Why good error messages matter: iTunes and iPod update
16-Jun-2006*** Update: I was wrong in my problem isolation. The problem is actually to do with an intermittent error reported on the iPod’s disk, and the steps taken below to resolve the issue worked because of luck, and not because of setting files to be writeable. The iTunes message appears to have been partially accurate. See also this post for further adventures in problem isolation. ***
The message that I find in the System log in Windows XP’s Event Viewer (repeated every minute for minutes or hours at a time) is this:
Source: Disk
Severity: Warning
Error ID: 51An error was detected on device Device-Harddisk1-D during a paging operation.
For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Harddisk0 is usually the C drive, and the iPod is Harddisk1.
I’m trying an iPod restore. I’ll update when I get near my wall power unit so I can complete the iPod restore process.
*** Update: Restoring the iPod has resulted in an empty-looking iPod, and a complete inability to copy music to it due to the “Attempting to copy to the disk [iPod name] failed. The disk could not be read from or written to.” error dialog. I guess I’ll be phoning Apple tomorrow. ***
The original post is below:
Before I start to ramble, I’d like to save people using an iPod and iTunes (on Windows XP) some pain by mentioning that the iTunes dialog…
![Attempting to copy to the disk [iPod name] failed. The disk could not be read from or written to.](http://brainsnorkel.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/06/ipod-not-happy.png)
“Attempting to copy to the disk [iPod name] failed. The disk could not be read from or written to.”
…is (or, may be) misleading. Do not reformat your iPod or throw out your cable until you read this post.
Apple is justifiably famous for the enviable design of, well, everything it does. I’m an ex-serial-Mac owner and a current iPod owner, yet I feel I’m keenly aware of the Apple brand-loyalty magic operating on my inner consumer.
I questioned my rationality when I tossed and turned for nights over whether to buy a shiny black MacBook even though it’s $200 more expensive than an equivalently configured white MacBook. Talk about being drawn to the dark side. Couple that with my complete lack of a problem to solve — casa del Brainsnorkel already has six computers to share among its five occupants.
iTunes has its critics and defenders. As you can see, I’m conditioned to play the role of Apple apologist. However, with iTunes I have gone from being a detractor (before I owned an iPod) to accepting (once I owned an iPod) to my current state: annoyed.
The event that took me from accepting to annoyed was when I encountered the dialog above. From the text you can’t tell what you might have to do to resolve the problem, but it’s clearly something to do with the iPod’s disk. It’s two seemingly well-thought out sentences that seem very specific, but are actually quite ambiguous. The phrase “could not be read from or written to” suffers particularly badly from the English convention of interpreting the word “or” as a logical “and.” I know writing good error messages is hard, I assumed the best and let my problem isolation skills run wild.
I encountered this message after buying Madonna’s latest album on the iTunes music store.
I purchased the album on my main home PC, and copied the files onto my Internet-accessible Fedora server as I’d put my laptop (my iPod-syncing PC) away.
As a point of reference — earlier in the evening, I’d stumbled on an Ancient Beatbox/Sheila Chandra MP3 I’d purchased years ago from E-music and had copied it straight off the old PC onto the laptop’s iTunes.
Yesterday I copied Madonna to my laptop and listened to the album in iTunes.
I plugged in my iPod and tried to sync. Pop - up came “Attempting to copy to the disk [iPod name] failed. The disk could not be read from or written to.”
Huh?
Checking my suspicion that the iPod had actually managed to sync and iTunes was lying to me I found that the Ancient Beatbox MP3 had made it to the iPod, but the Itunes Music Store Madonna album was not present.
I ran a disk scan over the iPod and it came up clear. I rebooted the laptop. I reset the iPod. I promised never to make fun of Kabbalah again. Nothing worked. Apple recommended reinstalling iTunes and messing with re-installing the iPod, but I just didn’t believe I had to go that far given that the iPod and iTunes were working normally — except for popping the error dialog when I updated the iPod.
