Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

iPod Finished 256GB upgrade of 2nd gen iPod Mini (See Pics)

rgarjr said:
Technically you can't install an SSD on the Minis, only Compact Flash card or CF-to-SD adapter with an SD card inside it.
Click to expand...

Sorry I'm using the term SSD wrong I should call it SD.
The one I've ordered for my 1st gen mini arriving next week is
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/your-ac...2-4025967&packageIndex=0&shipmentId=D2mwcVfLb

with the https://www.iflash.xyz/store/sdcf-adapter/

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/301459169425

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/261263915084

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B013P0MGJ4/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_gscoxbMZ4P3CB

hope I've got all the correct gear!?

cheers
 
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
deany said:
Hi
Was the mini / clickwheel etc all working fine before replacing the hard drive?
I think the SSD has to be a particular type & with 256GB+ a special adapter ie https://www.iflash.xyz/store/sdcf-adapter/ also I know this sound silly but the SSD has to be the right way round I've read.
Cheers
Click to expand...

well it was the hold button and while trying to take the headphone board off, I ruined the ports. iPod Mini project is dead.

And yes, it was not a SSD but a CF card.
 
Jack Neill said:
well it was the hold button and while trying to take the headphone board off, I ruined the ports. iPod Mini project is dead.

And yes, it was not a SSD but a CF card.
Click to expand...

Oh heck, not good. Minis are available on eBay for often less than £20. I'm even more nervous now after reading your experience. I guess I need to take my time & have some luck!.
 
deany said:
Oh heck, not good. Minis are available on eBay for often less than £20. I'm even more nervous now after reading your experience. I guess I need to take my time & have some luck!.
Click to expand...

My mini was in bad shape to begin with, it died 5 years ago and it was really beat up. I got a wild hair to fix and I didn't take my time. I am thinking of buying a broken mini on eBay and trying again with my new CF and battery.
 
Jack Neill said:
My mini was in bad shape to begin with, it died 5 years ago and it was really beat up. I got a wild hair to fix and I didn't take my time. I am thinking of buying a broken mini on eBay and trying again with my new CF and battery.
Click to expand...

If you have the CF & battery & can get a good condition mini with broken hard drive it makes sense.
I just awaiting my 1300 mAH battery order from the States.
Cheers
 
Hi Deany & Co,


deany said:
If you have the CF & battery & can get a good condition mini with broken hard drive it makes sense.
I just awaiting my 1300 mAH battery order from the States.
Cheers
Click to expand...

Yes I used the Tarken SD/CF adaptor exactly as per your posted link.

Also Sandisk Extreme Pro 256GB SD card.

Once opened up replacement is a bit messy due to lots of sticky plastic tape being used to hold in original MicroDrive.

Restore was case of simply doing restore via OS X iTunes.

Btw, my iTunes library is mostly standard apple encoded cd rips/MP3 (m3a?), some MP3s and most recently all my cd rips are apple lossless now I have space, but these are in minority. All play ok on iPod mini.

Btw mine was 6GB gen 2 mini.

Good luck.

Zebity.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: deany
zebity said:
Hi Deany & Co,




Yes I used the Tarken SD/CF adaptor exactly as per your posted link.

Also Sandisk Extreme Pro 256GB SD card.

Once opened up replacement is a bit messy due to lots of sticky plastic tape being used to hold in original MicroDrive.

Restore was case of simply doing restore via OS X iTunes.

Btw, my iTunes library is mostly standard apple encoded cd rips/MP3 (m3a?), some MP3s and most recently all my cd rips are apple lossless now I have space, but these are in minority. All play ok on iPod mini.

Btw mine was 6GB gen 2 mini.

Good luck.

Zebity.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the post & info.
Great that everything went well, hope mine does, will report back. Just waiting for 1300 battery from the States. I'm resisting the temptation and doing the hard drive (256GB) & battery surgery together.
Cheers
 
MultiFinder17 said:
Man, 256GB? And I thought I was getting crazy when I put a 32GB CF in my mini!
Click to expand...

I know its crazy.
I see this as a very popular, inexpensive (relatively) upgrade and fun too.
I nearly pressed the button on a 512GB!! as a 'for life' upgrade, I just opted for the 256GB instead.
512GB would be perfect for an audiophile who likes lossless format.
These CFs are starting to be very good value for money.
 
Last edited:
HI Deany,


deany said:
as crazy as it seems, it 100% does work, I PMed the seller & it works with iTunes or Rockbox the choice is yours:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/IPOD-MINI-512GB-2nd-Generation-Silver-/182134555390?

he was happy to tell me he uses this https://www.iflash.xyz/store/sdcf-adapter/ "




    • LBA48 compliant to work with 256Gb+ cards
Compatibility

  • Reported to work ok in 1st Gen and 2nd iPod MINI (unsupported)"

cheers
Click to expand...

That is with "RockBox", which means you lose iTunes Sync. This makes it useless to me and likely many others.

BTW, you can get 512GB with Tarken Dual SD adaptor using iPod (Classic) with Video (Enhanced 5.5 with 64MB RAM) and iPod Classic 7th Gen (160GB Slim Disk Version).

The iPod with Video (Enhanced 5.5 Gen with 64MB RAM) is most sort after as it has "Wolfson DAC" which is coveted by audiophiles. You can tell the 5.5 Enhanced ones as they have "Search" function and 64MB ones are those that had 80GB disks and can be verified via "Diagnostic" menu. The smaller disk Enhanced 5.5 models have 32MB RAM and crash with when number of songs gets too large.

Given success with more than 24,000 songs with my Gen 2 mini, make me suspect that it most have larger RAM size, but booting into diagnostic menu does not appear to provide any function that lets you check the memory size....

