what's with sync error 1140 when syncing iphone?

Do you have iPhoto 9.4 installed? It is the upgrade from iPhoto 9.3.2 to 9.4 that is causing the trouble. Have a look at the iPhoto discussions here for more information. It looks complicated to me. I already sent a bug report to Apple. Hope to see a fix soon.

I also got the error 1140. I did a little searching and found the answer off of this support site! Since it is an iPhoto problem, I just unchecked the sync photos box in iTunes, and then synced my phone. Everything else besides the photos synced just fine. This worked for me because all I really wanted to do was sync my music. Still need a fix for syncing photos...

This worked for me because all I really wanted to do was sync my music. Still need a fix for syncing photos...

I've seen one report of a possible workaround for the 1140:

After several Google searches I found the iPad syncing problem to be caused by iPhoto 9.4 not handling the & correctly in names. It's not recognizing them as & which is causing problems with XML. You can manually change them or wait for Apple to issue a fix to iPhoto 9.4. I started to do the manual fix & I just have too many to change.

(Manual renaming isn't going to be an easy/good workaround for a bunch of folks, though.)

Update: try updating to iPhoto 9.4.1. If it's not appearing in your Software Update yet, try updating using a .dmg installer downloaded from the following page on the Apple website:

iPhoto 9.4.1

From the release notes for the new version:

What's New in Version 9.4.1

• Improves the reliability of syncing to iOS devices via iTunes
• Fixes an issue that could cause iPhoto to quit unexpectedly when using the Export command
• Addresses an issue that could cause iPhoto to quit unexpectedly when upgrading multiple books, cards, and calendars
• Resolves an issue with downloading and viewing photos synced from Facebook albums

I'm having this issue and 9.4.1 did not help.

The issue has to due with the cache that iPhoto uses for mobile devices.

Just delete this folder, sync and let iPhoto rebuild it. If you have a lot of pictures to sync it might take some time, but all it is doing is bascially regenerating the thumbnails.

In your home folder, go to Pictures>iPhoto Library (Or wherever your library is located).

Now right click, Show Package Contents then delete the folder titled, "iPod Photo Cache". Empty your trash, and try to resync your device.

Most likely this didn't update properly somewhere along the line between OS X and iPhoto updates.

My issue is actually related to the internal (to iPhoto) GUID of some photos have an unescaped ampersand in them. If I manually edit the AlbumData.xml file to remove or escape these apersands, iTunes works fine and can sync my photos. I believe I have found where this GUID is stored in the Library.apdb file (the uuid column of the RKVersion table), but I'm more relucant to mess with the real iPhoto database than I am with the AlbumData.xml file.

It is my understanding that the AlbumData.xml file is not consumed by iPhoto, it is created and mantained by iPhoto to share information about photos, albums, event, etc with other applications like iTunes and the media browser.

I tried this, AppaHolic, but it didn't work for me I'm afraid. I'm resigned now to waiting for Apple to fix what appears to be a widespread issue.

I'm resigned now to waiting for Apple to fix what appears to be a widespread issue.

Have you tried updating to iPhoto 9.4.1? That's been the high-percentage play in recent times for the 1140 error.

I got this form http://maltaphonerepairs.com/how-to-fix-error-message-1140-when-syncing-iphone-5 /

How To: Fix Error Message 1140 When Syncing iPhone 5

Posted on October 6, 2012

The following is done using iTunes:

• Un-select sync | Apply.
• Click on Sync.
• Try and Sync photos. Click on Apply and then press Sync.

Thanks Xtine1217. Your suggestion worked 🙂

Thank you ElanDavin, AppaHolic & xtine1217, together they resolved my problem. 🙂

Looks like this can also be caused by the otherwise excellent CleanMyMac. When I select the options to clean the iPhoto caches etc. then try to sync I get this error. Seems to be cured by (re)starting iPhoto which presumably rebuilds the folders.

It worked, thank you.