You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

💡 Did you know?

⏺ If you can't accept iCloud Terms and Conditions... Learn more >

⏺ If you don't see your iCloud notes in the Notes app... Learn more >

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

powerweb11 Author

Level 1

0 points

"The iPhone cannot be synced. The required disk cannot be found."

I have been having this problems since I got my iphone last year. Early on the phone would sync after 2-3 tries but as of the last 2-3 months I have been only able to sync it 2-3 times even after trying all the solutions presented by the troubleshooting and reading forum posts that seem to have a similar or near similar problem.

The first message I get after having the phone sync is
"The iPhone cannot be synced. The required disk cannot be found."
After itunes attempts to sync again I get a different message that says
"The iPhone cannot be synced. An error occurred while writing to the device."

Ive ran the diagnostic and this is what I got:
Microsoft Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2 (Build 2600)
EVGA__ 132-YW-E179-FTW
iTunes 9.1.0.79
QuickTime 7.6.6
FairPlay 1.7.16
Apple Application Support 1.2.1
iPod Updater Library 9.0d11
CD Driver 2.2.0.1
CD Driver DLL 2.1.1.1
Apple Mobile Device 3.0.0.102
Apple Mobile Device Driver 1.46.0.0
Bonjour 2.0.0.34 (214.3)

iTunes Serial Number 5DD5EE0A2E39800E

Current user is an administrator.
The current local date and time is 2010-04-21 16:55:29.
iTunes is not running in safe mode.

Video Display Information

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260

** External Plug-ins Information **

No external plug-ins installed.

The drive E: Memorex 52MAX 325216AJv2 Rev RW$5 is a USB 2 device.

** Network Connectivity Tests **

Network Adapter Information

Adapter Name: {5EC41707-0E19-4943-9EBF-169BD17E249E}
Description: NVIDIA nForce Networking Controller - Packet Scheduler Miniport
IP Address: 192.168.15.4
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway: 192.168.15.1
DHCP Enabled: Yes
DHCP Server: 192.168.15.1
Lease Obtained: Wed Apr 21 16:35:40 2010

Lease Expires: Wed Apr 21 17:35:40 2010

DNS Servers: 192.168.15.1
192.168.15.1

Active Connection: LAN Connection
Connected: Yes
Online: Yes
Using Modem: No
Using LAN: Yes
Using Proxy: No

Firewall Information

Windows Firewall is on.
iTunes is enabled in Windows Firewall.

Connection attempt to Apple web site was successful.
Connection attempt to iTunes Store was successful.
Secure connection attempt to iTunes Store was successful.
Secure connection attempt to iPhone activation server was successful.
Last successful store access was 2010-04-21 16:15:50.

** CD/DVD Drive Tests **

No drivers in LowerFilters.
UpperFilters: GEARAspiWDM (2.2.0.1),

D: SONY DVD RW DRU-V200A, Rev 1.60
Drive is empty.

D: SONY DVD RW DRU-V200A, Rev 1.60
Drive is empty.

E: Memorex 52MAX 325216AJv2, Rev RW$5
Data or MP3 CD in drive.
Found 1 songs on CD, playing time 255:57 on CDROM media.
Track 1, start time 00:02:00
Get drive speed succeeded.
The drive CDR speeds are: 4.
The drive CDRW speeds are: 4.

** iPod/iPhone Connectivity Tests **

iPodService 9.1.0.79 is currently running.
iTunesHelper 9.1.0.79 is currently running.
Apple Mobile Device service 3.0.0.0 is currently running.

Universal Serial Bus Controllers:

Standard OpenHCD USB Host Controller. Device is working properly.
Standard Enhanced PCI to USB Host Controller. Device is working properly.

FireWire (IEEE 1394) Host Controllers:

Texas Instruments OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller. Device is working properly.

Most Recent Device Not Currently Connected:

iPod nano (4th Generation) running firmware version 1.0.4
Serial Number: YM9023TZ5BF

iPhone 3GS running firmware version 3.1.3
Serial Number: 879230PW3NP

** iPhone/iPod Touch Sync Tests **

Sync tests completed successfully.

