IPod Classic Hard Drive Recovery
- Tutorial
I got an iPod Classic 80 Gb with a problem: “The message“ Connect to iTunes to restore ”appears on the screen, an attempt to restore via iTunes ends with error 1439.” Before that, he was trivially dropped. On the face is a dead (or as it turned out later partially dead) hard drive.
How to find out how things are with the hard drive and how to bring the iPod back to life (at least partially) read under the cut.
Attention! You perform all actions with the player at your own risk. If something goes wrong - neither the author of the article, nor the authors of the tools used bear any responsibility.
First of all, we need to find out how bad things are with the hard drive. To get started, put the iPod in diagnostic mode. To do this, hold down the "Menu" and "Select" buttons simultaneously. After a few seconds, the player will restart and an apple will appear on the screen. At this moment, hold down the “Select” button and the rewind button. The iPod diagnostic menu opens. Here you can check most of the player's functions, but we are most interested in the SMART data of its hard drive. The growing number of “Reallocated sector count” (I checked this option after each of several recovery attempts through iTunes) shows us that the problem really lies in the hard drive.
For a more detailed diagnosis of the HDD, we transfer the player to drive mode. To do this, we again hold down the “Menu” and “Select” buttons, and so at the moment the apple appears on the screen, we’ll hold down “Menu” and “Play \ Pause”. After the inscription “OK to disconnect” appears on the screen, release the button and connect the player to the computer.
Next, we need any program to test the surface of the hard disk (I used Victoria) which we check the surface of the hard disk for bad sectors. Here it is necessary to note one subtlety (maybe this will not become something new for someone, but I stepped on such a rake, so I’ll note it just in case): after a number of bad blocks, the hard drive is disconnected and errors occurred in the Victoria log "ABRT". In such cases, you have to stop scanning, disconnect and reconnect the player and start the test further from where the errors started to pour in (or from the place a little further so that you could immediately cut off a dead piece of the disk). At this stage, we need to finally confirm that the problem is really in the hard drive and find the largest living piece, so that in the future it would be cut for use.
The only way I know of using a hard disk with bad blocks is to cut out a dead piece of disk, and use a disk of reduced size. The method is not the most reliable - the disk may fail at any time - but in my case it was suitable, because I did not want to fork out for a new one (hdd for iPod classic costs about 3300 rubles).
After looking for information about the partitioning of the disk, the iPod found only this entry on the forum: www.mobile-files.ru/forum/showthread.php?t=306330. I tried it. And it didn’t work out. This is due to the fact that my copy, including almost the very beginning of the disk, along with the file table died. Accordingly, I did not have the disc contents that iTunes creates when restoring the player (this is not indicated in the forum message, but after cutting the disc, it is necessary to recreate the disc contents as if iTunes had done it). And I could not repeat it.
I continued to search for recovery methods and came across a Rockbox project ( http://www.rockbox.org/ ). Rockbox is an alternative firmware for many players, including Apple players. True iPod Classic they are listed as unprepared for use. Namely, if you open the table of the list of platforms in development on their website ( http://www.rockbox.org/wiki/TargetStatus#New_Platforms_Currently_Under_Development ) and find iPod Classic in the list, we will see that only Dual Boot is not ready (there is a choice between the original firmware and Rockbox) and installation through their own installation utility. If this does not bother you, we continue.
Installing Rockbox on the player is possible thanks to the freemyipod project ( http://www.freemyipod.org) and their product emCore ( http://www.freemyipod.org/wiki/EmCORE ). In short - a freemyipod iPod reverse engineering project with Click Wheel. And emCore, as stated on the project wiki, is a simple operating system for them. But in fact it is a downloader for Rockbox.
Let's start the installation. Instructions for Linux users: http://www.freemyipod.org/wiki/EmCORE_Installation/iPodClassic/PrepareDFULinux . MacOs is unfortunately not supported. Instructions for Windows (supported by XP / Vista / 7/8) users:
At this point, we should have a separate UMSboot disk. Download the file http://files.freemyipod.org/releases/20120102/installer-ipodclassic-r859-20120102.ubi - this is the latest release of r859 at the time of writing. The latest version can be viewed at http://www.freemyipod.org/wiki/EmCORE_Releases . We simply copy the downloaded file to the UMSboot disk. Now you need to safely remove the disk. On Linux, just unmount the folder. In Windows, right-click on the disk in Windows Explorer and click "Eject" ( you need to do just that - safely disconnecting the device does not work! ). Now disconnect the player from the computer.
