Thumb drive vs ford sync

[camarodude502]

I have a 2014 ford edge, i recently updated my music list to a size of 144gb, so I bought a 256gb thumb drive(cant find any ipods or anything else with that capacity) the car says the thumb drive doesnt support sync. how do I fix this problem to use this size thumb drive ? i dont want to have a large ipad or something in my car all the time. according to the thumb drive manufacturer, they say its an exfat vs fat32 issue. however when i check the properties, it says its in fat32. they also say that i can format the 256gb thumb drive to fat32, but it will be limited to 32gb of space. im also told that 3rd party software on the thumb drive will allow it all to work. I just cant figure out where or what to get on that. There has to be some solution to this.

 

[alexoiu]

Check https://www.jdhodges.com/blog/format-fat32-on-64gb-128gb-256gb-usb-flash-drives-on-windows/
Name of the application is guiformat. It works. I've used in on a sdxc card.

 

[camarodude502]

Check https://www.jdhodges.com/blog/format-fat32-on-64gb-128gb-256gb-usb-flash-drives-on-windows/
Name of the application is guiformat. It works. I've used in on a sdxc card.

that appears to limit the size of my 256gb down to 32 or 64gb, im trying to keep the full capacity not shrink it

 

[alexoiu]

I don;t think so. Have you tested it?

 

[camarodude502]

when i open up the program to format the largest options to format it are at 32k and 64k, in the drop menu

 

[alexoiu]

Allocation unit size does not set the maximum formatted size.

 

[camarodude502]

well that appears to be right. it kept its size, TBD if my car will accept it yet though. thats 1/2 the problem fixed. thank you so far

 

[alexoiu]

No problem.

 

[camarodude502]

well to follow up, my car still doesnt like the thumb drive. it just says this device doe not support sync with protected content. whats weird id my much smaller 4gb thumb drive from 10years ago, works fine in it. i think i have to go to ford, and see whats up. i cant even update sync on this car. so again, thanks for the sizing half of my problem.

 

[Math Geek]

i have owned multiple vehicles with sync and never managed to get a usb device to work reliably. i just use my phone on bluetooth as my music device. got a huge sd card and tons of music and i just let it go wirelessly. the only device i ever got working was an old click wheel ipod (60 gb) back in 2009 on a new fusion. but it took too long to scan the ipod for music catalog and then would not save it for the next trip. was crazy waiting 15 mins to use my ipod each time i started the car!! i used an fm broadcaster at that time to get around that problem.

my guess with the newer usb devices not working has to do with the usb slot itself. they are still using old 1 amp slots. newer devices need the 2+ amp slots to run correctly/properly. this is likely why your old thumb drive works as it likely only needs the old slot to function.

ford won't confirm or deny my theory but they have admitted the slot is still a 1 amp slot. again just my guess but i think i am right. btw my newest car is a 2016 fusion, so i am willing to bet you have the same usb slot as i do in your '14 edge since they share the same frame and such.

 

[camarodude502]

well that could be. but the newer thumb drives will register in the car, and might load 1 or 2 artist or albums. it just wont open the rest. again, it says something about this device(meaning the thumb drive) doesnt support sync on protected content. my mp3 player is only 4gb and several years old like the older thumb drive that works, but the mp3 does the same thing. if i could find a good mp3 or ipod to handle the size, and work, i would, but i havent found any large enough capacity ones, same for phones. the music i have reaches 144gb.

 

[Math Geek]

i have a 512 gb sd card in my phone and it'll hold up to the 2 tb ones!! any new android phone should have an sd slot that can handle such large capacities. my phone won't read through the usb slot but not really a big deal to me as bluetooth is more convenient anyway

i just hit shuffle and each time i get in the car, it starts back where i last left off. i don't have my whole collection on the phone but i do have about 75 gb of random music on it.

 

[camarodude502]

my phone isnt that large, so i guess im just different/difficult that i want have a larger song list available, that i just leave in my car, and only remove when i need to add something new. rather then other devices, and blue toothing in. which fyi, the car doesnt like my htc one either. and its just as old as the car

 

[camarodude502]

well to follow up further on this, ive figrued out some things. the car will recognize the music on the thumb drive only if i have it foldered right. Meaning I had it folder 1 band, 2 folder album, in some cases 3folder of multiple cd listings. I was told I had to change it to just 1 folder, band then just howver many songs into that folder. I tested a few band s on the thumb drive, and it worked like it should. however upon further testing, it doesnt like my reduced music list(which is now down to 69gb, with editing) So I dont know what the edges limit is on size reading, as my 30gb thumb drive does the same thing. so obviously ford doesnt read beyond a certain size of files. I just dont know what that is yet.

so its not the music it self, its the thumb drive and ford sync. the message the edge says is this device doesnt support playing protected content through sync using usb. this message came up even with the few gb worth of music I tested, when it indexed and read them correctly. so Im still on the hunt for a full solution. this has been only a partial solution.

 

[camarodude502]

So just so you all know, no matter what size thumb drive I plug into the car, the Ford sync in this car will not read anything more then 7.5gb of capacity. If I load anything more then that, it gives me a read error. BUt note this, I thought by logic that Id buy a 8gb drive, and load 7.5gb on it, and play. Wrong, on this cheap 8gb thumb, loading 7.5 wont read right. only up to 4gb. This is very frustrating, because if I load 7.5gb on the 32gb thumb, it will at least read that, but Im not buying several 32gb thumbs to only use 7.5gb of thumb. even my phone only holds like 4gb of music. I know some of you dont carry that much music, but I do. This just seems to be a factory flaw, with no solution.