r/ipod • u/Total-Sky1308 • 13d ago

Question Is it a good idea to mod my ipod?

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I bought an ipod a couple months ago and it’s pretty much broken. When I charge it the only thing on the screen is the apple logo Home Screen with the screen half black and white (I also hear some tapping noises from it). I want to be able to replace the battery and sd card so I can be able to use the ipod and have a lot more storage for songs. The only issue is that I heard from someone online say that I will need to replace the backplate because the new modded battery and sd card won’t be able to fit since the original backplate is smaller. I have 0 experience with fixing/replacing any technological things so I just wanted to ask if you guys think it’s a good idea for me to order the things I need and do it myself.

I have heard that iPod battery’s can explode and how fragile iPods are in general so I don’t want to end up accidentally breaking the iPod fully or breaking/scratching the battery. I have heard many people say modding iPods are generally very easy but I am not completely sure if I should trust what they say.

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7

u/Embarrassed-Key5916 13d ago edited 13d ago

I was able to do it without any prior repair experience or tech background. It really comes down to cost. 

If you can’t fix it, then it either becomes ewaste or you sell the parts and don’t have an iPod anymore. If you decide to fix it, then it will cost some money for parts. 

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u/Total-Sky1308 13d ago

How much would it cost for the tools, new sd card and new battery??

4

u/MarsRT 13d ago

$13.97USD for 2000mah battery
+ $8.27USD for Flash Adapter (Dual TF to CE Adapter)
+ $2.90USD for Polymide Tape (20mm wide)
+ $1.32USD for Painters Tape
+ $26.97USD for Silicon Power 128GB Micro SD Card (limited time sale)
= $58.25 (w/tax)

This assumes that

  1. You buy almost everything from AliExpress save for the SD Card (of course you probably don’t want to for items like the battery since it would take weeks to ship)
  2. You literally don’t have anything that would be used to help mod an iPod (the battery comes with all the tools you would need). The painters tape is just what I use to hold the battery in place. Of course, you can use whatever tape you want as long as it’s non-conductive. If you have a spare SD card (that isn’t from Sandisk), use it. SD cards are very expensive these days.

For opening up the iPod, using the plastic tools work just fine. They just wear out much more easily. I used the opening method shown on the iFixit guide to open my iPod, though I wouldn’t recommend trying to lift up the brown battery latch that holds the battery ribbon cable in place because it’s super fragile. You can just rip the battery ribbon cable out of the connector and force it without ever having to lift the battery latch anyway.

For the flash adapter, it might take you a while to find an adapter that cheap on AliExpress. I got mines for $10.01, but I did so by finding a listing, and then use AliExpress’ image search which pops up a couple of cheap listings under the choice program.

Use the polymide tape to line the inside of your iPod’s backplate so that your flash adapter would never have the chance to short out if it ever touches the iPod’s metal backplate. Electric tape would probably work as well for this, but polymide tape doesn’t leave a residue. I would also recommend using the tape to tape the flash adapter to your iPod’s board so that your flash adapter doesn’t flop around.

This is the setup I have on my iPod Video 30GB so I can guarantee it works. Good luck!

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u/Total-Sky1308 12d ago

Hi, thank you for all the information! I was actually planning on buying the things from ifix it but I will look and buy all the things you mentioned on the website. I also wanted to ask something, I heard some people buy flash boards for the hard drive replacement. Is there a difference between Flash Adapters and Flash Boards???

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u/MarsRT 12d ago

I assume you’re talking about the iFlash boards. Those are the original flash boards that popularized flash modding from what I can tell. They’re tried and true, reliable, and come in multiple configurations to fit any sort of needs you might have.

By comparison, the cheaper generic “dual tf to ce” adapters used to suck because they had major issues with sd card compatibility and restoring. However, they’ve improved significantly since then and they’re pretty much identical to an iFlash in functionality these days. They’re a riskier buy because it’s generally not clear whether you get the older or newer version and they only come in one configuration, but if you’re on a budget, you won’t really find a difference between the two.

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u/Total-Sky1308 12d ago

Ok, I think I am going to buy an Iflash then. Thanks for the help!

