Mike Southby

I guess it was only a matter of time before I did something stupid.

I’m always advocating the need to take regular backups and ensure that you keep a copy of all of your important data; in fairness, I usually do and I did it’s just that I forgot to include my iTunes library in my backup routine.  My only saving grace is that I still have all my music on my iPod.

Apple in all of their wisdom has made it surprising difficult to copy data from your iPod into your iTunes library from within iTunes itself, or rather they have made it impossible.  You’d have thought that this would make perfect sense in terms of a feature but alas, no.

All is not lost however, there is of course a way to simply restore your music back into your library from iTunes, just follow this simple guide.

Caveat: I have used a machine that currently does not have iTunes installed to produce this guide; the recovered data was then placed onto an external hard drive before restoring to my main machine with iTunes installed.  I did it this way to ensure that iTunes did not auto sync with my iPod when it was connected and wipe any data, I was just being cautious.  You can of course follow the steps in this guide on the same machine as you currently have your iTunes on, but, you must ensure that iTunes does not automatically sync initially or you face the possibility of overwriting all of your music with nothing.

Notes: I have used a Windows 7 based machine to initially connect my iPod and backup the data (my iPod was originally formatted and used with a Windows machine).  Then, my new main machine which contains my iTunes is a MacBook Pro; if your iTunes is on a Windows based machine some of the following steps will be slightly different i.e. you will not be able to use the OS X specific keyboard shortcuts and will need to find the options using the menus within iTunes itself, other than that the process is identical.

Firstly, on my windows machine:

• Connect your iPod to your computer using the sync cable.
• Navigate to My Computer; you should see your iPod connected as an external drive, double click on the icon.
• Next you need to un-hide hidden folders; Click on Organize followed by Folder and search items.  Click the View tab and check the option to Show hidden files, folder, and drives.
• Click OK to return to the explorer window.
• You should now see a folder called iPod_Control, double click this.
• Copy the entire folder called Music to a backup location of your choice; in my case I copied this to an external drive.
• You can now disconnect your iPod.

Secondly, on my Mac:

• Load iTunes from the dock and navigate to iTunes preferences by pressing ⌘, and clicking on the Advanced tab.
• Check both options to Keep iTunes Media folder organized and Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library.
• Finally you need to import the music in the backup folder into your library, to do this press ⌘o and navigate to the folder containing the backup up data and click Choose.

Once you have done that, iTunes should automatically sort out the files for you and copy them back into your iTunes library.

The official HTC RUU files are only available for Windows, however if you are using either Linux or Mac OSX there is now a way to run a modified version of the RUU to enable you to update using the same official ROM, just read down through this guide and follow the instructions below.

Caveat: Please read the entire guide before starting and ensure that you fully understand all of the steps.  If you are unsure about anything, please ask a question using the comments at the bottom of the post before continuing; it’s better to check first before starting and finding you run into problems.  The usual also applies, by following this guide you do so at your own risk, I will not be held accountable for any problems you may encounter along the way.

Next, you’ll need to create your goldcard:

• Backup the data on your microSD card.  You may also wish to make a copy of any SMS or MMS messages that are already on your phone, suitable apps can be found on the market to do this.
• If you took out your microSD in the previous step, ensure it is back in your Desire and click through Menu>Settings>SD & Phone Storage.
• Click Unmount SD card.
• Click Format SD card; by doing this from within your phone instead of formatting it from your computer, you will ensure that it is formatted in the correct format.
• Next, download and install ASTRO File Manager from the market if you do not already have it installed.  Once it has finished being installed open the application.
• Navigate to sys/class/mmc_host/mmc1/mmc1:82d1 (you may find that ‘82d1’ will be different, this is normal just choose the option that you have available on your device).
• Long press on the CID file.
• Select Open As and then Text.
• Select File Editor.
• You’ll be given a long number, make a note of this somewhere safe.
• Open this page in your internet browser on your computer.
• Enter the number you found in the above steps into the SD Card Serial (CID) field.
• Enter all of the other details that you are asked for and hit Generate Goldcard.
• Check your email on your computer, the goldcard image that you have just created will have been sent to you as an attachment.  Save this into the root of your user directory, it’s important that you do not save it anywhere else.
• Connect your Desire to your computer.
• Pull down the notification bar on your Desire and press Charge Only (if you have previously changed the default option this may be different, i.e. HTC Sync).
• Select the Disk Drive option and hit Done.
• On your computer, open Terminal which can be found by clicking through Applications>Utilities>Terminal (depending on which operating system you are using the location of Terminal will vary)
• Type the following:
  diskutil list
• You should be able to see your microSD card; you can recognise it from its size and by the fact that its type is DOS_FAT_32.  You need to make a note of the Identifier for example disk2s1.
• Now you need to unmount the microSD, assuming your Identifier was disk2s1 (change the value ‘2’  based on the number you got after the word ‘disk’) enter the following:
  diskutil unmountDisk /dev/disk2
• Finally, to actually create your goldcard type:
  sudo dd bs=512 if=~/goldcard.img of=/dev/disk2 (remembering to change the ‘2’ if appropriate)
• When prompted, you’ll need to enter your password.

