[MANNAXMAN]

I have been using the same PNY 128GB USB flash drive to play MP3s for the last 5-6 years. I have the songs arranged in various folders. Previously, if I browsed the USB drive by songs, it showed the full content of the drive and I could pick any song to play, regardless of folder location. If I turned the shuffle feature on, it would "randomly" play any song on the drive. Very recently, that changed. I did not change any of my settings, and I have not touched/removed/modified the drive or its contents in probably more than 3 years. For whatever reason, it stopped displaying the full drive contents and only shows a small handful of songs by one artist if I browse by songs. I can view the various folders and play songs within a folder. Using the shuffle feature will only shuffle between the songs within that folder. I cannot figure out how to get it to display the drive's full contents on the same screen again and perform like it used to. Anyone else encounter an issue like this?

[DualSS]

Originally Posted by MANNAXMAN

I have been using the same PNY 128GB USB flash drive to play MP3s for the last 5-6 years. I have the songs arranged in various folders. Previously, if I browsed the USB drive by songs, it showed the full content of the drive and I could pick any song to play, regardless of folder location. If I turned the shuffle feature on, it would "randomly" play any song on the drive. Very recently, that changed. I did not change any of my settings, and I have not touched/removed/modified the drive or its contents in probably more than 3 years. For whatever reason, it stopped displaying the full drive contents and only shows a small handful of songs by one artist if I browse by songs. I can view the various folders and play songs within a folder. Using the shuffle feature will only shuffle between the songs within that folder. I cannot figure out how to get it to display the drive's full contents on the same screen again and perform like it used to. Anyone else encounter an issue like this?

Have you done a firmware update on the stereo?
Have you checked the flash drive for bad sectors on your PC?
Have tried the flash drive in a different car?

[ctrlz]

I would start by trying a different usb drive.
the interface in this car (I have a a 2017 2ss) is a bit finicky reading these drives. Took me a while to settle on samsung bar usb as the most reliable. I always take a few seconds to fasten my seatbelt before starting the car, mainly to let the "Camaro" flash screen scroll across the gauge area (some say this is part of the "soft boot"). Then I start, and the infotainment reliably reads the drive.

[MANNAXMAN]

Originally Posted by DualSS

Have you done a firmware update on the stereo?
Have you checked the flash drive for bad sectors on your PC?
Have tried the flash drive in a different car?

Short answer: I have not done a firmware update. Long answer: I have a 2016. As far as I'm aware, I'd have to take it in to the dealership to do a firmware update. Unless absolutely necessary, the dealership isn't touching my car.

I haven't checked the drive for bad sectors on my PC, per se, but I have checked that the drive can be read just fine on a PC. I haven't tried the drive on another car either. If it works fine on another car, would you expect a firmware update to fix the issue?

Originally Posted by ctrlz

I would start by trying a different usb drive.
the interface in this car (I have a a 2017 2ss) is a bit finicky reading these drives. Took me a while to settle on samsung bar usb as the most reliable. I always take a few seconds to fasten my seatbelt before starting the car, mainly to let the "Camaro" flash screen scroll across the gauge area (some say this is part of the "soft boot"). Then I start, and the infotainment reliably reads the drive.

I was planning to try another drive and/or reformatting the current drive and copying the files back. Just haven't gotten a round to doing either. I have not intentionally made any changes to anything, including the way I start my car. So I'm puzzled why there's been a change in how the drive is read.

[Anjilslaire]

life expectancy of read/write on a ~6 year old flash drive can be suspect as well...

[ctrlz]

Originally Posted by Anjilslaire

life expectancy of read/write on a ~6 year old flash drive can be suspect as well...

I agree. That's why I first suggest trying a different drive. These things have limited read/write cycles, some worse than others.

[MANNAXMAN]

Originally Posted by Anjilslaire

life expectancy of read/write on a ~6 year old flash drive can be suspect as well...

Originally Posted by ctrlz

I agree. That's why I first suggest trying a different drive. These things have limited read/write cycles, some worse than others.

I wasn't aware of that. Good to know. I'll try it out on another car first, just for the heck of it, but I now plan to replace the drive. Hopefully the issue goes away with a new drive.

[MANNAXMAN]

Tried plugging the drive into a 2022 Blazer. It couldn't even read the drive, which I thought was interesting, considering my car can still read it as well as my PC. Will definitely be purchasing a new drive.

[ctrlz]

Originally Posted by MANNAXMAN

I wasn't aware of that.

yeah, me either, until it smacked me in the face at work. i rely on a dictation system that uses microSD cards. Same story there. Once they're done, they're done.

[truckrglenn]

Having a similar issue with the Sandisk Ultra Fit in my 2017 Camaro. It has all of the songs that I've been collecting since the late 90's. So I brought the Sandisk in the apartment and neither of my computers will finish the read on it. At about 90%, it just seems to pause and won't read any farther. No errors show either. And because it doesn't finish the read, none of the repair programs will read it. I just wish that I could copy the some of the songs off it.

Unfortunately, I mistakenly threw out the back-up hard drive that contained all of the songs.

When I put the Sandisk back in my camaro, it will still play most of the songs, but still doesn't show or play them all.

[MANNAXMAN]

Originally Posted by MANNAXMAN

Tried plugging the drive into a 2022 Blazer. It couldn't even read the drive, which I thought was interesting, considering my car can still read it as well as my PC. Will definitely be purchasing a new drive.

After trying my flash drive in a Blazer and it not being able to read it, I tried reformatting the drive and copying all of the songs back onto it. The result was that my car could no longer read the drive. Apparently the capability of our cars to read flash drives is much more sensitive than PCs.

I did a quick test and copied a few folders onto a different drive that I had and plugged it in. Voila! Full content of the drive was displayed when browsing by songs.

Side note:
I did some research and the handful of articles I read only cited write/erase cycles having an impact on drive life. Read cycles were not mentioned at all. There was one article that stated to keep your drive cool to minimize drive failure and specifically stated to avoid leaving them in your car. I'll attribute a combination of the latter and the infotainment system not being very robust as the cause of my issue.

[SS_Don]

How did you format the drive? The following formats are supported.

. FAT32
. NTFS
. HFS+

[MANNAXMAN]

Originally Posted by SS_Don

How did you format the drive? The following formats are supported.

. FAT32
. NTFS
. HFS+

FAT32. I tried a second time and infotainment system still won't read it.

[Zr8000]

Drive probably crapped out. Mine only shows 1/2 the songs that are on it now