# Chevy Cruze USB Flash drive support



## jimmy227 (Jan 30, 2011)

*Usb*



BustedCrank said:


> I looked through the USB support Corporate Bulletin #09-08-44-013C, and didn't get any specific answers. From what I gather, any flash drive should work, but only certain mp3 players work.
> 
> I have a generic hp 8gb flash drive, with all of my music on it in mp3 format. I believe the bit rate is 320, if i remember correctly. Its not the best, because the aftermarket radio in my truck didnt support the higher bit rates.
> Now on to my issue,
> ...



Hi hope I can help you out....First of all check to see if your usb drive is formatted to FAT 32 not NTFS....For some reason FAT 32 is the standard for most of these usb readers...Start off with just one mp3 file to see if it works..I use a 8 gig kingston at FAT 32 and i can put folders and subfolders and it works fine...Try to use a different mp3 ripper other than windows media player..I use EAC and cdngo and dbpower amp...Hope it helps...


----------



## BustedCrank (Jan 16, 2011)

I will check that, i think it is FAT 32. But i will check for sure, and try using something else to rip the music with. Thanks


----------



## montgom626 (Jan 16, 2011)

I formatted my 3 generic USB FAT. 2-4 GB. Work fine. No folders.


----------



## BustedCrank (Jan 16, 2011)

What program did you use to rip the music? do you rememeber what bit rate they are?

I double checked and mine is fat 32, going to try ripping with something else...


----------



## jimmy227 (Jan 30, 2011)

BustedCrank said:


> What program did you use to rip the music? do you rememeber what bit rate they are?
> 
> I double checked and mine is fat 32, going to try ripping with something else...




_I use Exact Audio Copy for the most part and also use cdngo and dbpoweramp...There are so many to choose from but those are ones i used with success..I usually set the bit rate to 192 constant bit rate..But have tried Variable from 32 to 320 and they all work fine as well...Make sure that USB drive doesn't have some kind of extra security built in to it..I had a Verbatim with extra stuff built into the drive that I couldn't erase and it would give me errors in the car all the time.._


----------



## montgom626 (Jan 16, 2011)

jimmy227 said:


> _.Make sure that USB drive doesn't have some kind of extra security built in to it..I had a Verbatim with extra stuff built into the drive that I couldn't erase and it would give me errors in the car all the time.._


Agreed, get rid of (format) any "special" software. Many of these USB sticks have programs from their web site that can remove the proprietary programs.


----------



## webjen (Mar 17, 2011)

*order of songs*

So glad I found this flash drive idea! I have an old ipod that won't work with my Cruze. I'm just wondering how you "stop" the drive? Or do I need to? If I switch to a different aux, I'm assuming it sort of disconnects the drive? I don't need to do something to eject it like I do on a computer, do i? And do the songs play in the order they're loaded? I've only tried one song, so haven't delved deeper. Is there a way to shuffle, or will it just play through the folders and files in order?

thanks!


----------



## TSURacing (Jan 1, 2011)

Using a USB drive is super easy. No you do not need to disconnect the drive at all. When you want to listen to the radio or CD you just change the input. When you change the input back to USB it picks up where it left off.
You select the songs you want to play via Artist, Album, Song, Genre just like you would with your regular Ipod. Yes you can shuffle as well if you want to. You can shuffle within a artist or album, or you can shuffle all the songs on the drive.
Its a really intuitive interface, you will like it.


----------



## superdave (Oct 4, 2011)

Is there any max on the size of usb stick that is compatible? I want to buy a big one just not sure if I get one tooooo big it may not work?


----------



## Kaimumma (Apr 14, 2011)

superdave said:


> Is there any max on the size of usb stick that is compatible? I want to buy a big one just not sure if I get one tooooo big it may not work?



I don't think the size of the drive would make a difference. I have a 250gb iPod hooked into my usb drive and it works like a champ!


----------



## Jim Frye (Mar 16, 2011)

superdave said:


> Is there any max on the size of usb stick that is compatible? I want to buy a big one just not sure if I get one tooooo big it may not work?


According to the Owner's Manual, you are limited to 10,000 music titles, but there is no mention of how large the USB device can be. I have no idea how much space 10K songs would take. I have nearly 3,000 songs that take up nearly 14GB on a 16GB stick, so what would 10,000 songs take?


