# Hard drives that work with the DEH-80PRS.



## CrossFired (Jan 24, 2008)

So I've tried about six different hd with the 80. It would seem that most any IDE or Sata drive @ 5400 rpm works. I've got to return a new Hitachi 7200 500 gig drive to fry's, as it did not work. Had a lot of drop out during playback.

Turns out the drive needs 800 ma to run, with a shorter cord it might work, but I'm not tearing out my dash to find out!

I've got a Western Digital Scorpio Black 250GB 7200RPM 2.5 inch on the way, it only needs 500 ma to run but its still a 7200 rpm drive.

The difference in 5400 to 7200 rpm is about half the format read time, when you first turn on the HU.

So, Post any drives you've tried that works or not. We can save others the trouble.


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## Wesayso (Jul 20, 2010)

Tried any SSD drives?


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## CrossFired (Jan 24, 2008)

Wesayso said:


> Tried any SSD drives?


As soon as I can buy an SSD in 256 gb for under $100., I will.


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## IBcivic (Jan 6, 2009)

You could always use one of these to give your HDD the current it needs.


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## newtitan (Mar 7, 2005)

IBcivic said:


> You could always use one of these to give your HDD the current it needs.


What does this cable do?


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## quickaudi07 (May 19, 2010)

one usb plug is for extra power, and the second one is for power and data...


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## WLDock (Sep 27, 2005)

I've seen 256 GB SSD's for about $199. Given the faster performance, better reliability, and lower power consumption....when I get myself a mobile drive...I think that is the route I plan to take.


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## 2wheelie (Jul 30, 2009)

45* off topic- How easy is it to navigate 250 GB of music on this thing?


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## CrossFired (Jan 24, 2008)

2wheelie said:


> 45* off topic- How easy is it to navigate 250 GB of music on this thing?


It's not bad. With music browser turned off, you get artist in a list. With MB on, you get Artist, genre, song, album maybe some other stuff. But the MB takes about 10 minutes to index the music(every time you power up the unit!!) And the only way to get gapless playback is to save the whole album as a single Wav file.:laugh:


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## CrossFired (Jan 24, 2008)

WLDock said:


> I've seen 256 GB SSD's for about $199. Given the faster performance, better reliability, and lower power consumption....when I get myself a mobile drive...I think that is the route I plan to take.


It will be a while if they keep losing factory's in SE Asia from the repeating Earthquakes.


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## t3sn4f2 (Jan 3, 2007)

I thought they beefed up the USB ports on this thing to something like 2 amps between the two ports in the back? 

I'd get an high capacity ipod or two. you won't have to index each time and it will navigate faster since the idevice is doing the processing and only serving up the lpcm digital stream to be decoded by the head unit. a drive serves up files navigation and puts all the stress on the head unit which is not designed for that workload.


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## CrossFired (Jan 24, 2008)

t3sn4f2 said:


> I thought they beefed up the USB ports on this thing to something like 2 amps between the two ports in the back?
> 
> I'd get an high capacity ipod or two. you won't have to index each time and it will navigate faster since the idevice is doing the processing and only serving up the lpcm digital stream to be decoded by the head unit. a drive serves up files navigation and puts all the stress on the head unit which is not designed for that workload.


I've got a few dead Ipods, I'm not going down that road again. Specially when Apple is sooo F-ing cheap about HD size in the classic.

When they came out with a 160 gb(like 3~4 years ago), then reduced it to a 120 gb, and now back to a 160 gb! F*ck em!! When the classic is 250~500 Gb, I'll consider it. til that happens(and rumor is, no more Classic), I wont be wasting more money on Apple. I have already drop $3K every 5 years for a new Mac tower(for past 22 years).


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## CrossFired (Jan 24, 2008)

This one showed up today, Works great! It's fast (7200) and only needs 500 ma max.

Amazon.com: Western Digital 250 GB Scorpio Black SATA 3 Gb/s 7200 RPM 16 MB Cache Bulk/OEM Notebook Hard Drive - WD2500BEKT: Computers & Accessories


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## Sptsmed (Jan 20, 2010)

How would a Mac Mini work in that same situation, significantly more storage than an Ipod, same digital format and not much difference in cost?


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## CrossFired (Jan 24, 2008)

Sptsmed said:


> How would a Mac Mini work in that same situation, significantly more storage than an Ipod, same digital format and not much difference in cost?


