IPod cannot be synced. The disk could not be read or written to.

I have...
G5 ipod video 30Gb formated to PC
iBook G3 600MHz
iTunes 7.1 (59)
iPhoto 4.03
I use my ipod to contain all my videos, photos and music manually and nothing stored on the iBook itself, as it only has a small hard drive. I have a large amount of photos that I have in iphoto (a total of 3254 photos and 60 folders!) which I am using whilst travelling the world. I have recently started syncing photos to the ipod as a backup, also adding a copy of full res photos. This syncs fine and I have all photos on my ipod, but when I add more photos to iphoto and then plug in the ipod it will start to sync though itunes, but then will come up with an error stating "The ipod "NAME OF IPOD" cannot be synced. The disk could not be read from or written to."
The ipod still has all the photos it originally had, but not the new ones.
I have tried deleting the file that is in the library that contains the information file, this forces the ipod to re sync and start all over again with adding the photos, which it will add the new photos, but the probelm will happen again as soon as more photos are added through iphoto!
Can anyone give any advice, I really can't format the ipod and start over agaian as I will lose all my music etc and I don't have enough room to store them elsewhere!!!
Please any help please! I really need to back these files up incase something goes wrong with the computer, then I will lose all my pictures!
Help!
Thanks
Rob

Hi Rob!
First off, it might be worth upgrading to the latest iTunes version, which is 7.1(15) (or at least I think that's what it is on a Mac... for Windows, it's 7.1.1.5).
Regardless, you can install the latest version of iTunes here:
Download iTunes - 7.1.1.5
Also, if that doesn't seem to help with anything, have you seen the suggestions in this article?:
"Disk cannot be read from or written to" when syncing iPod
-Kylene

Similar Messages

Ipod cannot be updated, the disk could not be read or written to

I get the above mssg when I try to sync a photo folder with 5th gen ipod. the music syncs just fine and the ipod is "seen" by the computer. i have enabled the disk.
Any suggestions???

I get the above mssg when I try to sync a photo folder with 5th gen ipod. the music syncs just fine and the ipod is "seen" by the computer. i have enabled the disk.
let's start with this document:
"Disk cannot be read from or written to" when syncing iPod or "Firmware update failure" error when updating or restoring iPod
given that you're getting this when you try to sync photos, perhaps start by checking on the suggestion in the "Corrupt iPod photo Cache" section of the document.

The ipod cannot be synched. the disk could not be read from or written to?

So I've done everything possible to try to get my touch to sync all my songs from my itunes library at once and nothing is working. So sadly i spent the entire day plugging and unpluggin the usb cord because at most i could put 30 songs on my touch before it came up with the error "the ipod cannot be synched. The disk could not be read from or written to." this is very frustrating as i have many videos i purchased on itunes with anticipation of putting them on my touch but if i try to do so at most it downloads half then it pops up with the same error. If anyone of y'all can help, that would be greatly appreciated i'm slowly but surely giving up on the touch all together even though i love it this error to it is very time consuming and annoying.

Same problem. With an iPod Touch.
This began after I accidently pulled out the USB before it was fully ejected. (I hit eject, and the icon vanished from iTunes, so I THOUGHT I was okay...) But I got the error. And since then, I've got the error you speak of. Mine may be a tad off.
When I drag a song from iTunes or the Finder into the iPod it copies fine but then the error pops up.
But now it's fixed, and I'm not sure why. And I'm hoping it doesn't come back.
I remember I went into the iPod Touch itself. Went to...
Settings > General > Reset > Reset All Settings
After that, I got back to the window from iTunes asking if I want to manually manage songs. I unchecked the box next to the choice of letting iTunes do it automatically.
But Even after that, I had the synching problem.
So I went into the main iPod Touch tab in iTunes. Under options the "Manually manage music and videos" box WAS CHECKED. I decided to uncheck it. Maybe the iPod was observing 'Opposite Day'. I know my cellphone does. On my cellphone, when I choose to play videos without sound, it plays WITH sound. So, I dunno...
Anyway, after I UNCHECKED "Manually manage music and videos" I ejected the iPod and reconnected it. And I plugged the USB into another port. Guess what? It didn't automatically synch. And when I added music on my own from either iTunes or the Finder, it worked well too. The weirdest thing... when I went to have a look at the box next to "Manually manage music and videos" - it had been checked again, without my doing.
UPDATE: And as I began typing that last sentence - THE ERROR CAME BACK. So.. NEVERMIND! I'm still stuck and angry!
*UPDATE II:* The error happened again after a song I was listing to in iTunes from the Touch ended. Once it ended, the error popped up and music stopped playing. I tried dragging a new song from iTunes into the Touch and it wouldn't let me. I unplugged and then plugged the iPod back in, and dragged songs again. So far it works... SO FAR. So far no errors. I tried deleting a song from the Touch and also no problem.
*UPDATE III:* I did a test. I added album artwork to songs that had none, already inside my Touch. It took a bit longer than it would have on my computer, but all tracks on the album got the art work, and the error message has yet to display since I did so.
*UPDATE IV* I've only been adding up to 10 songs at a time, worried that it would freeze. This time I added 31 songs, and they all imported - no error messages. Currently I'm worried that if I play a song from my Touch through iTunes the message will return. I'm too afraid to do it deliberately. I know I was able to do so with no problem with my 2nd Gen 10GB iPod I've had for years. That was working with my computer as of 3 days ago!
Message was edited by: Daniel Brown

