Portable Hard Drive

Hansi · 03-09-2007, 06:06 PM

Me and my uncle have been thinking much about what to do with his Toyota Corolla SLi Special Series. We have been thinking about putting a Unicron Portable hard drive with a small screen to store music on and put it in the center console and connect it to the cars speeker sistem. Whe have even thought about putting a small screen in there too wo we would be able to brovse through folders. What do you think would be the best idea?

We've allso thought about putting a connection for an I-Pod in the car but I think the Unicorn would look much cooler.

Ideas anyone?

aswearing · 03-09-2007, 10:27 PM

you can buy units which is basically a computer, with hard drives, cd drives etc and touch screens. sort of like a tablet pc in your dash.

Hansi · 04-09-2007, 09:38 PM

but isn't that really expensive??

aswearing · 04-09-2007, 10:46 PM

some cost around 300 - 700 gbp depending on what you want.

waynne · 05-09-2007, 11:28 AM

What about a HP IPAQ, 2 GB SD & 2GB CF card for loads of storage, watch DIVX movies, listen to MP3 and use it as a sat nav as well with a GPS reciever - thats what I've got and it is portable and I get wifi internet on it when I'm out and about. All in you are looking at about 300 notes. You can also connect the headphone socket to your ICE with a little inginuity.

waynne · 05-09-2007, 11:29 AM

What about a HP IPAQ, 2 GB SD & 2GB CF card for loads of storage, watch DIVX movies, listen to MP3 and use it as a sat nav as well with a GPS reciever - thats what I've got and it is portable and I get wifi internet on it when I'm out and about. All in you are looking at about 300 notes. You can also connect the headphone socket to your ICE with a little inginuity.

aswearing · 07-09-2007, 09:21 PM

i feel a bit of deja vu

aswearing · 07-09-2007, 09:22 PM

i feel a bit of deja vu

waynne · 10-09-2007, 05:05 PM

Ooops! That means something has changed in the matrix! I thought I had turned double posting off! Ah well you can't beat them all!

aswearing · 10-09-2007, 09:56 PM

sorry, i wa joking with my posts

wallydogking · 11-09-2007, 11:53 AM

just a newbie here...

but I'm half way through installing an LCD screen with which to power my iPod video. I've built an ipod dock that goes in the old ash tray spot, and it feeds through to the (soon to be) motorised screen in the roof.

that way I've got all my music with me (and I can take it out of the car with me), and also watch movies on the screen.

However, as an IT geek, it would be possible to buy a media hard drive player and wire that up to a touch screen. Something like the Freecom MediaPlayer would do it...

Hansi · 11-09-2007, 04:32 PM

Waynne, I don't understand all that you are saying there but it sounds expensive. I understand a part of it but what is a HP IPAQ.

Wallydogking, we have thought about something like that with putting a dock for the I-pod but we are not quite shure what to do we have been thinking and we are getting to the conclution that this is the easyest way to go on with it.

wallydogking · 12-09-2007, 04:48 PM

Hansi - an iPaq is one of the best PDA (personal digital assistant). Its made by HP and has been around for years and years.

I used to have an iPaq installed in an old car and used it as a MP3/movie player. But the one I had was a bit under powered. The latest models have some serious grunt to them and you can easily run most DiVx movies off of them. You can even get software to rip DVDs straight to them.

The down side to an iPaq (for me) was that there was no (inexpensive) way to output the video to an external screen. The cheapest I found a few years ago was almost as much as the PDA itself.

The up shot to the iPaq is that you can browse the folders and stuff right on the touch screen. with an iPod you can't. you still have to access the main unit to control it - which means you can't hide it.

I decided to go with an iPod as it was an easy solution for me. I've got a Vauxall Vectra and the location of the ash tray is perfect for the iPod dock and it gives easy access to the underside of the dash. Also with the spare panels in the roof (not sure what's meant to be there) there is room for a fold down screen.

Its the best solution for me, but its certainly not for everyone.

a good place to start for iPaq ideas is here: http://www.hp.com/country/us/en/prodserv/handheld.html

however! for the ultimate in car PC mod... the apple mini mac is just about the exact same size as an in dash stereo. they fit in the dash perfectly. This is an awesome installation:
http://www.macvroom.com/Macd-Ride-2006-BMW-325

food for thought?

waynne · 13-09-2007, 08:06 AM

Love the mini mac installation.

If the PC crashes does the car also crash and vice versa?

aswearing · 13-09-2007, 10:02 AM

mac my ride.

i absolutely loved a mitsubishi evo that had a motorised screen (we've all seen them) and the dials were on it, looked like the ones with needles but very sash, like out of a playstation game :P

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