USB drive organization

[be236]

I might have missed this point.. but what disk file system format does LEAF read from USB hard drive? NTFS? FAT32?

Then I just format that for my USB drive and copy in MP3 files to use?

FAT32. You may need to do some file name editing if you want a certain order (mentioned above), but that's basically it. I typically group things by folder...which are also read in alphabetical order.

Ok, I got this to work with a 4GB flash USB drive formatted to FAT32 (it's not documented in owner's manual about file system format)...

So, does USB port work with portable USB hard drives too (eg, 120GB HD formatted FAT32 with tons of MP3 files)? Or is there not enough USB power to power the hard drive?

[Stanton]

Ok, I got this to work with a 4GB flash USB drive formatted to FAT32 (it's not documented in owner's manual about file system format)...

So, does USB port work with portable USB hard drives too (eg, 120GB HD formatted FAT32 with tons of MP3 files)? Or is there not enough USB power to power the hard drive?

No: not enough power to "spin it up". I've seen similar problems with things like home stereo AVR's (you have to use flash drives).

[wang520yan]

FAT32 is great for a smaller drive or USB stick. However, there are some important limitations which mean that it’s not always the best answer.
The volume has to be smaller than 2TB. If your drive is larger, e.g. 3TB, it will need to be split into two volumes before the full size can be accessed.
Files on the drive can only be 2GB or smaller. (Hence, large video files or databases are a problem.)
It is the least fault tolerant of these file systems, so not a great option for storing important data over a longer term.
FAT32 is not open source (if that matters to you).
exFAT is made for external drives, just like FAT32. It’s a newer standard, so it’s not as widely compatible, and it’s also Microsoft proprietary. However, it can deal with volumes bigger than 4GB and files sizes larger than 2GB.
So maybe formatting the usb to exfat is better.

[Nubo]

Ok, I got this to work with a 4GB flash USB drive formatted to FAT32 (it's not documented in owner's manual about file system format)...

So, does USB port work with portable USB hard drives too (eg, 120GB HD formatted FAT32 with tons of MP3 files)? Or is there not enough USB power to power the hard drive?

No: not enough power to "spin it up". I've seen similar problems with things like home stereo AVR's (you have to use flash drives).

I imagine you could use a powered USB hub, if you were so inclined.

[be236]

Ok, I got this to work with a 4GB flash USB drive formatted to FAT32 (it's not documented in owner's manual about file system format)...

So, does USB port work with portable USB hard drives too (eg, 120GB HD formatted FAT32 with tons of MP3 files)? Or is there not enough USB power to power the hard drive?

No: not enough power to "spin it up". I've seen similar problems with things like home stereo AVR's (you have to use flash drives).

I imagine you could use a powered USB hub, if you were so inclined.

So you'd have to get power from the 12v outlet under the center console?

[Stanton]

No: not enough power to "spin it up". I've seen similar problems with things like home stereo AVR's (you have to use flash drives).

I imagine you could use a powered USB hub, if you were so inclined.

So you'd have to get power from the 12v outlet under the center console?

Yes...but when you can get USB flash drives up to 256Gig, I wouldn't mess with external power (or subject HDD to the temp extremes of vehicles). Now, if you need something like 1 or 2 TB (which I use in my home system), that's a different story.

[jlv]

I might have missed this point.. but what disk file system format does LEAF read from USB hard drive? NTFS? FAT32?

At this point it might be fair to ask if the 2018 is different than the older ones.

[ludmilmm]

I am owning Nissan Leaf 2015. According to the owner's manual, 8 folder levels should be supported.

Folder levels - USB 2.0: Folder levels: 8, Folders 512 (including root folder, Files 8000(Max. 255 files for one folder)

I tried different combinations, but nothing helped me actually show the folders.

This works:
Album one:

• Song1
  Song2
  Songxxx

This doesn't work:
Album one:

• CD1
  • Song1
    Song2
    Songxxx
  CD2
  • Song1
    Song2
    Songxxx

Am I missing something? My names are short/simple, and I don't have more than 8 folder levels (not even close), so I must be doing something else wrong.

My apologies if this was already answered. I looked through the forum, and I didn't find a definite answer. I don't want to use iPad, so I need a solution to organizing my USB into folders, and actually being able to see them, while playing.

Thank you!

[bbutler]

FAT32 is great for a smaller drive or USB stick. However, there are some important limitations which mean that it’s not always the best answer.
The volume has to be smaller than 2TB. If your drive is larger, e.g. 3TB, it will need to be split into two volumes before the full size can be accessed.
Files on the drive can only be 2GB or smaller. (Hence, large video files or databases are a problem.)
It is the least fault tolerant of these file systems, so not a great option for storing important data over a longer term.
FAT32 is not open source (if that matters to you).
exFAT is made for external drives, just like FAT32. It’s a newer standard, so it’s not as widely compatible, and it’s also Microsoft proprietary. However, it can deal with volumes bigger than 4GB and files sizes larger than 2GB.
So maybe formatting the usb to exfat is better.

I bought a nice low profile flash drive that came in exFAT format, the Samsung FIT Plus 64 GB, specifically. It didn't immediately work in my Lear. Also, Windows 10 won't format drives this size or larger to FAT32. So, I downloaded a free version of AOMEI Partition Assistant to fix this. I deleted the flash drive's original partition and created a new one in FAT32 (I picked something like 4k cluster size?). Now my Leaf will play my MP3 files! My car: 2016 Leaf w/o navigation.

Regards, Brian

[worlebird]

Not specifically about drive organization, but this seemed like the thread to post in. Hoping someone has run into this and knows a solution.

I have a '22 Leaf, and I've loaded up a USB stick with about 10 GB or so of MP3s to listen to while driving. The folder structure is set up so that it's easy for me to manage, and never goes too deep or has too many items at any one level. So the system seems to be able to read and play everything just fine, so far as I can tell.

My issue is with the "shuffle" feature.
What I'd like to do is just always have this set to "shuffle" play, and potentially randomly play any song in my library at any time. When I first tried this, it seemed to work perfectly. Turning "shuffle" on caused a seemingly random song to play, and the next song after that, and after that all seemed like random selections. The problem comes when I shut off my Leaf and then come back to it again later, such as when I park at a store and then come back. Whatever song was playing when I shut the Leaf off comes back and finishes playing, exactly as I would expect. However, the very next song after this goes back to that first randomly selected song. After that, the sequence continues, playing EXACTLY the same song selections as when it first "shuffled". Manually selecting a different song does no good - as soon as the selected song is over, the old "random" sequence starts up again.
It seems as though the Leaf has come up with a "shuffled playlist" which is never reshuffled, and whenever anything interrupts it (such as the car being turned off, or me selecting a specific song), the behavior is to start at the beginning of this pre-set "shuffled" list again.

I have tried removing the USB drive and plugging it back in. I have tried turning shuffle off and back on. I have selected a different song with shuffle off, and then turned shuffle back on after the next song change. I don't know what else to do. It seems like there is only one "shuffle" order available, and the Leaf will always use it, and will always start at the beginning of that "shuffled" list. This wouldn't even be so bad, if it remembered where it was in the "shuffled" list, so that it would continue playing new songs, but any interruption causes it to restart at the same first song on the next song change.

Is there anything I can do here, aside from just creating my own playlists? If I have no other options, that will probably be what I will do - create my own set of "pre-shuffled" playlists for it to use, so at least I can change things up once in a while.