I compared the file properties of the tracks on the Madonna album with other syncing files, and found that the Madonna tracks were set to read-only. This was probably a side-effect of traveling via the Fedora server. I set them to be writeable and suddenly I could sync again with iTunes.
So “Attempting to copy to the disk [iPod name] failed. The disk could not be read from or written to.” is sometimes iTunes’ way of trying to tell you that some of your music files might not be writeable and syncing won’t work until you fix this.
So what’s wrong with this? Let me count the ways:
- The error dialog wasn’t just ambiguous, it was the opposite of helpful.
- According to the Apple site I should have gone through a process that includes reinstalling iTunes and reformatting the iPod to isolate the problem. Ouch!
- Surely iTunes could have copied the files to the iPod anyway. Why does it need write access to the files to read them?
I think iTunes is badly in need of some investment at Apple.
Here are some ideas for new development:
Why is “subscribe to podcast” in the Advanced menu and not in the File menu with the other import options? Who uses the visualiser and why does it get its own menu? Why does iTunes take 100% of my CPU for downloading podcasts? Why does the status text spend 90% of its time displaying the result of my last iPod update when I want to know about what’s playing? When will calendar items sync properly over the International Date Line?
I think iTunes is being treated like the cash cow it is: it ain’t broke enough to risk fixing it.
*** Update: I was wrong in my problem isolation. The problem is actually to do with an intermittent error reported on the iPod’s disk, and the steps taken below to resolve the issue worked because of luck, and not because of setting files to be writeable ***
An update from nklivio in the comments which won’t help me - but looks very useful for Shuffle users:
Same problem with my shuffle…disk cannot be read or written within iTunes. But I am once again able to place music on my iPod with this workaround…
- download the iPod updater and restore settings, deleting everything.
- Install and re-run iTunes to setup the iPod initially. Do not apply any settings or upload music.
- Show Apple the middle-finger and REMOVE iTunes completely.
- Install Winamp (Deluxe free version) and the iPod plugin ml_ipod (from here: http://www.mlipod.com/)
- Go into the Media Libray (or hit alt+l), the iPod should be showing up under devices, and right click to set options.
- Add music to winamp’s library and drag and drop to the iPod
it worked for me…my once thought useless iPod is working great again!
man, i read through that whole rant thinking there was
jim | 19-Jun-2006man, i read through that whole rant thinking there was a solution to the problem i am having.
Sorry if this doesn't help you Jim. If this
Chris | 19-Jun-2006Sorry if this doesn’t help you Jim.
If this isn’t the problem you’re having then you’re at the mercy of Apple’s troubleshooting guides. If only this error message was more exact, then troubleshooting would be more science and less google-roulette.
"I compared the file properties of the tracks on the
John L | 22-Jun-2006“I compared the file properties of the tracks on the Madonna album with other syncing files, and found that the Madonna tracks were set to read-only. This was probably a side-effect of traveling via the Fedora server. I set them to be writeable and suddenly I could sync again with iTunes”
First you do ramble, Second Thank you for the help
The syncing files where are they located ipod or desktop, I looked at the files that reside on the desktop and they are not read only, where can I look for the syncing files, and if they are on the ipod how would I view properties?
Thank you for your help, it is appreciated
John
John, Just today I was encountering the same problem and my
Chris | 22-Jun-2006John,
Just today I was encountering the same problem and my changing permissions turns out to be a false positive diagnosis. The *real* root cause appears to be an intermittent disk failure on the iPod. I’ll update later when I get to the bottom of this.
If you’re running XP go to the Event Viewer’s System Log and see if there are periods when the system is reporting a disk warning. If so, we may be in the same boat.
Apologies for the misleading post :(
My kingdom for a larger iPod population sample.
