Convert your 4th Gen iPod to use Flash Memory

We all have or know of someone who has an iPod with a dead hard drive. Of course you can simply buy another drive but you're back to the same power-hungry, failure-prone, fragile rotating media. Instead, upgrade your iPod to use Flash Memory. Sure a hard drive can hold all 30,000 of your songs, but even a 4GB card can hold over 24 hours of music - I usually change out songs often enough that I don't need to carry 20+ Gig of songs at all times.

Before you comment, I know there are a few people out there who have already done the upgrade. I don't claim to be the first to do this but I am the first to write an instructable for it (I think).

You can also check out my new Bluetooth 5G iPod Video at iPodHackers.net

Let's get started!

NOTE: If you're looking for my instructable on how to add Internal Bluetooth capability to your iPod, click here

Step 1 What You Need

1) Unlike my other instructable where I showed How Do Upgrade Your iPod Mini With Flash Memory, you cannot simply replace the hard drive with a flash card. The 1.8" drive and CF interfaces are similar but you will need an adapter to bridge the interface from the card to the HD connector on the iPod.

I purchased the adapter for under $15 from an Asian vendor on eBay. It is not pretty but it works.

2) You will also need some cardboard and some hot melt glue or double sided foam tape.

3) iPod-Opening tools (non-marking plastic tools and/or flathead screwdriver.

5) Your iPod wall charger unit

5) Of course, you will need a fully ATA-Compliant Compact Flash card. Any size will work, but you can now get 8GB cards for under $70 as of this writing. I've had good luck with Transcend and Sandisk. Check the specs, not all cards will work.

Comments

[bengriggs]

Not sure what I'm missing. 20GB 4th Gen HP iPod. I ordered the CF adapter - one that was listed on ebay as compatible with 4th gen. When I go to install it, it doesn't fit. The IDE cable has 42 pins, while the adapter has 50. I go back to ebay, and all of the adapters have 50 pins. When doing a Google search, I can't even find a 42 pin micro IDE cable. They're all 40,44 or 50. Anybody else run into this?

[eltonbolt]

Hi!

Just seen your post. Hope you have sorted your problem, but if not have a read of mine and hopefully all will be sorted. get back if not. Cheers!!

[eltonbolt]

Just thought I would share my experience after following some of the advice on here. Firstly got a bargain for a 32Gb card from Amazon - Just over £30 'all-in' for a brand new, pretty respectable make and high read/write rate. Grab it while you can:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B001OTUPQA

And got the converter from this seller:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/260420488972?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

The changeover is easy, but as I can see from bengriggs comments, there has been some confusion regarding the number of pins. My converter had 6 extra 'holes' but it was clearly labelled which one was Pin 1. See Voraz's photo and all will become clear.

There were some other issues with getting the iPod to recognise the new drive. Off my own back, I plugged in the iPod to the 'puter and waited for the 'Mass Storage Device' to become ready. Any time iTunes popped up, I ignored it and shut it down. From 'My Computer' I right-clicked the new drive, selected 'Format' and carried out a FULL format. I then disconneted the device from the computer via the USB icon in the bottom right corner.

I then opened iTunes, paused, then reconnected the iPod. iTunes then recognised it as an iPod but stated it needed a 'Restore'. Selected 'Restore' button, then when it told me, transferred to external power supply where the iPod carried on the restore. Next thin you know, the language selection came up and all was done! Happy days.

All I've got to do now is pad it out and secure it........think I might even treat myself to a1200mAH battery from eBay.......It'll last f***ing ages then!!! :D

All this for less than £45!! Gotta be worth it!!

[Beduk]

Can i do this thing using my ipod touch?/

[roland985]

The touch already has flash memory far higher in capacity to that of a CF card...

[TheCheese9921]

I have a 820-1535-A Motherboard and am testing with an old 512mb flash card. My computer will not recognize the ipod and cycles between boot, disk mode, and corrupt file icon. Can anyone help?

[ffsman]

I had the same problem as all the other people here with a not any more working 4 th Generation Clickwheel ipod and already bought an CF-adapter similar to the Delock one.
Since I was trying to get it to work all evening with a CN memory 4GB CF card I suddenly held the flat ribbon cable (the hard drive connector) in my hands. Testwise put the old - supposed to be dead - Toshiba harddrive - and it just works again!
So this might be worth a look. Obviously the ribbon cable can slide out of the mainboard connector without being noticed after disassembly. And it is not too easy to put back in. I taped it with a sticky carpet tape in order to prevent this. Good luck to all the dead electronics reanimators!

