[avolve]

Recently on playback my iPod (4th Gen, 40Gb, b/w) was skipping a lot, so i thought it might be the HD. I tried to perform a surface scan with Tech Tools Pro - after 14 hours it was about 15% done (i gave up on that)...

I restored it and verified with Disk Utility - showed no errors. I am, however, unable to get syncing to complete.

I am on my fifth attempt at syncing. During other tries it has frozen, sometimes freezes itunes (when i try to eject it as it does not disconnect itself), etc. I have had the manually force it to restart - and get the device removal error on my mac.

I also tried this on my other mac as well - similar issue. I thought it might be something with the OS X 10.4.9 update, though my other mac has 10.4.8 on it still (for such reasons )...

This time i got to 2168 of 6115 files(12.17Gb) before it stopped. The iPod display has 'Do not disconnect' yet it does not have the symbol on it now

I am not sure if it is the HD, though could be likely. What are my options???

• format the hard drive using disk utility
• will formatted outside of iTunes 'ruin' the iPod for music?
• if formatted out of iTunes, use as an external drive
• try again and again with iTunes and hope for the best
• bite the bullet and get another HD

Any suggestions or ideas? Similar experiences?

[keddi]

Bite the bullet and get yourself a shiny new ipod?

[cpalmer]

Check out this link.

I had a very similar problem with my 4G iPod and although it pushes the bounds of credibility, giving my ipod a small whack on the desk appears to have fixed it.

[rooread]

I hust replacd my hard disk with a bigger one from an ebay shop in the US. It's a fairly painless operation and cost me about $100.
check this site out for details: http://www.command-tab.com/2007/03/1...d-hard-drives/

[Mohawk]

Same thing happened to me with my 4G Photo.

Formatting out of iTunes will not ruin your iPod, I used my windows pc and did a full format to FAT32, then plugged it into my iBook to get my music on there. It failed the first time and I thought my iPods HDD was screwed. I was just about ready to get a new one but instead, tried again the next day and it worked.

I'd just give it a few more goes first before you go laying down some money.

On a side note, If all goes wrong and you do need to fix it, seeing as its a B+W 4G, you might be better off getting a brand new one. You could end up getting the new HDD, and then having something else go pop shortly after (unless of course your waiting for the 6G (like me, c'mon 4G dont fail me now, just a little longer )