Solved: The iPhone cannot be synced. The required disk cannot be found.

I got an error tonight that read “The iphone cannot be synced. The required disk cannot be found.”
Of course, having had almost all my gadgets die on me many times before I jumped to the though of just reinstalling the original firmware for my iphone 3G. But I did some research first on the sync error and why it can’t find the required disk.

My initial assumption was that the “required disk” was the iphone drive itself and I’m very glad that I was wrong.
This sync error was happening on my iphone due to trying to sync the iphone with a ringtone that was on a network drive that I recently reformatted and reorganized. Disabling the files that were on the network drive in itunes completely solved my problem. So if you ever read “The iphone cannot be synced. The required disk cannot be found.” Make sure that all the files that you are trying to sync are actually accessible.

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44 Responses to “Solved: The iPhone cannot be synced. The required disk cannot be found.”

  • guy Says:

    omg thanks

  • Nu-Nu Says:

    Definitely this is worthy news. After googling for a good hour and only finding postings from 1+ years ago, I was just about to give up trying all the different methods mentioned, but to no avail. And then I come upon this, and viola, my iphone syncs perfectly now!!! Thanks!!

  • slackfive Says:

    Thanks, I’ll have to try that (next time I boot into M$), but my entire iTunes library is on a network drive

  • mr. taylor Says:

    ugh i found this a minute too late. i formatted my entire iphone :/ but you were right, my brother had the same problem and he used this

  • Butterball Says:

    Hey, This might be little late to reply. But I solved the problem by simply opening itunes folder
    from my music files ( yours might be somewhere else). Open itunes>>>itunes music then go thru all the files that u have.Now, Look for the files that aren’t linked with itunes anymore. Like the ones that u might have deleted at one point but still is in itunes music folder for some reason. Just delete those files completly. Then try syncing your ipod or iphone. It worked for me.

  • Th.Gust Says:

    I got the same error, and fix it !

    The problem was that on another workspace fusion with an XP was running when I plugged in my IPod

  • Joe Blow Says:

    I had the same issue, but I was also using a cheesey USB extension so that I had enough cord to keep my iPhone from making by desktop speaker buzz. I plugged straight into the USB port using the original Apple cord and it worked. I still think iTunes is a monstrosity. Overblown, overbuilt, counter-intuitive fart-ware, but hey, whaddaya expect when they have a monopoly on iPhone connection?

  • Mr Thabes Says:

    After cleaning up the “missing” music and a ringtone, I was still getting the “disk cannot be found…”

    Crappy retractable USB cord was my issue too. After switching cords, I got an “unknown error 13014”, but restarting my iPhone solved it.

    Good to go now.. Appreciate all of your insights here!

  • Chris Says:

    Same issues here, checked everything else and then pulled out the original iPhone cable and it all is working fine again. Thanks to Ebay and the Chinese cables for all the troubles!

  • budje Says:

    Thanks… works perfectly
    i thought it was problem on my iPhone
    thanks god.. it wasn’t

  • itsmegb Says:

    this saved me from going made! i was trying to sync a ringtone that i had loaded from my desktop and then deleted! removing it from the iphone and itunes allowed my phone to sync!

    Thanks!

  • moumen Says:

    hi i didnt get what u said here “I got an error tonight that read “The iphone cannot be synced. The required disk cannot be found.”
    Of course, having had almost all my gadgets die on me many times before I jumped to the though of just reinstalling the original firmware for my iphone 3G. But I did some research first on the sync error and why it can’t find the required disk.

    My initial assumption was that the “required disk” was the iphone drive itself and I’m very glad that I was wrong.
    This sync error was happening on my iphone due to trying to sync the iphone with a ringtone that was on a network drive that I recently reformatted and reorganized. Disabling the files that were on the network drive in itunes completely solved my problem. So if you ever read “The iphone cannot be synced. The required disk cannot be found.” Make sure that all the files that you are trying to sync are actually accessible.”

    could someone please explain or do it on my computer

  • P Says:

    Hi,
    I have this problem, and I have recently accidentally deleted some files, and redownloaded them. Could this be the problem? I’m not sure I understand how to fix it though?

    Could someone explain further?

    Best regards

  • EMCGuy Says:

    I had that error today, but all my files where present in itunes, however, i noticed that something weird happened with my media player in the iphone so i had to delete all the music from the iphone (it took me like 5 tries because it didn’t even wanted to delete the music) when i finally could delete all the music the problem was solved, just had to re load all the music on the iphone.

  • Sandy Says:

    I had this problem after reinstalling windows and putting backed up files back in place. This post was a lifeline in that it confirmed that it was not a problem with the phone but something in the iTunes files. Just knowing that saved me from a minor meltdown.

    It took a while to track down to the culprit — the iPod Photo cache that is created at the top level of photo file folder you sync to — deleted that folder and all was well with the world….

  • Preety Limbu Says:

    Hi i m Preeti limbu, actually i have problem in my i phone when i tried to sync my iphone it showed me the information that The iPhone cannot be synced. The required disk cannot be found, how can i fix this problem?