[Burf]

I found this 'ible about a month ago while looking for a guide on how to open my iPod 4th Gen, 20Gb without destroying the case in the process.  My original intent was to replace the battery which held a usable charge for 3 1/2 to 4 hours. I decided that I really liked my nearly 7 year old iPod and a complete refurbish was a worthwhile project.
I went on-line and ordered a new battery, a 1 1/8" ZIFF to compact flash adapter and a CF card. I found a 32 Gb Transcend CF on sale for $34, an adapter for $6 and the battery for $9. Total: $49.
I eventually found a guide to open the case at ifixit.com.  Opening the case without marring it turned out to be the most challenging part of the refurb. After four or five attempts, I got it opened.  I didn't like the cardboard spacer so I used a piece of an old mouse pad, which worked great.
The actual installation of the components took no more than 20-30 minutes and I now have a like new iPod 4Gen that has an additional 12 Gb of storage and has lasted nearly 20 hours on a single charge.
I plan on using this thing for another 7 years.

REPAIRING IS THE BEST WAY TO RECYCLE!

[account3r2]

what kind of mem does the ipod touch run on? flash or HDD

[phant0m_sp00f3ra]

flash.

[lokiju]

I realize that this is an old post but I just did this to my old and otherwise dead 4th gen HP branded 20GB iPod and brought new life back into it.

I bought the zif/1.8" to CF adapter from DealExtreme like most others here mentioned and bought a CF to MicroSD from Amazon for $17 shipped since I already had a few 8GB microSD cards sitting around not in use and CF is way to expensive for my taste. Since I already had the 8GB microSD card on hand, it only cost me $22 with shipping to get my old faithful up and running again!

I have an iPhone, Droid and 16GB 6th Gen iPod Nano but still can't help but try and breath life back into old gadgets that otherwise perform as desired.

I didn't see this site or post until after I had all the parts in hand and was trying to figure out if I should cut off the plastic piece on the iPod side of the cable or not but just wanted to share my experience with others in case it can be of any help.

Cool site btw.

[pll02a]

I also have an iPod 4th gen revision 820-1723-A (2004).

I tried with the el-cheapo Deal Extreme 1.8 IDE to CF adapter, a 128 MB CF card that I had lying around, as well as with a CF-to-SD
adapter and an 8 GB SD card.

In both cases, iTunes tried but was unable to initialize the iPod, Disk Utility saw the iPod as an "Apple Computer" device but when I tried to initialize it I got an "out of memory" error (have seen similar errors when you use Disk Utility with an external drive whose I/O hardware is not supported). I tried partitioning the SD card via an SD reader and pre-installing the firmware from the iPod's original drive, but again, no luck.

I can always get the iPod into diagnostic and then disk mode, but otherwise the iPod always boots to a screen telling me to call Apple Support.

Any ideas what to try next? I am reluctant to invest in a 16 or 32 GB CF card if this isn't going to work.

[lokiju]

From the research I did a lot of the reasons people couldn't get the "drive" to format was just random luck with the SD card.

Have you tried other brands?

[DirtyBiz]

I have the adapter from Deal Extreme that most on this post have and got a 32GB CF Kingston 133x flash card for my 4th gen ipod but cannot get it to work. When I connect the device and turn it on it gets stuck with the main screen with an apple on it. and nothing else happens. I have tried most of the things I have read here and I have a later model board 820-1723a but no luck. I have even swapped out the CF card to my SLR's CF card (SanDisk ultra II 2.0GB) but no luck. I have tried to copy over the ipod files from the HD to the CF, I have tried it in diagnostic mode. Can anyone help me or am I SOL?

[showdog525]

Did this with my old 60gb photo and it worked great the first try, thanks. I wanted to add that I did this with a LARGE CF card and it worked perfect no problems. The material that I used:
1x 64gb Trandsend CF card (got it from a friend he only had one) $120
1x 1.8" to CF adapter from Amazon (wanted to get it quick) $10
1x piece of slim cardboard
1x set of ipod tools (got them with the battery) $10

I got all my parts from http://www.idemigods.com
I also replaced the battery at the same time, not to hard all you need is a new battery, a T6 driver, and a steady hand. Thanks again for all the info.

[improv.cycling]

When I plug mine into my computer It gives me error 1416 and won't let me restore. Does this have anything to do with the fact that Im running snow leopard and iTunes 9.2?

[60beetle60]

I've got an 820-1647-A that's infinite looping, any ideas on what I can do to stop this? I've tried various methods of reformatting including using a digital camera as per one of the comments and I don't have easy access to linux, any ideas?

[cheato27]

Thanks so much for this guide! Used a 16gb Transcennd 400x card off Newegg and the adapter from Dealextreme. Did exactly as you instructed, and everything works perfectly.

Not sure if some others having problems, but just like the author, fstedie, my 4g iPod is rev #820-1535-A. I didn't have to perform any other steps with respect for creating the boot sectors or anything like that.

