Sync problem: "The iPod cannot be updated. The required file is locked."

Hi,
I upgraded to iTunes 7.0. First thing I did with it was to upgrade the firmware of the iPod to 1.2.1. The model is a MA079NF (20GB, iPod Photo, color screen), have used it problem free for about year now.
After that I wanted to sync my Library and a popup showed "The iPod "mypod" cannot be updated. The required file is locked." After clicking ok (only option) the syncing continues, but in the end the iPod contains 2174 files (~10GB out of 20GB free space), while my library holds 2187 checked files. Also none of my photos are copied to the iPod.
After that, upgrading iTunes to 7.0.1.8 did not help either. The problem is the same. Resetting the iPod to factory defaults and subsequent re-syncing did not help either, only helped me waste an hour .
The error message is silly, it leaves me only with questions:
Which file is locked, where is it locked (on my PC or on the iPod), in what way is it locked, why is it locked, by whom is it locked and how do I unlock it?
Any help is greatly appreciated.
Best wishes,
Henk.
Dell Dimension 5150c Windows XP

Hi,
After the exceptional help of the Apple people (i.e. nothing, nada, zero, null, no reaction, silence and so on, and so forth) I decided to take matters in my own hands again. Using the superb FileMon tool of sysinternals.com I found out the syncing of my iPod stopped while traversing my photo cache.
The solution was simple: Remove the directory "\iPod Photo Cache" completely (I made a backup, of course).
After that, iTunes built the cache from scratch and syncing was working properly again.
<sarcasm> Apple, thanks again for all your support. </sarcasm>
Best wishes nonetheless,
Henk van der Laak

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Error:the ipod cannot be updated. the disc could not be read from or writte

May sound silly I am sorry, new to this. Just got an ipod shuffle and have gone through all troubleshooting suggestions ie: restore ipod, reinstall software etc. Am getting an error: "The ipod "administrator's ipod" cannot be updated. The disc could not be read from or written to". This occurs when I click and drag a playlist from the source section to my ipod in the source section. Getting a wee bit discouraged by reading all the problems associated with this ipod and am hoping for an easy fix to slide past further frustration. Please help. Thank you muchly.
Windows XP

Go to the iPod Shuffle Support Page, look around in there, and follow the troubleshooting steps in the article entitled "Can't be written to" or words to that effect.

The Ipod cannot be updated - The Disk cannot be read from or written to!!!!

PPPPPPPPPPLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSEEEEEEEEEEE
Help needed from somone very smart, very proAPPLE , THIS IS REALLY PISSINNNNGGG ME OFFFF, i cant drag music in the ipod, i can use it as data but this message keeps on poping up!...This is the second time i change my ipod shuffle.
Does anyone else have this problem???
Please help
Joe

Try using the apple updater to do a restore. (I had to uninstall the updater and iTunes then reinstall just the updater do the restore then reinstall itunes.)
After it's been restored, make sure you've got music in your library. When iTunes next recognises the restored shuffle it should start to automatically copy music to the iPod. While it's doing this, go in to the ipod optons and tick the 'enable disk use' box.
After doing this you'll need to click the eject button evry time you want to unplug the iPod but at least it should work.

IPod cannot be updated. Required file is in use.

After I upgraded to iTunes 7, whenever I plug my iPod into the computer to sync, I get this error message, "iPod cannot be updated. The required file is in use."
What is this ,a nd how do i correct it? Any clues?
Thanks!

After upgrading to iTunes 7, I too, am getting the error message: "ipod cannot be updated. The required file is in use."
I get this message when I plug my ipod into my Mac (don't use a PC) to sync updated podcasts. Strangely, the updated podcasts DO appear on my ipod, but most of the time, when I try to play them on my ipod, the ipod shuts down.
This is the second time I've had a major problem with my ipod after downloading iTunes upgrades. Very frustrating. And annoying.
Has anyone discovered a fix for this problem?
powerbook G4 Mac OS X (10.3.9)

The iPod cannot be updated The file or directory is corrupted or unreadabl

I have started getting the above error message every time I connect my iPod to update. I have reinstalled iTunes, but still no joy. My computer advises me to run utility 'chkdsk' which I have done, but I still cannot update my iPd with the last 37 songs I have downloaded. I am not sure if this is an iPod problem or computer software
Has anyone any suggestions.

It can be either some bad sectors on the HD of your iPod or there are couples corrupted music files on your iTunes
For the bad sectors, see doing the following helps
For Mac computer
1. Open the disk utility, hope your iPod appears there (left hand side), highlight it
2. Go to Tab “Partition”, click either “Delete” or “Partition”, if fails, skip this step and go to 3
3. Go to Tab “Erase” , choose Volume Format as “MAC OS Extended (Journaled), and click Erase, again if fails, skip it and go to 4
4. Same as step 3, but open the “Security Options....” and choose “Zero Out Data” before click Erase. It will take 1 to 2 hours to complete.
5. Eject your iPod and do a Reset
6. Open the iTunes 7 and click “Restore”
For Window computer
Go to folder “My Computer”
Hope you can see your iPod there and right click on the iPod
Choose “Format”. Ensure the settings are at “Default” and that “Quick Format” is not checked
Now select “Format”
Eject your iPod and do a Reset
Open the iTunes 7 and click “Restore”
For corrupted music files on the iTunes, you have to find a way to find them out, and delete them.
Oh,one more thing, try to change your iPod drive letter and see if it helps
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93499

ERROR MESSAGE: The IPOD cannot be updated.

