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HOW-TO: Upgrade Your iPod

THIS PAGE IS UNDER HEAVY CONSTRUCTION

How the ‘Apple Music Player’ Hack v3.0

Introduction to Volume

The whole reason I started this was to stop people running Apple down
(ironic, as they tried to sue me heh) and saying that ‘other’ players were
louder and stuff. Basically bels are a log of intensity in factors of 10 and therefore
decibels are one-tenth of a bel. So a 4dB increase in from
the rated 100dB EU volume to 104dB US volume is NOT four times (as some

may think) but is in fact 4/10 = (10^0.4) = 2.512. So 104dB is 2.5x
louder than 100dB! Of course these are maximum rated values
so in the real world (not the matrix) they will be lower. A chap

called ‘Ailean’ ran some tests and his EU ‘Apple Music Player’ showed 86dB
when plugged into his mixer. (note: when I say volume I mean intensity,
but I am using volume as this is how any regular person would describe it)

Working OS X
Solution - Fully Tested!

Connect your iPod
to your Mac OS X machine. Before you do this RESET it. As you
see the APPLE hold down PREV and NEXT. This will force it into Disk

Mode!!!!

You must become root to
change the partition map of your iPod, open the Terminal and type:

% sudo -s

Your prompt will look like: root#

Lists attached disks:

root# df

Terminal output which lists your iPod:

/dev/diskxs3
9714320 9666416 47904 99%

/Volumes/<name_of_your_ipod>

(We will use x instead of the number of the disk, disk0 is normally your
internal harddisk.)

First, it is time to backup your iPod:

dd if=/dev/diskx of=~/<name of outputfile>

dd if=/dev/diskxs2 of=~/<name of outputfile>

(Use the first command to backup the entire iPod and the second command to
backup the firmware partition only. )

US-iPod-Owners: Please, use these commands to share the firmware without
capped volume:

dd if=/dev/diskxs2 of=~/<name of outputfile>

gzip <name of outputfile>

Now, you must unmount your iPod to change the partition map:

root# disktool -u diskx

Check, if your iPod is unmounted:

root# disktool -l

The mountpoint of your iPod (in this example diskx) should be empty. (two

single quotes)

***Disk Appeared (’diskxs3′,Mountpoint = ”, fsType = ‘hfs’, volName = ‘iPod’)
*** Unrecognized disk appeared on diskxs2 ***
*** Unrecognized disk appeared on diskxs1 ***
*** Unrecognized disk appeared on diskx ***

Use ‘pdisk’ to change the partition table:

root# pdisk

‘pdisk’ is a Unix-tool equivalent to fdisk except that it can handle HFS
partitions, too. pdisk will prompt you in the terminal like this, it has
its own interface:

Top level command (? for help):

You can edit the device map of your iPod:

Top level command (? for help): e

You will be asked for the diskname of your iPod, just type the device
path:

Name of device: /dev/diskx

(’pdisk’ prints the path again and you will hear the hard drive of your

iPod spinning up. Since you are in the edit-mode of ‘pdisk’ the commands
have changed, you may list them with ‘help’.)

Print the partition table of your iPod.

Command (? for help): p

Listing of a 1st generation iPod:

/dev/diskx map block size=512

   #: type
name
length base   ( size )
   1: Apple_partition_map partition map 0+@

1
   2: Apple_MDFW
firmware       0+@ 63

3: Apple_HFS
disk
0+@ 65599

Device block size=512, Number of Blocks=9780750
DeviceType=0×0, DeviceId=0×0

Here is a partition table of a 3rd generation EU iPod:

#: type
name length

base     ( size )
1: Apple_partition_map partition map 62 @
1
2: Apple_MDFW

firmware     65536 @
63 ( 32.0M)
3: Apple_HFS
disk         29231920

@ 65599 ( 13.9G)
Device block size=512, Number of Blocks=29297520
DeviceType=0×0, DeviceId=0×0

Here is a partition table of a 3rd generation US iPod:

#: type name length base ( size )

1: Apple_partition_map partition map 62 @ 1
2: Apple_MDFW firmware 65536 @ 63 ( 32.0M)
3: Apple_HFS disk 29231920 @ 65599 ( 13.9G)
Device block size=512, Number of Blocks=29297520
DeviceType=0×0, DeviceId=0×0

(the second partition is now going to be 40MB in size)

As you can see, the iPod has 3 partitions.

