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My brother Justin loved his 20 gig 4th generation ipod until he dropped it at the gym one day. It stopped working all together and would make clicking noises when he would try to start it.
He had gotten it as a gift and didnt have the reciept for it, so he couldnt take it back unter warrenty I guess. Apple said that it would cost $250 to fix. Instead of fixing it, he spend the money on
a 30 gig 5th generation. I asked him for the broken ipod so I could tinker with it. After I got it from him, I decided that it would be cool to own an ipod, and that if i could fix it for less then the
retail price, I would be a head of the game. I documented my adventure of trying to fix my ipod, check it out.
- When I would start the ipod, I would get an icon of a folder and a warning sign. The ipod would then make a bunch of clicking noises. That make me think that the hard drive was crapped out.
- Since it was already broken, why not take it apart and try to make it work. There was no clear way to ebter the ipod, so I decided to pry off the metal back using the thinnest screw driver I could find.
It wasnt that hard to work the screw drive between the metal and the plastic. I worked the screw driver down the side of the case, until it popped off.
- I flipped the ipod over, and opened it up slowly, I noticed that there was a ribbon cable connecting the guts if the ipod to the jacks mounted to the metal back. I was careful not to mess this connection up.
- The ipod uses an ide harddrive, the connector pulled directly off without any problems. I now hard the bad harddrive free,
- The drive had blue rubber bumpers wrapped around it, and on the back, there was a foam mat that was glued to the drive.
- Removing the bumpers was no problem, they pulled directly off with out any fight.
- I tried to pull the foam off the drive by pulling on it, but that wasnt working, so I desided to get a razor blade scraper and screape it off. It worked well.
- Once I had the foam off, I could see that it was a toshiba drive. Model MK2004GAL. I looke dofr replacements online, but was only able to find the model MK2006GAL. I compared the MK2004GAL and the MK2006GAL, and didnt see any big differences, so I ordered one. 3 days letter I had my new drive. It didnt have the apple logo on it, but who cares, it was only $100!
- The blue bumpers went on with out a problem, and fit like a glove.
- To get the foam to stick to the new drive, I went super ghetto and reached in my desk, and came up with a glue stick! Hey, it goet the job done.
- The new drive went in, just like the old one came out. I connected the IDE connection, and I was ready to close it up.
- I put the back on, and pressed down on it evenly. The back snapped without any problems.
- Next, I downloaded the ipod updater (11-17-2005) from apple.com, and installed it. I hooked up my newly rebuilt ipod, and did a restore. It went really fast.
- After the restore, I had to hook up my ipod to the wall charger. I didnt have one on hand so i tried all kinds of methods of going around it. In the middle of me trying to hack around it, My buddy chris called, I told him to bring over his wall charger.
- 5 minutes later Chris showed up with a charger. I plugged in the ipod, it reset itself, and then I was up and running with my newly rebuilt ipod.
I was really supprised at how easy it was to replace the hard drive in a 4th gen ipod. Im sure that someone is going to call me an idiot for opening the case that way. I dont care though. I got this thing working and that all that matters, and I did it for under $100. Screw apple for wanting to charge $250 for 20 munites worth of work and $100 worth of parts.
I hope that through my experience, someone else can bring back to life one of their dead ipods.
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Smack the crap outta mine…nothing. 20gig 4th gen photo. Sad face and folder and HD clicking. I found a 30gig for 69.00 @ DigiExpress.com
I also have a 20gig 4th gen. I just bought it from my friend for $30, and it stopped working a week later. I tried the slap method and it’s been working ever since.
Thanks for the HOWTO. I’m fixing a 30GB iPod Photo for a friend, and it is almost identical, except for using the Toshiba MK3006GAL which can be had for $60 (new). Your guide is detailed and very much appreciated.
