iPod Mini using "special" Microdrive?

zozo
Posted:
in iPod + iTunes + AppleTV edited January 2014
I was reading on the French Mac site macbidouille.com that the person took out the Minidrive and tested it in 2 different cameras and it was NOT recognized.



Quote:

Hard Disk Drive: Manufactured by Hitachi, it's really very tiny. The model is HMS360404D5CF00. The part number is 13G1768. It is wrapped in electrical tape and when I removed it, there were 3 Delrin bumpers fitted around the corners. I was rather surprised to discover that the drive is actually a CF card! I tried to mount it in my Lexar FireWire CF Card Reader but with no luck. My Canon Digital Rebel didn't recognize it either.



That was from http://www.ipodlounge.com/articles_m...d=3059_0_8_0_C



Any ideas what the heck is going on? Apple thought ahead?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 10
    eugeneeugene Posts: 8,254member
    All 4 GB Microdrives are physically identical. You can toggle different operational modes for them, and that's probably what has been done with the iPod mini drives. You can probably download a utility from Hitachi that will set it to the right mode.



    Hitachi *is* working on an embedded 1" drive though...
  • Reply 2 of 10
    The Hitachi imbedded microdrive story is here.
  • Reply 3 of 10
    joeyjoey Posts: 236member
    Yeah... chances are it's just formatted in a way the camera can't read it. Nothing special about the drive itself.
  • Reply 4 of 10
    ebbyebby Posts: 3,110member
    I read Apple changed something in the firmware of the microdrive. Maybe a simple reformat won't work. If that is true, Boo... Hisss... Apple! That is mean!
  • Reply 5 of 10
    Well, my guess would be the iPod is formatted differently. All flash memory uses the FAT system...
  • Reply 6 of 10
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Ebby

    I read Apple changed something in the firmware of the microdrive. Maybe a simple reformat won't work. If that is true, Boo... Hisss... Apple! That is mean!



    But maybe it isn't Apples's fault? Maybe Hitachi, as a part of their agreement with Apple, made them add a firmware revision. Otherwise, Hitachi could lose a lot of money by people buying minis, cracking them open, and then selling the drives below market price. Just my own conspiracy.
  • Reply 7 of 10
    joeyjoey Posts: 236member
    If I'm not mistaken... if you set up your Mini on a Mac... it gets formatted as HTFS... if you set it up on a PC... it gets set up as FAT32. You won't be able to access the drive on any device that requires a FAT (or FAT32)if it's formatted in HTFS.



    Correct me if I'm mistaken on this... I've only had my Mini for a few days... and haven't really tried many different connections to confirm.
  • Reply 8 of 10
    eugeneeugene Posts: 8,254member
    It's not a formatting issue. It's a device mode issue.
  • Reply 9 of 10
    buonrottobuonrotto Posts: 6,368member
    Pardon my ignorance, but this is how I learn things. What's the device "mode" you speak of? This is coming from a tech dullard, mind you.
  • Reply 10 of 10
    smirclesmircle Posts: 1,035member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by BuonRotto

    Pardon my ignorance, but this is how I learn things. What's the device "mode" you speak of? This is coming from a tech dullard, mind you.



    The Microdrives can switch between identifying themselves as a disk drive or a Flash module. Which mode of operation they are in is determined at boot-up time by a sequence of signals the host has to send. If Apple chose to set it to "disk", it will not work with cameras which expect all Compact Flash modules to conform to the "memory" profile.
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