iTunes won't sync iPad Air2

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Level 1

26 points

iTunes won't sync iPad Air2

Since upgrading to Catalina 10.15.2, PadOS 13.3 and Music 1.0.2.37 I have been unable to backup or sync my iPad Air2. When I connect the iPad to my MAC, I get an error box message, The contents of the iPad “John Maldaner's iPad Air2” could not be read. Click Restore to restore this iPad to factory settings. (This error message appears to be located in the Finder. When I go to the Music window, I see my iPhone listed under Devices, but not my iPad.)

The iPad does not show up in the left column under "devices" and thus I cannot click on sync settings. I was able to recently update my OS over wifi, but I sure would like to back up the iPad! This is very concerning as I have always been able to communicate via iTunes in the past. As a point of reference, I was able to connect my iPhone XR to iTunes today to back it up.

As a further mystery, when I go to Photos after connecting my iPad via USB port, I get a message asking me to unlock the iPad. The iPad IS unlocked!! But, Photos will not recognize it and will not, therefore, import photos from it.

So, the Finder (Music) is not able to read the contents and Photos is not recognizing the iPad as unlocked. I had none of these problems prior to the changes in operating systems on the MAC and iPad.

Any suggestions?

iPad Air 2 Wi-Fi

Posted on Dec 16, 2019 3:30 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

NoBite Author

Level 1

26 points

Dec 17, 2019 8:54 AM in response to QuickPost

Okay, so I was not ready to toss in all my chips and restore to factory settings. A bit of research led me to this page. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201210

In short, I shut down my MAC and iPad and then restarted them both. For some reason, when I then plugged in the iPad to the MAC, Photos opened up and recognized the iPad and I was able to import all new photos from the iPad. Then, when I opened Music, the finder also opened and there was the iPad listed in the Device area! I am at this moment syncing the iPad. It is recognized, with the current OS, and the sync is in progress!

I must say that everything is creeping along slowly, but it is apparently working. As an aside, my late-2012 MAC has a noticeably slower processing rate since upgrading Catalina 10.15.2.

Anyway, I wanted to post my findings here in case anyone else experienced this difficulty. I have had the habit over many years of not shutting down my MAC daily. I close all open windows, but usually leave it running always. Perhaps this is a habit I need to revise!

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Answer 2

QuickPost

Level 10

103,305 points

Dec 16, 2019 4:36 PM in response to NoBite

Hello,

Like life, there are no guarantees. Your iPad may be encountering a hardware problem. If this is the case then there is not much you can do about it. At this point your only option is to restore iPad to factory settings.

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