no problem syncing before itunes 12.9.4.94. Now it is stuck on reading photos

It seems to be a problem that Apple is going back and forth with.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8345651?page=17

I can see it was discussed extensively last year and perhaps the bug was fixed. I tried all the 'fixes' suggested and none of them worked for me.

Now it's back again. I'm facing the same issues as you. Contacted Apple support via email and they asked me to use chat. I used chat and within 5 minutes (after he/she suggested I use a different cable) to go to store. WTH? Anyway, after going through several 'senior' advisors, I was told that I could go through all the steps again so they could log the details and pass to the engineer to fix the bug. But if it were a bug issue, I'll just have to wait for the new OS/iTunes update.

Naturally I wasn't excited about spending 2 hours on the phone with that that will result in potentially no change in the current problem.

Just FYi.

If anyone out there has an easy workaround/ fix, please shout out.

There is still no fix for this problem. It took Apple quite a while to fix this problem the last time it occurred.

Please keep reporting it:

https://www.apple.com/feedback/

The more people that do this, the quicker the problem might get fixed!

I'm so glad to find someone else having the same issue as I am. I have been pulling my hair out deleting the iPod photo cache and running disk utility. I can get it to work once after deleting the iPod Photo Cache but then if I try and sync after forget it. stays there for hours.

Sync your iPhone, iPad, or iPod using iTunes on your computer - Apple Support