Please help!! Have tried everything can think of including, resetting, retrying, restarting, reinstalling and restoring. ITunes automatically starts downloading when you connect but then only transfers the first 50 or so songs in the library, and then says update complete. When you ask it to then update the IPOD through file menu an error message comes up saying 'The IPOD cannot be updated, the disk could not be read from or written to.' There is no problem with the IPOD, because I have been able to update it via another PC, it just won't update via the laptop even though the ITunes has been set up on the laptop as the ITunes I want to use.
Click wheel Windows XP

To all concerned: There is a new Apple Support Document regarding this error:
-36 or "Disk cannot be read from or written to" error syncing iPod in iTunes
Maybe this helps.
Alexander.

The ipod cannot be updated because....

I got a message this afternoon after adding some songs to my iTunes saying something along the lines of I couldn't fit all the library songs on my iPod so iTunes was going to create a new playlist for me (or something). iPod Select or something. That was fine, except that when I went into my playlists on my iPod - all of them were gone except on-the-go and this new 'select' playlist.
So I deleted this iTunes-created-playlist and went to re-sync, however I got a new message saying "The ipod cannot be updated because one or more of the iTunes playlists selected to update no longer exists". ALL of my music is still in the iTunes library, all of my playlists are still in iTunes (recently added, top 25 etc) but these settings won't sync to my iPod which is now completely EMPTY (2nd gen nano btw).
Any ideas?

You get this problem when the option 'Sync Music - Selected playlists' is being used to sync your iPod. If the playlist selected is deleted from iTunes the iPod no longer has a location to sync from and you get an error. (Syncing selected playlists by the way is a useful setting to use when the iPod is smaller than the iTunes library). However you can make a new one or make use of an existing one.
Open iTunes and create a playlist to update your iPod from, call it -My iPod for example (the dash will position it at the top of the playlists in Sources). You can make it a smart playlist that picks the songs for you or just a normal one and drag whatever content you want to have into the playlist. If you are making a smart playlist limit it to just less than the size of your iPod (for example 3700MB for a 4G iPod Nano. Now connect your iPod and when it appears in the Source list click on the iPod icon to bring up the preference tabs in the main pane. Go to the Music tab and choose Sync Music and the Selected playlists radio button. Choose the playlist you just made from the selection and click Apply. You can also sync from any existing playlists by choosing the same setting, you just need to make sure that the size of the playlists don't exceed the capacity of your iPod:
lost libraryHow to create a Smart Playlist with iTunes
Syncing Music to iPod
To make a random playlist go to File>New Smart Playlist.
Uncheck "Match the following rule"
Check "Limit to" put "3700" in the number box, choose "MB" from the first list box, choose "Random" from the next list box. Check "Live Updating"
When you want to change the selection in the smart playlist just delete everything in it and it will add a new selection. When you want to change the normal playlist just delete out what you don't want and drag in a new selection.

Error: ipod cannot be updated - the required folder cannot be found

Just purchased a 30 gb ipod, and when connected to my itunes (currently version 7.1.08), gives me the error message that says, "so and so's ipod cannot be updated - the required folder cannot be found." after a bit of updating. The ipod then drops out of itunes, but not windows, for some time, only to return later and do the same thing over again. Any ideas?

i got the same problem as you, but it appeared only after i tried to sync the ipod using another user account in windows.
I have tried restoring the ipod, clearing out the itunes library and reloading it etc, all to no effect.
usually it would just hang there until i reset it, and after resetting, it would work for awhile, before it would hang again.
this is getting frustrating for me as I cant even listen to music on the go like I used to.
anyone has a better solution?
I've tried re-installing itunes too

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!

"The iPod **** cannot be updated. The required file cannot be found" Error

Hello,
Upon doing a 'zero-all bits' reformatting of my 5G iPod with Disk Utility and using the 'Restore' feature in iTunes 7, every time I sync my iPod with iTunes, I get an error message after the sync in the form of
"The iPod ** cannot be updated. The required file cannot be found"
and photos, contacts, and calendars are not synchronizing. I tried a second 'Restore' attempt but to no avail. Previous to reformatting my 5G iPod, I've not seen this error message.
I would be grateful if someone could offer any clues. Many thanks.
1.5 GHz PowerBook G4 12 Mac OS X (10.4.7)
Message was edited by: slaveToTechnology

A little update.
Upon reinstalling iTunes 7, deleting my iTunes-related .plist files, and reparing permissions on my hard drive, I can now sync my contacts and calendars with my 5G iPod.
As for Photos, the "required file cannot be found" error seems to be due to the default setting in the 'Photos' tab, 'Sync photos from:' pull-down menu to 'iPhoto'. If I choose my 'Pictures' folder, photo synchronizing works, albeit including everything in my iPhoto library, including originals and modified versions of the photos.
I can only surmise that the default setting for synchronizing photos is somehow buggy in iTunes 7. I guess I'll just wait for an update.
1.5 GHz PowerBook G4 12 Mac OS X (10.4.7)

The iPod cannot be updated. The required disc cannot be found

I am gettin an annoying message that "the required disc cannot be found" and am not sure how to resolve. The iPod shuffle seems to updat with songs successfully. I also tries restoring for factory settings to perhaps start from scratch. I also tunred off all automatic updates in the settings to no avail.
Any ideas?

