How I Resurrected My iPod Classic

Replacing an iPod Classic HDD with an SD Card

About 8 years ago I received my first Apple product, an iPod Classic 80GB, I instantly loaded up with all my media and started using it. The iPod Classic was released in 2007 and came in black or silver and 80GB or 160GB variants. It featured the iconic and revolutionary, Click Wheel. It also featured a 2.5” colour display and a stainless steel back. The iPod Classic went through a few revisions before being killed off in September 2014.

After several years of use and enjoyment, the hard drive in my iPod died in June 2015. I was sad that it died as it was my first Apple product and it held sentimental value.

I decided to repair the iPod and replace the faulty Hard Drive. I found the guide on how to replace the iPod’s Hard Drive on iFixit. I had the choice of buying a another 80GB Hard Drive or replacing it with an SD Card or buying a new iPod.

After a bit of thought I decided to replace the Hard Drive with an SD Card via a small adapter called iFlash and upgrade the storage capacity to 128GB. While I was repairing it I also decided to replace the stainless steel back.

After I ordered and received the parts I needed, I set to work on starting the repair. Following the guide, step by step. Removing the back was a bit more difficult than I thought it would be, as it was held in by strong clips. Once I got the case open, the rest of the process was simple. I disconnected the cables, removed the Hard Drive, swapped it out with the SD Card adapter, inserted the 128GB SD Card and reconnected the cables. I preformed a few tests and a clean restore via iTunes before reassembling the iPod.

The repair went very well and I now have a functioning iPod Classic again, that has more storage and is a bit faster.