iPod Dead 40GB clickwheel iPod - erase with disk utility?

[zen]

A friend of mine in the UK has posted an unhappy tale on another forum:

Ok, my 40g clickwheel ipod has given up on me and is displaying the unhappy ipod icon. I've tried the reset and restore instructions on the apple site, to no avail. After trying to restore I get a 'there was an error formatting the ipod' message and it trips out

Now, when I connect it to my mac it launches the disc utility, I see there are some options such as 'erase' or 'partition'

Does anyone know whether I can use the 'erase' option in disk utility to wipe it completely and then try to restore the ipod through ipod updater?

As its out of guarantee its going to cost £166 (!) to send back to apple to repair, my initial thoughts are bollox to that - I can get a new one for £219, so I haven't got a lot to lose.

Any informed advice?

I've suggested he hit erase in disk utility, reformat it and see if the iPod updater software will install.

Any other ideas?

Zen

 

[croshtique]

Give it a go - not much else to lose really.

 

[Johnny Rico]

Yeah either some files got seriously zonked and a reformat/reinstall of the system will fix you, at a loss of data which is likely unrecoverable anyway, OR the hard drive is fooked in which case you'll need to pay for a repair or get a replacement.

 

[wickedsteve]

Actually the iPod Updater from Apple is what you are suppossed to use to reformat your iPod (restore to factory settings). But I bet the Disk Utility will work just as good.

 

[mad jew]

I've done it once. It's a last resort and usually only gives you a few weeks of use at most before the thing dies again. If your friend chooses the zeroing out option, don't do too many passes.