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Hacker Replaces iPod HDD With Flash Memory

Posted by Zonk on Sun Apr 08, 2007 10:45 PM
from the and-now-i-can-drop-it dept.
Businesses Hardware Hacking Media Media (Apple) Apple
Via a Wired Blog, an anonymous reader wrote with a link to a post on the Geek Technique website. There, post author Mark Hoekstra details how to replace an iPod's HDD with flash memory. It's not an inexpensive procedure, as 16 Gigs of flash memory is still a mite expensive, and the post is not a 'how-to'. Just the same, the project took painstaking work and is well worth recognizing. "I guess I can say I found ways of eliminating almost every hard drive out of almost every hard drive based iPod thereby eliminating all moving parts. The only one left is the iPod video which would only need a slightly different adapter. But next to that I've got a gut feeling that one's being upgraded to flash memory by Apple themselves any time soon."
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  • Since Apple makes flash based iPods... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by catbutt (469582) on Sunday April 08 2007, @10:48PM (#18659931)
    What is the point?

    I suppose its impressive from a technical point of view, but isn't the point of hacking generally to do something you couldn't already do by just selecting a different model?

    • Re:Since Apple makes flash based iPods... (Score:4, Insightful)

      by iamacat (583406) on Sunday April 08 2007, @10:56PM (#18659953)
      The point is that he is selling his adapter to people who want more battery life or skip protection out of their video iPods.

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      The highest capacity iPod made by Apple is the 8gb nano. This guy has twice that amount.

      • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

        by dmsuperman (1033704)
        Not to mention since he put a flash based drive in there, he could probably put one of those 32 or 64GB flash based drives in it. If I had to guess, the three biggest problems with iPods are the screens, hard drives, and batteries. Eliminate one by buying a batter pack, and replace the HDD with a solid state drive and you greatly reduce any risk of problems with your iPod.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      The point of this in my opinion is that you can take your old iPod and flash base it, rather then buying a whole new iPod. Plus 16GB of flash memory is still more then the original HDD of some iPods, even 8GB of flash would be an upgrade, and cheaper then a new iPod with the same storage capacity.

    • Re:Since Apple makes flash based iPods... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 08 2007, @11:16PM (#18660043)
      What is the point?
      Spoken like a true non geek! Why exactly are you on slashdot again?

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Jeff DeMaagd (2015)
      If you must have an iPod, then yes, then the current flash based models will do music, but they won't play video, nor do they have a large enough screen for decent photos or videos. There are flash models that compete with the nano that can play video, I had a Sansa e2xx something, but it was clunky and the screen is tiny.

    • Re:Since Apple makes flash based iPods... (Score:4, Insightful)

      by UnknowingFool (672806) on Sunday April 08 2007, @11:36PM (#18660117)

      Apple does make their three lines of iPods slightly different with different features. The iPod 30GB and 80GB can play video and have a 14 and 20 hr battery life respectively. The iPod nano is 2GB, 4GB, and 8GB models. These models have about 24 hr battery life. While they do have color screens, they cannot play videos. This guy seemingly has customized his iPod to be a hybrid. Twice as large than a nano but can play videos.

      • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

        by UnknowingFool (672806)
        I stand corrected. It doesn't play videos. WTF was the point? :P

      • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

        by markdavis (642305)
        >These models have about 24 hr battery life Strange- I have a nano too... I am lucky to get 5 hours out of it. 24 hours? Impossible.
        • 24 hours is the maximum battery life if you optimize the power usage. Turn off the backlighting (or set for 2 secs) and don't manually change the playlist while playing often.
    • I agree, why bother.

      Besides, by this fall we'll have true video widescreen iPods (based on iPhone technology) that might include a model with all flash memory that could contain as much as 32 GB of storage.
  • I'd love to do this for my laptop. Anyone know of a ComactFlash laptop-HDD adapter?

