Turning an old iPod into an external hard drive

sthiedesthiede
Posted:
in iPod + iTunes + AppleTV edited January 2014
i have an old ipod with a cracked screen and i will never use it for anything else so, i am thinking about turning it into an external HD. i was thinking i would go about this by reformatting it in Disk Utility to Mac OS Extended (Journed). is that the right thing to do? should i use a different format?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 6
    chuckerchucker Posts: 5,089member
    Yeah, you can do that. But you'd end up with a slow, low-capacity, low-lifetime solution.
  • Reply 2 of 6
    sthiedesthiede Posts: 307member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Chucker View Post


    Yeah, you can do that. But you'd end up with a slow, low-capacity, low-lifetime solution.



    well what would you recomend?
  • Reply 3 of 6
    bergermeisterbergermeister Posts: 6,784member
    I still have a 1st gen iPod being used as a backup HD... as long as you don't run it all the time it should be OK. When you want to back stuff up, connect it, do your thing, then remove the disk.



    I also use my newer iPods as data storage (I don't have much music) as I need to carry tons of large files (video) around from office to office. The iPods work grewat for this and allow me to play a game or two in transit!
  • Reply 4 of 6
    sthiedesthiede Posts: 307member
    thanks! (edit) ok i solved my own problem i posted before, but one last question: does it matter that the mounted disk icon isn't the firewire one? i used to have a firewire external HD and when it was mounted it had a different icon. not sure it matters but just wondering.



    thanks
  • Reply 5 of 6
    chuckerchucker Posts: 5,089member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by sthiede View Post


    well what would you recomend?



    I just wouldn't recommend excessively using a 1.8-inch hard drive as a hard drive?*they weren't designed for extensive use like that. You'd be much cheaper off buying a 2.5-inch or 3.5-inch drive, and you'd end up with a solution that's both more reliable and higher-capacity.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by sthiede View Post


    thanks! (edit) ok i solved my own problem i posted before, but one last question: does it matter that the mounted disk icon isn't the firewire one? i used to have a firewire external HD and when it was mounted it had a different icon. not sure it matters but just wondering.



    thanks



    I take it the icon you now get is an iPod's icon? No problem.
  • Reply 6 of 6
    sthiedesthiede Posts: 307member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Chucker View Post


    I just wouldn't recommend excessively using a 1.8-inch hard drive as a hard drive…*they weren't designed for extensive use like that. You'd be much cheaper off buying a 2.5-inch or 3.5-inch drive, and you'd end up with a solution that's both more reliable and higher-capacity.







    I take it the icon you now get is an iPod's icon? No problem.



    ok thanks chucker. you inspired me to go get a "real" external HD. but im still gonna use the ipod for the time being, maybe for about a month. actually ill probably just use this until leopard, then i will get a nice external hd for use with Time Machine.



    no the icon i have now is just a white mounted disk icon, totally plain. still no problem? or...?
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