iPod & iTunes: The Missing Manual, 2nd Edition

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11.2 Turning the iPod into an External Hard Disk

To set up the iPod as an external hard disk, you don't have to jump through complicated technical hoops. The days of installing disk drivers, fiddling with jumper switches, SCSI-chain termination, and IRQ settings are long gone.

• If you use iTunes. See Figure 11-1 for step-by-step instructions.

  Figure 11-1. Turning the iPod into an external hard drive is a matter of turning on a special checkbox in the iPod Preferences dialog box. Here's how you do it in iTunes for Windows and Macintosh: Attach the iPod, open iTunes, select the iPod in the Source list, and click the small iPod icon at the bottom of the iTunes window (circled at top). You've just opened the iPod Preferences dialog box (shown here in Mac OS X, left, and Windows). Turn on "Enable disk use" and click OK.

  
  
  

• If you use MusicMatch Jukebox. If you have a 2003 or later iPod, see Figure 11-2.

  Figure 11-2. Click the small white iPod icon in the Windows system tray (indicated by cursor, top) to call up the iPod manager box (bottom), where you'll find a strangely capitalized checkbox called "Enable disk Mode." Turning on this box turns your iPod into a living, breathing external hard drive that shows up in My Computer exactly as though it's, well, a hard drive.

  
  
  

  If you have an older model, connect it to the PC. Open MusicMatch Jukebox, if it doesn't open automatically. Once MusicMatch Jukebox senses the iPod, the Portables Plus window appears. Right-click the iPod's icon (in the list at the left side) and, from the shortcut menu, choose Options. In the iPod's Options box, click the iPod tab, turn on "Enable disk mode," and click OK.

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