  • how to not write a 'how to' (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Virtual_Raider (52165) on Sunday April 08 2007, @10:53PM (#18659949) Homepage
    I'm confused by the summary. It talks about how the article gives details on how to do it, but it's not a 'how to'. Er... huh? But back to topic, I think this is cool as a technical hack but a bit pointless unless for some strange reason you absolutely need the battery life that I suspect is the only gain. Then again, getting to know how to (but not 'how to') swap your HDD might come in handy when those flash-based HDDs come to the market at reasonable prices.
    • One unexpected side effect of this mod would be a reduction in mass of the iPod, and that is generally useful if you keep it in a pocket, for example. HDDs are heavy. Also, Flash does not require spinning up, so the modded device should be somewhat faster. But I can't be sure because I don't have any iPod, either modded or original.
      • Yeah, I agree on the weight thing. Less weight and better battery life, but speed I'm not so sure. I don't own an iPod but I've used a couple and I didn't think anything about the speed at all which I would propose means it's fast enough as it is, not intrusive or noticeable. After all you play the music in real time, not to chipmunk-time-warp mode. And you seek the songs scrolling with the wheelie thingie (tm), so it's not like you would gain a lot in terms of seek-time.
        • I don't think it's about speed. There is a durability issue, the hard drive is the weakest link on an HDD-based portable media player. As it is, there is no 16GB PMP that I've heard about.
          • True, but how big was the original HDD? That's why I was wondering what benefits one might possibly gain that would counterbalance the loss of storage space.
  • How long until someone does the reverse with the iPhone when it comes out? Of course, my prediction is that future models of the iPhone will do that on their own. Still. not a bad hack at all, hopefully it won't be long until flash ram fully outpaces hard drive capacity/cost.
    • When the litle flash based ipods came out there was an article on how to attach it to a HDD.

      With a rubber band, as I recall. It wasn't a pretty sight.

  • Inverse (Score:5, Funny)

    by corychristison (951993) on Sunday April 08 2007, @11:15PM (#18660035)
    I, personally, prefer the inverse of this hack. [uncyclopedia.org]
    Go 6 second battery life!
    • Hmmm, puts the use of Fast Forward in a whole new light...
    • That particular hack seems ironic. If you bought the music legally it would be worth $50,000 through iTunes. 50 grand in music on a $200 device. Also it'd take you 500 days of continous listening to play it all or two years of every waking hour. If you have to have that many illegal downloads crammed onto an iPod to prove your street creds you might want to actually check out some of those spam enlargement ads. The won't help but it'll be cheaper than the fine for all that music if you get busted.

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by frostband (970712)
      6 minute battery life

      the standard bat. life was measured at 8:00+ (more than 8 hours) and the modified nano's life was 0:06 (6 minutes)

      • Why, no... until you mentioned it, I had no idea that the post was a spoof. I thank you for bringing it to my attention. You're a real American hero.
  • As impressive as it might be, its a waste of time. Lets just wait a year or two before Apple makes this standard.

  • Finally... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by teebob21 (947095) on Sunday April 08 2007, @11:17PM (#18660045) Journal
    Sure, I'm relatively new here, but it sure is nice to see a /. headline that I truly love. Did you notice the word 'hacker'? It was used correctly!

    Hacking has always been about using technology to do something you normally couldn't do. The original hackers built the foundations on which the Web lives. The media and other public opinion sources have vilified all the good hackers by lumping them in with the crackers, script kiddies, and other generally nasty online personas.

    Hackers continue to advance the state of technology, whether its writing new bits of the Linux kernel or by upgrading a typically non-user-servicable iPod. The article says it itself: Apple will eventually offer a Flash-based model. Granted, they might have done this themselves eventually, but if the populace starts modding their iPods to run Flash, it only pressures Apple to move forward. Think about the early case modders: Windows, lights, case paint other than beige....Now about 70% of cases I see on Newegg have windows and LEDs.

    Whether Fox News wants to admit it or not, hackers will continue to drive innovation. Not MS, not Apple...

    • Re:Finally... (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Chris Pimlott (16212) on Sunday April 08 2007, @11:22PM (#18660075)
      They do offer a flash version. It's called a nano. It's also smaller.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by nacturation (646836)

      Hacking has always been about using technology to do something you normally couldn't do. The original hackers built the foundations on which the Web lives. The media and other public opinion sources have vilified all the good hackers by lumping them in with the crackers, script kiddies, and other generally nasty online personas.

      Whenever I hear "cracking" I think of removing annoying copy protection from video games. I've always seen hacking as being morally neutral. As you say, it's using technology to do something you normally couldn't do, such as gaining root access on a system or making free long distance phone calls. The word cracker seems to be an after-the-fact invention to subdivide hackers based on morality.

  • Not exactly hard (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Spazmania (174582) on Sunday April 08 2007, @11:20PM (#18660061) Homepage
    I'd be impressed except that compact flash is electrically and programatically compatible with the ATA spec *by design* so replacing an ata hard drive with compact flash requires only mating the two physical plugs.

