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

it is indeed probably a hardware issue:"

With an Archos, it is possible to replace the hard disk with e.g. a 160 GB model, but out of the (Rock)box, only up to 137 GB can be used.

ATA disks have an architecture limit at 137 GB, resp.128 GiB, resulting from LBA 28 bit sector addressing. Larger disks use an ATA6 extension called BigLBA or LBA48 to overcome this. Without this extension being used, the disk appears to have 137GB for compatibility reasons."

Only way to bypass this is getting a ipod classic logic board (99 dollars ifixit.com), so the 160gb version that goes beyond the 137GB, should solve it.

These issues have been discussed extensively on the boards at Tarkan's site.Tarkan is a UK EE who is building the best ZIF to CF adapters for iPods. (No relationship here except that I'm a satisfied customer.) He also sells well-tested CF to SD adapters, so you can use an SD card with the ZIF to CF adapter in your iPod. He has a new item coming out soon, a ZIF to mSATA adapter. mSATA drives are cheaper than CF drives for higher capacities, but they do use a lot of power.

(I don't know if Apple here will let me link to his site, but a web search for terms Tarkan, iPod, and CompactFlash will likely find it.)

Regarding the iPods discussed here: The 5, 5.5 ("thick 5"), and 7th gen all support 48-bit logical block addresses (LBA), meaning that they can all take the largest hard drive made in this form factor (240GB). They can also use a ZIF to CF adapter, or the ZIF to mSATA adapter, for any capacity tested so far. People are running 256GB (at least) CF cards and a 1 TB iPod 7th gen has been put together using an mSATA "drive".

But, bad news for the 6th gen:

A 6g that came with 80GB (the "thin" 6G) will not use more than 137GB, or 128 GiB,* of any device. A "128 GB" CompactFlash card is only 119 GiB, and will be reported as "119 GB" by an iPod, or anything else that uses SI prefixes with binary meaning.) This is because it only supports 28-bit LBA. With 28 bits you only have 268,435,456 possible LBAs. That number x512 bytes/block = 137,438,953,472 bytes.

I tested this by trying the Toshiba 240GB hard drive on a "thin" 6G, just not fitting the back, as a temporary test. The iPod sees the additional capacity but as soon as I try to actually load more than 137.4... GB of stuff onto it, the file structure on the drive is corrupted and the iPod has to be "restored". This is probably because the block address has "wrapped".

A 6G that came with 160GB (the "thick" 6g) should be able to use the same Toshiba 240GB ZIF hard drive that we've been putting in 5's and 7's. BUT, the 160GB drive you're replacing has a different connector, a "CE" connector instead of "ZIF". The Toshiba 240GB drive has the ZIF connector used by 5's, 7's, and thin 6's, so it isn't a drop-in replacement. The connector at the board end of the flexible flat cable (FFC) is the same as it always was, and apparently this is just a "mechanical" change. Tarkan does sell a cable adapter that is supposed to let you run a ZIF drive on these boards. SO... with that cable adapter, putting a 240GB hard drive in a "thick 6G" should work. I don't know if it's been tested.

What Tarkan has tested and found to NOT work, and this is confirmed by my experience, is to try to use a 256GB or larger CF card or mSATA drive adapter in a "thick" 6G. (or a thin one, for that matter.)

You'd think it would, since if you have enough bits to address a 160 GB HD, you have enough for 240GB. BUT! The firmware in the thick 6G seems to recognize hard drives vs. CF cards or mSATA adapters, and only enables 48-bit LBA for hard drives.

For CF cards or mSATA adapters (at least, all those built so far) the firmware in the "thick" 6g stays at 28-bit LBA mode and so is limited to 128 GiB. That would be "137 GB" as HDs and CF cards are sold, not that any are actually sold in that size. So you're limited to 128 GB, which your iPod will report as 119GB.

SO: The sky appears to be the limit for the 5's and 7's. But for >137 GB in a 6, your options are limited to: A "thick" 6 with its original 160GB, or maybe a "thick" 6 upgraded to a 240GB with Tarkan's ZIF cable adapter - and I don't know if the latter has been tested.

UNLESS you install Rockbox. Reports on Tarkan's board indicate that this is successful in breaking the 137GB limit. Tarkan has posted instructions for doing the install.

* In this message, "GB" always means 1000 to the third power, i.e. 1,000,000,000 bytes, as it does in hard drive, CompactFlash, SD card, and mSATA labeling. (Yes, it does.) "GiB" always means 1024 to the third power, i.e. 1,073,741,824 bytes. Windows, and iPod classic firmware, and Apple MacOS until recent versions, say "GB" when they mean "GiB".

HI. Did you ever get an answer to your question about swapping in a 7th gen board into your 6th gen classic?

There have been some updates on this subject over time. I'm just about to install 128Gb SDXC into Tarkan's iFlash bundle, which is the cheapest way of repairing a failed dual-platter iPod HDD: not by much, I think the total cost for his adapter and 128Gb SDXC card is going to be around £75.00 GBP as opposed to £90.00 GBP quoted for 160Gb drive replacement (they're getting rare - don't leave it for long if you had a dead one in your draw).

