I plugged in my Ipod (80 GB Classic Video)to my newly formatted laptop and when I unplugged the Ipod, it showed I had no music on my Ipod. But when I go to settings it shows the hard drive has 50 GB worth of music on it. My laptop didn't have Itunes or anything like that installed when I plugged in the Ipod initially. What gives? Why did that happen? Is there any way to restore the files on my Ipod. I have backup of files on my external hard drive (not Itunes), but I don't feel like re-labeling 50 GB worth of music back onto my Ipod. Thanks.
Brightside, Try re-booting it first. It has been so long since I have used an iPod (My last one crapped out on me and that was bad because it was a 120 gig) but I think there is a way that you can re-start it in a "safe" mode but I can't remember what they call it. If it doesn't work when you re-start it in that mode, then your hard drive is fried.
This acutally happened to my iPhone, and apprently was a bug in the os. The songs weren't gone, the "index" just couldn't be read. Here's the solution I was told: Install iTunes on the new system, plug in the iPod and see if your playlists show up in iTunes. Click on a song on the iPod to play it, then unplug the iPod. Voila! Back in business.