Try this; disable your virus protection. If this works for you, you can also thank Apple Tech Support.
I'm unsure if this is an iPod problem or an iTunes
problem, so forgive me if this is in the wrong forum.
I've been getting this error message repeatedly since
I started using my 2nd-gen iPod Shuffle: "The iPod
cannot be updated. The required disc cannot be
found."
This worries me because it's the same error message I
started receiving just before my first-gen Shuffle
started doing the infamous "green light/amber light"
thing. This is not exclusive to my computer (Mac mini
1.5 GHz Intel Core Solo with OS 10.4.8); a family
member uses an iMac (700 MHx PowerPC G3 with OS
10.3.9), and iTunes displays the same message with
her 2nd-gen Shuffle. Both computers have the latest
version of iTunes, and both iPods are up to date on
their software.
Other than this, there appears to be no immediate
effect of the fuctionality of iTunes or the iPods.
Mac PowerPC 8500 (9.x), G4 Mini, G4 iBook Mac OS X (10.4.8) iPod Mini

My Ipod mini gives error -47 (ipod cannot be updated, the required file is in use).

When I try to sync my Ipod mini, I get the following error : Error -47 (ipod cannot be updated, the required file is in use). My software is all up to date and the ipod was restored. Nothing helped, how do I fix this? I have a macbook pro.
Thanks

I just tries that,
So you were able to find that setting via Sophos -> Preferences?
It has to be some other process/application on your system that is trying to access the iPod then.
B-rock

Error message: The iPod "THE ipod" cannot be updated. An unknown error o...

the full message is: the iPod "THE ipod" cannot be updated. An unkown error occured (-36).
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN AND WHY CAN'T I PUT ANY MORE SONGS ON MY IPOD.i only have 60 something on there. the message pops up every time i try put a new song on it.
if ANYONE could help it'd be greatly appreciated. thanx.

== Error -54 ==
From an OS9 reference, error -54 is a software lock on a file or a permissions error. (Some of the old codes still apply to OSX although there is no formal list of OSX error codes.)
First, try simply restarting your computer.
iTunes Library cannot be saved (Error -54) - https://discussions.apple.com/thread/1912814

Error message:The iPod cannot be updated. The file or directory corrupted..

HELP!! error message: "The iPod cannot be updated. The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable."
What do i do?!?! it wont let me update or ANYTHING, it wont even let me delete anything off of it. Its a 5th generation 30 gig about 1 1/2 years old. HELP?!?!
5th generation 30 gig Windows XP

Hi swiss22!
Have you tried restoring your iPod? For instructions and info on how to restore an iPod, see this:
Restoring iPod to factory settings
If a restore doesn't help, then take a look at this post by Da Gopha:
Da Gopha: Info on iTunes "corrupt" error messages
-Kylene

"The iPod cannot be updated. An unkown error occured. (-36)"

Hi, can someone help me with this? I've been browsing troubleshooter and topics for days and yet I can't figure out how to fix this one. This occured when I've got my computer reformatted and installed a new iTunes. I can't put anything on my iPod shuffle. The message "The iPod cannot be updated. An unkown error occured. (-36)" keeps on showing everytime I try to put songs on my iPod. I don't know what triggered this. Hope someone could shed some light. Thanks in advance!!

It is actually more simple than iTunes lets u believe.
If you just download an older version of iTunes, most likly the one u had before u updated ur computer, that should fix it and then you can update ur ipod and then get the newer version of iTunes.
Thats what i had to do when i got that exact same error just a few months ago.
If that dont work let me know.
Message was edited by: Killzone17

The iPod cannot be updated because there is not enough free space to hold..

My nano has been working fine until recently, when the following error has come up each time I plug it in:
The iPod cannot be updated because there is not enough free space to hold all of the songs in the iTunes music library, would you like iTunes to choose a selection of songs to copy to this iPod.
This would make sense except that I have my iPod set on Manual Upload of my songs, so iTunes shouldn't even be trying to move all the songs on my iTunes library on to my iPod. I reinstalled iTunes but still no change. The Automatic Upload of my Podcast feature doesn't work as before, and I don't have that many podcasts, and about 250 mb of free space. Anyone know why Manual Upload isn't working right?

The reason why all this is probably happening is because you either have no memory on ur ipod or u have so many songs that in ur itunes that ur ipod cant hold all such as if u have a 1050 songs say and ur ipod only holds 1000 or less then that message would be coming up but dont worry about its just telling u and saying it wants u to get a bigger ipod : )

Sync problem: "The iPod cannot be updated. The required file is locked."

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