Posted a couple of videos on the iFlash-Dual, one quick overview of the board and the second is an installation video using my new Kingston 512Gb and the PNY 256Gb cards.
iFlash-Dual – uploaded some videos…
- Runtime shootout : Dual SDXC, mSata, SDXC and Original Hard Drive
- Runtime shootout 2016 : Quad, Dual, Solo, mSata vs. Original Hard Drive
114 thoughts on “iFlash-Dual – uploaded some videos…”
- ← Older Comments
- Newer Comments →
Thanks @Tarkan and @Ryan for the quick replies.
One more question. Regarding using the 512Gb SDXC UHS-I (U3) PNY Elite Performance cards, I’m assuming it would be best to format them as FAT32 as described in the https://www.iflash.xyz/prepare-sdxc-exfat-for-use-with-the-ipod/ guide? That guide specifically mentions cards that are 64gb and above. Its no big deal for me as I already have the card reader and the expertise. There’s no downside to doing this, correct? I’m a bit wary of trusting the ExFAT format based on what @Tarkan said in that guide.
And yes, I’m very familiar with the fake cards and USB sticks. I’ve been using the scan utility from RMPrepUSB for many years. I haven’t personally run into any issues with cards or sticks as I only buy name-brand.
Looking forward to @Tarkan getting more of the iFlash-Duals at the end of the month!
I’m going on 2 years with this set up and it’s going strong. 512 GB strong. I have yet to fill my iPod.
@Tarkan – Going to upgrade my MC293 7g Classic 160gb (late 2009) and had a question. I see that you have achieved a 1tb iPod using an SSD. Couldn’t the same be accomplished using this iFlash-Dual and two 512gb flash cards? I’m looking specifically at the 512Gb SDXC UHS-I (U3) PNY Elite Performance cards. Any pros/cons to doing this over the SSD solution? If money were no object and you were going to do one for a friend/family member, which way would you go?
Thank You
@John – Quite a few people run that combination and for 1TB it is prefered over mSata. If it does not have to be 1TB and you would be happy with 800GB, 4x 200GB in the iFlash-Quad is also quite good as the Sandisk 200GB MicroSD tend to be quite cheap.
From a price standpoint SSD would be cheaper. For a 1tb Samsung msata I usually pay about $330. For two 512gb PNY cards the cheapest I’ve see is $200-$215 each. So that’s a $70-$100 savings there. Ssd is also faster but personally I don’t think to a point that is really that noticeable. Looking at it through power consumption 2 sd cards would be better than an msata. On a personal note I have encountered more problems with msata. Those problems have been few and far between though but still is something to consider. Also if you go the sd card route make sure you test the cards and make sure they are not fake. These Chinese knockoffs are getting into legit stores like Walmart Best Buy and Amazon. What they do is take like a 2gb sd card and code them so your computer recognizes as a larger drive. Once you hit the actually 2gb limit though the card throws errors. I use H2testw to test. What it does is right 1MB blocks of data to the device and reads them back. If there are any missing it will tell you it’s counterfeit card. Good luck.
@ Tarkan,, still cconfused. what is largest size I can put in 5G ipod 30 GB? I have two 256GB SD cards ready too go and was about to buy the iflash dual.
@maingeyy – For the 30GB models, due to the limited RAM we normally suggest around 128GB to 256GB.
If you can open up your iPod Classic to get this installed, you can buy an iPod Classic mainboard and get it installed with minimal effort. Do a search for iPod 2.0.5 on eBay (or 2.0.4 if you can’t find the 2.0.5).
I took out a 2.0.1 and replaced it with a 2.0.5 — had minor issues with the clickwheel but that was my fault. If you boot up the iPod and some of the clickwheel buttons don’t work (center button, menu button, etc.), then you damaged the click wheel and need a new one. Yes, the buttons aren’t actually part of the click wheel assembly, but that’s what the problem is (from what I found out the hard way when I got mine and found a crack on the ribbon cable. $10 later, I ended up with a good click wheel on eBay from a US seller.
But now I have 400GB on a 2.0.5 and it runs really well….
iPod FW 2.0.4 is the 7th generation model. 2.0.5 is the last 7th generation made (7.5). I think they said the only upgrade was because of the sound chip used from what I remember.
So these two units can take larger capacities since the 2.0.4 was the 160GB model (single platter). All versions prior to that can only go to 128GB when it’s the 6th generation.
Hi, on the video your ipod FW version is 2.0.4. I thought this version of iPod can only support up to 128GB of storage unless Rockbox is installed. It is only giving me 128GB when I used my iFlash quad with 800GB of total storage.
@Mario – Actual model numbers of iPods and limits can be found on this page :- iPod Model Numbers
@Tarkan Please release the Hybrid (2 SD + 2 to 4 Micro SD) iFlash board already brother. Some of us Rockboxed iPod users want to go beyond 1TB or have the ability to achieve 1TB at a better price. 🙂
@Support Thank you for responding to the bad button post. I know nothing about electronic repair, but I inspected the button and cannot see anything unusual. Unfortunately, I have never seen the buttons for sale on eBay. (Idid have someone replace the power connector that I got from eBay on a different unit and it worked.)
What is a loupe?
@Mark – Loupe is a jewellers magnifying glass. You need to look around the button area for circuit board damage – the someone who replaced your power connector would probably be able to help you here.
Hi, I’m thrilled to bits with the prospect of owning an iPod again – I got rid of my last one, back in 2010-ish, when its battery began to lose performance, believing that there was nothing I could do about it. I regretted the loss of the player, which to my mind was a really great design. The memory of the rightness of the click-wheel iPod design stayed with me and a few months ago I began to Google to see what had happened to them and Lo & Behold! I found things have changed. There’s batteries galor, ditto tools and video instructions and – best of all there’s Tarkan’s cards!
