iPod Flash conversion

At the beginning of 2007 flash prices has come down significantly. Even to the point where it has become a viable option to replace harddrives with flash memory (like CF-cards). Of the iPods only the iPod mini comes with a CF compatible harddrive. This means the mini was the only model ready for a conversion at that moment. Nowadays the iPod 4G and even the iPod video can be converted!

Do it yourself

It is possible to replace the (broken) harddrive with a CF-card by yourself (order your card here). But be aware of some issues:

1. iPodrepair uses CF-cards which are guaranteed to work properly. A lot of CF-cards do not adhere to the CF-II standards however. The results in using incompatable cards can be disasterous: the card may even explode, or your iPod may be permanently damaged. We speak from personal experience.

2. Attn: other suppliers offer CF-cards with much lower read/write speeds (iPodrepair uses 120x and 266x cards). Specs below may not match low speed cards from other vendors.

3. iPod mini will damage easily. Especially the clickwheel and mainboard are very fragile.

4. It is a smart move to replace your iPods battery at the same time. The iPod has to be opened only once which is all the better, see above...

Testing

We've done several tests to measure the effects of the conversion. The graphs below give an indication about play time of different iPods. Individual differences can occur with other iPods.

iPod:

• shuffle: on
• backlite: off
• format: Mac
• fill 4GB: 3,6GB/766 songs/0:10 - 9:55 min.)
• fill 8GB: 7,7GB/1676 songs/0:10 - 9:55 min.)

Computer:

• CPU: PPC G4 1,8GHz
• iTunes: v7.0.2 (15)
• HD: Maxtor 120GB HFS+
• Memory: 1GB SDRAM