iPod My iPod's screen is broken, and the hardrive has died. Help.

[thewasteland]

So, about three months ago, while jogging, I tripped, and my 160GB iPod's internal screen shattered, so that I couldn't see anything on it. For about 3 months I just used it as the world's most expensive iPod Shuffle, but now I'm pretty sure it's died forever - although I can't see what's wrong, it won't play anything or connect to the computer, and the harddrive makes a continual clicking sound, emitting about a click a second, when it's on. My largest problem is that I can't see the screen so I have no idea what's wrong. So:

a) Does anyone know what the screen would be showing right now?
b) Does anyone know of any way of getting the harddrive working again (obviously not the screen) having experienced a similar problem?
c) Seeing as I'm assuming the answer to (b) is that it's gone forever, is there ANY WAY to salvage the music? I mean, I last backed up when I had 30 Gigs of music and when it died I was at around 70.

Warranty's been void for a year (and doubly voided by my breaking the screen), so I have no problem with opening this baby up if need be and if there's 100% no way to fix it or salvage music without doing so.

 

[n-abounds]

uhm...sounds dead to me. time to buy a new one.

some people suggest putting the HD in the fridge to get it working (as a last resort). google it.

why don't you have the music on your computer? it never makes sense to me why people have the need to get music off their iPod.

 

[iPodClassic]

So, about three months ago, while jogging, I tripped, and my 160GB iPod's internal screen shattered, so that I couldn't see anything on it. For about 3 months I just used it as the world's most expensive iPod Shuffle, but now I'm pretty sure it's died forever - although I can't see what's wrong, it won't play anything or connect to the computer, and the harddrive makes a continual clicking sound, emitting about a click a second, when it's on. My largest problem is that I can't see the screen so I have no idea what's wrong. So:

a) Does anyone know what the screen would be showing right now?
b) Does anyone know of any way of getting the harddrive working again (obviously not the screen) having experienced a similar problem?
c) Seeing as I'm assuming the answer to (b) is that it's gone forever, is there ANY WAY to salvage the music? I mean, I last backed up when I had 30 Gigs of music and when it died I was at around 70.

Warranty's been void for a year (and doubly voided by my breaking the screen), so I have no problem with opening this baby up if need be and if there's 100% no way to fix it or salvage music without doing so.

http://www.iresq.com/ipod/classicA.php - List of ipod repair services. Not sure of the harddrive, u can send it to them neways and tell them the hd is broken, they can tell u how much to fix it.

BTW, i would not recommend using a ipod classic for jogging, it can mess up the HD by spinning the sectors the wrong way, thats y most people carry smaller mp3 players w/o a hd, preferably an ipod nano or shuffle. Either u ca n repair ur ipod for $ or get a ipod nano, shuffle, or even a ipod touch. Knowing ur storing a lot of music into 1 device, it might be a risk to simply keep a certain amount inside one of these smaller mp3 players, but its opportunity cost. Are u willing to get a safer mp3 player for jogging vs a larger mp3 player thats not good for jogging? ur choice.

 

[thewasteland]

Thanks, I actually did try freezing it, but I'm way too un-tech-savvy to take out the harddrive then put it back in, and the odds of it working without the harddrive being taken out first were as small as they sounded.

And thanks for the advice/site but I don't see much point in fixing it, if this is anything like what happened to my last one then fixing it'll be, once again, super expensive, which seems a waste when I could just get a new one - I'll salvage that music somehow. To answer your question, I guess I just got a lot of music from a lot of different people directly off their computers or harddrives without backing up, kept on meaning to, but I've had a lot of work lately.

I guess I'm just gonna get an iPod Touch and try salvage my music back, been holding off from getting one seeing as they were so small, but 64GB sounds perfect. Jogging be damned. I'd rather listen to music than have any semblance of helath anyway.

Thanks again.

 

[purd002]

As a last resort to salvage data you can try smacking it against an armchair or something if the hard disk is stuck and clicking. I had an old rio 20gb that would start clicking and not boot. The first time was a little scary but after a good 3-4 whacks it stopped clicking and booted up and was able to pull all my files up. I'd only try this when all else fails and you've given up on using it again

 

[wpc33]

I recommend checking out http://www.ipodzens.com as I've dealt with them before. They can replace those parts quickly. They email you a UPS label.
Or you could troll craigslist for people that fix iPods. There's a few folks that advertise that in my town.
If you sift through eBay, you can get a new screen for $15.
At the very least, sell your broken iPod if/when you're done with it, as the logic board is still peachy, from the sound of things.

Operating inside an iPod requires patience, but no mandatory skill. Check out http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Device/iPod_Classic

 

[OriginalFormula]

If you're on a mac, try senuti (http://www.fadingred.com/senuti/)