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

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1 and 2) I’m not sure about the Genius Bar, however, Apple phone will definitely remote in to help solve an issue. I have spent many hours over several phone calls with the same Apple advisor trying different things regarding this problem. In addition, he has collected many error logs which he provided to the engineers. From what I am told, they believe it’s an iOS 11 issue which they are working on a resolution.

3) I have put many, but not all, of my photos on the app, Photo Manager Pro 5, to get them onto my iPad. The app is not as efficient as syncing from iTunes, however, it’s working for me in the interim.

I too have had this same problem for months now. It all started with iOS 11. I wish I could go back to whatever version I had before. My iPad syncs a couple hundred photos before "an internal device error occurred". I spent hours on the phone with apple and they had no idea. They thought it was my iPad and sent me a new one to replace it as it was still under warranty. Nope, the new one does the same thing. After talking with apple AGAIN they admitted there is some error in iOS 11 and have no idea when it will get fixed. This is crazy and they should have a fix for it now after 6 months of knowing about the problem. No fix means I will no longer be buying iPads.

I just installed the public iOS 11.4 beta 2 on my iPad mini 2 and it seems to have fixed the photos syncing problem for me. No errors, a decent syncing speed and alle the pictures I want are now synced to my iPad again. Finally!

FWIW I didn't turn on iCloud to clear out all the cruft -- didn't want to risk the all-powerful Cloud God doing something unrecoverable to my photos -- but it did take several sync attempts, connections, re-connections and a boatload of Just Waiting for everything to catch up.

Part of the problem seems to be that some flags get out of sync during "internal device error" events and other synchronisation abortions, such that iTunes thinks there are photos on the device when there aren't, or vice-versa. Switching between small-batch syncing and not syncing at all seems to be the key to eventual success, but if there are loads of photos on the device it can sometimes take significant time for iOS to catch up and realise they should be gone. Other times you can literally see them disappearing as the sync takes place.

If anyone's brave enough to use iCloud to do this, fair play. It does sound like it might be the quickest option. But it will work without it if you cast the runes in the right order. You just need patience and tenacity.

Hi,

Just downloaded the beta code. I didn't have to do anything special.

1) backup ipad

2) load beta code 11.4

3) start iTunes

4) sync the photos.

Some of my photos had already been synced .. so I problably had another 2000 to go but it worked fine. Didnt have do anything with icloud etc.

Long time coming.. from APPLE . Waiting for the official code before I do that for my wife's ipad pro.

I updated to iTunes 12.7.5, and updated to iOS 11.4. After the updates, I synced my iPad. The majority, but not all, of my photos were copied. The next morning, I initiated a second sync. It appears that all 30,000 of my photos synced correctly after the second sync. I did not empty any cache or reset my iPad. I have not tried to sync my iPhone 8 yet. Hopefully this nightmare is over. Anyone else tried?

The “sync session failed to finish” thing is caused by the iPad (or possibly iTunes' interpretation of the iPad's state, it's difficult to know) still trying to complete an earlier failed session. It claims the sync is starting, but in fact the old one is still active. I’ve seen various things resolve this, but the most likely to work is to disconnect, reboot both devices and reconnect.

As for iCloud, I'm already paying the very reasonable 79p per month for increased storage and would happily use this for Photo syncing if it would just give me the same control over folders and folder naming (aka Albums) as I get with iTunes. Apple can’t expect me to embrace the new way of doing things when it offers fewer features and less control than the legacy method.

(Related aside: for me to fully embrace Apple's cloud services in general, they need to provide iOS with the ability to mark a WiFi connection as metered and so not to be used for non-essential traffic. Even Windows 10 does this. When away from home with the WiFi iPad I use a PAYG 4G WiFi dongle with limited data. App updates alone have come close to wiping it out if I forget to temporarily disable them. If it was also pulling down every photo I took with the iPhone it’d be crippling. WiFi does not mean free, Apple.)

(Apologies for the earlier, content-free post; iPad sent it early, then the edit window timed out while I was editing it. Now I can’t delete it. Another triumph from the geniuses at Apple.)

For those still trying, don’t restore your phone it will not help. I synced photos a bit at a time, and took all day for 25k photos

iOS 11.2 is available. Interested to know if this corrects the issue. I’m out of town and can’t sync with my Mac.

DSK1957,

I called 1(800) 275 - 2273. My device was not still under warranty. The only problem is that you need a senior Apple advisor as the first line are not familiar with the issue.

Paardeslager,

Here is a thread related to the iTunes issue:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8339503#

Hi,

You can try the 11.4 beta code. It works for a number of us who have tried it. Get it from beta.apple.com. I upgraded my apple air but not the Pro. I will wait for the official 11.4.

Same problem here, when syncing a large photo library. Exact same symptoms, though mercifully in my case multiple syncs eventually caused the entire library to sync.

Somewhat relieved to know Apple is aware of the problem and that it's a fairly widespread bug.