[...] An intermittent iPod problem has turned into a constant
brainsnorkel.com » Blog Archive » It’s dead, Jim | 24-Jun-2006[...] An intermittent iPod problem has turned into a constant problem. I’ve spent a few days attempting to isolate and/or fix the problem, with no luck. I have disk checked, restored, formatted, and factory-reset the iPod numerous times. The poor thing has been plugged into and associated with one Mac OS machine and five XP machines, running three different versions of iTunes. Disk checks don’t find any errors. [...]
[...] As reported earlier, I’m having an iPod problem. I’m
brainsnorkel.com » Blog Archive » More iPod madness | 29-Jun-2006[...] As reported earlier, I’m having an iPod problem. I’m not trying to beat a dead horse, I’m just trying to isolate the cause of failure to see if open heart surgery and a new hard disk will be a waste of money. [...]
Same problem with my shuffle...disk cannot be read or written
nklivio | 4-Aug-2006Same problem with my shuffle…disk cannot be read or written within iTunes. But I am once again able to place music on my iPod with this workaround…
1) download the iPod updater and restore settings, deleting everything.
2) Install and re-run iTunes to setup the iPod initially. Do not apply any settings or upload music.
3) Show Apple the middle-finger and REMOVE iTunes completely.
4) Install Winamp (Deluxe free version) and the iPod plugin ml_ipod (from here: http://www.mlipod.com/)
5) Go into the Media Libray (or hit alt+l), the iPod should be showing up under devices, and right click to set options.
6) Add music to winamp’s library and drag and drop to the iPod
it worked for me…my once thought useless iPod is working great again!
Thanks for the tip. That information sounds too useful
Chris | 5-Aug-2006Thanks for the tip.
That information sounds too useful to sit in a comment, so I might append it to the post for anyone who’s looking for a potential cure.
In my opinion, the "Attempting to copy to the disk
Chris W | 4-Oct-2006In my opinion, the “Attempting to copy to the disk “NAME” failed. The disk could not be read from or written to. ” error message is iTunes way of telling you that your iPod hard disk is corrupted.
I noticed that my iPod now behaves like a corrupted floppy disk. I can’t write to it, and it will work at random times. It means there is damage to the actual disk, which isn’t hard for me to believe because the space between the arm of the hard drive that reads the disk and the actual disk is only a few nanometers.
The disk is damaged because I banged my iPod around once too many times. It would sit in my car and at every turn, the iPod would slide and hit the side of it’s place in my car. I think it’s time to stop blaming Apple, because they made a great product, and start blaming me because I didn’t treat my iPod well enough.
Note to self: get an iPod protective case next time.
Chris W: I have to say, my iPod suffered quite
Chris | 9-Oct-2006Chris W: I have to say, my iPod suffered quite a lot of abuse during its life too. Once they’re fully solid-state iPods might be able to withstand my treatment of them, but until then I should expect them to be as fragile as hard disks.
While I’m disappointed the diagnostics aren’t better, I can’t say I’m that surprised by the death of my iPod. Current iPods come with a latex “sock.” I can’t believe mine is still shiny!
I bought an Ipod shuffle the other day, had the
Jay | 25-Oct-2006I bought an Ipod shuffle the other day, had the same sort of problems shown on here. This was the only site i found that mentioned the winamp plugin, so i tried it and bob’s yer uncle, works like a charm.
I-Tunes is the worst program i have ever encountered, they shouldn’t even package it with I-pods if it isn’t gonna work.
i just got a ipod replacement and am still having
Aaron | 3-Nov-2006i just got a ipod replacement and am still having the same error message, disc can not be read… at the apple store they tell me it’s my computer but the original was syncing fine for 6 months on the same computer….just thought i’d debunk the mishandled ipod theory…why so many people with the same problem?…
I found a fix for this on my 500mb shuffle!
joe | 5-Nov-2006I found a fix for this on my 500mb shuffle! I saw a pattern where the shuffle would be detected and after the initial synch, would be gone (from my computer). In Win XP device manager, I went to the properties of the shuffle under ‘disk drives’. On the ipod’s “policies tab” i selected ‘optimize for performance’. When it set to ‘optimize for quick removal’, it would immediately disconnect the device after the inital synch and hence it was not recognized as being plugged in anymore!
