Did my iPod Classic finally kick the bucket?
January 23, 2013 1:53 AM Subscribe
Did my iPod Classic finally kick the bucket? It's a generic "Portable Audio Player" now, and Windows refuses to format it.
I've had this 80 GB iPod classic for a long time. Last night, I decided to reformat it because it was starting to feel slow and I wanted to replace all the music on it.
It didn't go so well. The iPod is now recognized by Windows 7 only as "Portable Audio Player". When I try to open it in Windows Explorer, I get "You need to format the disk in drive I: before you can use it."
Neither Winamp (my main music player) nor iTunes recognize it. I tried switching USB ports, rebooting, resetting, no luck.
When I try to format it--with any combination of settings--I get the following messages: "Windows was unable to complete the format" and "Check to see that the disk and drive are connected properly, make sure that the disk is not read-only, and then try again. For more information, search Help for read-only files and how to change them."
I did a bunch of googling and found mentions of this problem but no solution. I tried resetting, I tried entering disc mode, and I did the self check. The hard drive test gives me these results:
Retracts: 93
Reallocs: 904
Pending Sectors: 10
PowerOn Hours: 4759
Star/Stops: 930
Temp: 27c, Min 9 Max 51
Does the high number of reallocs mean that the HD is dying? Is there any hope for this thing? I would appreciate any & all suggestion what else I might try. I love my ipod but I'm not sure how I feel about buying a new one at this point. Thanks much!
I've had this 80 GB iPod classic for a long time. Last night, I decided to reformat it because it was starting to feel slow and I wanted to replace all the music on it.
It didn't go so well. The iPod is now recognized by Windows 7 only as "Portable Audio Player". When I try to open it in Windows Explorer, I get "You need to format the disk in drive I: before you can use it."
Neither Winamp (my main music player) nor iTunes recognize it. I tried switching USB ports, rebooting, resetting, no luck.
When I try to format it--with any combination of settings--I get the following messages: "Windows was unable to complete the format" and "Check to see that the disk and drive are connected properly, make sure that the disk is not read-only, and then try again. For more information, search Help for read-only files and how to change them."
I did a bunch of googling and found mentions of this problem but no solution. I tried resetting, I tried entering disc mode, and I did the self check. The hard drive test gives me these results:
Retracts: 93
Reallocs: 904
Pending Sectors: 10
PowerOn Hours: 4759
Star/Stops: 930
Temp: 27c, Min 9 Max 51
Does the high number of reallocs mean that the HD is dying? Is there any hope for this thing? I would appreciate any & all suggestion what else I might try. I love my ipod but I'm not sure how I feel about buying a new one at this point. Thanks much!
Response by poster: Right--but it doesn't show up in iTunes. The format doesn't finish.
posted by muckster at 2:30 AM on January 23, 2013
posted by muckster at 2:30 AM on January 23, 2013
Best answer: amateur guess, but try plugging it into a Mac/Linux box and seeing what happens, at least to tell whether its an OS dysfunction.
posted by mannequito at 2:48 AM on January 23, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by mannequito at 2:48 AM on January 23, 2013 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Thanks. I don't know much about Macs, but I just hooked it up to my wife's and ran the disk utility "repair disk." This is what I got:
Verify and repair
Checking file system
**/dev/disk1s1 (NO WRITE)
could not read fsinfo block (input/output error)
Volume repair complete
Updating boot support partitions for the volume as required.
ERROR: Disk Utility can't repair this disk. Backup your files, reformat the disk, and restore your backed up files.
posted by muckster at 3:03 AM on January 23, 2013
Verify and repair
Checking file system
**/dev/disk1s1 (NO WRITE)
could not read fsinfo block (input/output error)
Volume repair complete
Updating boot support partitions for the volume as required.
ERROR: Disk Utility can't repair this disk. Backup your files, reformat the disk, and restore your backed up files.
posted by muckster at 3:03 AM on January 23, 2013
This is similar to what I saw when the drive in my iPod Classic died.
posted by thelonius at 3:22 AM on January 23, 2013
posted by thelonius at 3:22 AM on January 23, 2013
Response by poster: I'm guardedly hopeful over here... I tried the "erase" option in Mac disc utility, and that seemed to work. After that, I formatted it on the Mac, connected it to Windows, where iTunes found it, restored it, reformatted it for use in Winamp, and now I'm moving music over. So far so good... but yes, it seems like it might not last too much longer. Still. Thanks all.
posted by muckster at 3:44 AM on January 23, 2013
posted by muckster at 3:44 AM on January 23, 2013
Sell it on eBay for parts.
posted by oceanjesse at 5:47 AM on January 23, 2013
posted by oceanjesse at 5:47 AM on January 23, 2013
Response by poster: why would I want to do that if it's working again...?
posted by muckster at 5:55 AM on January 23, 2013
posted by muckster at 5:55 AM on January 23, 2013
If the drive is failing, you might still be able to track down a replacement drive.
posted by dobi at 6:32 AM on January 23, 2013
posted by dobi at 6:32 AM on January 23, 2013
If the eventual (and you know... its already happening, so maybe a matter of weeks or months) permanent crapping out of your ipod drive doesn't bother you, then by all means continue to use it.
The way I use my ipod means that theres a ton of stuff on there that i do not have on my computer (ripped CDs, etc), so my drive crapping out would be a Big Thing. YMMV
posted by softlord at 9:02 AM on January 23, 2013
The way I use my ipod means that theres a ton of stuff on there that i do not have on my computer (ripped CDs, etc), so my drive crapping out would be a Big Thing. YMMV
posted by softlord at 9:02 AM on January 23, 2013
Response by poster: Oh I see--for me it's just a subset of what's in my music library, so I can't lose anything. I'll keep the thing running for as long as I can...
posted by muckster at 9:38 AM on January 24, 2013
posted by muckster at 9:38 AM on January 24, 2013
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posted by devnull at 2:23 AM on January 23, 2013