The ipod cannot be synced. this disk could not be read from or written to..

this is the message that appeared when i tried putting songs on my shuffle..what should i do?

I had this same issue and stumbled across this solution on a random web sales site for second gen shuffles.
"It is ESSENTIAL that when you first sync the shuffle you enable disk use via the option in iTunes. This prevents iTunes from automatically disconnecting the shuffle. If you do not do this, the shuffle is disconnected automatically as soon as you plug it in, which means you are unable to update it. You will get the messages "Unknown error: Device cannot be read from or written to" which is displayed because the iPod has been disconnected although iTunes doesn't' realise it has disconnected it. iTunes will then freeze and you will be unable to reset the iPod or enable disk use. So make sure you enable Disk Use the very first time you plug in your shuffle! Otherwise you will have to manually reformat the Shuffle"
So I downloaded the ipod restore utillity to reset the ipod to factory defaults. I then ran itunes, gave the ipod a name and let it autofill to give me time to change settings in the ipods setting tab in itunes. Down the bottom of this tab I ticked the checkbox to allow ipod disk use and clicked the apply button and all is working fine now. If the ipod completes synching before you click the apply button then you will need to reset the ipod and try again.
Hope this helps.
Windows XP Pro

Ipod cannot be updated the disk could not be read from or written to?

So my iPod seems to be working fine except today when I plugged in I get the above error message?
What's it mean and how do I fix it?

Welcome to Apple Discussions!
Have you seen if this Apple article about your issue is helpful? (linked below)
"Disk cannot be read from or written to" when syncing iPod
I hope this helps,
-Kylene

Ipod cannot be updated the disk could not be readfrom or written to

what does this mean? I don't have any disk,I'm just trying to download songs from my library to ipod and I get this message,please help

hi mike!
click on the link:
"Disk cannot be read from or written to" when syncing iPod or "Firmware update failure" error when updating or restoring iPod
... and it will take you to an article on possible causes of the error message you're getting, and treatments for it.
love, b

"The iPod cannot be synced. The disk could not be read or written to."

I just bought an iPod touch today and rushed home to sync it with iTunes. After making sure I had the latest version of iTunes, I plugged the new ipod in and followed the steps to sync. It seems that after about 200 songs transfered to my iPod touch, I got an error stating, "The iPod cannot be synced. The disk could not be read or written to." followed by another error stating, "Attempting to copy to the disk failed. The disk could not be read from or written to." I disconnected the iPod then reconnected, transfered a couple hundred more songs then got the error again. I tried restoring the iPod itself 3 times and made sure all the software was up to date, even uninstalling and reinstalling iTunes. With about 3500 songs I do not want to sit here and keep having to unplug and plug the iPod back in. PLEASE PLEASE someone help me! Thanks!

*I am pasting a message I made on another forum. I was having the same trouble syncing, but this cleared everything up.*
Looks like Joe was correct; at least in my case. I was getting the "cannot copy to disk" message after about 50 songs. After following his advice, syncing worked fine, both music and videos.
Thanks Joe,
Jim
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pos_user
Its not the IPOD. I got that issue too. then I realized I had 8 things plugged into my USB port and USB hub.
i have 4 integrated USB ports. 3 are used, and 1 leads to another 4 port hub. Its drawing too much power and the IPOD usb needs a constant power stream in order for it to accept transfers at certain speeds.
check your USB usage, and also make sure if enough power is allocated to the USB slot you're using (hopefully you guys know how to do that in device manager for PC, not mac).
Or simply unplug everything, except the ipod and see if it works.
Another thing, if you have front USBs on your BAY...use the back ones, the front dont have as much power allocated to them since they are created/designed for wireless/bluetooth devices, like mouse and keyboard.
Use the BACK usb devices, and reboot your machine and IPOD. and you should be fine.
One instance, my friend was getting that issue, he unplugged all power consuming USB devices...and it didnt work. So he had to restore his IPOD, and it worked with no problem from there on. But as soon as he plugs in his printer, he gets that error again.
so its all about the USB power drainage you're using.

