Ipod classic 160gb won't sync past the 36 gigabyte point

i have the same problem with my 160GB ipod. past6 GB it stops sync-ing.. whats up with that? i restored it many times and no avail! help!

my sister is having the exact same problem with her 80gb classic, will not sync past 3gb

i am having the same problem with my 160 gb classic, it stops syncing once it gets up to 36 or sometimes up to 37 gb of music. the it crashes, making itunes freeze , and no more music can be added, i think its harddrive problem, we should send letters to apple about this all together, attaching a copy of this forum. please let me know if you guys did anything about this, i am so angry

I'm in the same boat.

I've had some luck fitting more on there by manually syncing things, and by electing not to show album artwork on the ipod, but it is most definitely broken.

I know it is basically a conspiracy theory, but it does seem like these problems do occur soon after an update on ipods that are used fairly regularly and are 1-3 years old. None of the people experiencing these problems are people that reject the new apple updates.

I really loved my ipod while it lasted, but I'm not going to pay money for a new one if it is going to break after just over a year.

*Check iPod hard-drive for errors*
Hold Select+Menu on the iPod for about 6 seconds until it resets, then hold Select+Play as soon as the Apple logo appears, again for about 6 seconds to put the machine in disk mode. Open iTunes and in the Sync tab of the preferences menu check *Disable automatic syncing of all iPhones & iPods*. Now connect your iPod to the computer, wait until it connects, then close iTunes. Browse *My Computer* and right-click on the drive for the iPod, click Properties, then click Tools. Under Error-checking, click *Check Now*. Under Check disk options, select *Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors* (Optional - takes ages but a good idea if you've reason to suspect physical damage). Click Start. Mac users should run *Disk Utility / Repair Disk* for the equivalent process. This should find and correct any errors in the logical & physical structures of your iPod's hard drive.

If the iPod has a clean bill of health run the same checks on the source drive for your music. In additon, try this technique for populating the iPod in stages.

*Break up large transfers*
In iTunes select the menu item *File... New Smart Playlist*. Change the first drop-down box to Playlist, the next to is and the next to Music. Tick against *Limit to*, type in say 10, then change the drop-down to GB, and set the last drop-down to artist. When you click OK you can enter a name for the playlist, e.g. Transfer. Now sync this playlist to your iPod rather than your entire library. When the sync is complete modify the rule ( *File... Edit playlist* ) to increase the size by your chosen amount, then sync and repeat. You can experiment with different size increments, if it doesn't work just choose something a bit smaller until it works each time. Before long you should have all your music on your iPod. Once that's done you can move on to other media such as podcasts, videos, photos, playlists etc.

tt2

None of that stuff works, and I think everyone here knows it.

Not that I don't appreciate the response. I do.

I've just tried all that, and it appears I'm out 300 dollars.

No worries. I'd probably be pretty cross if I were in your shoes. However if the iPod will restore, then accept & play just one track, then I suspect the chances are that it can be made to work.

Have you checked your iPod's SMART data? This may give you a better picture of the state of your iPod's hard drive. Press SELECT & MENU for 6 seconds to reset the iPod then Press SELECT & REWIND to enter the diagnostics screen. Select Manual Tests > IO > HardDrive > HDD > HDDSMARTData.

For comparison here are my results:

Retracts: 671
Reallocs:7
Pending Sectors:0
PowerOn Hours 1806
Starts/Stops:751
Temp: Current 24C
+Temp: Min 10C
Temp: Max 50C

When finished press SELECT & MENU for 6 seconds to reset the iPod again. A realloc occurs when a sector that could not be reliably read from or written to is invisibly remapped to a reserved area of the disk. Large numbers of Reallocs or Pending Sectors would suggest a flakey or damaged drive.

If the drive is OK then look at other possible culprits. Personably I found my system unable to sync my entire library in one hit which is why I recommend breaking up the task into smaller chunks. I don't know exactly what the problem was, iTunes is less than helpful when it comes to error messages, but at various times I've suspected power saving routines, write-behind caching, ready-boost, AV software or iTunes just falling over as it's list of scheduled transfers grows too large. However since mine syncs fine I've no need or opportunity to nail it down. Likewise I have seen posts from people who report unchecking the file that iTunes freezes on, or the one just before it as a help which points to errors in the source drive as a possible cause of this type of problem.