----------



## superdave (Oct 4, 2011)

ok thanks for the tip guys


----------



## TheLadyTee (Dec 22, 2011)

Will it recognize folders or playlists? How can you create 'playlists' on drives besides listing them all as the same genre?


----------



## lostmymind (Dec 15, 2011)

TheLadyTee said:


> Will it recognize folders or playlists? How can you create 'playlists' on drives besides listing them all as the same genre?


You have to do it on the computer. Basically open up the USB drive, make a folder, add songs to that folder. You can do it for whatever amount of folders you like


----------



## fibag21 (Feb 3, 2012)

Hi,

Have a Volt, not a Cruze, but wondering on the way the USB works. I found this strange phenomenon: If I use an MP3 CD, the systems goes from one folder to the other, playing all musics without pbm, even if I select a specific forlder as "starting point". Using a USB stick with MP3, the system also goes from one folder to the next except when I have selected a folder. It then loops on the folder, even if I take the stick out and put it back in or if the car is restarted. The only option then is to (sob) reformat and re-create the stick, which is not very user-friendly. Do your Cruze behave like this as well ?


----------



## CRUISE-CRUZE (Nov 8, 2010)

I’d recommend this one:
Micro Center - Emtec International S100 Micro Series 4GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive - White EKMMD4GS100 EKMMD4GS100 
I have around 10 folders on it with a bunch of mp3. I can play random or from a certain folder, etc. It is working perfect and is so small that stays almost covered under the plastic flap. Not expensive too.


----------



## Dennis_Mn (Jan 20, 2012)

fibag21 said:


> Hi,
> 
> Have a Volt, not a Cruze, but wondering on the way the USB works. I found this strange phenomenon: If I use an MP3 CD, the systems goes from one folder to the other, playing all musics without pbm, even if I select a specific forlder as "starting point". Using a USB stick with MP3, the system also goes from one folder to the next except when I have selected a folder. It then loops on the folder, even if I take the stick out and put it back in or if the car is restarted. The only option then is to (sob) reformat and re-create the stick, which is not very user-friendly. Do your Cruze behave like this as well ?


Mine works the same way. I suspect there may be a option to select. I saw some up arrows in th owners manual to skip to the next folder but my basic radio didn't have those arrows.


----------



## GoldenCruze (Dec 18, 2011)

I don't know about a maximum size for a USB drive in the Cruze. I think that any size will work. It sees my 64gig iPhone just fine. If a flash drive is not working, then I would simply use a new drive. They are cheap enough.


----------



## NickD (Dec 10, 2011)

My USB socket on my 2012 2LT was only half way plugged in giving weird performance, plugging it in the rest of the way fixed that. Maybe Joe Weak is plugging in that USB socket.

See someone already posted using a 16GB USB flashdrive, just got one but haven't tried it yet, but know an 8GB works great. With generic MP3 players, recommend using Windows Media for make playlists, Cruse does have a first class MP3 player, in selecting by album, songs, author, now confused about that shuffle function.

I copy my CD's at 192KB rate for best quality where 3,512 MP3's consume 14,2GB of space, hey I like classical, some of those MP3's are very long. Feel this system is great carrying all that music in one tiny USB flashdrive. Beats hauling around about 400 CD's. Wasn't too long ago, would pay a fortune for a six CD changer.

But its getting old, never went in for the Chrysler record player, not only needle jumps, but only offered about five special records. The 9 track, copied my vinyls, then cassettes, then cassettes with Doby, the CD's, would burn those because some of those CD's ran 20 bucks each and wouldn't dare leave those in a hot car, now USB, that is cool, no driving into a tree looking for a tape or a CD. Not that I have ever done that.

Really don't feel great about XM playing classical from unknown composers, but you learn in a hurry why they are unknown.


----------



## eegad (Feb 3, 2012)

Just got a new 2012 Cruze LS last week. Really like this USB feature, but have a question. I have a 16gig stick with about 3000 songs on it, sorted into folders by artist, album, etc. Once it's working and I'm driving everything works well. But it seems like everytime I start the car first thing in the morning, it has to "index" everything over again before I am able to go through the menus/folders and select what I want to play. Note - when I'm driving, then stop the car for an hour or a few hours, it then seems to "remember" everything and pick up where it left off. But when the car sits over night it forgets and has to re-index the whole stick again (and no, I am not removing the stick at the end of the day). 

