iPod as Hard drive issue

[L.T.W.]

Im using my iPod(80Gb) as a hard drive for one of my classes and in this particular class we are working with Win2003Server Ed. and with the latest version of Fedora.

We use VirtualBox so we can switch back and forth between them.

The OSs are 2 image files [that started] around 3gb each, but the Windows one keeps on growing as we add more stuff to it (obviously), suddently it reached the 4.5Gb and I got a message from inside Win2003SE that my hard drive had run out of space. I thought that was quite weird becaouse I had like 50Gb of free space, so my professor told me to move it to the desktop to work in class.

At the end of the class I needed to move the image file back into my iPod, but as I attempted to do so I got an error message saying the my iPod was out of space.

This puzzled both my professor and I and we couldnt find a solution.

He told me to defrag my iPod and he thought that would solve the problem, but after doing that, I still got the same error message.

A friend of mine also recommended me to partition the file with WinRar, and it worked.

I was able to move the file in 700Mb pieces, but I wasnt able to copy it as one huge file.

I still have like 40Gb of free space, so whats going on?

Could it be that the iPod configuration forbids the user to copy files over 4.5Gb in size?

And if so, how to change that?

Any help?

[Shadow Wolf]

It's unlikely, but worth looking into... Your iPod may be formatted in FAT32 rather than NTFS. FAT32 won't accept a single file over 4 gigs in size, whereas an NTFS formatted drive will. That would explain why splitting the file worked.

[FireSlash]

Shadow nailed it.

If your iPod is formatted for anything but mac, it's formatted in FAT32, and FAT32 can't store any file larger than 4GB (Technically 4GB - 1 byte)

[phill]

I will make a single assumption, you have the drive formatted as FAT32, which limits the size of the files to 2^42-1 bytes, aka 4.398GB give or take. You can not make files bigger then that and if you try...well you can get a bunch of different errors but running out of space is common. Now, I thought VirtualBox allowed you to split the drives into smaller chunks (2GB is best) and this would save you alot of problems. Otherwise try formatting to NTFS.

edit:Gah, this is what I get for getting distracted halfway through a post.

[Shadow Wolf]

Because of the type of forum we're on, it's worth noting that if you hook this iPod up to PS3 for any reason, it HAS to be formatted in FAT32 to read. This is consummately gay, because it could be resolved with a minor firmware update to the PS3 and we could all leave FAT in the archaic past where it belongs. Alas, the dreams of the sane and the harsh and shattered insanity of reality do not intersect very often.

[phill]

FAT is pretty much the only thing everyone agrees on and implements. All the other file systems that could be used (NTFS, HFS+, ext2,3,4 etc) would drasitically limit compatiable OSs (without forcing the user to install file system support) and I can't imagine Sony implementing support for all of them just because a few tits here and there want huge files. Plus the overhead of these journalled file systems makes it kinda pointless for the smaller usb sticks (<16GB)

[L.T.W.]

That explains it, the only problem would be formating the disk, so. I guess Ill have to back everything up in there.

Sigh...

...Thats gonna take a while.

One question... If I format it with windows, will it work as an iPod later? or should I format it through iTunes?

[Shadow Wolf]

I would definitely format it through iTunes, that will put it in whatever journalled format it needs to be in.

[Jago]

This assumes iTunes will let you do a reformat. For whatever reason, my 120GB iPod was formatted RAW...not good. I could store files, but because there was no true format, I couldn't recover or update the iPod at all. Songs would randomly stop during playback as well, as if the end-of-file marker was getting messed up. Even the tips on Apple's website didn't help. It wasn't until XP itself gave me the info I needed when I tried to reformat the iPod.

By default, the iPod was optimized for quick removal instead of performance. So I connected the iPod and went to its properties, which is where I discovered it was in RAW format. I tried to reformat in XP. The window appeared, but none of the options were available. So I tried reformatting through a DOS window, and I couldn't because of the iPod being optimized for quick removal and probably being in RAW. Here's where it gets odd. The moment I optimized it for performance, the iPod suddenly was formatted to FAT32. I have no idea why changing its optimization would suddenly make FAT32 appear, but then I could reformat the iPod through XP. So after reformatting to NTFS, the iPod has been flawless. I can now recover, update, and fully play all songs.

If anyone else ran into this strange issue, hopefully this post helps.

[L.T.W.]

So, after backing everything up.

I noticed that iTunes doesnt give me an option for the formating type, it makes it automatically FAT32.

So I'll have to do it through Windows then.

[L.T.W.]

I encountered a problem.

After formating my iPod to NTFS and coping back the iPod files, I went to iTunes and the iPod appeared to be functioning normally.

So when I unplugged it I discovered that it had no music to be listened, but iTunes displayed as if my iPod had all its music in it.

So... what Im guessing is that the iPod cannot function properly unless its formated by iTunes, but iTunes will only format it FAT32.

Anyone has any suggestions to my problem?

[phill]

The IPod, or atleast I thought, could divide itself into partitions for music and data. Music portion will have to be FAT32 while the data portion, assuming it works like I thought, can be NTFS. But, doing a little looking around the inter-tubes shows me that you can't do that easily.