Guide to Replacing the NG4 Navidrive 3D Hard Drive with a CF Card

[GiveMeABreak]

Hi and welcome.

I recommended that card as it what I used and no problems at all - remember it is the compatibility you need to worry about - faster and more expensive is not always the best option. It must be no higher than UDMA 6. Higher capacity is also useless as the system will not utilise the space as the partitions are pre-determined. If you find a similarly-specified, but different brand of card by all means try it and report back.

[Falka]

Hi and welcome.

I recommended that card as it what I used and no problems at all - remember ot is the compatibility you need to worry about - faster and more expensive is not always the best option. It must be no higher than UDMA 6. Higher capacity is also useless as the system will not utilise the space as the partitions are pre-determined. If you find a similarly-specified, but different brand of card by all means try it and report back.

Thank you!
Yeah, im aware of the limitations. Im going to buy the same card you have.
Are you still care to share the FW files or not anymore. (in case the card bootup fails and i need to install the firmware)

slight off topic:
Last summer, the unit randomly stopped seeing the USB slot (it doesnt detect any pendrive). Tried wiggling the plug at the back, but nothing. It's not in the source menu either. Any idea? :/ That problem might complicate the fw update

Thanks!!

[GiveMeABreak]

I'll send you a Private Message concerning the Firmware files.

If the USB is formatted correctly (FAT32), but is no longer able to read MP3 files or update the POI, then don't even attempt a replacement of the HDD or update the firmware at this stage until you've sorted it out.

I suspect that the cable may be damaged, or not inserted in the unit correctly.... You can always replace it with another cable. The part number is: 6574LA and is priced at (UK) wait for it.... £115.33

Item (49)

[Falka]

I'll send you a Private Message concerning the Firmware files.

Thank you very much! I will definetly follow up, when im done with the mod.

If the USB is formatted correctly (FAT32), but is no longer able to read MP3 files or update the POI, then don't even attempt a replacement of the HDD or update the firmware at this stage until you've sorted it out.

Yes sir, i will fix the cable first.

I suspect that the cable may be damaged, or not inserted in the unit correctly.... You can always replace it with another cable. The part number is: 6574LA and is priced at (UK) wait for it.... £115.33

Strange thing is, i was listening from usb then stopped the car at a store and when i started the car back up, the usb source menu option was gone.
Im thinking its a software problem rather hardware. Tho i will definetly remove the usb cable and check for continuity with a voltmeter.

Can i diagnose the problem with Lexia/diagbox or it doesnt work like that?


Again, thank you for the original guide and the helpful posts.

[GiveMeABreak]

No problem

I've looked at the diagnostics for the NG4, but there are no specific faults for the USB, but it might be useful to run a global test and see if there are any faults coming up. If you have any codes, pop them up here with your VIN and I should be able to help.

[MasterDomino]

Hello,
I've recently done this replacement on mine, will possibly backup my data to cloud someday or if anyone requires those. Im really grateful to the GiveMeABreak for his work and research, sadly i had an issue of losing the data today maybe because the drive disconnected, will pull the unit out again and check if the drive hasnt come out, another thing is i will try to 3d model a bracket to hold the converters in the default slide bracket, if anyone needs a 3d model and has a printer you could draw me a drawing and all dimensions for making a cnc model, i can easily model that, will see if that fixes my issue, i just wish there was no damage to the drive or anything else.
Sincerely,
MasterDomino

[GiveMeABreak]

Hi and welcome to the Forum.

What did you actually lose? Check the connection first and make sure you have it securely supported within the caddy. At least the beauty of the CF card is that you can't damage the data area unlike a HDD, so you wont have done any damage, You can also reset the system to defaults if needed, or again format the CF card and use the USB with the firmware on to recreate the partitions if needed.

