me needs help

Question

Level 1

4 points

me needs help

I purchased my 6gb iPod mini on 1/3/2005 and have only just discovered a huge problem...

First of all, every 50 or so songs that are transfered to my iPod via itunes, it comes up with the message "Attempting to copy to the disk iPod failed. The disk could not be read from or written to."...so i right click the iPod on iTunes to put some more songs on, etc.

But there is the odd time when the message doesn't come up and just displays the apple logo on top/takes the iPod off the iTunes screen (which doesn't let me disconnect from iTunes). So then when I disconnect it via the 'Safely Remove Hardware' option on Windows, the iPod displays the exclamation folder and needs restoring.

I have just updated the iPod software and I have restored and resetted so many times, I've lost count. I also just have iTunes and my anti-virus software running on the computer, no other applications.

Oh yes, my warranty has expired so I can't repair it unless I can cough up about £120..

Any ideas would be brilliant...thank you!

Windows XP

Posted on Apr 11, 2006 2:08 PM

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Answer 1

b noir

Level 9

72,324 points

Apr 11, 2006 2:12 PM in response to wavyglanbles

hiya!

"Attempting to copy to the disk iPod failed. The disk could not be read from or written to.

here's a good place to start with that error message:

"Disk cannot be read from or written to" when syncing iPod or "Firmware update failure" error when updating or restoring iPod

love, b

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Answer 2

wavyglanbles Author

Level 1

4 points

Apr 11, 2006 2:24 PM in response to b noir

cheers for the message help

but i've seem to have done everything on there to combat it....there is a bigger problem in when there's not many songs to go, then the ipod goes away and wont let me disconnect via itunes and then i have a situation when i have to restore all over again 😟

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Answer 3

b noir

Level 9

72,324 points

Apr 11, 2006 2:41 PM in response to wavyglanbles

... okay, let's start checking up on some peripheral possibilities not mentioned on that document.

what make and model of PC do you have? is it a laptop or a desktop?

love, b

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Answer 4

wavyglanbles Author

Level 1

4 points

Apr 11, 2006 2:44 PM in response to b noir

desktop computer
windows xp home

Intel celeron processor
801mhz
184mb ram

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Answer 5

b noir

Level 9

72,324 points

Apr 11, 2006 3:03 PM in response to wavyglanbles

okay, that rules out the Toshiba USB 2.0 problems, and the laptop powersave settings problems.

what kind of connection do you have? USB 2.0 or Firewire?

do you have a different (known-good) USB or FireWire cable available? if so, do you get a decent sync if you use a different cable?

if it's USB 2.0, i presume you've already tried connecting to a different port, and making sure the connections are snug. but along those lines, have you attached a new USB 2.0 peripheral to the PC lately? if so, do you get a better sync if you disconnect that peripheral first? (you can occasionally get power drain on one port affecting the performance of a different port.)

love, b

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Answer 6

wavyglanbles Author

Level 1

4 points

Apr 11, 2006 3:03 PM in response to wavyglanbles

I've had to restore it again....it did it again where the ipod automatically quit itunes..i had to eject it via 'my computer' and it had the folder 😟 😟

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Answer 7

wavyglanbles Author

Level 1

4 points

Apr 11, 2006 3:05 PM in response to b noir

i've got a usb 2.0 connection and i have had to use different ports...

i have a usb 1.0 hub which works with restoring (2.0 doesn't work on this as it shows up firmware), and then i switch to the 2.0 for syncing...

and i've only got one usb cable (the one supplied with the ipod where others wont fit in it.

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Answer 8

b noir

Level 9

72,324 points

Apr 11, 2006 3:26 PM in response to wavyglanbles

i have a usb 1.0 hub which works with restoring (2.0 doesn't work on this as it shows up firmware), and then i switch to the 2.0 for syncing...

okay, so it sounds like the USB 2.0 is a bit flaky to begin with. so it's plausible that it's not the ipod that is suddenly going a bit sour, it's the USB 2.0 suddenly being a bit flakier than usual.

can you actually get an experimental USB 1.1 sync to go through fully (without the "disk cannot ..." message)?

(it'll take a while, but if it goes through fully, the finger points more towards the USB 2.0 than the ipod.)

love, b

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Answer 9

wavyglanbles Author

Level 1

4 points

Apr 11, 2006 3:30 PM in response to b noir

well at the moment, i've connected the ipod to the usb 1.0 hub and it's transfered over 200 songs already..so it's going quite well (fingers crossed)..i'll tell you when it goes wrong (noticed I said WHEN) 🙂

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Answer 10

b noir

Level 9

72,324 points

Apr 11, 2006 3:37 PM in response to wavyglanbles

(noticed I said WHEN) :)

🙂 well, 200 still sounds a bit better than 50 ...

love, b

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Answer 11

wavyglanbles Author

Level 1

4 points

Apr 12, 2006 4:42 AM in response to b noir

all the songs are on my ipod now...and i now know that there is something wrong with the usb 2.0...

thank you for your help

Windows XP

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Answer 12

b noir

Level 9

72,324 points

Apr 12, 2006 5:30 AM in response to wavyglanbles

well done wavyglanbles!

sorry that i wasn't able to help you fix it ... but i'm glad to have been of some help narrowing down the source of the problem.

love, b

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Answer 13

wavyglanbles Author

Level 1

4 points

Apr 12, 2006 5:41 AM in response to b noir

you did fix it though...the advice of using the usb 1.0 hub got me to transfer about 1000 songs continously without the message coming up 🙂

all i have to do now is replace the usb 2.0 card or something..

you saved me about £120 of apple's repair charges

cheers

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