Good sources for iPod drives?

September 23, 2005 3:46 PM

My iPod's hard drive broke. Looking for the best option to replace the drive.

I have a 4th Gen 40gb iPod. Dropped it on the floor last week, and now the menus all show 0 songs stored on it, and it doesn't register as an iPod when I plug it into my PC. Pretty clear case of a toasted hard drive, especially with all the awful grinding it now does. Right?

Replacement looks pretty easy, so I'm looking at this site which has 60 gb hard drives for $275, or 40 gb drives for $195.

eBay has a myriad of untested, as-is drives for various prices.

So has anyone here replaced their iPod hard drive? Does anyone know a source that looks better than those I've linked? Any experiences buying those untested drives off eBay?

posted by agropyron to Shopping (9 answers total)

Just buy a new iPod, that way you'll get another year's worth of warranty for your money.
posted by riffola at 4:13 PM on September 23, 2005

The reason I say that is because you never know if the problem is limited to the harddrive or extends to other components. I wouldn't invest another $200+ into an already used iPod, especially when I know the battery life will have been reduced from previous usage.
posted by riffola at 4:14 PM on September 23, 2005

Response by poster: Yeah, I'm really hesitating on spending $200 on a drive. I was hoping someone would have some ideas on getting a hard drive for a lower price. I'm going to throw away $15 on an untested as-is eBay drive as a desperate gamble.
posted by agropyron at 4:20 PM on September 23, 2005

Response by poster: But I'm still looking for other options!
posted by agropyron at 4:44 PM on September 23, 2005

Try to sell the broken iPod on ebay. (obviously you must disclose the problem) you'd be surprised what some people will pay for broken equipment.
posted by reverendX at 6:39 PM on September 23, 2005

Usually, the cheapest way to get spares is to spend a lot of money buying a broken unit. I'm one of the people that surprises reverendX, so I'll second him/her - sell the ipod for parts, buy a new one with that plus the money you would have spent on a replacement drive.

If you have time, just for thoroughness, I'd take out the HDD and plug it into your desktop's motherboard. You can perform far more powerful diagnostics from a computer. Chances are it's stuffed, but it's nice to know. Especially if you have things like your bank account # on the drive, if you're about to sell it on ebay :)
posted by -harlequin- at 7:41 PM on September 23, 2005

OK, agro, a few thoughts:
• Maybe a long shot, but try Apple's iPod troubleshooting FAQs first.
• The 4G iPods have been out for 14 months now. Are we correct in assuming yours is out of warranty (i.e., over a year old)?
• Even if it is too old, did you buy it with a credit card? Many major cards will extend the manufacturer's original warranty.
posted by rob511 at 4:20 AM on September 24, 2005

I had the same problem with my 40gb 4G. I hit it on the ground a few times and the head seemingly clicked back into place. If you can, put it in DISK MODE and reformat. I haven't had any problems since.
posted by mr.dan at 12:30 AM on September 25, 2005

When I broke my iPod mini (dropped it running, and it took a really hard hit), Apple wanted ~$250 to fix it. Well that was more than it would cost to buy a new one -- $200. Instead I sold the non-working unit to iPod Mods for $100. // Then I got a new one.
posted by fourstar at 7:27 AM on September 25, 2005