General Forums > Tow Vehicles
USB Flash Drive Not Recognized by Ford Sync
Curt:
Here's a tip for anyone who owns a Ford vehicle with Sync, using a USB flash drive to play their music.
I have a 64GB Sandisk flash drive that I use to store and play music from in my truck.
Earlier this week, I formatted this drive using my Windows 10 PC. Windows 10 offers two different file systems; NTFS or EXFAT.
Since FAT32 wasn't available, I chose EXFAT.
Unfortunately, Sync doesn't recognize EXFAT devices, so plugging my flash drive into my truck generated an error message telling me that the USB device wasn't recognized.
I did some digging and found that it is possible to format using FAT32 from a Command Prompt (DOS Window). So I tried formatting the flash drive using this method. But it eventually generated an error saying that the drive was too big to be formatted as FAT32.
Back to the drawing board (fp)
After more digging, I found a piece of freeware that allows you to format various types of drives using a user-friendly interface, and also lets you choose which file system you want to use.
Long story short, I was able to format my flash drive using FAT32 and then load about 15GB of music onto it and play it again in my truck. :nod:
I hope this will help anyone else who might run into this problem. Or maybe it will help someone avoid the problem altogether!
bullet20dc:
fat32 has a partitionsize limit I believe not sure couldnt you have partitioned it into smaller chunks on the pc and used it that way
Curt:
--- Quote from: bullet20dc on February 03, 2017, 05:50:04 AM ---fat32 has a partition size limit I believe not sure couldnt you have partitioned it into smaller chunks on the pc and used it that way
--- End quote ---
FAT32 has a size limit if you try to format it using Windows. And since the Command Prompt is a Windows utility, that limitation carries over. But, partitioning utilities will override that limitation quite easily.
And it came from the factory as FAT32. So they obviously have ways to use FAT32 on larger drives :nod:
I could probably have partitioned it into a few different chunks, but since I use it solely for my truck, to play music, there was no sense in breaking it up.
By the way, the utility I used is here: http://www.disk-partition.com/
It's 100% free, and there is no adware in it. So it's safe to download and install.
frugalangler:
I use a 128G SSD in a USB case for my music on the go, I've not found a vehicle yet it won't play in.
Curt:
--- Quote from: frugalangler on February 03, 2017, 11:16:09 AM ---I use a 128G SSD in a USB case for my music on the go, I've not found a vehicle yet it won't play in.
--- End quote ---
That's a good idea. Tons of storage! I just use the flash drive for the small size and ease of use. The one in my truck pretty much stays there full time, with the exception of when I bring it in the house to add or remove music. And I figure 64GB should hold me over for quite a while :nod:
And it's recognized by everything, too, provided that it's using the right file system (giggle)
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