yes. I have copied mine (mp3) and swmbo's (mostly "apple" wMA) and all play fine

Thanks, I'll give it a go with the CD's too !

MDI is very good indeed but it's like anything, it wont always be 100% compatible with every device on the market. I used to have a Nano 1G 4G and it worked great with that; best thing was that particular Nano used to power off when idle for a few mins so it never ran out of battery. It started to die unfortunately so now have a latest gen (6G) Nano 8G, works great but as it doesnt auto power down battery dies overnight and goes back to the beginning of the playlist so always end up with Calvin Harris Accepable in the 80's playing when I get in the car....does my head in.

One thing I will say is that VW provide firmware updates for MDI as and when the new model year is launched. I've upgraded mine and it seems to work better. I'd always keep up to date with MDI firmware but not sure if Skoda do the same thing.

Is this hard drive they are suggesting for use with the MDI a normal hard disk? ie not solid state? If that is the case I'm very afraid of the vibrations, it will probably stress the disk after long use. I got a WD Passport 320GB hooked up to my system and at one point the disk didn't want to work. I left it on one side for a couple of days and it started working again but since then I'm afraid to use any media disk that has rotating disks in a car. :wonder:

MDI is very good indeed but it's like anything, it wont always be 100% compatible with every device on the market. I used to have a Nano 1G 4G and it worked great with that; best thing was that particular Nano used to power off when idle for a few mins so it never ran out of battery. It started to die unfortunately so now have a latest gen (6G) Nano 8G, works great but as it doesnt auto power down battery dies overnight and goes back to the beginning of the playlist so always end up with Calvin Harris Accepable in the 80's playing when I get in the car....does my head in.

One thing I will say is that VW provide firmware updates for MDI as and when the new model year is launched. I've upgraded mine and it seems to work better. I'd always keep up to date with MDI firmware but not sure if Skoda do the same thing.

I will ask about updated when I get it serviced

Is this hard drive they are suggesting for use with the MDI a normal hard disk? ie not solid state? If that is the case I'm very afraid of the vibrations, it will probably stress the disk after long use. I got a WD Passport 320GB hooked up to my system and at one point the disk didn't want to work. I left it on one side for a couple of days and it started working again but since then I'm afraid to use any media disk that has rotating disks in a car. :wonder:

it is a harddrive, but its the "portable" freeagent gofle. its designed to be portable. lotd of new cars have harddrives built in. I doubt there will be a problem. it doesn't rattle around in its little rubber housing, fits perfectly.

I will ask about updated when I get it serviced

it is a harddrive, but its the "portable" freeagent gofle. its designed to be portable. lotd of new cars have harddrives built in. I doubt there will be a problem. it doesn't rattle around in its little rubber housing, fits perfectly.

I think what 32KOFDATA means is "is it an SSD drive". SSD is Solid State Device(Drive) eg there is no "disc" that spins, the "drive" is just a big fast chip like a USB stick! These are the way forward, and are the same a "black boxes" in aircraft, and are more robust than even "shock proof" portable hard-drives!!

Edited 25 April, 201115 yr by fabdavrav

I think what 32KOFDATA means is "is it an SSD drive". SSD is Solid State Device(Drive) eg there is no "disc" that spins, the "drive" is just a big fast chip like a USB stick! These are the way forward, and are the same a "black boxes" in aircraft, and are more robust than even "shock proof" portable hard-drives!!

I thought I'd answered... its a hard drive, thats a hard disc that spins, its no bigger than an I-POD which uses the same tech with no issues to movement, its the one skoda reccomend. I was using an 8 gig memory stick (SSD) that was giving big delays, someone on here recomended the seagate freeagent as it gives no delay on start up, and this is true, it picks up where it left off in the middle of the last song that was playing when you switched off. I honestly can't see any problem with it needing to be "shock proof"... it just the same as sitting in a car using your laptop, there are no issues, it had about as much in car movement as it will ever get at the NW meet yesterday, and there were no issues. it won't skip like a record player!

hope this helps.

30 gig of music.... 250gig potential... and NO DELAY!!!!

Good News

So, all I need is the MDI cable for USB and a USB hard disk?

Happy days!

lets be honest though, with fiats blue & me (which includes voice control and hands free) you can plug anything into the existing USB sockets and it will work..

with skodas optional MDI interface, you have to buy the appropriate lead, and most things you plug in WONT work, and you have to pay for another option if you want phone connectivity...

still abit poor.

Sorry didnt see this sooner Sharky, I wouldve gladly helped but you have got there now. For info I have run the goflex 8 months with no issues through massive temperature extremes. As I have 120gb of tunes on it I have Mr and Mrs root folders and 26 folders within each labelled A to Z. It makes searching lots of data quicker. Agree that Fiat have got this one better sorted for tunes and phone, cos we have one of these as well!

So, all I need is the MDI cable for USB and a USB hard disk?