Just thought I'd instill some hope :)

[Hemling]

I bought an adaptor from ebay and a 8gb sandisk ultra II CF card but my 4g ipod dont want to work. :( the bord have rev nr: 820-1723-a if it helps.. Itunes finds it and say the uppdate is made so I just have to plug it in to external power supply but when I do that the folder for broken drive just appers. Anyone that have any ides what I could have done wrong ?  

[mattvernon]

I finally got around to doing this mod - my adapter also had 6 pins open but worked great.  Thank you for putting this online, and for those who have left it online.  My 5 year old has an ipod now, which is saving my ipod touch's life.

[voraz]

This worked great for me, on an Ipod classic 4th generation 20 GB thanks for the info. It was so easy I considered it more of a part replacement than an actual hack. Definitely doable by a beginner. I got the adapter from Deal Extreme for 4.44 free shipping. http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.10886 I bought the flash card from NewEgg but get it from where ever you find the best deal. I installed a Transcend 16Gb card making sure it was ATA compatible before buying it. The package says that this card is an Ultra Speed 133x with MLC Flash memory. Don't know if the speed matters but this worked first time no fuss. I will try bigger ATA compatible cards soon and report back. The two pins that others are talking about bending are for the jumper to choose between Master or Slave. I used needle nose pliers to hold the base of the pins and with the jumper on I bent them forward until at a 90 so that now the jumper is flat with the circuit board. I used a pair of nips to snip off the excess leads sticking out of the solder on the other side of the board from the jumper as well. Didn't want them to poke or short anything. I didn't use any cardboard. I took the rubber off of the old HD and put it around the new adapter and stuck a small piece of hard pipe insulating foam at the bottom so it wouldn't slide down. All of this is resting on top of that thin piece of foam that is stuck to the original HD. When I connected the adapter to the HD lead in the Ipod it runs from the adaptors Pin 1 indicator to the other end leaving 6 holes unused on the adaptor not 4. Everything worked as soon as I connected it to itunes it said I needed to restore then I did the setup connected to external power and it synced the next time I connected it back to Itunes.
I ran a test with a full battery and it increased my battery life by about 40%. So my Ipod used to get about 3.5 to 4 hours out of a charge and last night it got about 5 to 5.5 hours. This is with lots of pausing and changing of podcasts ect. I am sure I would have gotten at least 6 hours if I had just put it on music and let it run without all of the back light usage.
Thanks for a great Instructable.

[voraz]

After you bend the jumper pins over, put a little bit of super glue at the base of teh jumper to prevent it from working it's way off later.  Be careful to only put it on the end as to not interfere with connectivity.

Hey if this was helpful view my profile and give me a patch if you want.
Have fun with the project.

[Voradeaur]

 I was just wondering if anyone fixed the rev. 8201764A Issue yet. I tried to follow the 3g Setup but got lost in the binary..(we dont have a 0x4320).. any help would be appreciated.

[arkor]

I would only suggest using cardboard if you have a 40GB 4G.  Otherwise in my 20G the cardboard (even when it is compressed/flattened) would jam the menu button rendering it inoperable.

[ebbs222]

What's the name of the adapter you used? Can this be applied to older generation Ipods as well?

[fstedie]

I've seen the adapter listed under different names, but the one I used called it "iPod SSD 1.8" to Compact Flash" or something like that. Here's a link to a recent listing on eBay: adapter

it is not the best quality, but it works.

[yjvsryyubvwlax]

Would this be the equivalent? www.startech.com/item/ZIF2CF-Compact-Flash-CF-to-ZIF-LIF-Adapter.aspx 
It was one of the top results when I did the quote you had into Google. I have the first iPod that was ever created with a color screen and I am looking at repairing it for my dad.

I always new it was a good idea to hold on to dead electronics!

[SystemZERO]

I have one of the earlier revisions of the 4th gen that are supposed to dislike the Compact Flash mod. I had major problems, I tried formatting many, many times, both with the iPod and a card reader. What finally worked for me was formatting the card with my Canon EOS 20D DSLR. This made it an MS-DOS partition and iTunes actually recognized it as an iPod partition. Then I just had to restore with iTunes and it's working wonderfully now.

[Evil6]

Finally got mine to work i have a 60 gig photo Ipod that I put a 2gig Sandisk CF card into. It would boot, recognize or anything until I realized that the pins from the 1.8" adapter to the ipod weren't lined up properly. I had it over to the 4th set of pins, but only the top half were plugged in (it looked ok from the top). I unplugged and made sure everything lined up properly and now it works!!!! Hope this helps others.

[gbanklos]

forgot to mention. i get the "half eaten apple" screen but nothing happens... any ideas?

