(7th Gen) iPod Classic Disk Scan mode

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(7th Gen) iPod Classic Disk Scan mode

Does anyone know if there is a the built-in disk scan in the very latest iPod classic (160GB) and if so howd do you invoke it?
May I politely ask you not to reply with suggestions unless you actually have done this on the 2009 classic model yourself - I ask this as posters in numerous forums refer to the methods for the older classics, and other iPods, and I've tried all the previous key combinations posted (and several that aren't mentioned!) with no success. It also doesn't appear in the diagnostics menu or any manual I've seen so far.
Thanks in advance/

Windows XP

Posted on Nov 19, 2009 8:04 AM

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Answer 1

turingtest2

Level 10

272,725 points

Nov 19, 2009 6:56 PM in response to trgzbaby

trgzbaby wrote:
Does anyone know if there is a the built-in disk scan in the very latest iPod classic (160GB) and if so howd do you invoke it?

To the best of my knowledge, there is no built-in disc scanner on either the 5th gen or 6th gen inc. late 2009 model (as it happens I have access to one of each to check). What results do you get on the HDDSMARTData page? For comparison here are mine:

Retracts: 887
Reallocs:12
Pending Sectors:0
PowerOn Hours:2174
Start/Stops:884
Temp: Current 27C
Temp: Min 10C
Temp: Max 50C

With modern disc drives sectors are no longer marked bad by a disc scan, if the SMART firmware detects a sector it has trouble accessing it will attempt to invisibly reallocate it to a spare area of the disc. A large number of pending sectors would suggest your hard disc was unhealthy...

tt2

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Answer 2

trgzbaby Author

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Nov 20, 2009 1:01 AM in response to turingtest2

Great reply, thanks. I'd seen something that mentioned 'Pending sectors'. My report:
Retracts: 12
Reallocs: 6424
Pending Sectors: 0
PowerOn Hours: 76
Start/Stops: 4109
Temp: Current 23c
Temp: Min 16c
Temp: Max 57c (I think I may synch my library in chunks from now on!)
Sounds like I can rest easy.
Essentially I was getting Windows Delayed Write errors until I did the re-registering of the dll's (as suggested by Apples phone support) but after I'd fixed that I was still getting a stall at a couple of points (mainly at 4GB but also at 10GB) when synching from scratch and thought I might still have an HD problem. However I've done a few more 'restore & resynchs' and this hesitancy is no longer apparent - I suspected that something had finally marked some sector as bad.
I have recently gleaned from several posts that:
i) Pending Sectors were bad sectors waiting reallocation by good sectors.
ii) Reallocs were sectors marked bad and replaced by good ones (so essentially not going to get used again).
iii)Retracts are the number of times the heads were retracted during an (unexpected?) power-off event.
So I guess my high number of Reallocs and zero Pendings must indicate a bit of a problem that's now fixed though at the expense of a fair few sectors - I've no idea of the size of a sector and how many might represents a major problem though.
Thanks again.
Paul

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Answer 3

turingtest2

Level 10

272,725 points

Nov 20, 2009 3:37 AM in response to trgzbaby

If this is an iPod Classic Late 2009 model then it can't have had more than two months of use. I'd be very unhappy with 6424 reallocations. Assuming that you've not subjected it to extremes of heat or shock I don't think a brand new drive should have that level of failed sectors... I'd want it swapped out. My daughter's similar model, which I was checking last night just to make sure there were no changes to the diagnostics options, has no reallocs at all. Mine has had two years of solid use, including the odd tumble to the floor from waist height, and has just 12. My older 160 has 9,751,091 sectors, each 16kb in size. Although 6,424 reallocs represents less than 0.1% of the disc surface I would think it suggests that worse is to come and is too high to be acceptable in a new device. Don't forget these faults have only been detected in the areas of the disc that you've already tried to use. If you've used say 25% of the disc then 75% is still unknown territory. I've no idea if Apple have an offical policy in this area but I would advise that you contact them for a warranty replacement.

Best of luck,

tt2

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Answer 4

trgzbaby Author

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Nov 20, 2009 4:01 AM in response to turingtest2

Thanks for that (again). Yup it's a new one (Amazon 15-Sept-09). No shock's or drops, and as for heat then the 57C says it all (and that must have been generated during synchs).
I'd say it's easily topped 50% full with music and podcasts but I'm going to fill it right up with photos (I have a couple hundred GB of tiff's) and just see if that number climbs. It was useful to see some numbers BTW.
I'd agree, it was my gut feeling that something was awry hence my search for a disk scan mode - I think I'll drop into the nearby Apple store when I'm passing Exeter tomorrow and see what they say.

p.s. if you're actually an automated response then you've successfully passed the Turing test!

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Answer 5

turingtest2

Level 10

272,725 points

Nov 20, 2009 4:15 AM in response to trgzbaby

trgzbaby wrote:
p.s. if you're actually an automated response then you've successfully passed the Turing test!

🙂

tt2

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