The problem here is that most headunits just weren't designed to deal with 160GB HDDs. They were designed to work with USB pen drives. Where this gets even more tricky is that none of the manufacturers list the limits of their file systems on their websites, instruction manuals, or marketing literature.
All of the knowledge on the web is based on trial and error. I've heard that some Kenwood units have a limit of 99,999 files and 99,999 folders. I've also heard that some Sony units have a limit of 999 files regardless of the number of folders. I've heard that Clarion players support up to 255 file in 512 folders for a total of 130,560. I've also heard that it can depend on whether the drive is formatted as FAT32 or NTFS.
But there are just too many variable and too few published facts to know for certain.
I have a sony CDX-GT420U cd player for my car. It has a front usb slot on it. I bought a 160GB toshiba portable harddrive for it and the harddrive works fine. The only problem is when i put 129 folders on the harddrive, the cd player could only access 128 of them. There is a limit on the number of folders and files this cd player can access from the harddrive. Does anybody know of how i could increase the limit or if there are any car recievers out there with no limit on the number of folders the cd player can access from the harddrive.

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