Disc cannot be read from or written to

I have seen a couple of posts relating to this same problem. My nano will download a random number of songs and then i will get the "disc cannot be red from or written to" message. I've tried different computers, restoring, different cds, uninstalling and reinstalling, and ive checked all of the computer software. Now if I connect it to my computer, it just decides to restore itself. Now the battery just dies after 6 or 7 hours too. I sent a service request to Apple today. Has anyone been able to fix this? I know other people have had this problem, but no one has posted any sort of reply to it. I would take the keyed to death nano that works over this....I already lost all of my music, twice.

I had this problem and worked out the problem was due to CDs that had been imported that contained copy-protection, all the CDs that caused this problem were published by BMG (but this could have been a coincidence!)
I fixed this doing the following:-
1) Quit iTunes
2) Run the iPod software updater and choose "Restore" (note , this will remove all songs from the Nano.
3) Unplug the Nano from the computer (so that iTunes doesn't start syncing again)
4) Open iTunes
5) Get ready to watch the library window, this is the window that shows what is being synced at the moment, ie. which song is being transferred to the Nano at that time (normally grayed out).
6) Connect iPod and watch the songs that are being synced
7) When iSync stalls (just before you get the "Disk cannot be read or written to" message make a note of the track that is being synced to the iPod
8) Delete that track AND the album that contained that track
9) Try syncing again.
If this works for you then you'll need to ditch those CDs (and the imported tracks) from your collection, I wont buy CDs with copy-protection now, but instead buy from itunes music store.

Similar Messages

  • IPod disc "cannot be read from or written to" error

    I have a 60gb color iPod which was just replaced by Apple due to an unrelated issue. The replacement iPod has trouble synching to my G5 tower via the USB cable. in iTunes, I get the error "Attempting to copy to the disk <iPod Name> Failed. The disc cannot be read from or written to." This occurs twice, once while iTunes tries copying music over, and then again when it tries copying photos over. Some of the songs incrementally copy over (maybe six or eight at a time), but I have thosuands of songs, so obviously this isn't practical. I have undertaken the steps described in http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301267 with no success.
    Meanwhile, in the system.log, I'm seeing error messages as follows:
    Feb 27 21:59:23 Orwell kernel[0]: disk1s3: data underrun.
    Feb 27 21:59:27 Orwell kernel[0]: disk1s3: data underrun.
    Feb 27 21:59:27 Orwell kernel[0]: disk1s3: data underrun.
    Feb 27 21:59:55 Orwell kernel[0]: disk1s3: data underrun.
    Feb 27 21:59:56 Orwell kernel[0]: jnl: close: flushing the buffer cache (start 0x8b400 end 0x8e600)
    Feb 27 22:00:15 Orwell kernel[0]: jnl: journal start/end pointers reset! (jnl 0x1a4dd7c; s 0x8e600 e 0x8e600)
    Feb 27 22:00:41 Orwell kernel[0]: disk1s3: data underrun.
    Feb 27 22:00:42 Orwell kernel[0]: disk1s3: data underrun.
    Feb 27 22:00:46 Orwell kernel[0]: disk1s3: data underrun.
    Feb 27 22:00:50 Orwell kernel[0]: jnl: close: flushing the buffer cache (start 0xd8400 end 0xdb600)
    Feb 27 22:17:59 Orwell kernel[0]: jnl: journal start/end pointers reset! (jnl 0x1a4dd7c; s 0xdb600 e 0xdb600)
    Feb 27 22:18:22 Orwell kernel[0]: disk1s3: data underrun.
    Feb 27 22:19:02 Orwell kernel[0]: USBF: 11618.936 AppleUSBEHCI[0x197e800]::Found a transaction past the completion deadline on bus 75, timing out!
    The "data underrun" line appears in the log just as iTunes displays the previously mentioned error dialogue box - they appear connected.
    I am running OS X 10.4.5, iTunes 6.0.3, and the iPod is running 1.2.1 of the firmware. I have taken my iPod into the local Apple store, and the iPod syncs just fine with the in-store systems, both over USB and firewire. I just have the USB cable at home.
    Help with troubleshooting would be appreciated.