Well, I tried a bunch of different ways of solving
John | 7-Nov-2006Well, I tried a bunch of different ways of solving this. I tried Joe’s method of changing the device’s optimization but to no avail. I then tried the winamp method and pow. Worked like a charm!! SCREW YOU ITUNES!!
I'm just in the middle of synching my ipod to
Emily | 19-Nov-2006I’m just in the middle of synching my ipod to winamp and it’s worked brilliantly. I’ve always had trouble with itunes and now I’ve found the answer with your suggestions.
THANK YOU SOOOOOO MUCH!!!!!!!
I just got my 2000t and all of my songs
Carl | 29-Nov-2006I just got my 2000t and all of my songs are skipping in iTunes, and I cant figure out why. If someone could help me out and tell me how to fix this I would really appreciate it because its driving me crazy. Thanks for the replys.
I had this 'read/write error' problem when trying to copy
Joshua Sierles | 7-Dec-2006I had this ‘read/write error’ problem when trying to copy songs that were located on a USB external hard drive. When I connected the hard drive via Firewire instead, copying worked fine.
I am trying to download itunes so that I can
dave milette | 18-Dec-2006I am trying to download itunes so that I can get to work on my new ipod but when I try to initially run the installer I get an error message that reads:
Error message
could not access network location
%userprofile%\send to\.
Could someone tell me why this is happeneing and how to overcome it so I can download itunes and run the installer
I just got a new ipod shuffle. I downloaded the
Paulok | 10-Jan-2007I just got a new ipod shuffle. I downloaded the new itunes version 7. WHen I try to put music on the ipod it seems to be working for a while and the comes up with the following error message “The ipod cannot be updated. The disk could not be read from or written to. Then if I wait a while another error message come up “The ipod cannot be updated. An unknown error occured (-50). Does anyone know how to fix this? Please help.
I was getting the error message (Disk can not be
Kevin | 12-Jan-2007I was getting the error message (Disk can not be read from or written to) while syncing. I found this is caused by a currupt song. Just delete that song from the Itunes library or choose not to sync that song and the ipod will sync. I had 3 currupt songs I had to delete. When syncing, this error message comes up while syncing the bad song or songs.
Sorry, what you suggested did not work for me. I
Tyler | 22-Jan-2007Sorry, what you suggested did not work for me. I installed winamp and the ipod plugin and it still wouldn’t work. Got any suggestions?
Kevin, How do I locate which songs might be corrupt? I've
Dave Berry | 31-Jan-2007Kevin,
How do I locate which songs might be corrupt? I’ve currently got 9000 songs in iTunes so I need to know a pretty good way of doing it….?
Having looked for this error message on the Apple website
Dave Berry | 31-Jan-2007Having looked for this error message on the Apple website something caught my eye - other software interfering with the iPod. I realised that I had installed Nero 7 earlier today (just before the problem happened). I uninstalled it, rebooted, and it seems to be working OK now. Of course, this IS iTunes we’re talking about, so I won’t hold my breath…..
But, I would suggest anybody experiencing this problem thinking about when it began and whether it was just after installing something new……….
For those of you who are getting "the disk can
Keith | 4-Feb-2007For those of you who are getting “the disk can not be read from or written to” and “and unknown error occurred (-50)” errors when you try to update your ipod, you’re using windows, and you’ve exhausted every other fix that you’ve found on the internet, here is another possible fix:
1) Disconnect your ipod.
2) Hit ctrl-alt-del to get task manager
3) Terminate iTuneshelper and iPodservice
4) Connect your ipod, it should show up in windows explorer
5) Select your ipod in windows explorer (it will probably be the “E” drive. It should have an “ipod_control” subdirectory. Double click it.
