iPod IPOD Classic 7th Gen SD/SSD

[silentdub]

I have a 7th Gen iPod Classic, perfect condition and barely used but the hard drive is bad. I am thinking of upgrading to an SD or SSD to replace the HDD in it.

While this is a 160GB, is there a size limitation if I go with an SD Card?

Is it a simple swap, plug and play type deal?

While the Flash SD Cards are plentiful, is there a specific SD adapter to go with? Most reliable and highest quality?

Appreciate any feedback.

 

[silentdub]

After some searching, the Tarkan seems to be a quality adapter. Just wondering now if there is any size limitation and any other issues about the swap I should be concerned with?

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[philden]

With a 7th Gen you can use up to 2TB. I'd use the iFlash-Quad and make sure you get good quality microSD cards. Cheap ones are probably fake.

 

[silentdub]

Damn, really 2TB? Didn't know it could address that much considering it is like 12 years old now. Any reason to use a quad card over a color with a 2TB card or 1TB card?

 

[philden]

Damn, really 2TB? Didn't know it could address that much considering it is like 12 years old now. Any reason to use a quad card over a color with a 2TB card or 1TB card?

It depends on the price of the SD cards and the capacity you want. Currently 1TB cards are more expensive than 2x512MB. I don't know if a 2TB is available yet.

 

[silentdub]

Yes, I just saw them and picked up a 256GB. I never even filled the 160GB but didn't know of a size limitation. I went based on price and got a name brand 256GB Sandisk ordered. I can always just swap it out of needed. I have a library of music in a lossless format, about 2,000 CDs, maybe more, I figured I could load up on what I listen to. I hate using my phone for music, too many interruptions due to call txts directions and what not. Just want to disconnect. Thanks for the info though, much appreciated.

I did watch the video on the upgrade, appears to be able to install and go. Is there any special formatting or utilities that need to be used to set the new disk up? From what I saw on the video, it was internally done but just wondering.

 

[philden]

My experience is that you don't need to format the SD cards first, iTunes will handle it for you. On a Mac the iPod will be hfs formatted automatically. Many people on-line recommend formatting first, but I suspect they are Windows users.

 

[silentdub]

My experience is that you don't need to format the SD cards first, iTunes will handle it for you. On a Mac the iPod will be hfs formatted automatically. Many people on-line recommend formatting first, but I suspect they are Windows users.

Gotcha, I have a MACBook and can use iTunes. Thanks again, appreciate all of the feedback.

 

[silentdub]

My experience is that you don't need to format the SD cards first, iTunes will handle it for you. On a Mac the iPod will be hfs formatted automatically. Many people on-line recommend formatting first, but I suspect they are Windows users.

Maybe you'll have an answer for my other thread, if you don't mind.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/using-and-converting-audio-question.2347280/

 

[arw]

Be aware, no matter the storage, there is a maximum number of tracks the iPod can handle before crashing.
This number is reached way earlier than the capacity limit.
I have a 7th Gen iPod Classic with 600 GB and I think i barely made it to 30.000 songs before crashing.
It seems the amount of metadata in the music files is also relevant for the maximum number of tracks the iPod can handle.

 

[silentdub]

Be aware, no matter the storage, there is a maximum number of tracks the iPod can handle before crashing.
This number is reached way earlier than the capacity limit.
I have a 7th Gen iPod Classic with 600 GB and I think i barely made it to 30.000 songs before crashing.
It seems the amount of metadata in the music files is also relevant for the maximum number of tracks the iPod can handle.

Yes, I don't plan a full load. But yes, all file systems have a limit of entries regardless of the amount of free space. I think the old FAT 16 file system was 512 entries in the root directory, then sub directories were more but still had limits. Fat32 raised those but I understand the allocation limitations.

Most of the stuff I probably won't listen to again but as it is a media PC for my entire hours, anyone can listen or stream movies from my in house server. I discontinued cable service and just use the PC connected to my main TV in the house. It is nice, we download and you can listen or watch anything from the server from any PC TV or device connected.

 

[arw]

In this case, it's more of a firmware / RAM issue on the iPod and the limit of its internal database.
This makes it more complicated to find the actual file limit.

 

[silentdub]

No worries, I never even filled the 160GB, just want to fix it so I can have an unconnected source. So sick of the new devices annoying the hell outta me. Tracking me, flashing ads, beeps and interruptions so I dug up the IPOD from my project car and will get it back online. I'll be able to turn my phone off and just take a ride with good music. Can't wait to get the parts in. The last device I repaired was the iPhone 4S.... time for one more.