Now follow the instructions on the player’s screen. First you need to read the disclaimer of warranties and agree to it by simultaneously pressing "Menu" and "Play \ Pause". Then the flashing of the player will begin. Then I came across a problem that was not written anywhere - during this process, the hard drive is formatted. And since he was badly damaged, this process dragged on. The first two times, I even thought that the player crashed and rebooted it (holding down “Menu” and “Select”). However, I did it in vain. Just have to wait - it took me about 3-4 hours.
After flashing and rebooting the player, the bootloader menu appears. In it we select "Rock box". The loader will say that the file "rockbox.ipod" was not found - we do not pay attention. After Rockbox has started, connect the player to the computer again. A hard drive will be detected, which we now have to re-partition to cut a dead piece.
Then I ran into a new problem - none of the utilities for Windows wanted to work with this disk. Someone just did not see him. Someone was hanging when trying to contact. You can try it yourself first - maybe it will work out. If not, then the next paragraph is for you.
Good old fdisk from Linux saved me. He redid the partition table without any problems in the form I needed. For example, I’ll give a list of commands (for more details, see fdisk help):
It is worth noting that it is necessary to specify the type of partition as Windows (0x0C), otherwise neither emCore nor Rockbox will see this partition.
After breaking up the disk and formatting, we will finish installing the firmware. Download the archive http://files.freemyipod.org/releases/20120102/rockbox-ipodclassic-r31516-20120102.zip (again - the latest version on the page http://www.freemyipod.org/wiki/EmCORE_Releases ). We simply unpack the downloaded archive onto the player’s disk. And everything is done!
About a week of testing showed some instability of the firmware - I could not determine the exact cause, but several times the player crashed completely tight. The backlight went out (the image remained on the screen) and the current contents of the audio buffer looped in the headphones. Pressing “Menu” and “Select” at the same time did not help (a combination of buttons for rebooting). The only way to return the player to working condition is to either wait until the battery is dead, or open and disconnect the battery cable. So far, an assumption of the reasons is FLAC playback. It is during its reproduction at random that such freezes occur. But so far the information is not accurate.
That's all. I hope the article helped someone bring his iPod back to life.
How to find out how things are with the hard drive and how to bring the iPod back to life (at least partially) read under the cut.
Attention! You perform all actions with the player at your own risk. If something goes wrong - neither the author of the article, nor the authors of the tools used bear any responsibility.
Diagnostics
First of all, we need to find out how bad things are with the hard drive. To get started, put the iPod in diagnostic mode. To do this, hold down the "Menu" and "Select" buttons simultaneously. After a few seconds, the player will restart and an apple will appear on the screen. At this moment, hold down the “Select” button and the rewind button. The iPod diagnostic menu opens. Here you can check most of the player's functions, but we are most interested in the SMART data of its hard drive. The growing number of “Reallocated sector count” (I checked this option after each of several recovery attempts through iTunes) shows us that the problem really lies in the hard drive.
For a more detailed diagnosis of the HDD, we transfer the player to drive mode. To do this, we again hold down the “Menu” and “Select” buttons, and so at the moment the apple appears on the screen, we’ll hold down “Menu” and “Play \ Pause”. After the inscription “OK to disconnect” appears on the screen, release the button and connect the player to the computer.
Next, we need any program to test the surface of the hard disk (I used Victoria) which we check the surface of the hard disk for bad sectors. Here it is necessary to note one subtlety (maybe this will not become something new for someone, but I stepped on such a rake, so I’ll note it just in case): after a number of bad blocks, the hard drive is disconnected and errors occurred in the Victoria log "ABRT". In such cases, you have to stop scanning, disconnect and reconnect the player and start the test further from where the errors started to pour in (or from the place a little further so that you could immediately cut off a dead piece of the disk). At this stage, we need to finally confirm that the problem is really in the hard drive and find the largest living piece, so that in the future it would be cut for use.
Recovery. Attempt number 1.
The only way I know of using a hard disk with bad blocks is to cut out a dead piece of disk, and use a disk of reduced size. The method is not the most reliable - the disk may fail at any time - but in my case it was suitable, because I did not want to fork out for a new one (hdd for iPod classic costs about 3300 rubles).
After looking for information about the partitioning of the disk, the iPod found only this entry on the forum: www.mobile-files.ru/forum/showthread.php?t=306330. I tried it. And it didn’t work out. This is due to the fact that my copy, including almost the very beginning of the disk, along with the file table died. Accordingly, I did not have the disc contents that iTunes creates when restoring the player (this is not indicated in the forum message, but after cutting the disc, it is necessary to recreate the disc contents as if iTunes had done it). And I could not repeat it.
Recovery. Attempt number 2.
