Great instruction on the details of how to do it. I upgraded an old 30GB to a 750GB with a new battery. That should last a while. I polished the back with a metal polish to make it look almost new. Thanks so much for your help and clear instructions.
I have this iPod and I love it. I’ve always loved it more than my cellphones (Samsung, iphone) because it’s just for hear music without WiFi and apps.. I mean it’s so good for a weekend without WiFi.
How much does it cost to turn a iPod classic fifth generation into 256 GB SSD. I just got one from my cousin that has a30 gig hard drive and I want to upgrade the storage to 256gb ssd
John Bouchard I was just about to buy one that they claim is brand new or professionally restored with 256 SSD it has a new back casing a new front casing battery and screen for 199.95 is that good price
Great information. The iPod Classic was the best for keeping everything, but most importantly, it's still the only MP3 player I've ever used that uses Smart Playlists that change on the fly as you use the iPod (if you set them up right). Plus, if you work in an environment that's secure and can't bring a phone in, you can still bring in your iPod Classic. I did this conversion over a year ago and it was the best investment for a music player I ever made. All my videos, podcasts, and music in a small device I can take when I travel.
6:12 Heads up folks I have a iPod 30 GB identical to the one in this video. I struggle to flip the black piece that locks in the ribbon. After a while I tried the white piece and it flip up with ease. Be careful at this part and try not to put to much pressure on either piece . And of course don’t get frustrated
Thanks for the video man, i’ve had several HDD iPods over the years and finally i’ve got one that doesn’t have a set expiration date. I have an enhanced and man the quality is incredible miles better than any of the new phones.
Really good tutorial! A lot of other videos made it seem so complicated and stressed me out cause I didn’t want to break my iPod. Thanks for this, very simple
the 5th gen iPod Classic has some of the best audio quality out of all the MP3 players I have ever tried when you do this modification it's always a good idea to purchase a new rechargeable battery and replace it the old ones are usually wore the hell out and don't hold a good charge and replace the headphone jack and the click wheel then you're good to go for another 10 years
@@Coty0010 what about the 5.5 gens? i am not even sure which ones mine are, i have a white 80GB ipod video that has jack sparrow on the box and another thinner black one that is 30 GB
I found one of those at a thrift store, and I just replaced the battery and the hard drive with a 128 GB Samsung SD card. Usually, I use SanDisk, but I've heard reports that SanDisk doesn't play well with the iFlash adapter. Basically, this was my first time dipping my toes into the iPod fixing waters. And in hindsight, it was a success. All because I did my homework.
I always wanted to flash mod my iPod 5.5 gen because of the benefits; however, I really can’t give up the working hard drive as it gives more weight which I like and I love the feeling the spinning hard disk does when holding it on my hand. I will one day get another iPod 5th gen and flash mod that one just to see it for myself. Great video btw! One day I’ll use your steps to flash mod one!
So excited. I ordered a new white face plate and rear case with a 3000 mah battery and an iflash solo. I am going to use a 1 tb SD card since I listen to lossless music.
Thanks! Great video. Do you have a recommendation on size limit and brand for the SD card? Also, are there any good quality replacement batteries available? Thanks
I'd just check ebay for the batteries, brand of SD card doesn't really matter, but can never go wrong with Sandisk Or Samsung, Not sure if there is a hard limmit on Storage size, But 256gb works well.
I just stuck my iFlash solo in my 30gb 5th gen. The foam is too thick and needs to be cut down. How i know ? Because one side of the faceplate clips are broke and there was a decent sized gap when putting it back together. I took a box cutter and sliced it down the middle and now its fully closed besides the one side, barely notice it. So that pad if left uncut, is putting pressure on the board when its against the metal back cover, making it bend. No SD card issues. Took the one out of my phone, placed it in, and restored without issue. Checking it in gparted showed it was exFAT.
Got a 5th gen “for parts” only $25.. i had replacement parts ready to go… everything worked fine, battery ribbon was just unplugged… swapped the hdd for SD card, keeping the original battery till it dies.