Good thing I did my research and thanks to the write up/ procedure, now i can fix my Ipod and lemme tell you having an old Ipod from 2003 and it lasting this long then to die out is frickin amazing. I agree with the smackin on the side of the ipod does work, but doing so will last but not for long. Trust me on this one back it up so dont lose your precious songs! so ya dont end up throwing it against the wall thinking its over haha!
hey i know this post is really old but my ipod recently committed suicide (Aka apple told my my hard drive was shot and their excuse was i shouldn’t be running with it at the gym?….such BS) anyways after being distraught and ipodless for about a week now all i really want to know is, was the music still on your fixed ipod when you put in a new hard drive? …or does anyone know if there is any possible way i could get my music off my ipod now?
Well from what they told you is a bunch of BS, but yea i dont believe theres still a chance for ya to get all your old music from your ipod because its basically dead aka “Hardware failure”. Though i did some searching on google and what ive come across is that some software could actually retrieve it, but im not too skeptical on what they say about retrieving the music. Due to the fact from what i know and also can see is that the apple hard drive has failed/died. On a lighter note, if ya follow the instructions posted above on how to fix your ipod, it would only cost you roughly $30 to fix your it but saidly ya gotta start fresh.
Brilliant! My iPod died on me two months ago. It’s been lying around occasionally flashing the apple icon then the ipod support message. I tried recharging it off the mains – nothing. Tried via the USB – nothing. Tried the HDD scan – it froze. I was getting desperate till I found a message board providing a link to here.
I followed the instructions above and simply unplugged and replugged the old HD. It worked.
my second hand ipod worked for half a day and then the hdd failed (thanks, ebay) but i’m waiting for my new hdd in the post right now and am going to use this tutorial as my guide – i think i’ll post my adventures somewhere, too… wish me luck everyone!
Thank you so much. A wonderful instructive tutorial, and really well documented.
I used my ipod for about 8 hours per day for over 2 years.
It died… + was officially pronounced dead by apple store.
I saw this blog.
I smacked it.
It’s been working perfectly for about 2 years since, still at about 8 hours a day.
I told a friend who had a very dead ipod.
She smacked hers.
It’s now been working perfectly for over a year!
Thanks… this is so cool!
i disconected the drive and recoected it several times slapped it twice then disconected and reconected it again it started working after that thanks
Thank you very much for your help!
I had no problem to change the HDD in a 5th generation ipod!
My ipod is working again!
Amazing!!
I had 20GB iPod which was broken….now after reading this blog and spenging 30$ more…now I have 30GB iPod which works great!
Thanks….
20GB model. Whirring,clicking,clunking sound then Sad face. Checked internet. Found this blog. Toggled hold switch. Tried slapping with ipod held down in palm of hand. Not working. Almost given up but read through more replies. Then turned it on, toggled hold switch and slapped it on the thin side (I had also banged its end on the floor and slapped flat sides before).
WOWOWOWWOW it is working. Brilliant. Think the slap on the side got the angle right. Best days work yet…..! Thank you for your info. Wonder how much money you have saved us all?
Just to add on this. My 20GB 4G iPod first started giving problems in August 2008. The slapping did work a couple of times, but in Feb 2009, the hard drive went. No slapping revived it
I got a Toshiba hard drive for £30 from eBay and followed the above instructions on replacing the drive.
iPod works as brand new! Many thanks for this guide.
I agree with many others, the slapping will help for a few months, but eventually you will have to replace the drive.
Sweet!!! I have to same problem! Now a can fix it! THANK YOU!
“but who cares, it was only $100!”
typical mac fan, willing to overpay for everything
Would other brands other than Toshiba work well with a different capacity on the 4g iPod?
Thanks for sharing. This is exactly what I am looking for as my iPod (5th G)’s HDD just broke down.
Sounde great and will work what im wondering is my Ipod has a 30 gig Hitachi drive and i cant find one, will a Toshiba 30 gig drive fit in and do i have to replace the connection cable.
if any one can help would be appreciated. thanks Ashley
Dude, just resurrected my G4 with these instructions! Awesome job.
