when I hook my ipod to computer it reads: there is a problem with this drive scan the drivenow and fit it (F) it doesnt work

Hello, Ljchicago.

Thank you for visiting Apple Support Communities.

Here are some troubleshooting steps that I would recommend when experiencing this issue.

iPod not recognized in My Computer and in iTunes for Windows

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1369

Restoring iPod to factory settings

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1339

Cheers,

Jason H.

Hello,

I found the same issue. I have an iPod Classic 160 GB (Black) bought in April 2013. I'm using a Windows 8 Laptop bought in August 2014.

This is my account of this problem and why I think customers should just ignore the pop-up, but Apple (and possibly with Microsoft/Windows) should look at the issue.

Recently (approximately from early February 2015), when I connect the iPod to my computer I get a message saying there is a problem with the drive and it needs to be scanned and fixed. In full the message reads:

There's a problem with this drive. Scan the drive now and fix it.

This message appears very shortly and then immediately (once the message disappears, is clicked on, or x-d) brings up Windows File Explorer on the drive and its containing visible folders: which tells me nothing (though it can clearly open it and look at the files not locked to iTunes)

Other than this, the iPod seems to connect properly and work fine. iTunes (ver: 12.1.0.71 64bit) seems to find no issue. The iPod runs fine, it syncs properly (all of my music and podcasts). It responds as it always has and works for hours.

I did some troubleshooting: first on the wire, trying all ports and using an alternative, then on my laptop (all usb ports with other connectors and device drivers) and some basic testing of the iPod and iTunes. All of these seemed fine to me, no issue whatsoever other than the message every time I connect the iPod. So I just ignored it for a while.

Anyway, eventually I got curious (and had some more free time to look at it) and let Windows 8 do what it wanted (scan and fix the drive). Clearly the iPod works fine, and I have nothing important on it that isn't on my computer, so at worst Windows will break the software and I'd have to reformat the drive through iTunes (and Restore to Factory Settings) which I feel fine doing. I also took note of all of my settings on the iPod (like EQ, and the way I laid out the menus etc...) so I can redo those from defaults.

Prior to doing this, the iPod was version 2.0.5 (the latest version).

When I set the drive to be scanned, windows told me it identified the problem and would fix it. I don't remember the exact wording, as this message was immediately obscured by a pop-up telling me the drive was in use and software using it should be closed. So I closed iTunes which in turn caused the pop-up and message to disappear.

Windows then said it had succeeded and brought up the File Explorer of the drive again (now with some folders missing). When I loaded iTunes back up, it told me there was a problem with the iPod and it would need to be restored. Ejecting the iPod showed that it seemed to believe it had no content on it.

So I restored the iPod through iTunes, downloading the latest iPod update again and started syncing the iPod. After adding a couple songs, I ejected it and played them - they worked fine, the menus had returned to defaults but I quickly changed them to how I liked and overall the iPod is back to how it was. I've now set it to sync the remaining thousands of songs (and couple hundred podcasts). Edit - by the end of this post, this has finished copying Music, Podcasts, and Playlists. It's back to exactly how it was before.

Annoyingly, this has not removed the pop-up message when I connect the iPod, still the same as before - the most irksome thing being the file window opening every time i connect the iPod, though this is still minor (I just have to remember that this will happen and manually close it each time).

So I'm at a loss on the cause, and am going to return to ignore it. I'd greatly appreciate if Apple could look into this. I'm wondering if it is a recent update to iTunes or to Windows, but I don't trust that I won't be able to undo changes if I myself began looking through them (and I lack the time and expertise to do that effectively). I think there might be that Windows is detecting something in the way that Apple formats their iPod drives that it believes is an issue (even when it isn't). My guess is the way of formatting is unchanged (the iPod hadn't received an update recently to suggest and alteration to this) but maybe the things Windows is looking for may have slightly changed and disagrees with Apple's way of keeping the iPod Drive proprietary to iTunes.

TL,DR: Advice to others (and Ljchicago) searching this topic is to ignore the message for now.

Thanks,

Dixavd

Open a command prompt and type

chkdsk X:\ /f

• X = Drive letter of your iPod.
• f = Fix.