This is annoying as I start each morning having to hear the same song until it's done indexing! Can anyone else confirm this behavior? Anybody know how much memory is built into the radio/USB unit....Does it only exhibit this behavior when the number of songs on the stick goes over a certain amount because it maxes out it's built-in memory cache?


----------



## GoldenCruze (Dec 18, 2011)

I see the display indicating that it is indexing for a minute or so, and then it's ready.


----------



## Chevy Customer Care (Oct 29, 2011)

eegad said:


> Just got a new 2012 Cruze LS last week. Really like this USB feature, but have a question. I have a 16gig stick with about 3000 songs on it, sorted into folders by artist, album, etc. Once it's working and I'm driving everything works well. But it seems like everytime I start the car first thing in the morning, it has to "index" everything over again before I am able to go through the menus/folders and select what I want to play. Note - when I'm driving, then stop the car for an hour or a few hours, it then seems to "remember" everything and pick up where it left off. But when the car sits over night it forgets and has to re-index the whole stick again (and no, I am not removing the stick at the end of the day).
> 
> This is annoying as I start each morning having to hear the same song until it's done indexing! Can anyone else confirm this behavior? Anybody know how much memory is built into the radio/USB unit....Does it only exhibit this behavior when the number of songs on the stick goes over a certain amount because it maxes out it's built-in memory cache?




eegad,
This is normal for the audio system to have to index your music when you turn your vehicle on. The Cruze does not have a built in hard drive so it does not save the data. I would suggest that you if you question the way your audio system is functioning that you contact your local dealership and have them look into this for you as well. If you have any further questions please feel free to message me.
Thank you,
Stacy Chevrolet Customer Service


----------



## GoldenCruze (Dec 18, 2011)

I think that the indexing is written to the thumb drive. On my thumb drive I have three mystery files that I did not put there, and judging from the titles of those files I think they have to do with indexing.


----------



## gordond11 (Feb 24, 2012)

Does anyone know the maximum number of playlists supported by the audio system? I have several dozen directories (artists) with subdirectories containing individual albums. I created a playlist for each album. This all works very well, the indexing takes only a few minutes when I start the car. The one issue I've encountered has to do with playlists. It appears that I can only see the first 32 playlists on the USB stick. Is this the maximum the system supports? If so I suppose I can combine playlists to reduce the number, but if anyone has found a different solution I'd appreciate hearing it. Thanks.


----------



## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

Jim Frye said:


> According to the Owner's Manual, you are limited to 10,000 music titles, but there is no mention of how large the USB device can be. I have no idea how much space 10K songs would take. I have nearly 3,000 songs that take up nearly 14GB on a 16GB stick, so what would 10,000 songs take?


USB memory sticks (and SD Cards) almost always come formatted FAT32. The problem is that the format always uses the 32K clusters. The average music file is less than 4K. This means you waste a lot of space. To correct this, put the stick in your PC, open My Computer (or Computer). Copy everything you want to keep off the drive. Right click the drive and select format. Select either 4096 bytes or 8192 bytes for the Allocation unit size (my example shows 4096), clear the "Quick Format" check box and then click start. When the format is done, you can copy your files back to the drive. You will see a lot of extra space on the drive when you're done simply because you haven't wasted as much space.


----------



## coinneach (Apr 10, 2012)

obermd said:


> USB memory sticks (and SD Cards) almost always come formatted FAT32. The problem is that the format always uses the 32K clusters. The average music file is less than 4K.


You sure about that? IME it's more like 1-2MB per minute at listenable encoding rates.


----------



## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

coinneach said:


> You sure about that? IME it's more like 1-2MB per minute at listenable encoding rates.


Right. Take it from the guy who builds and repairs servers. ^

The only time I really worry about file size clusters is when it comes to RAID arrays and solid state drive formatting. A 32k cluster size will not make an appreciable difference on a 4-8MB music file.


----------



## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

coinneach said:


> You sure about that? IME it's more like 1-2MB per minute at listenable encoding rates.