Meny folks have installed Mac mini's in cars. It works well, but much is needed to do it correctly. I helped a friend install one in his Scion(little bus looking model), it was a major investment(time & money).

I like the K.I.S.S. way of doing things. So I'm good with SQ hu with a hard drive.

I've thought of using my first gen Apple TV in my rig(as it would be a better music server than a Mini), but my rig is a beat up old Land Cruiser with a very small dash. So I'm good with a HU.


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## Married_Man (Sep 29, 2012)

I had a spare 80GB Intel SSD (mod# SSDSA2M080G2Gc) and decided to test it with the 80prs.

With ~65GB of wav files (~2100 songs), it works pretty well. It takes a minute or so to index with browser on. I haven't timed it, but we have a long gravel drive and it's usually indexed by the time I get to the end of it. Plenty fast enough for me to keep using it.

If I test any other SSD drives, I'll let you know.


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## thisgsx (Mar 16, 2006)

subscribed.


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## dsteinschneider (Sep 28, 2012)

Married_Man said:


> I had a spare 80GB Intel SSD (mod# SSDSA2M080G2Gc) and decided to test it with the 80prs.
> 
> With ~65GB of wav files (~2100 songs), it works pretty well. It takes a minute or so to index with browser on. I haven't timed it, but we have a long gravel drive and it's usually indexed by the time I get to the end of it. Plenty fast enough for me to keep using it.
> 
> If I test any other SSD drives, I'll let you know.


I just upgraded a laptop with a Kingston V300 120GB SSD. The drive came with a nice snap in slide cover SATA USB enclosure. I threw the laptop's existing Hitachi 7200 RPM 16MB cache drive in the enclosure and filled it 120GB of MP3's (mostly 320 bit). It takes exactly a minute to "Read Format". I just bought the same SSD again, I'm going to transfer the music to it and see if it improves Read Format time. I'll report back here.


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## nervewrecker (Oct 5, 2009)

CrossFired said:


> It's not bad. *With music browser turned off, you get artist in a list.* With MB on, you get Artist, genre, song, album maybe some other stuff. But the MB takes about 10 minutes to index the music(every time you power up the unit!!) And the only way to get gapless playback is to save the whole album as a single Wav file.:laugh:


How long does it take to load with MB off?

been waiting for black friday sale to see what SSD I can score. 120gb is enough for me.


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## minbari (Mar 3, 2011)

I dont know how well the 80prs works. but my alpine did the same thing for thumb drives and hard drives. it had to index and bank them. BUT, for an ipod it was seemless. took about 15 seconds to connect and that was it.

might consider that. 160gb ipod is only about $220


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## nervewrecker (Oct 5, 2009)

We are taxed quite a bit on ipods and electronics coming into our country, no tax on hard drives and flash drives though. A 120GB SSD ($100.00 on amazon.com) comes up to approx 1/3 the price of a 160gb ipod.


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## minbari (Mar 3, 2011)

nervewrecker said:


> We are taxed quite a bit on ipods and electronics coming into our country, no tax on hard drives and flash drives though. A 120GB SSD ($100.00 on amazon.com) comes up to approx 1/3 the price of a 160gb ipod.


is it worth waiting 10 minutes everytime you get in the car for a couple hundred bucks?


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## nervewrecker (Oct 5, 2009)

Thats the part that got me worried there. 10 minutes of silence is like argh *cringe* 
A 32Gb flashdrive is just a few bucks here, with dual usb its best I buy a pair and call it day.


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## dsteinschneider (Sep 28, 2012)

nervewrecker said:


> How long does it take to load with MB off?
> 
> been waiting for black friday sale to see what SSD I can score. 120gb is enough for me.


I bought the Kingston V300 120 for $99 from Staples but I had a $30 coupon so net was $70

Pretty sure I have MB off for one minute Read Format

The 2nd drive just arrived so I will be copying over the same files from the Hitachi 160 7200 16MB cache unit tonight


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## t3sn4f2 (Jan 3, 2007)

minbari said:


> I dont know how well the 80prs works. but my alpine did the same thing for thumb drives and hard drives. it had to index and bank them. *BUT, for an ipod it was seemless*. took about 15 seconds to connect and that was it.
> 
> might consider that. 160gb ipod is only about $220


Two computers are better than one crappy one.


