iPod Upgrading Drive on iPod Classic

[Lydiot]

Hi everyone, are there any HDs or SSDs that can be reliably used to upgrade the storage on an iPod Classic? I have read that sometimes the drives can stop working after a while and I am curious if anyone here has had success with one. Thanks

 

[philden]

I'd start by looking here - https://www.iflash.xyz/ - I have upgraded a couple of iPods with the iFlash-Quad board. One has 1.2 TB of flash memory now and the other has 2TB. Look at their compatibility chart for the best options for your iPod model.

 

[Lydiot]

Great thank you! The Quad board is compatible with my 7th gen iPod. So I need to get the board and then a couple of the compatible MicroSDs in order to get say 1TB storage?

 

[philden]

Yes. Check the prices for the micro SDs to see if it is more cost effective to get 2 x 512, 4 x 256 or even 3 x 400. With 3 x 400 you get about 1TB of usable storage. Stick to well known brands like Samsung, Sandisk and Lexar, there is a list of cards known to work on the iFlash site. Buy them from reputable sellers, not Ebay or Amazon, as some people have received faked small capacity cards.

The hardest part will be opening your iPod. Look at some videos, this is a good one -

- and its predecessor. iFlash sell a version of the iSesamo too which is well worth getting.

As the iPod is so tricky to get into, decide before hand whether you want to replace the battery at the same time. You can even replace the case back with the thicker version for a much bigger battery. Be very careful with the internal connections to the logic board, and the hold switch cable if you replace the battery.

Good luck!

 

[mannyvel]

FYI, iTunes stops working with the iPod once you get to a certain number of songs. If that happens you have to install RockBox, which sucks. I try to keep my iPods under 500GB just to avoid this issue.

 

[philden]

FYI, iTunes stops working with the iPod once you get to a certain number of songs. If that happens you have to install RockBox, which sucks. I try to keep my iPods under 500GB just to avoid this issue.

With a 7th gen this is around 50,000 songs. My 1.2TB 7th gen has about 49,000 lossless songs and is nearly full. It runs happily with the Apple firmware.

 

[Lydiot]

Thanks very much philden and mannyvel this is very helpful! One last question: what would be reputable seller for the SD cards?

It will still be awhile before I reach 500GBs, especially if I have iTunes convert to 128 when syncing, so luckily that shouldn't be a problem.

 

[philden]

I'd buy from either the SD card makers own websites or dealers like Adorama or B&H photo. One benefit of more storage is that you can handle higher quality files and get a better listening experience.

 

[Lydiot]

Thanks very much again for those recommendations and yes I'm looking forward to that since most of my music is at 320, maybe I'll reimport some stuff as Lossless as well.

 

[mannyvel]

Any SD is fine, but there have been killer sales on SanDisks on amazon over the last few weeks. Since it's your music reliable is better than cheaper. It doesn't need to be fast; anything that's USB2 speed is fine.

 

[rainbowtapes]

FYI, iTunes stops working with the iPod once you get to a certain number of songs. If that happens you have to install RockBox, which sucks. I try to keep my iPods under 500GB just to avoid this issue.

Curious why you think Rockbox sucks? Allowed me to use FLAC files and have far more control over EQ - which was amazing, totally changing the sound of the iPod.