Classic iPod software reinstall/restore without iTunes, on Linux

README.md

iTunes-less Classic iPod Restore Guide

I have tested this on a classic 4th-gen monochrome "clickwheel" iPod. I imagine this process works similarly for iPods of the same era. I'm not the first person to do this, but a lot of documentation is on dead wikis and is generally hard to come by.

Extract your firmware image from an .ipsw file, set the IPOD and FW_IMAGE variables in the bash script, and run it as root. Then cross your fingers.

If everything worked, the partition layout should look something like this:

Disk /dev/sdc: 119.08 GiB, 127865454080 bytes, 249737215 sectors
Disk model: iPod            
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x852a72c7

Device     Boot Start       End   Sectors  Size Id Type
/dev/sdc1        2048     82309     80262 39.2M  0 Empty
/dev/sdc2       83968 249737214 249653247  119G  b W95 FAT32

classicrestore.sh

#!/bin/bash

# update to match your ipod!
IPOD="/dev/sda_EDIT_ME"

# You can extract the firmware binary from .ipsw files (they're just zips)
# I got mine from https://iosindex.com
FW_IMAGE="./ipsws/Firmware-10.3.1.1"

# Shouldn't be necessary, but we're gonna zero the MBR first just to make sure we get a nice fresh one.
dd if=/dev/zero of="$IPOD" bs=512 count=1
sync

# https://superuser.com/a/984637/643697
# to create the partitions programatically (rather than manually)
# we're going to simulate the manual input to fdisk
# The sed script strips off all the comments so that we can 
# document what we're doing in-line with the actual commands
# Note that a blank line (commented as "defualt" will send a empty
# line terminated with a newline to take the fdisk default.
sed -e 's/\s*\([\+0-9a-zA-Z]*\).*/\1/' << EOF | fdisk $IPOD
  o # clear the in memory partition table

  n # new partition
  p # primary partition
  1 # partition number 1
    # default - start at beginning of disk 
  +80261 # 80262 sectors (same size as what itunes creates)

  t
  0 # set type to "0"

  n # new partition
  p # primary partition
  2 # partion number 2
    # default, start immediately after preceding partition
    # default, extend partition to end of disk

  t
  2
  0b # set type to FAT32

  p # print the in-memory partition table
  w # write the partition table
  q # and we're done
EOF

# just making sure the writes propagate
sync
sleep 1

# Make the FAT32 fs
mkfs.fat -F32 "$IPOD"2

# Write the firmware binary
dd if="$FW_IMAGE" of="$IPOD"1

# Apply writes
sync

# eject drive (triggers ipod reboot, disconnecting should have the same effect)
eject "$IPOD"

echo "Now connect your iPod to a wall charger to complete the restore process."