Happy days!

yes, but MUST be formatted FAT32

Sorry didnt see this sooner Sharky, I wouldve gladly helped but you have got there now. For info I have run the goflex 8 months with no issues through massive temperature extremes. As I have 120gb of tunes on it I have Mr and Mrs root folders and 26 folders within each labelled A to Z. It makes searching lots of data quicker. Agree that Fiat have got this one better sorted for tunes and phone, cos we have one of these as well!

lol.. better late than never, and indeed, now I have the space, I have azurez downloading all the music I could ever want to go on that disc! it is fantastic I now have 250gig of space for music, but I also agree (also had a punto sporting) fiats system is better, easier to use, and with voice controlled bluetooth too..... (as standard!) but hell that noise bouncing off 7000 revs distracts me from the little annoyances

Nice! Cheers for that. I'll get me a cable and disk ordered.

I honestly can't see any problem with it needing to be "shock proof"... it just the same as sitting in a car using your laptop, there are no issues, it had about as much in car movement as it will ever get at the NW meet yesterday, and there were no issues. it won't skip like a record player!

hope this helps.

My mates dad runs a computer business....they get alot a laptops in for data retrival, which have been knocked of the sofa arm etc onto the floor (2ft height) when the laptop has been powered and accessing the harddrive when it hits the floor.....result....frozen disk!!!!!

This is what I use as a back-up!!

http://www.adata-group.com/index.php?action=product_feature&cid=2&piid=27

It,s also waterproof...coffee cup accidently knocked over, anyone???

My mates dad runs a computer business....they get alot a laptops in for data retrival, which have been knocked of the sofa arm etc onto the floor (2ft height) when the laptop has been powered and accessing the harddrive when it hits the floor.....result....frozen disk!!!!!

This is what I use as a back-up!!

http://www.adata-group.com/index.php?action=product_feature&cid=2&piid=27

It,s also waterproof...coffee cup accidently knocked over, anyone???

looks like a cracking piece of kit personal choice obviously, but I think its a little overkill, the forces involved in a car (unless you crash it) will never be like dropping a laptop :yes:

how much is the shock proof one by the way?

looks like a cracking piece of kit personal choice obviously, but I think its a little overkill, the forces involved in a car (unless you crash it) will never be like dropping a laptop :yes:

how much is the shock proof one by the way?

Try this

http://www.amazon.co.uk/External-SH93-500GB-Shockproof-Waterproof-Material/dp/B002TIS8IW

About £40 to £65 depending on size.

Would I be correct in thinking the MDI will work with a regular Seagate FreeAgent drive i.e. the non-GoFlex version?

Would I be correct in thinking the MDI will work with a regular Seagate FreeAgent drive i.e. the non-GoFlex version?

All hard drives bare the same (more or less) features - so I don't think there will be any issues. Just look for a disk that has loads of buffer and good seek times.

Now if Skoda is approving one particular disk... well lets just say that it is not because the drive is the best or the most compliant to work with the MDI.

My guess it is all down to marketing and affiliations.

So ipods work straight from the cable onto the swing headunit?

So ipods work straight from the cable onto the swing headunit?

Assuming you have the Ipod MDI lead then yes it does.

Its worth noting that some portable drives behave differently via MDI, I recently tried an 80gb powerfreakz drive from Maplin (£19.99)and this always starts back at the first track which becomes infuriating. It also doesnt fit as perfectly as the goflex does in the cubby-hole either. It does look funky though!

Ok will make sure I spec the Ipod MDI cable

Ok will make sure I spec the Ipod MDI cable

Failing that they are only like £20 on ebay

Assuming you have the Ipod MDI lead then yes it does.

Its worth noting that some portable drives behave differently via MDI, I recently tried an 80gb powerfreakz drive from Maplin (£19.99)and this always starts back at the first track which becomes infuriating. It also doesnt fit as perfectly as the goflex does in the cubby-hole either. It does look funky though!

interesting... the 'recomended' seagate, starts where you left off... half way through the last track ect.... (and fits right) but my 8 gig memory stick too 20 minutes to initialise! advice: buy the seagate.

I have to say I've been mightly impressed with the Seagate drive. I bought it after reading comments on here and went through the same issues as Sharkrider. I'd got to the point of thinking I'd wasted £30 and I'd have to use the diskdrive for work stuff (waste of a disk when I can access remotely!). I only found the need to reformat by accident and then discovered Windows 7 won't let you do it easily, had to go off and find a bit of software to do it. Done in 4 seconds after 3 hours of annoyance waiting for Windows to decide it couldn't cope with such a big drive!

It's even impressed a friend who's always been into his music and would love to have access to his whole collection when he drives. I'd fear that the 250GB capacity might be filled by him! Might have persuaded him to get a VRS, he wants out of his missus' Honda Jazz and he was impressed by the VRS's performance as well as the music!

I love the fact it'll just pick up where I left it, just like the CD would. Just wish the car was a little quieter so I could listen to classical music as well as rock and pop!

H

Edited 29 April, 201115 yr by hfurbyvrs

Has anyone had any success with USB flash drives or SSDs?

I would buy a smallish GoFlex but they don't appear to do them anymore. And the larger ones are expensive/overkill. Would sooner spend a little more and get a (what you'd expect to be a) super quick solid state drive.

I didn't realise Skoda recommended a particular make of hard drive

I've been using a 320Gb Western Digital My Passport for ages on my MDI in the Octavia - I just needed some free software off t'interweb to re-format it, since then it's worked fine

It's my understanding that they don't make an official recommendation, more that it's known that GoFlex was a good size and owners had good experiences with them. Probably from threads they've read on here!

At the end of the day, any well-made 2.5" portable drive will do the same job.