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

MacFoxG4

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Nov 22, 2019
450
628
I knew this was a long shot and most likely wouldn't work, but just for the hell of it I decided to try syncing my 2017 iPod Touch and my 2019 iPhone XI to my 1.5ghz Sawtooth running Leopard. The last iTunes for PPC and Leopard is installed along with all the updates from Software Update. Both devices were plugged into one of my monitor's USB ports, but not at the same time. The monitor's USB cable is plugged into a USB 2.0 PCI card on the Mac. I plugged in the iPod first and after confirming on the iPod that I trusted the Mac...iTunes said an unknown error occurred and wouldn't sync. On the bright side, Leopard was able to import some of my photos from the iPod. I have over 300 photos on there, but Leopard only saw about 107 of them. I tried the iPhone XI next and same results, only this time Leopard only saw 100 photos. Some of the photos Leopard saw on the iPhone were different from the ones it saw on the iPod. I wonder why Leopard can only see a fraction of the photos I have? Well, at least I tried. If I could sync my iPod to my PM G4 instead of my Windows 10 laptop that would've been great, but oh well.
 
I knew this was a long shot and most likely wouldn't work, but just for the hell of it I decided to try syncing my 2017 iPod Touch and my 2019 iPhone XI to my 1.5ghz Sawtooth running Leopard. The last iTunes for PPC and Leopard is installed along with all the updates from Software Update. Both devices were plugged into one of my monitor's USB ports, but not at the same time. The monitor's USB cable is plugged into a USB 2.0 PCI card on the Mac. I plugged in the iPod first and after confirming on the iPod that I trusted the Mac...iTunes said an unknown error occurred and wouldn't sync. On the bright side, Leopard was able to import some of my photos from the iPod. I have over 300 photos on there, but Leopard only saw about 107 of them. I tried the iPhone XI next and same results, only this time Leopard only saw 100 photos. Some of the photos Leopard saw on the iPhone were different from the ones it saw on the iPod. I wonder why Leopard can only see a fraction of the photos I have? Well, at least I tried. If I could sync my iPod to my PM G4 instead of my Windows 10 laptop that would've been great, but oh well.
I wish the iPod Mini supported OS 9, that would be really fun
 
I knew this was a long shot and most likely wouldn't work, but just for the hell of it I decided to try syncing my 2017 iPod Touch and my 2019 iPhone XI to my 1.5ghz Sawtooth running Leopard. The last iTunes for PPC and Leopard is installed along with all the updates from Software Update. Both devices were plugged into one of my monitor's USB ports, but not at the same time. The monitor's USB cable is plugged into a USB 2.0 PCI card on the Mac. I plugged in the iPod first and after confirming on the iPod that I trusted the Mac...iTunes said an unknown error occurred and wouldn't sync. On the bright side, Leopard was able to import some of my photos from the iPod. I have over 300 photos on there, but Leopard only saw about 107 of them. I tried the iPhone XI next and same results, only this time Leopard only saw 100 photos. Some of the photos Leopard saw on the iPhone were different from the ones it saw on the iPod. I wonder why Leopard can only see a fraction of the photos I have? Well, at least I tried. If I could sync my iPod to my PM G4 instead of my Windows 10 laptop that would've been great, but oh well.
Syncing with later model devices stopped with iTunes 10.6.3. If the device has a Lightning port it will not sync. Apple left the hooks for it in 10.6.3, but did not enable it.

For the record, if you update a 30-pin device past iOS 6 it will no longer sync with PowerPC Macs, and anything running iOS 9 or higher needs a minimum of OS X Lion to sync.
 
  • Like
Reactions: MacFoxG4
Yeah man - To this day it bums me out that I can’t synch my modern mobile peripherals to a leopard box.

Conversely IIRC my 2gen iPod & iphone4s won’t synch to my el cap & newer machines either which blows chunks just as hard.

Just one more reason why I enjoy PPC & gen1 Intel tiger-leopard boxes. Stuck in the past? Partly yes I suppose. Whatevs:)
 
Yeah man - To this day it bums me out that I can’t synch my modern mobile peripherals to a leopard box.

