iPod Won't Connect/Boot in Diagnostic Mode

Update: noticed playlists are duplicating themselves.

New question: if I remove the hard drive from ipod and plug it into a normal enclosure, would I be able to back up my data?

MusicLuver

I was afraid of that. 😟 boo...

I wanted to back up because sometimes I edit the ID3 tags on the iPod not the original file. Would have been nice to backup my playlist content too, but I guess that won't be happening.

So looks like I'll be getting a new ipod. yay 😐

I manually manage my music so when I edit the file on ipod, only the one on ipod is edited, the file on the computer is unchanged. (As a side note, when manually manage music is enabled, all fields of ID3 tags are editable; song title, album title, artwork etc.) I don't use sync because my music is scattered in different places/computers. Plus some of it isn't even on the computers anymore. And I do use an ipod backup utility. But it only works if ipod is mounted; which mine won't do. (My last backup is old)

Maybe I'm not clear enough, but when I edit the id3 tags I'm using itunes to do it. Since most of the time I'm using ipod's playlists, (even within itunes) I edit the tags on ipod.

the fiend wrote:

So what you are doing is looking at the iPod though your iTunes Library and changing the tags of the music on the iPod, is that correct?

Precisely!

the fiend wrote:

...However, it's not that simple to back up from an iPod; your iTunes Library is the backup. Not only that, but a Restore will remove everything from the iPod and put back only what is in your Library. So once again, you will lose all those changes and your Playlists.

Yes I know, I have done multiple restores on this ipod during it's lifetime. I have a backup utility that I would use to periodically backup the ipod. I also have a way (although time consuming) of backing up the playlist content. However, all this requires ipod to be mounted. It's really my own fault, I procrastinated a little too long and now it's come back to bite me. 😟

turingtest2 wrote:

See Corrupt iPod classic. ...

Thanks, just can't get ipod to boot in diagnostic mode. 😟 Something's broke 😢

turingtest2 wrote:

..If you can find a disk rescue utility that will read the drive at low level you should be able to extract all of the data by brute force if necessary. I presume such tools are available for OS X. ...

There is probably a free tool if you're prepared to look hard enough, but generally things are free to download and will discover your recoverable data, at which point they usually want some money.

tt2

Looks like I'll be doing some serious digging, thanks for the help! 🙂

Update: I've tried a few different apps, most of which either won't see ipod at all or freeze up. This last one sees ipod, but is taking forever to scan it. It's kind of weird though, the progress bar hasn't moved in 24hrs but there's these "analyse cylinder" numbers that are slowly climbing. It says: "Analyse cylinder 9104/39023510" No idea what that means but I assume it's doing something? Not looking too promising though... 😟

Yes... very slow! It's only at 17000/39023510 (progress bar still hasn't moved) 😕 and it's been on since Friday 😟 This is just the scanning phase, I'm hoping the recovery phase will go faster.

The first utility I used wouldn't scan ipod because of a slow read access error.

Update: Still scanning and only at 59541/39023510 (still no movement on progress bar). It's been scanning for a week now, should I be worried? Wondering if I should let it continue scanning or forget it, my Mac is getting twitchy being on all this time. 😕

Ordered a replacement drive, should be here next week.

turingtest2 wrote:

I find it hard to believe that the scan could take that long. I think the longest I've waited was about 24 hours on a 1Tb drive. Perhaps a different tool would yield better results?

tt2

I was thinking the same thing. Time to find another utility.