There are a lot of memory modules out there that are small in size but fairly large in storage. Look at the fact that you can get a USB mass storage device that is only a bit larger than the connector.
You must have other constraints you aren't telling us. For instance:
The more information you can provide about what you need (hard requirements) vs what would be nice to have would help us point you in the right direction.
Just get a tiny one like this. Even though mine 6's USB ports are in the armrest, they face up so something small is still nice. A bigger stick would jut upwards and could be inadvertently bonked reaching in for something.
get yourself one of these. They are too small/light to move once plugged in. Any brand will work (I like Samsung or Sandisk), as long as you get that form factor.
I live down a 3 mile long unpaved road and had the exact same problem you speak of until I went out and bought a tiny USB drive. Havent heard a jitter or a skip in months.
Protip: My Kenwood stereo says it only supports 32GB drives, but it's using a 128GB perfectly right now - you just have to format the drive as Fat32.
You can buy the same 32GB USB stick for less then $10. The OS is free https://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Cruzer-Low-Profile-Drive--SDCZ33-032G-B35/dp/B00812F7O8/ref=sr_1_4?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1476189801&sr=1-4&refinements=p_n_size_browse-bin%3A1259716011
I really like the SanDisk Cruzer Fit drives. They are incredibly tiny and extremely cheap. I have 7 or 8 of them in various sizes. Mostly 8GB and 16GB. But I also have a 64GB one that I put music on and use in my car. The drive has seen daily use for well over a year and has never once given me a problem. I highly recommend ordering one, if not several in various sizes.
For most of the classic consoles and arcade games when it comes to emulation, what you store the roms on will not impact gameplay as the roms are loaded into memory and then accessed from there. The only impact you may see may be the initial load times of the roms. For some of the larger games that may require streaming from the drive I can't say, but most hard drives are going to have read/write times faster than an SD card. I think it is also advised not to use the SD card for anything that requires an excess amount of read/write cause it will wear out the card eventually.
With a USB drive, if it doesn't have it's own power supply and is powered through USB you may need to invest in a powered hub, but you may be able to get away without it.
Depending on the size of your collection you may be able to get away with using a USB flash drive. They tend to be small and will keep everything more compact.
I use the SanDisk Cruzer Fit, it has an extremely low profile, and an LED for drive activity: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00812F7O8/ref=twister_B00JO6RO8C?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
Sorry, I don't think I can help much. Sometimes I see that on mine too (unknown artist and song). This audio player app on this system is really rather wonky. Most of the time, mine works OK, but it hiccups sometimes, like resetting itself to the first song on the stick.
All I can tell you is how I prepared my USB stick: I used a Sandisk Cruzer Fit (seen here ), I used my Linux PC to copy my music library over using "rsync -av", and then I used the "fatsort" program on it so songs would play in order.
It is really easy to set up in 9.3. I think it was only implemented after they moved boot to ZFS.
I just bought another of the really small USB sticks and stuck one on the back and the other inside. You could buy one of those internal USB header adapters if you wanted to keep them both inside and had extra internal USB header.
I have a 32GB FAT32 drive plugged in to my 2011 and it works just fine. Everything is in folders, too. After a few minutes, it appears to catalog everything and it works just like an iPod (playlists, artists, albums, etc.)
For the record, it's this guy.
What is your car doing? Does it not even give you the USB option when you plug it in?
I definitely love the bluetooth features for music. Driving an '03, of course this wasn't an option but when I replaced the deck with an aftermarket one I absolutely love the option of bluetooth / USB drive / AUX port.
I bought this tiny flash drive that's smaller than my thumb nail and play off that primarily.
Buy one or two of these to use when you're away from your home and then transfer the photos to a larger external at home.
I considered one of these but in the end just went for one of these tiny Sandisk Cruzer Fit USB 2.0 32GB USB keys. They are ridiculously small, to the point of them being incredibly difficult to even try to pull out and you kind of need pliers or something if you do want to remove it.
I am using this USB Drive (note that not all flash drives work) - SanDisk Cruzer Fit CZ33 32GB USB 2.0 Low-Profile Flash Drive- SDCZ33-032G-B35 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00812F7O8/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_Pe6jCbQCPZFVN
And I am using this USB Hub for two-player support - Targus 4-Port USB 2.0 Hub (ACH114US) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0046TOQ8S/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_Yh6jCbXWRPJ3P
So around $20 worth of extra accessories. But people are able to get the PSClassic now for pretty cheap, even $35 with spoofing Target.
Using a 32GB Sandisk micro-cruzer drive with no issues.
Switched to a 128GB micro cruzer drive, works fine.
I did not experience what you are describing, but I also only have about 40GB of music on there, the drive was not full.
Looks like they do not offer the 128GB version any longer: https://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Cruzer-Low-Profile-Drive-SDCZ33-032G-B35/dp/B00812F7O8/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1505225837
EDIT: found it: https://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Ultra-128GB-Flash-SDCZ43-128G-G46/dp/B00YFI1EBC
I use a 64 GB SanDisk in my '14 Si. Works great and is super stealth.
It was this one from Amazon.
Micro USB + Liberkey + Addon of Awesome = WIN!
It will work just fine. Your current external HDD has a very slow rotating disk connected over a very fast interface, so it may be that an SD card will actually be faster.
Also, consider a small flash drive that stays inside your Macbook — like this one, or an adapter that takes a MicroSD card inside the SD card slot — like this one.
Flash drives are flash memory, meaning they dont use a spinning disc drive like harddrives do. Why it has a less chance of failing is because if you were to drop a flash drive, vs a harddrive, the flash drive will win.
I remember dropping my 500gb portable harddrive just 2 feet from the ground, after that I found out that I just bought a 100 dollar brick/paperweight.
Thats why you hear people buying Solid state drives(bigger versions of flash memory) to partition their Operating systems to it, so that if the regular harddrives were to fail, they would still have an operating computer.
You can drop 20 bucks on a 32gb flash drive if you wish
EDIT: Heres a free option: Dropbox
Dropbox is "cloud" storage, meaning anything you put in dropbox can be accessed from any computer you log into. Its very similar to emails, as all your emails is on cloud storage, dropbox can be used as a direct storage device that can be used from any device(smartphone, home computer, work computer, etc.) They have a 2gb version you can sign up for, and its completely free. And seeing that you have pictures, it should take a while before you fill up that 2gb of space.
No its this one: 32gb Sandisk USB Drive.
From left to right:
Keyring
Everything Else
Buy one or two of these for photos and music and you will be fine.
For those interested, it's called the SanDisk Cruzer Fit and you can buy it on amazon for $24: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00812F7O8/
I really prefer the low profile USB sticks for the Ouya. I can leave one in even during transport. Only 32 GB though.