So, you got the dreaded folder or sad face icon on your iPod? Apple support, and various other iPod resources around the web tell you to first try to “restore” your iPod. The restore function is found within iTunes and is available from the iPod pane when your iPod is plugged in. But what exactly happens when this mysterious button is clicked? And more importantly, what can it, and can’t it do?
Similar to your personal computer, the hard drive in an iPod needs to be “formatted”. What formatting does is it tells your iPods operating system (the operating system is what you interact with on your iPod, all the menus and lists and such) where to find all of the music files on your iPod. You can think of a properly formatted drive as a nicely organized file cabinet. Everything is well organized, easy to find, and efficient. Sometimes however someone misplaces a file, or puts a file in the wrong spot, and your nicely organized file cabinet is thrown into disarray. Sometimes when your iPod displays the folder icon, this is what has happened. What the restore button does, is it takes all your files out of the file cabinet (deletes them), cleans the cabinet out, and lets your iPod start new again. At which point you go back into iTunes and have iTunes neatly reload all the files into the file cabinet. Sometimes, this is enough to have you on your way and your iPod fixed. It is very important to understand however that this restore button is not magical. It fixes software problems only. If a hardware component has failed, ie. the iPods hard drive, it cannot fix that problem. Basically the restore function is the first thing that you should try before sending your iPod in for repairs. If the restore button does not work, you will know that something more serious is wrong with your iPod and professional assistance is needed. As always please continue to check back regularly for more articles on keeping your iPods in tip top shape, preventing problems, and fixing issues when they do occur.