The files are ON the iPod, but I can't get at them

Question

I had my iPod plugged in overnight to charge, and Windows downloaded an update and automatically restarted itself. When I woke up, my iPod was telling me there were no files on it, and iTunes was telling me to reformat the iPod. This wouldn't be such a big deal, except that, like most people, half the stuff on my iPod isn't on my hard drive because my hard drive is too small.
I've tried the free software that will let you transfer files from your iPod into iTunes, but because the files aren't showing up on the iPod, they're not working with those programs either.
When I go into the actual disk drive through My Computer and read the BOOTEX text document, it says this:
Checking file system on E:
The type of the file system is FAT32.
The volume is dirty.
Volume Serial Number is 3141-5926
Unrecoverable error in folder \iPod_Control.
Convert folder to file (Y/N)? Yes
Convert lost chains to files (Y/N)? Yes
15072816 KB in 2801 recovered files.
Windows has made corrections to the file system.
77915440 KB total disk space.
16 KB in 1 hidden files.
160 KB in 5 folders.
15072832 KB in 2803 files.
62842416 KB are available.
16384 bytes in each allocation unit.
4869715 total allocation units on disk.
3927651 allocation units available on disk.
So the files are still there somewhere -- but how do I get at them??
I just want to move them onto my PC and then transfer them back to the iPod. Is this possible? From my investigations, it might have something to do the iPod_Control file, but I can't figure out how to open that.
Thanks in advance for any help!

Answer 1

Hi. The programs that transfer from the iPod to the PC generally rely on the folder structure being undamaged which sadly is not the case here. How many tracks were on your iPod? 2800 sounds a little shy if that's got to include all the artwork & other iPod control files. If you're lucky each recovered "lost chain" represents a single file. The trouble is working out what the fle type is. With a hex editor and a bit of detective work you could probably spot the diference between mp3 & aac files etc. If you give them the correct file extension they could then be imported into an iTunes libray set to consolidate tracks which would give them sensible filenames again. It might be possible, but it ain't going to be easy or quick....
tt2