Ok, When I get my car I'm going to take a look at the HD. If its a standard HD then I'm going to take it out, image it, and see what they are using for a filesystem. I'm pretty certain I can put in another HD that will be closer to 80-250GB and have plenty of room for all my music and maybe even get it to play movies from the HD.

Anyone else have some similar ideas? Any details known on the HD and the filesystem/method of access to the HD? I'd love to not have to buy a ipod just to get 40gb of storage

 

Great question.....tag for later.

 

Remember that the HDD is a 30GB model, one of the ones built for extreme shock/vibration resistance. Do a search here and you should find the model number.

Also remember that your nav system (and other stuff) is stored on there. I would imagine that it's got some other stuff in there as well, and some of it may be specific to your car.

I don't think an HDD swap is going to be easily done. My only advice to you is to be careful. If I pulled it out and hooked it up, I would make sure I had a complete backup copy of the HDD, just in case. And I'm not talking about copy and pasting. I'd prolly hook it up to a Linux machine and do a dd or something. Maybe take a ghost image.

Still, if you mess something up, even with the backup copy you may still be screwed. Then you're at the mercy of your dealer for the fix cost.

Be careful. I'm pretty technical with computers, but I prefer my car to work better than my computers.

 

I've been thinking of doing the same, but I have an ipod already and 9gb isn't to bad since you could also expand the system with the compact flash cards.

I mostly was interested in knowing how to replace the drive if it should fail after warranty, we'd know how to order one from newegg for under $100 rather than paying a dealer $400+, who knows how much they would charge. ..

 

Wow, Sorry I got trashed tonight. But let me say. I will be able to copy the original harddrive without messing up the navigation or original system. I promise You. I am a computer engineer, I will figure this out

 

en gi neer EN GI NEER ENGINEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!

DO IT@!!! def keep us updated and good luck on it

 

Can you find out if the ECU can be overclocked too?

jk
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You GOT to let us know how it turns out. I would definitely change that.

 

I am more interested to see if you can add a GeForce 8800GTX Ultra so that the NAV and movies display better picture quality.

j/k too

 

Exactly. The HDD in the G is a Seagate EE25 30gig HDD. This type of HDD is designed to tolerate high levels of shock and vibration and also cold temperatures. So basically, this isn't your normal HDD found in a desktop computer. I am not sure about other manufacturers, however Seagate's largest EE series HDD is only 80gig.

Also, like ghideon mentioned, 2/3 of the HDD is used for the Navigation..........so how would you transfer that over to a new drive. Plus, you don't even know what OS resides on the current drive. With the chance of screwing something up and voiding your warranty, I don't think it's worth it myself.

 

You could most likely at least try a block level copy from your current HD to a new HD. Then you'd need to make sure the partitions line up with what the OS is expecting.

They probably have some kind of check built in to prevent this kind of thing. Good luck in your endeavor. For me, while I should have the technical ability and experience to give it a shot, I'm too lazy. And I like my car fine the way it is.

 

Well, I won't try this mod until at least a few months in. Thanks for all the overclocking laughs, that was good .

Assuming the HD is easily accessible, I could take it out and do a block level transfer like you said. The new harddrive would have an exact image of the original so by pluggin it in and giving it a shot, ,there isn't much to lose. Unless of course the OS locks up and decides to go into freak out mode when you try a harddrive it doesn't expect. I really doubt that would happen.

I'll let you guys know what happens with it, thanks for all the suggestions and criticisms

 

HAHA Well let's get a wireless NIC in there too while were at it so we can browse the net on the goooo!!

 

that would put a new spin on the phrase "war driving"

 

lolz, that puppy will drain the hell out of our battery. but it would keep us all warm during the winter. :P