    Thank you so much! This is greatly appreciated. SERIOUSLY, man. How long have I been searching for this? And it would be so easy to just plug it up on that that http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301267 page. Hello, apple. Please do this.
    I hope your hometown throws you a banquet or a parade. At the very least, buy yourself a cookie or something.
    mac   Mac OS X (10.4.5)  

  • Error: disc cannot be read from or written to

    i couldnt update my update my ipod!
    'disc cannot be read from or written to'
    help!!!
    PC   Windows XP  

    thanks for the link, i went to take a look at it and...
    software conflicts - i havent installed any new software /add-ons for a month now
    hardware update - my usb drivers are updated.
    im just guessing that itunes and the nano's v1.1.1 still has some glitches in terms of compatibility (?)
    Apple needs to cook up a fix and quick!

  • Error: The disc cannot be read from or written to. HELP!

    We have two new Video iPods in the family... when we try to update them, we get the message: The disc cannot be read from or written to. We also cannot delete/edit the songs on the iPod. When we check certain songs to put on one iPod, but not the other, EVERY song is added -even with "only update checked files".
    Is there away to create two Libraries -one for each iPod- and fix the Updateing problem? please!

    Hi all,
    I am sorry to report that I too have this same disc error problem when syncing my iPod to my iTunes library. I take no comfort in knowing that I am one of many that have this same error. I checked on the iPod lounge forum and I just couldn't count the number of users that had the same problem. There are just so many!
    I too have tried "5 r's" and I have also tried using a few "s" words and others...lol.
    It seems like there is no "fix" for this problem but I will say this: If there is no solution, then I will no longer be buying iPods. This is my third iPod that I have purchased. Which makes my Apple investment near the thousand dollar mark. That is way too much money spent to not have a functioning music player. I will be switching to another player to see if the grass is greener on the other side.
    I have been most dissappointed with this error and I will not be "recycling" this iPod for ten percent off of my next iPod purchase.

  • Can't sync iPod - Error Message: "disc cannot be read from or written to"

    My ipod had been working fine until recently when every time I try and sync it I get the following error message:
    "Attempting to copy to the disk "iPod" failed. The disk could not be read from or written to"
    I have tried all suggestions in Apple's support article for this issue but nothing works. Does anyone else have this problem or know how to solve it?
    Thanks a lot.
    H
    Macbook Pro   Mac OS X (10.4.10)  
    Macbook Pro   Mac OS X (10.4.10)  

    Hi all,
    I am sorry to report that I too have this same disc error problem when syncing my iPod to my iTunes library. I take no comfort in knowing that I am one of many that have this same error. I checked on the iPod lounge forum and I just couldn't count the number of users that had the same problem. There are just so many!
    I too have tried "5 r's" and I have also tried using a few "s" words and others...lol.
    It seems like there is no "fix" for this problem but I will say this: If there is no solution, then I will no longer be buying iPods. This is my third iPod that I have purchased. Which makes my Apple investment near the thousand dollar mark. That is way too much money spent to not have a functioning music player. I will be switching to another player to see if the grass is greener on the other side.
    I have been most dissappointed with this error and I will not be "recycling" this iPod for ten percent off of my next iPod purchase.

  • 2nd iPod in a row saying "Disk cannot be read from or written to." Help!

