Usb drive just installed the new dnx 7100 pluged in my usb drive and it wont see it, it just say no device. is this because i am using a usb portable hard drive and not a usb flash drive. I was told by the guys at ultimate electronics here in az. that it would work with this stereo that is one of the main reasons i bought this one. I am happy with it so far but i would really like the usb drive to work. Its a 160gig drive. could that be the issue should i get a smaller one or just a flash drive. the idea was to have all my music with me and i dont want to have to spend 300 dollars on an ipod.

Another solution here....I have a Kenwood KDC-x991 deck.

Have USB Read error problems..
Anyway I had a 30gb hdd, replaced it with a 100gb (according to manual, will use up to 120gb w/out external power...)
Anyways long story short, the 100gb drive worked fine for....20-25 mins...
I was happy. Now here's the clincher. After 20-25 mins, it gave the USB read error. (instead of resetting the deck and have to make the date/time/eq/sound/setting changes I unplugged the USB drive...changed source from USB to tuner (or anything else for that matter). Then switched back to USB w/ no device installed and after 2 seconds or less, the USB Error disappeard and said no USB device connected....Anyway thats the best way (I've found) to get around the Resetting the deck. Anyway after that from then on I could not get the Hard drive to work for more than 30 seconds. It would play then give me the read error.

Tried a different drive...80gb same prob...went back to the 30, and it was fine.
Tried a 160 (I knew it wasn't going to work) and it didn't either.
Anyway was thinking what to do.....most of the USB external drives I had came with a power port on it aside from the USB port plug. Or the drives came with the Y Cable....
The long part plugs into the Kenwood deck, and then the END of that cable plugs into your USB external drive, and the small piece connects to a (get this...here we gooooo FTW) USB to Cigarette adapter!!!!!
And this worked like a charm on ALL my drives. Stable...and just plain worked great!
Anyway I hope that this will help you guys w/ your usb probs!

I don't know about the DNX 7100 but I just bought a Kenwood P-NAV 512 (KVT 512 w/navigation) for my truck and a DNX 8120 for my wife's 4 Runner and both will play from a 160 gig usb WD Passport hard drive. I bought 2 WD Passport hard drives from Best Buy for about $80 each.

Most portable hard drives that run with no power cord get the power from the USB cable. If the hard drive requires more power than the DNX7100 can provide, it will not power up properly and not be readable. It may take some testing with different drives to see which one(s) will work.

The USB drive has to be a Flash drive (they make 16GB's now) not a regular hard drive, i tried the same thing and it also did not work i asked Kenwood about it and they said that it is only made to read flash drives and first /second generation ipods (regular, video, and nano) not able to read 3rd gen., but software upgrade should be available soon. Thats what they told me.....so i hope this helps.