Update iPod firmware with your Linux distribution

The command will report back with the same number of records in as out if it was successful. The resulting file is a complete clone of the firmware partition, so can restore the iPod to its previous condition if necessary

After performing the backup, write the new firmware on top of the old:
$ dd if=newfirm.bin of=/dev/sda1
$ eject /dev/sda

Again the number of records in and out should be identical. Once done, eject the iPod with the command as shown, and it will detect the new firmware image and restart.

Some iPod models require a mains power connection at this point (USB will not be sufficient), so have this available before installing the new firmware image. Once the iPod has restarted, all is complete.

Although unlikely, if you run into problems with the new firmware, install the backup with dd in the same way:

$ dd if=firm.bak of=/dev/sda1

Complete restoration
The method above lets you update (or downgrade) the firmware on any Windows-formatted iPod. If you want to remove all data from the iPod and start again from scratch, or convert from a Mac-formatted iPod, some further work is needed.

This method also allows you to reclaim some wasted space, which may be particularly useful on small-capacity iPods. The initial steps are the same. Extract the firmware images via the iPodSetup.exe file and determine the iPod’s device name as before.

With the iPod plugged in, run the mount command, and if the iPod is mounted use pumount to unmount it:

$ pumount /media/ipod

If you are converting from a Mac-formatted iPod or restoring a corrupt drive you must now partition the iPod with fdisk. You must create an ‘empty’ partition (code 0) for the firmware and another partition of type Fat32 (code b) for files.

Use the ‘p’ command in fdisk to see the partition table at any point. First delete any existing partitions with the ‘d’ key. Create the first replacement with ‘n’ (new) followed by ‘p’ for a Primary partition and ‘1’ for partition one.

Accept the default for the first cylinder, and then enter the size in cylinders or megabytes; 16 to 32MB should be fine. Now repeat the process for the second partition: ‘n, p, 2’, and accept the default cylinders to use the remaining space on the iPod.

Finally use option ‘t, 1, 0’ and ‘t, 2, b’ to set the types of the two partitions to ‘empty’ and ‘Fat32’, respectively. Press ‘p’ to view the final result, and it should appear as something similar to screen fdisk.png.

When everything is correct, write the changes with ‘w’. Up to this point no changes are made. Ensure the partition types are set correctly, or the iPod will refuse to boot properly.

Formatting
Having repartitioned the iPod, you must now create a Fat32 filesystem on the second partition. The ‘mkdosfs’ command will do this for you:

$ mkdosfs /dev/sda2

Now write the appropriate firmware image to the first partition and eject the iPod, as with a firmware update:

$ dd if=newfirm.bin of=/dev/sda1
$ eject /dev/sda

The iPod will restart and complete the firmware installation, leaving it completely restored with no data, and ready for use in Amarok. If you’ve made any errors and the iPod refuses to boot, ensure that the second partition is correctly formatted and that the partition types are set properly.