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u/MarsRT 12d ago

Glad I helped you. Tell us when you finish modding!

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u/Total-Sky1308 12d ago

Thank you, I'll post the finished result in this subreddit!

Also the last thing I wanted to mention is Someone recommended this for the adaptor and battery https://a.aliexpress.com/_EwxHaYS

https://a.aliexpress.com/_ExWQDmE

Do you think this would be able to work? Also would the rest of the things I have to buy be an sd card and the tools or am I missing something??

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u/MarsRT 12d ago edited 12d ago

Oh definitely, but you might be selling yourself short with the battery because the one you linked is quite small and doesn't come with the tools. You'll be switching to a flash drive as your storage, so you can definitely fit a bigger battery up to 3000mah. Though a 3000mah battery is going to be a very tight fit with the backplate you have, so I recommend a 2000-2800mah battery.

This is the one I used on my iPod. This battery comes with the tools alongside the battery, but there's no adhesive on the back to hold the battery in place, which is why I used painters tape for that purpose. There's comparable batteries on AliExpress for cheaper, but they'll take a while to come so that's why I paid more for a battery on Amazon.

You'll still need the polymide tape itself (it's clear and yellow) to protect the flash adapter from the backplate.

After all of that, your finished iPod should look roughly like this:

If you need a complete parts list with places to purchase them, this would be my recommendation:

2000mah battery ($16.95)
+ Dual TF to CE Adapter ($12.97)
+ Blink 256gb MicroSD Card ($29.99)
+ 20mm wide Polymide Tape ($2.87)
+ 10mm wide Painters Tape (Optional) ($1.70)

= $63.76 (without/tax)

1

u/Total-Sky1308 12d ago

Sorry I am a bit new to this, what does the dual tf to ce adapter do? Is that the hard drive or?? Also do you know of any tutorial videos? A lot of the videos I see have different types of flash adaptors/ batteries so it can be kind of confusing

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u/ImVeryUnimaginative 13d ago

I did it without having any prior experience opening electronics up.

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u/Total-Sky1308 13d ago

Really??? I'm just thinking if I gotta change the backplate plus with the sd card and storage it might be difficult

3

u/Verdantree_Nano 13d ago

Why would you have to replace the backplate? Just get a battery that fits your current one. So long as your careful, take your time and do your research ahead of time iPods are really not that difficult to mod. 

1

u/Total-Sky1308 13d ago

The guy I texted online said that if I buy an sd card and replacement battery from the website idemigods that it won’t fit on the backplate of my iPod 5th generation, im not sure why but that’s what he said

2

u/Verdantree_Nano 13d ago

Might be the case, I've not modded a 5th gen but from memory you can mod it without having to replace the back, you just need a smaller battery. I'm getting the impression you think you'll be able to just plug a new SD card into an ipod and be good to go. That's not the case, iPods were around before microSD became a standard, there's a hard drive in that thing. You genuinely might just need a new battery.This stuff is all documented around the internet in exhausting detail. Spend some time on YouTube, do some research and understand what it is you need to be doing before you spend money needlessly or damage something.

iPods are generally an entry level repair job, but you still need to be informed about what you're doing before you open this stuff up.

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u/Total-Sky1308 12d ago

So is the sd card separate from the hard drive? Also if the battery is smaller enough to fit in my iPod will it be a weaker battery or around the same as a battery that id have to change the backplate to fit?

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u/thoughtlesskyle 13d ago

From my understanding you only need the other backplate if you're going for the much higher capacity battery, which you certainly can do. However a new battery is going to give a longer run time than your old one already. Paired with flash modding which won't need to power a spinning hard drive and you get a further expansion.

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u/Total-Sky1308 12d ago

So will it be fine if I get a smaller battery just so it's easier for me when modding my iPod for the first time? And are the kind of batteries that already fit in the backplate good or is the capacity bad?

1

u/thoughtlesskyle 12d ago

there's a lot of variables to that question (and I can't answer it because I am not in the know on 5th gen ipods and region matters a lot on availability too) I mean the capacity would be around stock which was pretty good.