This is probably really stupid, but does defragmenting an iPod improve performance?
Stupid would have been not asking.
This is always debatable in the case of "Hard Drive" iPods as opposed to "Flash Memory", and if you simply google "defrag an iPod", you'll come up with a lot of conflicting views.
My opinion? I would'nt even contemplate defragging either type. Here's a very good post from quite recently about defragging Flash Memory:
http://forum.piriform.com/index.php?showto...st&p=117629
The way I look at it, is it just simply isn't worth the risk. If it was just user installed data on there, and something went wrong, it could be put right by formatting and reinstalling the data from your backup (of course you have a backup).
In the case of an iPod, or any MP3/4 player, you also have Firmware on there. If something went wrong during the defrag, you could completely screw it up, and even finding and attempting to download and install new Firmware might not do the trick.
You could if you wanted format your iPod with it's own built in routine, never your pc, and re-install all your music. Whether that will improve performance I'm not sure. With a Hard Drive iPod, quite possibly, with Flash Memory, most probably not.
Of course, this is just MHO.
Apparently, Google says defragmenting an iPod can increase battery life. So I tried it. And it seemed to be a little bit better, i don't know how significant.