My wife got a new Nano Video for Christmas. All our music is on my Kubuntu machine under Amarok (mp3). I have an iPod Classic that has worked well with this set up. My son registered the new iPod on a Mac. It is now named as my wife's Nano and is Mac format. I try to mount it to load music on it from Amarok and it mounts as root owned and Amarok will not initialise it. I can't figure out to get it into Windows format (I assume I need that) and mounted so I can access it? I tried gtkpod and it says the device has a bad database and then ignores it. TIA for any help.

EDIT: Actually this is a 5G newer model so I think I'm stuck. I see it as a C050 model. I've tried all the tips that I can find and it still doesn't work. Amarok sees it, it appears that I send tunes to it, and then it shows 0 songs on the iPod. Is the new 5G model still not working in libgpod?

Please post the output of "sudo /sbin/fdisk -l", so that the file system in use can be determined.

If an extremely recent version of iTunes was used, then it is likely that compatibility will be hard to get with current distributions, requiring use of a bleeding edge version of libgpod, which is used by Amarok and GTKPod.

fdisk -l shows no output at all for the device. I only see the partitions on my main HD. When I open the device in the device manager applet and use Dolphin I see a bunch of folders and files under a device named "/media/my wife's iPod". Then Amarok kicks in with "Media device: could not find iTunesDB on device mounted at /media/My Wife's iPod. Attempt to initialise your iPod?" If I press Initialise I get the selection window for iPods and select the 4Gen 8Gb Nano Video Red. Then I get the message: "iPod was not initialised: failed to write SysInfo file to iPod, make sure you have write permissions on the iPod." Could it be the device name with the spaces and quote in it? I think I'll use her Mac and try to rename it and see what happens.

******
That did not work. Also, if I try to use 'sudo dolphin' and change permissions or change the user from root/root I get rejected as I do not (as root) have enough privileges on thye device.

Interesting.... the output of "mount" please? It looks like it was mounted "ro" for some reason. The output of "dmesg" would also be helpful ( just the end part )

2009-12-29 20:01:14 **** kernel [42972.132054] usb 1-1: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 8
2009-12-29 20:01:15 **** kernel [42972.286129] usb 1-1: configuration #1 chosen from 2 choices
2009-12-29 20:01:15 **** kernel [42972.293017] scsi14 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
2009-12-29 20:01:15 **** kernel [42972.293108] usb-storage: device found at 8
2009-12-29 20:01:15 **** kernel [42972.293111] usb-storage: waiting for device to settle before scanning
2009-12-29 20:01:20 **** kernel [42977.269734] usb-storage: device scan complete
2009-12-29 20:01:20 **** kernel [42977.272077] scsi 14:0:0:0: Direct-Access Apple iPod 1.70 PQ: 0 ANSI: 0
2009-12-29 20:01:20 **** kernel [42977.272503] sd 14:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg3 type 0
2009-12-29 20:01:20 **** kernel [42977.274062] sd 14:0:0:0: [sdb] 1937856 4096-byte logical blocks: (7.93 GB/7.39 GiB)
2009-12-29 20:01:20 **** kernel [42977.274562] sd 14:0:0:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off
2009-12-29 20:01:20 **** kernel [42977.274566] sd 14:0:0:0: [sdb] Mode Sense: 68 00 00 08
2009-12-29 20:01:20 **** kernel [42977.274569] sd 14:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
2009-12-29 20:01:20 **** kernel [42977.275685] sd 14:0:0:0: [sdb] 1937856 4096-byte logical blocks: (7.93 GB/7.39 GiB)
2009-12-29 20:01:20 **** kernel [42977.276177] sd 14:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
2009-12-29 20:01:20 **** kernel [42977.276182] sdb: [mac] sdb1 sdb2
2009-12-29 20:01:20 **** kernel [42977.297509] sd 14:0:0:0: [sdb] 1937856 4096-byte logical blocks: (7.93 GB/7.39 GiB)
2009-12-29 20:01:20 **** kernel [42977.298002] sd 14:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
2009-12-29 20:01:20 **** kernel [42977.298008] sd 14:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI removable disk
2009-12-29 20:01:20 **** kernel [42977.962707] hfs: write access to a journaled filesystem is not supported, use the force option at your own risk, mounting read-only.
2009-12-29 20:02:02 **** wpa_supplicant[1273] CTRL-EVENT-SCAN-RESULTS
2009-12-29 20:03:02 **** wpa_supplicant[1273] CTRL-EVENT-SCAN-RESULTS

