1st Generation iPod (Physical Click Wheel)

[brbttyl]

I am wondering if it would be possible to upgrade the HD in a 1st Generation iPod to something on par with today's standards.

Specifically, does anybody know if the Toshiba MK2431GAH would work? It is a 240gb ZIF drive that seems to have the same connectivity and form factor as the drive in the iPod

Thanks!

[kornchild2002]

I don't think the connectors are the same since the more modern iPod classics use ZIF IDE/SATA while the first generation iPod uses ATA-5. You would need to find another ATA-5 drive that also has DC 3.3V 500mA power requirements. Anything more and the battery can be blown out, circuitry can get hot, and the battery life will be reduced. Anything less and the circuitry of the hard drive can be fried if it isn't capable of proper step-down conversions. Either way, you need to stick with those requirements and, from what I can gather, only 5GB and 10GB drives still exist with those specifications that will work inside of the 1G iPod.

[brbttyl]

What about the MK2004GAL? That's 20gig at least. I believe there is a 30gig too. Hitachi also makes a 40gig, that seems to be when they abandoned ata5.

I assume there is no sense trying to adapt something to it? Like an SSD?

[kornchild2002]

You would have to find an SSD with an ATA-5 connection and, since SSDs didn't start coming out until SATA was the big thing, there is no sense in trying to step one down by that much. I don't think the controller chip in an SSD would even support an ATA-5 step-down connection. There might be a Compact Flash setup that you can use. I know people were doing that with their 2G and 3G iPods so there is probably something for the 1G model as well.

As for other hard drives, they should work so long as they are the same form factor, thickness, and draw the same amount of power.

[brbttyl]

thanks for all your help. one more question -- what about an ATA-6 drive? isn't it supposed to be backwards compatible with ATA-5?

[Vanessa105813]

I agree with you.

[kornchild2002]

Originally Posted by brbttyl

thanks for all your help. one more question -- what about an ATA-6 drive? isn't it supposed to be backwards compatible with ATA-5?

I am not sure. It might require some type of step-down connector which would make the drive physically too big to put in your iPod. However, if the step-down takes place in the hard drive itself, you might be fine. Your best bet would be to search other forums that are setup specifically for modding older iPods since that is a pretty niche market segment and iLounge focuses on general iDevice topics (the hacks and mods section is mainly for discussing iOS devices so I wouldn't go there either).