Formatting partitions on iPod

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Level 1

0 points

Formatting partitions on iPod

Hi there, I'm new to these forums, so sorry if I step on any toes.

My current dilemma is that I really want to purchase an iPod classic, but have to know a few things first.

I really need a portable hard drive with NTFS on it, as I'm a design student and often work in huge files. Normally I would just buy a portable hard drive, but I'm trying to save money by combining my need for a portable music device and a hard drive.

I understand that iPod is default FAT32 for a good reason, so my idea was that I want to partition the drive and have one partition FAT32, and the other NTFS. I know that this can be done on a normal portable hard drive, but I have no idea if iPod will have a freak out at the change in environment with which it is made for.

Can this be done wise followers of iPod? I just can't get any support from Apple customer services, it's driving me mad! There are no FAQs for this kind of thing, and it's all they deal in . FAQs! Aarg!
<Edited by Moderator>

iMac, Mac OS X (10.5.6)

Posted on Jan 18, 2009 3:36 PM

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Answer 1

Roobles

Level 1

8 points

Jan 18, 2009 3:59 PM in response to Kyreena27

If you don't mind me asking, why does it explicitly need to be NTFS? You can still use the Fat32 filesystem for transferring files between computers, treating an ipod as secondary storage.

USB flash drives and external hard drives are typically Fat32 by default, just for maximum compatibility.

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Answer 2

Kyreena27 Author

Level 1

0 points

Jan 18, 2009 4:28 PM in response to Roobles

Thank you for your reply 🙂

It specifically needs to be NTFS because FAT32 has a 4GB file transfer limit. I work with 3D software and animating software which produces files typically larger than 4GB. I need to be able to transfer large files with zero fuss, as time is of the essence this semester and in the future when I graduate. I can't fuss around with zipping and splitting files that size.

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Answer 3

Roobles

Level 1

8 points

Jan 18, 2009 5:06 PM in response to Kyreena27

Welp. Dang. You make a very valid point. I've come across that very same limit when trying to make backups as a single tarball onto Fat32 storage. I just wasn't expecting you to be working with such large single files.

I can't offer any advice then, but my intuition is that it would be a murky endeavor. I have no idea if ipods verify drive size for their operation, and I would be very surprised if you got a concrete answer out of Apple as to whether they do or don't.

You would need to dynamically resize the partition to preserve the OS, and hope that nothing goes wrong. Personally, I would be too frightened of rendering the ipod into a very expensive portable drive. If money is an issue, in your shoes I'd buy a cheaper audio player and an inexpensive portable drive. But at the same time, I'm very cautious about these sorts of things.

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Answer 4

Kyreena27 Author

Level 1

0 points

Jan 18, 2009 7:40 PM in response to Roobles

Thanks, you're probably right.

iPod's are fragile things, I probably shouldn't mess with things too much. Pus, at least it will be an investment for the future if I get a huge expensive portable drive now, and a good priced iPod for music. Thanks. I was starting to lean that way after finding that no one seems to have done it - was just kind of clutching at straws hoping to combine the two and save a bit of money now. You know you shouldn't do something when you can't find a single person on the internet who has, or would even think about it!

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Answer 5

GLNHP

Level 3

850 points

Jan 18, 2009 8:50 PM in response to Kyreena27

Just my $0.02 - but external hard drives just are not that expensive. A 1TB drive can be found for about $125 and a 500GB for under $100. It's certainly worth the piece of mind knowing that important data is on a drive that is designed for more "mission critical" files. If you read through these forums, you will see enough posts about music lost on iPods to give you pause about using the iPod as a storage device for important files.

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Answer 6

Jeff Bryan

Level 9

61,797 points

Jan 19, 2009 2:16 AM in response to Kyreena27

http://support.apple.com/kb/TA26466?viewlocale=en_US

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Answer 7

skikayak

Level 1

8 points

Mar 25, 2009 5:10 PM in response to Kyreena27

I know that you can partition iPod's using disk utility. I am wondering if you can remove the partition and reformat the whole thing to iPod? I want to temporarily use my ipod for storing movies through iMovie until I get my new hard drive.

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Answer 8

Jeff Bryan

Level 9

61,797 points

Mar 26, 2009 2:22 AM in response to skikayak

I want to temporarily use my ipod for storing movies through iMovie until I get my new hard drive.

You don't need to partition the iPod in order to do this (and if you do, you render it useless as a music player).

Just use the iPod as a storage drive.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1478?viewlocale=en_US

I am wondering if you can remove the partition and reformat the whole thing to iPod?

Click on the link I posted earlier in this thread.

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