"The Disk Could not be read from or written to"

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savior-o

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I have encountered an extremely frustrating problem. When trying to copy files from my music library to my Ipod, I get the following frequent message:

"Attempting to copy to the disk failed. The disk could not be read from or written to."

I am trying to transfer my song library to my Ipod, but after every 30 songs or so, I get this error message, and the copying suddenly halts.

Does anyone know what is causing this problem?

Thanks.

Ken
 

Blackmane

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Had this before, i usually eject the ipod resart the computer and try again. If this fails repetedly try a reformat, if this fails again contact apple see what they can do. Could be disk error, or your USb or firewire is faulty.
 

fadetowhite

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I am having the exact same problem right now with my 20gb colour.

This has come out of the blue.. I have the newest iTunes (6.01.), and I have no other issues with other USB devices. I am also having weird library issues, with songs disappearing.

I am going to rebuild my iTunes library files today and try a different USB port.

If that doesn't work, I have no idea what the issues could be. Someone mentioned a hard disk error on the iPod, but people on the Apple Support forum have had their iPod's replaced, with the same error.

I have noticed though that this error has only started happened around October of this year. WEIRD!
 
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If the above doesn't work use the Updater and restore the iPod. This will erase the iPod HD and set it to factory settings. Make sure your library is on your computer first.
 

fadetowhite

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honeybee1236 said:
If the above doesn't work use the Updater and restore the iPod. This will erase the iPod HD and set it to factory settings. Make sure your library is on your computer first.
Did that. Same problem occurs.

Clickwheel is also acting up a bit - won't scroll sometimes unless I click menu to go back and then come back into the directory, or unless I reset it.
 

cizzari

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I'm having a similar problem, except I don't always get that message. It just started out of the blue, during song transfers it will just randomly freeze up and the songs won't finish transferring. I took it to an apple "genius" he restored my ipod, loaded a few songs, and said "it's working now" got home, and it froze on song 40 (of over 1000).

I reformatted my ibook to see if that was the problem, but it's still happening. It does this on my ibook G3, and an iMac that belongs to my brother.

Here's the kicker, I have an old ipod I thought I'd use in the meantime, so I start to transfer the songs to it, and of course it freezes it too!! Then again on another ipod of my brother's when I try it on my ibook.

What's the deal???

most time iTunes just locks up, and I have to force quit, but even a force quit won't shut it completely down so I have to reboot. Other times iTunes doesn't even recognize an ipod is connected, and other times I get that message you guys are getting.
 

copa5et1c

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Same/similar issue here, too.

I just got my iPod photo 60Gb replaced at the Apple Store (different issue - I think). I was getting error -36 with the new pod, so I updated the OS, updated QuickTime, updated iTunes, and restored the iPod.

It was then that I started getting this error message:

Attempting to copy to the disk "iPod" failed. The disk could not be read from or written to."

Mind you, this is an iPod fresh from the Apple Store. I took it back today. The local genius restored it from his laptop, made sure all the cables were working, updated it from both his machine and my own (with a couple hundred songs on my "user" profile), and pronounced it good. Looked good to me, too, until I got home and tried to update it to the 2,000 plus songs on my "admin" profile, and I started getting the error again!!

My guess was that there was some file in the iTunes Music folder that didn't agree with the iPod, but I opened all the folders and didn't see anything other than mp3s.

I'm going to go check the Apple site...
 

copa5et1c

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Oh, happy day!

I found some files that were like 1400 kbps that I could do without, so I deleted those. The update would then complete, but the files were all grayed out. I switched to manually manage songs & playlists, and they all "turned on" again.

Your mileage may vary. I read a lot of complaints about the latest updater, and other workarounds on the Apple forums/discussions. When you do a search for "ipod disk read from written to" on the main Support site, you get nuthin', but when you search on the user discussions, you get all kinds of ideas.
 

Reddun16

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Solved it!

I had the same problem and it was driving me mad.

In the end I deleted a whole load of podcasts that I'd already played and synced again. Bingo. Problem solved.

Let me know if that works for you.
 

peridot

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I found a solution

This problem cropped up suddenly, and I spent a few days restoring my 20GB iPod over and over. I brought it to the Apple repair service and they told me to throw it away and buy a new one, because the HDD Scan took too long. I did the scan again at home, and it completed successfully twice. Then I found this thread and was determined to find what was causing my problem. I still don't know the cause, but I found a solution for my iPod.

I noticed that the iPod was recognized by iTunes in one USB port but not the other, even though the Finder saw it in both. I plugged a powered USB hub into the port that didn't work, and plugged the iPod into the hub. Voila! I copied 2500 songs with no more error messages.

I don't know if my MacBook Pro has lost power in the USB ports or my iPod has lost the ability to get enough power, but the powered USB hub fixed it for me. Back to my music again!

I have had no problem syncing my iPhone in either USB port.
 
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