My experience with with WMA files, which are the Windows Media Player native format. When I ripped from my CD collection I selected best playback, which created the largest files. I played with the formatting on my 32GB MicroSD card for my Android phone and ended up formatting it at 8K, which gave me the best balance between the number of files (songs) I could load and card capacity. I have over 8,000 songs on my card and it they consume about 24GB of space. When you use smaller allocation units, you end up with a larger index of allocation units (FAT), which can consume more space on the card. The FAT also takes up an integral number of allocation units. 

Also - the image I posted earlier shows "FAT" for "File System". Make sure you select FAT32 during the format. The memory stick I used to create that image is only 128MB.


----------



## coinneach (Apr 10, 2012)

I know how file allocation tables work. I'm saying we must be thinking of different things - never in my life have I seen an actual music file be 4-8K on disk. MIDI files, yeah, but not MP3, WMA, AAC, or any other format.


----------



## NickD (Dec 10, 2011)

Noticed that minute or so reindexing with my 16GB stick, really bad when my wife pulls mine and plugs hers in. But have to learn to live with that.

Really no space to add a second radio, so could buy another Cruze. But then no place to park it, have a three stall garage now, and three feet short according to the building inspector for adding a fourth stall.

Jay Leno doesn't seem to have that problem, but I feel most of us do. So have to learn how to live with that. Can switch on the radio, least have that. First two cars never had a radio, a 1930 Olds, and a 1933 Buick, didn't have heaters either. First car to even have a radio was a 1937 Olds and even a heater, was one of the most exciting days of my life. That radio was powered by a vibrator type power supply with huge vacuum tubes, was time to learn something about electronics when I was 16 years old.


----------



## dby2011 (May 14, 2011)

Just get a 16gb Nano- unlike the usb drives the music selection is almost instant as soon as u plug it in the Cruze-no indexing. I'm not a fan of Apple, but it is really the best solution if u want to use the Cruze's radio screen to browse through your music. 




NickD said:


> Noticed that minute or so reindexing with my 16GB stick, really bad when my wife pulls mine and plugs hers in. But have to learn to live with that.
> 
> Really no space to add a second radio, so could buy another Cruze. But then no place to park it, have a three stall garage now, and three feet short according to the building inspector for adding a fourth stall.
> 
> Jay Leno doesn't seem to have that problem, but I feel most of us do. So have to learn how to live with that. Can switch on the radio, least have that. First two cars never had a radio, a 1930 Olds, and a 1933 Buick, didn't have heaters either. First car to even have a radio was a 1937 Olds and even a heater, was one of the most exciting days of my life. That radio was powered by a vibrator type power supply with huge vacuum tubes, was time to learn something about electronics when I was 16 years old.


----------



## obermd (Mar 3, 2012)

dby2011 said:


> Just get a 16gb Nano- unlike the usb drives the music selection is almost instant as soon as u plug it in the Cruze-no indexing. I'm not a fan of Apple, but it is really the best solution if u want to use the Cruze's radio screen to browse through your music.


Because Apple is the 600 lb Gorilla in the portable music business, I suspect the GM radios recognize Apple's indexes and use them directly instead of having to build their own index. When they build their own I wouldn't be surprised if it is the same format as Apple's.


----------



## jon.frederick (Aug 15, 2012)

The radio or what ever is running the index has a cache memory or a data storage area.

I have 1GB MP3 player and in the morning or if the USB MP3 player is reinserted the indexing occurs. Heres the other shoe which contridics the comment made above by Stacy Chevrolet Customer Service.

I have had folder directories and files out in the root of the device at one time. Then i formatted the MP3 player, added all audio files to the root of the MP3 player, no folders. 

Went into the menus to look up songs and all the old folder directories and songs related to those folders being listed. Not just once several entries for the same song and folders which no longer exist. Kicker the songs still play.

So how do I clear all the audio files/MP3 cache?


----------



## joe0121 (Jul 17, 2012)

So the cruze does not support NTFS files systems?


----------



## grs1961 (Oct 23, 2012)

No, only FAT32 and exFAT32 - with a maybe on the exFAT32.


----------



## brada11 (Feb 18, 2013)

What is the largest flash drive you can use?


