Cheap way to make your own iPod for Sync
12-16-2014, 01:37 PM
#1
Cheap way to make your own iPod for Sync
Now that Apple has stopped making iPod classics, I wanted to share a cheap way to put a hard drive into your truck for under $10 in most cases.
The trick is obtaining a 2.5 SATA hard drive. Ask the folks in the IT department where you work if they have one from a dead laptop. Normally we have a few just laying around.
I my case, I took it from a laptop that had a damaged display. 500gbs!
Next you will need a external USB case such as this one from Newegg.
$5.68 with free shipping!
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...9SIA4GW1H92370
Now pop your hard drive in there and connect the usb cord to your computer.
You will need to format the drive fat32 for your truck to recognize it.
Download a free program called SmartDisk_FAT32_tool. Simply give the drive a name (this name will show up on your MyFord Touch so make it something you will know. I called mine SyncDrive) then click the format drive button.
Restart your computer once its done just to make sure the format took and to refresh everything.
Now, if your like me, your music was all ripped using iTunes, so its in a .m4a format.
Our trucks don't work well with that format.
Download a free program called "Free M4a to MP3 Converter". Just be careful when your installing it not to select all the floatware it wants to install. Do a custom install and watch each screen, deselecting the programs you don't want installed.
This program will convert all of your iTunes music to .mp3 format.
Once your done, copy the newly converted files onto the hard drive, eject it from Windows (don't just unplug the drive, you can damage files if it doing something when you unplug it) and plug it into your trucks USB port.
I now have my entire music collection on one 500gb hard drive with like 380 gbs to spare. My iPod was maybe a 160gb hard drive and always crashed.
In the future when you want to add new albums, use Windows Media Player and rip your music in .mp3 format.
You will need to wait a few minutes for the vehicle to inventory all the songs and build voice commands. This can take some time to be patient.
Hope someone finds this useful.
The trick is obtaining a 2.5 SATA hard drive. Ask the folks in the IT department where you work if they have one from a dead laptop. Normally we have a few just laying around.
I my case, I took it from a laptop that had a damaged display. 500gbs!
Next you will need a external USB case such as this one from Newegg.
$5.68 with free shipping!
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...9SIA4GW1H92370
Now pop your hard drive in there and connect the usb cord to your computer.
You will need to format the drive fat32 for your truck to recognize it.
Download a free program called SmartDisk_FAT32_tool. Simply give the drive a name (this name will show up on your MyFord Touch so make it something you will know. I called mine SyncDrive) then click the format drive button.
Restart your computer once its done just to make sure the format took and to refresh everything.
Now, if your like me, your music was all ripped using iTunes, so its in a .m4a format.
Our trucks don't work well with that format.
Download a free program called "Free M4a to MP3 Converter". Just be careful when your installing it not to select all the floatware it wants to install. Do a custom install and watch each screen, deselecting the programs you don't want installed.
This program will convert all of your iTunes music to .mp3 format.
Once your done, copy the newly converted files onto the hard drive, eject it from Windows (don't just unplug the drive, you can damage files if it doing something when you unplug it) and plug it into your trucks USB port.
I now have my entire music collection on one 500gb hard drive with like 380 gbs to spare. My iPod was maybe a 160gb hard drive and always crashed.
In the future when you want to add new albums, use Windows Media Player and rip your music in .mp3 format.
You will need to wait a few minutes for the vehicle to inventory all the songs and build voice commands. This can take some time to be patient.
Hope someone finds this useful.
Last edited by wishiwas; 12-16-2014 at 01:41 PM.
12-16-2014, 09:31 PM
#2
One Clean Machine
iTrader: (5)
I just use a sandisk 64gb mini usb stick! Works great, and you dont even know its there!