I continued to search for recovery methods and came across a Rockbox project ( http://www.rockbox.org/ ). Rockbox is an alternative firmware for many players, including Apple players. True iPod Classic they are listed as unprepared for use. Namely, if you open the table of the list of platforms in development on their website ( http://www.rockbox.org/wiki/TargetStatus#New_Platforms_Currently_Under_Development ) and find iPod Classic in the list, we will see that only Dual Boot is not ready (there is a choice between the original firmware and Rockbox) and installation through their own installation utility. If this does not bother you, we continue.
Installing Rockbox on the player is possible thanks to the freemyipod project ( http://www.freemyipod.org) and their product emCore ( http://www.freemyipod.org/wiki/EmCORE ). In short - a freemyipod iPod reverse engineering project with Click Wheel. And emCore, as stated on the project wiki, is a simple operating system for them. But in fact it is a downloader for Rockbox.
Let's start the installation. Instructions for Linux users: http://www.freemyipod.org/wiki/EmCORE_Installation/iPodClassic/PrepareDFULinux . MacOs is unfortunately not supported. Instructions for Windows (supported by XP / Vista / 7/8) users:
- Install iTunes if it is not already installed
- Connect iPod to computer
- Close iTunes if it is running. We also stop the processes "AppleMobileDeviceService.exe" and "iTunesHelper.exe".
- Download the file http://files.freemyipod.org/misc/bootstrap_ipodclassic_itunes.exe
- Remove iPod from Lock
- We transfer the player to DFU mode. To do this, simultaneously hold down the "Menu" and "Select" buttons. After the apple appears on the screen, we continue to hold the buttons. We release only when the player screen goes blank
- We are waiting for all new equipment to be installed.
- We launch the downloaded file until the program says that everything was installed well, and a small picture with the text does not appear on the iPod screen
- If at that moment you did not have a 64 MB UMSboot disk, then after installing all the additional drivers on the player, restart bootstrap_ipodclassic_itunes.exe
At this point, we should have a separate UMSboot disk. Download the file http://files.freemyipod.org/releases/20120102/installer-ipodclassic-r859-20120102.ubi - this is the latest release of r859 at the time of writing. The latest version can be viewed at http://www.freemyipod.org/wiki/EmCORE_Releases . We simply copy the downloaded file to the UMSboot disk. Now you need to safely remove the disk. On Linux, just unmount the folder. In Windows, right-click on the disk in Windows Explorer and click "Eject" ( you need to do just that - safely disconnecting the device does not work! ). Now disconnect the player from the computer.
Now follow the instructions on the player’s screen. First you need to read the disclaimer of warranties and agree to it by simultaneously pressing "Menu" and "Play \ Pause". Then the flashing of the player will begin. Then I came across a problem that was not written anywhere - during this process, the hard drive is formatted. And since he was badly damaged, this process dragged on. The first two times, I even thought that the player crashed and rebooted it (holding down “Menu” and “Select”). However, I did it in vain. Just have to wait - it took me about 3-4 hours.
After flashing and rebooting the player, the bootloader menu appears. In it we select "Rock box". The loader will say that the file "rockbox.ipod" was not found - we do not pay attention. After Rockbox has started, connect the player to the computer again. A hard drive will be detected, which we now have to re-partition to cut a dead piece.
Then I ran into a new problem - none of the utilities for Windows wanted to work with this disk. Someone just did not see him. Someone was hanging when trying to contact. You can try it yourself first - maybe it will work out. If not, then the next paragraph is for you.
Good old fdisk from Linux saved me. He redid the partition table without any problems in the form I needed. For example, I’ll give a list of commands (for more details, see fdisk help):
# sudo fdisk /dev/sdb
o
n
p
1
[здесь первый сектор живого куска (размер сектора на HDD плеера – 4096 байт]
[здесь последний сектор живого куска или +[размер]{K,M,G}]
t
c
w
# sudo mkfs.cfat /dev/sdb1It is worth noting that it is necessary to specify the type of partition as Windows (0x0C), otherwise neither emCore nor Rockbox will see this partition.
After breaking up the disk and formatting, we will finish installing the firmware. Download the archive http://files.freemyipod.org/releases/20120102/rockbox-ipodclassic-r31516-20120102.zip (again - the latest version on the page http://www.freemyipod.org/wiki/EmCORE_Releases ). We simply unpack the downloaded archive onto the player’s disk. And everything is done!
Little conclusion
About a week of testing showed some instability of the firmware - I could not determine the exact cause, but several times the player crashed completely tight. The backlight went out (the image remained on the screen) and the current contents of the audio buffer looped in the headphones. Pressing “Menu” and “Select” at the same time did not help (a combination of buttons for rebooting). The only way to return the player to working condition is to either wait until the battery is dead, or open and disconnect the battery cable. So far, an assumption of the reasons is FLAC playback. It is during its reproduction at random that such freezes occur. But so far the information is not accurate.
That's all. I hope the article helped someone bring his iPod back to life.