Older iPod Tricks

I have a fairly old (G3?) 40G iPod that I like a lot and use a lot. I had to send it off to Apple a year or so ago for a new battery. They sent it back with all data intact! I was very pleased.

iPod notes:

The iPod has a special Disk Scan utility that can be used to check the hard drive. Follow these steps:

• Do a Reset - Press the Menu Pause/Play buttons until the Apple logo comes up.
• At the Apple logo, press the REW, FF, Menu and "Action" (the center) buttons.
• The iPod will begin to go through a disk scan and will show a disk icon with progress bar
• At the end you will be presented with a Disk icon with a check mark or a sad iPod icon.
• If you get a sad iPod icon you need to send your iPod in for repair.
• If you've initiated the scanning test and don't wish for it to complete, reset the iPod.
• The scan takes between 15 and 60 minutes to complete (be plugged in as it eats battery).

To enter iPod Diagnostic Mode:

• Do a Reset - Press the Menu & Pause/Play buttons until the Apple logo comes up.
• At Apple logo, press the REW, FF, and "Action" (center) buttons.
• You will then hopefully see a menu of diagnostic tests.
• Item "O" will be an item called "HDD Scan". Scroll down to this item using the "Next" button (the wheel will not work) and then choose it with the Action button. The test may take a few minutes.

There are a number of other tests available from this menu (use B - reset to get out) and WARNING some of these test can wipe your iPod and cause you to loose all data and songs that are on it including anything on a PC partition on the hard drive (I did not use warning in all caps for nothing).

Update: 7/08/2008

And the ultimate trick is to recycle your iPod as a stand-alone USB drive like I did here.

Update: 4/20/2010

Another great site for iPod button secrets is here.