6) Select the “music” subdirectory
7) Select the “F00″ directory and double click a music file. This should run iTunes if you have it set up as your default player.
8) In iTunes, select your iPod and click the settings tab.
9) Check “enable disk use.” Move the slider wherever you want it - if you want all music, move it all the way to the left.
10) Hit “apply”
11) Eject your iPod, then reboot.
Your problem may be solved!
Its interesting. I was having this problem. It
Daniel Kane | 14-Feb-2007Its interesting. I was having this problem. It turns out that merely installing winamp and the iPod accessory for it solved my problem. Right after installing them, iTunes was able to update by iPod shuffle with no problems.
I followed Keith's (02/03/07) directions and it solved my problem
Kyle | 15-Feb-2007I followed Keith’s (02/03/07) directions and it solved my problem instantly.
I just thought that I would add some pointers for someone else having the same problem.
*when you open the ipod as your E: drive the “ipod_control”
folder will not be visible unless you display hidden folders.
(tools, folder options, view, display hidden folders)
*If you do not have music already installed on your ipod you
you can drag and drop an mp3 file into the “foo” file.
Anyway, this worked great for me. Thanks Keith.
Can anyone help with my problem??? I'm trying to open Itunes
Andy Brown | 20-Feb-2007Can anyone help with my problem???
I’m trying to open Itunes program but all I keep getting is an error message saying ” Itunes has encounted a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience. Do you want to sent error report to Microsoft”. I’ve tried uninstalling Itunes and reinstalling but this didn’t work. The problem is there is no error code or any other information and its driving me mad!!!
Any ideas????
I just wanted to say thank you!!! I did
Shari | 14-Mar-2007I just wanted to say thank you!!! I did what you suggested and downloaded winamp and the plug-in for the ipod and it worked like a charm. =)
I also followed Keith's method and it worked beautifully. Thank
gbw | 17-Mar-2007I also followed Keith’s method and it worked beautifully. Thank you.
After 2 exasperating days, including a useless trip to the
Jay | 31-Mar-2007After 2 exasperating days, including a useless trip to the Apple store in Toronto, I came across this site. Lo and behold, I followed the Winamp instructions and all is well with the world again. Please accept my most sincere thanks
i followed keiths instructions and the extra notes(most helpful) from
sean | 4-Apr-2007i followed keiths instructions and the extra notes(most helpful) from kyle but i cannot follow the last instruction of sliding the bar all the way to the left then hitting apply
i cannot slide the bar along the bottom which shows capacity and cannot see anywhere else i can apply the same
HHHHHEEEEEELP!! please
surely apple should address this problem if it is on such a large scale
Oh my god...thank god for Keith and the comment about
Nicole | 8-Apr-2007Oh my god…thank god for Keith and the comment about the hidden folder. I have been trying to fix my ipod for days now!! This is the ONLY thing that worked! Thank You Thank You!!!
@sean I didn't have the slider bar either, but it ended
Walker | 10-Apr-2007@sean
I didn’t have the slider bar either, but it ended up not mattering in my case. My “F00″ directory was empty, but I simply dragged and dropped a file into the folder from my music folder. I followed the rest Keith’s instructions and my shuffle works just fine, now. Thanks, Keith!
Just when i tot i'll need to drop by apple's
John | 11-Apr-2007Just when i tot i’ll need to drop by apple’s store…i followed keith’s instructions and it worked like a charm.
Thanks keith!
Sean - just to be certain, did you click the
Keith | 12-Apr-2007Sean - just to be certain, did you click the “Enable Disk Use” checkbox on the settings tab?
anyone familiar with this error message -69 "cannot be synced".
