Welcome to the home of TWiki.IpodHacking. This is a web log of my attempts to repair the failed disk on a 3g 30gb iPod.

Adapter

The iPod uses a smaller 1.8" Toshiba IDE drive. It can be connected to a standard IDE cable using an adapter like This one from Addonics (note, it was cheaper at provantage.com). This still only connects a 1.8" drive to a 2.5" laptop-sized plug, you'll still need another 2.5" to 3.5" IDE connector to plug it into a full sized IDE cable. Additioanlly, this adapter will not go the other direction (to allow the iPod to interface with a larger IDE drive). I've only seen hand-rolled solutions for that.

Formatting

The iPod drive must have a custom partition scheme to allow the iPod Restore application to work.

Interface

For some reason, nobody has gotten FireWire? to work after installing a new drive.

Replacement Drive

The 3rd generation 30gb drive is the Toshiba MK3006GAL? . Toshiba also makes a MK3006GAH? - the GAH suffix indicates this is a dual-platter drive and will not fit in the iPod. Likewise, the 40gb and 60gb drives (MK4008GAL? and MK6006GAL? , respectively) are dual-platter drives and wont fit the 3g either, so no upgrading. The cheapest source for new MK3006GAL? drives is eWiz.com.

UPDATE It turns out that my 3g iPod's original drive is the MK3004GAH? , which is a dual-platter drive. The case is large enough to support the larger sized drive. To do: Try a 60gb drive!

Log/Notes

Opened the iPod using a cheapo disposable knife to do the initial case separation, then used a small screwdriver to seperate the entire case on one side and opened the iPod like a book. There's connectors between the two halves of the case, I did not disconnect them.

Swapped the drives out and re-sealed the case.

Mounted drive on Windows via USB and formatted using Storage management panel.

Tried doing Restore on Mac via FireWire? - no success. After a few minutes, it says "could not unmount drive because some files are in use".

Tried doing restore on PC - worked. Required reboot of Windows after drivers loaded. Restore required reset of device using Menu & Play/Pause buttons.

Post PC restore, serial number was blank.

Returned to Mac to see if I could do a Mac restore - same issue with "could not unmount". Returned to PC to do PC restore, viola! Serial number now present! Was able to do successful PC restore.

Connecting iPod to Windows reports "USB device drivers not present". However, iTunes still recognizes the device (after 5 minute delay) and prompts to name it.

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