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

This error was temporarily, partly, resolved and now with 11.4.1 it's back, but try sync the entire library, rather than choosing only specific albums. This is the only way it reliably works for me until it's properly fixed. Of course this assumes your entire library can fit on your iPhone/Pad...

I’ve not tried with the latest beta software yet but clearing the “iPod Photo Cache” in the Photo Library has also helped me clear the sync and get better results

I am having this EXACT problem with my iPad Air 2 as all of the other posters, which started around the time of this original post. I also opened a case with Apple and spoke with a senior advisor, who also said they thought it was an iTunes problem. iTunes (Windows 10) and iOS 11 are current on my iPad Air 2. I can also confirm that I bought a new iPad which had iOS 10.3.3 installed and I was able to sync all 13,000 of my photos without any problem. I updated that new iPad to current iOS 11.1.2 and started to receive same failed behavior - sometimes an internal device error, but most of the time the sync just cancels itself after about 300 photos. I reset the new iPad and returned it to Apple.

While most of us agree it's an iOS 11 problem, I suppose the current version of iTunes may not deal with an iOS 11 "feature", causing the error, so the solution could be either an iOS 11 update, or an iTunes update. I also am frustrated and do NOT want my photos in the cloud, so I will not use iCloud as an alternative. A solution is needed promptly. Thanks to all for your detailed information.

Yesterday I sent a rather heated email to the Apple advisor that I have been working on with regards to the problem with the syncing of photos through iTunes and he rang me today to say that he had been off sick for a couple of days and he just wanted to ring to bring me up to date the situation as it stands at the moment. I did say to him that I knew it’s wasn't his fault but as he was the only point of contact I had with Apple so he had to cop it…..

I pointed out that my 55,000+ music library syncs without a problem. I can sync my music in any number and configuration and it just works.

My advisor told me that Apple have asked all advisors to stop sending in logs and info regarding the problem of syncing photos as the have enough information. He said Apple are aware of the problem and even though it started at the time of the release of iOS 11 it is an iTunes related problem. The problem is with the way iTunes is reading the information and accessing data from the photo libraries. Apple are definitely working on an update to iTunes to fix this problem together with a few other issues that have popped along the way.

My advisor has asked me to be patient as an update to iTunes will be released sooner rather than later, (he hopes) although Apple haven’t put a time frame on it. I was going to subscribe to iCloud for the syncing of my photos but I don’t fancy uploading 1.83GB of photos to the cloud. I guess I’ll wait a bit longer to see what happens….

I live in hope Gary Lowen

Just to add that after a great deal of frustration trying to use third party apps like iMazing, iresorted to downloading the 11.4 beta. Had it been happening with an iPad I had owned for some time, I would have waited until the final release but having just bought it second hand two days ago, I needed to make sure it was fully functional.

Anyway, the 11.4 beta did the trick - all my photos and music have synched - and I am feeling quite relived!

I don't have a specific list of fixes and I'm not sure Apple even publishes one for public betas, only to developers. There are some third-party sites listing new features but I don't know how authoritative they are. With betas I basically just install the latest version, see if it fixes any extant problems, keep it if it's stable and revert if it's not. As with many things Apple, the easiest way to find out what's changed is to backup, install, take a look then revert if necessary.

FWIW beta 4 exhibited some oddities when syncing, especially when removing photos where it would often error out with "sync session failed to finish" and leave all of the photos available in Moments even though all the Albums were removed with the exception of system-created Albums such as Dropbox or Panoramas. This seems to be broadly similar to what some other posters have reported. In my case a combination of restarts and iCloud Library toggling was enough to get things back in order and re-sync my 6700 photos.

It's a similar story with beta 5, albeit with maybe fewer timeouts. It's difficult to be certain because the tests weren't identical.

Neither of the betas (indeed none of them since beta 1) has produced the "internal device error occurred" that started this thread, but the "photos there but albums not" thing still seems frighteningly easy to trigger when doing multiple iTunes syncs while turning synced folders off and on. As others have suggested, the easiest way out of this seems to be to turn iCloud Library on, watch in iOS Photos for them all to disappear, then turn if off and re-sync with iTunes. Not the end of the world for my 6000+ library that takes five minutes to sync, but I'd imagine someone with ten times as many photos might feel more frustrated.

