Fix your iPod with a Flash Upgrade

Well, a few weeks ago, I had a 5th gen iPod video dropped into my lap as the owner had tired of not getting it to work and it was out of warranty.  They knew of my geekiness so they gave it to me.

I ripped it apart and found that the drive was making the ever classic sounds of death.  I ordered a cheap adapter to test it on a PC with Spinrite.  No dice at all.  It would not be recognized at all.  All tinkering hope was not lost as when I was looking into adapters, I stumbled onto this…

http://www.tarkan.info/20080115/tutorials/iflash-ipod-compact-flash-mk2

What this is, if you have not read the link yet, is an adapter that allows you to replace the hard drive in your 5, 5.5 and 6th gen iPod video/classic with a compact flash memory card.  It sells for about $25 delivered so it is not at all expensive.  The only real issue is that you are restricted to a max storage size of 32 GB as that is the largest CF card available right now.

Where I am a pack rat, I have a 4 GB Sandisk Ultra II CF card that is unused since I bought my HTC Touch.  I have ordered an iFlash and will be installing the 4 GB card in this old iPod.

As is pointed out by the adapters designer and seller, it makes little cost sense to try to put a 32 GB card in your iPod as they are still close to $100.  However, a 16 GB CF can be found for under $50 quite easily and for under $40 if you look hard enough.  At this point, the price for replacing the dead drive in a 30 GB 5th gen iPod video starts to look expensive in comparison.  Also, the dangers of another dead drive are always there in the shadows if you put another hard drive in your iPod.  If you switch to a CF card, you make your iPod nearly indestructible compared to a hard drive.  There is also the added benefit of the greatly reduced power consumption when using flash memory.

Another interesting toy out there is the existence of a SDHC to CF adapter.  They sell for about $20 and will let you put a SDHC memory card into devices that use the CF interface; like the iFlash.  What this means is that short of any incompatibilities that may exist with these SDHC to CF adapters, it may be possible to see a lenghty continued use and upgrading of your older previously dead iPod.  There are supposed to be 64 GB CF and SDHC cards on the way but they are not available from any of the major vendors.  As they start to arrive, the price for a 32 GB should drop and you can just pull the smaller card and replace it with a larger one if you feel so inclined.

Once the iFlash arrives and I install it, I will write back on my experience.