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iPod Classic Reformatted (SOLVED)
Thinkjunk
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So, after receiving a disk read error on my iPod classic that made iTunes and Winamp not recognize it, I put it into disk mode and then reformatted it. Yes, Reformatted. Not restored. It was my hubris not to use restore, I realize, as I didn't know the iPod was loaded with preloaded firmware that could be wiped from the disk. I am paying for it in the bricking of my iPod. Is it possible to fix such a wipe, and if so, how would I go about doing it?
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edit: I meant rockbox or something like that, I thought that it was called jailbreaking at some point
edit: Using command prompt now to format iPod in FAT32, gonna run Rockbox and see if it works when it completes.
Will do.
How does that include the Classic?
Edit: to be more precise : http://www.rockbox.org/wiki/IpodClassic1G
I left the command prompt to format the iPod as FAT32 (It took about two hours) and when I checked back on it today it said that the volume was too big for FAT32. Suggestions for another way to format it on 7?
Edit: After much spelunking in cyberspace I found a program to format the disk in FAT32 called GUIFormat. iTunes still doesn't recognize, nor Rockbox obviously.
VICTORY.
Thanks for all your help, guys.
I have an iPod Classic 80GB version 1.1.2 and still use it to this day. I'm running Windows 7 64-bit. The iPod had some software troubles and needed a restore. I downloaded the latest version of iTunes (12.7.1) and the moment I plugged in my iPod, iTunes would freeze. If I plugged in my iPod before loading iTunes, it would sort of half boot and then freeze, forcing a task kill in both cases.
My first thought was to disable autosyncing in an attempt to connect the iPod without it trying to communicate with iTunes. Unfortunately, I found that option was already turned off, but I would still try this before doing anything. Should be a checkbox in Preferences>Device.
After finding this thread, I thought maybe it was the latest version of iTunes that was causing me grief. So I backed up my library (export Library.xml), uninstalled iTunes 12.7.1 and attempted to download an older version from here:
https://support.apple.com/en_GB/downloads/itunes
I first tried iTunes 10.7, but it gave me some error about not being able to install. Figures. So I tried iTunes 12.1.3 and this solved my problem! After importing the Library.xml as a playlist, I was able to restore my library and manipulate the iPod in iTunes. No more freezing. Restoring it brought it back to the same firmware 1.1.2, which is still apparently the latest version.
So as far as I can tell, iTunes did in fact break iPod Classic functionality with the latest update. If you are having trouble, download an older version. Perhaps iTunes will release a firmware update for iPod classic to make it compatible with newer versions of iTunes, but I'm not quite sure how you'll be able to apply such an update if iTunes doesn't work! Maybe a future iTunes update? Either way, I think it's safe to say iPod Classic support is officially dead if it wasn't already.
My next step would have been to format it without iTunes because I suspected some sort of software corruption might be causing the iTunes freezing. iPod Classic needs to be formatted as FAT32, but unfortunately Windows will not format anything more than 32GB to FAT32. Only options were exFAT and NTFS, neither of which are compatible with the iPod. The following website purports to allow formatting on larger devices to FAT32. I downloaded and was ready to use it, but never got the chance. If your iPod is really messed up, this might be an option to look at. Seems fairly easy to use.
http://www.ridgecrop.demon.co.uk/index.htm?fat32format.htm
Go for the GUI where it says "try it here" on the top of the page.
This was definitely long-winded and probably unnecessary, but I know how frustrating it can be to try and piece together a tech support solution from a million different threads that all contain a fraction of both the problem and solution. Hopefully this problem identification and troubleshooting process is more comprehensive to help somebody out with a one-stop shop. Good luck!