contents

The iPod Classic Cheatsheet

A guide to our iPod world by yuuiko
Version 2.1 - compiled April 23, 2021

With help from the iPod Modding Discord!

discord.gg/4FZMtyn
patreon.com/yuuiko u/yuuiko
 disclaimer

Welcome to the iPod Classic Guide!

I hope you’ll have a good experience here.

This guide is continually improving, so make sure
you have the latest version. (check my user posts
on reddit or ask community)

Additionally, even though the guide is continually

improved, there may be some information that
isn’t correct, but haven’t been realised to be so
as of this version. Be sure you double check
everything before buying anything!

This guide is not yet a de initive resource, but it

will continually improve as I look through your
comments and as new information arises.

Thank you for visiting! -yuuiko

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 contents

1 Cover

2 Disclaimer

▸ Contents

4 Identifying iPods

7 Recommendations

9 Storage Mod

11 Battery Mod

12 Appearance and Software

13 Version Notes

Support
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 Identify

Identifying iPods
LEGEND ABOUT BACK THICKNESS

THIN BACK Classic iPods use spinning hard drives to store data, (yes,
actual spinning disks inside. how charming! ). Higher
BACK
capacities needed two disks, so resulted in a thicker hard
THICK
drive. This is why iPods usually come in two thicknesses,
Compatibility Warning Thin and Thick for the di erent storage models.

1st Gen (2001, 2002) 5GB 10GB

Scroll wheel physically spins!
Top has no lap covers
Top has a big cutout from the metal for a plastic ports panel
Old iPod Font on Rear
Requires Firewire computer + charger

2nd Gen (2002) 10GB 20GB

Scroll wheel is solid state touch-based
Has lap covers on the top ports
Top is one metal piece that lows around holes
10gb and not THICC
Requires Firewire computer + charger

3rd Gen (2003 - 2004) 10GB 15GB

Touch controls
Requires Firewire charger to charge, but you can sync 20GB 30GB
with USB.
40GB
Firewire to 30pin cable + brick highly recommended

Known to behave strangely due to its 1st generation

USB + Firewire implementation.

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 Identifying iPods 2
4th Gen (2004) 20GB 40GB
Has a black and white Display
Note the thicker screen bezels + clickwheel.

4th Gen (2004 - 2005) 20GB 30GB

o icially called “iPod Photo”
40GB 60GB
Has a colour display
Note the thicker screen bezels + clickwheel.

5th Gen (2005) 30GB 60GB

o icially called “iPod Video”

Does not have a search function in “Music” menu

Does not have a middle divider in brightness menu

5.5th (2006) 30GB 80GB

o icially called “iPod Video”

The “Music” menu has a search function

The brightness menu has a black line, middle divider.
(has a brighter screen)
Serial ends with V9K, V9P, V9M, V9R, V9L, V9N, V9Q.

6th Gen (2007) 80GB 160GB

o icially called “iPod Classic”

Has a metal faceplate

Black, metal iPods are always 6th gens.
Compare the clickwheel to the metal, usually it is very
hard to see the edges of the clickwheel as the black
metal is very dark, compared to grey versions.
A thick 160gb is always a 6th gen.
(If 160gb and thin, it’s a 7th.)

Serial ends with Y5N, YMU, YMV, YMX.

128gb Storage Upgrade Hard Limit.

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 Identifying iPods 3
6.5th Gen (2008) 120GB
o icially called “iPod Classic”

If the capacity is 120gb, it’s a 6.5th gen.

(7th gens are space grey, but not 120gb.)
128gb Storage Upgrade Hard Limit.

7th Gen (2009 - 2015) 160GB

o icially called “iPod Classic”

7th gens are always thin with 160gb.

A 160gb, thin, metal space grey iPod is always a 7th.

iPod Mini Gen 1 (2004) 4GB

Has grey click wheel text
No storage indication on rear

Possible 128gb Storage Limit.

iPod Mini Gen 2 (2005) 4GB

Has coloured clickwheel text
Storage can be seen on the back 6GB

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 Recommends

Recommendations
The Default iPod Video 5th and 5.5th
Most common, Cheapest priced iPod. Price to Performance++

Video Support
Largest screen on an iPod Classic
Arguably superior sound quality with Wolfson DAC
Most researched iPod with lots of spare parts and custom software available
Many custom parts (Coloured faceplates and metal back cases)

Easy Mods
Very easy to disassemble
Big Battery, up to “3000 mAh - 1 month battery life”
5th 5.5th Flash mod, good up to 512GB. Can go further to 2TB, but is unstable.
30GB 30GB ↳ 30gb models have 32mb RAM, 60gb, 80gb models have 64mb RAM
↳ More ram = can handle more songs, but only begins to take e ect for
60GB 80GB libraries beyond 300gb, otherwise makes no noticeable di erence.

Rockbox may run slow if you run too many CPU intense tasks (FLAC, EQ…)

The All-Out iPod Classic 7th

All the bene its of the 5th gens above and:

Much better UI compared to 5th gen, with fancy graphics and album art
everywhere. Cover Flow, Album Art UI, Quick Shu le/Repeat menu, Genius

Much faster processor and graphics chips

Runs Rockbox much snappier
Flash mod good up to 1TB, Can go further to 2TB, but will be unstable.
All models have 64mb RAM.

