iPod Selling on eBay (Privacy?)

[psycoswimmer]

Hi guys. Well, just a couple days ago, my iPod 4G 30GB Photo died. I'm sure it's the hard drive. I could hear the whining sound of it spinning down and I get the sad iPod screen. About a week ago, my iPod starting becoming problematic again, and I usually had to reset it a couple times to allow it to actually work.

So, what I want to ask about is eBay privacy. I'll probably sell the broken iPod on eBay, as they seem to go for around $40 (a lot more than I expected). However, I have my entire music library and picture back-ups on there, as well as personal contact information. I know that the hard drive is broken, but if it someone "came back to life" again, I wouldn't want the random buyer to have all of that personal stuff (pictures, phone numbers, addresses, etc). It also won't show up in iTunes or as a drive.

Should I be worried about giving out personal information by selling on eBay? Is there any other steps I could try to recover the iPod? It's out of Applecare (as of April) and this iPod is a replacement Apple gave me for my old iPod that had yet another hard drive failure in December.

 

[rainydays]

I don't think it's a problem in most cases. But it CAN be. I would never sell something that I've had personal information on without completely wiping the memory/disk.
I don't know how easy it is to remove the HDD from the iPods. But that would be a good idea if it's possible.

 

[Scarlet Fever]

Have a look at the guides on iFixit.com. They might have a guide to remove the HDD

 

[psycoswimmer]

To Scarlet Fever & rainydays, thanks for the advice. However, I'd rather not open the iPod so any other opinions are welcomed.

 

[rainydays]

Seems very simple to remove the HDD. Perhaps you'd like to simply get a new drive instead of selling it?

 

[psycoswimmer]

Seems very simple to remove the HDD. Perhaps you'd like to simply get a new drive instead of selling it?

I just looked at the guide and you're right. I also really have nothing left to lose. Now, if I buy a new hard drive for it, do I just put that in and then reformat in iTunes?

 

[geoffy]

I just looked at the guide and you're right. I also really have nothing left to lose. Now, if I buy a new hard drive for it, do I just put that in and then reformat in iTunes?

Installing a new hard drive isn't really worth it. You are probably better off getting a new refurb ipod from Apple. In some countries you can even get a discount on a refurb ipod with a broken out of warranty ipod.

 

[Royale w/cheese]

IMO, I don't think it would be a problem. If the person got it fixed, they probably wouldn't care about the pictures and phone numbers, but then again there are some freaks out there. I have bought 4 ipods on ebay and three of them had files and such on them, just reformatted them when I got them. I think most people who buy the broken ones have ones they are more worried about fixing then stealing files, and or stalking people. But I guess I would sleep better also if I was sure my files were wiped and not out in the wild.