    My setup is as following:
    MacBook Pro 2.16 Ghz Intel Core Duo
    Mac OS X 10.5.2
    Lacie 250GB External Hard Drive attached via Firewire
    iPod Classic 160GB Black
    iTunes 7.6.2 - Library has about 16,000 songs
    Using the above setup, my 5th Generation iPod, my iPhone, and my iPod Nano all work just fine. My newly purchased iPod Classic however, refuses to work. Here is the story so far...
    I have all of my music on my external hard drive. On the external, there is a folder entitled "iTunes." Inside of that, there are 2 folders. One entitled "Album Artwork" and on entitled "iTunes Music." The music folder contains all of the actual AAC and Mp3 files that makeup my iTunes Library. The actual library data itself, the files entitled "iTunes Library" and "iTunes Library.xml" are on my computer HD, in User>Music>iTunes. Now, I dont know why the library file is on the computer when all the music is on the external, but maybe thats just the way that works.
    Anyway, I plugged in the new iPod Classic, it started to sync, and about 15 minutes in, I got a pop up box that said "iPod Sync failed. Disk cannot be read from or written to." So I did a few things to try to make it work. I reinstalled iTunes, I restored the iPod a few times. I set it to only sync music and not TV shows or Movies or Podcasts or Photos. I tried to sync it again. Nothing worked. So, thinking I had a bad iPod, I brought it to the store and swapped it out for a new one. Not a "new" one, but one from the back, so it was refurbished. I tried that. It still didn't work. So I called Apple tech support.
    Tech support had me set my iPod for Manual use, and then alphabetically import songs by artists. In other words, bring over all the "A" artists, followed by the "B" artists and so on...So I did that, I got to importing a few songs by Cyndi Lauper, and it got to one song, called "Shine" and the error message came up. So I figured, there it was, the corrupted file. So I deleted it from my computer, and proceeded to go on importing manually, just in case. Well I continued for a while, and at the end of the day, there were about 100 songs that would not copy over. These were songs that worked just fine when you played them through iTunes, and worked just fine on all my other iPods.
    So I manually transferred over all the songs that worked, which was about a 100 less than my full library. Along the way, instead of deleting the corrupted songs, I unchecked them. After I did the full manual transfer, I set up the iPod to an automatic sync, only syncing over songs that are checked, thinking the unchecked ones, the corrupted ones, would not even try to be transferred over and it work fine.
    I was wrong. With the sync, this time it stopped on a song that was not corrupted the first time around. Not knowing what to do, I ejected my iPod, and it wouldn't eject. It said "iPod appears to be corrupt, please click restore." So I did that, thinking this would finally fix it, since the computer realized the iPod was messed up. I was wrong again. It didn't do anything, it just made it so I could eject my iPod.
    So I'm now on my 2nd iPod classic. I've done what Tech Support has told me to do. Now I need help. Badly.

    I had similar problems, it was a nightmare and on a 3 month ipod too!. I use a Powerbook G4 at home and a G5 at work - both were returning the same problems. so I sent it off to apple, they quickly sent it back saying there was nothing wrong with and it didn't need to be repaired. I tried it again and the same problems occurred "disc cannot be written to or read from." I could copy 20 songs onto it at the very most. A couple of guys at my work suggested updating it on a PC, then adding tunes via my mac as normal - guess what!? it works a treat!?. How ridiculous is that!? an Apple product works best on a PC. these generations of ipods are obviously designed to work best on Intel based Macs. What is wrong Apple? are you abandoning the G-generation!? still, atleast my ipod works for now - it will prove a problem when I have to update the iPod's software since I don't own a PC or an intel-based Mac.

  • IPod partially syncs & I get "Disk cannot be read from or written to"mssg.

    Here's my initial problem:I think I Blew It. Tried to move iTunes from OS (C:) to DATA (D:). First I now realize that I should have come here first. But I didn't. I basically copied all of my iTune files into DATA (D:) and deleted them from OS (C:). Now when I open iTunes nothing is there. I left a couple of folders that wouldn't transfer from (C:) to (D:). One is a temp file 2, another is iTunes Music Library XML. doc. My iTunes music folder is empty and my iTunes library folder is pretty much empty too. The folders in DATA (D:) still have my 30 GB of music. So I wonder if I can undo this fiasco?
    Here's where I am at today:Well I somehow got my library back. But I think I now have a couple copies of it on different drives. I configured the iTunes settings to feed off D drive but my problem now is I can't sync my ipod completely. I get the infamous "Disk cannot be read from or written to" when syncing iPod" message. I've tried restoring the ipod, creating a sync folder,checking and getting windows updates, and enabling the disc. I'm totally lost here.Please help all wise ones....