This is the output of the last few lines of the system log.

[42972.132054] usb 1-1: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 8
[42972.286129] usb 1-1: configuration #1 chosen from 2 choices
[42972.293017] scsi14 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
[42972.293108] usb-storage: device found at 8
[42972.293111] usb-storage: waiting for device to settle before scanning
[42977.269734] usb-storage: device scan complete
[42977.272077] scsi 14:0:0:0: Direct-Access Apple iPod 1.70 PQ: 0 ANSI: 0
[42977.272503] sd 14:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg3 type 0
[42977.274062] sd 14:0:0:0: [sdb] 1937856 4096-byte logical blocks: (7.93 GB/7.39 GiB)
[42977.274562] sd 14:0:0:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off
[42977.274566] sd 14:0:0:0: [sdb] Mode Sense: 68 00 00 08
[42977.274569] sd 14:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
[42977.275685] sd 14:0:0:0: [sdb] 1937856 4096-byte logical blocks: (7.93 GB/7.39 GiB)
[42977.276177] sd 14:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
[42977.276182] sdb: [mac] sdb1 sdb2
[42977.297509] sd 14:0:0:0: [sdb] 1937856 4096-byte logical blocks: (7.93 GB/7.39 GiB)
[42977.298002] sd 14:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
[42977.298008] sd 14:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI removable disk
[42977.962707] hfs: write access to a journaled filesystem is not supported, use the force option at your own risk, mounting read-only.

This is the last of dmesg.

I did a mount of /dev/sdb1 to /media/cdrom1. There was no error output and Amarok had the same problem trying to initialise the device. No authority. It's mounted root/root. I hope this helps. I do see that it is 'ro'.

Code: Select all

2009-12-29 20:01:20   ****-desktop   kernel   [42977.962707] hfs: write access to a journaled filesystem is not supported, use the force option at your own risk, mounting read-only.

This explains all the problems.

You need to format the device to a (write) supported file system such as FAT32.

OK - that makes sense. Now do you know how I can do that without destroying the device? There seems to be a lot of directories and stuff on the device. I'd hate to destroy things that are needed. I did look at iTunes on the Mac to see if I could modify anything and wasn't able to find anything.

I really appreciate all your help on this.

The device firmware itself is not accessible as a standard storage device. As long as no personal files which are needed are present on the device formatting it with FAT32 should be a completely safe procedure.

OK - I finally got to a Windoze machine and did a reset and it is now FAT32. Kubuntu recognises and mounts the device. I can open it in Dolphin and in gtkpod. However, Amarok (2.2.2 under 4.3.2), which I much prefer to use, doesn't see it. I have the latest Kubuntu version of libgpod installed. I can't find anything like the old Device capability in older versions to get at it. I did look at the little folder symbol in the upper left and it's not there. Any help greatly appreciated.

PS: On the first mount it did say I needed to initialise and that was indicated as successful.

FIXED: I played around and finally tried the unified view button, now I see the iPod. That sure isn't very intuitive!

you're right. Current handling is a lot improvable. But I think it will change once the Media device support gets more focus by the developers. Have a look at my Guide in my Signature, maybe it gives you some useful information about ipods and Amarok 2.

It should now appear in the collections area. If this doesn't happen, try disconnecting the device, restarting Amarok and reconnecting it.