  • John A. Gates Says:

    Great write up. The iPhone is truly amazing and I don’t like being without it. This time last year I had jumped in a pool with my iPhone and it was dead. I had to wait 9 days before I was able to buya new one. The phone I had was a cheap go phone. I really love all the games that can be downloaded to the iPhone. The best part about the iPhone to me is the ability to check emails on the go. Thanks for the information.

  • ella Says:

    How do I know which one is not accessible to rectify
    the situation?

  • Cody Taylor Says:

    @ella You have to figure it out on your own. I don’t think Itunes will tell you.

  • Adam Says:

    Changing USB port worked for me

  • Jeff Says:

    Reset the network setting on your iPhone. That worked for me.

  • Jesse Says:

    Changing USB port also worked for me

  • Shane Says:

    I was using a USB extension cable with a non apple iphone cable. Was always getting a disk not found error. Tried apple cable straight into usb port. Works great now!

  • John Says:

    Changed USB and synced ok. Went bak to original USB port and sync now works.

  • Jay Says:

    WOW i found the original torn-up USB cord and it worked! I have so many USB cords i’ve purchased (aftermarket) and they wouldn’t sync. Still can’t believe something so simple halted/allowed the syncing of my iPhone.

  • aseem Says:

    guys,nothing is working for me. plz help me.
    if i sync my phone without the applications then it goes perfect,but when i sync the applications,it creats a problem

  • Chuck D Says:

    Thx Joe Blow! I had the same problem with my USB extension cord. Man….I wish I tried that, or found your post first. I was real close to restoring my iPhone. Thx again! Much appreciated!

  • jg Says:

    plugging my USB cord into the mac’s USB port rather than an extension piece did the trick.

  • Dev D Says:

    I had a USB hard drive plugged in which I used as a back-up disc. Once I unplugged this syncing worked normally.

  • Tyler L C Says:

    I also received this error, so I cleared out the files in my itunes folder that were outdated but it didn’t fix the problem, when it said “could not find the required disk” my computer actually wasnt bringing up my iphone as an accessible drive at all and after switching USB ports it worked fine

    Hope that helped:)

  • marion Says:

    in my husband’s case it was the Apple Dock — soon as I took that out of the loop and connected the cable directly to the phone, sync worked. Thanks for this post and comments.

  • Mark Says:

    Just restart the iphone.

  • jrvath Says:

    wowww… i was having this issue tonight, and it was frustrating the hell out of me. no matter what i did, itunes kept trying to transfer all my apps from my iphone to my library, and then would get hung up and give me the error. i read the comments, saw people talking about using usb extension chords, remembered i use one also, removed it, and it worked then…that’s ridiculous… i’m sure apple sells an “iphone/ipod compatible” usb extension cable, at the low low price of $39.99. i love apple products, but i hate the way they make you buy into everything with their name on it…

  • JustinF Says:

    Omg ty so much, i found out it was a music, thnx so much, owe u one!, everyone if u recently added a new music ringtone or app that looks messed up or downloaded from cydia,appcake, or installous try to delete one, if its not it, then try another one.

  • David O. Says:

    These are the only steps that worked for me to get it going again.

    Use the Control Panel to uninstall iTunes and related software components in the following order and then restart your computer:
    1. iTunes
    2. QuickTime
    3. Apple Software Update
    4. Apple Mobile Device Support
    5. Bonjour
    6. Apple Application Support (iTunes 9 or later)
    7) Make sure everything that is by Apple is removed including Safari. You can sort by “Publiser”, when you uninstall programs this. Make sure you have at least one other web browser (like Firefox or Internet Explorer) before removing Safari. That way you can go back to the Apple web site and redownload iTunes later.
    8) Reboot your computer once you are done. Go to Apple’s web site and redownload the latest iTunes. Install it and when it’s done DO NOT OPEN IT. Reboot your computer one more time to make sure everything is set right.
    9) Once your computer is back up. It’s safe to run it.

  • Kenny Says:

    Had this problem, and i was using a non Apple USB cable. Used the original cable and it worked no problem.

  • Jessi Says:

    Another one where I had the cord plugged into a hub. Plugged it directly in to the USB port and problem solved. Weird, but whatever.

  • neopod Says:

    restarted iTunes, restarted iPhone [chinese cable used], fixed!
    iPhone 4S 32Gb iOS5.01, MBP OSX 10.6

  • Neal Says:

    I switched USB ports and it synced fine.

  • R Paul Says:

    I too had a USB hard drive plugged in which I used as a back-up/Recovery disc. Once I unplugged this syncing worked normally.

  • Jayden Says:

    Dodgy cable connection was the issue here. Just pulled out cable from the computer and dock, reinserted. Everything’s now fine.

  • Ky Says:

    Thank you so much! I was freaking out, and ended up going on Google to search for things for hours!

  • Robbie Says:

    thanks! it worked!

  • Brock Says:

    Uninstall and reinstall itunes