IPod Error - Disk could not be read from/to

I just got an iPod 20G, but when I try to update it with iTunes, I get an error message "Attempting to copy to the disk "(name)" failed. The disk could not be read from or written to". Some songs, however, do get copied before I get the error. I am using Windows XP, iTunes 5, and iPod 20G color display. I have updated the software on both the iPod and iTunes. Any ideas on what I'm doing wrong?

Sounds like an iTunes issue.
Uninstall iTunes.
Reboot the computer.
Just to be safe, run the newest "Updater" (download if you have to), wait for it to say to connect your iPod, connect your iPod, then select "Restore" (WARNING: this will erase the contents of your IPOD). But since you haven't been able to use iTunes, there shouldn't be anything on it. Follow the instructions (it might say to plug it into the wall charger when it's done restoring).
NOW reinstall iTunes (again download the newest one)
Reboot your computer, again.
Start iTunes
Connect your iPod
Follow the screen messages (you should register, just incase you have warrenty issues).
Hopefully it will work. If not, come back and give an update.

Similar Messages

Error when syncing iPod: The disk could not be read from or written to!!

I have an iPod mini which worked fine on my Windows XP.
Recently got Windows Vista and I downloaded iTunes and my put my music in the library.
When I plugged my iPod into the Vista, it said it was syncing all the songs to my iPod.
After about 3 hours, whilst syncing the last song a notice came up saying, 'Attempting to copy to the disk failed. The disk could not be read from or written to.'
I restored my iPod and reinstalled iTunes but the same thing happend.
I decided to plug my iPod back into the Windows XP, where I've had no problems. When I did this and started snycing all the songs, I got the notice come up again.
'Attempting to copy to the disk failed. The disk could not be read from or written to.'
I haven't been able to use my iPod now for about 5 weeks because I cannot solve the problem so any help will be much appreciated!
Thanks

You have posted in the Mac forum for problems & questions usting the iTunes store. You will probably find more help in the following forum.
http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=800

2G Shuffle error "disk could not be read from or written to"

Just recieved a 2G as a gift. First sync went fine. Songs transferred without issue. Wanted to change some settings and re-sync with new songs and got the error message "disk could not be read from or written to".
Have tried on an XP64 and a Windows 2000 machine with same error. I can sync from an XP Pro Laptop fine. All three are using the same driver (USBSTOR.sys).
Need some help trouble shooting this issue. The XP64 is my main computer and is the one I would like to solve this issue on. I also have a 30GB iPod that syncs on the XP64 machine with no problems.

I don't think the Apple store folks will be able to do anything because the issue is not with every computer.
The fact that I have a computer that can sync with the Shuffle without errors tells me there is an issue with the other 2 machines. As I cannot use the Laptop as my primary library I would like to solve the issue.
I still suspect either iTunes itself or the driver. If anyone else has any suggestions please share them.

Receiving error "disk could not be read from or written to" during synch.

When I try to synchronize my iPod to iTunes, I get the following error:
"Attempting to copy to the disk [ipod name] failed. That disk could not be read from or written to."
This error occurs only when I have put about 0.5 GB onto my 4.0 GB model, so there's plenty of disk space. I have completely reloaded/reformated the iPod & iTunes software on both my computer and iPod on numerous occassions, but I have had no additional luck.
I fear that this might be an issue with the actual hard drive on the iPod.
Can someone help?

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301267
Same answer as in your other post. : )

Can't sync to iPod: The disk could not be read from or written to.

I recently installed a new operating system (Windows XP with service pack 2), and then downloaded the latest version of iTunes. The next time I hooked up my iPod (3rd gen.)to sync it, iTunes removed all of the music that I'd purchased on iTunes, and i was unable to sync it back on. Then every time I opened iTunes to try again, my computer would freeze (but only when on iTunes). I used the restore function to restore factory settings, so now there is nothing at all on my iPod and when I try to sync, it gives the above message (The iPod cannot by synced. The disk could not be read from or written to). Any suggestions for how I can fix this problem?
Thanks!

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

Disk could not be read from or written to? Why won't my show download?

Everytime I try to download the latest episode of Grey's Anatomy, the show starts to download and gets toward the end, but then says Error: Disk could not be read from or written to. Other short movies and music have downloaded fine; it's just this one episode. Am I doing something wrong or is it the store?
Thanks for you help!
Anna

also worth noting I deleted a load of stuff on my mac to make space but no luck

IPod Error Message: "The disk could not be read from or written to."

Hello!
I was syncing my sister's video iPod (30GB) and this error message pops up "Attempting to copy to the disk. "SARAH'S IPO" failed. The disk could not be read from or written to."
I have restored it three times already, but once it starts putting the music and files back onto the iPod it pops up with that error message. I have updated to the latest version of iTunes and iPod software available. My OS is Windows XP.
Is this something serious? Will I be able to fix it myself or will I need to send it in to be fixed by Apple? Will that be expensive? We didn’t get the Apple replacement plan. D=
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance. ^_^
PowerBook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.3) 15" PowerBook 1.5 GHz PowerPC G4, 1.5GB RAM - Windows XP with iPod 5 Generation

Okay I went thru that entire list and here's what I got...
(1) My OS is XP and is running fine.
(2) I've updated my windows
(3) I don't know of any software that might be interfering.
(4) There are no damaged files.
(5) My Windows hard-drive is not damaged and I've tried restoring my iPod's disk thru iTunes but it still doesn't work.
(6) I don't have an iPod photo and I can't find the folder to delete the cache if if I did.
(7) The USB cord is firmly connected into my USB port and my iPod
(8) My music is on my external hard-drive so I need to keep 3rd-party hardware connected
(9) I will try another USB cord to see if that works.
Is there anything else that I can do? Can Apple fix this?
Please let me know.