[MasterDomino]

Wow, thats what i call a quick response, thank you very much, yes my first idea is that the drive came loose inside and disconnected, will check that most likely tommorow as today i wont be able to see a single thing, funny thing is i thinkered around for quite some time before cuz i couldnt get it to work, it was caused because i didnt know at the time that the qnx cant partition the drive itself, soo i just used the backup on it and it was working since like monday already, it really improved my unit and im sincerely thankful for all your work.
Sincerely,
MasterDomino

Edit: I dont know if i did lose anything, its just stuck in the infinite navi loading limbo with date and time flashing(typical empty system indicator), as said before, i will try tommorow or if not next week when im back at home and have my car in hands. Once again thanks and as i said if you want i can try modeling a bracket that you could 3d print to hold the drives and converters more tightly.

[GiveMeABreak]

Ok, no worries - yes it's the firmware on the USB that does the partitioning into pre-determined sizes, so you have no worries if you ever need to start from scratch - just format the CF card and reinsert the USB and it will start again. Sometimes you may get a few random resets of the unit - where it may go blank for a second, then restart and you may lose your settings. You then have to spend a bit of time getting your audio and display settings back to how you had them, but it's a small price to pay to save the unit considering how hard it is to get good quality automotive PATA HDDs now.

Mine is running ok since I did the mod, with only about 3-4 restarts (mostly within 6 months of doing the modification), so a small price to pay - and I still have my original HDD that is working perfectly in safe storage.

[Falka]

I finished this mod today. Thanks for the guide @GiveMeABreak!!

I recommend editing the original guide where you talk about copying the image back to the cf card.
I had the problem where the hdd raw copy tool blaster me with an error: "Error opening target: the process cannot access the file because it's being used by another process"
It was the (working) cf /usb card reader fault. I popped the card into the CF / ide adapter, and plugged that adapter into the ide / usb adapter and ONLY that worked. Also that way the write speed was something 40mb/sec instead of 3 ... You could remove the whole CF card reader part tbh. Also you could mention that if theres a MASTER/SLAVE _ SLAVE/MASTER jumper, SLAVE/MASTER should be bridged. It wasnt perfectly clarified and i was worried i might need to take apart the whole thing again.

Thank you again!

[GiveMeABreak]

Thanks for the feedback. I think I mentioned about the slave / Master setting in point (17).
That was probably a file access error - where it needs exclusive access to the drive.

I may actually modify it at some point to simply remove the complete cloning part of the drive and instead recommend the complete rebuild of the CF from the USB firmware, as if owners already have problems with the drive, then they may be copying them over. It's probably a better idea to create the partitions from scratch.

[Falka]

Thanks for the feedback. I think I mentioned about the slave / Master setting in point (17).

Yeah, but the labeling on the adapter could be confusing (it says MASTER/SLAVE and SLAVE/MASTER) where salve/master is the right choice.

That was probably a file access error - where it needs exclusive access to the drive.

I tried LockHunter and other apps, even linux but the it couldnt acces the card from the card reader. It wasnt a file acces error, rather a card access error

I may actually modify it at some point to simply remove the complete cloning part of the drive and instead recommend the complete rebuild of the CF from the USB firmware, as if owners already have problems with the drive, then they may be copying them over. It's probably a better idea to create the partitions from scratch.

That is very true.

Theres a way to update the POI and Maps too (as you probably already know), so it might be a good idea to share those in the fw rebuild guide. If you ever get to it.

[GiveMeABreak]

Yes, POI and maps are simple enough to do separately - but that's not what the thread is for.

Yes I meant it can't gain exclusive access to the card / drive.

I did not go into too much detail on the adaptor settings for Slave / Master as people will no doubt choose their own adapter card which will be different as to how these settings are jumpered, and it's beyond the scope of the article to go into that.

Anyway glad you have it sorted.

[MasterDomino]

Okay funny stuff, the issue i had, fixed itself, no idea what caused it, but wasnt really able to pull the radio out yet, i guess ill never know unless it happens again.

[Dogtag]

Hi Givemeabreak

Could I also get the FW please as I will attempt this drive swap also