iTunes freezes when I plug my ipod in

I have excatly the same problem. Reformatted, recovered and it starts to sync then itunes freezes. I have been trying to fix this for five days now and still nothing. Really bugging me now

Apple recommends that you are using the latest iTunes. (but of course!)

Try reformatting the iPod in FAT32, then connect to a USB2 or faster cable port. when iTunes, comes up, and prompt you to restore, uncheck the Auto Sync first, set to Manually Manage then restore.

1. After Restore, eject the iPod, check that there are no music, and set the datetime (may not neccesary).

2. Then connect back the iPod.

3. Select a few songs (less then 100) and then Sync.

4. When sync is complete, eject the iPod and check if there are any music, if not, your iPod harddisk, maybe be writeoff.

5. if your 100 songs are in the iPod, then try to sync in batches of max 500 songs, as Windows may timeout the USB port, and hang iTunes, if you try to sinc the library in one go. Yes nowadays, I see people have 60GB of songs/Videos in their library, and complaining that 160GB ipod is insufficient.

Using Windows 7, I would try

1. Download and install the Latest iTunes from Apple.

Reboot your PC. Hopefully you got anti-virus.

2. Connect your iPod, iTunes should ask to restore your iPod.

3. Please untick the Auto Sync in the iPod summary tab and tick the Manual Management.

4. Press the Restore button and wait shouldn't be more than 15 minutes.

5. Enter your iPod name.

6. Press DONE button.

7. PRESS the iPod EJECT button on the left column

8. Disconnect your sync cable, when the iPod screen say OK.

9. Reboot your PC, start iTunes again.

10. Connect your iPod, and sync a 50 songs. (shouldn't take more than 5 minutes)

11. Eject the iPod and check if songs are there. (if not, your IPod Harddisk need to be checked)

If syncing is too long, I think send it to some iPod service centre.

Give the whole sequence 2 attempts, and also try to get a 2nd Sync cable, if sync is intermittent ie sometime it works and sometime it doesn't.

Good luck!

And I'm out of solutions, only belief that some bug in iTunes drivers is causing this problems, read somewhere that Windows 7 users should use Apple Mobile device driver. ( Sorry I'm running off iMac OS X.

I think your iPod harddisk is a goner.

You must bring your iPod into disk mode to chkdsk the iPod (I haven't tried this before but it is in the discussion Archive somewhere, please search for ipod diskmode)

1. Disconnect your iPod

2. Press Menu and Select for about 10 secs till the small Apple logo comes on.

3. Press Select and Play button at the same time, this will bring you into disk mode.

4. Connect the iPod.

5. In Windows My Computer folder, you should see your iPod or else it will say unformatted device.

6. Format the iPod using FAT32. (please don't use NTFS, or else iTunes will gives future Sync problems)

7. Use the Window checkdisk uitility to verify your iPod formatting.

8. If above is good, disconnect and reconnect your iPod, then Restore using iTunes.

if all the above fails, send it for servicing or get a new iPod.

If you see the iPod in my Computer folder, right click and format it, and see what happens, even if it is ExFAT format. this will check if your iPod harddisk is usable. if it gives error. then find the Apple Gebius people to replace the harddisk or buy a new iPod.

That's all I can of, hopefully others in the Community can help you.

If the above steps don't work, I went through a lot of trial and error to fix mine but found that this method worked great.

1. Press and hold select and menu to reset.

2. When the apple comes up, press select and play to put the iPod in disk mode.

3. Plug iPod in and make sure iTunes recognizes it. It will still give you an error but ignore it.

4. Find out what the iPod drive name is. Mine is G: so be careful what you put in because this will completely format any drive you type in.
Open up CMD from the run or start menu. Type in:

Format G: /FS:FAT32.
(Remember to replace G: with whatever drive your iPod is.)

Then hit enter. It may take a while. This will start the iPod format.

5. When that is finished, you will get an error that says something like the drive is too big for FAT. Ignore this.

6. Eject the iPod using iTunes and then press the select and menu button to reset the iPod back into normal mode.

7. Plug the iPod back in. You will get a message on Windows saying that you need to format it again. Ignore this.

8. Restore the iPod using iTunes.

This method will completely wipe the iPod and formats the entire thing to its original file format. I have read that doing this can reduce the life of the iPod, but better than having a iPod paper weight. This method made mine run like new again. I found that using the Windows Format Utility doesn't work to well. The CMD format seemed to do the trick. Hope this helps.

everytime i connect my iPod Classic to my PC (Windows 7 w/latest iTunes) my iPod freezes and I have to do hard reset on my iPod.. this has been happening for over a year.. it used to be that I could make sure i power down my iPod (holding the Play/Pause) before i connect, cross my fingers and sometimes it wouldn't freeze, but this no longer works.. I have the latest iPod Classic model.. :-/ #applefails. 😢

You've confirmed that G: is the drive your iPod is? That's only what my machine puts it as, but I also have two HDDs and a back up drive. It defaults my iPod to G: Once you plug it in, double check what drive it is under My Computer.