2020 - USB music - Confusion with formatting (maybe?)

EDIT with resolution/facts, for searching and/or future needs:

Problem: 8GB flash drive (Verbatim 8gm) was working great, but was sticking out of the center stack and in the way. A cheap 16GB (no name) slim drive was not recognized by the head unit. A 32GB (name brand) slim drive was recognized, but would not auto start when the truck was re-started.

Issues: FAT32 formatting was used on all 3, formatting was not the issue. A drive bigger than 8GB would not work with the head unit.

Resolution: A new (slim) 8GB drive was used, with FAT32 formatting, which the truck recognized and resumed music when power cycled. It appears that >8GB DOES work, but does not "automatically" work when the truck is turned back on. The 16GB drives were duds, but that was likely because they were knock offs.

Hardware: 2020 TRD Off Road base, no sat nav, no JBL - stock head unit.

Note: Some others have success with >8GB, I am not sure if they have the same radio head unit as I do, between years/models/trims.


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Good Afternoon! I searched through threads, and found some good info, but I am at a loss here.
I'll update the thread title with the results and make sure to get good keywords in here to search.

MY 2020, stock basic HU (Not the upgraded one, I think there was an upgraded one), no JBL and no Nav. No modifications to the audio system/HU in any way.
Formatting and then establishing a partition in FAT32 with Linux Ubuntu.

I have a wireless carplay dongle, which works 95-99% of the time. My commute is 7 minutes, it takes a significant amount of that time to boot up, figure itself out, and then be playing music. Insignificant in the grand scheme of things, but I figured I could throw some music on a USB drive for the commute, it starts playing within seconds, and 100% of the time.

OR SO I THOUGHT.

I have a Verbatim 16gb I got given to me with work files, 401k disclosures, I don't remember what. This works brilliantly. It boots up, plays music, and off we go. This has been formatted the same way as the others below, using the same disk utility in Linux.

$8 Verbatim 16GB Pinstripe USB 2.0 Flash Drive Retractable Thumb Drive – Black

https://www.amazon.com/Verbatim-128...e/dp/B002W5GM9E?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&gQT=1&th=1

But it's bulky and isn't friendly with a nalgene or mason jar in the cup holder. So I got a slim one.



I think someone linked this working for them in the past, but it did not work for me. Formatted to FAT32 and it just wouldn't even recognize it. I know it's 64GB and I think the limit for the HU is 32GB as written, but I've seen comments of people getting 128GBs to work too. Regardless, I gave up.

So I returned it, and got this one instead, which I am 99% SURE someone linked as working for them:



This one DOES work, have it formatted to FAT32 the same was as the first failure, and the music is on there. It works, the truck sees it, it plays. But when you power cycle the HU/truck, it doesn't recognize it on boot up (maybe?) and it won't resume playing unless I tap through and deal with hitting source/USB/etc. Again, insignificant, but the entire point of this was to hit the go button and go.




ANY input on to what is going on with this shenanigans?



MY SECOND ISSUE
This one is, admittedly, one of my own doing, but wondering if there's any input on it.
My music is MP3 files organized into folders by playlists, IE "Country", with 50-60 songs (this is how I use spotify/car play, I like it for a variety, etc). It will play, say, songs 01 05 32 37 40, nothing else, and in the middle of song 05 it will slip to 32, which starts 20 seconds in. They're all MP3 files, but this one may very well have to do with formatting and how things are stored. Once I can reliably get the storage media to work, I'll spend more time on figuring THIS issue out. But if anyone has run into this before, let me know if you found a fix!

 

I have dedicated USB sticks for my truck. When I had a stock radio, it worked fine. Now I have a pioneer 8600nex (I think), and still works the same. I think having a dedicated USB sticks should be your focus, they're cheap!

Your songs not playing could be from a format issue, I imagine. I make sure the songs I upload to the USB can be played. If it is on the USB, and won't play, then I'll convert to MP3 on the computer, then try again.