That’s the goldcard created, and the hard work out of the way.  At this stage, double check that anything on your device that you wish backed up has been, as in the following stages you will flash your Desire with a new ROM and wipe any data in the process, then when ready proceed with the next stage:

• Extract the OpenRUU archive that you downloaded earlier.
• Run 2FastbootFlash-xxx.sh, where xxx represents the operating system that you are using; either Linux or Mac OSX (based on the Linux version, to run the file you will need to ensure that the file is executable.  To do this, right click the file and clicking through Properties>Permissions, tick to allow executing file as a program.  Then simply double click the file and choose Run in the popup allowing it to run within Terminal).

The RUU should now run and after a few minutes you will be finished.  Any questions leave a comment below.

Credits:  Thanks to 42turkeys for the tools and scripts used in this guide.

I have been asked by a few people how to make a goldcard using a Mac, but as I do not have access to one at the moment I have not been able to produce a guide however thanks to Johnny and some research using Google you’ll be pleased to know that I have now produced a guide.

Caveat:  I have not been able to test this myself as currently I do not have a Mac to test with; however I have read various comments confirming that this method works.  Please post a comment to let me know how you get on.

PLEASE backup the entire contents of your microSD before proceeding, in one of the first steps you’ll need to reformat.  I will not be accountable for anyone neglecting to do this and loosing data – you have been warned!

So, to create a goldcard using Mac OSX, simple do the following:

• Backup the data on your microSD
• Click Menu on your mobile
• Go to Settings and then SD & Phone Storage
• Click Unmount SD card
• Click Format SD card

We now need to know the microSD cards CID number, using this method; we can find it by going to the market and downloading ASTRO File Manager.  Once you have downloaded and installed it, do the following:

• Open ASTRO File Manager
• Navigate to sys/class/mmc_host/mmc1/mmc1:82d1 (you’ll find that 82d1 will be different on your device)
• Long press on the CID file
• Select Open As and then Text
• Select File Editor
• You’ll be given a long number, make a note of this

Next we need this long number in order to create your goldcard image; this can be done by using a simple tool found on this page:

• Copy the number carefully into the data field and hit Submit
• Make a note of the new number

Next to create the actual goldcard image by going to this page:

• Enter the number from above into the SD Card Serial (CID) field
• Enter the other details and hit Generate Goldcard
• Check your email and save the attached goldcard image file to your user directory

Connect your Desire to your Mac and do the following:

• Pull down the notification bar and press Charge Only (if you have previously changed the default option this may be different, i.e. HTC Sync)
• Select the Disk Drive option and hit Done
• On your Mac, open Terminal which can be found by clicking through Applications>Utilities>Terminal (or your Linux Terminal)
• Type the following:
  diskutil list
• You should be able to see your microSD card; you can recognise it from its size and by the fact that its type is DOS_FAT_32.  You need to make a note of the Identifier for example disk2s1
• Now you need to unmount the microSD, assuming your Identifier was disk2s1 (change the value ‘2’  based on the number you got after the word ‘disk’) enter the following:
  diskutil unmountDisk /dev/disk2

Finally, to create your individual goldcard do the following:

• Open Terminal once again and type the following:
  sudo dd bs=512 if=~/goldcard.img of=/dev/disk2
  (remembering to change the ‘2’ if appropriate)
• You’ll need to enter your password when prompted (or if using Linux, the password for root)

That’s it, goldcard created!