Cheers,

Zebity.
 
Last edited:
zebity said:
HI Deany,




That is with "RockBox", which means you lose iTunes Sync. This makes it useless to me and likely many others.

BTW, you can get 512GB with Tarken Dual SD adaptor using iPod (Classic) with Video (Enhanced 5.5 with 64MB RAM) and iPod Classic 7th Gen (160GB Slim Disk Version).

The iPod with Video (Enhanced 5.5 Gen with 64MB RAM) is most sort after as it has "Wolfson DAC" which is coveted by audiophiles. You can tell the 5.5 Enhanced ones as they have "Search" function and 64MB ones are those that had 80GB disks and can be verified via "Diagnostic" menu. The smaller disk Enhanced 5.5 models have 32MB RAM and crash with when number of songs gets too large.

Given success with more than 24,000 songs with my Gen 2 mini, make me suspect that it most have larger RAM size, but booting into diagnostic menu does not appear to provide any function that lets you check the memory size....

Cheers,

Zebity.
Click to expand...
Tech specs for the 2nd gen mini states 32mb ram. Maybe it had slightly more than that but it didn't get utilised by Apple.

Just bought a Green 2nd Gen Mini on ebay. Most likely going to upgrade it to 128gb and probably stick a higher capacity battery in at the same time. My current music library is just under 30gb so 128gb will be plenty. Hopefully should get around 5000 tracks in Apple Lossless with that.

Another thing I would like to know is about the higher capacity batteries. Has anyone used the tarken adaptor with a 1300mah battery and if you have does it all fit in the case properly?
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: deany
Just for the sake of showing off, here's my own 32GB mini with a CF card and a generic adapter from eBay :)
 

Attachments

  • IMG_0009.jpg
    IMG_0009.jpg
    342.4 KB · Views: 10,496
  • Like
Reactions: deany
zebity said:
HI Deany,




That is with "RockBox", which means you lose iTunes Sync. This makes it useless to me and likely many others.

BTW, you can get 512GB with Tarken Dual SD adaptor using iPod (Classic) with Video (Enhanced 5.5 with 64MB RAM) and iPod Classic 7th Gen (160GB Slim Disk Version).

The iPod with Video (Enhanced 5.5 Gen with 64MB RAM) is most sort after as it has "Wolfson DAC" which is coveted by audiophiles. You can tell the 5.5 Enhanced ones as they have "Search" function and 64MB ones are those that had 80GB disks and can be verified via "Diagnostic" menu. The smaller disk Enhanced 5.5 models have 32MB RAM and crash with when number of songs gets too large.

Given success with more than 24,000 songs with my Gen 2 mini, make me suspect that it most have larger RAM size, but booting into diagnostic menu does not appear to provide any function that lets you check the memory size....

Cheers,

Zebity.
Click to expand...

Hi Zebity,

Info from an EXPERT on the 512GB and iPod Mini:

"It works flawlessly with iTunes but there is a track limit which I believe is 25,000 which is why I recommend lossless files and forgetting MP3's. Particularly uncompressed WAV or AIFF over Apple Lossless as they are totally uncompressed which saves the iPod the extra job of unpacking the files as it plays them. Also WAV's do not carry album art in their tags which you don't need on a mini anyway. It's best to keep the tagging info to the minimum.

Regards,''

hope this helps

Deany
 
Last edited:
Finally got round to upgrading the hard drive to 256GB and battery to 1300mAh, its my 10 year old 1st gen iPod mini 4GB owned from new, the 4GB drive stopped working a few weeks ago.
Very happy to say all is working well. It is worth checking the flash adapter is the correct way round before reassembling - connect to a mac with iTunes.
I used the following:
SDXC Class 10 UHS-I 256GB hard drive:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00PH5VBFQ/ref=od_aui_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
flash adapter:
https://www.iflash.xyz/store/sdcf-adapter/
1300 mAh battery:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/301459169425
misc tools:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/261263915084
cost approx £80.00
If anyone has any queries please feel free to ask.
Showing 225.79GB as I have put some albums on the mini.
I can't see me needing another iPod now.
 

Attachments

  • Screen Shot 2016-06-25 at 14.00.00.png
    Screen Shot 2016-06-25 at 14.00.00.png
    188 KB · Views: 775
  • image.jpeg
    image.jpeg
    1.7 MB · Views: 2,260
Last edited:
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
  • Like
Reactions: dead_smed, rgarjr and noodles5666
I recently purchased a broken hard drive iPod mini from eBay. When I got it and opened it, the headphone connection was broken off the main board. I bought a new main board along with a compact flash card but I can't get iTunes to recognize it. I still get the sad face folder screen. I can put it into disk mode but as soon as I plug the iPod into my iMac, the iPod reboots. Any ideas?
 
rmm805 said:
I recently purchased a broken hard drive iPod mini from eBay. When I got it and opened it, the headphone connection was broken off the main board. I bought a new main board along with a compact flash card but I can't get iTunes to recognize it. I still get the sad face folder screen. I can put it into disk mode but as soon as I plug the iPod into my iMac, the iPod reboots. Any ideas?
Click to expand...

Yes, I had this, is the new drive the correct way round?
I checked mine before putting it back together and it was the wrong way round.
Before taking the mini apart though, if you go 'Disk Utility' and try 'First Aid' and 'Erase'.
 
S
deany said:
Yes, I had this, is the new drive the correct way round?
I checked mine before putting it back together and it was the wrong way round.
Before taking the mini apart though, if you go 'Disk Utility' and try 'First Aid' and 'Erase'.
Click to expand...
o just flip the compact flash card over?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back