iPod Finally Fixed my 30GB 5th Gen iPod

[MacFoxG4]

So after years of sitting in a drawer broken, my iPod 5th Gen (aka iPod Video) works again! It was my first ever iPod. I got it as a gift back in 2006 and used it for three years until it fell on the ground and the screen cracked. I had always intended to take it to a repair shop, but never got around to it. I had a 2nd gen iPod shuffle too at the time and that ended up being my main iPod until I got a 3rd gen Touch a couple years later. Anyway, I saw some YouTube videos where a guy fixes up old iPods and saw that the repair process didn't look that bad. I have some experience repairing laptops and compared to the dual USB iBook G3, working on an iPod seemed easy. I ordered a new screen, battery, and HDD and used some iFixit tools I already had lying around to work on the iPod. Opening it up requires a good amount of patience and effort, but I was able to do it. I initially only replaced the battery and screen as I wanted to see if my original HDD would still work.

I put my iPod back together, turned it on, and it works! Even the old HDD works. I was able to play songs and it felt great using the click wheel again. Next thing I did was to see if it was able to charge and be recognized by iTunes. Sure enough it was able to do both those things. I now faced a dilemma. On one hand, I liked that the old library from 2009 was still on there, it was like a time capsule. On the other hand, I liked using this iPod again and not being able to add songs or videos to it just to preserve an old music library didn't seem like fun. Windows 10 also gave me an error message about there being something wrong with the drive. I decided to put in the new HDD and keep the old one somewhere. The new HDD works, though I wasn't able to get all of the foam from the old HDD onto the the new one and when I put the blue rubber bumpers on the side of the new drive, the iPod wouldn't shut, so the new HDD is in there with only a few scraps of foam and no bumpers on the sides of the drive.

I was able to do a software restore on Windows 10's version of iTunes. I heard that doing a software restore for old iPods is difficult on Windows, but I was able to do a software restore no problem. I synced my entire music library (about 5100 songs, the old HDD had about 3100 songs on it) plus a couple videos and was able to do so successfully. Overall, I'm happy to have this old iPod working again. A part of me still wonders if I should have kept using the original HDD because of nostalgia, but at the same time I like being able to add stuff to this iPod.

 

[retta283]

The 5th gen was easily one of the best iPods. I still use mine, also a 30GB. The library on there is mostly the same stuff that I had in 2006, with a few things added. The battery is starting to weaken though. HDD is still good on mine, if it dies an SSD/flash replacement will be the best option. I'm not sure if you replaced yours with another spinner or an SSD, because the SSD will grant much better speed, longevity, and battery life. I would advice that anyone opening one for the first time put an SSD in so you don't have to open it again for a while.

It seems like most people that revisit these come to appreciate that simple brilliance of the design and interface, it's easily one of Apple's best. I feel like there's definitely room for these iPods still, even if a niche one. Luckily there is a prevalent third-party market for these and repairs so we can continue to maintain them for years to come.

also, those iBook G3s are certainly a pain. I have had some horrible repair experiences with those.

 

[MacFoxG4]

The 5th gen was easily one of the best iPods. I still use mine, also a 30GB. The library on there is mostly the same stuff that I had in 2006, with a few things added. The battery is starting to weaken though. HDD is still good on mine, if it dies an SSD/flash replacement will be the best option. I'm not sure if you replaced yours with another spinner or an SSD, because the SSD will grant much better speed, longevity, and battery life. I would advice that anyone opening one for the first time put an SSD in so you don't have to open it again for a while.

It seems like most people that revisit these come to appreciate that simple brilliance of the design and interface, it's easily one of Apple's best. I feel like there's definitely room for these iPods still, even if a niche one. Luckily there is a prevalent third-party market for these and repairs so we can continue to maintain them for years to come.

also, those iBook G3s are certainly a pain. I have had some horrible repair experiences with those.

I replaced the HDD with a new old stock 60 GB spinner. The seller didn't have any SSDs and I wanted to save money anyway. I may look into doing a flash storage mod at some point in the future though.