    Let me add the advice Polydorus gave me to get back library: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1327455&tstart=0 You haven't give enough information to tell exactly what the problem is.
    Did you copy the iTunes folder to the d: drive, this folder contains the library databases and the iTunes Music folder.
    If you did that, you can try starting iTunes with the shift key held down, when asked to choose a library, navigate to the iTunes folder on the external drive and choose iTunes Library.itl.
    This only works if you copied the iTunes folder and you had a default arrangement with all your music files in the iTunes Muisc folder in the iTunes folder.
    If you didn't do that and you don't mind losing your counts, ratings and playlists you can do the following:
    I am going to assume that you still have your iTunes folder on the c:drive. Close iTunes and drag iTunes Library.itl and iTunes Music library.xml out of the iTunes folder to the desktop.
    Then open iTunes and an empty library is created, first go to Editit>>Preferences>>Advance>>Gneral and check that the location of the iTunes Music folder is correctly set, then add the iTunes Music folder to iTunes with File>>Add folder to library. If you have music in other folders, you add those too.
    Note that these two possibilities do not cover all eventualities, you will need to explain exactly what you did for further advice. POST NOTE: I basically drug the libray to the desktop and opened iTunes with the shift key held down, when asked to choose a library, I did and it came back.

  • "The iPad/iPhone cannot be synced because it cannot be read from or written to"

    Since updating to iOS 7.0.2, when syncing my ipad and my iphone I get the message, "The ipad/phone cannot be synced because it cannot be read from or written to." When I deselect all photos from being synced to my devices, the message no longer appears. This tells me the problem is obviously related to iphoto.  Reading a few forums on this matter tells me the solution has something to do with emptying a photo cache, deleting photos, then reimporting; everything is rather vague. I always empty trash in iphoto, then I secure empty trash in finder, then I erase free disc space in disc utility. What exact steps must I take so that itunes will once again sync all images from iphoto onto both my ipad and iphone?

    For those that follow~
    After speaking to Apple Support for about 2 hours, the issue has been narrowed down to a corruption problem in the computers iPhoto Library.
    To confirm this:
    Problem: When ticking "sync photos" in iTunes, your sync fails with the error "cannot be synced, unknown error -50". (syncing other data is OK, only when ticking photos is there a problem)
    Test: HOLD alt/option (mac) & open iPhoto. You will be prompted to create a new Library. (the old one will be left untouched)
    Import a few photos to your new library.
    Quit iTUNES & re-open it. Connect your device & go to the photo tab. Click Sync Photos, you will see your new library. Sync - it should now work.
    In iPhoto you can switch between your old & new Library using the FILE >Switch Library option.
    Additionally: You may also import photos to your device by using iTunes "Sync Photos *From Folder* " option.
    This is a work around to get your photos onto your device without using iPhoto.
    This is not a fix, my issue is ongoing. I am posting only to help future readers. In my case rebuilding the iPhoto Library (hold option/alt when opening iPhoto) was not able to correct the problem.

  • Disk cannot be read from or written to

    When transferring files from a Windows XP Pro system to an iPod Nano, I will get an error the gist of which is "Disk cannot be read from or written to". The error is repeatable and only occurs on certain files. The nano is connected via a USB 1.1 port through a hub. (The machine has no USB 2.0 ports.) You can load other files with no problem both before and after the error appears; but not on the file which caused the problem.
    The problem smells like a firmware bug.
    (Note: I tried all of the standard resets and other workarounds - updater, etc. None of that works.)
    iPod Nano   Windows XP Pro  

    I have been getting the same error as well. The only thing I can figure out is to restore your ipod with an older version of the updater. I fortunately had an older version on my laptop, restored it to factory default, put it back on my pc where I originally had it, opened up itunes 5.0.1 (it wanted to update it to the newer version I had on my pc but I told it no) and I have been able to save songs. I tried the advice of others to reformat my ipod with the computer management and that didn't work either. I uninstalled, reinstalled, uninstalled, reinstalled, yada yada which did nothing. The only thing I have been successful with is using an older version of the updater. I can't figure out why the newer version won't work but every time I update, I get errors like you are having. I can save files to the ipod as well as songs with the older version. I can drag and drop files to the ipod using my computer as well. Can't do that when I update to a newer version of the ipod updater. Hope this helps and if anyone has any other insight into my problem, it would be greatly appreciated.