Error Message: "Disk could not be read from or written to".

New 5th Gen. was downloading CD's I loaded into iTunes just fine; when uploading tunes into iPod yesterday this error message appeared: "Attempting to copy to the disk (iPod name) failed. Disk could not be read from or written to". Restored iPod with 1/10/06 update of iPod Install; using iTunes 6.0.2; operating system 10.3.9. Frustrated. iPod useless at this point. Anyone found a fix to this vexing problem?
Thanks,
John

Thanks Jeff. Only thing that rings true is updating OS; when I tried to downoad 10.4 message said I 'could not on this computer'. Since I purchased and installed 10.3 a year ago I don't understand. Also, iPod was downloading perfectly until two days ago when -36 appeared. Bummer. I am not a techie, Apple tech support does not have a clue, and iPod is useless. Ideas?

Attempting to copy to the disk Ipod failed. the disk could not be read from

Keep getting error message Attempting to copy to the disk.....Ipod failed. The disk could not be read from or written to. I can copy to Ipod from my laptop however, can not sync with my G-4 tower. I keep my library on an external HD Lacie d2. I've tried all the possibilities from the support page to no avail.. Need help... When error refers to disk is it referring to my external HD

Hi c2xist,
And you did follow all of the suggestions from this article?:
"Disk cannot be read from or written to" when syncing iPod
Also, you could go through these iPod troubleshooting steps, and see if they are of any help:
The Five Rs
-Kylene

The ipod cannot be updated. The disk could not be read from.

The ipod cannot be updated. The disk could not be read from or written to.
This message appears every time I try and update my ipod or put photos on. I also get this message:
An error occured while updating the default player for audio file types. You do not have enough access privileges for this operation.
WHAT DO I DO???????

Perhaps check for corrupted files--I had this issue with a messed up track/ file, and that kept killing the sync. More here:
Lost in Asia, "Disk Could Not Be Read From or Written To." #12, 03:32am Oct 15, 2005 CDT
As for the access privileges part, well, sorry, I have absolutely no idea what that means.
Good luck!

Please help! iPod won't sync: "Disk could not be read from or written to."

I am at the end of my rope with the endless problems I've been having with iTunes and my iPod ever since the iTunes update which included Gapless Playback (a feature which now invariably crashes my entire computer unless I disable it quickly enough). My latest problem has now made my iPod completely useless because I cannot sync it with my music library. Every time it tries to update the songs, it either crashes or I get the error message "Disk could not be read from or written to." I have tried restoring my iPod, which seemed to work, except that after the restore function seemingly completed I still have the flashing Do Not Disconnect screen on my iPod (after about 30 minutes). I already tried synching my iPod while this was going on and I got the same disk error message. Please, please, can anyone tell me what on earth is going on? I've NEVER had problems like this and all of a sudden it seems like everything about iTunes is a complete disaster.

I had the same problem after I moved my library from my PC to my new iMac. It would not sync properly. After a day of thinking about it, researching it, and trying things like starring at the screen to see what song it failed on as it ran the auto sync (a suggestion posted on this site), a light bulb went off. Switch it to manual! If you manually manage the songs that sync it is easy to discover what songs fail. When auto sync is managing it, it jumps all over the place when synchronizing, but if you manually grab say 500 +/- songs at a time, it goes in alphabetical order, and you can see where it fails. It will be the track(s) immediately following the the last track that made it on the iPod. The songs that were corrupted for me played fine in iTunes, but would not transfer to the iPod, and they worked when I was syncing with my PC. Hmmm? I hope this helps.

"disk could not be read from or written to" when uploading pictures on ipod

So... when I try to upload the pictures onto my ipod it gives me this "disk could not be read from or written to." I don't understand why because all the music got transfered perfectly. Can anyone please help?

See this...
Disk Cannot Be Read or Written to error when syncing iPod
btabz

"Disk could not be read from or written to" error

Is it dead?
When syncing to my 30Gig ipod, I received the error as noted in the subject line "Attempting to copy to the disk "" failed. The disk could not be read from or written to".
After updating the USB port and reinstalling the the software, I ran the 2005-10-12 updator. It gave me the option to "restore" which I did. I then received the following error "Formatting failure. Disk write error."
I've had my iPod for 2weeks. It was a birthday gift. I really like it. What am I suppose to do? HELP!
Windows XP Pro

Hi, i have a black 30GB ipod, i barely had it. i was loading songs last night and showed the message "the disk could not be read or written to" so i was worried and didn't know what to do, i looked for some related topics and did some of the suggested answers, i tried reinstalling itunes, removing the corrupted file, and it still keep on showing up to now..if anyone in here knows the answer to my problem, i will really appreciate it.. it is my first ipod and i dont want to mess it up..
thanks!!
hp pavilion mx703 Windows XP

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 "IPOD" cannot be updated. The disk could not be read from or.....

The ipod "IPOD" cannot be updated. The disk could not be read from or written to. First, what disk is this talking about. Also, when i "update" my ipod none of my videos get transfered to the ipod any more. Couple weeks ago the series "Monk" was always transferred from itunes to the ipod, but now, it doesnt show up on my ipod. When i go to the ipod options and select the videos tab, it doesnt let me choose to manually update the videos or automatically do it.

It's referring to the iPod's hard drive, see if any of the troubleshooting steps in this article help: "-36 or "Disk cannot be read from or written to" when syncing iPod or "Firmware update failure" error when updating or restoring iPod

IPod Error - Disk could not be read from/to

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for