Hey thanks! I’m still planning on doing the blu-tooth mod, but I’m still in the mental planning phase of it. So it may be a while... I wasn’t expecting this video to make it passed 20 views tbh lol
Thank so much for your detailed presentation! The details you give are very helpful. If you could make a video about how to change the battery and add a Bluetooth option. I subscribed.
Hello, I lost most of the photage for the bluetooth mod and really dont feel like starting over on another at this time. As for the battery all you have to do is take it out once you have the back off (it's simply glued to the back housing and can be gently pried off)
nice job! what is the max that this can be upgraded to? I also heard that the old ipod's were not going to be supported due to the ios, does that leave this an upgrade or ipod to avoid?
I have a question ... Do you accept other people's ipods to do these updates + other types of upgrades . Plus with the understanding that you would be paid for your services & materials needed . Please let me know if you do this type of work on the side . Thanks for your time with this matter .
I've been thinking of doing this with this same model but I'm pretty nervous about breaking it, because I've never done something like this. Should I do it?
I would never recommend doing something if you are uncomfortable with it. But if you do it, just take it slow and be careful and you shouldn't have any issues. ;)
want to add that I took my time and 4 hours later I still don’t have the back off and lots of scratch marks on the sides.. no idea what I’m missing. gggrrrrrrr
I installed the foam pad just away from the sd card on the black PCB. Did I make a mistake? I notice a lot of people stick the foam pad on top of the metal SD bracket and I applied it on the PCB in case the SD card got loose.
After prying the back off you will have expanded the metal case slightly. It is good practice to squeeze the metal rear back into shape BEFORE you refit it. That way it doesn't leave a lip.
very interested in the upgrades you are doing. Especially the Bluetooth add. Also interested in a Battery replacement. I am thinking of the micro card upgrade unless you think the SD card is the way. I thought I could go more Gig with 4 micro cards. I currently have a 7th gen 160G brand new (just started using), a second 7th gen 160G (music on the unit but unit says nothing one it) and a 5th Gen 80G which I would like to make all the mods to. Great work on the video, really found it interesting. Do you have a list of the items and where you bought them from. Normally I would just pay someone to do the work as I am good with timber not so much electronics, but Australia is a little to far away. lol. Again great work
Thank you, glad you enjoyed it! As for your questions, I'll start with addressing the bluetooth mod. The bluetooth has proven to be a pain to make an easy upgrade video on that doesn't look like it was done by a three year old. Finding a Bluetooth transmitter that fits in the free space is easy enough. But adding controls so that you don't have to open the iPod whenever you want to pair with something is the issue as it requires passing a pair button as well as a status LED through the case. I'm still working on an elegant solution but its very slow progress... As for micro SD card vs SD card, their is no difference these days, The adapter I used simply accepted a full size SD card so I used a micro SD card to full size SD card adapter that I got on amazon for about $1USD. As for the parts I got them on eBay, but I have also seen them on amazon, I would just search "iFlash Solo" on either and if they don't have them on the Australian Amazon I know that The maker of the iFlash solo also has their own website here: www.iflash.xyz/ I am unsure if they ship to Australia but I'm sure their is a way. As for the tools I think I found them on amazon, but If you can't find them you can pretty much open the 5th gen with a butter knife if it came to it, lol
Thanks for your time to make this video and share it. Very clear explaining and showing what needs to be done. I cant wait to see the bluetooth mod video. Thanks for not do it with stupid background music. Excellent Tutorial 2 thumbs up.
I have the same iPod and followed what you did. The disk drive was scogged when the iPod was dropped. I put a 128 gig card in and everything fires up. But....my MacBook air only identifies it as another disk drive with the name iPod. It will not connect and sync and act like an iPod. Am I missing something?
Instead of using Apples iOS just flash Rockbox. The converter is Tarkan iflash for iPod. Also search best EQ settings for Rockbox. The iPod 5.5th Gen. A1136 has a Wolfson Audio Chip. Other models have a Cirrus Audio Chip.
Nice video! Quick question though: If you use the iFlash-Solo hard drive, will that still allow you enough room to install the bluetooth module in that same ipod?
Thanks, and yes, My understanding is that you can only install the blutooth mod if you do the hard swap. Because there is more room with something like the iFlash-solo while as there is no room to spare with the stock hard drive.
