Building a 240gb IPOD classic 6th generation???

Before you tried doing the erase using Disk Utility, you did not specifically mention it, but you did try doing a regular Restore using iTunes, correct? Even if the new hard drive is already formatted, after it is installed in the iPod, you need to do a Restore using iTunes

Restoring iPod to factory settings

Ultimately, if doing a Restore does not give you the full capacity you expect, I think the limitation is in that iPod's hardware.

You may want to get something like this external drive case

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-8-ZIF-LIF-Hard-Disk-Drive-iPod-HDD-Enclosure-Case-USB- /190337129207

to confirm there is no fault in the hard drive itself.

I just installed a new 160gb hard drive in my 6th gen iPod 80GB, and I'm having the same issue. I've read about others reformatting the disk in Windows, but I haven't tried it.

Yes, I didn't mentioned it but iTunes made a recovery as soon as I plugged the iPod (as the HD was totally blank I guess it needed formating) Since then it's max capacity has been 127GB.

I will try to test it with an external USB case... But it seems I will have to stay with it, because for what you are saying it is very likely that this iPod has this kind of hardware limitation. I should have informed better first!

The question is.... will it work with the latest iPod Classic (7th gen 160GB).

I don't know if formatting in Windows will do something. I'll give it a try if my mother's old laptop is still working.

maybe rockbox is an option. It's an alternative firmware for the ipod. Guess it works fine, can't really tell cause when i had it installed my cable was broken, so it didn't run fine but most likely because of the broken cable. Maybe it hasn't got the 130gb limit.

I just tried Rockbox but it seems to be a very old software that doesn't detect my iPod. Or at least it doesn't show up anything. I tried to install the firmware to the iPod, but it just couldn't find it.

I know the problem is not with the iPod because I had been using it before and it worked perfectly. iTunes still detects it when I plug it in, but it keeps saying it only has 127gb....

so you had it running at 240gb and then something happened setting it back to 127gb. What changed? Windows disk management, what doet it say? Can you format it ntfs non quick setting? In rockbox install utility you should tag experimental firmwares to get a compatible firmware for you ipod classic.

No no, it was 127GB from the beginning. Nothing works (I haven't tried to format it on Windows but I can't see how that will help).

I guess it's just the hardware of the iPod that is not able to read further that capacity. I think it has something to do with the fact that this 240GB HD has like two different disks instead of one, and that's why it can only read one of them (or something like that).

I will try to format it in NTFS or FAT. Let's see what happens, and cross your fingers.

Thanks for all the help guys!!

in case it only reads one part of the disk, you might need a new chip in the ipod. It costs like 97 dollars, if the hardwarechip should be able to read the two disks inside the one disk that is. Haven't heard for windows based hard disks whether there are 2 parts in a hdd, only one needle right so maybe it's something else.

Another disk format utility where you can also make partitions might be the solution, try this one:

http://www.paragon-software.com/home/pm-express/

Another hard disk format utility to create a new partition might be a solution, try paragon partition manager free and create a new partition table primary.

think though a new software like rockbox or copytransmanager and a new format would do the trick.

Thanks, I will try parangon, but Why do I want to make a partition? I mean, I want to use as much HD as I can...
Or should I make a small partition so that the iPod recognizes the other big one?

Another thing is windows should take it for the max so 240GB, only possibility is to use paragon and remove all the partitions and make a new partition of 240 GB. First thing to do is to make windows see the disk as 240Gb disk.

ps.

maybe if you turn on autofill and manual synchronize the ipod is filled untill the max of the hard drive. Ipod is only made in 80, 120 and 160 GB right, not 128GB, so itunes should take is as a 120GB ipod then.

Rockbox is not usable at this stage. Or at least it won't install on my iPod because it does not recognize it. I guess the software is too old for my Mac version.

I am going to try to format it with windows and/or parangon to see if it can read all the full capacity. (Although at this point I think is a hardware limitation, but I'll just check it). I just hope that if I format it succesfully in Windows it wont come back to Mac with 127gb otherwise I will be stuck in the same place.

And no, I have tried the Autofill option but iTunes won't let me sync my iPod over 127gb.

you could use windows to install rockbox on the ipod, that worked for me so far but maybe not preferable though. If you choose to install it through windows tag the experimental firmware in rockbox utility then it will find the ipod 6g.

If you have a way to do it, you may want to try a Restore using the Windows version of iTunes. While I have not done the particular upgrade described in this topic, I have upgraded an older 4th gen iPod (b/w screen version) using a 64GB compact flash card (on an adapter). The largest capacity stock hard drive for the non-color 4th gen iPod is 40GB, and mine came with 20GB, so I was not sure if it could properly handle 64GB.

Using my Mac with the latest OS X and iTunes, it seemed to Restore properly, and show a capacity of about 58GB (although Disk Utility showed about 62GB). However, during the syncing of my complete iTunes library (about 45GB) to the iPod, it would always "get stuck" at some point. Once that happened, the iPod would no longer start up and run (as an iPod); it seemed to become corrupted, and I had to do another Restore to make it work again.

I have VMware Fusion and can run a Windows XP virtual machine on my Mac. I have the Windows version of iTunes installed there. I did a Restore using the Windows version of iTunes. When a Restore is done with iTunes for Windows, the iPod's hard drive is formatted using FAT32, not the Mac's native disk format. The Mac's OS can read and write the Windows FAT32 disk format, so the iPod (restored with iTunes under Windows) works "as is" when connected to iTunes for Mac. After that, when I used my Mac to sync my complete iTunes library to the iPod, it completed the sync without any problems, and seems to run reliably.

Your situation is somewhat different. It's not related to the number of platters the hard drive has. 128GB is a limit for some IDE (PATA) interfaces, including on some older Mac models (where internal hard drives larger than 128GB were only accessible up to that limit). However, if you have a way to run iTunes for Windows and do a Restore, it may be worth a try to see if having the iPod's hard drive formatted using FAT32 makes a difference.