SD card size

[park]

Hi 

Can any of you luck souls who have taken delivery tell me the biggest size sd cards the system

will take,my currant Columbus takes a 32gb but the new one has two slots is it two 32gb cards or 2 16gb cards.

thanks 

lindsay

[FelisBengalensis]

According to the manual, the system takes SD, SDHC and SDXC cards meaning the current max (on the sensible market at least) is 256GB. No mention of an upper limit.

[thewinelake]

One can get absurdly cheap 256GB cards that are of decertified quality. Given that data loss is not really an issue, could be worth it.

[mannyo]

One can get absurdly cheap 256GB cards that are of decertified quality. Given that data loss is not really an issue, could be worth it.

 

A lot are fake and have hacked software on the card which tells the computer its a 256GB card, in reality it could be as little as 128GB or less. You only find out when you fill up the card beyond its true capacity and data loss occurs. You then blame the card, so buy another before realising you've been dup'ed. Only buy certified cards from known good sources.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/gds/All-About-Fake-Flash-Drives-2013-/10000000177553258/g.html

[thewinelake]

Well, the one I got was pretty much as advertised, and data loss not a problem in this application. Obviously I wouldn't use one in a camera or suchlike.

[Blueboy510]

There is a built in Hard drive on the unit too, isn't there?

[FelisBengalensis]

85GB? Most of it is probably used by the mapping so there may be around 10GB spare perhaps? Haven't yet found it in the handbook (which I'm still working through) so I may have missed it.

[BillyJim]

The internal drive is an SSD and yes, there's about 10GB free to add your own music files, which they now call the "Jukebox".

Page 25 of the Columbus manual...

In the Jukebox (in the internal memory of the device) audio and video files can

be imported from connected sources and then played back.

There is approximately 10 GB free memory available and you can save 3 000 files.

So the same amount of space as was available on the RNS510 Columbus (10GB of the 30GB drive).

Show level of the internal device memory Press the key  Manage jukebox.

The following information is displayed:

■ In use: - Amount of memory used
■ Free: - Amount of memory free
■ Free files: - Number of files that can be imported

The current memory capacity is displayed on the screen when files are being imported or deleted.

[madfiddler]

My s2 Columbus has always showed just over 18GB free on the internal drive btw. Never used it though, as I've always had a HDD or SSD attached via USB to the MDI

[BillyJim]

Checked the SSD in the Superb 3 Columbus. It has 11GB free (with no files added yet).

[mandp]

My s2 Columbus has always showed just over 18GB free on the internal drive btw. Never used it though, as I've always had a HDD or SSD attached via USB to the MDI

HDD...SSD...USB...MDI...WTF!

[thewinelake]

How do you power an hdd?

Edited 23 October, 2015 by thewinelake

[Gizmo]

Some have an internal battery, others can be powered by the USB or 12V socket

[madfiddler]

Most external hard disk drives [HDD ] that are advertised as portable are also powered via the USB cable. Same goes for newer solid state drives [sSD ].....but don't get me started on the differences between USB versions.....although I would be interested to hear what the new superb supports

You can get sub 500GB portable HDD now for very little money <£30 although the SSD are still a lot more expensive in comparison. You just have to make sure they are formatted correctly which can be a challenge as they might not be what the car needs by default

Edited 23 October, 2015 by madfiddler

[InfiniteDreamer]

You just have to make sure they are formatted correctly which can be a challenge as they might not be what the car needs by default

Pretty sure latest columbus supports most file systems whereas older units that used mdi were limited to fat32

[Gromle]

Pretty sure latest columbus supports most file systems whereas older units that used mdi were limited to fat32

The Columbus in my Octy had no problems with a ntfs formatted 1GB drive, and the suberb has a newer headunit so it should eat most formats.

[thewinelake]

It would be interesting to get a spec of the USB output. Is Amundsen going to be the same as Columbus in this respect, I wonder?

 

I would quite like to use an SDCard when I eventually get mine. Mind you, I quite often use Spotify in my car these days.

[BillyJim]

It would be interesting to get a spec of the USB output.

Not sure how much techie detail you want, but it's USB 2 with support for USB 3 devices (at USB 2 read speed).

As data is only read and not written, USB 2 is fast enough.

 

Is Amundsen going to be the same as Columbus in this respect, I wonder?

Yes. The only difference in that regard is that the Columbus supports video files, which the Amundsen doesn't.

 

Pretty sure latest columbus supports most file systems whereas older units that used mdi were limited to fat32

I have a 1TB Western Digital (WD) Passport Pro USB 3 drive with my entire music collection on it. Formatted as FAT32 with files in MP3 (a mixture of 320 and VBR).

It was in constant use with MDI in my Superb II, but Columbus refuses to read it when connected to the USB port in the Superb III.

