For the last few months I and a few iFlash users have been playing around with Apple’s new incarnation of the iPod – the 6g Classic, with its fancy new operating system and slimmer profile – we wanted to see if the iFlash would work and if Apple still left the back door open for the Compact Flash conversion of their headline media player.
If you are reading this looking at your recently deceased iPod Classic which you dropped and broke the hard drive on, well I have some good news the iFlash works and works very well.
It’s not all good news. Physically the fit is perfect – the iFlash mk2 with its slimmer design is just the right thickness to go in to the slimmer design of the Classic (80gb model). Not worth mentioning the 160Gb model here as that has plenty of room any way….
The iPod works so much better with solid state storage, the cover flow album art feature is smoother with no waiting for the hard drive to spin up – plus the benefit of having another 30-40% of battery life added to the already excellent run times is just great.
Bad news obviously is that CF cards have not climbed in capacity as hoped for. If you exclude the vaporware announced by Pretec and Microdia – 32Gb is still the maximum you can buy in the shops.
Thankfully the pricing is getting very attractive with the 32Gb A-Data approaching $100 (£50), and the other makes following suite.
Various testing has demonstrated so far that if the CF card works with the iFlash in a iPod Video (5g) then it will probably work in the iPod Classic (6g).
I’d like to thank Rob Hardwick and Greg Upton for putting their Classic’s forward for testing!!!
(All photographs courtesy of Rob Hardwick©, used with permission)
I have a 5.5 gen (80 GB) thick ipod in which I have installed 4x64GB micro SD cards using iflash quad. It is working fine. I want to move it to 6/7th gen thin case. I think I would need the following:
A 6th/7th gen metal front face
A 6th/7th gen metal back housing thin
A 6th/7th gen middle metal frame
A 6th/7th gen bottom USB dock bezel (for thin version)
A 6th/7th gen headphone jack hold switch with flex ribbon cable (for thin version)
A 6th/7th gen clickwheel center button
A 5th gen clickwheel with ribbon
A 5th gen thin battery 2000mAH (compatible with the above mentioned thin case with iFlash quad card)
Do you think this list is complete? Am I missing anything? Is it even possible to move 5.5 thick to 6/7th thin housing?
Please help. I would really appreciate any help or feedback on this.
@Lauren Glenn Are you saying you are/can install the 7th gen 2.0.5. board in the 6th Gen case? I have an 80GB 6th gen I’m looking to upgrade, and am wondering if I can actually get that board and go to 160 rather than 128.
@Rob – The iPod Classic motherboards are all interchangeable and will work with the existing LCD and scroll wheel.
I know I got the red X on mine because the cable was installed upside down. I thought it went contacts down but for this, it went contact points up on the cable. So basically, install so the SD cards in the Quad are facing towards the back plate instead of the other way.
I would honestly get the iFlash Quad. I’m using it in a 2.0.1 iPod Classic 6th gen and it works great. I should have a 2.0.5 board from China this week and will be able to get around the 128GB limit of the 6th gen.
I had just replaced my Ipod video 5th generation 30GB device with iflash solo (64GB). Also , changed the battery with 1900 mAH rating plus a bigger caseback.
Working wonderfully well. The whole device is a lot more lighter than with the harddisk. Software restored well.
Update to the update. I installed the older iFlash (2015 manf) into my 6th gen ipod, and it works exactly as it should.
Very late update to my previous post below (29 March), no idea why I didn’t think of this before. I replaced the HDD cable on my 6th Gen to see if that made a difference with the same results; functions with the original HDD perfectly, same ,problem as below with the iFlash. Tonight I installed the iFlash into a 5th Gen that I already installed an iFlash unit in, a 2015 manufacture model.
The 5th Gen iPod connected with iTunes, then iTunes attempted to restore it. While going through the restore process the iPod displayed a small cirlce-slash with “Do Not Disconnect” underneath. After a few minutes iTunes opened a window with “The iPod “iPod” could not be restored. An unknown error occurred (1437).” After closing that and ejecting the iPod it displayed a frowning iPod with the support URL before shutting itself off.
After installing the iFlash from my original post in two different generation iPods (5th and 6th), one of which has been running an iFlash previously, I’m convinced there is something wrong with it.
As an aside, I had to restore the 5th Gen after reinstalling its original iFlash. Not something I expected, but it is back to normal otherwise.
I just finished rebuilding my 6th gen with a new battery from amazon, a Iflash solo for SD and a SanDisk Extreme SDXC UHS-I/U3 128GB Memory Card, I put it all back together and it turns on and works fine, but when I connect it to Itunes to update, when it starts syncing it causes itunes (on a ihome) to freeze. does anyone have any insight?
thanks
I did everything recommended here; even the FAT32 format, iFlash did not work. I tried my old HDD and it worked. Do I have a faulty iFlash? is there anything I can do before returning it?
@Mario – you installed it the right way? as in the installation photos. Also remove the HDD ribbon from the iPod and inspect it. Just because the HDD works does not mean the HDD ribbon is ok.
I’m having the same issues as Carl.
No matter what i try the moment i put the iflash adapt in my ipod classic i get a red “X” in a circle with the URL for apple iPod support. I’m now thinking i should have stuck with a HD.
Any advice would be great.
@Shawn – red circle means the iPod is not communicating with the iFlash – so several possibilities a) Installed the wrong way, b) Bad HDD ribbon – remove from motherboard and inspect for cracks and bends on the motherboard end, c) Corrupt firmware, so restore/recover the iPod using DFU mode, d) faulty iFlash.
I’m having a problem with the iFlash in a 6th Gen 80GB, model MB147. After replacing the original HDD with the iFlash and turning it on, the apple logo is displayed followed by a red “X” in a circle with the URL for apple iPod support. The iPod works fine with the HDD reinstalled, swapping the iFlash back in only produces the same results described above.
I also noted the following; with the iFlash neither iTunes or my computer will recognize the iPod, as opposed to with the HDD. Charge state makes no difference from full to half charge. Changing SD cards (128GB, PNY Elite Performance for Sandisk Ultra) also didn’t help.
Hi
Im currently building an ipod from after market/new parts, and my plan is to buy an iFlash dual adapter and load it with either 256GB or 512GB sd cards. My question is this: Which logic board should I buy? From what I am reading i need a MC293 board, but Im finding it difficult to work out which boards these are. I think these are what are described as 7th Gen boards (Would I be right in assuming the 160GB 6th Gen board is the same as a 7th gen?)
Any pointers? Does anyone have a board for sale that has the LBA48 addressing protocol?