Perform an iPod Low Level Format

Using the well known technique of smacking your iPod to get the hard disk un-stuck and allowing it boot up may work for a while. However the hard disk is getting stuck for a reason, and may crash again.

An iPod hard disk that keeps crashing may need a reformat. The restore that iTunes does to recover a hosed iPod is not be enough to get the hard drive to locate and mark bad sectors. Doing an operating system low level format did the trick for me.

After doing the low level format, make sure you do an iPod restore using iTunes.

Steps

  1. First put your iPod into disk mode. Then...

For Mac computer

  1. Open the disk utility, hope your iPod appears there (left hand side), highlight it
  2. Go to Tab “Partition”, click either “Delete” or “Partition”, if fails, skip this step and go to 3
  3. Go to Tab “Erase” , choose Volume Format as “MAC OS Extended (Journaled), and click Erase, again if fails, skip it and go to 4
  4. Same as step 3, but open the “Security Options....” and choose “Zero Out Data” before click Erase. It will take 1 to 2 hours to complete or more, depending on your iPod capacity.

For Windows computer:

  1. Go to folder “My Computer”
  2. Hope you can see your iPod there and right click on the iPod
  3. Choose “Format”. Ensure the settings are at “Default” and that “Quick Format” is not checked
  4. Now select “Format”
  5. In case you do not manage to do a “Format” on a window computer, try to use some 3rd party disk utility software, e.g.“Partition Magic”.
  6. If Formatting through MyComputer does not seem to work, try going under Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Computer Management > Disk Management. There you can select the Volume (iPod) right click and format it.

Tips

  • Windows users having trouble with their iPods should locate a Mac user. In many cases when an iPod won't show up on a PC that it will show up on the Mac. Then it can be restored. When the PC user returns to his computer the iPod will be recognized by the PC, reformatted for the PC, and usable again. By the way, it works in reverse too. A Mac user often can get his iPod back by connecting it to a PC and restoring it. Note:* It does not matter whether the format is completed or not, the key is to erase (or partly) the corrupted firmware files on the Hard Drive of the iPod. After that, when the iPod re-connected with a computer, it will be recognized as a fresh external hard drive, it will show up on the iPod updater.* It is not a difficult issue for a Mac user to find a window base computer, for a PC user, if they can’t find any Mac user, they can go to a nearest Apple Shop for a favor.* You may need to switch around the PC and Mac, try to do several attempts between “Format” and “Restore”

Warnings

  • A low level format will cause the hard disk to scan the entire surface of the hard drive. The iPod will get really hot when doing this.

Related Articles

  • Protect Your iPod
  • Prevent Scratching an iPod
  • Format an iPod Mini Before Selling It
  • Sync Music to Your iPod
  • Boot from iPod
Retrieved from "https://kipkis.com/index.php?title=Perform_an_iPod_Low_Level_Format&oldid=267987"