Formatting iPod Mini to Windows for data storage

Hi, I have a 2G iPod Mini 4GB which was already formatted for Macs when I got it from the Apple Regent St store, I think....Well, it doesn't say anything about it being formatted for Windows in 'About' and when I plug it to my PC (with iPod software already installed), it says it needs to be formatted.

Anyways, I was wondering whether formatting to Windows will still allow me to copy songs to it with my iBook and also use it as a USB storage device on BOTH my Windows PC and my iBook? I have used it a few times to temporarily back up a few files before I formatted my iBook and that was fine. However, I do regularly transfer a lot of files between my iBook and Windows PC back and forth using a crossover cable and I was wondering if I formatted it in Windows, I could just use my iPod Mini to do that instead since it's less fussy? It would also be useful for when I need to transfer some files to a friend's Windows PC so I don't have to use DVD-RWs for it. And will it work the other way round, like transferring files from my iBook back to the Windows PC?

Also, since I will be losing all my songs on my iPod, which are NOT on my iBook anymore (needed to free up space and I assumed it was pretty safe on my iPod Mini anyways ), can someone recommended me a free program which will allow me to extract the songs from my iPod back onto iBook, so that once I formatted the iPod Mini to Windows, I can then transfer it back from my iBook to it, providing a Windows-formatted iPod will actually work on my iBook? Thanks.

senuti is a good ipod to itunes app, as far as formatting, it has to be fat32 for both to be able to read & write to it.

Do you mean the hard drive which I have Windows installed on has to be in FAT32 mode or the iPod has to be formatted in FAT32 mode? Hopefully not the hard drive because I only formatted it in NTFS like a few weeks ago and it took me ages to configure/install everything back....

mangoSharingan said:

Do you mean the hard drive which I have Windows installed on has to be in FAT32 mode or the iPod has to be formatted in FAT32 mode? Hopefully not the hard drive because I only formatted it in NTFS like a few weeks ago and it took me ages to configure/install everything back....

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The iPod would have to be formatted FAT 32. Then the Mac and the PC could both write to and read from it.

yes, the mac can read from the ipod if its formatted as NTFS, but not write to it, while the windows box could both read & write, but to read & write on both machines, it needs to be formatted as fat32.

There's no need to go into talk of FAT/NTFS/FAT32, etc.-- this discussion is more complicated than it needs to be.

Simple solution: download the iPod Updater for Windows from Apple's web site, run it on your Windows machine. It will format the iPod to the correct cross-platform format and you'll be able to read it on both Windows and Mac.

caribiner23 said:

There's no need to go into talk of FAT/NTFS/FAT32, etc.-- this discussion is more complicated than it needs to be.

Simple solution: download the iPod Updater for Windows from Apple's web site, run it on your Windows machine. It will format the iPod to the correct cross-platform format and you'll be able to read it on both Windows and Mac.

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Sorry to bring up a dead thread, but I am wondering if all I have to do is download the updated on the windows PC, then plug in my mac formatted iPod in? Won't mess anything up? Is it really that easy? I can then drop word, excel, etc...documents onto my iPod from my TiBook and then plug into a PC and open them to print them up?

It will wipe out everything that is currently on your iPod when it formats it for Windows

Hmm, that's not exactly what I want. Guess I ought to buy a memory stick for that sort of thing then?

http://www.buy.com/cat/usb_flash_drives/16073.html

Much smaller, cheaper and don't run on batteries

Much thanks to you sir. I've never used one before, but they look pretty painless to use..are they compliant between both macs and pc's?

Yep just plug it into the usb port

my 2g mini is formatted for MAC, but i hook it directly to my windows laptop and i never reformat it when i have to use it for data storage. If you want to optimize space then the FAT32 Formatt is needed. But just for quick file xfers and backups i need.

Just a quick question, I have a 20gb 4th Gen iPod photo, when i first got it, I used it on my windows PC, it formatted it to fat32, whatever, it worked fine.. When I plugged it into my powerbook, it asked to be formatted again, what's up?

Hmmm, that shouldn't happen. Does it work on the Mac side or does it just ask to reformat and then do nothing? Does it show up on the desktop at all?

If it doesn't work at all on the Mac, I'd put it back on the PC and open the last updater and do a RESTORE. This will wipe all of the data and put the iPod back in new condition. Then try plugging it into your Mac and see what happens.