Thanks for the info! I just found my old iPod Video 5G while moving that I would like to mod. I've subscribe and am very interested in the bluetooth mod.
is there a limit to what size card I can put in the 160gb classic model? great tutorial btw! definitely going to give it a go then try for the Bluetooth upgrade
Depends on firmware version. If you have less than 2.0.4, the limit is 128GB. 2.0.4 and 2.0.5 -- I don't think you have to worry about limit. Current size is limited by card capacity. 4x 400GB = 1.6TB
Awesome video man!!! Took me like 30 minutes to swap a new faceplate and to install the new ssd . But took me like 30 minutes to try to put in them little screws for the faceplate. LMAO!!!!
So...should I buy a new one or fix an old one? They both end up in about the same cost but building would save one more and would give me the satisfaction.
That's up yo you, If you have the ability and the confidence to preform this "mod" then go for it, it's more rewarding, the iPod with SD card is much lighter, and you don't have to worry about the hard disk failing again due to movement.
I take a pair of large tweezers that have a tiny ball at the end on the inside. I learned that when trying to pry the battery plug up. I use the tweezers and hook the balls under it on each side and pull straight up. Its too easy to break the solder from the back, notice how it is pushed forward the way he is doing it. I ruined a 7th gen 160gb buy doing it from the back.
Coty, Just dusted off my iPod 5th gen and the HD just makes a clicking sound and the screen says the battery is very low but doesnt seem to charge or turn on. So i guess I need both the SSD upgrade and the battery replaced. Are you going to be uploading a battery replacement vid for the 5th gen soon?
Cade Foster I have no intention of doing a battery video, the reason is that replacing the battery is super easy once you get the back plate off. It’s just a small blue pack glued onto the back casing. So once you get the back off all you have to do is gently ply off the old battery stick the new one on.
Cade Foster I’ve always had success just gently sliding the spudger I used to open the case under it and gently lifting it up. The new battery’s normally come with adhesive strips. So there’s really not much to it.
This is awesome, first video I look at on the subject and it's perfect, nice job. The battery in my old gen-5 finally came back to life the other day - and it worked perfect for 3 days before the HD shit the bed...wtf. I'm going this route. Someone care to educate this old guy how much difference it makes what kind of card I put in? I want to go with 256g (or more), seems no one's suggesting using cheap cards and all the recommended 256g cards I see are around $100, aren't there cheaper ones that'll work? What's SD vs SSD? And what's with the dual and quad adapters vs this one? Is that just so I can load it up with 4 $300 cards? Thx in advance!
Andork Kuomo hi, a cheap as card will work vs a more expensive name brand, however I can’t vouch for the speed or reliability of cheaper as cards. Cheap as cards sometimes last a long time, sometimes not, but I have yet to have a name brand like Sandisk give up on me. And yes, the dual and quad storage adapters will let you run more cards for greater storage. The difference with ssd and sd is an ssd is built for computers, is faster and more expensive as aposed to sd cards which are intended for portable devices that have no major speed requirement, like the iPod. A quad adapter with 4 256gb cards will yield 1024gb of capacity (whoah). Hope this helps ;)
Great video. Is there a limit with the 6gen thick model classic storage space do you know? I've the 160gb version and was planning on upgrading to 450-500GB.
Stephen S as far as I know there isn’t an easily attainable limit. I’ve seen some message board posts of people going to 1TB using multi card adapters.
Coty0010 mine is the 6th gen and with the standard firmware it's limited to 120gb. But with Rockbox it's up to 1tb I believe. I've also the option of getting a g7 motherboard.
Stephen S I can see that, most people on the message boards do run rock box, so that could very well be the case. I never really tested out rock box though, because I really like the stock firmware and just want it to simply play music lol
The 6th gen (anything below 2.0.4) will only see 128GB. Spend the money and get the G7 motherboard. I upgraded mine with a 2.0.5 board. One thing I learned with this upgrade is to make sure you are very careful with the clickwheel ribbon cable when removing. I scraped mine and severed some of the connections on the cable. It caused some of the menu buttons to not work anymore (which you would think isn't related to the clickwheel capacitive touch, but it is. You might as well buy a cheap clickwheel just in case. They're only about $15 anyway.