Excellent tutorial. Especially the part with the screwdriver! I was surprised how easy it is to actually open the ipod. I wish it was like this with the iphone which is impossible to open… I sucessfully replaced my 60 gig harddrive with a 30 gig one and it works fine. I only suspect, that there was only a connector problem and even my other harddrive might still work. It made those “klack” “klack” sounds, but now I am not sure if this is just a problem caused my the connectors, because at first this was the same with the new drive and after I pressed the harddrive connector and the battery one it worked fine…
Thank you for sharing, Josh. Now I know what to do if I have this problem with my own iPod. I guess my “if” should really be “when”. Hard drives (alas) have a finite life, especially in a product that gets subjected to as much movement as an iPod does.
Just replaced my harddrive from my 80 gb video Ipod.(Toshiba MK8009gah zif 1.8) .It went fairly easy after I realized how it went back together.
So if anyone forgot how it was all sitting in there:
The side with the round curve and plastic frame should face the back of the unit, eventhough it may seem like it fits better the other way.
I would have done nothing had i not found this post. Thanks for helping me saving $150 bucks.
URGENTLY NEED HELP PLEASE!!
my ipod swiped all music about 3 weeks ago and wouldn’t allow me to synch any more music.
it then started to have what i am calling “heart attacks”. the grey apple logo would show for about 5-10 seconds and then turn to a black screen for about 2-3 seconds. this would repeatedly happen.
i searched the net and was advised to turn it onto disk mode. and so i did. however, once on this, i have no idea what i am supposed to do.
i tried to turn disk mode off by holding down centre button (and menu or play, i can’t remember which it is now), but the same “heart attacks” would occur.
i connect my ipod to the computer and it says it is unable to recongnise the ipod device.
i have tried to charge it to something other than my computer, however the same problem has occured.
so any help would be appreciated!
it is no longer under waranty, i have tried slapping it and don’t have the knowledge to start taking it apart.
Thank you SO much for being the pioneer on this one! These instructions were spot-on. My 10GB 3G (yeah, the Apple site barely acknowledges they made that one anymore) died a clicky death two weeks ago. One $30 20GB drive from Overstock and 30 minutes later, I have a perfectly functioning iPod.
Holy crap! I went through all of the techniques described here: hitting it on the back, the front, the side, toggling the hold switch, etc. Finally, after about 20-25 smacks with my hands and knees, I held it face up and smacked it sideways against the side of my desk, and viola! It worked! Unbelievable. Stan, you are a miracle worker!
Thanks to you, a $25 drive from compuvest.com and 10 minutes of effort and my iPod is as good as new.
You are great!
I was getting the sad face icon also and could hear the HD spin up, click and then spin down and repeat. I was going to replace the whole iPod, then I was looking at replacing just the drive and then I looked here and saw the advice to smack it and IT FREAKING WORKED!! Hopefully it will keep working, but for now I am ecstatic.
It is true. The thing just likes to be slapped around. It worked on my too. We’ll see how long, but at least it works again.
thanks,
apple really rips ppl of for a simple repair.
OMGOODNESS!
so last night my friend gave me his friend’s 20 gb ipod 4th gen because it didnt work and his friend was completely hopeless. I took it home and decided to figure it out myself.
I was beginning to feel hopeless. I got this still battery with a lightning bolt as well as a sad ipod face. the look of it made me sad. I couldnt throw it away, its like 20 frikkin gb for free! I searched the apple site and that didnt help at all. so I got this one. I was about to go through the whole dissection of the ipod but i know that comments really help as well. Stan you brilliant arse, how nonchalant but brilliant are you to say to slap it around a few times.
Do it on the sides people. Not the back or the front (I realized the hard way..after 7 minutes lol).
The twinkling sound and backlight coming up was like a sign from the…some great being!
Thank you both.
elecTRO girl!
So can I actually upgrade my ipod hard drive. I have a fourth gen and after 4 or 5 years has started the clicking of death. I’d love to just be able to put a 120 or 160 hard drive in it? Anyone done that is it possible?
This was a perfect tutorial, mine was on the verge of dying and I took it to an Apple store last week and they told me $250 for a new hard drive also because it was so old and the hard drives were “hard to come by these days”. HAHAHA Apple. I found mine on Ebay for $30 WITH a 1 year warranty!I am in the process of syncing my music as I type!
