u/UncouthKombucha

Bought a 20gb HDD off eBay and it did not work. I tried EVERYTHING. 3 different MacBooks, 2 different cables, FireWire, USB, 2 iPod 3s and an iPod photo. So frustrating. I can see in finder that the hard drive has over 4,000 songs on it! But I can’t get the drive to boot so I can use it and listen to music. So sad. I tried to restore it as well with no luck. At one point iTunes said it was corrupt and then the next, it’s detected. I’m so confused and frustrated. I’ve been at it for hours! I think I need a FireWire to USB adapter to restore it but I don’t want to restore it, I want to use it with the music!

Luckily I started then return process and eBay refunded me instantly. I don’t even have to send it back.

New battery worked to revive my boy but erased the music on his hard drive 😢

Finally, after months of looking at facebook marketplace everyday, I found a classic g1. And it’s in great shape!

I have a bad hard drive on the left and a good drive on the right. I decided to swap them to make sure that the hard drive was the only issue. Well…. I almost bought an iFlash to repair the iPod on the left, but if it’s a board level issue I guess it’s toast?

I’m going to have to upgrade this 3g to an SSD cause the hard drive is cooked. Any suggestions? I’ve never done this before so I’m stoked to get this up and running again!