External Hard Drive on Pure Android 4.4

[AC Question]

I quite fancy the idea of fitting a double din android unit in my car. There are loads on TheBay for £200+
But all the descriptions I've read say that they don't support an external hard drive and only support up to 32gb flash drives.

I have a nexus 7 which has Timurs USB custom rom and is rooted, I can easily connect to an external 200gb SSD utilising an NTFS mounter, and OTG cable.

My questions are:

Can I access the HDD on the nexus because I have a Timurs custom rom, or is it because it's rooted and I'm using an NTFS mounter.
In other words, If I had a standard 4.4 rom, but rooted, could I still access an external hard drive ?

The car unit is described as having 4.4.4 pure android. If the car unit is rooted and I install an NTFS mounter, would I still be able to access the HDD like I can on the Nexus.

Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated.

 

[chanchan05]

It could simply be that the port on the car unit does not supply enough power to activate an external hard drive.

 

[keat63]

Maybe i'll have to start asking the suppliers