Chosen Solution
I just bought a broken 80gb iPod 5th generation that showed the sad iPod icon, thinking that I could be able to fix it by replacing the HDD. Now, when the device arrived, I tried plugging it in my computer to try and restore with iTunes, only to find out that it would not be recognized even in Disk Mode. I tried searching inside of Device Manager in Windows to see if it would be seen, and it only appears as an usb mass storage device. I can’t access the iPod neither by iTunes, nor through Windows Explorer. Is there anything I can do?
You may need to replace the hard drive cable. I can’t guarantee that it will fix the problem, but it’s worth a try. iPod 5th Generation (Video) Hard Drive Cable Replacement