Caveat: all of this was tested with version 12.7.3.46 of iTunes which was rolled back to work around the unrelated but equally annoying slow sync problem. Interactions with other combinations of iTunes and iOS versions may differ.

I have had this same problem with syncing photos on my iPad for almost a year. Yesterday, I updated iTunes to the latest revision and my iPad to 11.4 (not beta) via iTunes as well. I rebooted my Windows 10 PC and re-synced my photos (some 28,200 total) without flaw, just like olden days before the nightmare that’s been iOS 11.x started. It was beautiful. Finally.

I mentioned in an earlier post in this same thread that I also had had trouble with my iPhone 7 connecting to playing music thru an attached cable in my car which started with iOS 11. (iPhone Connectivity to car via cable) About a month ago, I realized that the problem had largely gone away. The only change I made was to upgrade my phone to the latest patch which was going to iOS 11.3.1. I replaced cables, suspected that my phone port was malfunctioning and more. It never occurred to me that it was the OS. But, that tiny upgrade solved my problem. And neither here nor in the move to iOS 4 did Apple mention the problems these updates fixed for me. What’s up with that? Did they not know or they just affected so few clients that these issues just didn’t rate?

My concern is that I’ll update again to iOS4.x and one of these problems will return. I swear, I'm likely to not upgrade again at all.

Nope. But I have discovered that if I sync only albums from my photos app, it works, but if I sync all photos and albums, it fails.

I updated to 11.4 and did nothing else, and mine synched very quickly with no problems. It took way too long for this to be fixed but it seems to be.

iMazing IS supposed to save all folder/sub-folder arrangements for photos/videos/data, etc., back and forth between computer and iDevice.

Currently, I am using DropBox,Instashare, PhotoManager Pro 5, Photo/video transfer apps to get my photos/images to and from my iDevices to iPhoto/Photos on my Mac!

DropBox saves folder structures, PM Pro 5 uses an FTP protocol to directly transfer folders of images (complete with the folders) from the PM Pro 5 app folder organisation to my Mac, then these can go straight to iPhoto/Photos.

I may give iMazing 2 a shot myself, very soon, too!

iMazing looks to be a heckuva LOT MORE FLEXIBLE than iTunes has been lately.

Good Luck to You!

I reported in this forum that I bought and returned a new iPad. When I bought it, it had iOS 10.1.1 or some variation of version 10. The sync of 15000 photos worked fine. I upgraded the iOS to version 11 and a re-sync failed with internal device error.

So, you WILL have the same problem if you buy a new device and upgrade it's iOS to version 11.

Hi Andrew9717,

If your old case number doesn’t work, I’d call and open up a new case. However, I’d ask to be transferred to a senior advisor right from the start. The first line advisor that I spoke to, told me to sync in batches… check off 10 folders and sync. Then, uncheck those and check 10 more and sync, and so on… I explained to her that it would remove the first 10 if I unchecked them. She had no clue and spoke to a senior advisor who confirmed what I told her and took over the call. Good Luck! Keep us posted.

Spent over an hour on the phone will Apple support yesterday and their conclusion was if I have deleted my iPads (yes two) and re-installed and deleted and re-installed iTunes then the problem must be with Microsoft! Seriously, that is the response from Apple.....

I can't sync my iPads, which have the latest Apple updates, but I can sync my iPhone X which I haven't upgraded to the latest version yet, but the problem is obviously Microsoft.

I have seen other people having similar issues. Why can't Apply just suck it up, say they have a problem and try to fix it; instead of pretending there is no issue at all with any of their products and blaming the desktop OS.

The issue is that if you try to sync your photo's after copying around 150-200 (not exactly the same number each time) the whole thing crashes. If you sync multiple times eventually you will get an up to date Library, but if it does 200 at a time and you have thousands of photos it might take a while.

Please Apple, you can do much better than this.....

The Apple senior advisor that I have been communicating with, tells me that Apple engineers are aware of the problem (with iOS) and are working on it. However, security updates take priority. Honestly, I was blown off by 2 senior Apple specialists before I was put in touch with this 3rd specialist. Still frustrated by the whole situation.