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)

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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.

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.

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

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.

Shuffle "cannot be read from or written to" error FIXED - windows xp

This is a quote from another post, I'm not taking any credit for this fix. However, I spent HOURS trying to fix my Shuffle 2nd Gen. I did the 5R's, no help there, absolutely worthless. Even trying to Restore the shuffle, it would error. Basically every time I tried to communicate to the Shuffle, it would hang. Eventually I'd get the "cannot read or write" error, and sometimes that was error -50, sometimes 1418, sometime no code, just the "cannot read or write" error.
On to the fix - FYI at the bottom where it says check "enable disk use" - mine is checked, but with all the room still reserved for songs. i.e., 0 meg for disk use. Also, the format I did was without the "quick format" box checked.
Here is the quote: (formatted to be easier to follow)
Alright, this is what I did, my only fix.
1) Disconnect the iPod from the computer.
2) Go to "start> right click my computer> manage> services and applications> services>
3) Click iPod service> click stop service."
4) Connect the ipod and it should show up in my computer.
5) Format it so all content is gone. (ohno: right click, select format, uncheck "quick format" and click OK - should take just a couple seconds to format)
6) Go back to "start> right click my computer>
manage> services and applications> services> click iPod service> click Start service. This should have the service running again.
7) Open iTunes and connect the shuffle. When it says to automatically fill it (the window that pops up) dont unclick it, proceed so the shuffle autofills. Before it stops autofilling, quickly go to the settings tab. Then, scroll down to where it says "enable disk use" and check the box, then hit apply. Don't worry about the slider position for disk space, mine has worked with this all the way to the left with 0 meg for disk use.
8) Done.
9) How to use: drag and drop songs / playlists in iTunes onto your iPod within the iTunes device list, just hit the eject button next to your iPod device when done.
All management done from iTunes, for some reason formatting via windows and then enabling disk use cleans up the Shuffle, and allows windows to communicate with it. Mine works 100% now.
Only thing is I have not tried the Autofill commands as I don't use them. I drag and drop what I want onto the iPod and it immediately updates. Finally.

I'm a new iPod owner and have spent the past 3 days researching solutions to this problem. Through research and testing I came to the same conclusion. I fixed mine using a slightly different solution:
I took the Shuffle to a local Apple store, had them enable disk usage, brought it home and everything works perfectly now.
The key to the problem is this: When you plug in the iPod, Windows sees it as a mass storage device. As soon as the iPod system service kicks in, it acquires the mass storage device and disallows Windows from seeing it.

Shuffle "cannot be read from or written to" error - FIXED

To fix the error that occurs when we try to update or copy music from iTunes and that returns the message error -50 and/or 1481, we have to set the "Enable Disk Use" - at iPod settings tab on iTunes - as marked.
OK, but this error occurs cause iTunes - when still running - unmount the iPod device (and I don't know why - hello Apple!); so, the time that we have to apply this setting is very shortly.
So, we have to keep the iPod device mounted putting there a file, as a Notepad file, and open it when iTunes is closed and iPod device is mounted (plug in the iPod - iTunes will open -, remove the hardware (iPod), quit iTunes, plug in iPod again and open the file on iPod disk). Now we can open iTunes and set iPod as told before.

Thanks for this thread. I kinda followed what you meant, but just in case anyone else is having any problems, here are the steps I took to 'fix' my shuffle 2nd gen:
Here's what actually happens:
Quote:
* windows recognises ipod straight away as a removable hdd
* itunes opens and reads the ipos
* seconds later, windows ejects the drive on its own.
* itunes thinks it's still there
* any attemps to update anything via itunes, fail.
Here's the fix:
Quote:
* create a new blank text file in notepad. Save it to your desktop. ctrl-c the file, ready to paste it somewhere else.
* Open my computer, so you can see a list of your drives
* plug the ipod in
* watch for the ipod drive appearing, and QUICKLY open it, and ctrl-v the blank text file.
* QUICKLY open the blank text file by double-clicking it. This will prevent windows from ejecting the ipod drive, because it's in use.
* whilst in itunes, alter the preferences for the ipod... you need to 'enable disk use', as it's disabled by default.
* save the changes, delete the text file if you wish, and exit itunes.
All fixed.

"Your Ipod Cannot Be Read From Or Written To"

I brought my sister a 30 gb ipod video for her birthday and im putting music on it and getting "Your Ipod Cannot Be Read From Or Written To" this error message. Does anyone know what to do or how to fix it??

See this troubleshooting article.
"Disk cannot be read from or written to" error syncing iPod in iTunes.

My iPod can't be read from or written to

Having finally got through the rigmaroles of set up and iTunes, I have tried on a number of occasions to synchronise my new ipod nano 4gb. It manages to download/sync about 26 tracks then comes up with an error message "Attempting to copy to the disk failed. The disk could not be read from or written to". I have gone through the 5 "R's" and firewall checks. I have restored the nano a few times and each time it stops at the same point and with the same message. There is still some 3.57gb free space on the ipod, and once the eror message appears, the ipod does not appear on the "My Computer" icon on XP (iTunes tries to eject the iPod as well). It feels like a hardware problem to me. Any views or help?
HP Windows XP
HP Windows XP

Seen this troubleshooting article?
Disk cannot be read from or written to error syncing iPod in iTunes.

"iPod can not be read from or written to"

Need a little help from the experts.
I've scoured Apple's support site, this site and several others for mention of an error that reads like this:
"Unable to read from or write to disk "(insert iPod name here)".
Here's what happens:
Open iTunes
Plug in iPod (4th Gen 20GB)
iTunes recognizes iPod
Transfer of song begins
Error occurs
I've tried shutting down all my anti-virus/security but that's no help. There's also no ID of the error. I've seen a lot posted about "-36" and "-69" errors but this one has no such notation. I've also booted off iTunes and iPod software and reloaded to no avail. Can anyone here help?
Thanks in advance!

hi Matchman!
apparently, the same rules for treating the -36 apply to this one too ... (the KB doc was just recently updated to say so.) see:
-36 or "Disk cannot be read from or written to" error syncing iPod in iTunes
keep us posted.
love, b

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.

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

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