[lnsaneM]

I have a m2c and I noticed when I import music from usb or cd the hard drive is only 20gb, is there anyway to simply swap out to a bigger hard drive? Even a ssd for faster performance?

[Anthony1s]

I imagine you could clone the existing drive to a new drive and expand the partition with gparted.

[detroitm2]

Yup. Just take it into some mom and pop computer repair shop. They'll hook you up with a new and bigger drive and swap everything over.

Doesn't sound like you're super technical which is why I suggest taking it to a shop.

[lnsaneM]

Replacing hard drive is easy but are there actually any os files that wouldn’t let the car or Idrive boot up if you just replace the hard drive

[nioh_lbbm2]

The entire iDrive system is housed in the internal HD with a 20 GB reservation for music files.

You'll need to do some research to see if it's a software limitation of iDrive that creates the limitation or if it's just a 20GB partition that can be extended if the hard drive is replaced.

[lnsaneM]

Originally Posted by nioh_lbbm2

The entire iDrive system is housed in the internal HD with a 20 GB reservation for music files.

You'll need to do some research to see if it's a software limitation of iDrive that creates the limitation or if it's just a 20GB partition that can be extended if the hard drive is replaced.

Okay, its more of a pain than I imagined...

[mr_lab_rat]

That really seems like too much work. Why not just stick a 128GB mini USB into one of the ports? The functionality is identical to the internal disk.

[lnsaneM]

Originally Posted by mr_lab_rat

That really seems like too much work. Why not just stick a 128GB mini USB into one of the ports? The functionality is identical to the internal disk.

You are right

[Anthony1s]

I did skim an attempt at this the other day, they said the HDD is password protected from access. So the bootloader/bios (whatever BMW calls it) stores a password it uses to access the drive. I suppose the drive would be encrypted. Which would prevent DD and Gparted from being used. If you can't DD the drive, then nothing is gonna work.

The only option would be to format a new drive with ISTA. BUT ISTA is probably programmed to create the same partitions as OEM. So any additional space on the new drive would be inaccessible.

[lnsaneM]

Originally Posted by Anthony1s

I did skim an attempt at this the other day, they said the HDD is password protected from access. So the bootloader/bios (whatever BMW calls it) stores a password it uses to access the drive. I suppose the drive would be encrypted. Which would prevent DD and Gparted from being used. If you can't DD the drive, then nothing is gonna work.

The only option would be to format a new drive with ISTA. BUT ISTA is probably programmed to create the same partitions as OEM. So any additional space on the new drive would be inaccessible.

What a pain, I guess I could mod my ipod and have it to have 256 gbs or just stick to using usb instead

[nothingman]

Originally Posted by Anthony1s

I did skim an attempt at this the other day, they said the HDD is password protected from access. So the bootloader/bios (whatever BMW calls it) stores a password it uses to access the drive. I suppose the drive would be encrypted. Which would prevent DD and Gparted from being used. If you can't DD the drive, then nothing is gonna work.

A proper cloning software like Macrium Reflect should be able to create a duplicate image of the drive regardless of copy protection. I have used this software to clone Windows OS onto a larger primary drive for my laptop to include the bootloader.

Where is the drive located in the car?

[Anthony1s]

Originally Posted by nothingman

A proper cloning software like Macrium Reflect should be able to create a duplicate image of the drive regardless of copy protection. I have used this software to clone Windows OS onto a larger primary drive for my laptop to include the bootloader.

Where is the drive located in the car?

That's why I specified if the drive was encrypted it couldn't be modified. Your Windows OS is not encrypted. Then the issue comes in extending the partition. Which cannot be done if the headers and volume info are encrypted, unless you have the password, because those would need to be modified to recognize a larger partition size.

However, if it's not encrypted, there is a better chance.

If it can't be done with dd and gparted, it can't be done with anything. Macrium is no different, other than being less functional.

[vrooooom]

Wouldn't a HD (spinning platter type) not last in our car w/ all that vibrations?

Thumb drives are so inexpensive now that once can get even a 2TB w/o breaking the bank. Would have been nice if the HU just had a slot for a SD card instead of being in the center console.

[KevinC]

Originally Posted by vrooooom

Wouldn't a HD (spinning platter type) not last in our car w/ all that vibrations?

BMWs for last decade+ have had a spinning hard drive in the head unit, through id6. The F87 was pretty much the last model to still have one. Older cars have an 80gb drive, the later ones were 250gb and maybe one more increase in the last models. The drives themselves are 2.5" units made by Toshiba specifically for automotive use. It does seem crazy that they can withstand all the vibration and impacts a car dishes out, and still last for a decade or more.