Hard Disk location
 

I have an new x5 on order and understand that the latest and greatest navigation systems use a hard drive rather than the traditional DVD based storage.

My question is, where is the hard drive actually located? If it is in the interior then it must be subjected to extreme heat in the summer and would potentially make a lot of noise as well. If it is in the exterior somewhere then it is potentially subjected to extreme cold and moisture as well. Neither of these sound ideal unless they have some sort of ruggedised drive in place?

X5muffin.

Don't know if it's accurate as I've never actually checked.

But the service manager at the dealer told me it is a solid state drive. :dunno:

I know with these POS runflats both my X5 M Sport and X5M have taken some pretty hard hits from what were really pretty small holes in the road and I've never had any skip in music.

I've also never heard any noise. But it does take a LOOOOOONNNNGGGG time for the software to boot, more so on the M than the M Sport it seems...

Might be so for the '11 MY, but on our 10-10 build the HDD is not solid state - the thing whirrs and clatters away, just like an office PC.

Does it sound like whirring and clattering from behind the dashboard? The constant DVD access in the 3 series nav drives me mad sometimes, I hope the hard disk is quiet in comparison!

Yes, from the central dash. Really only an issue in the garage when first entering the vehicle, before diesel ignition. Distinctly NOT the DVD drive,
which is another sound altogether (known from playback of mp3 music on a disk). All digital chattering is rendered irrelavent by the [gentle] thrumm of the the turbo-diesel powerplant, mind you!

Oh, look who has the fancy NEW iPod features! :)

Well, it's definitely a mechanical hard drive. I've actually only heard it ONCE, so it is pretty quiet. It's probably a 2.5" (notebook) hard drive. It is right behind the front center dash.

It is all in all very quiet.

My only complaint is access does not seem as fast as it should, compared to a DVD solution, but it's not bad.

I still wish I could figure out why it RANDOMLY decides to take its sweet time "Starting Navigation." The DVD-based Lexus was always (literally) instant-on.

Oh, my apologies - I just reread that and realized it might not be concise.

By "front center dash" I mean it sounds like it's stashed right behind the area between the climate control and the display. It's not quite loud enough for long enough for me to locate it more precisely.

(and for that matter, I only here it when I'm ripping a CD to it - I never hear it otherwise)

If you think the new HD systems are slow then you have never used to old DVD based systems. I have been super impressed by the new speed. I swear the back up cam in my 07 was useless. If I started the car, messed around then I could actually use it. Otherwise I would be driving forward before it would kick in.... I think the HD systems work quite well

thanks for all your help!