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Level 1

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* Please help! This is important*

My iPod has served me for many years ( or a few, I should say) and now I think it is suffering a head crash in the HDD. When I was syncing it, it wouldn't finish syncing the Mythbusters episode " Swimming in Syrup", and would start a clicking noise from the HDD. After a bit it becomes a buzzing instead of a click. iTunes stops recognizing it after a while, and it constantly shows the 'do not connect' screen! Please help! I use this iPod almost every day and it would be a loss to have my first iPod die.

Intel 20" iMac (late 2008), iPhone 3G 8GB iPod video ( 5th Gen) 30GB, Mac OS X (10.5.6)

Posted on May 27, 2009 10:26 PM

Best reply

Kenichi Watanabe

Level 8

41,572 points

Posted on May 27, 2009 11:28 PM

You should use the Restore button in iTunes to erase the iPod's hard drive and initialize its software. If data corruption is causing the problem, a Restore should resolve it. After the Restore completes, you can re-sync the iPod from your iTunes library as desired.

If the iPod is not able to Restore or if the problem recurs after the Restore, it is possible that the iPod's hard drive has become faulty.

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21 replies

May 28, 2009 4:19 PM in response to Rae Jay

If you are able to click on the button that says +Erase Free Space+ (it is not grayed out), you need to select the iPod's DRIVE (not the volume indented under the drive) in the sidebar. If you are erasing the DRIVE, you are erasing the whole drive, and there is no way to erase just the free space. You want to erase (reformat) the entire drive.

+Security Options+ is something you can try to test the drive. For now, just do a regular Erase (just click the Erase button) to see if that works. Please note the warning I put into my previous post, because if your iPod is at least partially working now, a failed erase (reformat) can make it not work.

But if it does complete successfully, quit Disk Utility and run iTunes to Restore it again. That may resolve the issue you were having with transferring video files to the iPod.

Rae Jay Author

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May 28, 2009 4:25 PM in response to Kenichi Watanabe

So, should I take this risk, or should I just leave the iPod alone, because it can still handle music and a movie? If I don't take this risk, is there still a chance that it might reoccur later?

May 28, 2009 4:33 PM in response to Rae Jay

That's your call. If it was me, I would try it because I want my iPod working properly, and if it cannot even complete an erase (reformat) in Disk Utility, then there is something wrong with it. I'm just putting the warning out there, because it is possible that it is barely working now and failing to reformat because of a physical (not data) problem in the iPod may cause it to no longer work. But if it is some kind of data (not physical) problem, the reformatting may make it work properly again.

So, if there is no physical problem with the iPod, there is no risk in reformatting it with Disk Utility. Doing another Restore in iTunes will reinstall and initialize the iPod's software.

Rae Jay Author

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May 28, 2009 4:34 PM in response to Kenichi Watanabe

I'll take the risk, and hope that it does work out. I'm just worried. I'll post the outcome.

Rae Jay Author

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May 28, 2009 6:11 PM in response to Kenichi Watanabe

My iPod may have not become a paperweight,as I feared, but it still makes very quiet noises ( that aren't normal) while syncing. It took much longer to sync than normal, but it has everything on it. There may be a small bit of physical damage, caused by old age(?). It may not live much longer, but I will cherish it for the rest of it's lifespan. Thanks so much for your help, Kenichi Watanabe.

May 28, 2009 7:11 PM in response to Rae Jay

Glad to hear it's working better.

* Please help! This is important*