----------



## jennrs (Apr 9, 2013)

I have been having the same problem. I had a 2009 Cobalt and my 16g flash drive worked wonderfully. I plugged it into the Cruze when I bought it and had no problem. I added some more music and plugged it back in and now it says indexing every time. Not only that but it goes back to one song each time. This happens every time I start my car! I can just stop for gas, turn off the car and then I have to wait for it to index again. My dealer suggested that maybe it was because I had several different file types (i.e. MP3, MP4 & WMA). I spent hours yesterday changing all of my music to one format. Then I reloaded all of my music to my flash drive. The indexing is MUCH faster now but it still does it. I miss my Cobalt! I also hate how difficult it is to scroll through music compared to the Cobalt. Why do they try to improve things that worked, they should leave things alone.


----------



## gstout (Mar 30, 2014)

Chevy Customer Care said:


> eegad,
> This is normal for the audio system to have to index your music when you turn your vehicle on. The Cruze does not have a built in hard drive so it does not save the data. I would suggest that you if you question the way your audio system is functioning that you contact your local dealership and have them look into this for you as well. If you have any further questions please feel free to message me.
> Thank you,
> Stacy Chevrolet Customer Service


I have the same issues with a 80gig iPod, which does have a hard drive. The only way for it to be recognized, is to unplug it from the usb connector and re-connect it. It will then say indexing FOREVER! (a verry long time) Once it is done indexing, everything is normal until the car is shut off. Get back in, start it up and the iPod is not recognized without unplugging, plug back in and then wait FOREVER for it to re-index.

I have used the iPod in a (2)BMW's , (2)Toyota Prius's with no issues at all.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. This by the way is a 2014 Cruze TD

Thanks,
Gary


----------



## Merc6 (Jun 8, 2013)

How old is your iPod and what iOS is it running? Going from iOS 6 to iOS 7.1 fixed most my issues. It's like every update prior hated outside sorces toying with it. I had same issues with my AppRadio2 in my other car where it only allowed iPhone 4 and 4s to work and it was a reach till they sent out the latest update to allow the 5 to work.


----------



## Chevy Customer Care (Oct 29, 2011)

Hey there gstout,

I’m sorry to hear that you are experiencing this concern with your Cruze. Please feel free to contact our infotainment team and they should be able to further assist you. Their number is 855-478-7767 and they’re open 8AM until 10PM EST seven days a week. Please let us know if you have any further questions. 

Kristen A.
Chevrolet Customer Care


----------



## mjstout (Dec 28, 2014)

2014 cruze. nothing happens when I plug a flash drive or mp3 player. pressing cd/aux button says no cd.


----------



## Jim Frye (Mar 16, 2011)

mjstout said:


> 2014 cruze. nothing happens when I plug a flash drive or mp3 player. pressing cd/aux button says no cd.


What brand and storage size is the mp3 player?
What OS version is it running?
What brand and size is the flash drive?
How is the flash drive formatted?
Did you completely erase the fiash drive before you loaded any music tracks on it?
The audio system used to be limited to 10,000 tracks or titles (including folder names). By some odd chance have you exceeded that limit?


----------



## mjstout (Dec 28, 2014)

the mp3 player is a sony 16gb it is listed in one of gm's bulletins.the mp3 player does not say connected like it does on my pc. I tried a fresh san disk 32gb cruiser as well as an p 8gb hp an a 1gb hitachi. all drives were fat. one directory and a couple songs.


----------



## boneheaddoctor (Dec 10, 2014)

Fat32? Fat16?? There is a difference and it does matter thats the one you use. It HAS to be Fat32, and you NEED the HP USB utility to format it correctly on a WIndows 7 machine.

I've tried a couple different ones...a Sandisk thats 128 gig. A 32 gig Verbatim, but I'm noticing glitches that appear to be data corruption with that. I haven't verified if its corrupt music files. SOmething with the thumb drive or its something thats part of the car thats at fault just yet ( believe me its going back to the dealer under warranty if it turns out to be that, I've only had it a few weeks). I'm on vacation, don't drive much while I am and I've been busy on other projects. I'll sort it out in the next week.


----------



## Jim Frye (Mar 16, 2011)

boneheaddoctor said:


> It HAS to be Fat32, and you NEED the HP USB utility to format it correctly on a WIndows 7 machine.


Really? Must be unique to the Cruze. I format my SanDisc Cruzers on a W7 system using the MS format utility. No issues with the 10 or so sticks to date. When I was car shopping, I used one of these drives for sound system comparison and it played fine in the two Cruzen I drove. Those were 2013 models. Also, don't do a quick format on a new stick. Do a long format to make sure you clear off any "stuff" that the stick manufacturer put on it. After formatting on the PC, I run CCleaner with a secure deletion option to make sure there is nothing on the drive prior to my loading music on it.


