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Hacker Replaces iPod HDD With Flash Memory
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."
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?
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.
+Raider of the lost BBS
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...
khasim (12/9/06): In a blind taste test, more people preferred Coke over the Pepsi that I had previously pissed in.
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.
Moderating "-1, Disagree" is simple censorship. Have the guts to post your opinion.
Sounds like you are the one who wants to waste time--one or two years to be exact.
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WHO ATE MY BREAKFAST PANTS?
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.
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.