David | 21-Jun-2007anyone familiar with this error message -69 “cannot be synced”. I can’t add any songs to my video ipod from my pc. This message appears when i first connect the ipod and again when i try to add any songs. Never had this problem until i downloaded newest version of itunes
I think the main thing to take away from this
Phil | 17-Jul-2007I think the main thing to take away from this is that it is highly unlikely your iPod hardware, or cable, is at fault. I’ve been syncing my iPod form iTunes on a laptop. Copied everything to my home desktop PC and after the initial erase and sync, I get this message every time I try to sync.
Went back to my laptop and hey presto, no problem. Same iPod, same cable, same version of iTunes too! Just a different OS build. Very very frustrating but not entirely fair to blame Apple alone.
Is anybody seeing this problem on a non-Windows machine?
ive had the exact same problem with my brand new
Rogerio | 15-Sep-2007ive had the exact same problem with my brand new nano.
after a week i found a “doh” solution!
im under win xp in portuguese(brazil) but i use korean regional settings(for non-unicode programs).
i just went to ‘Control Panel -> Language and Regional Options -> Advanced Tab’ and changed the language back to portuguese(brazil).. rebooted.. AND when i connected the ipod.. i was able to sync my musics normally and update the firmware WITHOUT any error warnings!!
i think that happened because there are some unicode characters that cant be read under non-unicode viewing
i hope it helped.. sorry about bad english =D
I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU! I have spent the
Anna | 27-Sep-2007I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU! I have spent the past week swearing at, crying, pleading with and restoring my Ipod video. I developed an addiction to Valium and severely bruised knuckles (not to mention the walls). I am now loading my songs onto Winamp - IIITTTT WWWWOOOORRRRKKKKSSSSSS! middle finger up to Apple! wwwoooooo! I LOVE YOU!
I have the same problem with Ipod not being able
micemic | 12-Nov-2007I have the same problem with Ipod not being able to read or write. Started deleting the files I saw right before I got the message. So far its working. Can’t figure out why they were OK before I restored the Ipod (5th Generation) but now are no good.
Started backtracking my steps and deleting podcasts. I was getting nervous about losing the ipod’s services which led me to this site.
Thanks for sharing your troubleshooting experiences. I may have solved my
Chris | 9-Dec-2007Thanks for sharing your troubleshooting experiences.
I may have solved my problem by unplugging a scanner located on the same USB hub as my iPod. It appears that there may have been some interference that caused the intermittent read/write failures while sync’ing large numbers of files.
Good luck to everyone resolving this problem. Unfortunately, Error 51 in the Windows Event Log is somewhat of a catch-all for device read/write errors and may have a number of different root causes.
Chris this site is very helpful. I was ready to
Monique | 29-Dec-2007Chris this site is very helpful. I was ready to get rid of my daughter’s iPod until going to your site. I haven’t tried any of the suggestions yet but I hope they work for us. At this point I am willing to try anything. Apple should really address this problem in a greater fashion if so many people are having similar problems. But of course they won’t tell us to try Winamp. Thanks again Chris. Stay close by just in case I need your help again.
After reading this, I uninstalled itunes, installed winamp, sync'ed the
shinyd | 25-Feb-2008After reading this, I uninstalled itunes, installed winamp, sync’ed the device & said screw you itunes!!! it works like a champ through winamp!!!
I am so going to check back on replies. I
Jared | 9-Mar-2008I am so going to check back on replies. I have been working at putting video/movies on my iPod 5th Gen for 2 weeks now. It all started one winters day surfing Wal Marts Website for a surround sound system. HMM…. HD DVD Player and 1000 Watt 5.1 Surround w/IPOD DOCK? 200 bucks? NO WAY!!! I had to have it.
Come to find out, I can watch movies off my iPod through the surround sound on my TV. SWEEETT! No more DVD Disks No More burning copies, La La La…. So, now.. How do I get the movies on my iPod?
Google it… iPod Converter for MPeg4. Yep, found a pretty good one too. But now my “MUSIC” won’t sync fully, there is a “write/read” error just as everyone has stated before.