Lauren Glenn hi! I’ve seen you comment quite a bit on this video and seem very knowledgeable about various iPod mods, I wanted to buy one with a lot of space for my music but after watching a couple videos I think making one would be really fun and being able to customize would be nice. Do you have any tips for starting out? And the steps I should take in order to get this right the first time. Thanks!
Few questions: does it still work today even if it's just a year later? Do i need an older itunes installation? I'm guessing the sd card needs to be formatted to fat32 beforehand? And what search criterias would i need for ebay to get an ipod for 30 bucks?* And do you have a link or product name for that sd card adapter? Cause i really wanna get one for videos. And also, concidering how much less power the sd card uses compared to the hdd, how many hours extra do you recon this now will have?
Yes it still works with the latest version of iTunes. The drive from what I can tell does not matter if it's formatted as iTunes will format it when it re-installs the firmware. All I did to get an iPod 5th gen for $30 is stalk around on eBay until one pops up as not-working and I normally find ones with failed hard drives being sold as parts. I have no particular search criteria. The name of the adapter is the iFlash Solo, the company is iFlash and the product is solo, there is also dual witch allows you to use multiple SD cards as well as various others. As far as I have been able to tell power draw is hardly different, it's just quicker, quieter and much lighter.
Can you confirm whether the iPod OS reinstall still works with macOS Catalina once you've switched drives? I've been considering doing a similar upgrade, but iTunes is no more with the newest operating system. I'm trying to not accidentally brick an iPod for precisely this reason.
Hello, I cannot. I downgraded back to Mojave and have no intention of upgrading for a while since i was having stability issues as far as kernel panics on my 2015mpb. However, it looks like you can still restore iPods on catalina. Worst case scenario you can always just put the old hard drive back in. If you decided to try it, please let me know if it works.
@@bobwa399 You need a PC to transfer music to the iPod, you can either buy the music on itunes, pirate it, or if you have the CDs, you can pull the music from the CDs then transfer it to the ipod. Any music ripped from CDd is HIFI lossless, just make sure you’re doing it as FLAC or ALAC and not MP3
@@HighFidelityFox I have mp3 on my CD readable discs as songs. I too was thinking that i will need a PC to rip from my CD and burn on to I Pod. But I didn't know that the format must not be mp3...thanks for informing. Can Window media player turn mp3 to FLAC/ALAC? I have free version of VLC player too.
Doc Sopwith Hello! No it isn’t, the sound quality is dependent solely on the DAC (Digital to Analog Converter) and the Amp (Amplifier), switching to an sd card only changes the media of witch your music is stored on. It will sound identical.
could be? i bought one on ebay that says it's a ipod classic 5.5 that has the search feature (so it should have the wolf dac ) but when i compared it with my original one with less gb's ( 30 instead if 128 ) it doesn't sound as good... the high frequencies sound ok but not the same ( and not exactly lifeless but lacking depth ) an the bass sucks big time...it doesn't have as much range and sounds like standard definition compared to uhd. Now i have to boost the bass with the eq and it still dosen't sound as good or get as loud .
So this is a 5th gen, you say? Can the iFlash adaptor allow up to 512GB for iTunes on this gen iPod? I'm getting fed up with what smartphones have become and I'm thinking of getting an iPod Classic with video playback as a means of still being able to enjoy my iTunes content even if I decide to ditch smartphones completely. Also an Apple TV for watching my iTunes video content on the big screen, and play compatible games. I don't plan to get Spotify or Apple Music, despite my brother highly recommending I get the former, while iTunes is still my main choice for buying TV episodes, I now buy digital music from Amazon, gaming is something I'd rather do on my 3DS, PlayStation Vita and Switch, which brings us to one of my main issues with smartphones these days: games! They went from giving you cheap fun for just an upfront fee starting at 79p (that's 7.9 packets of Space Raiders!) to mostly being "free" games that bully you into spending £1000+ on in-app purchases! Such games are worse than Tiger handhelds! I also REALLY hate what most smartphone companies are doing, killing the headphone jack (only the Samsung Galaxy S9 has one it seems!) and giving us these UGLY notches! I really don't like Apple's business practices right now. While I do still buy some digital music (now through Amazon rather than iTunes), I would still rather buy CDs. When it comes to movies and TV shows, I'd rather watch and record them via satellite broadcast, and buy them on DVD and Blu Ray. I only got Netflix because I bought a 4K TV last year and I was desperate for 4K shows to watch on it. The only real use I have for Netflix besides that is Bojack Horseman.