Even brighter, more vibrant display

Since they were sold until 2015, you’re likely to get a younger stock battery,
which should be healthier and last longer “out the box”
160GB Headphone remote and mic support
All metal construction (Is more durable, but just a tad harder to disassemble)
Lesser sound quality with Cirrus DAC, probably won’t bother normal people.

The Simple iPod Mini Gen 2

Easy to lash mod with just a CF adapter
Black and white screen.
Easy to disassemble
Has a greatly improved battery life over the mini 1

It's a simple little guy that only plays music.

Only 4gb or 6gb stock storage, upgradable tho.

4GB iPod Mini Gen 1

If you can only ind a gen 1, you’ll be limited to 128gb lash mod.
6GB
otherwise Gen 1 is good too.

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 Caution
Know what you’re doing before buying these iPods.

iPod 1st and 2nd Gen

Requires a irewire computer, charger and cable to sync AND charge.

There is no USB to irewire dongle. They aren’t possible so far. You need
a computer with irewire, or a thunderbolt dongle chain.

Not recommended for new-to-iPod people, as Firewire is an additional

investment.
Parts are hard to ind.

iPod 3rd Gen

Requires a irewire charger brick and irewire 30pin cable to charge, but you
can use USB to sync.

Not recommended for new-to-iPod people, as the Firewire charger is a

minor additional investment. Thankfully you just need the charger for this
one.

Software is known to act strange sometimes due to how it is the irst

generation to support USB while also supporting irewire

Parts are hard to ind

iPod 6th and 6.5th Gen iPod Mini 1st Gen

For lash mods, it has a limit of For lash mods, it has a limit of
128gb maximum. 128gb maximum.

If you don’t plan to upgrade If you don’t plan to upgrade

storage though, it's perfectly a storage though, it's perfectly a
good pod. good pod.

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 Storage Mod

Storage Mod Compatibility

See the next page for more details about speci ic adapter boards.

1st Gen and 2nd Gen 5th Gen, 5.5th gen and 7th gen
Cannot sync using irewire when lash Hard Drive swap between 5th, 5.5th,
mod installed. You need to either pre- 6th, 6.5th, 7th gens.
sync the drive somehow or use Rockbox
to use a lash mod with these. 5th gen stable up to 512gb.
7th gen stable up to 1TB.
Either can exceed, but may be buggy.
• Hard Drive swap between 1st, 2nd, 3rd gen.
• ATA to CF adapter with either: • iFlash Solo
• CF to SD adapter + SD card • iFlash Dual
• CF card • iFlash Quad
• iFlash ATA
• ZIF to IDE cable + newer iFlash boards • Cheap Green ZiF to CF Adapter Board and either:
• CF to SD adapter + SD card
• iFlash CF to SD adapter + SD card
• CF card

3rd Gen 6th gen, 6.5th gen

Does not sync using irewire with lash 128gb Storage Upgrade Hard Limit.
mod. Just use USB to sync instead.
Hard Drive swap between 5th, 5.5th,
6th, 6.5th gens.

• Hard Drive swap between 1st, 2nd, 3rd gen.

• ATA to CF adapter with either: • iFlash Solo
• CF to SD adapter + SD card • iFlash Dual
• CF card • iFlash Quad
• iFlash ATA
• ZIF to IDE cable + newer iFlash boards • Cheap Green ZiF to CF Adapter Board and either:
• CF to SD adapter + SD card
• iFlash CF to SD adapter + SD card
• CF card

4th Gen
iPod Mini 1* and Mini 2
*128gb Storage Upgrade
Hard Drive swap between 1st, 2nd,
Hard Limit. (but Mini 2 does
3rd, 4th gen.
not have this limit.)

Either:
• ATA to CF adapter with either:
• CF to SD adapter + SD card • CF card
• CF card • CF to SD adapters + SD card
• iFlash ATA
• ZIF to IDE cable + newer iFlash boards

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Storage Mod Recommends
5th, 5.5th, 6th, 6.5th, 7th gens
The Default The All-Out
iFlash Solo iFlash Quad
“It just works” • enables big battery mod in a thinback
• enables theoretically in inite storage
Little bit of a premium price tag • Premium price tag. It’s the lagship of mods

The Budget The New Kid

Generic Chinese Thingy Unbranded Integrated SSD board
Appears with a SATA SSD socket or with built-in
50/50 chance it’ll work onboard lash chips. A really nice, small and
but it’s $5 thin, but a recent, unproven development.

1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th Gens

The Quality The Budget
iFlash ATA Another Generic Chinese Thingy
“It just works”
You might need to bend down a component
Little bit of a premium price tag that sticks out of it to prevent your battery
from exploding.

iPod Mini / CF Cards for budget boards

The Guaranteed (SD cards) The Good Deal (SD cards)
iFlash SD-CF Adapter Digigear SD to CF Adapter
Takes an SD card This thing has a good price and reputation, a lot
“It just works” of people have had success with it.