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## Married_Man (Sep 29, 2012)

minbari said:


> I dont know how well the 80prs works. but my alpine did the same thing for thumb drives and hard drives. it had to index and bank them. BUT, for an ipod it was seemless. took about 15 seconds to connect and that was it.
> 
> might consider that. 160gb ipod is only about $220


I bought a used 160GB ipod classic for $160 at Gamestop. Much better song management than an SSD. You can also control playback from the ipod if you like.


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## nervewrecker (Oct 5, 2009)

Is it the size of the device (by size I mean storage) that influences the time it takes to load or is it the device itself? 

Also, does it vary with music browser? I dont use that...

Just asking.


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## minbari (Mar 3, 2011)

the time it takes to index is based on how many files(songs) you have to index.


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## nervewrecker (Oct 5, 2009)

Oh, well I safe with the HD then. Will get one for the black friday sale. 

The most I walk around with is like 8 - 10gb of music.


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## Married_Man (Sep 29, 2012)

With music browser on, all songs must me indexed every time the unit is turned on. The time it takes to index is based on the speed of the device and how many files are indexed. With a 5400rpm HD and ~3,000 files, it would take ~ 7-10 minutes for me. With an SSD and ~1000 files, it would take 1-2 minutes.

With MB off, I'm not sure how much device speed and file quantity effects the "Read Format" time. I only used very small devices (USB sticks) with MB off.

But, after getting an iPod Classic, I cannot recommend a HD or SSD. I used both for some time prior to the iPod and will never consider going back. 

With the HD and SSD, I really only listened to a few songs in my collection because it was so hard to find what I wanted. Now with playlists and smart playlists, it's much easier to listen to a larger variety. And, when I want something particular, it's much easier navigating with the iPod than the 80prs' terrible interface.


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## dsteinschneider (Sep 28, 2012)

I copied the data from the 160GB 7200 Seagate to the 120GB Kingston V300. I didn't have time this morning to test with a stop watch but estimate it took 60% as long to read. I have to drive around with it for a few days to see if the speed increase seems worthwhile. First impression is that the music coming on the third house from my driveway instead of the fifth isn't worth tying up an SSD I could use to rejuvenate an older laptop.


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## nervewrecker (Oct 5, 2009)

Amazon.com: WD My Passport 1TB Portable External Hard Drive Storage USB 3.0 Black: Computers & Accessories

Well, lookie here. Amazon has slashed the price on these. The 500GB is just about $70.00 and the 1TB at approx $87.00. 

Does anyone know off hand if one needs an external power supply with these or you just plug em unto the USB cord from the 80prs?


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## IBcivic (Jan 6, 2009)

nervewrecker said:


> Amazon.com: WD My Passport 1TB Portable External Hard Drive Storage USB 3.0 Black: Computers & Accessories
> 
> Well, lookie here. Amazon has slashed the price on these. The 500GB is just about $70.00 and the 1TB at approx $87.00.
> 
> Does anyone know off hand if one needs an external power supply with these or you just plug em unto the USB cord from the 80prs?


You will need to use an external power source or a 2 into 1 usb cable and use both USBs from the h-u to power the drive.


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## Griffin dai (Apr 23, 2012)

Would it be better to get a 160gb ipod classic instead of something like a 320gb HD? I very nearly just bought a used one an hour ago but thought it best to check here first! 

I've tried my old WD 250gb & 320gb drives and they work fine but my newer 500gb WD drive (with the newer style USB) didn't want to play at all

Just a bit concerned about the HD getting wrecked with driving around in the car.


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## Married_Man (Sep 29, 2012)

If you have a choice, get the iPod Classic.



Married_Man said:


> But, after getting an iPod Classic, I cannot recommend a HD or SSD. I used both for some time prior to the iPod and will never consider going back.
> 
> With the HD and SSD, I really only listened to a few songs in my collection because it was so hard to find what I wanted. Now with playlists and smart playlists, it's much easier to listen to a larger variety. And, when I want something particular, it's much easier navigating with the iPod than the 80prs' terrible interface.


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## dsteinschneider (Sep 28, 2012)

Reporting back after driving around with SSD for a couple weeks. It does load very quickly which is convenient, especially for those times when I decided to switch between Bluetooth for audio books and Pandora and the USB drive. 