Partitions explained:

1: The first partition of the hard drive (partition no. 1 above) is
necessary to make the hard drive mountable, it contains the partition map
for the disk. It’s size is 63-1 = 62 in blocks which equals 32 KB. This
partition is known as ‘master boot record’.

2: The second partition ‘firmware’ from block 63 to 65599, 65536 blocks in
total (equals exactly 32 MB), holds the firmware of your iPod. The type is
‘Apple_MDFW’.

3: Finally, the partition ‘disk’ is of type ‘Apple_HFS’ and is keeping the
data on your iPod. The size of the last partition is <number of blocks> -

<base of partition ‘disk’> which is 4.74 GB of the iPod used in this
example.

Change the partition table of the iPod to be able to put the
US-firmware-binary onto it:

Delete partition no. 3 and 2:

Command (? for help): d3
Command (? for help): d2

Create partition 2 and 3:

Command (? for help): C 2p 40m firmware Apple_MDFW

Command (? for help): C 3p 3p disk Apple_HFS

Write the partition table:

Command (? for help): w

Output of the partition table after the changes (use ‘p’):

#: type

name
length
base     ( size )
1: Apple_partition_map partition map 62 @

1
2: Apple_MDFW
firmware        81920 @
63       ( 40.0M)

3: Apple_HFS
disk
29215536 @ 81983    ( 13.9G)
Device block size=512, Number of Blocks=29215536
DeviceType=0×0, DeviceId=0×0

Quit edit-mode:

Command (? for help): q

Quit ‘pdisk’:

Top level command (? for help): q

Format the 3rd partition:

newfs_hfs -w -v ipod /dev/diskxs3

Load the US-firmware-binary onto the second partition:

cd <to the path of the firmware-binary>
dd if=iPod_US_firmware_201.bin of=/dev/diskxs2

(The above command assumes, your iPod is mounted as disk number x and the
name of the firmware-binary is “iPod_US_firmware_201.bin”.)

You will get something like
this:

80262+0 records in
80262+0 records out
41094144 bytes transferred in 41.657877 secs (986468 bytes/sec)

The Files:

MD5 (iPod_3rdgen_US_firmware_201.bin) = e7b0759850901b3d3f320366fb877a8a
MD5 (iPod_3rdgen_EU_firmware_201_capped.bin) =
6340902211227e791882e7a3baad63b2

The files iPod_3rdgen_EU_firmware_201_capped.bin.zip and
iPod_3rdgen_US_firmware_201.bin.zip have been seen on the Gnutella and
BitTorrent Networks.

Reboot the iPod after the
firmware has been ‘dd’ed on the iPod. Go back to OS X and run the
Apple v2.0.1 Software Updater and perform a RESTORE. Now to check
that this has worked go to Settings > Date & Time > Set Time Zone and

CHECK that this is listed as US PACIFIC.

We have not been able to test
with the updater being run on Windows.

Tested:

Reset your iPod: menu + pause

Disk mode: PREV + NEXT after a reset as you see the Apple image

Diagnostic mode: PREV + NEXT + select after a reset as you see the Apple
image

–End–

Many thanks to the people this could have not been
possible without Calabar and Accura (jameso) for their OS X and linux

insight and valuable time!

This hack has worked for the
following known cases (email me to add your name here): Me, EEcrive.

Hey Mike,

I used your partition hack to solve a completely different problem… my 20GB iPod drive had a horrible problem… after numerous restores/scans/mechanical agitations my sync kept hanging up at the 1.8Gig mark, same place every time, regardless of source machine, cable, etc. I decided the disk had an unfixable error at that spot. Finally, I used your hack to make partition 2 a 2.0 GB partition, resizing and reformatting partition 3 where the music is stored… and thus bypassing that part of the drive. What a pain! Still, an 18GB iPod sure beats a 0GB paperweight!

