04-26-2006, 02:11 PM

I own a 20Gb 3rd gen iPod which I have formatted and working on my Windows laptop.

I just got my iMac G3 DV 400MHz set up with Panther installed and transferred all my documents from my Windows laptop, and then tried to change my iPod to Mac format.

From what I have found out, all I need to do is connect via Firewire to iMac, run iPod updater and use Restore, and it will format as a Mac iPod, then run iTunes to get music on.

However, when I plug it in using Firewire, it does not come up on the Mac, and the iPod updater freezes when opened. The iPod's hard drive sounds like it is failing to spin up, and all I can hear is clicking. I tried re-downloading the iPod updater, but the same thing happens.

I have also tried the iPod in disk mode, opening the updater and then connecting iPod and using the other firewire port, but it doesn't work. It would seem like the firewire port is not supplying enough power to spin up the hard drive, but my 40GB 2.5" firewire ext. HDD works fine (powered by FW), as does my 3.5" 200GB drive.

The iPod has had a new hard drive installed just a few months ago, and it works perfectly on my Windows laptop (via USB). I tried connecting to USB on my iMac and it finds the iPod and mounts it OK, but I can't use the iPod updater to restore, as it says it requires Firewire.

Does anybody know of a solution to this?

I am annoyed now, because I have to copy my music to an external HDD and sync using my Windows laptop to use my iPod

04-26-2006, 06:38 PM

Also, does anybody know any good programs to create .zip archives? I want to transfer all of my iTunes library to my laptop all in one go.

I have created a FAT32 partition on my firewire HDD to transfer my music back to my PC, but it keeps on failing because of 'too long filenames' and uncopiable characters and various strange errors.

I just want to create one archive that i can copy from mac to windows and get my music.

Any help would be appreciated on this.

04-27-2006, 05:55 PM

Yesterday, I managed to get about 60 songs to transfer music to my windows laptop using a 128mb USB flash drive to transfer 20 songs at a time (running at USB1 speeds) and sync with my iPod.

Today, I created a 30GB FAT32 partition on my firewire drive and put several 4GB zip archives of my music onto it. Then, i connected it back to my windows laptop, but when i copy to the laptop, it does a bit, freezes and complains that the directory (on the ext HDD) is corrupt and unreadable. Then it seems to disconnect the drive.

I tried plugging my iPod into the iMac using USB and afer a while, it seemed to detect it and iTunes popped up asking to prepare my iPod. It seemed to still be in Windows format (it says Macintosh PC Exchange MS-DOS). It is now syncing 18GB of music via USB1 (extremely sloooooow ).

It should be done by morning, at least my iMac is silent (fanless, and I installed a Seagate drive, no clunky Maxtor making a huge noise!) so I should be able to get to sleep.

04-28-2006, 10:40 AM

Originally Posted by wicker_man

Also, does anybody know any good programs to create .zip archives? I want to transfer all of my iTunes library to my laptop all in one go.

I believe MacZip should do the trick.


Here's a link and it's free....

hxxp://www.download.com/MacZip/3000-2254_4-5040047.html

Change the xx's to tt

05-09-2006, 10:58 AM

I have been talking to a few people, and one person suggested connecting the iPod via USB, and using Disk Utility to format as HFS+. Then, reconnect using firewire and use iPod updater to restore.

Would this work?

I don't want to end up with an unusable iPod, and I would prefer not having to reload over 17GB of music over USB1.

05-09-2006, 06:12 PM

No, No, No, one of the most common errors...

You're iPod is formatted for Windows. What you need to do is format it for Mac.

Open up the iPod updater under OS X for your iPod (3G iPod, make sure it's not 5G). Then, hit "restore" and it will completely wipe your iPod clean, yet formatting it for Mac. Your iPod should now work.

05-09-2006, 06:41 PM

But the thing is I CAN'T use iPod updater.

It only works via firewire, not USB and when I connect via firewire, the iPod does not work and the disk sounds like it fails to spin.

It currently works extremely slowly in windows format via USB1 syncing with my iMac though.

Thats why it has been suggested to connect via USB and use disk utility to cleanly format as HFS+ then run iPod updater using firewire. But I am unsure if this is safe to do.

05-10-2006, 02:12 PM

Also, does anybody know any good programs to create .zip archives? I want to transfer all of my iTunes library to my laptop all in one go.

Use Senuti to extract all the songs off of your iPod.

05-10-2006, 07:38 PM

Try using a USB cable. Go to the Apple Store, or order one off apple's website.

05-10-2006, 08:11 PM

I have an official Apple USB2.0/Firewire combo cable and an official Firewire cable which are practically brand new and work fine.

I don't see how a new USB cable will help here.

Basically, all I want to know is if I format my iPod (currently FAT32) to HFS+ using Disk Utility, then use iPod updater to restore, will it work?

05-12-2006, 07:09 PM

hmm... no, a mac should read a Windows iPod, it read mine and then let me restore it to mac... idk try calling apple or bringing it to the apple store, they may have suggestions.

05-12-2006, 08:37 PM

I used disk utility to format as HFS+ and did a restore, but after it told me to connect to the mains adapter, it just showed the folder icon. Firewire did not work, and the disk still sounded like it coundn't spin up.

I had to plug back into my windows laptop and use iPod updater to format as fat32, and now I am going to have to update over USB1 over my mac.

Don't have a clue why it don't work over FW, so it looks like I'm stuck with usb1