Level 1

104 points

The ipad cannot be synced. An internal device error occurred.

Yesterday I updated my iPad Pro 9,7" to iOS 11. All went well. But when I thought I was entering my Apple ID for iTunes, I was tricked into iCloud. I never use iCloud. Not on my iMac and not on my iPad. I just don't want to use it.

When I opened my unwanted iCloud account every button was set to ON. It took me a lot of time to set every button to OFF. In the meantime a lot of my documents (photos) were copied to iCloud. I had to delete them from my iCloud Drive. After I logged out of iCloud I discovered that all my photos were deleted from my iPad.

Of course I had a backup on my iMac. I always sync my photos (and books and music) with iTunes on my iMac. I have updated iTunes to the latest version.

Never before I have had problems with this procedure. But this time all went wrong. It said there was no iBooks App and no Music App on my iPad and after that I discovered that all my books and music was deleted on my iPad.

Several times I got the message "The ipad cannot be synced. An internal device error occurred."

I tried all the usual things - restarted the iMac and the iPad / changed the cable (all Apple cables) / changed the USB port. I succeeded in restoring my books and my music but not my photos (more than 3000). It stops halfway with the above message and than only a few hundred photos are copied.

Before iOS 11 syncing with iTunes always worked great. Now I don't know what to do to solve this problem.

iMac, OS X Mavericks (10.9)

Posted on Sep 22, 2017 2:53 AM

Top-ranking reply

beasterjr

Level 1

9 points

Posted on Oct 2, 2017 1:14 PM

I’ve spent several days dealing with this. The best solution was to erase all contents and data from my iPad and start over. I started by syncing just the photos, nothing else. I got the internal iPad error once. But all 103 photo albums had synced to placeholder icons along with about 400 photos which were synced to the correct albums. I hard rebooted the iPad and synced again and again and again over several hours. Hard rebooted every time. Eventually all photos 21,000+ synced to the iPad and into the appropriate albums. Only after that did I sync everything else which worked just fine. Good luck!

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449 replies

Paardeslager Author

Level 1

104 points

Sep 26, 2018 6:18 AM in response to Sunshine4a

First I had to update my iMac (late 2013) from El Capitan 10.11.6 to macOS Sierra 10.12.6, because El Capitan is no longer supported by Apple. But Sierra seems to be very stable. Then I had to update iTunes on my iMac from 12.7.3 to 12.8, because 12.7.3. could not update my iPad to iOS 12.

I connected my iPad Pro 9.7 to my iMac with an USB cable and updated my iPad to iOS 12. No problems. After the update iTunes 12.8 still recognised my iPad. No need for version 12.9. I checked my iPad - all apps, books, music and photos were still there. Lucky me.

At that moment I had no new photos to sync so I tried to sync some new music first. I kept my books and photos selected as always. The music with playlists had synced successfully.

Today I went for a walk, and made some photos. After editing them in Photos on my iMac, and placing them in some specific albums, I started up iTunes 12.8 (closed Photos first) connected my iPad (did NOT open Photos) and selected All Albums and Photos, and started a sync. All went well. I checked my iPad and all photos were there and all in their specific albums. Great.

So for me, and for this moment, the sync problem has been solved.

cshen

Level 1

4 points

Sep 25, 2017 6:09 PM in response to Paardeslager

Same problem for me after IOS 11 upgrade on my iPad Air 2. Part way through syncing - sync canceled with "Internal device error"

Oct 2, 2017 1:50 PM in response to beasterjr

Oh wow... 21,000 photos !! It must have taken you weeks to sync lol I have managed to do my 1,500 now 😉

I'm still puzzled why I can't get my photos up now...other than camera roll 🙄🤔

Oct 14, 2017 4:11 PM in response to Paardeslager

I am having the same problem.

Oct 17, 2017 9:42 AM in response to Paardeslager

i have the same issue trying to sync about 30,000 photos in albums to my iPad pro. i have tried album by album and all sorts of configurations but no luck.

Oct 20, 2017 12:52 AM in response to Paardeslager

Oh wow... 21,000 photos !! It must have taken you weeks to sync lol I have managed to do my 1,500 now

I'm still puzzled why I can't get my photos up now...other than camera roll

Oct 20, 2017 12:55 AM in response to Daevo

Very well said Daevo....I had got nowhere near that amount of photos, but was still a pain in the rear having to re sync etc !!

I’m not at all technically minded, so it’s very frustrating to me 😩

HgdH

Level 1

4 points

Oct 25, 2017 7:49 AM in response to Paardeslager

Thanks. I'm facing the very same issue. Do you have any visibility when we can expect a fix from Apple? Thanks & regards, Hubert.

HgdH

Level 1

4 points

Oct 25, 2017 10:04 AM in response to Paardeslager

Thanks much. Would you please let me know when you know more? Thanks & regards, Hubert.

hxa

Level 1

9 points

Oct 29, 2017 11:15 AM in response to hxa

I spoke too soon. The internal device error is back.

HgdH

Level 1

4 points

Nov 2, 2017 8:26 AM in response to BBinOZ

Has anyone heard if the 11.1 version addresses this issue? Thanks & regards, Hubert.

Nov 2, 2017 8:29 AM in response to HgdH

from my experience it has not, i am about to send apple a detailed request for action on this issue

Nov 2, 2017 8:30 AM in response to BBinOZ

exactly the same with me, new iPad, works fine on iOS 10, my mini 4 still has the same issue. i am not updating the iOS on the new iPad until the issue is fixed

hxa

Level 1

9 points

Nov 3, 2017 5:05 AM in response to Paardeslager

Still having trouble with iOS 11.1 and iOS 11.2 public beta 1 although now it just stops syncing after approx 700 photos without giving any message. I am using an iPad Pro 9.7

Nov 3, 2017 4:12 PM in response to Eric Westby

I don't think it is iTunes as I am able to sync large numbers of photos to my old iPads running iOS 9 and iOS 10.

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The ipad cannot be synced. An internal device error occurred.