Comments on: The 32Gb Compact Flash Ipod

By: Andrew

Andrew — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 13:44:26 +0000

My iPod starts up and sometimes goes into recovery mode, with the please connect to itunes message,
But as soon as the usb adapted touches the socket, It restarts and gives a low battery warning,
I’m using a 32gb Kinston Elite Pro, is this a sign of compatibility problems

By: Andy

Andy — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:52:01 +0000

Hi,
Installed the adaptor, but after plugging in to the PC, itunes shows “n/a” in the capacity line. Restore runs, but then says ipod in recovery mode, exactly as it did when it started.
Any ideas what is wrong?
The ZIF connector seems safely home, and I am using a fuji-2GB card. Is this the effect you get if a card is not compatible?
Any help greatly appreciated.
Ta
Andy

By: Michael

Michael — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 04:00:14 +0000

Getting a 3rd gen iPod is not a straight plug and play operation as it is with 4th/5th gen iPod’s and iPod Mini’s. You need to use modified firmware to keep it from rebooting continuously, which unfortunately is only available on a Windows machine. Furthermore, you have to format the iPod as PC format, although that doesn’t impair its ability to sync with iTunes on a Mac. I successfully upgraded my 3rd gen iPod with the 32 GB A-Data card depicted in this tutorial and got it working fine, but I eventually reverted the 3rd gen to its original hard drive and swapped the CF card into an iPod Mini (bigger jump to go from 4 GB -> 32 GB than from 10GB -> 32 GB).

By: JohnnyRay

JohnnyRay — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:23:45 +0000

I’ve got a 3rd gen original 15GB ipod that had a hosed hard drive and I also ordered the 1.8 to CF adapter for like $5. I haven’t had much luck getting it to work with this model, however, and most online discussions focus on 4th and 5th gen ipods. At first, I tried a Sandisk 2 GB Extreme III CompactFlash Memory Card 20MB/S in it, but it would not even show up on the computer. Then I bought a Kingston 8GB CompactFlash Card and the ipod and card showed up in both Disk Utility and iTunes, but it would never restore. I tried reformatting to Mac OS extended, partitioning to 1 partition of free space, running the restore program, but every time, it would take FOREVER and sometimes even stall each program untilI had to force quit before telling me it could not do it. The reasons varied from “not enough free space” to “the ipod is busy” and I was never able to get the iPod with the CF card in place of the hard drive to where I could actually use it. Is this model even capable of having the ipod software/hard disk configuration replicated on it? I’m using a Mac with Snow Leopard. Do I have to use the Terminal program or get a Linux machine?

By: iPod, reanimated! - danielsenhwong.com

iPod, reanimated! - danielsenhwong.com — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 13:31:47 +0000

[...] drive, and maybe even replace it with a compact flash card to provide more storage space. (Easy: http://www.tarkan.info/20080126/tutorials/32gb-compact-flash-ipod Ugly: [...]

By: Tarkan

Tarkan — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 22:46:04 +0000

Thanks for the feedback, glad it is all working for you.

By: Tony

Tony — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 14:59:35 +0000

Tarkan,

Freakin awesome!!!!!! Truly plug ‘N’ Play!!! A WELL DONE DESIGN!!!!! I resurrected a dead 30g ipod video with the wal-mart purchased 8gb Sandisk Ultra II 8GB 15 MB/sec 100X SDCFH-008G-AW11 described in my mini issue from July 28th. So I now know that the CF at least works in an ipod video!!

Thanks so much

By: Tarkan

Tarkan — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 21:24:09 +0000

Hi Jan,

Thanks for the feedback – glad you got it working ok. Could be the Transcend was old stock as the reports of them not working has been pretty consistant since Feb 2009.

But you can never tell with these budget card manufacturers!!!!

By: Tarkan

Tarkan — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 21:21:08 +0000

Hi,

Make sure the battery is connected back correctly, as you will get low battery warning even when connected to the computer.

128Mb is too small, the smallest I ever got a 5g running on was 512Mb.

Good luck, contact me if you need any more help.

By: Anna

Anna — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 14:24:19 +0000

Hi,Just bought your CF adaptor and fitted my 5th gen 30gb ipod with an old 128mb CF card I had laying around. After fitting I pluuged the ipod into my usb port, got the very low battery message and unhappy ipod, the same messages as I got before the HD replacement. Could this be because the card is too small or is it something else that needs replacing?

Thanks

By: Jan Holmén

Jan Holmén — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 20:10:32 +0000

Hi Tarkan,
Wanted to replace a dead HD in my wife’s 80GB Ipod classic. Ordered a Kingston 32GB 133X Elite Pro which turned out to be DOA, that is, when installed in the Ipod, it claimed it was 16GB, and after a short while it became 0GB. Sent it back to Komplett.se, and after a couple of weeks they sent me a new CF as a replacement. Turned out to be a “Transcend Ultra Speed 133x with MLC flash inside” since apparently they were out of Kingston CF’s.
Since my wife was getting a bit impatient I figured, what the … and decided to install it even though it is a little suspicious according to the list of Ipod-compatible CF’s, There was no way of checking when it was made, although I assume it was made after February. (Serial number 267657-0015)

I was happily surprised as it worked right out of the box (it was already formatted as FAT32, and I didn’t try to format it when I was offered that option when first connecting the Ipod to an Imac). Well it’s not completely true, I had to restore twice, the first time there was some fault code instead of a reboot after loading the Ipod software, After that everything has worked perfectly so far,and I have no reason to suspect that it won’t continue to do so.

Thanks a lot

By: Tarkan

Tarkan — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 10:43:27 +0000

Thanks for the feedback Rick, enjoy!!!

By: Rick

Rick — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 18:44:30 +0000

Hi Tarkan!

Awesome product you have there! I had mine for almost a week, waiting for the CF to arrive from Amazon. It did, and
all seems to be well (the Kingston Elite Pro 32GB 133X was in one of those infinite boot loops, manually formatting it FAT32 with a USB CF Reader did the trick). Can’t wait to test the battery life, and it’s already lighter & more durable for the gym! Thanks very much! Regards, Rick

Now if only the 64GB CF cards would come down in price….

By: Tarkan

Tarkan — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 19:56:15 +0000

Tony, Sorry missed your comment.

Sadly, I do not know much about the mini and do not know the solution. In terms of compatiblity, the same cards which work in the 5g iPod may not necessarily work in the mini or even 6g ipods.

By: Tony

Tony — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 19:35:17 +0000

Tarkan,

I don’t want to assume anything but since I have not recieved any response/feedback from my post, that I either posted my query on the wrong forum or I have offended you in some manner by my post and if so I apologize. I am still at my wits end on this mini issue stated above and don’t want to see this $50+ CF card to go to waste. So if you can shed any light or give me a direction to go in to resolve my min issus would be greatly appreciated