Have you tried using it with another computer?

tt2

Dang. Smart data on my iPod is as follows
Retracts: 8
Reallocs: 4928
Pending Sectors: 520
PowerOn Hours: 128
Start/Stops: 22289
Temp: Current 33c
Min: 54c
Max: 250c

Sounds extremely messed up. I've been posting in the Mac side of the forum (see: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2015884&tstart=0) regarding this unit having trouble syncing with my Macbook. I hooked it up to my PC and came over here and luckily found this thread.

Sounds like the hard drive is pooched big time, comparing my numbers with yours and the info you gave regarding the reallocs and pending sectors. Also general common sense begs me to ask WHY THE HECK the min temp is 54 degrees C!?!?

Thanks for this info tt2 - can you please confirm with me that the hard drive is shot, so I can go strangle the guy that sold it to me? (haha just kidding, I plan to politely ask for my money back)

Yeah - looks like a paperweight to me. I can only assume the weird min. temp value is another symptom of the failure.

tt2

I have the same problem, and I have seen DOZENS more like this. It's really messed up how Apple refuses to do anything about this obvious issue with the 80gb and 160gb classics. There is no solution until Apple offers to replace these out of warranty ipods and stop ignoring the problem. I smell a class action lawsuit.

I bought my 160gb iPod clear in the knowlege that I had a 12 month warranty on hardware failure. No extended warranty or insurance. If I lose my iPod or damage it through carelessness I'll be cross with myself not Apple. I've had almost two years use out of it so far and when it does die, hopefully from natural causes, I'll still be cross but I reckon I'll have had my money's worth. Having been through a significant number and variety of portable cassette & CD players over 30 years it's lasted longer & been much more fun to own than any of those. To be honest it's survived quite a few falls and proved to be remarkably robust although my nice silicone sleeve may be an important factor in it's survival. Two of my kids have 5th gen iPods which have needed new headphone jacks (their wear & tear) and one's battery could do with replacing (age) but they've been good too.

Hard drives can & do fail. A hard drive that is used while moving is probably going to have a shorter life-span than one that sits still. This article on the bathtub curve illustrates three classes of failure, early infant mortality, due, presumably to some manufacturing defect, random failures over time & failures due to wear & tear. User induced failure (dropping, drowning, baking in the sun etc.) are presumably random over time, although I guess we're all a little more protective/careful with a shiny new toy. Your warranty should have covered any early failure. Apple or your dealer probably offered an option for an extended warranty when you bought it which you, I presume, like me, declined on the basis that you didn't think it was good value for the money. With this in mind why do you think Apple should replace an out of warranty iPod? They've kept their end of the contract, presumably you've had 12 months of useage out of it for your warranty to have expired.

Putting all that aside you say you have the same problem. What symptoms exactly? Have you looked at the SmartData for example? Have you conducted surface tests of both the iPod's drive & your source media? If your iPod's drive is damaged are you being honest with yourself over how roughly you've treated it?

tt2

here's what i did.. well, i got it through surfing around the net. i hope this would help you guys too.

for windows users:

1. plug-in your ipod and set to "enable disk use"
2. go to control panel
3. select and open "system"
4. under the hardware tab, select "device manager"
5. under disk drives, right-click your ipod
6. select properties
7. under the policies tab, select "optimize for performance"
8. done.

this has something to do with caching files, making a drive easier to write on.
that's it. i really hope this helps because this is exactly what i did.

=)

cholzeelacerna@yahoo

I'll give that a shot... at this point I'm desperate, I just wish I could stop all the nonsensical wear and tear I'm putting on my external HDD from all these sync attempts. In regards to turingtest2's post, I have done nothing but baby my ipod. I haven't put it in my pocket. Its either stationary in my car or on my desk syncing, the same as the ipods before it, one of which I still own and works fine(60gb 4th gen). I post if the changes in the policy settings work for me or not. Oh yeah, apparently there is an iTunes update out now too (8.2), I'll DL that well.

Sorry, didn't work. I had high hopes but the same result as before. Apple really screwed us on this one. Those of you who are still in warranty get it exchanged, the rest of us... I guess we're SOL. Thanks Apple, I could really use a $350 paper weight. The Zune HD is looking better every day.