HDD install - IPOD mini

**fingers99** · 06-21-2005, 06:58 PM

Curiouser and curiouser. It's got to be one fs or the other, and it pretty much must be either sda, sda1,sda2 or sda3.

Can you try copying and pasting the codes I've given you in an xterm?

**otomone** · 06-24-2005, 07:41 PM

I have my Ipod mini working perfectly with my Knoppix 3.9 hd install. I installed gtkpod from the new debian stable release before I did the rest of this.

Here are some of the tweaks I had to do in order to get there, though. First, I got an ieee1394 to ipod adapter because I don't have USB 2.0 on my machine, only usb 1.1. I do have a firewire port. Second, I added hfsplus support to my modules list. In the /etc/modules-2.6.11 file I added hfsplus (My knoppix install was beginner, multi-user hardware detection). I didn't fiddle with fstab, since when knoppix boots, if I have the ipod mini attached, it detects it as /dev/sda. I get three partitions when I do this. /dev/sda3 is the one for data.

Third, As root (and I can only use the Ipod as root, so I guess it isn't perfect

) I mount the Ipod mini with:
# mount -t hfsplus /dev/sda3 /mnt/sda3

As root, I run gtkpod. I had to change the preferences there to use the /mnt/sda3 mount point. I created the directory structure on the ipod, and added mp3's.

Other than the trial and error frustrations of finding all this stuff out, I have had no problems since. I have loaded over 800 mp3's, added text files under Notes, deleted songs, made and edited playlists, and edited the song info, perfectly.

Good Luck.

**evan** · 06-29-2005, 09:05 AM

Thanks for the tips, Otomone. I'm using USB, not firewire, though. I added hfsplus to the modules list per your suggestion, but still no luck.

**otomone** · 07-07-2005, 12:40 AM

I just had a bad news/good news experience with the ipod mini. Being curious, I took my ipod mini to work and tried using it with Windows XP. I wanted to see what the official software looked like. As a result I learned a couple of things:

1. Windows reformats the ipod when you load the software, so all my songs and playlists were wiped.
2. Windows seemed to hang when I tried a USB 1.1 port. Evan, is your USB 2.0 for sure?(KinfoCenter will tell you.)
3. After losing all my music and playlists, I now have a vfat format ipod mini that works better now. I have put it in my fstab and now I can mount it without being root, and gtkpod works as a regular user, too.

So, I'd suggest this:

If you have any access to a Windows XP machine with USB 2.0 ports, load the ipod mini software drivers, but not iTunes. Let XP reformat your mini. Run the iPod Updater to make sure all the firmware is up to date. Then see if you can mount the ipod mini as a vfat volume. (okay, I use Windows at work. They make me

)

Good Luck.

**evan** · 07-07-2005, 07:47 AM

Thanks for the help! So far, not working. I used Windows 2000 Server and not XP, so perhaps that's the problem.

Is there a way to check if the ipod mini is formatted vfat now? I tried mounting uba1-4 and sda1-4 with "-t vfat." Nothing. I'll try again tomorrow. Any more tips?

Thanks again.

**otomone** · 07-07-2005, 08:35 PM

Originally Posted by evan

Is there a way to check if the ipod mini is formatted vfat now? I tried mounting uba1-4 and sda1-4 with "-t vfat." Nothing. I'll try again tomorrow. Any more tips?

The iPod mini should tell you that itself. From the main menu choose Settings-->About and look for "Format" Mine says "Windows" now.