iPod iPod 2nd Gen wont load on Catalina

[zemaker]

I'm out of ideas here, tried everything. I have a Mac Pro 2009 that has Catalina 10.15.6 on it and I connect the iPod directly through Firewire. Neither Music App or Finder are able to load the iPod for syncing. Now I get the iPod icon on the desktop that i can browse through as a attached drive and the iPod works fully its just I can't get it to sync.

Has anyone had anything similar and how did you manage to resolve it?

 

[barbu]

I had headaches syncing my 4G colour iPod with my 2013 iMac/Catalina. I used my 2017 MBP and it worked fine. Sorry that’s likely not helpful but maybe try another Mac if you can.

 

[zemaker]

I had headaches syncing my 4G colour iPod with my 2013 iMac/Catalina. I used my 2017 MBP and it worked fine. Sorry that’s likely not helpful but maybe try another Mac if you can.

I wish, but the Mac Pro is the only Mac I have with firewire that can do it

 

[philden]

Can you boot the MacPro into an older OS from a backup?

 

[nothingtoseehere]

I wish, but the Mac Pro is the only Mac I have with firewire that can do it

Firewire to USB adapter?

 

[Fusionskies]

The iPod isn't stuck in disk mode is it?

Have you tried a soft reset (center and menu) before attempting to sync?

Also, Firewire to USB adapters would not work, old iPods (1st-3rd gen) charge exclusively with firewire, and lack the capability to charge via usb, an adapter would just stop the flow of power.
An official Apple 'Y' cable is the best thing to own with vintage iPods, but they run pretty steep.

I kind of had a similar problem with a 3rd gen, when I tried to connect to Catalina. I think in the end, I began using an old system running leopard.

Make sure your iPod is Macintosh formatted. I spent ages trying to get one device to work, only to find out that it was Windows formatted, because of course back then you had to buy a dedicated version for each system. (Correct me if I am wrong)

 

[mannyvel]

Yeah, that happened to me with my old iPod touches. I'm not sure what worked, but here's a list of possible incantations.

Try:

* unmount the ipod
* reboot your Mac
* make sure to quit music before plugging the iPod in
* try to pare down your USB devices to a minimum
* try changing the cable
* try plugging it in then rebooting your Mac. I have a vague suspicion that the older iTunes device stuff doesn't like running in high memory, but I have no real information about that...just that it's older code, and older code was 32-bit. Maybe there's some odd bug about that. My Mac has 32GB, FYI.

I got my touches to work eventually with my 5,1 running Catalina/OpenCore, so there's hope. But really, one day it just started working. Before that I just got the "loading" screen like you.

Note that resetting your iPod won't do any good.