Conversely IIRC my 2gen iPod & iphone4s won’t synch to my el cap & newer machines either which blows chunks just as hard.

Just one more reason why I enjoy PPC & gen1 Intel tiger-leopard boxes. Stuck in the past? Partly yes I suppose. Whatevs:)
All of my machines are in that sweet-spot. I have my iBook and Power Mac, which can run OS 9 and OS X; my Mac Mini G4, which can run Leopard; and my MacBook, which can run 10.6 and 10.11 so I have maximum compatibility. :)
 
I still have all my old iPods, even the broken one. I upgraded to the 2017 iPod Touch because my music library outgrew the storage space on my 2011 iPod Touch. First iPod I got was in 2006. It was the 30gb model and it was the first model that could play video. The screen was smashed in 2009 so I switched over to an iPod shuffle. Got my 2011 iPod Touch in 2011 and won another iPod shuffle in a bingo game in 2013.
 
  • Like
Reactions: RogerWilco6502
Yeah man - To this day it bums me out that I can’t synch my modern mobile peripherals to a leopard box.

Conversely IIRC my 2gen iPod & iphone4s won’t synch to my el cap & newer machines either which blows chunks just as hard.

Just one more reason why I enjoy PPC & gen1 Intel tiger-leopard boxes. Stuck in the past? Partly yes I suppose. Whatevs:)
I recently re-synced my first generation iPod to my MacBook Air (with some gnarly dongles!) running Mojave. Worked fine. All iOS devices will sync too, I've got a first gen iPod touch and an iPhone 4S, among others, and they work just fine. The only issues I've noticed lately is that the Photos app will not sync from iTunes like iPhoto did for older iPods (like the iPod Photo or original iPod touch). It just spins forever and finally doesn't sync any photos. I did just try syncing just an individual folder from Finder, and that seems to work. It puts an "iPod Photo Cache" folder inside of the folder you picked too. Huh.
 
I recently re-synced my first generation iPod to my MacBook Air (with some gnarly dongles!) running Mojave. Worked fine. All iOS devices will sync too, I've got a first gen iPod touch and an iPhone 4S, among others, and they work just fine. The only issues I've noticed lately is that the Photos app will not sync from iTunes like iPhoto did for older iPods (like the iPod Photo or original iPod touch). It just spins forever and finally doesn't sync any photos. I did just try syncing just an individual folder from Finder, and that seems to work. It puts an "iPod Photo Cache" folder inside of the folder you picked too. Huh.

That's weird. I have an A1040 20gb connected right now in 10.11.6 and I get nothing from it in Itunes. Sys pref sees it but that is it. My macbook is a fancy ipod charger :D
ipod syspref.jpg


In 10.5.8 I get full functionality and a desktop icon. Same thing happens with the 4s. Any idears?
 
  • Like
Reactions: RogerWilco6502
Yeah man - To this day it bums me out that I can’t synch my modern mobile peripherals to a leopard box.

Conversely IIRC my 2gen iPod & iphone4s won’t synch to my el cap & newer machines either which blows chunks just as hard.

Just one more reason why I enjoy PPC & gen1 Intel tiger-leopard boxes. Stuck in the past? Partly yes I suppose. Whatevs:)
You should be able to sync all devices up to catalina. I synced my iPod Mini on catalina last week. Something is just gone wrong with something for you.
 
You should be able to sync all devices up to catalina. I synced my iPod Mini on catalina last week. Something is just gone wrong with something for you.
With the exception of the first gen Apple TV... But that's another story. :p

@RhianB Are they plugged in directly? Have you tried after a restart?
 
With the exception of the first gen Apple TV... But that's another story. :p

@RhianB Are they plugged in directly? Have you tried after a restart?

Well, since I cut the electricity at the breaker to my downstairs bathroom (to install a new light fixture) and in the process turned all of my computers off in the next room over, I’ll be trying this suggestion shortly :D
 
Last edited:
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.