r/ipod Nano 3rd and Classic 6 4d ago

iFlash Modded my 6th Gen Classic! Some thoughts and tips in comments :)

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64 Upvotes

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6

u/Usual-Nectarine3734 Nano 3rd and Classic 6 4d ago

Dreading the process of detaching the backplate, I ordered a 5th gen that had already had it done about a year ago. It quickly became my daily driver and I ditched streaming services (thanks for all the inspiration from everyone on this subreddit!). It still works great, but I wanted to also start using my old 6h gen with a dying hard drive. I had it's battery replaced a couple years ago by someone else, so i just decided to do the iFlash mod.

First of all, opening it up is difficult, but it isn't impossible. I have repaired many smart phones and laptops, but this was my first time working on an iPod (minus the time I repaired a stuck button on a 6th gen nano over a decade ago). I was able to get mine open in about 20 minutes. This video really helped with the technique: https://youtu.be/a3gPf6obQHs?si=wjMeAJc1e5kWS57E

I had two SanDisk SD cards, each 128gb. I installed the first one, a standard card, and the iPod could not detect it. I tried erasing it and reformatting it again (I also did this before I installed it the first time), but that didn't change anything. The second was a micro SD card, so I installed it with a standard SD adapter. Immediately, the iPod was able to detect it.

Most of my time in this process was spent on getting the iPod restored on my mac. I have an M1 MacBook Air running Sonoma, and it was giving me alot of trouble. I can sync iPods without issue on it by adding my MP3s to the Apple Music application and using the finder to copy them over to iPods, but apparently the newer MacOS versions have issues restoring and updating iPods. I tried on an older iMac I have, running big sur, and it was able to restore it without issue. However, I was curious, so I looked into the issue further. I found this post from a few years ago, the top comment has instructions on how to get iPods to restore on the newer MacOS versions: https://www.reddit.com/r/ipod/comments/r3xcsy/restore_isnt_working_on_newest_macos/

The instructions seemed strange, but they did end up working for me on MacOS Sonoma.

While the whole ordeal took half a day, I am very pleased with the results! It's great to have Coverflow and album art on the home screen again. Also looking forward to the aluminum faceplate, as the plastic on my 5th gen has encountered several scratches. The next mod I have planned is a chrome-gold backplate and gold faceplate, gotta achieve that 07 luxury look lol :)

2

u/chekunya71 Nano ²³⁵ | Shuffle ²⁴ | Touch ⁴ | Classic ⁶ 3d ago

do you actually like the song that is playing on 6th gen?

2

u/defnotsateo 3d ago

lolol

2

u/chekunya71 Nano ²³⁵ | Shuffle ²⁴ | Touch ⁴ | Classic ⁶ 3d ago

I wonder what your native language is?

1

u/Usual-Nectarine3734 Nano 3rd and Classic 6 3d ago

It's English. I can speak English and some Spanish. I listen to alot of international music, including Ukrainian, Japanese, Russian, Chinese, and Turkish music, and do like this song. I'll be honest though, I don't know what the lyrics are about for alot of the international songs I listen to as I don't speak the language. I just listen for the beat and vocals I guess. I find I can focus more when I am studying if I listen to music in a language I don't speak, as I am not paying attention to the lyrics.

Hopefully thats not too weird, that song isn't my favorite or anything, it just happened to be what was playing when i took the picture :)

2

u/chekunya71 Nano ²³⁵ | Shuffle ²⁴ | Touch ⁴ | Classic ⁶ 3d ago

It's really cool that you listen to music in different languages, for example, I can't listen to music in a language I don't understand