I strictly play by USB, no streaming or radio

 

That's already my focus, but I can't make it work! I have one that works in the truck, but the playing issues you talked about below vvvv. But I hate that it juts out, I'm 100% going to smash it with a coffee mug one day. I'm trying to make these slim shits happen but I'm having a hell of a time with the formatting

I reformatted with a couple different options in FAT32 last night on Linux, and nothing worked. The music doesn't start with the truck, as it should (it does with the old Verbatim that sticks out). It works, so I think the formatting is right, but it won't boot with the truck. It's USB3.2, it SHOULD BE backwards compatible but I'm wondering if that has something to do with it not booting the right way.

100%, they're all MP3 (I am 99% sure on that, but I will double check), but the way they're uhhhhhh sourced....could be causing some issues.

I have a wireless dongle which IS nice, because I can leave my phone in my pocket and not worry about it. But, as noted, it has a minor hiccup time to time, and for the day to day use of my short commute, the USB would be great! I connect my phone with that for longer trips, or hard wired in for some stuff too (longer trips, especially if I'm using Gaia, Gaia doesn't like the wireless thing).



Working on some ideas, I'm going to try one last ditch format on a Windows computer, then if not, I'll try one last slim drive. If that doesn't work, I'm quitting.

 

Not sure if I can help at all, but wanted to provide my current experience (23 off road stock...) for input to your action calculations or sledge hammer event... which ever comes first lol

First, I am indeed currently using a 128G size drive (Sandisk Cruzer), currently loaded with about 80G worth of music. It "functions"... Also, I have used filled up 64's without any additional issues... I had also even used all these on my 2013 when I had it.

I have MP3s ripped from store bought CDs (originals all the way back to the 80's), as well as new home brewed CDs. Formatted the drives fresh before loading, just cuz. Format and ripping done on older laptop (trashy Win Media Player at that), why change what works for me? Every ripped song has always played for me. ETA: I have never just downloaded a file and dropped on to my USB for playing, my files have always been after me ripping them

I have tried two load methods - all the raw songs loaded on the root of the USB, and then all songs under LETTER / GROUP / ALBUM songs ("B/Black Sabbath/Mob Rules/ (songs). Both methods act the same on my system. I seem to remember you can go maybe up to 8 folder levels deep? Never tried it that far. Both methods do nothing to address my items below.

Two of my biggest issues, as you touched on one above, are yes - it does not start up music immediately after starting the truck. Takes a while to "analyze" the usb drive that has even been left in the vehicle since last use. PITA, as it needs a minute or longer to do. And then related, you would have to sit there and wait for it to be done with that in order to search / select what you want. Once you start driving it removes the proper ability to search through your music list. Once the vehicle is in motion, not even a passenger can search / select if they wish. Once the vehicle is no longer in motion the search becomes active again, but only until you begin moving. Both of these issues were not present in my 2013. Like you said, back then it was push ON and it just worked!


(and before any nannies get in with "muh safety" for not being able to adjust what the radio is playing while driving, I point to the enviro controls. You have to look at a low screen to see temp and vent settings. With infinite adjust controls now you have to look to see your adjustments. On previous gens you could do it all by feel without having to take your eyes off the road)


..... and .... since I don't drive 2 and 1/2 hours round a day for work any more and needed music on the whole time, it bothers me but not enough to do much about it at this point in my life. If still working? I would have taken a sawzall to the dash on day 2 of owning.

 

Hm, so that's good to know - that others are seeing the same behavior on larger drives not "on and go" playing like the smaller ones. I am going to try to hunt down an 8GB slim drive next and try that, to see if it solves everything. My 8GB works WONDEROUSLY. It just sticks out and I am GOING to smash it with something. Not if, but when (and likely, before I even get into the camping season when I am throwing stuff around regularly).