I’m all ready now, with an A1136, a iFlash dual, a new battery & iPod toolkit, so today’s the day!!
This is probably not an iFlash problem. I have been successfully using the Dual SDXC units for a year. My current problem is that on a 512GB unit I just put together, the center button does not work. It is not a mechanical problem as removing the button and manually pressing is unhelpful. I have tried 4 wheel units, but the result is always the same. I can scroll, but I cannot press the center button and have the ipod react. It is a strange problem. Anyone have any idea as to what is happening?
Button on the motherboard is dead. Replace the motherboard.
@Mark – If mechanically the button is sound, then inspect (using a loupe) the circuit board around that side of the iPod motherboard, as water/sweat can get to the board via the center button, and this causes corrosion pitting which can break tracks – easy fix if it is this.
Thanks for the video.
I have the following ipod classic – 7gen – MB562LL/A – a1238 – 120GB.
Please if I want to have more than 128gb I will need to use Rockbox, right?
Otherwise I will need to buy an used ipod classic 7.5 gen
Thanks
Luiz Vacanti
Hello all,
I recently installed a dual with Sandisk pro 200gb micro (Ipod Classic 7g 160gb). The device keeps resetting while playing a track / after being put in sleep mode for an extended period of time.
Would appreciate any guidance from those who have experienced similar problems?
Thanks
@support – I installed a dual in my 7th gen and installed 2 PNY 256 GB SDXC cards. After restore iTunes says
“Capacity 460.81 GB”. is this the expected capacity?
For the 2 pny it should be more like 474. You’re never going to get the actual 512. Manufacturers never make the cards what they say they are and they’re using two different scales to represent a gb. The company uses 1000MB = 1GB but your computer reads it as 1024MB = 1GB which is where you get 474. Not sur why you are only getting 460 though. Where did you buy the cards? Are they micro sd or regular sd? I would test the cards and make sure there are no broken sectors.
@support yes that’s the odd thing; Finder and Disk Utility say the iPod (mounted as disk) has a capacity of 494.79 GB. But iTunes (12.5.4.42, just released) says 460.81 GB, and the iPod itself (in settings) reports 168GB used and 292GB remaining (460 GB). I synced 30,197 tracks to the device successfully last night.
The SD cards are PNY Elite Performance 256 GB High Speed SDXC Class 10 UHS-I, U3 up to 95 MB/Sec Flash Card (P-SDX256U395-GE) purchased from Amazon (not a marketplace vendor but Amazon itself) in the original packaging. (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00WWBCS1Y/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1)
Interestingly the flash solo I installed in my son’s 6g reads much closer to the expected 128 GB installed there.
@uurf – It is strange but does happen – an ideal 256GB device should format to 238GB, but with all solid state drives, during the quality check process the manufacturer identifies bad sectors, and then adjusts the reported LBA (size) of the device mapping them areas out. Hence why you do get some variation, but you are looking at an 8Gb loss from what it should be – and (in my opinion) the manufacturer should have failed that device in QC.
I notice Kingston do this, another user in South Africa has told me his 256Gb SDA10 Kingston is only showing 231GB formatted capacity.
The premium manufacturers like Lexar for example, they over-provision the storage so that any failed or bad sectors during QC do not impact the reported LBA (size) hence why their 256GB cards format to 238.81GB, and two installed in the iFlash-Dual nets you 478GB in reported capacity.
@support should I send them back? is there another SD card you have good experience with?
I’m not at a point where the missing space is a problem, per se, as my entire library in less than 170GB, I just don’t want to button it all up if these cards are sufficiently under spec that I should care or be concerned.
@uurf – if you are happy with the capacity, then I would keep them and not worry about it.
I dunno, a little irritated about missing 15GB per card though on principal if nothing else 🙂
Yes it hat is normal.
My iPod is alive again now, I formatted the cards and then restored the iPod and it helped. It was longer than I thought but it works again. Thank you very much for your help.
Yes, it is always lit up with Apple logo and I can’t restore iPod, I can’t enter menu or connect to the computer, or maybe there is another way to restore it? And if I’ll have to format the cards is it important to use the external card reader or maybe I can do it in built-in card reader of my notebook?
@ Odonata – You can use the builtin card reader of computer or an external card reader makes no difference. Try powering up the with the iPod with no cards installed in the iFlash.
Yes, it is freezing on booting. I have iPod Classic 160 GB model MC297
@ Odonata – so you are getting the lit up Apple logo? so you must have restore the iPod? Any way reset the iPod and enter diskmode, you can then connect to the computer to restore. If that does not work, then you will have to format the cards in an external card reader.
Thanks for your answer. Now I know how to put it back, but I’v got another problem. Since I wrote here my iPod doesn’t work at all, I don’t know what’s happend. It stuck on the grey screen with the apple logo and I can’t do anything. I can’t switch it off or connect to notebook, nothing. I tried to put its old hard drive in instead of iFlash Dual, it works like before (can’t import any music, but can listen to the few songs that are there), but still my notebook doesn’t see it. What should I do with it? If I’ll take away SD cards from iFlash Dual and format them in my notebook, will it help? Now I put it to charge and I’m waiting for alread three days, I was hoping it would help but it doesn’t.
@ Odonata – So the iPod is freezing on booting? Which iPod model do you have?
Thank you so much fo the new life of my iPod with the iFlash-Dual. I just have a little problem, I opened my iPod a few times and I broke this little black peace that connects the battery, now it doesn’t get to its place. Is there anything I can do to fix it?
@Odonata – if only the black piece has come away, then once you insert the battery ribbon, you can carefully re-insert the black locking piece back – it will hold and everything will be secure.
(correction for my last post > iPod 4th gen, not 3rd, sorry)