new ipod user questions

whirring is normal

and are you ok in the head?

Installing Panther on an iPod?

 

To kerb: Some people do install an OS to their iPods for backup.

Whoa!! Right there is when I phreaked out with a sudden "phreak" and scared all the squirrels out of the area within a 3-kilometer radius. Do not, do not, DO NOT attempt to install machine-specific operating system software on another machine. This is the third case I've read about such in just this month (by far, new record), and out of all three attempts, all three resulted in problems. Your operating system software for your model iBook is meant to be used for ONLY your iBook model and no other machine. Apple gave you a copy of Panther for your model iBook, which means it runs on only your model iBook (or other identical models) and not different iBooks, iMacs, Power-machines, or iPods. If you try to install your iBook's version of Panther onto a different machine, that means you're trying to install iBook-specific kernel extentions, iBook-specific frameworks, iBook-specific process configurations, and iBook-specific core components onto a machine that isn't your iBook. That will lead to system misconfigurations and other death trap processes on the other machine (your iPod). (Luckily, you couldn't even get it to install.) You are guarenteed to run into problems upon trying to install iBook-specific operating system software on a different machine as much as you are guarenteed to find frustration in bounced checks. So don't do it.

By the way, check out the "More fire to your iPod" link in my sig. I have 10 serious tips as to how to optimize your iPod's battery life using something called "common sense," something that comes hard for people that want to eat and sleep at the same time.

 

It's the same machine though. The iPod is only a drive on the system for which the installer was intended. It ought to work. I suspect the poster is doing something wrong that keeps it from installing.

 

Yeah, I don't see the problem with what he's doing. I don't know why it's not working, but there isn't anything inherently wrong with what he's trying to do.

 

But let's say you want to boot up OS X from the iPod with the iBook version of Panther on it. You're bound to run into misconfigurations and/or kernel panics, given that you get that far. That's what I mean. In fact, the only reasoning I see installing OS X on another machine is to boot from it (eventually) with that copy of OS X. So that's why I do not recommend it.

To kerb and Horrortaxi: See, what did I tell you?

But, seriously, you need the full Mac OS X 10.3 Panther black box to do that, not machine-specific operating system software. You most certainly can boot into OS X or OS 9 or use both from your iPod, but you need the retail version of Panther to do that, not the copy of Panther that came with your computer and only works with it.

 

As others have said, the hard drive noise is normal. When you start skipping songs, or switch to anything not held in the iPod's 20-25 minute buffer, the hard drive needs to spin to read the new songs into memory.

Since you don't have a copy of Panther that will install on your iPod, I recommend using the extra space on your iPod to backup your important data. If it fits, you could put your whole home directory (minus the music folder, because who needs all their music on their iPod twice?). Otherwise, maybe just your documents folder. Decide what you think is important to have a backup of and put it on your iPod, there is no real reason for the extra space on your iPod to go unused. (But make sure to save room for new music .)

 

sorry I knew you could boot from an iPod but at the time I was thinking she was trying to run Panther as the iPod's OS.


my apologies

 

Because, if I'm not mistaken, you can't backup your music library to iTunes from the iPod. If you want to use your iPod as a backup for your music library, you have to back it up as data, just like any of your other files, meaning it's essentially duplicated on your iPod's HD.

Isn't this true? I don't actually own or use an iPod (yet), but I'm on the verge of getting one. I want it not just for music, but also for use as an external HD, and from what I read, this seems to be the way it works.

Having said that, I guess this is just the way Apple means for it to work. I suppose someone could, and probably has, written a utility to extract the music from your iPod, for the purpose of backup, without having to store it twice.

 

Although you can install Panther on an iPod, I would not recomend do it. The iPod is meant to be as small as possible, which means that inside it there are wires with little to no insolation, and all that heat generated by the hard drive could damage those wires or the circutry inside it.

Also the iPod's hard drive was not meant to be written on in the fashion associated with an operating system. Becaus Panther uses several gigs of swap space, that perticular part on the hard drive is getting written over thousands of times in just a few minutes.

And to try to reduce the heat generated by the hard drive try putting a heat sink on the back of the iPod, I do that with my external HD that has no fan and absolutely no ventilation.

I've known a lot of people who've installed Panther on an iPod, but I wouldn't do it with my iPod.

 

Third-party software will do the trick for you if you don't want to back it up as data.