For the 'early'' 6g 80Gb and 160Gb 'Classics,' the maximum size that can be used if you still want to use iTunes (I do) is 128Gb, and this applies to both the 6g Classic (80gb Thin) and the 6.5g Classic (160gb Thick) models. According to guidance on compatibility shown on Tarkan's website, the issue with these models is the 6th Gen models are limited to LBA28 addressing by Apple, so these models will only show and use up to 128Gb of the storage installed. Other iPod models have LBA48 addressing, so do not have the limitation. If you want to get around the issue, thereis a 'hack' to 'jailbreak' these iPods from iTunes and use EmCore / Rockbox, (which isn't yet even fully approved as functioning by Rockbox) for the 6g iPod Classics if you want to avoid Apple's LBA28 addressing issues, so contrary to other suggestions, yes, it CAN be done - if you can be bothered, and have the time to manually manage your music transfers. I don't!

There are other reasons that modders over the years have preferred the lightweight iPod Video 5th generation over later models. Not only did these lend themselves easily to installing bigger HDDs before the CF, e-SATA and SDXC card adapters became available, but the 5th Gen Video was the last iPod to use the redoubtable Burr-Brown digital-to-analogue converter, so beloved by Hi-Fi aficionados. It will depend whether or not you want headphone output or iPod dock out to analogue as your primary listening, but I can hear a big difference in both through even average headphones and direct-to-car-stereo outputs: much sweeter and less digital.

I digress - Tarkan also makes some other points about the practical restrictions of 'upgrading' to higher capacity CF, e-SATA and SDXC cards to replace warn of failing drives or improve capacity - forgive if the formatting goes West on this...

Tarkan is working on a 1TB SSD mod, but in the meantime my next project is to convert a 5th Generation iPod Video to e-SATA 500Gb, which, as I use Apple Lossless files, should not take the content anywhere near the 20,000 +/- practical track limit shown above. Beyond that, I'm on the hunt for another iPod 5.5g 80Gb Video to mod, so if you have one in great nick you'd like to sell!....!!!

As per Rick Brant, I have no relationship with Tarkan or his website - Google 'Takran's Bored.' I can't believe he seems to be the only guy promoting these solutions. Apple scored an massive own goal when they dumbed-down and down-sized the iPod range to the implausible Touch, which sounds so much worse than the earlier iPod 'proper' models.

hey

so the hdd on my classic 120 gb just died and i decided to replace it. just to clarify what the parts i need are.

the sdxc 128 gb card

compact flash to sd adapter

and zif to cf adater

is that ok ?

I've tried to make 128gb ipod out of my 80gb/ Got ssd and zif adapter board. After installing all these parts ipod shows red cross, it doesn't load in disk mode, itunes does not react on it, but in diagnostic mode ipod can get access to ssd and shows information such as serial number, SMART data. Also ssd works perfectly with PC. Have you faced problems like that, or maybe you know what can be the reason?

The person who runs this web site has a lot of experience. If you bought a "generic" adapter on eBay or Amazon (not specifically designed for use in iPods), you may want to review all the information he has posted. It may be helpful in getting your combination of storage and adapter to work.

https://www.iflash.xyz/

What is the 128GB module you used? Compact flash card, SD card, mSATA SSD, other? And the "zif adapter board"? Can you link to the actual items?

I used Kingspec msata ssd and this adaptor http://www.ebay.com/itm/380886934716?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STR K%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

I guess the problem may be in adapter because it's not designed specifically for ipod

One bullet point on the item's description is interesting...

"Connect Mini PCI-e mSATA SSD as 1.8" ZIF SSD, update SSD of your IPOD, PAD or laptop easily. (Do not fit for Apple product)."

Seems to contradict itself, unless the seller is using "IPOD" generically (like a lot of people do), to mean "digital music player." If it's not compatible with actual iPods, good thing you did not pay very much for it. 🙂

On the iFlash web site, there an interesting post about his "1Tb 7g iPod Classic" (using mSATA)

https://www.iflash.xyz/1tb-ipod-classic-restore-sync-video/

The interesting bit is that he used FireWire charging to get it to work reliably. This is done with a special cable (that Apple sold many years ago for use with the 3rd gen iPod) that connects to USB for data syncing AND (simultaneously) connects to a FireWire power adapter for power. Apparently, FireWire supplies more power (and a higher voltage) compared to USB. (Most recent Apple devices cannot even use FireWire charging, but the last iPod classic still has that capability.) Perhaps that is your problem. Your combination of adapter and mSATA card may require more power than the iPod can provide, so the storage is not accessible.

I haven't upgraded any 5th gen or later iPods, but I've had success upgrading my older 3rd gen iPod, 4th gen iPod, and iPod mini using Compact Flash and SD cards (on adapters) to replace their hard drives. The adapters for the older iPods are different, and not the ones on the iFlash site. I used "generic" adapters purchased on eBay and Amazon (like you). SD cards are now quite affordable. 64GB SDXC cards are about $20-25, and I've seen 128GB SDXC cards for less than $50. Compact Flash cards at the same capacities are usually more expensive. There's no need to buy the more expensive ones with faster access speeds; speed is not critical for use in an iPod (stock hard drive is slow). Both types seem quite power efficient (battery lasts a long time per charge).

https://www.iflash.xyz/how-to-rockbox-installation-on-ipod-classic-using-new-boo tloader/