I will describe the solution to this when using a Windows computer to sync iPod, the instructions will apply to all versions of Windows beyond XP and any version of iTunes. The same basic principles apply when using a Mac however the disk fixing process will require different commands, etc.
Hardware in question:
iPod Classic 80Gb (6th generation), purchased December 2007.
PC running Windows 7 Pro & iTunes 10
Symptons:
iPod playback of various music & video files ceases before it should; in most cases the iPod would just start playing the next file, but sometimes it would just reset. The latter is more true when playing video files.
(Windows 7 only) an option appears to scan and fix the iPod drive for errors everytime I hook it up.
In most cases it is likely that your disk is suffering from a logical failure, which means there is nothing wrong physically with the disk, instead there is corrupted, fragmented or poorly allocated data on the iPod disk.
Getting the iPod into 'disk mode':
1. Toggle the HOLD switch on and then off, then hold down the menu and select (middle button) buttons together.
This will force the iPod to reboot, the iPod should display the apple logo over a grey background.
2. When you see this logo, immediatly hold down the select & pause buttons together.
The apple logo should fade away and instead you should see a very basic looking page that says 'Disk Mode', you should notuce that the fancy grey GUI of the iPod has been replaced with a basic white background and black text similar to that of the 1st gen iPod.
Fixing the disk using Windows checkdisk (chkdsk):
1. Plug the iPod in using your USB cable. When and if iTunes loads, close it down but do not eject or safely remove the iPod.
2. Launch the Windows command prompt or PowerShell.
This can be found by clicking Start-Run and typing in cmd (or PowerShell for Windows 7) or by going into All Programs-Accesories and selecting 'Command Prompt' or 'Windows PowerShell'.
My screenshots below will show Windows Powershell, but the commands are the same for the command prompt.
3. Type in the following command: chkdsk [drive letter]:/r
Obviously replace [drive letter] with the drive letter of your iPod. You can find this out by going into My Computer. For me, my iPod was drive letter was K, so I typed: chkdsk K:/r. If you iPod is drive letter E then you would enter chkdsk E:/r, etc...
The /r part of the command is very important; without it chkdsk will only operate in read only mode and will not fix any errors.
There is 1 space between chkdsk and the drive letter, this is no space between the drive letter and /r.
4. You will be asked 'would you like to force a dismount on this volume?' type in Y followed by return to select yes.
The chkdsk process will now start and you should see a similar process to this in your window:
It will take sometime to complete the process, depending on how big the disk is. I went to the supermarket during the time it took to fix. As you can see it did find bad clusters on various files, which will explain the symptons described earlier. Another screenshot showing the completed process:
5. Once the process has finished type in the command: exit (followed by return).
Your iPod is now a bit of a vegetable and the libary and software will need recovering.
Recoving iPod software and library:
1. Start the iTunes software from your desktop or start menu as normal.
The software should load up and show your libray, it should also show an iPod connected. If it doesn't safely disconnect the iPod and plug it back in. Do not reset the iPod.
Once the iPod is recognised you should see the following message:
Click OK to begin the vicious cycle of recovery, following the instructions show below.
2. You will be shown the iPod summary screen, click on the restore option in the middle of this screen.
You'll have various windows popup showing software updates and license agreements etc... Let the software download the updates (it may take some time) and then let it attempt to install them. Eventually you'll get another, very similar error message:
3. Click OK, you should be taken back to the summary page, once again click restore to continue the process.
If you don't get this option, assume the restore process is already churning.
You will be shown the progress of the resotre and will be notified of the iPod when it reboots. Do not disconenct the iPod at all costs, you may 'brick' the device!
The software may loop the process a couple of times, the iPod maybe rebooted a couple of times, again do not disconnect. At some point during the process the iPod will quit the minimal disk mode and return to the more colourful GUI. Eventually after rebooting you will get this window:
Result! You're iPod is restored to its factory state (with the latest firmware) go through the process of setting up the sync and let it copy your library back to the device.
Result of process:
If your iPod was suffering from a logical failure as described above, your music and video playback should be repaired, it shouldn't cut out during file playback and it shouldn't crash for the same reason (note the iPod may crash for other reasons, its still a computer!).
Windows 7 users should find that they are not being prompted to scan and fix the iPod disk drive if they saw such errors before!
It may take a while to find out but if you think this has not solved the problem described at the beginning of the article, it is more likely there is a physical fault with the disk. The disk will need replacing by a qualified engineer or using one of many hard disk replacement kits available.
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