Not sure if it's the format of the drive (which should be supported) or if I need to put the entire collection into a folder titled "music" - as you needed to do with SD Cards on the old Columbus.

 

I also copied several albums (as individual folders) to a FAT32 4GB SD Card in m4a format, intending to transfer them to the internal drive. It recognised the SD Card but refused to recognise any content, not even the folders.

Again, I suspect I need to put them all within a "music" folder.

 

I'll play around with it and update if I resolve it  - if anyone's interested - or perhaps someone already knows the solution?

[Gromle]

I did not have the mp3s in a folder named music and they played just fine.

It was the disc that I usually have hooked up to my HTPC, so it was a mix of music, movies and pictures.

I dont remember how I organized the sd-card, but I think I just made folders in the root for each artist.

[BillyJim]

I'll play around with it and update if I resolve it  - if anyone's interested - or perhaps someone already knows the solution?

Creating a folder called "music" at root level and copying the content into that folder resolved it - for both the HDD and the SD Card.

[Alfaspider]

I didn't have to do this on S3 Columbus, and it player flac. I was only testnih SD card, not USB.

Poslano z mojega Lenovo TAB 2 A10-70F z uporabo Tapatalk

[BillyJim]

Well, the whole thing has driven me potty! 

 

Using exactly the same SD Card I moved the folders (albums) back to root level and deleted the now-empty "music" folder (as well as the xml file Columbus creates), so back to exactly how it was when it didn't work, and - it worked.

Did the same with the external drive and - it didn't work. Recreated the "music" folder and - now it still doesn't work!!!

 

So, sod the external hard drive. I purchased a slack handful of 64GB SD Cards and will spend the next few days recreating my music library across several cards.

 

Might actually turn out to be a good thing as I noticed that the USB socket remains powered with the ignition switched off - and with my consistent ability to forget to unplug devices I could see a lot of flat car batteries in my future.

[InfiniteDreamer]

my L&K was in dealer today for bits fitting

so i had the use of a 15 plate octy with amundsen - the sd card i tried it would either not recognise the ntfs format or didnt like the flac files (pink floyd pulse )

 

when i picked up my car exactly same card was recognised straight away and files played no problem (directory as follows pink floyd>pulse>cd1/cd2

[Blueboy510]

Well, the whole thing has driven me potty!

Using exactly the same SD Card I moved the folders (albums) back to root level and deleted the now-empty "music" folder (as well as the xml file Columbus creates), so back to exactly how it was when it didn't work, and - it worked.

Did the same with the external drive and - it didn't work. Recreated the "music" folder and - now it still doesn't work!!!

So, sod the external hard drive. I purchased a slack handful of 64GB SD Cards and will spend the next few days recreating my music library across several cards.

Might actually turn out to be a good thing as I noticed that the USB socket remains powered with the ignition switched off - and with my consistent ability to forget to unplug devices I could see a lot of flat car batteries in my future

 

My experience with using SD cards with my current Passat and and A4 previous is that it is all very temperamental and I have found the bigger the memory size the more problems that you have.

Interesting that you noticed the USB power stays on, this is surely a design flaw. Normally, the power stays on for a short times free the doors are locked and then comes on again once you unlock the car - at least that is the case with the VW and the Audi

[BillyJim]

Interesting that you noticed the USB power stays on, this is surely a design flaw. Normally, the power stays on for a short times free the doors are locked and then comes on again once you unlock the car - at least that is the case with the VW and the Audi

To be fair I didn't wait around to see if the power eventually switched off. With ignition off and vehicle locked the drive light remained illuminated.

After reading your post I've just popped out and tried it with a less frustration and a bit more patience than I had before and, yes, after 30 seconds of locking the car the HDD light did indeed go out and came back on when I unlocked the door.

Unfortunately the drive, which worked flawless with MDI and still does when connected to a computer, generates a persistent USB error when connected to Columbus.

I have other HDDs I could try, but in all honesty I'm resigned to using SD Cards and leaving the USB port free for Apple CarPlay.

 

my L&K was in dealer today for bits fitting

so i had the use of a 15 plate octy with amundsen - the sd card i tried it would either not recognise the ntfs format or didnt like the flac files (pink floyd pulse )

 

when i picked up my car exactly same card was recognised straight away and files played no problem (directory as follows pink floyd>pulse>cd1/cd2

 

The SD Cards I initially used were a 4GB Kingston and 32GB SanDisk, both class 4 HC. Strange that both cards were recognised, but not the contents. I thought creating the "music" folders was the cure when it then recognised the content, but subsequently discovered that was not the reason.

I bought 5 cheap Integral 64GB SDXC class 10 cards from Amazon, filled two with a mixture mp3, m4a, flac and mp4 video and they worked perfectly from the get-go. No "music" folder or root level file needed.

The supported drive formats and audio file formats for the Amundsen and Columbus are identical. It all seems a bit hit-and-miss.