I've got three thumb drives. They all work on my computer. I've got a Mac and it's disk utility will format in four different OSX formats, and MS-DOS FAT and EXFAT. I've tried all formats and I most often get a message that lets me know that the usb drive is not in a format that is accepted. But I do have one, later model thumb drive that is accepted. Also, my fairly knew passport hard drive won't read either.

So, can anyone clear up what gives here? The manual doesn't give much info on drive formats. I'm wondering if it could be minimum drive size, format, Older usb 1.0 or 2.0 format issues, or a combination.

BTW, SD cards formatted in my computer always seem to work.

Thanks.

 

Edit: Answer below

 

FAT16 is not compatible with a Mac, and is limited to a 2gb partition.
FAT32 is default for flash drives, there is a 4gb individual file size limit.
exFAT eliminates the 4gb file size limit but I don't know if it's compatible with the truck.
NTFS is read-only on a Mac.

I recommend FAT32 for maximum compatibility.

 

Thanks, that's the info I needed. That I can do.

 

FAT32 is what appears to be the format for SYNC compatibility.

http://www.f150forum.com/f38/usb-for...e-sync-100485/

 

MS-DOS(FAT) format should work for SYNC. That's what I've used to transfer wallpaper to MFT.

 

Does anyone know if there is a way to allow mp3 players to play THROUGH USB?

I have a sansa clip mp3 player which I connect via USB to upload music, but the truck does not see the files on it. I have to play it through the headphone jack input. Which works, but my particular player I cant have plugged into USB (to charge it) AND play at the same time. But if it read the files via USB, I could do both, which is ideal... any ideas?

 

FAT16 or FAT32? If it can read FAT32, it can read FAT16. FAT16 has a 2gb partition size limit.

 

The only way the truck is going to see the files is if the Sansa is formatted with FAT16 or FAT32. The only way a mp3 player will play the files through USB is if it supports it. The Clip cannot play music while it's connected and communicating with a computer USB port.

 

I can do it on the computer, but now that I am thinking about it, maybe I am using the computer's player, not the clip, maybe it's just reading the files through the clip. Think you may be right about that. Some vehicles allow this though. A colleague's BMW can do this, you actually can read the files through the radio's menu, and play them, it seems to support playlists and stuff too.

Maybe this is a limitation of sync2?

 

It formats it in FAT32