Erasing ipod with disk utility is it worth a shot?

My 2G ipod is frozen once again can't get it to mount or show up. just asks if I want to ignore or erase the disk or eject. Have tried all the usual tests and self diagnostics. Even tried the tapping on the right side. I'm running the HDD scan now. Just before this happened when it was still mounting I tried to reset and restore it but got a error and failure several times something about the disk . Has anyone had results with erasing the ipod disk with disk utility and then trying to restore and update.? I went to the apple store and they basically said time for a new ipod . It's well out of warranty but I figure its still worth a try erasing if disk utility might help. I already replaced the HD last year and just got a high output Newer battery for it last week so I don't want to give up yet.
Craig
15 TiBook 1GHZ, I.25 dual G4 MDD,10G ipod Mac OS X (10.3.9)

Erasing seems to hang from the beginning in Disk utilty. I tried zeroing all data which takes longer but I've gotten disk utilty to get the progress bar to go about three quarters of the way and then it hangs. I also checked it with techtool pro and it was finding a lot of bad blocks in the scan.
One time I got ipod updater to say it was restored but it wasn't really and I couldn't get the software updated. So I'm back at square one with trying erase with disk utilty but after more than a dozen attempts I'm beginning to think this is a lost cause for resurrecting this ipod HD . This is of course after I received a new extended battery for it last week made by Newer which is only good for 1G and 2G ipods.
frustrated, Craig

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Why can't I erase HD with Disk Utility?

I have a MBAir 11" with Mavericks. I want to erase the HD. I go to Disk Utlity>choose Macintosh HD>Erase. All choices are greyed-out (Format, Name, Erase Free Space, Security Options, Erase). I can't choose anything. What am I missing?

Hi Loner T,
Here is what I get.
I'll also put a picture up of what I'm seeing in disk utility...
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *500.1 GB   disk0
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1
   2:          Apple_CoreStorage                         499.2 GB   disk0s2
   3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk0s3
/dev/disk1
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:                  Apple_HFS Untitled               *498.9 GB   disk1
                                 Logical Volume on disk0s2
                                 4306F405-E4CD-46A4-A31E-7D7BC1199F32
                                 Unencrypted
/dev/disk2
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *500.1 GB   disk2
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk2s1
   2:          Apple_CoreStorage                         499.1 GB   disk2s2
   3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             784.2 MB   disk2s3
Chris-Prendergasts-MacBook-Pro:~ chrisprendergast$

Help with Disk Utility

I have a removable usb flash drive that I've been using for a while. Occasionally I need to erase it with disk utility to remove all of the past information it has held. This time around though the drive doesn't seem to be created (I'm not sure if I'm saying that the right way or not).
I've included a photo here:
http://northeasternxposure.com/help/drive.png
Normally there is the "983.0 MB VBTM . . ." drive with the "UNTITLED" one below it. As you can see the "UNTITLED" drive doesn't look like a drive, but has the icon of a document. And at the bottom it shows the capacity, yet none of it is available. This is why it won't mount. I've tried to redo it multiple times with no luck. Hopefully someone knows a setting or something that I should change to repair this problem.

I went into Finder and it could still see the drive, yet not access it for some reason. So what I did was log out and then back in and everything was working fine again. I've got no idea why that problem had occurred, but thanks for the quick responses.
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I erased my iPod nano with disk utility and tried to restore but I get a 1430 error and it never restores.

Ok so I tried to connect my iPod nano to my computer, but when I opened iTunes, the iPod automatically ejected. I thought that restoring it would fix that, but since I couldn't restore it in iTunes because it kept ejecting itself, I decided to erase it using disk utility. I read on here that it's possible to do that. So then my iPod said to restore in iTunes after I erased it, so I did, but it failed with an 1430 error. How do I fix it? Is my iPod destroyed for good?

Take a look at this support document regarding that error. iPod: Can't restore or update in iTunes with error 1415, 1417, 1418, 1428, 1429, 1430, 1436, or 1439 - Apple Support

I've tried to conduct a secure erase with disk utility. I highlight the drive but erase options are not available.

I tried to conduct a secure erase with disk utility. I highlight the drive but there's no place to click "erase."