The ipod "IPOD" cannot be updated. The disk could not be read or written to

"The iPod "IPOD" cannot be updated. The disk could not be read or written to"
"The iPod "IPOD" cannot be updated. An unknown error occurred. (-50)"
I have been dealing with this ever since I installed iTunes 7. I had been getting this message with my previous version, but at least the files would load onto the iPod once I deleted the files in the library and reloaded them. Now, nothing works.
I attempted to restore the iPod, but guess what? I got this message every time:
"The iPod "IPOD" could not be restored. An unknown error occurred (1418)"
When I checked drive E on the Device Manager on My Computer, it said the device was working fine.
Desperate to fix the problem, I began searching online for other solutions when I stumbled upon someone mentioning the option to format the iPod with fat32, suggesting that as a way to solve the problem, so I did so. After that, nothing has worked. The device manager now says that there are no drivers for drive E and iTunes won't let me restore the iPod.
I'm plumb out of ideas. What's left to do? I'm not rich enough to just say, "Oh well! La dee da! Let me go buy another iPod shuffle." Is there any way to fix this?

I finally reinstalled iTunes and my 2G Shuffle on my another station (PC portable + Windows XP) and that functions without trouble.
As I followed exactly the same procedure of installation, it's difficult to me to explain differences.
For each pc :
- No iPod or iTunes previously installed before this one
- All the rights (administrator)
Differences :
- The OS (Windows XP and Windows XP Pro)
- A lot of USB peripherics declared on my first PC.
I tend to think that the problem comes from the detection or the declaration of the port usb, but I'm not at all an expert.
So my trouble is solved, but not with a satisfactory solution.
Patrick
Windows XP Pro

The iPhone cannot be synced. The disk could not be read or written to.

+The iPhone cannot be synced. The disk could not be read or written to.+
That's the message I get when I sync my iPhone now after flawless syncing since the second day they came on sale. I restarted, I repaired permissions. The iPhone is only half full. I have tried a couple of different usb to iPhone chords. After trouble shooting I have found that if I don't sync iPhoto it syncs everything else just fine. I have deleted the iPhoto prefs. I have reinstalled iLife. I have reinstalled iTunes and deleted the iTunes prefs. I have gotten a brand new iPhone from the Apple store. I have backed up and deleted every photo in iPhoto and it still gets the error message.
Starting to get frustrated.

Unfortunately, I'm an Outlook junkie, and I need to sync my iPhone (1st Gen) with Outlook. I had no problems under XP. I even synced my device to Vista Business running out of Boot Camp and via Fusion.
When I upgraded to Vista Ultimate and Office 2007 (freshly installed) my iPhone refused to sync anything but my Contacts, Calendar, and Bookmarks. It didn't matter whether I was running under Fusion or natively via Boot Camp -- I would get a variety of errors, but mostly "the disk could not be read or written to" wtih the occassional "unknown error" thrown in to make my life even more miserable.
It would occasionally sync an audio or video file, but 99 times out of 100 it would die in the middle of the sync, trash something on the phone, and force me to restore it.
Restoration, though, was not possible under Windows. I would try repeatedly to restore the phone from Vista, with no success. In fact, I tried to install the updated 2.0 firmware last week, which "bricked" the phone for about 4 hours. The only way that I could restore the device was under OS X. Naturally, the error returned the first time I tried to sync on Windows again.
I was almost to the point of declaring the iPhone toasted, smashing the overpriced little trinket that's caused me so much agony into iPieces and then dropping it into an envelope and mailing it to Steve J. with a letter stating that a $600.00+ "revoltionary internet device" shouldn't croak 1 year after purchase.
<RANT>
I mean think about it -- getting bent over on pricing 2 months after purchase, Apple releasing a 3G version barely one year later (and for significantly lower price than the original) and having to sign a 2 year contract with the baby Satan that is AT&T isn't exactly what I would call a GOOD experience. Not to mention the activation fiasco, etc.
</RANT>
At any rate, all the Windows jokes aside, I believe I've finally solved my problem and it may help the others having this same problem on dual-core or hyperthreading processors.
With iTunes running, go to the Task Manager, select the Processes tab and find the iTunes processes (AppleMobileDeviceHelper.exe, iTunes.exe, and iTunesHelper.exe). Right-click on each and select "Set Affinity..." from the context menu.
In the "Processor Affinity" dialog, you should see both CPU 0 and CPU 1 checked, which is the default. UN-CHECK CPU 1, so that only CPU 0 is checked, then click "OK".
You may need to retstart iTunes and/or the services, but I didn't need to do that (and technically, you shouldn't have to do that).
Try your sync again. I'm syncing flawlessly again after that little tweak. Perhaps this is something odd about iTunes under Windows on multi-core or hyperthreading processors (read: race condition or something similar)?
I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this will continue to work, otherwise I go the smash-and-mail-to-Steve route.

