How To: Rockbox installation on iPod Classic (new bootloader)

How To: Rockbox installation on iPod Classic (new bootloader)

PLEASE NOTE:

THIS ARTICLE IS VERY OLD AND OUT-OF-DATE. IT IS FOR REFERENCE  & INFORMATION USE ONLY.

WE DO NOT SUPPORT ROCKBOX AND CANNOT PROVIDE ANY HELP WITH IT.

Since I wrote my previous article on installing EmCore and Rockbox on to the iPod Classics, there has been some great work done in this area and in effect creating an integrated bootloader installation method for Rockbox.

Currently in Beta, but the new bootloader installation method works really well and with the new DesignWare USB driver introduced in to the code – the USB funtionality is impressive – very fast transfer speeds and (so far) no filesystem corruption or (usb) device dropping.

Anyway the guy who has been doing this great work has posted a link, there is an installation video as well as links to the latest builds and useage documentation.

https://files.freemyipod.org/~user890104/bootloader-ipodclassic.html

I think this is a great solution for people who own 6g iPods which have the LBA28 limit of 127Gb. Rockbox and this new bootloader will open up the extra storage available when installed with higher capacity solid state storage.

The following video shows the entire installation process and the extra steps necessary when using with an iFlash board and larger than 128Gb storage …..

Go get the latest build from the link above – I suggest the Designware USB build and the zip file, which you should extract to a suitable location on your computer.

UPDATE: Many people have been asking me, while it is not shown/mentioned in the video this same method can be used for the iFlash-Sata as well as all the other iFlash adapters.

As always this process is messing around with the underlying firmware installed on the iPod, so there is a risk of bricking your device – you have been warned. If you choose to follow this guide you do so at your own risk!!


NOTE: After making the video it occured to me that when you run the Rockbox utility the first time, you can just select the bootloader installation, then re-partition/re-format the storage, then on the second run of the Rockbox utility, install Rockbox and related files. This will save a little time.

78 thoughts on “How To: Rockbox installation on iPod Classic (new bootloader)

  1. Alex

    I know for the mSATA you need to patch rockbox to get it working…. Has anyone installed rockbox on a 5.5 Gen 80GB (820-1975 board and 64MB RAM) with the iFlash-quad? When I tried it seemed to work fine but my music would skip or go very fuzzy. I’m wondering if I need to patch something or just play with the config.

    Right now I have a single MicroSD (SDXC) Lexar High Performance 633x UHS-I (U3) A2 V30 512GB card.

    Thanks.

  2. QWERTZ

    i have the ipod 5.5 and installed the new iflash sata. i tried 2 days to make rockbox work but it just seems impossible…

  3. Pete

    ….oops, didn’t notice the year on P’s post. I assume they’ve discovered that by now. Still, for anyone else who might be wondering!

  4. P

    Hello,

    If I DualBoot my iPod 6G with this Rockbox, and I break through the limitation of 128GB, will I also be able to use more than 128GB on the original firmware?

  5. Kent Townsend

    I have installed Rockbox onto an ipod 6th gen with an iflash quad board and 280gb SSD. Rockbox is loaded and working ok however I have approx 25,000 songs all organised in artist and album folders that I want to load onto my ipod, however I can only install a certain number of files. I have adjusted the MAX ENTRIES IN FILE BROWSER TO 10,000 but I am still unable to load more than 50-60gb of music files. The manual explains that MAX ENTRIES IN FILE BROWSER “limits the number of files in any particular directory”. Can someone help me with my problem and perhaps explain exactly what does ” number of files in any particular directory” actually mean. What is a directory?? and is there a way to have additional directories?? Or is there a way to organise my files without removing the song files from their artist and album folders??.

    I’m new at this and really like Rockbox so any help would be greatly appreciated!!

  6. Jason

    I just got an iFlash.xyz mSATA adapter and a 250GB 860 EVO mSATA drive for my iPod video 5.5G. I installed the adapter and drive and restored the iPod in iTunes which works fine. I have problems getting Rockbox v. 3.14 working. I get ATA error: -11 Press ON to debug. Is there a patch anyone knows of or another version of rockbox that will work with this setup?

  7. edcruwys

    Question: My 7th gen ipod has become very crashy @ 293gb used/171 gb free (39545 songs). I understood that the file limit is 50k items but the way my ipod is now it is looking like a lack of memory is the issue. I am wondering if RockBox is the answer…thoughts please.

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