If you have an SSD, then the best thing you can do it enable System Preferences -> Security -> FileVault, so that any deleted files are just an encrypted jumble of bits to anyone that does not have the encryption key.
And even if you do erase the SSD, it does not work the way you think, and retired SSD zones may have your data, and never see an erase.
This is way keeping the SSD encrypted means retired zones are just encrypted jumble of bits.
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Problem Erasing external drive with Disk Utility

I've just purchased some Western Digital My Book Pro 1Tb firewire drives. They come pre-formatted for Windows. When I try to initialize them, Disk Utility returns a failed message & the drive then disappears from the desktop. It is still visible in Disk Utility. I can reformat as a FAT partition but not as a Mac partition. I tried connecting the drive to machine running Tiger and was able to format as a Mac partition. Is there a problem with Disk Utility in Leopard?

I have seen some behavior like this a few times before. When this happens I go to my Linux box and dd a bunch of zeros to the beginning of the drive, this will blow away any partition tables and such.
dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdb bs=512 count=100k
This writes 50MB of zeros to the raw device "sdb" (this may be different depending on your system)
I've tried to dd from MacOSX, but for whatever reason it's painfully slow.

Cannot format iPod using Disk Utility

My iPod (5th Generation) has been displaying a -48 error for weeks, and i tried to follow the advice to format my iPod using Disk Utility. However, after leaving my iBook 1.2Ghz G4 on over night with Disk Utility erasing it, the little bar was still stuck on partitioning, never moving. What can i do?

try reset in iTunes. Then follow the steps in Jason Creasey's excellent procedure in the long thread ref Code -48. Good luck.

Erasing Securely in Disk Utility

Erasing Securely in Disk Utility
I wish I could send this directly to the Apple software engineer in charge of Disk Utility, but maybe there is someone on this Forum who is technically very savvy and would stake their reputation on their answer.
I would bet thousands have had this same question cross their mind...
I'm trying to understand the process regarding erasing a hard disk using Disk Utility.
For this example, use a 300 GB hard drive that has the following:
150 GB of readable files
100 GB of files that were sent to the trash and emptied (but not "secure empty trash"… so just their directory info was erased when trashed)
50 GB of never used free space
I'm confused by the wording in the Disk Utility's erase options.
One of the choices is Zero Out Free Space.
Does that mean it only writes zeroes over the 50GB of never used space?
Or does it write zeroes over the 50GB AND the 100GB spaces?
Another confusing choice is Zero Out Data
Does that mean it only writes zeroes over the 150GB of readable data?
Or does it write zeroes over the 150GB AND the 100GB of unreadable data ?
If the latter is true, then the sequence probably should be
erase free space (unless it ONLY writes zeroes to never used space)
then choose
zero out data (assuming it also zeroes the unreadable data too)
Thanks for any help

Perhps I did not make myself clear (or you misread a verb or two).
I did read your link,but it does not clarify the technical design of this software.
The Erase button lets you "Zero Out All Data", but data to me is a file (whether or not it is readable in the directory of not). Whereas Free Space can be either virgin territory or trashed files with the directory info stripped clean. So why do you say that Zero Out All Data would include virgin disk space when there was never data there ?
Also if Erase>Zero Out All Data "writes zeroes to every byte on the drive", and projects an erase time of 13 hours, then why does it estimate 2 days 9 hours when I choose Erase Free Space>Zero Out Deleted Files? (Which further confuses the reader with this Apple description: It writes zeroes over the UNUSED space in the disk.) (My capitalization for emphasis). Yes, parts of it are CURRENTLY not being recognized, but it IS filled with data (as opposed to the virgin space being filled with no data).
So you can see why I am confused.
And though you may be right, I alwatys ask. "Would you bet your child's or your mother's life on your answer?"
That's why I left it an Open question for the moment ... hoping to also snag an Apple Moderator.
Thank you for your help though.

No Erase option in Disk Utility for an SSD Drive!

