iTunes iPhone sync stuck at "preparing to copy items"

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Level 1

21 points

iTunes iPhone sync stuck at "preparing to copy items"

iTunes prompted me to download purchases before backing up via lightning cable. First I saw it “download” a movie I had purchased on DVD with a mobile digital copy on disc. iTunes store had no business touching this media, and it sure isn’t a “purchase” from iTunes, if I already bought and paid for it on DVD.

But iTunes is now stuck on “preparing to copy” with no network activity. Program is just hung and won’t back up. I see this issue goes back a few years, and no one at Apple appears to be smart enough to fix it. A backup with missing material will be useless to me if it can’t restore ALL of the contents to it’s condition when the device is backed up.

Anyone found a solution to this nonsense?

And why is the iTune Store copying any of my independently purchased digital media without permission?

iPhone 6s Plus, iOS 11.3.1

Posted on Jul 4, 2018 12:50 PM

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Answer 1

turingtest2

Level 10

278,263 points

Jul 4, 2018 1:24 PM in response to Traveler22

Depending on your settings for automatic downloads in iTunes and on your device it is possible that the digital copy you redeemed was automatically downloaded to your device, but not to iTunes. iTunes would have recognized it as purchased media than can be transferred into an iTunes library when backing up or syncing.

Details of what is included in iOS backups can be found here, About backups for iOS devices - Apple Support, but with the exception of purchases from the iTunes Store media is not backed up or transferred from device to library.

Should there be media on the device that isn't in your library see Recover your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device.

tt2

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Answer 2

turingtest2

Level 10

278,263 points

Jul 6, 2018 3:54 AM in response to Traveler22

See Redeem digital copies of DVDs or Blu-rays in the iTunes Store - Apple Support. I don't profess to know the details, but if the disc included a digital copy which has been accepted into iTunes it will almost certainly have been altered when copied to your computer so that your copy is tied to your Apple ID and won't be a CRC match for what is on the DVD. Likewise if a fresh copy has been downloaded then it is not entirely surprising that it isn't a bitwise match for your original. As far as I can recall I've only ever purchased one DVD with a digital copy, Babylon A.D. It was added to my iTunes account years ago. It shows up on all of my devices where I am signed into my Apple ID, iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, and various computers, ready for me to download or play when I see fit, just like the purchases that I've made directly from the iTunes Store.

Occasionally iTunes seems to list content in the cloud when there is already a local copy of the same item. Usually signing out of the iTunes Store and then signing in again will resolve this. If it doesn't then one option is to hide the purchase from your purchase history. See Hide and unhide music, movies, TV shows, audiobooks, and books - Apple Support for details. The alternative would be to delete the local copy and redownload, but that would eat your data.

tt2

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Answer 3

Traveler22 Author

Level 1

21 points

Jul 5, 2018 10:47 PM in response to Traveler22

No, that’s not even close. Nothing was “redeemed.” Nothing was downloaded. The media image file is on my DVD. Absolutely NOTHING here belongs to Apple.

Just checked iTunes again and found a cloud icon on the movie thumbnail I described. Except now the movie file apparently was deleted from my PC’s hard disk. Absolutely NOT acceptable. Every media file on my PC, and on my devices, MUST be present 100% of the time. I frequently have no network access when traveling. Under no circumstances do I intend to pay network access charges again and again to access the media that I’ve already paid to place on these devices.

I clicked on the cloud icon on the thumbnail and confirmed that iTunes just downloaded (from themselves?). But now I have two image file copies of this movie on my PC. Files are the same size, but the CRC32’s don’t match. So Apple modified the image file, and then copied it back to my PC in an iTunes media subdirectory.

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iTunes iPhone sync stuck at "preparing to copy items"

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