a friend of mine let me take a look at her 3rd generation 20gb ipod which was making big clicking noises and either reboot constantly or show the folder icon with an exclamation mark.

i couldn't reset it using the ipod updater since it wasn't even recognized by the computer.

after googling the symptoms for a few hours, i found two solutions. 1) hold the ipod in one hand and smack it hard with the other hand. 2) replace the hdd.

the first solution didn't do anything for this one, although many other users report smacking it just once solved their very similar problems.

so i started shopping for the toshiba 1.8 inch 20gb online but i found out their 30gb has the same exact dimension as the 20gb. so i ordered it and replaced the faulty 20gb with it.

i reset the ipod with the latest ipod updater from apple.com and now it works fine with 28.5gb of usable space.

i hope it helps anyone with a similar problem.

1/30/2006 9:11:09 PM

hmm, i had (have) the exact same problem with my wife's 3G 20GB. First the battery died so I've already opened the case and replaced it, but now I get the same errors you did - the HDD is constantly turning off and on, I get the folder icon, and my IPod Updater won't even mount it so I can't update the system.

Do you mind posting a link to the toshiba HDD you bought?

1/31/2006 1:17:02 AM

http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?p=T30MK3006L&c=fr&pid=1b25b0ba0ec0093386c27f38969a10ca24b3af4283c2ddbec1918c07fc09036a

and

http://www.notpopular.com/blog/comments.php?blogID=63
http://forums.ipodlounge.com/showthread.php?s=7bf2953e8483f272940f640d36c76f38&threadid=111402
http://ipodhacks.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Forum&file=reply&topic=2360&forum=2&mod=3

for somewhat similar cases.

1/31/2006 2:27:59 AM

hmm, well the smack it with my hand trick didn't work.
~$110 is a bit steep for a solution that's not even garunteed to work, especially after dropping $40-50 already to replace the battery....

but somehow I think my wife would agree it's worth it to keep this iPod running as long as possible:

1/31/2006 4:19:32 PM

if the symptons are the same, it should work. it took about 5 minutes to do it.

the only uncertainty i had was that i was trying to replace an ata5 20gb (mk2004gal) with a ata6 30gb (mk3006gal) and i couldn't find anyone else who's done that. i took the risk and it worked very well.

cool engraving.

1/31/2006 4:49:24 PM

dear god that ipod is beat to hell

looks like she tried to write a message on concrete with it

1/31/2006 5:18:06 PM

yeah, i dunno - maybe she was trying to scratch off the engraving!

nah, that picture was after over 1.5 years of heavy useage and lots of travelling. The beautiful iPod metal and glass surfaces are, unfortunately, not known for their durability to scratches.....

1/31/2006 5:32:07 PM

You asked your wife to marry you on an iPod?

1/31/2006 9:01:43 PM

Metal polish will clear 95% of the scratches...you can get it at walmart for like 5 bucks

2/1/2006 12:27:48 AM

Quote :

"You asked your wife to marry you on an iPod?"

2/1/2006 7:16:10 AM

^ I wasn't sure if anyone actually cared for an answer, but i guess so.
So, technically, yeah I did, but there was a lot more to it than just handing her an ipod an waiting till she turned it over.

It was a Christmas 2003 gift that she really wanted, and we had been dating for just over 4 years at that point. We opened presents at her parents house on Christmas Eve after going to church with them, and I was able to strategically make the iPod the last gift opened of the night. She kind of guessed I was getting her an iPod, but of course she was still very excited when she opened it. She took it out and stood up and briefly showed her parents because they hadn't actually seen an iPod up close before. Then when she turned back around to me, I was on my knee with the ring ready. I told her to turn it over and she starting crying immediately from just reading it before her parents even realized what was going on. I'm pretty sure I still actually said the magic words instead of letting the iPod do all the hard work for me, but it all happened so quickly.

So i got major brownie points from the 'rents for actually doing it right in front of them, and it's something that she can carry around with her and show all her girl-friends and stuff, making me out to be a sweet guy and all that. Plus I had opened the box and charged the iPod and preloaded it with her existing iTunes library, so it was ready to use right when she opened it (and stopped crying).

Come to think of it, maybe I should give Steve Jobs a call and see if he will replace the HDD for free, and maybe he can put us in an iPod commercial or something while he's at it!
This is the first time i've actually searched, but it looks like at least 1 or 2 other people have done this - http://wiredblogs.tripod.com/cultofmac/index.blog?entry_id=565104 - although i did it almost a full year before this guy.

2/1/2006 8:20:36 AM