iPod nano says "0 KB Free" and is not recognized by iTunes

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iPod nano says "0 KB Free" and is not recognized by iTunes

I'm using a 2011 Macbook Pro and I've just recently updated to el capitan. I plugged my 3rd gen iPod nano in yesterday and iTunes wont recognize it at all. I also noticed that the iPod says "0 KB Free" in the settings menu. My computer recognizes it so I've tried erasing the iPod through disc utility but it still says "0 KB Free". I've tried resetting the iPod manually and through the settings menu, running it in disc mode, downloaded a fresh copy of iTunes. Is the hard drive on the iPod shot or is el capitan having an issue with it since it's so old? Thanks for any help!

MacBook Pro (13-inch Early 2011), OS X El Capitan (10.11.3)

Posted on Feb 6, 2016 4:38 PM

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Answer 1

Feb 6, 2016 4:55 PM in response to noelplibt

I have even older iPods, and they work fine with the latest OS X and iTunes.

An iPod nano uses flash-based storage (not a hard drive), but flash storage can eventually wear out and become faulty. You already tried what I would have done, which is to erase it like a USB flash drive using Disk Utility. Since that did not resolve the problem, the most like cause is faulty flash storage on the iPod.

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Answer 2

Feb 6, 2016 5:01 PM in response to Kenichi Watanabe

One additional note. When you did the Erase using Disk Utility, if the iPod appears (in Disk Utility's sidebar) as a device with a volume indented below, be sure to select the device in the sidebar, not the volume. When you select the device, you are also re-doing the partition scheme during the Erase. If you select the volume, you are only erasing the volume.

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