ipod corrupted - Error -53 when attempting to sync 160gb ipod classic

There is no solution for this problem. This is hardware issue for all Ipods having more than 32GB capacity. As apple uses FAT32 file system for IPods on windows. And FAT32 does not support more than 32 GB. So they replaced my IPod with new 80GB one, however there is no gurantee that it will continue to work. Apple also does not have any solution yet for this problem.

I have an 80GB classic and it's doing the same thing. I've had it for a bit over a year and it just started with the 7.6.2.9 iTunes update. I've already been to the Apple Store and they never mentioned a thing about it being an unsolvable problem.

I'm starting to think it may be something else. I'm not using Vista. Have a different iPod too. I wonder if we have any similarities in our systems that may be causing this?

I am having the same problem as well with my 80GB classic. The syncing will start and then freeze at various points during the process. I have received the error -53 message and others as well after this. I have restored my ipod at least 50 times. Once I get the ipod corrupted message, vista will give me a message stating there are disk errors on the ipod drive. I have scanned the drive twice (which takes hours) and just when it is about to be done i get a message "windows unable to complete the format". I tried disabling the USB 2.0 ports to where they "aren't 2.0" and that didn't work either.

I have tried winamp, floola and anapod as well. I get similar errors on those systems as well.

I thought it might be my OS or vista but I borrowed an older ipod mini 4GB and it synced over 500 songs just fine. I also tried an ipod shuffle 1GB and it synced fine as well. I brought my ipod over to a friend's house who has an older computer that runs XP and doesn't have USB 2.0 and it synced music fine.

I have spent hours searching the internet and trying various things. This is the only post I have found so far that people are having the exact same problems as I am. I am just wondering if it is my computer or ipod classic that is the problem.

Thanks for any assistance.

Sounds exactly what I've been getting as well, which is good, lack of answers is not!
Was working fine, managed to get everything on and kept adding new stuff, and then about 2 weeks ago I started getting the freeze in syncing and the -53 error. Have had to resynch 5 times since to get my music back on, as everytime i try to put on video it crashes.
Depressingly it's close to unusable - i'm going to try the apple store regent street as a last resort next time i'm in london, but not holding out much hope.

Just an update. I tried another computer and got more content on my classic than ever before (a whopping 30 songs and 10 music videos). However, I still ran into the same syncing problems eventually to where it would freeze at random areas. I was only trying to put around 100 MB's on at a time. This computer was running XP. I still had to restore my ipod several times and at one point it wouldn't restore anymore and I had to put it into disk mode to eventually restore it. I have yet to contact apple because I think they will just send my unit back and it will do the same thing since so many other people are reporting the same problem. If anyone has any solutions to this problem please let us know!! Thanks

I have this problem too

Except I have had more than just -53

-69
-48
examples

I sent it back to Apple, thinking that there was something wrong on the inside, but I got it back saying "No fault found". Did they even try and sync it? lol

At least I'm not the only one. I have only about 5gigs worth of music and almost 2gig worth of video on my 80Gb classic so I really don't know whats going on!

Just wanted to chime in and say that I'm experiencing the same issues. Was on the phone with Apple Care for ~2 hours (after being sent there by a stumped Genius Bar member)and had to hang up to take care of more pressing matters (shattered windshield!). No results.

Thought it might be corrupt files, but this seems to have no bearing, as 50-75% of the way through, good ol' error 53 rears its head. I now have 1 measly song synced on my iPod. On a good day, I get lucky and am able to sync that 50-75% but that's less than 5% of the time, so I've pretty much given up on that as well.

As a fun bonus, and possibly a related issue, the iPod itself remains in a "connected" state after ejecting it both through itunes and through the safely remove hardware icon.

This is killing me. I've had error messages -53, -48, -50, and probably some others that I'm forgetting. All of a sudden, last week.... I synced my (160GB ipod classic) and it wouldn't play any whole songs. It would get a few seconds into a song, then skip to a different one. I synced it again and it locked up and gave me a rotating slew of the error messages from above. I restored the default settings on the ipod and now have 160GB of anger and frustration. No music, no movies, no idea how to fix it.

I'm getting the same thing. This WAS working on Vista without much of a problem for a few months now. It got corrupted ONE time about 2 months ago and I restored it without a problem.

Now it will not restore anymore. The weird thing is that I went to my wife's XP machine and restored there, but when I brought it back to my vista machine, it still gave me the corrupt error message and unable to restore. I am using 64 bit, but again, this worked fine for the past 4 or 5 months and now it has stopped. I'm wondering if this most recent iTunes update changed something? It did work post SP1 install, so I doubt it was that.

For what it's worth, I took it to a different Genius Bar and after briefly explaining the situation, the technician simply replaced my iPod. I took it outside the store and synced my library just fine. While it's certainly not a technical solution to the problem itself, I'd recommend it to anyone since my calls to applecare and previous visits to the genius bar couldn't actually correct the error.

Hey guys,

I started my own thread on same/similar problem, and have chimed in on other threads about this too...I am using the latest version of Itunes and Firmware 1.1.2 on a new Ipod Classic 80gb. I'm a longtime user of a 5g Ipod, and had problems syncing with my old library. My new Ipod Classic would often freeze during a sync, I would have to prematurely disconnect my Ipod, which would lead to a blank Ipod, and then I would have to perform a Restore and start over.

The way I have got things stable/working again, is to delete your entire Itunes database folder (located in My Documents > My Music). Though I did keep my Artwork Folder. And then, start your library from scratch. I know this *****, but basically, for me, my Itunes Database files got corrupted.

It looks like we are all windows users here too.

Um - I just had this exact problem with my nephew's 160. Would not sync, though it appeared that it was - only could get about 3G of music and maybe 2G of videos on it. I took it to an Apple store today and the tech told me this is a known issue - bad hard drive. He replaced it.

I don't think it's a FAT32 issue. I think it's because these hard drives are super skinny and fragile, and they haven't been around that long. Take it back.

I am also facing exactly same problem on windows Vista, though I have latest ITunes 7.6.2.9 and latest Ipod firmware 1.1.1.

Please let me know if anyone knows resolution to this problem.

I'm getting the same problem with my 80GB Classic, except I'm getting error -48. This is really frustrating!

Its doing the same thing for me, Its F'ing ******* me off