iPod Classic

I have over 12,000 reallocs.

Is it possible that not using the "safely remove hardware" or not ejecting the device from iTunes could cause such a problem?

If the hard disk is damaged, can it be replaced/repaired by Apple or is it more sensible to just get a new device?

Check your iPod with Diagnostics Mode

It's possible that your iPod's hard drive has started to fail. Take your iPod and place your right thumb on the centre SELECT button and your left on the top MENU button. Press down both thumbs for about 6 seconds until your iPod reboots. Immediately move your left thumb around to the rewind button |<< on the left and hold this down together with SELECT for a further 6 seconds. Your iPod should now switch into Diagnostic Boot mode. Press MENU for Manual Test, then select IO > HardDrive > HDSMARTData to reveal your stats. For comparison here are mine taken when my 6th Generation Classic was about 2 years old:

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

Take a note of your results. When finished press SELECT & MENU for 6 seconds to reset the iPod again.

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.

Note that I've only 12 remapped sectors and none pending. To help explain what the numbers mean here is an extract from the Wikipedia S.M.A.R.T. article:

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.

Large numbers of Reallocs or Pending Sectors would suggest your drive is failing and that you may need to repair or replace your iPod. Check your stats after another attempt to update your iPod. If the numbers increase that again points to hard drive failure. While it won't be good news at least you'll know it isn't some random software problem and you can decide what to do next.

Assuming the diagnostics give the drive a clean bill of health it may still be worth checking the drive for logical file system errors.

Check iPod hard-drive for errors

Hold Select+Menu on the iPod for about 6 seconds until it resets, then hold Select+Play as soon as the Apple logo appears, again for about 6 seconds to put the machine in disk mode. Open iTunes and in the Sync tab of the preferences menu check Disable automatic syncing of all iPhones & iPods. Now connect your iPod to the computer, wait until it connects, then close iTunes.

Windows: Browse My Computer and right-click on the drive for the iPod, click Properties, then click Tools. Under Error-checking, click Check Now. Under Check disk options, select Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors (Optional - takes ages but a good idea if you've reason to suspect physical damage). Click Start.

Mac: Run Disk Utility / Repair Disk for the equivalent process.

This should find and correct any errors in the logical & physical structures of your iPod's hard drive. Once these have been fixed you can reset the iPod (hold Menu+Select) and should stand a better chance of a successful restore. It might also pay to check the status of the source drive containing your media, particularly if no errors were found on the iPod.

And if that still doesn't help try Erase your iPod - The Super Fix for most iPod Problems. Basically a low level format of the iPod’s hard drive to get around whatever problems are stopping iTunes from restoring it properly.

Once you've restored your iPod don't rush to dump all the data back exactly as it was before. I have found that lots of large or complex smart playlists can sometimes trigger constant reboots or dumping of the iPod's library. In addition, larger transfers can fail leaving data in an inconsistent state. Try this technique for populating the iPod in stages.

Break up large transfers

In iTunes select the menu item File... New Smart Playlist. Change the first drop-down box to Playlist, the next to is and the next to Music or whatever playlist holds the bulk of the content you want on your device. Tick against Limit to, type in say 10, then change the drop-down to GB, and set the last drop-down to artist. When you click OK you can enter a name for the playlist, e.g. Transfer.

Now sync this playlist to your iPod rather than your entire library. When the sync is complete modify the rule (File... Edit playlist) to increase the size by your chosen amount, then sync and repeat. You can experiment with different size increments, if it doesn't work just choose something a bit smaller until it works each time. Before long you should have all your music on your iPod. Once that's done you can move on to other media such as podcasts, videos, photos, playlists

tt2

First picture is when i try to put it in normal mode.Second one was when i try to run a Diagnostics Mode.When I put it in Disk Mode it'll show up in windows 7 but while Ipod is plugged in it'll slow my computer down so much I cant format.Can any1 tell me what could have caused this problem?

I purchased my iPod a few months ago, it's a 160GB Classic. Started having problems with it recently such as my iTunes freezing when transferring songs over and songs skipping on the iPod itself, thought this was kinda weird considering it's basically brand new. Received this error message when trying to run the HD diagnostics, any ideas on what I should do from here?

T1blade wrote:

According to what I read so far I’m pretty sure my drive is dead but I thought

it will be interesting to show how screwed my numbers are.

This iPod Classic 80GB is seven years old.

Check this out!

Well that certainly isn't a healthy state of affairs! 😮

tt2

Help!

Ipod Classic readings
Retracts: 822Reallocs: 2632Pending Sectors: 56PowerOn Hours: 860Start/Stops: 12341Temp: Current 30cTemp: Min 60cTemp: Max 241cWhen I connect the ipod to my macbook pro (late 2011, running current 12.1 itunes) it does not show up it iTunes, but it does show up in finder as a hard drive.

on the ipod, it says it has 0kb of 0kb available, but on my macbook in finder, it says it's a 120gb hard drive. Is it time to replace the hard drive, or is there a way to fix this?

As I said above...

Large numbers of Reallocs or Pending Sectors would suggest your drive is failing and that you may need to repair or replace your iPod.

If the system on device is just corrupted now but the hard drive is basically sound (even if there are some reallocs) then it should be possible to give the hard drive a low level format and restore it, provided everything else in the system is OK, e.g. cables, ports, drivers, iTunes etc. Often checking the behaviour when connecting to a separate computer can help determine if it is worth investing more time in trying to resolve things.

tt2

Eek! Try sticking it on charge for a few hours and then resetting again.

Otherwise if it looks hopeless, and there is nothing to lose, then this trick might be worth a try.

See also TS1463: iPod Displays a Red "X" Icon.

tt2

Same advice as above: Try a DFU reset as described in this thread.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4439751

If you have a PC it might help if you could ask a Mac-owning friend to restore it for you, or vice-versa.

tt2

It's been a long time since I explored the details of the iPod classic file system but I have a vague recollection that in such cases there is sometimes a left over copy of the previous database file that can be restored by renaming the files. I don't have a classic to hand or I'd poke around inside a little to see if I could refresh my memory.

Ideally you will have all your content in your local library so that restoring the iPod, while time consuming, is not really a problem. If you've been manually managing the iPod and no longer have copies of all the media then see Recover your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device. Scroll down to the bottom for the link to the iLounge article that explains how to manually extract the media from a crashed iPod.

tt2

Doesn't sound too bad. Try the DFU restore or low level format methods inCorrupt iPod classic. Google should let you know how much a replacement drive costs where you are, either DIY or as a repair service.

tt2

Indeed the temperatures don't make sense, but that could still be the result of it getting too hot at some point. Processors tend to start behaving erratically. Try the DFU Restore method shown in Corrupt iPod classic.

tt2

The temps are obviously way out but 64 current and 64 pending reallocations doesn't seem too bad. Try the DFU recovery method from Corrupt iPod classic. Review the stats again after attempting to load a few albums onto the device.

tt2

If the iPod's own database is corrupt it will appear empty even if the media is still on the drive. See the first section of Corrupt iPod classic for tips on how to recover the media from it if you don't have it elsewhere. Once you've extracted the media the DFU restore method should free up all the space and let you reload the device.

tt2

Sorry, your post history wasn't listing the week old post and I didn't see it further up the page...

Refracts: 232

Reallocs: 547

Pending Sectors: 61

Power on Hours: 1466

Start/Stop:341

Tepm Current: 28c

Temp min: 19c

Temp MAx: 41c

Any change since you posted these numbers at all? Have you tried erasing the device's hard drive as described in the section after DFU restore yet? If not that is what I would try next.

tt2