Wrong iPod partition recognised

gphillipk

Registered
I decided to install OSX on my 20GB iPod. First, I divided the disk space into 2 partitions using Disk Utility, then named the 2 partitions 'General' (approx 15GB) and 'MacOSX' (approx 5GB). The partitioning process deleted all the files (music and Contacts) I had on the disk. The 'MacOSX' partition contains the OSX files and I was able to boot into it and created a user, etc. After that, I went to System Prefs and chose the startup disk as my Internal HD and rebooted. After logging in, iTunes started up and recognised the 'MacOSX' partition on the iPod as the iPod, instead of ''General'. I started up 220205 iPod Software updater and it gave a message to the effect that the attached iPod did not have the proper folders and the only option available was to Restore. I did not run the restore process because there was no indication whether it would restore 'MacOSX' or 'General'. I deleted the (4) existing com.apple.ipod.plists and rebooted, but iTunes still recognises the wrong partition as the iPod. What steps should I follow so that iTunes/iPod Software Updater know which partition to work with?
 
The iPod is a music player. The system on the iPod is an Apple operating system, but it's not Mac OS X. Technically I don't think OS X can be installed on an iPod.

If it is, please provide sources (web sites) or pictures. Because as of yet I don't believe that will work.

Also, the iPod does have a completely different type of processor, while Mac OS X requires at least a G3 to run.
 
Well, it's running off of the iPod, not on the iPod. Think of it like installing OSX on an external firewire disk and booting your computer from it - that's all this is.

I don't know the answer to your question - since you only created a user on the partition after a fresh install, it shouldn't really be a big deal to go ahead and hit restore. If it does the wrong partition, you can always reinstall OSX on it.

Though, I wouldn't really run OSX off of it if I were you. The iPod's hard drive wasn't designed to be spinning all the time, and doesn't really have any sort of heat dissipation/cooling for it. You run a high risk of damaging the hard drive on the iPod doing that.
 
Why the heck do you partition the iPod? You can install OS X on it (running on the _Mac_, not the iPod of course, dunno why anyone thought you might want to run it on the iPod...) and keep the songs on it on the same partition. I'd reformat the harddrive as _one_ partition.
 
gphillipk said:
Ach, Fryke!! I was thinking in gzaktly the same vein. I thank you for confirming.

Yes, just use 1 partition. And, of course, one can install OS X on an iPod. Doing so, provides a nice emergency startup mechanism.
 
Back
Top