Q: I’ve got dozens of songs that are only on my iPod due to a hard drive crash about a year ago.
If I back up the “iPod_Control” folder on my 5G iPod, could I restore it to the new classic?
– Greg
A: Unfortunately, due to the differences in database structures and iPod operating firmware between models, simply transferring the “iPod_Control” folder between different models will not work, and in fact may cause additional problems that would render your iPod classic unusable without a full restore.
In this case, your best option is to recover the music from the 5G iPod back to your computer and reimport it into iTunes itself. You can then synchronize or manually transfer the music from iTunes to the new iPod as you normally would. Instructions on methods for recovering music from your iPod back to your computer can be found in our article, Copying Content from your iPod to your Computer – The Definitive Guide.