iPod Reformat
I was updating my son's nano to the latest iPod version so I could set and control the maximum volume. It is a must-have, must-set feature for all children with iPods.
It was just my luck that my computer locked up in the middle of the update. The iPod was in a state where I couldn't do much of anything. All of the songs were gone. The computer would recognize there was a drive in the USB port, but that was about it. iTunes wouldn't recognize the iPod at all.
I went through every debugging technicque on Apple's site. I reset the iPod. I reloaded iTunes and the iPod software. And I attempted a restore (which didn't work). I eventually gave up and called Apple. Luckily I had the one complimentary support call, otherwise I'd be out 50 bucks.
I got lucky. The technician I got was awesome. He walked me through something I would have had no problem doing if the instructions were on the site. He did say they'd be out there eventually but this process was something they haven't tested enough to actually put on apple.com. I'm a little upset because I should have tried this before calling. Here you go. If you want to start from scratch with your iPod this is how to do it:
- Turn off all running programs on your PC (IE, Outlook, PowerPoint, etc.)
- Conect the iPod to the USB port
- Start Disk Manager by right-clicking on MyComputer, select Manage, select Disk Management. This may take several minutes to come up.
- Select your iPod (mine was D:); right-click and select Fomat...
- Take most of the defaults. The primary options to select are FAT32 and Quick Format
- When the format is complete, eject the iPod safely by right-clicking on the Safely Remove Hardware icon in the Task Tray, select USB Mass Storage, and then select the iPod to stop it
- Unplug the iPod from the computer and start the iPod updater. Start, All Programs, iPod, iPod Updater 2006-03-23, and iPod Updater 2006-03-23.
- Plug-in the iPod. Once it is recognized by the Updater the Restore button will become active. Click on Restore to restore the iPod to its factory state.
- When the restore is complete iTunes should start and the iPod should be usable again