PDA

View Full Version : ipod + windows + itunes 6 + external hdd = disaster


TheTomHarrison
01-02-2006, 11:09 PM
Please choose the appropriate forum for this topic. Thank you. Here are the details of my setup:

Dell Inspiron 8600 Laptop
Maxter 3100 Personal Storage external USB HDD
20 GB monochrome clickwheel iPod
iTunes 6.0.1.3

The iTunes music library is stored on the external hard drive, and iTunes is set to store all the audio files there. When I plug in the iPod (via USB wire), iTunes freezes up. I am unable to click on any of the songs, playlists or menu items. The iPod does not show up in the sidebar. My only choice is to ctrl+alt+del iTunes and then use the "Safely Remove Hardware" windows option to eject the iPod.

If I store the music library on the C: drive, everything works fine, but the purpose of buying the external hdd is that my C: drive is running out of space because of the music library.

I took this whole setup the apple store. After testing the iPod on their Macs, on a windows PC in the back room and then on my laptop, the genius bar guys concluded that there's nothing wrong with the iPod. I agree, because if I use a different iPod that has no known issues, I get the same freezing up problem. They said that this is a windows quirk, and it's just having problems handling the usb ipod + usb hard drive.

The genius bar guys were able to get the ipod to update by unplugging everything, starting itunes, plugging in the ipod then plugging in the external hdd. Since then I have tried this and many variations of the technique over and over and over. After endless frozen iTunes sessions and countless reboots, I'm convinced that when they plugged it in and got it to update at the genius bar, they had a stroke of luck.

Has anyone else experienced this problem? Does anyone know anything about it, or can anyone offer any advice on how to get this working? I would really appreciate it.

TheTomHarrison
01-04-2006, 04:00 PM
Does anyone have any ideas with regard to this?

jhpope
01-04-2006, 06:24 PM
odd...i have an inspiron 8500, 5g ipod, itunes 6, and a maxtor 200gb external i made myself and i have no problems whatsoever

raicerlala81
01-14-2006, 06:33 PM
Have you tried looking at your external hard drive from another computer? My hard drive wont open on my computer anymore, it says the semaphore timeout has expired... but it also freezes the itunes 6

mremis
02-11-2006, 03:34 AM
i dont know if this an old topic but im reviving it

one of my friends had the same problem

the external/ipod work independantly but when plugged in together they dont work. we tried them on multiple computers

it is an acondata external hd

enjoilax
02-11-2006, 05:44 AM
Originally posted by jhpope
odd...i have an inspiron 8500, 5g ipod, itunes 6, and a maxtor 200gb external i made myself and i have no problems whatsoever
Same here basically also no problems