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View Full Version : Using iPod as external hard drive

Speckled Jim
11-13-2003, 03:17 PM
Hi there,

I'm new to this so apologies if this post is in the wrong place. It's quite a hard topic to search for - I've looked around a bit, but haven't found anything to answer my question:

I'm hoping to be able to use my lovely new 40Gb iPod as a portable hard drive to enable me to transfer files between computers - from my home computer to a friend's computer, for example. However, before I shell out for the ridiculously over-priced dock connector to USB cable, I'd like to know whether a computer needs iPod drivers on it in order for the iPod to be recognized as an external drive. i.e. will I have to carry around the drivers on a floppy disc/USB pen drive as well, or can I just plug the iPod in and copy files across?
terrible1
11-13-2003, 03:48 PM
when I plug in my iPod to my PC (win XP) it appears as a removeable hard drive. any XP or Win2K computer i have connected it to has been able to see it. going between PC and a Mac is (i think) a no-no, since the win pods use a FAT32 format. also, Im not sure about the support for older windows versions (98, SE, etc.)
dragging/dropping files is possible. however, you can't drop mp3s or AACs on your pod and play them.
Speckled Jim
11-13-2003, 04:53 PM
Thanks for the reply - I can see it as a removable drive on my pc, but I wasn't sure if that was because I had the iPod drivers installed. So it should just turn up on any PC just like any other USB drive then - marvellous...time to spend however much it is for that Belkin lead...
Dave J
11-14-2003, 10:29 AM
I think the price of the cable was 19.00 from the Apple web site here (http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/72204/wo/kQ5irCAF55M52ieQ48A2ckDFHNe/8.7.0.5.3)

If you are a student I think you might get some money off the cost, I am pretty sure it is some percent. So since the cost is 19.00 dollars it will probably be a dollar or so.

But a penny saved is a penny earned!


Dave J
CGAR
11-14-2003, 10:48 AM
Macs can read fat32 so you can hook up a wipod to mac or pc to transfer files. Only downside is that macs write/read fat32 very slowly.