Hello,
My apologies for the long post. After keeping track of this thread for quite a while to see how various attempts at upgrading iPods have gone. If anyone is interested, this is how my attempt at upgrading my 80GB iPod Video went. It was purchased off eBay specifically to do this.
My original iPod was a 160GB iPod 6G (fatback) that for which, it is my understanding, will not work for this. Hence the purchase of the 80GB iPod Video. If I get the time and inclination I may attempt to see if it can be done.
In all it took about three hours to do this, including trial and error to figure out what was wrong as well as test out Rockbox. I did this slowly as I wanted as few issues as possible after sinking a small fortune (to me anyway) into doing this (It was a Christmas present to myself)
I have on older 13" MacBook that also boots into Windows via VMWare
Parts I used for the upgrade are listed below (all obtained from Amazon with exception to the aforementioned 80GB iPod Video)
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mSATA: Crucial CT256M4SSD3 (was $185.00 at the time of purchase and is 3.3V)
http://www.amazon.com/Crucial-256GB-mSATA-Internal-CT256M4SSD3/dp/B0085J17UA
mSATA SSD to 40 Pin ZIF Adapter Card
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009BA5JU6/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00
mSATA SSD to 2.5-Inch SATA Adapter
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007PPZ2I8/ref=oh_details_o05_s00_i02
USB 2.0 2.5 HARD DRIVE SATA HDD EXTERNAL CASE ENCLOSURE
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003DSEJWQ/ref=oh_details_o04_s00_i00
I followed the instructions for accessing the iPod hard drive as found on the iFixit website.
http://www.ifixit.com/Device/iPod_5th_Generation_%28Video%29
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Getting the iPod Working
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1) As I use a Macbook and have everything in iTunes, I formatted the mSATA for Mac OSX Extended (Journaled) using the disk utility. (If I used Windows than I would have formatted FAT32.)
2) Once the drive was formatted I inserted it into the ZIF adapter and connected it to the iPod.
3) I connected the iPod to the Macbook and crossed my fingers. The iPod was recognized and iTunes requested to restore it. I had a lot of trouble getting this done as I kept getting an iTunes error that I had to connect the iPod to a Firewire cable to do the restore (I do not have one)
4) After a few attempts of reformatting the mSATA, thinking I did this all wrong and having the same error come up numerous times I gave it a shot on the Windows side and formatted the mSATA as FAT32. I had the same issue. iTunes recognized the iPod but would not restore it.
5) I gave up on the Windows side and went back to the Mac. For the last time I formatted the mSATA to be compatible with the Mac. This time I figured that maybe the drive connection was not being made correctly. I made sure to connect the drive cable to the mSATA as best I could.
6) I reconnected the iPod to iTunes and voila, the iPod was recognized and reformatted. I know have a 238GB mSATA iPod. I am not sure why not 240GB or such, but I am happy that it works.
Attempt at Rockbox
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I am not into Rockbox, as iTunes serves my needs fine, however I thought I would give it a try for those that may be interested. I was unable to get it to work, but nonetheless, this is what I did.
1) Connected my newly minted iPod to the Windows side and turned it into a Windows iPod
2) I installed Rockbox. There were no issues here, the install went fine
3) Upon restarting the iPod I got to the Rockbox boot screen. I thought I may have gotten lucky. Unfortunately, I was presented with a screen showing me a "sata-22" error. At least that is what I thought I saw (damn bifocals) before I clicked through the error message
4) Without thinking to take a pictures I click through the prompts and a got nowhere. I figured I would reboot the iPod again and document it this time, possible for someone that knows what they are doing. However, upon rebooting (I did this a few times) I never got the same error message after the boot screen. I was always given a "sata -11" error. Maybe I misread the "sata -22" error as this time I took off the bifocals (much better).
5) I rebooted the iPod one last time and put it into diagnostic mode and took a picture of that (Again for what ever use it may be). Strangely enough even-though the mSATA was formatted in both OSX and Windows as a 256GB SSD, the diagnostic mode seems to indicate that there is only a 127GB drive in the iPod. (Maybe that is where the problem with Rokbox is?)
6) I gave up any more attempts at getting Rockbox to work, so I uninstalled it. (Again no errors there). I reconnected the iPod to the Mac and set it up again as a Mac iPod to work with iTunes as it more than suits my needs. Maybe someday I'll give Rockbox another try if anyone figure out why it does not work. Till then I am content with the upgrade and can fit my library with some room to spare.
At the moment, I am transferring my music onto the iPod
Pictures for the "Pictures or it didn't happen crowd"
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iPod Showing mSATA
iPod Showing mSATA
iPod showing mSATA
iPod booted up
iPod Diagnostic screen after stopping attempts at installing Rockbox
iPod error after Rockbox bootscreen
Rockboxed iPod after clicking "OK" as shown in picture above
Rockboxed iPod showing panic