    • Re:Not exactly hard (Score:5, Informative)

      by Technician (215283) on Sunday April 08 2007, @11:54PM (#18660183)
      From the article, the 1.8 inch drive is not pin for pin compatible with ATA/CF. Pinouts for both are listed in the forum.

      This makes not exactly hard into not exactly easy.
      • From the article, the 1.8 inch drive is not pin for pin compatible with ATA/CF. Pinouts for both are listed in the forum.

        This makes not exactly hard into not exactly easy.

        Hehe, or you could just buy a 1.8" flash drive [nextwarehouse.com]...

        I know, I know, not nearly as l33t. And of course CF is still a lot cheaper, so if the guy's intent is to actually produce this adapter it may be worth the proof-of-concept stage. Of course there's a good chance that one of the companies that make these sort of adapters will pick it up and s
        • I know, I know, not nearly as l33t.

          Also not as much capacity. The linked page lists 2, 4 & 8 Gig model flash drives. The hack is a 16 Gig model.

          CF is definately cheaper. A quick search turned up 16 Gig CF cards for $234
          http://www.flash-memory-store.com/16gb-compact-fla sh.html [flash-memory-store.com]

          The 8 Gig flash drive on the other hand is $382. It is over $100 more for half the capacity.

  • Cheap iPod mini (Score:3, Interesting)

    by canadiangoose (606308) <djgraham@[ ]il.com ['gma' in gap]> on Sunday April 08 2007, @11:53PM (#18660169)
    I had an iPod mini that was stolen a couple of years ago, and I've wanted a new one ever since. With this hack I can buy a broken one used (and cheap) and put in a couple of gigs of flash myself. Cool. I'm not looking for something that hold too much, no videos or anything. As a plus, I can upgrade it as flash prices drop. Sweet!

  • More iPod Hacks (Score:4, Informative)

    by wehe (135130) <weheNO@SPAMtuxmobil.org> on Monday April 09 2007, @02:49AM (#18660689) Homepage Journal
    Hacking the iPod [repair4player.org] and modding other portable media players [repair4player.org] seems to be an interesting hobby for computer nomads. The Repair4Player project lists all kinds of repair, upgrade and hacking guides for portable players.

  • He wants to make these adapters? (Score:3, Informative)

    by FuryG3 (113706) on Monday April 09 2007, @06:20AM (#18661203) Homepage
    They already exist! [gizmodo.com] $25 for one that supports one flash card, and $30 for one that supports 2. :)

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Sitnalta (1051230)
      It's only a matter of time before larger capacity cards come out. And it's only a matter of time before they become dirt cheap. Just because it isn't very practical now doesn't mean it won't be in the near future.

    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      by jfuredy (967953)

      Less storage then a regular size iPod. More than twice the cost of two 8GB iPod nanos. Other than for the sheer sake of proving it can be done, why is this hack impressive again?

      Well, for one thing, he got you and many thousands of other people talking about it and thinking about it. That's how new things are learned and discovered. Trying new things and learning from them. At least he actually DID something, rather than just questioning why other people do things on /. .

    • Less storage then a regular size iPod. More than twice the cost of two 8GB iPod nanos. Other than for the sheer sake of proving it can be done, why is this hack impressive again?

      So, I guess what you're trying to say is that... for use in a Video iPod, this flash memory HD replacement is not adequate... in space? [slashdot.org]

    • "Less storage then a regular size iPod. More than twice the cost of two 8GB iPod nanos. Other than for the sheer sake of proving it can be done, why is this hack impressive again?"

      No, no, no. It goes like this:

    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      by sarahbau (692647)
      Do you think everyone runs out and buys the newest iPod as soon as it's released? There are tons of people out there with 4GB Minis, and 10-20GB 2G and 3G iPods that this would actually be a storage upgrade for, not to mention reliability improvement and increased battery life. All of the models I mentioned have hard drive based storage, which is by far the most likely component to go bad due to it having moving parts. It also means you can't really jog with these models due to skipping. I suppose you also
    • Not to make fun but it's easy to tell that you're new to the "scene".

      Cracking, for the most part, is the illegal aspects of hacking.

      Hacking, among the geeks, is normally a term for tinkering or modding, regardless if it's software or hardware. It doesn't imply a state of legality since crackers are hackers in their own right.

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