If anyone has a possible solution please let me know as its getting very frustrating not being able to update my phone.

Message was edited by: powerweb11

Personlized, AMD Quad core

Posted on Apr 21, 2010 5:13 PM

43 replies

Feb 10, 2012 1:05 PM in response to powerweb11

I got this error too. I did the itunes Help Diagnostic checked out fine, then I restarted my iphone, restarted itunes, replugged my iphone into my laptop, still failed with same error message. Then it came to me that my iphone was set to sync with the *icloud*, which *prevents* it from syncing with my laptop - I had forgotten that I'd left it that way, I synch alternately with both for good measure). Soooo I changed my iphone setting to not sync with icloud and voila, everything synced with my laptop just fine.

So the error message "The iPhone cannot be synced. The required disk cannot be found" is not user friendly - but with help from you all I solved my issue. Thanks everyone!

SUMMARY: it was my icloud setting that caused the error; when I changed the setting everything worked fine.

Feb 12, 2012 10:04 PM in response to Ragewind

i did that and it synced perfectly!!!(: thatnk you soo much!!! ^_^

Mar 4, 2012 11:47 AM in response to powerweb11

still stuck on step 1 and i do all the things and also run the diagnostic test

Mar 17, 2012 10:57 PM in response to roueski

I had the same problem. Your solution helped to solve it. Thanks a lot.

Apr 12, 2012 3:00 PM in response to demastrie

Thanks very much for this - I had reinstalled Mac 0S X and reloaded a new itunes and was getting the message "IPod cannot be synched, disk cannot be found" Your suggestion of going in to Library > Organize > Consolidate files worked for me.

jenumana

Level 1

0 points

Apr 25, 2012 8:07 PM in response to powerweb11

Try changing usb cables! It worked for me. My old one was chipped and I didn't realize it. I used my new one and it synced successfully!

Apr 26, 2012 6:34 PM in response to powerweb11

A previous poster suggested quitting and restarting iTunes, then unplugging and re-plugging the iPhone into USB. Worked great... thanks!

Jun 15, 2012 8:38 AM in response to powerweb11

I switched to a different USB cable, problem solved (the first cable was also causing a "Cannot charge with this device" error on my iPhone).

KCDeW

Level 1

0 points

Aug 15, 2012 7:49 PM in response to roueski

Thank you so much for the great tip! It definitely worked for me!! I really appreciate it! 🙂

mda1

Level 1

0 points

Nov 11, 2012 6:26 PM in response to powerweb11

I had the same exact problem. It was the cable, which I should have guessed: it wasn't working properly to charge it, either. Tried another and it was fine.

kal39a

Level 1

0 points

Nov 15, 2012 9:51 AM in response to powerweb11

I got the same two errors on all three ipod nanos (one for each kid unfortunately!)

1) the ipod cannot be synced because it cannot be found AND

2) itunes could not copy ..... file could not be found

Problem I found was that it was windows 7 that was restricting access. When I connect up the ipod via the USB cable, windows pops up saying "scan disk for errors"... I went trough the scan disk process for the device by "fixing errors" and then telling it to "Force.." the process to complete.

Also try connecting usb cable directly to the computer and avoid any usb hubs or spliters.

Then started up latest version of Itunes.... it worked.

grory

Level 1

0 points

Mar 14, 2013 7:43 AM in response to powerweb11

i do have problem with my itunes, i cant sync my phone.. it say that "The iPhone cannot be synced. You do not have enough access privileges for this operation"... what is really happening now?

VWlover

Level 1

0 points

Aug 11, 2013 1:33 PM in response to powerweb11

I was using Easy Phone App to sync my iTunes from Windows 7 (64-bit) PC to Galaxy 4 android...I got the "no disc in drive" error...On my own, I found a very simple solution:

Click on start, right-click on iTunes, choose Properties, click on Compatibility tab, check compatibility mode, then from dropdown under compatibility mode heading, choose your operating system type, click OK, and your problem should be resolved. My Easy Phone App ran flawlessly after that...Hope this helps you and others on this forum!😉

"The iPhone cannot be synced. The required disk cannot be found."