Yep, Found the cause, yet I agree with Dave Berry, I am not going to search through the properties of 50gigs of music to find the little check box of “read only” to just get iTunes to sync that song. No WAY.
I have always been a fan of WinAmp back in the day of MiDi files and fun old school Dj Times when digital media was just hitting the market.
So, Bag iTunes, it’s only severved one purpose for me, and that has been to sync my iPod. I think I learned here that with WinAmp, you can even get music off your iPod, even if it’s not in your Library, unlike iTunes where you would lose that file. SO, we will see where this goes, and for those of you who want to put your movies on your iPod for those long Plane Rides or whatever, remember you can convert the file into a format that the iPod’s Quicktime Player can play.
Happy Times…. Thanks for the input all, this has really helped.
Just keep in mind, everyone has different software conflicts, different settings and so on, not every case is the same situation.
Jared
can someone help me . i bought some videos for
regina | 11-Mar-2008can someone help me . i bought some videos for my i pod some of them downloaded fine but internet was interrupted now i cant get itunes to download the rest it gives me the message . unable to check for purchases the itune store is temporarely unavailable please try again later . ive been trying for 3 days now ,
please help
regina | 11-Mar-2008please help
Regina, I would use the "Help->Apple Service and Support" menu item
Chris | 11-Mar-2008Regina,
I would use the “Help->Apple Service and Support” menu item and follow your nose from there to get Apple’s help. I’ve had very good results from them before.
Even though it was me who messed up, they refunded me my money and gave me some song credits for my trouble.
chris, thank you ,i tried your suggestion and it worked
regina | 12-Mar-2008chris, thank you ,i tried your suggestion and it worked ,turned out 1 song that i bought was bad ,they took it off and gave me a credit for more videos . it is all fine now thanks alot ,i really mean that
Hey peeps, here's what worked for me: Device: iPod Shuffle 1GB PC:
Santidiablo | 21-Apr-2008Hey peeps, here’s what worked for me:
Device: iPod Shuffle 1GB
PC: Windows XP sp2, dual monitors, Wacom Intuos2 tablet, custom built tower, Intel P4 3.2ghz, Asus P4S800D-X mobo, GeForce 7300 GT, 2GB Kingston RAM
[I know, not the hottest specs, but HEY, I was on a budget]
Problem:
“iPod cannot be synced. Unknown error -48.” which lead to “the iPod could not be restored” (error 1418)
1) Updated iTunes to version 7.6.2.9 using Help menu (shouldn’t matter whether you use Help menu updater or download from Apple site, also careful you don’t install iSafari unless you really want it)
2) Exit iTunes
3) I physically disconnected *ALL* other usb devices from my computer except for Wacom tablet (I have carpal tunnel)
4) Shutdown/Exit all GUI programs you don’t need: Yz Toolbar, Yz Dock, Yz Shadow, DisplayFusion, SysMetrix, Rainlendar, BOINC, FreeClip. (I don’t know why this matters, but it did) AND set your Windows theme back to the default (don’t know if this made a difference, but I was tired of this iPod problem already)
5) (Follow instructions at: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304996)
Open Notepad. Put this into Notepad:
regsvr32 /s softpub.dll
regsvr32 /s wintrust.dll
regsvr32 /s dssenh.dll
regsvr32 /s rsaenh.dll
regsvr32 /s gpkcsp.dll
regsvr32 /s sccbase.dll
regsvr32 /s slbcsp.dll
regsvr32 /s mssip32.dll
regsvr32 /s cryptdlg.dll
regsvr32 /s initpki.dll
(Each individual line should begin with regsvr32 and end with dll)
Save as “appleipod.bat” and save to your Desktop. Double-click it, wait for a command window to appear and disappear. You can delete the appleipod.bat file after this.
6) Open your updated iTunes, connect iPod Shuffle using a USB port that’s actually part of your motherboard, (I then registered and filled out all forms), and Restore your iPod (if it doesn’t prompt you automatically, there are 2 tabs near the top, click on Settings>Restore). I restored using “latest” firmware/software available.