----------



## boneheaddoctor (Dec 10, 2014)

I guess its all up to the head end what it will and won't read.

My 2014 Cruze with the Navigation headend doesn't like anything Windows 7 will format native for some reason (but Fat32 it has no issue with). Took me a little bit to figure it out at first. 

But fat32 is something essentially everything will read. I think many thumb drives are already formatted with it by default. But I could be mistaken.

But I do have to take it into the dealer tomorrow to see if they can reflash it because the backup camera shows only the raw video without any overlays whether they are enabled or not, and that might just be another one of the issues since I don't have another to compare to. Didn't really notice it the last few weeks thinking I forgot to enable something until I sat down with the manual last night and figured out I did have it set right and it displays the same thing enabled or not.

Maybe it should see more than mine is right now. And correcting this other issue might fix that one too.


----------



## mjstout (Dec 28, 2014)

all are fat 32. my phone doesn't show charge when plugged in


----------



## Jim Frye (Mar 16, 2011)

As I've stated here before, not all USB drives are created the same. Some have firmware on them to look like a hard drive because of the way they are physically constructed. Some have a driver that gets loaded onto the computer to enable the computer to read them. These two scenarios can cause the automotive head unit to mis-read the drive, or not recognise it at all. It's not limeted to the Cruze. Even security software loaded in the root folder can confuse an auto HU.I have also seen some very large capacity sticks cause issues with HU and the problem goes away on a lower capacity drive.

IIRC, W7 defaults to NTFS, which nearly all auto HU won't read.


----------



## Merc6 (Jun 8, 2013)

boneheaddoctor said:


> But I do have to take it into the dealer tomorrow to see if they can reflash it because the backup camera shows only the raw video without any overlays whether they are enabled or not, and that might just be another one of the issues since I don't have another to compare to. Didn't really notice it the last few weeks thinking I forgot to enable something until I sat down with the manual last night and figured out I did have it set right and it displays the same thing enabled or not.
> 
> Maybe it should see more than mine is right now. And correcting this other issue might fix that one too.


Overlays as in guidance lines found all the other gm vehicles or the caution triangles when you get close to something?


----------



## Jim Frye (Mar 16, 2011)

mjstout said:


> all are fat 32. my phone doesn't show charge when plugged in


What is charge rate of the Cruze USB ports and what is the charging requirement for your phone? I'v seen a lot of phones that required more than the USB port puts out, so the phone won't charge while it's on and being used.


----------



## Merc6 (Jun 8, 2013)

Jim Frye said:


> What is charge rate of the Cruze USB ports and what is the charging requirement for your phone? I'v seen a lot of phones that required more than the USB port puts out, so the phone won't charge while it's on and being used.


All my iPhone's charge but at an extremely slow rate. Let's say it's 76% and I have a 30 minute ride to work. It may be 89-90% when I get there where in the house it would have been 100%


----------



## boneheaddoctor (Dec 10, 2014)

Merc6 said:


> Overlays as in guidance lines found all the other gm vehicles or the caution triangles when you get close to something?


I'm talking about the Guidance lines I have seen on several other GM vehicles I've driven in the past several years. I get the triangle and the beeping when I get close. But nothing else other than the video feed.

I've had it only a couple weeks and its going back to the dealer in the morning to get that fixed while I am still on vacation.

To keep this from venturing completely off topic (my bad for introducing something off topic). The other part of my post about the glitches on USB playback appear to have been issues on the NEW 32 gig Verbatim THumb drive. I replicated them on my home computer but my original music files did not have the data corruption. Its currently undergoing a COMPLETE format with the HP formate utility. Windows was choking on a full format after several trys but a quick format worked earlier.


----------



## LizzieCruze (Feb 17, 2014)

I have had a 16gb stick in the usb port of my cruze for months now. I switch between the FM radio, CD player and my flash drive every other week or so. It has never indexed since I put the flash drive in the car. I have taken the flash drive out to charge my phone, and upon reinserting the usb, it does not index, just plays. I will check tomorrow on the make of the drive but I do believe that there are some folders on it and I most likely ripped the music from CD's using Windows Media Player. The songs were on my computer for home listening and I just dragged a copy onto the flash drive. It has worked flawlessly in the car. My home computer runs windows 7.