I replaced my hard drive in my 5th gen and it was so ezy to do. Apple has made it so cool to fix your iPod now! Got my new hard drive online and thanks to website like this life is a snap.
big looooool!!!! tried to fix my old ipod photo 4g, was already checking prices for new harddrives…
and then the unbelievable, ridiculous slapping method found my mind…
well, tried it, and it worked!!! couldn’t stop laughing.
slap the ipod into the palms of your hand, the left side of the ipod was the one that worked right away.
I had a “dead” 4G iPod with a sad face & a clicking HD. One sharp slap on the side against the edge of a table & the iPod works! I’ll see for how long, but thanks.
its the Supreme glue stick… so its ok. lol
I would love to update my new hard drive but, none of the versions of Ipod Updater will run after installation and an error message states that I have to use the latest version of iTunes instead. Is anyone else having this issue?
IMG you are the man, a couple of hard smacks to the side and it works. cheers 5g
Just took out hd and battery from wife’s 2 yo Ipod. Some caveats.
Opening the case this way breaks the little plastic loops which hold the case closed. Apple must replace the plastic when they do the job or they have another way to open the metal springs that catch the plastic. The case can be closed going this way but will not be secure.
The battery connector seems to just pull out.
The HD ribbon separates from the drive and from the PCB. It is attached to the PCB with adhesive plus the connector and this end probably is not the best one to loosen
The foam on front and back of drive is held with 1/8″ strips of double stick tape which can be left on foam for reuse by carefully starting it loose from the drive with a sharp knife until it can be pulled loose from the drive.
There is a cable from the PCB to the case front which is released with a black flap on the opposite side of the connector from the ribbon.
I haven’t started putting things back yet.
Hey !
That tutorial helped me too ! (i’m french so my english may not be perfect). But i need more help ! i bought a new HD, put it on my 4G iPod. Everything was fine, it was working again. Reset my ipod, put some songs. Everything went well.
But for unknown reasons, The new HD keeps making bad noises sometimes. My ipod works for like an hour, and then, sad ipod icon.
When i open it to just disconnect the HD for a few seconds and reconnect it, It works and then the icon comes back.
Could it be the part that connect the HD to the ipod that is corrupted ? I’ve read somewhere that some people recommend to “mise à zero des données”, “put the data to zero” (i don’t know how to say it english sorry), is it really helpful ?
If someone has any ideas… Thanks in advance !
great tutorial thanks!
Dear Josh,
m using ipod a1236 4gb..but nowadays m facing prob.like n m connecting to my laptop it shos everything ok but n i disconnect from..it shows PRESS OK TO DISCONNECT but it won’t boot……????
please give me solution…
i have an iPod touch 2g and i want to get a bigger HHD in it. it is out of warranty as well. so do you know if this method works for an itouch and if it does, where can i get a HHD from. thanks.
I just installed a new hard disk into my 80GB 5th Gen ipod. I can get it into disk mode but iTunes won’t recognise it any suggestions?
This walkthrough was very helpful. The instructions were spot-on. Just a quick note: as of 11/2009, you have to use iTunes to update your iPod. Additionally, after installing my hard drive I kept getting a sad face or folder icon. If you get this just do what I did: let it charge for a bit, reopen the iPod, disconnect and reconnect the hard drive and then boot it up. Works like a charm. Thanks so much for the walkthrough!
My 4th gen ipod was showing the sad ipod icon followed by the folder icon. I’m thinking it’s died and wondering how much dough it’s gonna cost me. Wanted to have a go fixing it myself but a bit nervous about opening it up and making things worse, followed your instructions and pictures, just unplugged and re plugged the same hard drive, hey presto, works as good as new again!
What a top guy, many thanks for posting this money saving advice!
Followed this to the letter (even down to the scraper) and it worked a treat.
Just to say that with the new versions of Itunes you can just plug in your freshly repaired Ipod and the new software will be downloaded and installed for you.
Thanks man.
Just smacked that bee-otch around and she is working like a champ again. Thanks for the idea! She had it coming!!
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