Bimmerpost
3
/
4 Series
BMW Garage BMW Meets Register Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read
Technical Topics iDrive, Nav, Phone, Audio, Video, Cameras, Electronics Is still a HDD in our car??? (2020 models???) Shame!

Post Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
      10-11-2019, 12:27 PM   #1
neukrisz
Just a BMW fan
neukrisz's Avatar
Hungary
3
Rep
11
Posts

Drives: MY2020 G20 320i M-Sport
Join Date: Oct 2019
Location: Hungary

iTrader: (0)

Is still a HDD in our car??? (2020 models???) Shame!

Today I've made few attempts to restart the iDrive 7 in my car and I've heard "strange" HDD spinning/head positioning noises from the car. No doubt, it was a HDD (which was the weakest and most problematic hardware in my previous F30's iDrive)
I think this is a shame to use HDD instead of SSD in a 2020 year model especially in a moving vehicle (not too professional automotive engineering)
Luckily I paid extra for the 5 yrs warranty.

Last edited by neukrisz; 10-11-2019 at 12:39 PM..
Appreciate 0
      10-11-2019, 02:31 PM   #2
The Outrage
Private
65
Rep
70
Posts

Drives: 2020 M340i xDrive
Join Date: Jul 2019
Location: Pennsylvania

iTrader: (0)

I, too, heard the distinctive chattering of a hard disk drive on my G20. Like you, I was surprised that a new platform vehicle was so-equipped. The main advantage a HDD has over an SSD is the theoretical maximum number of write cycles and, likely more importantly, a lower price per unit. I wouldn't worry too much about the durability, however. HDD Drives have been used for years in products and shown to be generally reliable despite the physical movement they require.
Appreciate 1
      10-11-2019, 04:48 PM   #3
neukrisz
Just a BMW fan
neukrisz's Avatar
Hungary
3
Rep
11
Posts

Drives: MY2020 G20 320i M-Sport
Join Date: Oct 2019
Location: Hungary

iTrader: (0)

Quote:
Originally Posted by The Outrage View Post
... The main advantage a HDD has over an SSD is the theoretical maximum number of write cycles and, likely more importantly, a lower price per unit. I wouldn't worry too much about the durability, however. HDD Drives have been used for years in products and shown to be generally reliable despite the physical movement they require.
I had many times problems in my both ex F30 (2013, 2016) internal HDDs in the iDrive. Sometimes just clicks and doesn't booting and I drove without Navi - or freezing the iDrive during driving.
In practice I'm as IT expert and electric engineer and I know very well that shouldn't consign important data for a single HDD. I guess this is a 2.5" mobile HDD which has really limited lifetime and low reliability rate in the reality especially in a moving car. We in the industry don't use any HDD long years ago. I think this is just a petty cost saving by the BMW which can cause lot of headaches for us in the future

Last edited by neukrisz; 10-11-2019 at 05:06 PM..
Appreciate 0
      10-13-2019, 06:17 PM   #4
nola2atx
Private First Class
nola2atx's Avatar
United_States
124
Rep
184
Posts

Drives: 2020 M340i
Join Date: Apr 2017
Location: Austin, TX

iTrader: (0)

Quote:
Originally Posted by neukrisz View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by The Outrage View Post
... The main advantage a HDD has over an SSD is the theoretical maximum number of write cycles and, likely more importantly, a lower price per unit. I wouldn't worry too much about the durability, however. HDD Drives have been used for years in products and shown to be generally reliable despite the physical movement they require.
I had many times problems in my both ex F30 (2013, 2016) internal HDDs in the iDrive. Sometimes just clicks and doesn't booting and I drove without Navi - or freezing the iDrive during driving.
In practice I'm as IT expert and electric engineer and I know very well that shouldn't consign important data for a single HDD. I guess this is a 2.5" mobile HDD which has really limited lifetime and low reliability rate in the reality especially in a moving car. We in the industry don't use any HDD long years ago. I think this is just a petty cost saving by the BMW which can cause lot of headaches for us in the future
You could always remove it and re-image it to a new ssd replacement if it's a huge concern
__________________
///M340i Portimão

My Exes:
E36, E46, F30
Appreciate 0
      10-13-2019, 08:14 PM   #5
claykin
Brigadier General
United_States
1579
Rep
4,546
Posts

Drives: various BMW
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Florida

iTrader: (0)

