Manually updating iPod / iPad / iPhone firmware

If you have a few iOS devices to update, its best to download the update file (ie the .ipsw file), and manually apply.

www.felixbruns.de/iPod/firmware/ lists the various updates.

I use curl to download because if your lose the connection, curl will resume. Do a right / ctrl click on the link, copy and then in terminal make a command such as

curl -o iPod_1.2_36B10147.ipsw http://appldnld.apple.com/iPod/SBML/osx/bundles/041-1920.20111004.CpeEw/iPod_1.2_36B10147.ipsw

Then in iTunes, option/alt click update and you can choose the firmware to apply.