4G 20gig Hard drive issue

[loment11]

OK, I will start chronologically with my issues.
It started two days ago with feeling the HD click, and not boot...all I got was the "!"folder.
So, I brought it to the genius' yesterday, and he says it is the HD failing but of course his first try gets a proper boot.
He sees that my software is old so he updates it and gone is my music... Hmm. So then it loads everytime, but he says the HD is still on it's way out. The Ipod is also beyond the warrantee.
I take it back and as I turn it on my music is magically back. I play one song, but it is loading slowly, the screen (song time) isn't keeping up with the music. Then the music stops and the screen shows the Ipod shuffling from song to song unable to play them.
I bring it home and try to plug it into my computer, but the "do not disconnect" symbol never appears.
When I turn the Ipod in this AM the screen prompting me to choose a language appears and my music is all gone again.
I plug it into an older Mac that I have, and the "do not disconnect" symbol shows up, but the Ipod never shows up on the desktop.
[OK, almost done] This AM I bring it to work to see if it will show up on my PC. It says that it needs to be reformatted, so what have I got to lose. I try it and it has been formatting for 30min. I don't think this will happen.
SO. HERE IS MY QUESTION. I want to pull the HD and buy a new one. Question 1) Can I just throw in a new HD and life will be good again or does this sound like a larger issue? Ever since the Genius worked on it, it boots again (now with no music), but can't get recognized by any computer...
Question 2) If I have to replace the HD with a new Toshiba MK2006GAL (20gig) can I throw a Toshiba MK4006GAH (40gig) instead?
Thanks

[loment11]

OK, after I thought that the formatting on my work PC wasn't working I cancelled out of it. It asked me for the serial number and then an Ipod updater window prompted me to Restore (Update was grayed out). I did it and then it told me to plug the Ipod into the wall, in order to do a "firmware reflash." It accomplished it and back into the PC it goes. And here I am now with the Ipod showing up in the My Computer folder as "IPOD:E," but not in my Itunes. I know that I have now formatted it with a PC, but it is a lot further than I had gotten before.
So, how do I get it to show up in Itunes??

[loment11]

I feel like I am writing to myself here, but I have finally found success. The HD seems great again (after reading about giving it a whack). I rebuilt the iPod and them updated it. Latest software on PC and there it was...
I have reformatted the iPod for PC now, so no more Mac for the time being, but the last hangup is this...
All of my music resides on my Maxtor External HD, but it is only recognized on Mac. Anyone have any ideas on that...to officially switch over to PC? Thanks

[Mr. E.]

If I understand how it works properly, now that your iPod is formatted for Windows, it should still be readable on the Mac. So you can still access your music via the Mac, and, I think, add it to the iPod via iTunes. From what I understand, using a Windows formatted iPod on a PC is no problem (but not a supported configuration by Apple). But I'm confused as to why you feel the need to stay with it PC formatted. If the iPod is now working fine, can't you just reformat it on the Mac and resynchronize with your iTunes?

[loment11]

I would reformat it with Mac, but my Mac is so old that it is a huge hassle to try to upload music and change music on my iPod. The Mac in question is a G3 laptop that I maxed out the OS with panther. The PC is very new, fast, and stable, so I think that I will stick to that. I just felt backed into a corner with the iPod on my Mac.
Thanks for the advice, I will try tonight to see if the iPod is now recognizable on the Mac, as it wasn't this AM before the rebuild.
Mostly, I just want to get my stored music backed up on my PC or on a PC compatible external HD. Thanks, LK

[Mr. E.]

If you're happy continuing to use it primarily with the PC and in Windows format, then getting your music library transferred over is your only problem, right? That hopefully shouldn't be a problem. One solution, depending on the size of your music collection, is just to enable your iPod for use as a hard disk (iTunes->Preferences->iPod I think), then when you hook up to the mac that has access to your music library, drag it into the iPod, then drag it from the iPod on to the Windows machine when you next hook that up. If your music library is too large for that, it might take a couple of trips (and you don't want to fill your iPod with music in the mean time, because it'll eat into your storage space).
Alternatively there are programs out there which allow a PC to read Mac-formatted drives. They're not free, but they may allow your PC to read your external hard drive.
Or, given that you have a laptop, it should be possible to network your laptop with your PC. I don't know the details, but I was able to hook up my iMac and my old Windows 98 machine at one point in order to transfer files, so I'm pretty sure it can be done. Once you've done that, you should be able to move the music files without too much trouble. But getting them networked might be a pain if you don't know what you're doing. It was for me.

Also remember that until you "authorize" your Windows copy of iTunes with the same username/password that you use on the Mac, any music you bought on the Mac won't play on the PC.