----------



## Jim Frye (Mar 16, 2011)

32Gig is the maximum size for W7 to format in FAT32. If the flash drive has more space (for alternative addresses) than that, I can see Windows choking on it. Frankly, I've found even 16GB to be too large to page through, even though the unit in my car handles it fine. We have a number of smaller drives set up by Genre. I think the largest drive has something like 2,000 tracks, arranged by artist/album/song tree structure. Of course genre/artist/album/song would work fine, but that's not how we listen to music, a genre stick is fine. I keep all of the drives in a small zippered case in the console with a metal rimmed paper tag on each. Probably a bit old fashioned, but it works for us.


----------



## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

mjstout said:


> 2014 cruze. nothing happens when I plug a flash drive or mp3 player. pressing cd/aux button says no cd.





mjstout said:


> all are fat 32. my phone doesn't show charge when plugged in


I'm not sure how the radio is constructed, but it sounds to me like something didn't get connected when it was put together. Time for a trip to the dealer.


----------



## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

LizzieCruze said:


> I have had a 16gb stick in the usb port of my cruze for months now. I switch between the FM radio, CD player and my flash drive every other week or so. It has never indexed since I put the flash drive in the car. I have taken the flash drive out to charge my phone, and upon reinserting the usb, it does not index, just plays. I will check tomorrow on the make of the drive but I do believe that there are some folders on it and I most likely ripped the music from CD's using Windows Media Player.


While you're at it, check the brand and version of the radio. The 2014 might have a different vendor than the others.


----------



## mjstout (Dec 28, 2014)

dealership sys bad interface module. no com at all to module. parts had to be ordered.


----------



## mjstout (Dec 28, 2014)

so I call the dealer to find out if the part is in and they tell me that gm won't release the part without remotely troubleshooting it themselves so the car has to go back to be re-assessed and then the part could be ordered.should have bought another focus


----------



## GracieAllen (Mar 31, 2015)

I have (I think) a specific problem... I read this whole topic, but didn't see anything like what I"m seeing..........

I have an 8GB flash drive formatted FAT32. I downloaded an audiobook in mp3 format to my PC. I then loaded it on the flash drive. It looks like:

folder - book title
subfolder - disc 01
 01.mp3
02.mp3
03.mp3
repeat for 16 mp3 files
subfolder - disc 02
01.mp3
02.mp3
repeat for 15 mp3 files
repeat subfolders through disc 07

This thing PLAYS PERFECTLY ON THE USB PORT IN MY Silverado..... So the FLASH DRIVE APPEARS TO BE FINE.......................

On the 2011 Cruze when selected it STARTS with Disc 01 and plays "track" 1. Then instead of playing any more "tracks" from Disc 01 it changes to Disc 02 and plays "track" 1 of THAT folder... Repeat through all the folders of Disc 01 - 07. It never plays anything BUT the 01.mp3 of each "disc"... 

Is this something bizarre the Cruze is doing because of it's indexing or is there something else going on? Do I have to do something ridiculous like taking the mp3 files from every disk and give them a unique name? That'd be ludicrous but I have no idea why this thing plays the first mp3 of every disc instead of each disc in order?


----------



## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

GracieAllen said:


> It never plays anything BUT the 01.mp3 of each "disc"...


That's an odd one. When it's done playing all the 01, does it go back and play all the 02? Or maybe 10? I'm wondering if it's playing them in "alphabetical" order and ignoring the foldering. In which case, if you named them "disc 01-01.mp3" then they'd play properly.

The other thought is to look at the MP3 tags to see if there's any clues in there. It may be seeing the entire "book title" as one "album" and trying to play the track numbers in order. You can use a program like mp3tag to look at and update the tags. Perhaps you need up update the disk number tag.


----------



## JoeInMilwaukee (Dec 10, 2014)

I'm not sure how folder structure affects playback, but on my 2014 Cruze LS the order in which tracks are played is determined by the track names, not the track numbers or file names.

