Not enough space error message on iTunes when trying to sync with iphone

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Level 1

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Not enough space error message on iTunes when trying to sync with iphone

I recently bought a new macbook air and wanted to get my iTunes library onto it. I discovered that I could homeshare with my previous windows laptop and managed to successfully transfer the library into iTunes on my mac (without the playlists). When I tried to sync my iPhone with the iTunes on my mac it came up with a message which said that it couldn't sync because there wasn't enough room on my iPhone (needed about 2 extra GB). I don't see how this can be correct since the library should be the same as that currently on my iPhone.

not I've been told that this sync should delete what is currently on my iPhone and replace it with the library in the iTunes on my mac, but I think that it must not be doing this and this is the reason for the need for extra space. I have noticed that the playlists on my iPhone have been deleted but yet when I added a new one on iTunes and synced it, the same error message occurred. I have tried several solutions such as unchecking sync all music, applying it and checking it again. And I am only trying to sync my music library which is only 14GB so there should be no problem. I really don't want to have to restore my iPhone completely but would be happy to delete the music on my iPhone and replace it with the library in iTunes on my mac. Any help would be gratefully received

MacBook Air, iOS 7.1.2

Posted on Aug 6, 2014 2:28 PM

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Answer 1

Aug 6, 2014 3:21 PM in response to Achung92

There are alternative ways of freeing up storage space on the iPhone > iPhone or iPad Ran Out of Storage Space? Here’s How to Make Space Available Quickly

Keep in an eye on iPhone storage space. Tap Settings > General > About (Available)

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Answer 2

Aug 6, 2014 4:53 PM in response to Achung92

Best to remove all music and re-sync from the Mac, which you can do without doing a complete Restore of the iPhone. Assuming that you auto-sync music and not manually manage music on the iPhone:

While connected to your Mac iTunes, change your sync settings by un-checking the "Sync Music" option, then apply the change to delete all the music.
Since there seems to be some funny business with iCloud, where some music downloads stubbornly remain on the iPhone despite attempts to delete them, disconnect from iTunes and check your iPhone to make sure all music really was removed. If you still see music, first turn off the "Show All Music" option (Settings/Music/Show All Music/OFF) since songs with a cloud symbol really aren't on the device. If after doing that you still see music on the iPhone, go to Settings/General/Usage/Music and swipe left to right across "All Music" and tap Delete. Hopefully that deletes past cloud downloads you may have done. If not, I've had to change to manual sync mode, manually deleting remaining songs by navigating into iPhone via iTunes, backing up, restoring from backup, then changing back to auto-sync mode.
Re-connect back to iTunes and change your sync settings to allow music syncing -- either your entire library, or selected playlists, genres, albums, etc.

You mentioned that your library is "only 14 GB" but consider that if you have a 16 GB iPhone you don't really have 16 GB of storage, so perhaps you're running up against a real capacity issue if you own a 16 GB model, or have a larger model but other things taking up space. So perhaps you can no longer sync your entire library as you expect.

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Answer 3

Achung92 Author

Level 1

8 points

Aug 6, 2014 11:36 PM in response to rockmyplimsoul

Okay, when I unchecked the sync all music and applied it there was still 11GB of music on my iPhone. So I deleted it off my phone as you suggested and it syced fine.

I transferred all the music from my old library which was already synced to my phone so there should be no problem with space. I have a 32 GB phone and on the storage bit in settings it said I had 6 GB free so this shouldn't be an issue. Deleting the music and then syncing it seemed to do the trick though.

This fixed my problem, thank you!!!

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