The “No Adapter Required” The Sketchy

Any good Compact Flash card That Generic Chinese Thing again but without
goes straight into the iPod Mini. the green adapter board. it’s $5 but NOT
RECOMMENDED

Caution Know what you’re doing before buying one of these.

The Budgets iFlash Sata
It does work but lots of reports of it not working. If Known to overheat and “needs a break”
it does, it may have slow, “buggy” transfer speeds. every now and then. Getting SD cards
A lot of owners say that using a di erent CF to SD are cheaper anyway, and you won’t get
adapter dramatically increases reliability over the red much speed increase from the SSD drive
adapter, such as the iFlash or Digigear. because iPods are only USB 2.0 anyway.

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 Battery Mod

Battery Mod
The Straightforwards

1st Gen and 2nd Gen: 3rd Gen

Rare to upgrade battery. Rare to upgrade battery.
Battery is already very large It’s placed in an internal battery
compartment, so getting a bigger
Harder to ind parts battery isn’t plug and play

Hard to ind parts

4th Gens iPod Minis

Rare to upgrade battery. No battery upgrade possible
It’s placed in an internal battery It’s too small for plug and play battery
compartment, so getting a bigger upgrades
battery isn’t plug and play
You can get new batteries though,
Parts exist, but stock spec which should last longer.
replacements are most common.

The Lots’o Considerations

5th 5.5th 6th 6.5th and 7th gen iPods.

THINBACKS THICKBACKS

If you have a thinback, you NEED to use an iFlash If you have a thick back with a thicker HDD, replace the
Quad (or slimmer) for big battery mod. HDD with a thin HDD, or lash mod it with any lash-mod.
Then you can use any battery with the thick case. If you
There are many batteries out there, but the most have a thin iPod, you can purchase a thick back for it, and
popular are either a 2000mAh Tall battery, or a add any battery with your original thin HDD.
3000 mAh wide, thin battery. These both work in
the iPod with a thin back ONLY if you use an iFlash
Swapping Backs and Headphone Jacks
Quad or thinner (2mm). There is a thicker 3000
If you decide to obtain a new back of a di erent size,
mAh version which will not work with a
you’ll need to also order a new headphone and hold
thinback. Beware and make sure that the battery
switch assembly that its the thickness. This assembly
you are getting will it. See reviews and ask the
has a thick and thin version to match the back
community as there are many di erent variations
thicknesses and edge curves.
of these but no real way to tell listings apart.

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 Appearance and Software

Appearance and Software

LEGEND Easy physical mod Di icult Physical Mods Software Mods

1st Gen 5th and 5.5th gens

Not much to plug and play. Colourful Plastic Faceplates
LCD colour change Colourful Clickwheels
(destructive) Colourful Middle Buttons
Colourful Backplates
Install Rockbox Firmware
iPod Wizard Original Firmware Add 6th gen metal faceplate (advanced)
customise (advanced) Sand the front for a matte inish

Install Rockbox Firmware

Install iPod Linux
iPod Wizard Original Firmware customise
(advanced)
3rd Gen
Install cracked irmware to install long lost
Not much to plug and play.
click wheel games (advanced)

Sand the front for matte inish

I saw a website that allowed

you to change button LED
colours, but nobody has 6th 6.5th 7th gens
tried it yet. Colourful Metal Faceplates
Colourful Backplates
LCD colour change Colourful Clickwheels
(destructive) Colourful Middle Buttons

Install Rockbox Firmware Add 5th gen plastic faceplate (advanced)

iPod Wizard Original Firmware Add 5th gen clickwheel (destructive)
customise (advanced) *clickwheel circuitry is not swappable,
just the plastic.

Install Rockbox Firmware

All 4th Gens iPod Mini 1 and 2

(Mono and Photo) Case swap with other minis
Black faceplates Sand and polish the case for chrome inish
Red clickwheels Clickwheel plastic swap between 5th 6th 7th
U2 Backplate and Minis (destructive) *clickwheel circuitry
is not swappable, just the plastic.
Install Rockbox Firmware LCD colour change (destructive)
iPod Wizard Original Firmware
customise (advanced) Not many custom parts, just stock
replacements

4th Gen mono only Install Rockbox Firmware

LCD colour change iPod Wizard Original Firmware customise
(destructive) (advanced)

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 changelog
iPod Classic Guide v2.1 Changes
New

• Add some more di erentiating details in Identifying iPods.

• Added Digigear CF Adapter in Storage Mod Recommendations.

Mistake Fixes

• Improved, less gimmicky wording in various areas.

• iPod Mini in Recommendations displayed 8GB storage for higher end model, Fixed to 6GB.
• iPod Mini 2 picture was displayed in caution, Fixed to picture a Mini 1.
• In the contents, Recommendations referred to page 5, ixed to refer to page 7.
• 6th gens stated it is possible to do a faceplate swap with 5th gen “metal” faceplates. Fixed
to “5th gen plastic faceplates”.
• Storage Mod Compatibility: 3rd gen has no storage upgrade limit, and it is uncertain that
1st, 2nd, 3rd ipods work with 4th gen HDDs so this information was removed.

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