Thanks!

Steve
12th March 2004

Hi,

I performed the hack
successfully.

But I had to repeat it twice because you suggested to

“Reboot the iPod after the firmware has been ‘dd’ed on the iPod.ÃŠ
Go back to OS X and run the Apple v2.0.1 Software Updater and
perform a RESTORE.”

But running the software restore caused a repartitionning of the

iPod with the 32MB partition.

I had to repeat the pdisk part and I did NOT run the Apple v2.0.1
Software Updater.

Now it’s LOUD!

Thanks for all.

I’m wondering what could we do when Apple will release a new
update.

Greetings,

Maurizio

Just tried out your 3rd hack. Seems
to work, it’s now copying my iTunes songs back to the iPod, takes
quite a while, but I’m very curious to the result.

There is a
small error on your page regarding the loudness. You state that
104dB is 2.5x louder than 100dB. This is wrong.

104dB is 2.5x more acoustical power than 100dB, which is shown

correctly by your calculation. Loudness is not a strict measure of
power, but a human psychoacoustical interpretation of sound pressure
level. Most people asked to adjust volume level to “twice as loud”
select a power ration that is much greater than 2, more like 10. So
for most people, twice as loud means 10dB, and 10x the power as a
result.

I must say that the increase in volume is quite obvious now,
though in public transport situation classical music might still be
a problem.

Something that doesn’t work in your description is:

dd if-/dev/diskxs3 of=~/<etc>

It gives a “dd: /dev/disk2s3 : Device busy” error.
[that's why you use disktool -U disk2 to

unmount]

Changing settings in iTunes (not mounting iPod, don’t start up
iTunes automagically) doesn’t make any difference.

Again, thanks for all the good work.

Kind regards,

Marc

To everyone out there that tried the information listed here when we got
slashdotted: Your ‘Apple Music Player’ is fine. It just stopped writing after the
32MB mark, but just run the software updaters (restore) if your unsure.

I hope Apple does not try and sue me ‘again’ as I’m not
SHARING any files at all…

JoeBob said,

July 18, 2008 @ 10:18

I was thinking a CF would be a good replacement for my dead drive (irreparable according to ipodcorrectors.com). But since the drive is shot there’s no way to copy the format info from it. If I just plug the CF & adaptor into the connector will it do the work for me? I just replaced the drive in my 4G photo (I use the 3G in the car, the 4G for everywhere else), and it did all the partitioning automatically.

Here’s an idea: If I plug the CF into the 4G, instructables says it pretty much takes care of this automatically. Can I then pull the CF and drop it in my 3G? I know I can install a 20GB drive in the 3G for about 35 bucks, but it’ll probably suffer the click of death in another two years. Though if I find a cheap 32GB drive I’ll just slap that in the photo and move the drive into the 3G.

Here’s the next mod for you: Putting 3G faceplate onto a 4G iPod! I love the 4-button front, but I like the color screen and photos more. And screw the 5G, I want my Firewire, too. Hey… another idea: make the video Firewire compatible. I hear they stole the contacts for video output, and who the hell wants to look at 240dpi video on the giant screen TV?

While I’m ranting/babbling, how stupid is Apple? They didn’t put Firewire 800 on the iPhone or touch, and especially the 160GB classic. The classic must take about 4 days to load your music library. You could probably load 16GB of music to your iPhone in 60 seconds. And compared to USB 2.0, the classic will likely be 10 or 20 times faster (literally, since the USB shares the CPU with iTunes). That kind of performance would force the PC makers to add 800, and pay Apple a royalty. Pinheads. [end rant]

bsodmike.com » Apple iPhone Pwnage… said,

October 3, 2008 @ 18:54

[...] days of using linux to hack the volume limit on the early iphones are no more; instead we are greeted with shiny OS X native applications for [...]

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