7) You might have to reboot, Windows or iTunes might say something about having detected a device in an error state and that it needs to check it, it’s okay: let it, it’ll restore your iPod Shuffle with latest software. (sorry about lack of clarity at this step, but I was tired)
Notes: Again, this is for a iPod Shuffle 1GB, don’t know if it’ll work on others but everyone seems to use the same problem resolution. I read many pages/posts/forums, I tried using Windows’ Error Checking which never seemed to yield any effective results. This also might be why my computer “detected” the iPod “in an error state”. When connecting the iPod to my computer, it didn’t restore if I had it connected to one of the convenient USB ports at the front of the case, only worked when I connected it to one of the onboard ports (they’re both USB 2.0 connected to mobo pins so I don’t know why that mattered). Also, my first attempt to sync at Step 7 failed, but I just let it try again and it worked. I have to say, SERIOUSLY, I didn’t expect to spend 6 hours working on this stupid problem and I expected MUCH BETTER results from an Apple device. One thing that may have lead to my frustration was that I first installed the iPod on a laptop, synced some songs, and then installed/synced on a desktop but who knows.
HOPE THIS HELPS.
thank you so much, I deleted itunes, and am now
Adam | 21-Apr-2008thank you so much, I deleted itunes, and am now running my ipod through Winamp
I've had the same problem but in my case I
Jon | 8-May-2008I’ve had the same problem but in my case I actually found that my iPod wasn’t happy with the excessively long filename, just another cause of the problem.
Now I've read a few posts already that have similar
Joan | 6-Jun-2008Now I’ve read a few posts already that have similar problems but I’m yet to find a solution that doesn’t involve restoring.
I have a 20gb 5g ipod It is 2 years out of warranty. I haven’t done anything different to my itunes or ipod before any of this started. I’ve updated my itunes to the latest version to try to fix the problem, but it didn’t work. See below the message..
“Itunes has detected an ipod that appears to be corrupted. You may need to restore this ipod before it can be used with itunes. You may also try dissconnecting and reconnecting the ipod.”
Thanks,.. Help…
Thank you! I tried the entire gambit of "fixes"
Carol | 18-Jun-2008Thank you! I tried the entire gambit of “fixes” … restoring, reformatting, setting USB connection settings, hard drive drive letter change, uninstalling and installing old versions of iTunes, enabling disk use, only syncing with extremely small groups of songs, re-registering dlls … and the problems ranged from the disk write error to the disappearing drive… nothing worked. Thanks to you my iPod mini is once again useful because of WinAmp. FYI since this thread began the ipod plugin is not part of the base install for WinAmp.
Sorry .. that is pod plugin is NOW part of
Carol | 18-Jun-2008Sorry .. that is pod plugin is NOW part of the base install..
Very cool. Thanks for the update Carol.
Chris | 19-Jun-2008Very cool. Thanks for the update Carol.
I was having the same problem today, getting the "iPod
Scott | 30-Jul-2008I was having the same problem today, getting the “iPod can not be read from or written to” error on my older iPod Photo. It ends up that I was using my iPod Touch USB cable to try to sync the iPod Photo, which came with a Firewire cable. I switched over to the original Firewire cable that came with the iPod Photo and it synced perfectly. Weird thing is, I have previously synced this iPod with the USB cable many times in the past, but this time, it didn’t like it. Guess I’ll have to keep both cables handy.
I had this problem just now.. Restored the ipod, etc.
John | 28-Aug-2008I had this problem just now.. Restored the ipod, etc. Turns out it was due to a corrupted mp3.. Alien Ant Farm - Calico. Horrible song. I recently decided to start working on my album cover art and I guess that somehow messed that mp3 up. I ended up just deleting the last few songs of that album after calico because they all seemed to be messed up and now it’s working perfectly.