adultmoshifan87 adultmoshifan87 so, yes and no, the iPod WILL support 512GB. However the default iPod operating system loads all of the file names into RAM. What this means is you can only hold about 20,000 items on the iPod if it’s a 30GB or 50,000 if it’s a 60GB or larger (as larger iPods also had more RAM) this should be fine if you mix music and movies, just don’t expect to hold 512GB of just music. Although as I understand 3rd party operating systems like rock box do store the track list on the hard drive so it over comes that limitation. Also I hear you on the current state of smart phones. It’s getting pretty ridiculous. I’ve been pretty close to buying a flip phone over the past year. If my current phone ever gives out, that’ll probably be what I do.
Great video. Be VERY careful pulling up on the battery connection. Pull up too hard and the entire power connector can come off of the motherboard. Don't ask me how I know this... :( Make sure you get an SD card that has Wear Leveling built in. Without it, you can wear out the SD card way too soon. I use a flat wood tooth pick to release the power connector and re-set it. If your iPod has the original battery or you don't know if it has been replaced within the last 3 years you should replace the battery while you have it open.
so i did this same thing but when i power my ipod on it gives a driver error any ideas on what to do? i have verified to make sure all ribbon cables were plugged in properly but idk
I managed to pick a bunch of them up on ebay a while back, I never realized the actual retail cost until people started pointing it out after this video...
@@RustyX2010 are there any or you just guessing i have not search aliexpress yet would be nice to find a chinese one that works the same
7 лет назад
Hi, I upgrading my Ipod Video 5.5 to 420Gb by micro Sd adaptor. The problem is when I installed rockbox I can't play properly. it plays few seconds then white screen with this notice "divide by zero at..." or some files just play few seconds then it just skip to another song. The ipod play fine on default firmware. Do you know how to fix this? I really want to use rockbox. thanks
Phim KH Xưa I’m sorry, rockbox has been on my todo list, for a while, but I’ve also been encountering a an issue with it. I haven’t got around to figuring out a solution yet.
random question: I broke the brown thing that snaps the power strip into place while I was trying to open mine. Any advice as to how to get mine to stick now? thanks in advance!
Has anyone done this and tried putting the Rockbox software on it? I have one of the 5th gens on the way. I’ve done this to a couple of iPod Minis using an SD to CF card adapter. The CF takes the place of the original micro drive perfectly. I tried running the Rockbox software on the Mini but the database function just won’t work. Rockbox works fine on the stock hard drive and is vastly superior to Apple’s original software.
Brett Sweitzer Hello, is it not staying in place after you push the clip down? (The clip is what locks it in place and should completely lay down flat)
I've had my 80gb iPod for like 12 years. It just seems to struggle every time i plug it to iTunes, I believe it might be the HDD that wore out over the years, hey I can't demand the poor thing to work the same way when i bought it lol. Thank you for this video, I also will upgrade the battery.
Chimpur it depends on the adapter. iFlash has adapters that let you go up to 1TB using multiple sd cards in raid. The speed doesn’t matter to much, but I would stick with a class 10 if possible.
I'm so old school that I even know morse code !? so please be patient with my question :o) I take it that I will lose my music in this procedure? so , can you lead me to a tutorial to move my music over to my computer first? Thanks and Great Video !!!
Sorry, Yes you'll lose your music. The only way to preserve it is to sync with iTunes. But I think iTunes only syncs one way and that is from the pc to the iPod. I've experimented with full disk imaging, but I haven't had any real success to date with that.
@@Coty0010 Am I missed something, why would you lose your music is it not in iTunes. Fully back-up your iPod to your computer, do the upgrade, restore from your back-up. If you have disc mode enabled which you should then you don't need iTunes as you have other transfer options. Now if like to run Rockbox you'd have your own dedicated folder for your music to drag n drop to your iPod, honestly I rarely touch iTunes and I don't miss it.
