How do I reformat a Mac-formatted iPod for Windows?

Hi Dave, was wondering if you had any advice for me? I've been given an old iPod which has been formatted by a Macintosh. Is there any way of reformatting it for Windows XP. I've just downloaded Itunes 4.7 and when I plugged the thing in via firewire it came up with a restore option. However it comes up with "Only windows formatted Ipods can be restored". Is there a way of changing it over?

Dave's Answer:

This is certainly an interesting question and I will optimistically hope that Apple has a tech note on this subject on their support site. Sure enough, in an article entitled How to determine your iPod's disk format, they say:

"You cannot use an iPod whose disk is configured for Macintosh on a Windows-compatible computer. However, you can restore the iPod disk to use it with a Windows-compatible computer."

Before we look into their suggestion for this, I'll note that the way you see if an iPod is Mac or Windows-ready is to go to Settings --> About and scroll to the bottom of the screen. If it's formatted for Mac OS X, then the last item will be the serial number of the iPod. If it's Windows-ready, then after the serial number will be "Format: Windows". Simple enough, if a bit obscure.

As it sounds like you've already ascertained, you'll need to restore your iPod to factory defaults (which has the nasty side-effect of wiping everything on the unit too, so I hope you don't have any music or videos you wanted to backup). It sounds like you have some of the hassle already taken care of: you plug in your iPod to your Windows machine and the PC sees it and iTunes sees it too.

So, your first step should be to ensure that you have the very latest version of iTunes on your Windows PC. You can do that by going to Download iTunes. Install that, and when you hook up your iPod, you should see it show up in iTunes, then when you click on the iPod on the left side of iTunes, you'll get to the summary screen. Kinda like this:

Click the "Restore" button and you should be prompted to choose between four different options:

Restore Option 1: Restore - Restores with same iPod Software version already on iPod.
Restore Option 2: Use Same Version - Restores with same iPod Software version already on iPod even though a newer version is available.
Restore Option 3: Use Newest Version - Restores with the latest iPod Software available.
Restore Option 4: Restore and Update - Restores with the latest iPod Software available.

I'd choose option #4 here.

If, as you say, you get to this point and it rejects it, I would suggest that you take your iPod to the closest Apple store (find one here: Apple Store Locator) and ask them to restore it for you. Since you aren't interested in any of the material already on the iPod, they should be able to do it on the spot.

Good luck. Come back and let us know how it worked out, please!

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Categorized: Windows PC Help (Article 7634, Written by Dave Taylor)
Tagged: apple ipod, apple itunes, formatting ipod
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Reader Comments To Date: 12

Dave said, on October 18, 2007 8:01 AM:

I had a mac long time ago. Obviously, my iPod is Mac formatted and has over 4 Gb of music. Now I have only my PC. How do convert my iPod to PC while keeping all the music?

Colin said, on October 30, 2007 11:53 PM:

Hey Dave,
The easiest way would be plugging it into a Mac and using something like Senuti to copy the music from it. (Weird name, but makes more sense if read backwards. ;-) )

Immanuel said, on August 12, 2008 1:59 PM:

I formated my ipod without any back-up.Even an itunes software.The proble is that when I connect my Ipod with a PC it does not appear in a PC to show that mybe is opperating.So I want to know from you as I recomend you as an expect is such problem that what must I do to get my ipod back even though I cannot get the information but only just to make it work again.

I hope you will find my request as a serious one and please help because I really need a help.Thanck u

Hugh said, on September 5, 2008 4:31 PM:

i have a mac ipod and now want to use it with windows. i pluged the ipod into my laptop and opened itunes which is the latest version and clicked restore, howver this is not working as it says that the download was 'timed out'. how else can i make the ipod able to be used on windows?
thank you

Hugh

norman said, on November 29, 2008 10:55 AM:

i have 5th gen. ipod and everytime i connect it to itune .itune cant read the ipod and it shows on the ipod do not remove but still cannot caonnect to itune but i am able to use it without connecting to itune please help me

trushal said, on January 23, 2009 11:07 PM:

I have ipod for 4th generation 16 . i am tray to use upload songs from window with itune but i cant,
its ask me for restore it...?
is it compulsorily to restore it

Warren said, on July 12, 2009 2:20 AM:

Dear Dave,

We were given an ipod formatted on a mac so I thought no probs as we also have a mac. However when I plugged it into my windows pc it said it couldn't read it as it was formatted on a mac but did give us the option to reformat it for pc but obviously we would lose all the songs and structure on it.

I thought that's ok I'll plug it into the mac which I did, but it now says that it's not synced with this installation of itunes and you can only have the ipod synced to one installation. Beaten again.

I haven't done it yet but it seems the only way to transfer the existing songs etc is to have the songs copied from the originating mac as mp3's to a backup cd or dvd, load them up into my itunes on the pc, rearrange them into the play lists I want etc, reformat the ipod originally formatted on the mac and then resync it on the pc.

I'll let you know how I go after talking to the person who gave us the ipod as a gift.

Hope this helps.

Regards

Warren

Shawndra Brass said, on November 23, 2009 6:37 PM:

I found a way to get songs from my ipod to my computer. Furthermore- it is a mac-formatted ipod to my windows XP. I found your comments about programs for ipod to cptr; IPODROBOT worked for me. Then I browsed around and found a trial version of MacDrive (I think it's called). It is free for five days, and once I downloaded it, my computer and IPODROBOT recognized the ipod right away. Got all my songs transferred; SWEET!!!

katy said, on May 5, 2010 3:54 PM:

Hey Dave,
Just wanted to drop a quick thanks. Needed to restore my iPod. Your concise, easy-to-follow answer made it a breeze. Thanks.
Katy

paul said, on March 12, 2011 10:50 PM:

ipod formatted mac, cannot transfer tunes to macformatted ipod from win

Bob said, on March 21, 2011 9:12 PM:

I have a mac formatted ipod. You might guess what I am about to ask you..I have a windows pc and I want to transfer all the music to it but it wont read it till I reformat it to my pc which we all know that by reformatting it will erase all the music which is about 27gig of music...With that being said I bought to types of software which said it would beable to fix my problem ((irip and tansee ipod transfer))both cost about $20.00 ea but they will not work !!! I have sent emails to both places and waitting for a reply..Can you help ...PLZ

jared orler said, on April 12, 2011 10:37 PM:

Is there a way to reformat a mac formatted ipod to a pc format without either itunes or an internet connection? Thanks.

I do have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but first I'd like to say thank you, Dave, for all your helpful information by buying you a cup of coffee!

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!

How do I reformat a Mac-formatted iPod for Windows?

Reader Comments To Date: 12

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!

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