Quote:
Originally Posted by nola2atx View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by neukrisz View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by The Outrage View Post
... The main advantage a HDD has over an SSD is the theoretical maximum number of write cycles and, likely more importantly, a lower price per unit. I wouldn't worry too much about the durability, however. HDD Drives have been used for years in products and shown to be generally reliable despite the physical movement they require.
I had many times problems in my both ex F30 (2013, 2016) internal HDDs in the iDrive. Sometimes just clicks and doesn't booting and I drove without Navi - or freezing the iDrive during driving.
In practice I'm as IT expert and electric engineer and I know very well that shouldn't consign important data for a single HDD. I guess this is a 2.5" mobile HDD which has really limited lifetime and low reliability rate in the reality especially in a moving car. We in the industry don't use any HDD long years ago. I think this is just a petty cost saving by the BMW which can cause lot of headaches for us in the future
You could always remove it and re-image it to a new ssd replacement if it's a huge concern
Yeah, good luck doing that in an iDrive7 unit. Was difficult enough in iDrive6. BMW has these harddisks firmware locked.
__________________
2023 840GC | 2021 740i | 2019 X3
Appreciate 1
      10-14-2019, 03:53 AM   #6
neukrisz
Just a BMW fan
neukrisz's Avatar
Hungary
3
Rep
11
Posts

Drives: MY2020 G20 320i M-Sport
Join Date: Oct 2019
Location: Hungary

iTrader: (0)

Quote:
Originally Posted by claykin View Post
... BMW has these harddisks firmware locked.
I also think so
Appreciate 1
      05-21-2023, 03:55 AM   #7
KoolioDaddio
Beemer owner/driver for 25years
1
Rep
13
Posts

Drives: M340i (G20)
Join Date: Feb 2020
Location: Essex

iTrader: (0)

I am yet to discover if my G20 has a HDD or SSD or not. The dealership doesn't know, BMW said it should have, but they don't know how to access it, another 'expert' says it doesn't, but should have!!! My previous G31 had one, and I was able to access it and I did, and put my music onto it. Could it be that I've got one and it's crashed and the option is not showing up on iDrive or has it never had one? If it never has, can one be retrofitted?
Appreciate 0
      05-21-2023, 10:06 AM   #8
G22b58
First Lieutenant
93
Rep
377
Posts

Drives: G22
Join Date: Apr 2021
Location: Europe

iTrader: (0)

Starting with model year 2021 there is no internal storage space for the user to play music from (and doesn't show in iDrive). When playing from USB, the car stores (caches) playlists and information from music files (like album art etc) from up to 5 (or so) USB memories.
The car for sure has a storage device to store also the 30GB navigation maps I can load, but I don't know if it is mechanical or solid state.

(Side note: I use one USB memory, but have 7 of them in a round-robin sequence, to force it to read the updated information. Otherwise it uses old cached data.)
Appreciate 0
      05-23-2023, 02:58 AM   #9
KoolioDaddio
Beemer owner/driver for 25years
1
Rep
13
Posts

Drives: M340i (G20)
Join Date: Feb 2020
Location: Essex

iTrader: (0)

Quote:
Originally Posted by G22b58 View Post
Starting with model year 2021 there is no internal storage space for the user to play music from (and doesn't show in iDrive). When playing from USB, the car stores (caches) playlists and information from music files (like album art etc) from up to 5 (or so) USB memories.
The car for sure has a storage device to store also the 30GB navigation maps I can load, but I don't know if it is mechanical or solid state.

(Side note: I use one USB memory, but have 7 of them in a round-robin sequence, to force it to read the updated information. Otherwise it uses old cached data.)
Thank you G22b58... that explains it all. Now I understand why changing the USB card containing music does odd things. I thought it might be caching something somewhere.
Appreciate 0
      05-23-2023, 09:15 AM   #10
jb2005
Enlisted Member
12
Rep
30
Posts

Drives: BMW
Join Date: Jul 2018
Location: Germany

iTrader: (0)

HDD is becoming less and less important because they are migrating towards chip storage to save costs and improve reliability.
__________________
Apple Carplay Fullscreen
Android Screen Mirroring
///M Coding
Appreciate 0
Post Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off



All times are GMT -5. The time now is 08:23 PM.




g20
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.
1Addicts.com, BIMMERPOST.com, E90Post.com, F30Post.com, M3Post.com, ZPost.com, 5Post.com, 6Post.com, 7Post.com, XBimmers.com logo and trademark are properties of BIMMERPOST