Cannot be synced. The disk could not be read or written to

I keep getting "+cannot be synced. The disk could not be read or written to+" after it says during the sync process "+importing pictures+".
I restarted my iPhone and Mac but still the same problem. I deleted all pictures from my iPhone 4, yet the problem remains as I keep getting the same message above.
Any ideas, what I should do?

I am having the same issues. Any resolution Apple?
Mac Pro 10.6.7 IOS 4.3.3

Music sync problem - The disk could not be read or written to.

Hello!
Since my last iPod restore I have got a problem with music syncing. When I want to sync about more than 10 files iTunes gives an error massage: "The disk could not be read or written to." It is very annoying to copy 20GB music.
Any good idea?

Have you had a chance to look at this troubleshooting page? It may be of some help: "Disk cannot be read from or written to" when syncing iPod

Error Msgs: iPhone cannot be synced..disk could not be read from or written

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE - pass the word. If you have issues at all trying to sync your iPhone to your Mac please make sure you connect the cable directly to its USB port. DO NOT connect the sync cable to your keyboard. And in a huge revelation to myself - DO NOT connect your sync cable to a USB hub which in turn is connect to your Mac, even if the hub is powered by A/C. I thought for sure my two week old iPhone was defective by getting errors from iTunes saying "iPhone . . . cannot be synced. The disk could not be read or written to", "Attempting to copy to disk failed". The best one was when I thought I might need to restore my iPhone and getting "Could not be restored unknown error occured (OXE800006B). I would suggest to Mac to place a suggestion in the error messages to check if your cable is directly connected to your Mac. It might save some headaches. My phone works fine now!
Message was edited by: mtsellers

Good to hear of your success, and a good post. Using Mac keyboard usb ports and hubs is definitely not to be advised.
Phil

HELP! The disk could not be read or written to

It saids
"The iPod "Andrew Bang" cannot be updated. The disk could not be read or written to."
I only used it several times, and it worked before, but this happened recently. I already tried updating it and restoring it. I was able to update and restore but it still does not work. pleaes help thank you

have you worked through the suggestions from the following document?
"Disk cannot be read from or written to" when syncing iPod or "Firmware update failure" error when updating or restoring iPod

The disk could not be read or written to (just in my PC)

Hey all again... I have a problem..i don´t know if is in ipod or in my pc..when i click in Update 'my ipod name' follows thi message:
''The Ipod 'my ipod name' could not be updated. The disk could not be read or written to''
People, today in my friend´s house i tested my ipod nano in your PC..so, when i click in update this WORKS ! I have a 1.1 USB card and he haves a 2.0 .. but it´s not usb problem i think..
note : In my PC only works in the first time...when i connect the usb cable in ipod-pc .. the itunes automaticaly transfer the music to my ipod..when finish, when i go click in update..follow this message (the disk could not......), for transfer the music again..i turn off the cable and turn on again... the update doesn´t works..
sry for my english
It´s nano or pc problem ??? please help me, thanks.

In general, chkdsk errors should be fixed by either running chkdsk, or by Restoring the iPod using the latest iPod Updater. We have been discussing chkdsk issues (as related to buggy firmware) for a while now.
Unfortunately, it seems to be manifesting on the Nano these days as well: Mick Pierce, "Ipod Nano connecting problems", 06:21pm Oct 25, 2005 CDT
Try doing a Restore on your iPod - if you can, it's what is recommended to wipe the slate clean and fix any other corruption issues on the Pod.
Kind regards,
Gopha.

All music gone from iTunes and when trying to put it back, "Attempting to copy to the disk Macintosh HD failed. The disk could not be read or written to."

Hello,
I have a portable 500gb HD and I use it to put music and other stuff.
Earlier, out of the blue, all of my music from iTunes disappeared, and I tried to put it back by dragging my folder "music" from the external HD to iTunes, but the message "Attempting to copy to the disk Macintosh HD failed. The disk could not be read or written to." appears and nothing happens. Only 40 albums (the same ones every time) go into iTunes before the message appear.
I tried restarting the computer and nothing happened.

This sounds more like a hardware issue, possibly a failing drive if you had mysteriously vanishing files and there are problems writing to your drive.. You could get better support on a forum for your Mac model or at lest one for your operating system version. Have you verified the disk with Disk Utility to see what it reports?

IPod cannot be synced. The disk could not be read or written to.

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