YES. God, this infuriates me. There's 8 million sensors in this truck (and my wife's Camry) which tells you if you're in the passenger seat, if there's a seatbelt being used, if the airbags should go off, if the heat is working right, etc etc - but they can't see "OH, maybe when there's a passenger, they can do things for the driver?". I get irked with that with the in built nav on my wifes camry (I don't have that on the truck). I tried using an old ipod, I figured maybe that being its own system, it would behave differently/better for getting music on, controlling it, etc. It DOES, but it's now wires strewn about, and the same thing - I played with it in the driveway, and then when I took off, it was borked all the same and was useless. I have seen people reroute the media cable to the glove box, so that may be a contender, TBD.

I have only like 1 gig of music on the one I'm using just because I was tired of formatting and loading all of the music and having to wait all that time, go out and test it, and then have to do the same thing. So I'm just playing around with 1 folder now just for application testing.

I'm not so concerned about the format. I think. I'm confused why some songs play fine, some don't, etc - but they're all .MP3 files. If I had to guess, it has SOMETHING to do with the source That's a future problem, to solve once I can get the thing to work normally.

I have it set up right now as main/root folders by playlists. IE

• VolumeName(X:\)
  • Country Playlist
    • Song 1
    • Song 2
      
    • Song 3
  • Rock Playlist
    • Song 1
    • Song 2
    • Song 3

That's just how they were sourced, and how I listen to my music (spotify is the same thing).
I listen to a lot of the spotify "Mixes" (They used to call it Radio, I think). Basically listening to radio but without ads and DJs, and I can skip songs, etc. I prefer this method for listening to music than by-artist-album, to each their own though.

I'm the opposite! If I had a 2.5 hour commute I'd plug it in and have it run spotify and not worry about it. Or, I'd have no problem hitting two buttons and going about my drive. But when it's so many short drives in the truck, it's annoying that way instead






I'm going to try a couple things (as said above) before I throw in the towel. Trying to reformat with a windows computer (first, then I can try on a Mac actually...), to see if something about the Linux format is shenanigans. Your comments above - that you had the same thing with larger drives not starting with startup - leads me to think that it works "as expected" with that, but that's not how I want it to work . If that doesn't work, then I'll get a slim 8GB and try that. If THAT doesn't work, I'm throwing in the towel.

PS - an aftermarket HU would solve all of our issues.

 

I have this in the mail, will be here after the new year.
I figure it's worth the shot to order it now. Bare minimum, I have a second drive which works. Best case, I have it as soon as I could get it. Ebay FTW

 

For my process, while I have 32gb or larger usb sticks, I rotate music frequently, because I don't want to spend time scrolling, or searching for songs. That said, I normally upload by folder, and search by that as well. It's definitely an exercise, so I am either rotating a lot, or stuck with what's on the usb stick. I don't normally listen to full albums anymore, it's either individual tracks in a folder, or livesets/podcasts, sorted by folder (usually by the date of upload)

 

Gotcha. So when you start up the truck with a 32GB in there, you have to click some buttons before things play? Or will it resume playing once the HU boots up?

As an aside - what do you use for podcasts? The ones we listen to are on Spotify, and we only listen to them on longer trips anyway, so my phone is plugged in/wireless-ed to the HU for those anyway. But curious on the downloading capabilities. I can download them on spotify but I haven't figured out the best way to do it yet.

 

I don't stream anything. I do a listen at home on the computer, typically YouTube or SoundCloud. I then download from either, using a program called JDownloader.

https://jdownloader.org/

Copy url, paste into JDownloader, then you should be good to go, works for YouTube and SoundCloud. If it doesn't, it gets more advanced than I'd like to explain.

If you can find your podcasts from the streaming services you frequent, on YouTube or SoundCloud, then that makes it easier to go this route. I think streaming services generally are lower volume as well.

I treat the USB sticks as mixtapes.