I agree with Married's comment that perhaps a large SSD is pointless because it takes too long to index every time and if you don't it remembers where you are so you tend to switch artists by incrementing alphabetically. Yesterday I switched from Emerson Lake and Palmer to Eric Clapton 

What's worse, having to take the USB sticks to your computer for reload or spinning endlessly to get to music on the SSD? What I need is a little reversible motorized spinner!

How much RAM would it have taken to store the index?


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## minbari (Mar 3, 2011)

dsteinschneider said:


> Reporting back after driving around with SSD for a couple weeks. It does load very quickly which is convenient, especially for those times when I decided to switch between Bluetooth for audio books and Pandora and the USB drive.
> 
> I agree with Married's comment that perhaps a large SSD is pointless because it takes too long to index every time and if you don't it remembers where you are so you tend to switch artists by incrementing alphabetically. Yesterday I switched from Emerson Lake and Palmer to Eric Clapton
> 
> ...


even better, its a writable device! put a simple file on the root that holds the index. wouldnt take a few seconds even if it had to read it each time.


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## Horsemanwill (Jun 1, 2008)

my Seagate portable hd

Seagate 250GB External USB 2.0 Portable Hard Drive ST902504EXA101-RK seagate &cp=1&lp=2

use to load quick. and never had a problem. 2 years now, and it's starting to "skip" at bumps, takes forever to load sometimes not loading. I've been thinking of going ssd but not sure which to get. most I seen are usb3.0 or for internals. is a flash drive basically a small ssd?


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## minbari (Mar 3, 2011)

Horsemanwill said:


> my Seagate portable hd
> 
> Seagate 250GB External USB 2.0 Portable Hard Drive ST902504EXA101-RK seagate &cp=1&lp=2
> 
> use to load quick. and never had a problem. 2 years now, and it's starting to "skip" at bumps, takes forever to load sometimes not loading. I've been thinking of going ssd but not sure which to get. *most I seen are usb3.0 or for internals. is a flash drive basically a small ssd?*


more or less. unless an SSD says it is USB, most are SATA these days. I dont think SSD literally use "flash" anymore, too slow. but the idea is the same.


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## Horsemanwill (Jun 1, 2008)

so since I never really load 250gb of music I should just get a small 128gb flash from a good place


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## minbari (Mar 3, 2011)

it would work. since you are playing music at 320kpbs (or so) bandwidth of the device is not really important. only time you will see a slow down is when adding music. most flash drives are 10mpbs whereas a SSD or hard-drive will be in the 100s


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## jimmybee1108 (Apr 26, 2011)

Kinda old, but anyway I can put all the music from iTunes, and play it off my HDD?


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## dsteinschneider (Sep 28, 2012)

I'm not a big fan of iTunes so I've been experimenting with MediaMonkey. I created playlists and sync those to 8GB Kingston DTSE9 drives which are little keychain usb sticks. The navigation of a big SSD with 30K songs is too clumsy to navigate even if it can "Read Format" relatively quickly. 

I have also been listening over Bluetooth from my Samsung phone. The 320 mp3's on the USB sticks really sound great through the DEH80PRS DAC's. The Bluetooth source sounds a bit flat in comparison but then the music through last.fm, Spotify and Pandora gives me more variety so my listening time is split between the USB stick and the streaming. 

Agree that the deck should write the index to the root of the USB drive


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## fcarpio (Apr 29, 2008)

So has anyone tried a hard drive larger than 500GB in the 80PRS?


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## fcarpio (Apr 29, 2008)

Anyone? 1TB and 2TB drives are pretty cheap now...


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## dengel (Nov 20, 2015)

I've used a Verbetim Store 'n Go 1 TB USB 3.0 (and Firewire) drive with the 80PRS and it powers up and works. It was formatted FAT32 on my Mac, and partitioned in half to 500GB x2, since that was the highest size I've seen confirmed. 

It may work with the full 1 TB formatted as one partition, but I didn't chance it. It only sees the first 500GB partition as it is now, and this is good since I can keep more music on the second half and it won't slow the Indexing time...which is a bout 30-40 sec with Music Browser turned off and 210 GB of uncompressed music in WAV format. 

I only have about 330GB in music total, so I won't be expanding past the 500GB partition for the 80PRS. Maybe I'll go SSD in the future, but I'm happy with this for now.


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