  • "Disk cannot be read from or written to" When syncing CERTAIN songs to iPod

    So I bought my friend's iPod Touch. I've talked to her about this issue and she's never experienced anything of the sort. When I got her iPod Touch I downloaded the newest software (3.1.2).
    It's still currently running on 3.1.2 (as I know of no way to set it back to a previous version). When I try to update the iPod it will sync fine until reaching certain songs. These songs will freeze iTunes entirely for a few moments, an error message will pop up saying "Disk cannot be read from or written to". The only way I could go around this predicament was to go through my library and un-check the songs which caused the iPod sync to fail. This is quite annoying having to have several songs un-checked as some of them are the songs I want to listen to.
    What can I do to fix this? I've reset and restored everything. Multiple times. Yet to no avail.
    The error occurs only with songs, I have not run in to any errors updating applications (yet).
    I'm running Mac OS X Snow Leopard, the iPod Touch is running 3.1.2 (the newest update), the iPod was originally purchased back in July.

    I suggest you read through the following article for some help: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1207
    Normally, if you have a DRM'd song that you do not own, you will get an error (not this one, however) that the song will not/cannot be copied to your iPod. My feeling is that you might have some corrupted files.

  • When I tried to add music to my IPod Classic I rec'd a mesage that it could not be synced because it cannot be read from or written to. How do I remedy this?

    I have an IPod Classic loaded with software version 1.1.2. I tried to add some music to it from my ITunes library and got a message that the IPod could not be sybced because it cannot be read from or written to. Please tell me how I can fix this issue. Thank you in advance for any assistance you can can give me.

    Click here and follow the instructions.
    (126846)

  • "The disk cannot be read from or written to" or

    I recently updated my itouch software to the 3.1.2 software and when i restored it like I was supposed to my songs synced onto my itouch but you couldn't see them. On my computer it said my music was on my itouch but when I went to my library on my itouch, it said that my library was empty. When i plug my itouch into a different computer and turn it off and back on the music pops up. when i try to sync A message will come up and say the disk cannot be read from or written too and another pops up and says the required disk cannot be found. Does anybody have any idea how to fix this problem because i'm going on a trip in a couple weeks, and i want my ipod to be working?

    bday10 wrote:
    when i try to sync A message will come up and say the disk cannot be read from or written to
    have you seen click this KB ?

  • This iPod cannot be read from or written to

    I have a 5th gen 30GB iPod that's about 18 months old and has been working fine until recently.
    When I connect the iPod to the computer (2Ghz Macbook, 1GB memory, 80GB HD, OSX 10.4.8, iTunes 7.0.1), a message comes up saying "This disk cannot be read from or written to". The iPod itself works fine, but I'd dearly love to be able to update it! I am reluctant to erase it to find the error because I use it every day.
    I don't have access to any other computers with iTunes installed, so I don't know if the problem lies with the iPod or the MacBook. Should I update iTunes/OSX?
    Does anyone have any idea what's up with my iPod? I hope it's not dying...

    The mystery deepens! Althout the iPod SAYS it can't be read from or written to, it is apparently being written to - I found some tracks on it this morning that definitely weren't there when I connected it last night. I didn't update iTunes or anything.
    I guess my question is now "Why on earth is the computer displaying this message when it's not true?" I'm not sure about upgrading because I read that the latest version doesn't allow you to get songs off your iPod onto iTunes - which ***** if you suffer a HD failure or even just buy a new computer!

  • Disk cannot be read from or written to ERROR

    my 3rd generation iPod will sync with iTunes BUT will load only one third of the songs before it freezes and reads and error saying "Disk cannot be read from or written to". It is not full and still says 5.82GB free.. I have used iPod Updater to retore and update the software but it doesn't help. After it has loaded the songs up to a certain amount (Same exact # of songseven if I wipe it out and re-sync), then when I connect it, if just freezes the iPod and my mac.

    http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301267

  • ''cannot be read from or written to...." - Need a little help here....

    "Attempting to copy to the disk "Freddy's iPod" failed. The disk could not be read from or written to."
    That is the exact message on my computer screen when I attact my iPod for updating. Any ideas what to do here?
    Thanks,
    jf

    Hi Jason,
    Have you seen the general advice from the following Knowledge Base article?:
    "Disk cannot be read from or written to" when syncing iPod
    -Kylene

Maybe you are looking for