Hi guys,
Made a time machine copy on a 500gb external hard drive of my 13" MBP with a HDD currently in it.
Then took my 500gb SSD from an old 15" MBP, removed the HDD and put it in my 13" MBP.
Opened up 13" MBP in restore mode. Chose restore from time machine back up.
Choose the time machine external drive as source. Then chose the SSD drive to restore to.
Said it was erasing the drive... Asked for a password...
I typed in my usual password. It then said the SSD drive couldn't be erased.
Took the SSD out and put the original HDD back in.
Plugged the SSD into a firewire 800 caddy to try erase it in disk utility as an external.
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I can repair the disk but it says the disk is perfectly fine.
I can click on the partition option but everything is greyed out and I can't partition it at all.
This drive will now no longer show up on the desktop or finder.
This is driving me crazy!
Just want to erase the SSD, use time machine to restore onto it and get busy.
Please help!
Thanks,
Chris

Aha! I only looked at 'format' list, didn't notice the 'option' list.
problem solved.
thank you !

Can't get rid of Windows on my Mac even with disk utility

I noticed this disk0r3 or something like that, and I know this is Windows.
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Did you use Apple's Boot Camp utility to create a hard drive partition for Windows?
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Follow this guide using another Mac.
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Can you restore an iPod using Disk Utility?

I put a new hard drive in my 1st gen iPod.
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Hi - thanks, but unless I'm reading the article wrong that won't work for me because you need to use iTunes to restore the iPod and I can't do this - as it's a 1st gen iPod it will only sync with an old version of iTunes and the 'update' and 'restore' tabs don't appear.
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Ipod requires disk utility repair after update

I have the 80gb fifth gerneration ipod, i have had issues alrady mentioned error 48, unable to write/read etc. However i restored the ipod and disabled iphoto impport to ipod and they have gone away...
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more details =
Verifying volume “Martin Paling’s iPod”
Checking HFS Plus volume.
Checking Extents Overflow file.
Checking Catalog file.
Checking Catalog hierarchy.
Checking volume bitmap.
Checking volume information.
Invalid volume file count
(It should be 169 instead of 147)
Invalid volume directory count
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Invalid volume free block count
(It should be 18570151 instead of 18553901)
Volume Header needs minor repair
The volume Martin Paling’s iPod needs to be repaired.
Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit
1 HFS volume checked
Volume needs repair

Flash Drive will not format with Disk Utility

I am in need of help. I have looked through a ton of forums looking for the answer to this but can't find anything. I have a flash drive that I was using and while I was transfering a large file the drive unmounted and now it is showing "Read only". In the Disk Utility, the Erase and Repair are grayed out. When I verify the drive it says this:
Checking file system** /dev/disk1
** Phase 1 - Preparing FAT
** Phase 2 - Checking Directories
/CJB/myfolder/_Reference/AA45608_737_Livery_7b_RtRear_d_RGB.tif has too many clusters allocated (logical=1235222528, physical=1719664640)
Drop superfluous clusters? no
** Phase 3 - Checking for Orphan Clusters
Free space in FSInfo block (1439592) not correct (1379432)
Fix? no
424 files, 11035456 KiB free (1379432 clusters)
Error: This disk needs to be repaired. Click Repair Disk.
I have also tried:
diskutil repairVolume CHAD
I have located the drive in terminal and this is what it says:
drwxrwxrwx@ 1 BDesign staff 8192 Dec 31 1979 CHAD
When I show information in Disk Utility it shows Writable No. Can anyone help me. I don't need the info on my Flash Drive. I just want to format it and get it working again.
Thanks

Some flash drives have a failure mode in which they are irreversibly write-locked by the internal controller when it detects a write error. If the drive doesn't have a write-lock switch (most do not) and you can't erase it in Disk Utility, that's almost certainly what has happened. To be sure, test it with another computer, if possible.

Can Time Capsule hard drive be accessed with Disk Utility? I'm having issues...

How does one mount , inspect , verify , and possibly repair a Time Capsule hard drive with Disk Utility ?
My 500Gb 1st gen Time Capsule ( used wireless with Airport) has quit backing up new data . ( iMac Core2Duo, Snow Leopard) . TC says it needs 238 Gb of available space, but only has 35 Gb available. So it quit doing new incremental backup altogether. It's almost like it wants to start over.
Airport connection seems good. Time Capsule seems healthy enough ( for being 3.5 years old) . I really dont want to lose the data on the existing backup.
What is the nature of this glitch ?

I'm sorry , LaP , but " Time Capsule become too full " is not the cause of my problem .
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Erasing ipod with disk utility is it worth a shot?

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