@@ETLAEDITZ your music is only backed up to iTunes if you purchased it directly from iTunes. However, it's not a hassle if the music is still on the pc.
Sorry, no, you'll need a larger back case. The larger iPods are physically bigger and they're batteries are thicker. Unless you're taking about a first/second gen iPod? If that's the case then You'd have to re-wire the connecters as they are different and I don't think it would be worth it.
Generally I've avoided the CF-Card adapter because as I see it; It introduces more complications. I don't see why it wouldn't work. It SHOULD work, but unless you already have the ZIF to CF card adapter I'd recommend the ZIF to SD card adapter.
Yes, I just used the iFlash solo, witch just converts an SD card directly to the ZIF. It costs a little more than the CF card ones, but I prefer it. :)
Kev Wood nope, iTunes does that during the restore as it formats it in either macOS file system or fat32 depending if it’s iTunes for Mac or iTunes for windows.
Hi can you please help me if you can I have apple iPod 5th classic 30gb is not turn on just turn on when is in the charger I fix a new battery and still not turn on is self just when plag in any help please thank you
hi, my Ipod Classic seem to be failing at the USB connection, I can play my ipod with the AUX cable but not the USB, now I am realizing that it will not sync to Itunes, ironically it seems to be charging while connected? Any ideas?
Have you attempted cleaning the connector? Allot of fuzz and dust gets trapped in their over the years, gently sweeping a tooth pic can reveal allot, after you do that you might go an extra step further and blow it out with a can of compressed air. If cleaning doesn't work their is sadly no easy fix for fixing a worn 30 pin connector as it is soldered to the logic board and requires a full logic board replacement.
Thank you, have been watching a few videos that they replace the dock, I have one an older one that doesn't work, it looks like there maybe hope, where could I get the logic board replacement, and if I need to do that would I lose my music on my ipod?
Your best bet of finding a replacement is looking up used working iPods on ebay and using it for parts, a local cell phone repair shop may be willing to do it for some cash if your uncomfortable with doing it yourself. No music will be lost as its stored on the hard drive.
Joaquim Paris as far as I know there isn't any difference from the 5th Gen. But I've only done 5th gens and 7th gens and the 7th gens are allot harder to crack open, but everything else is the same.
antsice well in theory the ssd should be faster, but with the hardware in the iPod and the fact it can only play SD video and music, I don’t think the extra cost if an ssd going to yield results that are much faster.
The SSD is faster to sync songs to but it's more expensive. Micro SD cards are probably your best bet especially if you want long battery life. Sure, it takes a while to sync them up and fill the unit if you really max it out with an iFlash Quad, but as someone who has had both, I'm much happier with the iFlash Quad. It takes all micro SD cards (up to 4) from any side up to 400GB cards. And yes, I have a 400GB card in mine because it was on sale. Plus, unlike the SSD, you don't have to order this from Hong Kong or China to get this. I believe the iFlash Quad is in the US and the seller still responds to questions (and there's a forum there). I regretted buying the SSD because I got a 256GB (or 240GB, I forget) and it cost me about $180. The iFlash Quad was $45 or so and I bought a 200GB micro SD card for about $70. Put in 2 and you have 400GB for $140. Still cheaper than an SSD. I have 700GB on mine (5400 songs and about 650GB of videos). The database on the device is literally 900MB. When I plug it in with the micro SD card, it takes about 1.5 minutes to download the database (which I believe it does as it always takes that long for iTunes to recognize the iPod is plugged in). That's fine as iTunes takes it fine. Just remember to be patient and if you get a 3000mAh battery, you don't really have to even sync the iPod up except maybe once a week if you set up your smart playlists right.
Joaquim Paris www.amazon.com/Kingsdun-Professional-Non-Abrasive-Spudgers-Anti-Static/dp/B01I35C484/ref=mp_s_a_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1531953021&sr=1-8&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=Ipod+tool+kit&dpPl=1&dpID=51%2BC8z4u%2BuL&ref=plSrch
