Chosen Solution
I’m upgrading my iPod video 5th generation to a larger hard drive. I’ll be using it with a Mac. What is the correct formatting for a hard drive before it’s installed into the iPod? I’ve seen conflicting information about whether it should be MAC OS Extended (Journaled)/FAT/other options. FWIW, I can’t connect the iPod to my computer to reformat the drive currently. So I want to make sure I have the right formatting before I put the new hard drive/flash drive.
For internet adventurers in the future (& @oldturkey03 ) here’s how I solved it: I bought a new replacement hard drive to see if that was the issue. After installing the new drive, I no longer got the sad Mac face.Using @oldturkey03’s steps above, I reformatted the drive.I zeroed everything out - which you may not need to do, but it was only after that I was able to get a working iPod.Rebooting the machine may have helped here, too. M1 Macs don’t have SMC/PRAM/VRAM resetting options - rebooting does that automatically for you, so don’t waste your time with key commands.The iPod, in disk mode, said to plug it in. I did. Trying to load the firmware using a downloaded .ipsw file in Disk Utility won’t work, because it doesn’t recognize .ipsw as a valid file format. The next step is where the firmware is reinstalled.A finder window will ask if you want to download & restore the software for your iPod. Tap yes.Patience…Once the software is installed, the iPod screen is in color, with the blinking “Do Not Disconnect” notice.Open “Music” - you should see your restored iPod, ready for tunes. Thanks, everyone, for the input along the way!
@must_we for a Mac OS I would do the following First put your iPod into disk mode. Then… For Mac OSX: Open the disk utility, find your iPod (left hand side) and highlight itGo to Tab Partition, click either Delete or Partition, if fails, skip this step and go to 3.Go to Tab Erase , choose Volume Format as MAC OS Extended (Journaled), and click Erase again if this fails, skip it and go to 4.Same as step 3. but open the Security Options…. and choose Zero Out Data before clicking Erase. It will take 1 to 2 hours to complete or more, depending on your iPod capacity. This from here should erase the data on your drive and should get you to restore it. You also want to see if you can install the firmware which will definitely help with this. Get your iPod version from here and install as directed.
