyone experienced the USB going back to the start, i.e. track 1, after locking the car? Has happened a few times (MB Zetec)

Riksta · 05-06-2012, 07:23 PM

Just remember when formatting a drive with the FAT32 format that there are limitations (that most of us don't think about in the days of NTFS).

From memory there's maximum file sizes (probably a moot point if you're gonna only use it for MP3) - but not sure if there's a maximum partition size, but look it up would hate for someone to buy a 500gig drive for use in the car and not be able to use it all due to a FAT32 limitation. Google would be your friend here.

Just a friendly heads up

JimStone · 05-06-2012, 08:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by steve289

has anyone experienced the USB going back to the start, i.e. track 1, after locking the car? Has happened a few times (MB Zetec)

Have not experienced that one - have you checked for any software updates at ford audio?

Riksta, from same site -

How can the audio-files on a device be browsed when connected via USB?

It is possible to browse the complete file system of a USB device by folder in the same way the Windows-Explorer folder structure works. There are the following restrictions:

Max. 5000 folders per device
Max. 1000 items per folder
Maximum of 8 hierarchy levels
The files are not sorted by metadata (ID3-tags) like Genre/Artist/Album. If connected devices do this on their own, the sorting is not reflected on the radio/nav. (This exception does not apply to the iPod®.)

Though I agree the Fat32 limitations would still apply