Diagnostics Test: Please plug FW?

Retracts: 889
Reallocs: 12
Pending Sectors: 0
PowerOn Hours: 2202
Start/Stops: 894
Temp: Current 24c
Temp: Min 10c
Temp: Max 50c

*Reallocated Sectors Count*
Count of reallocated sectors. When the hard drive finds a read/write/verification error, it marks this sector as "reallocated" and transfers data to a special reserved area (spare area). This process is also known as remapping, and "reallocated" sectors are called remaps. This is why, on modern hard disks, "bad blocks" cannot be found while testing the surface – all bad blocks are hidden in reallocated sectors. However, as the number of reallocated sectors increases, the read/write speed tends to decrease. The raw value normally represents a count of the number of bad sectors that have been found and remapped. Thus, the higher the attribute value, the more sectors the drive has had to reallocate.

*Pending sector count*
Number of "unstable" sectors (waiting to be remapped, because of read errors). If an unstable sector is subsequently written or read successfully, this value is decreased and the sector is not remapped. Read errors on a sector will not remap the sector (since it might be readable later); instead, the drive firmware remembers that the sector needs to be remapped, and remaps it the next time it's written.

So close! At least iTunes recognised it and attempted the restore... but then it hit:

Which, after a look at "More Information", I take it to mean my hard drive is f'd. Ah well. It was definitely a good shot and thank you for the DFU tip! Now's it's a debate as to whether I'm brave enough to replace a HD on a 160GB Classic or not. I'm thinking not...

Thanks again!

Actually, we had the same thought.... I wondered if I could now get info from the Diagnostics section (which had failed previously) and I was able to as follows:

Going to pull all other USB, reboot and give it one more go...

So, I have an iPod Classic, 160gb. My HDD crapped out on me and so I bought an iFlash adapter to replace the HDD with flash media. I bought a 256gb SD card and installed everything and it worked fine. Restored as advertised and loaded my entire iTunes library. Used it for a while and then it started acting up....don't remember what it was, has been awhile, but I figured I would just restore it again and reload my music. Well, I tried that and now I cannot restore it to save my life. Not sure what is going on exactly, however, I have used Disk Utility to reformat it and iTunes will recognize it and tell me I need to restore it, but I constantly get error messages telling me it can't be identified properly or it can't be restored.

It is almost always in Disk Mode when I connect it and if I try to do a soft reset, the Apple logo appears for a few seconds then restarts again, endlessly until either I put it back in Disk Mode or the battery dies. If i do a DFU reset, it shows me the screen with the USB plug and "Use iTunes to Restore" and I get the same results in iTunes.

I have checked the flash card and it has no errors. I have used numerous cables, bought new ones, etc... I have plugged it into my wife's Window laptop and it is fine; I can restore it and then plug it into my MBP and begin to sync it, but it never stays connect long enough to finish the sync. It disconnects after maybe 10 minutes and then i get the same message as above. I have gone into Diagnostics mode and gone to IO>HardDrive>HDSmartData and all I get are Temp data, no SmartData.... Sometimes it does not even give me that, only the dreaded, Can't Open and Drag Halt! flashing at the bottom, but if I restart it and go back in I can typically get it. As you can see from the below screenshot, it shows that SMART status as Not Supported.... I take it that's bad.

I guess what I don't understand is that it is not an HDD, it is flash memory, I restored it before, why will it not restore again and what happened to the SMART status? I did have to replace the logic board on this baby, so I have a feeling that maybe that might be the problem perhaps? Not sure what else to try...

The total reallocs isn't that high as yet. Your device may still have some useful life if you reformat the drive and restore.

See this post for tips on scanning/reformatting the drive and repopulating the device.

tt2

Retracts is the number of times the heads have been removed from the disk. Possibly equivalent to number of resets the device has had. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S.M.A.R.T.#S.M.A.R.T._information

Try the DFU restore as described above. If the iPod has been charged up you should be able to get it to reset and into the diagnosics screen unless something is very wrong with it.

tt2

The max temp isn't supposed to get above 50. If this unit is still in warranty, and you haven't mistreated it, then I'd contact Apple to see if they will replace it for you. Failing that try the the DFU restore method shown in Corrupt iPod classic and see if that stabilizes things at all

tt2

See Corrupt iPod classic. 8 pending sectors isn't really too bad, but if they hold a directory or part of the iPod's database then you're in trouble. The DFU restore method should let you clear those out into reallocated sectors. Note your device is not supposed to get above 50c. Excess heat is bad for the components.

tt2

See the reformat drive section ofCorrupt iPod classic. Perhaps a full format, followed by a surface scan, followed by DFU restore would work, but only if there is a limited portion of the drive that is now unreliable which can be identified and ignored in future. If matters are getting worse then it is probably time to admit this unit has reached the end of its useful life.

Part of the difficulty is that problem areas of the disk are normally only detected once something has been written to and then there is an attempt to read back. When this happens with media items the device can take a number of tries to read the data, then give up and start playing the next song. If the data the device is trying to read contains a folder or part of the devices database then it is more likely to creash, either when you are playing it, or when iTunes is trying to load content.

tt2

As you say, apart from the temps the stats look fine. Your issue may be with the iTunes installation and the registration of the iPod Service rather than the device, particularly if you can communicate with it using Ubuntu. If it no longer works with Ubuntu either then perhaps the port is clogged/damaged resulting in the USB failure.

See Troubleshooting issues with iTunes for Windows updates for advice on rebuilding iTunes.

tt2

If iTunes is opening automatically and interfering with using Disk Utility, you should put iPod into Disk Mode first

How to put your iPod into disk mode - Apple Support

Connect iPod with iTunes not running, and open Disk Utility. In Disk Mode, iPod should act like a USB storage device.

For an iPod that is formatted for Windows, the correct format is actually FAT32. Not NTFS. And its Scheme is Master Boot Record. A Mac treats NTFS as read-only, so that may be the reason for the odd results in Disk Utility.

As an FYI - A better thing to try if connecting it to a Windows PC (assuming it has iTunes installed), is to do a Restore using iTunes for Windows. Then, it gets formatted properly for an iPod that's used with Windows. Back on the Mac, you can do a Restore (to reformat it for Mac), but you can also just use it with Windows format. iTunes (on a Mac) does not care because Macs can read and write FAT32. In fact, my old 3rd gen iPod (2003 model) with a 64GB SDXC card (on an adapter) only works reliably with Windows format. It's synced to my iTunes library on my Mac, but I did its last Restore using iTunes for Windows (using my VMware Fusion Windows XP virtual machine).

Back to your current situation... I would put it into Disk Mode first, and see if you can Erase it in Disk Utility using the specifications I described in my previous reply. Then, Restore it again using iTunes.

Weird, the links work for me. The relevant bit tells you to format the drive from Windows.

ERASE YOUR iPOD (WINDOWS XP)

• Open "My Computer" on your Desktop
• Select "IPOD". It should be listed next to your C drive.
• Right click and chose "Format"
• Select "FAT 32" and <Format>
• Reboot Computer

ERASE YOUR iPOD (WINDOWS VISTA/7)

• Open "My computer" on your Desktop
• Right-click on iPod
• Click "Format"
• Select "Restore Device Defaults"
• Press "Start"

after which you restore as normal in iTunes. It does a more thorough job of preparing the device for the restoring but it still can't fix unreliable sections of the drive. If, however, previous use has flagged up all currently unreadable sectors then the process should have caused these to be mapped out and it should be possible to get some more use out of your iPod.

tt2

oh ok cool i'll try that, thank you very much!