I had a 23-track album on a USB drive that kept playing Track 10 after Track 1, even if I named the files 01.mp3, 02.mp3, 03.mp3, etc. Then I noticed that the track names (as shown in iTunes) appeared as follows:

Album Name - 1. Track Name
Album Name - 2. Track Name
Album Name - 3. Track Name
.
Album Name - 9. Track Name
Album Name - 10. Track Name
Album Name - 11. Track Name


In alphabetical order, "1" is followed by "10," not "2." So my solution was to add a leading 0 (zero) to the track names containing a single-digit (by selecting "Get Info" for each track from iTunes):

Album Name - 01. Track Name
Album Name - 02. Track Name
Album Name - 03. Track Name
.
Album Name - 09. Track Name
Album Name - 10. Track Name
Album Name - 11. Track Name


Time-consuming, but it worked!


- Joe


----------



## boneheaddoctor (Dec 10, 2014)

Stay Away from Verbatim thumb drives...I've had a second one fail in a few short months. First it suddenly write protected itself...then I started hearing data corruption in the files that are on it in the last few days....total crap. Need to buy a new one...any brand BUT Verbatim.


----------



## GracieAllen (Mar 31, 2015)

It SOUNDS like the thing is doing what JoeInMilwaukee said... It's playing all the track 1s. I didn't leave it on long enough to find out if it would play all the track 1s within a book then all the 2s or not, but I CAN easily rename all the tracks so they aren't in folders by disc... Seems like rather odd engineering to have to do something this silly, but it IS a "world car"...


----------



## boneheaddoctor (Dec 10, 2014)

First rule of thumb...it NEEDS to be FAT32 formatted to be recognised

Never got my 128 gig thumb drive to work because I've never been able to format it Fat32. The verbatim drives I've been harping on as being pieces of crap....are 32gig. Don't own a 64gig thumb drive. After very little research to refresh my memory....fat32 has a 32 gig partition size limit.

I doubt it (the head end) would recognize multiple partitions on a thumb drive.


----------



## JoeInMilwaukee (Dec 10, 2014)

boneheaddoctor said:


> First rule of thumb...it NEEDS to be FAT32 formatted to be recognised
> 
> Never got my 128 gig thumb drive to work because I've never been able to format it Fat32. The verbatim drives I've been harping on as being pieces of crap....are 32gig. Don't own a 64gig thumb drive. After very little research to refresh my memory....fat32 has a 32 gig partition size limit.


I use a 2 GB drive formatted FAT16 and it works fine. (This is in a 2014 Cruze.)


- Joe


----------



## boneheaddoctor (Dec 10, 2014)

Trust me that a NTFS formatted one isn't recognized at all.


----------



## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

I have a 64GB that was formatted FAT32. It seemed to work in brief testing.


----------



## grs1961 (Oct 23, 2012)

If you are having trouble formatting a USB stick under Winders (or on a Mac) as FAT32 because it's "just too big," boot a Linux live-CD, or spin up a Linux VM, and use that, problem solved.


----------



## NickD (Dec 10, 2011)

When I received my new Samsung Galaxy S4, just slapped in my old Lexar 32GB micro SD drive into, Works for awhile, then crashes and I lost all my data. Thought the chip was defective, but it would format okay and could reload my data, but will crash again with the warning, this chip is not formated.

So I downloaded the manual and read the instructions, should have been using a Samsung EVO microSDHC UHS-1 drive, the speed of this smart phone is a lot higher than what this old Lexar can handle. Ordered the EVO from Newegg 32GB for 16 bucks with free shipping, now working fine, could find the specs, has up to a 48 Mbyte per second transfer rate. Can't even find the specs on this older Lexar, but apparently its to slow. Samsung is also guaranteed to hold data up to 85*C.

Find the Chevy information on what type of flashdrive to use very nebulous so turns out to be a guessing game. Using a Sandisk stub on this one, ha, already three years old and forgot what I even have in there. But has been working fine, even with high temperatures the interior of the car can experience sitting in the sun.

Another dumb thing I was doing with my smart phone was formatting it on my computer, should have been formatting it in the phone because it installs a bunch of folders the phone needs to find stuff. Can't do this with the Cruze, so kind of leave us in the dark.

Some of my flash drives are over 12 years old, a lot had changed since then. But they sure are a lot cheaper today. Was looking for the package for the drive used in my Cruze, must have pitched it.

Yet another problem with flashdrives, a lot of counterfiets on the market. So can only buy one from a reputable source.


----------