 

[Apleeseed84]

Is that the same limit for a 6th gen ipod also? Would using Rockbox help my chances for more songs?

I just ordered a bunch of replacement parts I hope would revive This bad boy back to life.

I polished the rear but could look better haha

 

[philden]

Be aware, no matter the storage, there is a maximum number of tracks the iPod can handle before crashing.
This number is reached way earlier than the capacity limit.
I have a 7th Gen iPod Classic with 600 GB and I think i barely made it to 30.000 songs before crashing.
It seems the amount of metadata in the music files is also relevant for the maximum number of tracks the iPod can handle.

This situation is far from clear and may depend on how you use the iPod. I have a 1.6TB 7th Gen running only the Apple OS, and it works fine for me with 51,000 ALAC songs. I don't use cover flow or sorting by genre, etc, just either random play or individual albums. Mine crashed when the storage was full, when I only had 1.2TB. I have a theory that the problem could be that when filling the iPod, iTunes reserves only a certain amount of space to save the indexing when the files are copied. So when iTunes says the iPod is full, there should be room to finish the sync. Maybe if the number of tracks (or amount of track info) is too high, the necessary indexes cannot be created. I will keep slowly adding songs to my 1.6TB iPod and see if it fails with plenty of spare space.

 

[arw]

This situation is far from clear and may depend on how you use the iPod. I have a 1.6TB 7th Gen running only the Apple OS, and it works fine for me with 51,000 ALAC songs. I don't use cover flow or sorting by genre, etc, just either random play or individual albums. Mine crashed when the storage was full, when I only had 1.2TB. I have a theory that the problem could be that when filling the iPod, iTunes reserves only a certain amount of space to save the indexing when the files are copied. So when iTunes says the iPod is full, there should be room to finish the sync. Maybe if the number of tracks (or amount of track info) is too high, the necessary indexes cannot be created. I will keep slowly adding songs to my 1.6TB iPod and see if it fails with plenty of spare space.

This is very interesting. I had to chose AAC for my iPod as I have lots of 24bit alac files which the iPod can‘t handle properly.
I will experiment with alac again and just deal with 24bit files with smart playlists (whose also seem to be proplematic).

 

[silentdub]

Is that the same limit for a 6th gen ipod also? Would using Rockbox help my chances for more songs?

I just ordered a bunch of replacement parts I hope would revive This bad boy back to life.

I polished the rear but could look better haha

Mine is in perfect condition. I didn't use it much and it is still in the silicone protective case with screen protector. I just charged it up and the HDD stopped working. My parts came in so I am going to open it tomorrow and see what I can do with it.

 

[Apleeseed84]

Mine is in perfect condition. I didn't use it much and it is still in the silicone protective case with screen protector. I just charged it up and the HDD stopped working. My parts came in so I am going to open it tomorrow and see what I can do with it.

I just refurbished mine, it all went to plan the only problem I had was keeping dust out of the screen before I closed it up and of course opening it up, it took me a good 30 minutes mostly because the plastic pry bars keep bending and It i had to dig up my metal one for it to finally come apart.

To my surprised the HDD is still in decent condition according to the internal testing but the only surprise I found was the swollen battery, glad I replaced it in time!!

Ipod classic parts are becoming scarce, I originally ordered everything in black but some parts in black were sold out with no restock in sight and had to change it to silver which looks good for the time being!!!

Mine's back and better than ever, close to perfect condition except for the pesky action button haha

 

[quynhtrang]

I'm thinking of buying a refurbished iPod classic on eBay off an Australian seller. it will cost $265 in real (US) money. It has been upgraded with a 256GB ssd and has new battery and housing. Worth it?

Ebay Au iPod classic 256ssd

 

[lostPod]

Be aware, no matter the storage, there is a maximum number of tracks the iPod can handle before crashing.
This number is reached way earlier than the capacity limit.
I have a 7th Gen iPod Classic with 600 GB and I think i barely made it to 30.000 songs before crashing.
It seems the amount of metadata in the music files is also relevant for the maximum number of tracks the iPod can handle.

Does that apply to videos and photos as well ?

 

[arw]

Does that apply to videos and photos as well ?

Sorry, I use it for music only.
I guess it would count into the overall number of files as well as as each video/photo also includes metadata that has to be stored.

 

[MasterControlProgram]

If it helps, I’ve got two 7th gens and one 5.5 gen and they’ve all got 37K songs and 1000 videos transferred to them without any issues. The 5.5 gen one was the 80GB model as I believe it has more RAM than the 30GB model. iFlash.xyz says you should be able to get 50K songs on an 80GB 5.5 gen or a 160GB 7th gen.