[gbanklos]

Hi. My ipod photo got wet and doesnt work. I'm tryin to troubleshoot. I recently replaced the battery but have no idea how to test the hard drive. if it doesnt work i'll just replace it with a CF. Any help would be helpful

[Smokabowl]

http://forums.ilounge.com/showthread.php?s=2fd6c696b3b1d492f1096f35f55d65b5&threadid=93059&highlight=fdisk

For all of you with a 820-1535-A, this should force the ipod to work with a CF card. Good luck.

[timv]

I found out some info that may help out people having problems with this. I have been on a broken ipod 4th G buying spree and have about 8-9 broken ones. I bought 3 of the adapters and eventually three CF cards, 16 GB Transcend. I tried it out on the first couple and it didn't work but the ipod would work fine with a known good harddrive. I got a 3rd ipod and it worked right away, no problems. I kept trying on others with no luck but then got another that worked right away. I finally found out why certain ones work and others don't. There is a circuit board rev number written near the connector on the bottom and battery plug. The older rev boards # 820-1535-A do not work with a CF card, it seems to not write the boot info correctly. I can see it in windows but it won't boot, just get the folder icon. The newer revs work perfectly. They are numbered 820-17XX something like that. This was tested on about 8-9 ipods and I only have four newer revs ones that all work perfectly. Hope this helps some people out, I know I was getting upset about it...

[envoid]

maybe 820-1642? Mine is that rev but haven't tried this yet.

[Phirebird]

All is not lost! You could attempt this set of partition/firmware mods to fix that:

Apple Partition Patching (for 1.8" to 3.5" Hard Drive Mod - Should work with CF):
http://www.command-tab.com/2005/03/13/ipod-super/

Firmware Copy (using Ubuntu Linux):
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f6/ipod-3g-compact-flash-mod-337215/

Firmware Patching (using windows)
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f6/ipod-3g-compact-flash-mod-337215/#post4914821

Try it out on the #820-1535-A revisions and tell me how it goes ;)

[Tried2iPodPhotos]

I attempted this conversion with 2 of my iPod Photos with no luck, i tried the suggested SanDisk Ultra II (8GB) flash memory and two different 16gb flash cards I bought off ebay, none of the three worked. Here's what happens: With the adapter/memory/battery installed and hooked up to computer (windows) with iTunes, it recognizes both iPods with a message regarding a iPod being connected that needs to be restored. When it attempts to restore, the iPods only stay connected for approx. 10 seconds and restart resulting in a loss of connection between the computer and the iPod. I've tried forcing the iPods into data mode, yet when connected to the computer, they restart and drop the connection with no success, the problem is they will not stay connected to the computer long enough with out restarting and losing connection. I've done research in many forums including this one (see "timv" comment below regarding "rev #'s) and I've come to the assumption that the newer models of the ipod photo have different firmware that will work with this conversion, until somebody can rip this firmware and upload it for others to install... others will be wasting their money in failed attempts as I have. I have two iPod Photos (40gb and 60gb)... 2 adapters... 3 flash cards 2 @ 16gb and 1 @ 8gb) Anyone interested in buying anything or everything I have, do let me know If you can help me finish this conversion or interested in buying what I have, email me: [e-mail]

[DarkArchon]

I'm working on doing this to my ipod 40GB photo I got an SanDisk Ultra II 2GB as suggested above because it's the only one I've heard of working on the photo, but I'd like a bigger one, at least 16 Has anyone had any luck with using any bigger cards, maybe a bigger SanDisk Ultra II? I'd like to know before I spend the money on one. Thanks

[mspark400]

I originally had problems but I finally got it to work! My adapter cost 1 dollar plus shipping from Asia and i successfully installed 4g of sandisk ultra II into my ipod photo. It syncs fine now. My ipod had been broken for years and i had a shot hdd. Unfortunatly i also have a broken screen so for now it is a flash drive or screen-les mp3 player. More importantly for others seeking my success. i left six pins from the starting end of my adapter. Originally the ipod came up briefly but as an empty drive. after restarting with different pins i reached my solution by also putting it in disk mode (or trying to) either way i got lucky and it worked. Great instructable and i'm glad it worked. any questions pm me and ill offer all i know. cheers, mspark400

[max8008]

hi, how exactly did you manage to get your ipod photo working, was it six pins from the left or actually in the 6th pin from the left, and also did u leave it as slave or promary. thanks

[roamin_oz]

Ive just got myself a 4gb sandisk Ultra II and the compact flash card convertor from delexwares i think its called, everything works perfect, i can access it, write to it, my music player (media monkey) sees and can play from it. Though, when i disconnect it from the USB power source and the ipod tries to load i get the folder icon. Anyone got any ideas on what i should do? Thanks Mark.