Edit: the HU starts up with the last source that was on, if USB, then it'll play that on startup

 

Since I just went out to get two pounds of fish to cook up tonight (!) I was trying this a bit as it is on our minds. For me Yes, even though I was listening to a USB selection on the prior start up, if I then restart the truck and even let it get through the entire "USB sync" crapola before touching anything, powering on the HU in any fashion always seems to take me to the radio station last used. Not the USB..... so that radio station it remembers

I always have to manual gyrate to get to the USB. Again, all this worked fine for how many years before, and it's fudge now.

Also, I agree - a different new HU could solve this, but I already paid for the HU in the new truck at the time. It just doesn't work as good anymore...

 

Cheers thank you! Okay, so it's good to know that that's "as expected" behavior for the 32gig I have. I have that 8gig in the mail that I am going to try. Hopefully that works like my current 8gig.

I'm with you - the HU in there is good, I'm not an audophile, I don't care, I just want to make life easy/useable, and that goes a long way with being able to hit go and go, and not futz with the radio at all.

gotcha, cool beans! I know one we listen to is on youtube music, but two are not. Or visa versa, it's been a while since I looked - Spotify fills that need for us right now well.

 

I use a USB flashdrive literally all the time in my 2017. I've used a SanDisk flashdrive for years, since the truck was new. I belive it is 32gb. Mine starts up when I start the truck, and picks up exactly where it left off. Play starts in a few seconds, UNLESS the flashdrive has been removed and replaced.

 

Just curious for another data point - once your truck is in motion can you still search? If you touch on SEARCH is the FOLDER title grayed out, along with the SONGS title? Are you blocked from getting into folders and using the scroll bar on the right while in motion? This would indicate you are locked out while vehicle in motion.

If you can get into these while driving then the software has changed somewhere along to 2023 (or 2020 in Garlic's case)... and not to my liking.

Thanks

 

I'll have to check first before I can answer those questions. I don't really attempt much searching while driving, I tend to listen to complete albums. Sometimes for weeks until I get tired of them. Lately I've rediscovered GFR. The albums "On Time" and "Red Album" are even better than I remembered from 54 years ago.
I do know that Toyota changed something on my HU within the first year or so. Initially I could change folders somehow without resorting to the on-screen Browse functions. It may have been with the Tune/Scroll knob, or maybe the steering wheel buttons. But that went away after some mandatory update many years ago.

 

Try changing the partition table to MBR and format to NFTS. That's what worked for me with another vehicle stereo that wouldn't read the GPT FAT32 drive I was trying to use.

 

SERENITY NOW!

I got an 8GB slim in the mail, and it works perfectly as expected. It starts up where it left off when the truck starts. I think the truck WORKS with >8gb, but it doesn't "automatically" work.

Once I can sort out music and whatnot, I will update post title/information for searchability for future generations looking for why their USB drives aren't automatically playing again!

Cheers gents, thanks for the feedback and bouncing ideas off of everyone!

 

I have either a 16 or a 32 in my 2017 Limited. It works and starts up just where you left off. I think it's a 32 actually but I'd have to double check.

 

Damn, I love them. Now I'm going to pull them up for another listen!

Funny story: I met Mel Schacher's nephew in Mobile, AL. I was driving OTR at the time and we were both waiting for our loads to be ready at a Kimberly Clark facility there.

 

Now that you've said that, I've that newer usb sticks have less issues than older sticks (5+ years). memory is cheap, so upgrade!

 

We have different head units, I'm wondering if the 2020s borked that. Maybe I had a bad luck of the draw with my memory, not sure. I'm going to summarize in the OP. And the limited has an upgraded HU as well, so a 2020 limited would be the upgraded HU/sound system, I think. Either way - I found my issue, at least!

My 8GB that was working - was 5+ years old. According to Amazon, it was released in 2017 - so that's what we're working with. The new one is god only knows, it shipped in directly from China I don't see a release date for this one, but I think it's going to be later than 2017. I got a "new new" 32GB slim, and it didn't work. So new doesn't always equal better, I guess. New one had more issues than the old one! It was 10$, worth it to get the old one