Starts and can access hard drive, but stalls after a few minutes

Starts and can access hard drive, but stalls after a few minutes
My iPod 3rd gen has been used as an external hard drive for quite some time now since the battery is essentially dead. Now I'm able to plug it into the computer and access the file system but once I start copying files the iPod locks up after about a minute or two. Is the hard drive dead at this point or is it something else? Can I remove the hard drive and use it in an enclosure? Thanks!

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