"iTunes could not sync data to the iPhone because the iPhone disconnected"

I am getting the same issue. I have a 1.1.2 OTC iPhone from the US now jailbroken, etc to run on 1.1.4 on my Orange UK account. Syncing music, photos, video, etc work fine, it is only the contacts that are not syncing.

I also have this issue when syncing. When it gets to the point of syncing contacts I get this same error message. However, even with this error message everything finishes and syncs correctly, so I just brush it off.

Check to see if everything is okay anyway. Maybe I'm just lucky, who knows.

I got that once, now after a few seconds of syncing the iPhone just disappears from iTunes but it still says Sync in Progress on my iPhone. Now and then I get "Attempting to copy to the disk iPhone failed. The device is not connected." but the iPhone still thinks it's syncing.

Much annoying-ness!!

I'd recommend resetting the phone by pressing the power and the home button until the screen goes blank.

If all fails, back up the phone and restore it.


The two steps always worked for me when something goes wrong.

In case you didn't find a fix yet, see this thread at apple support:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=6791982

I tried quite a few of the quick fixes which did not do much good. I finally restored my iPhone from scratch (including all the jailbraking, etc) and now it is syncing fine.

I hope this doesn't happen again.

Try disabling automatic syncing of all iPhone in iTunes preferences, then when you connect it, wait till the little spinning arrows stop spinning beside iPhone in the source list, then sync manually. Worked for me, bit annoying though.

This worked for me: Go to Applications > iSync > Preferences > Reset Sync History

ryanjbonnell said:

This worked for me: Go to Applications > iSync > Preferences > Reset Sync History

Click to expand...

I tried your suggestion and it seemed to work for me. I've been seeing this error intermittently over the last three updates (my iPhone is not jailbroken) and keep hoping that Apple will do something about the problem. I have tried using different cables, that's not the issue.

So thanks for the recommendation, hopefully the fix stays in effect.

iphone disconnects during backup

i had the same problem and solved it by simply unchecking the calender sync option in the info tab of iphone... hope this helps

alanoconnor said:

i had the same problem and solved it by simply unchecking the calender sync option in the info tab of iphone... hope this helps

Click to expand...

Unfortunately this does not work for me, but maybe it will for others. I've had this problem ever since upgrading to 3.1.2. I've even done a restore and as soon it was JB again, the problem started all over. I have not been able to back up in over 2-3 weeks now and it is frustrating.

I can't find anyone else really having this issue currently on any blogs, so I am stumped why I have it.

You can also try going into iTunes, click on Edit -> Preferences, go to the Devices tab. Remove any old back-ups that it shows stored. Do this only if you don't mind losing your old back-ups.
(If you do, and you're on a PC, then open control panel and create a new user. Switch to that user and try it there.)

Also, I manually backed up my photos, then removed them from the iPhone as well. They were taking up too much space and these are backed-up during the process.

Then try again.

iphone disconnected - solved

Hi All
This solution worked for me on Windows XP. It was disconnecting at the end of the backup process, which pointed me to Outlook contact. When I opened Outlook 2003, I received a prompt for "LDAP" window. Google "Outlook LDAP prompt" for the solution on how to remove this. Basically, go to tools, email accounts, change address book, and remove LDAP option. Once this prompt no longer occurs when you open Outlook, then the iphone syncing should work just fine!
Cheers

real answer?

I found the answer that worked for me on another forum but came back here to help others.

Preferences/Devices Tab:

Delete any device backups

Reset sync history

iphone disconnects during backup

My iPhone does not complete the sync process and aborts with a message that it cannot sync the notes and the iPhone sync then disconnects. The only thing that is different in my world is that I upgraged to iTunes 10 and iPhone 4.1 (sorry two variables). I don't know if one or both of the upgrades caused the issue.

big_malk said:

Try disabling automatic syncing of all iPhone in iTunes preferences, then when you connect it, wait till the little spinning arrows stop spinning beside iPhone in the source list, then sync manually. Worked for me, bit annoying though.

Click to expand...

I done this too after i got the same message but i,m happy with using it this way now

having this issue on my bf's 3G

oh man i'm glad i found this forum. i need help syncing my boyfriend's phone with newly installed itunes.

we recently upgraded his pc to win7, and installed itunes 10. i added all of his music to his library and im having trouble backing up and syncing his phone.

we left it plugged in overnight and it was still stuck on backup. WTF?

does anyone have an updated solution to this problem?

idonotliketostu said:

I'd recommend resetting the phone by pressing the power and the home button until the screen goes blank.

If all fails, back up the phone and restore it.

Click to expand...

tried this ^ didnt work.

r6girl said:

i've gotten this message with my jailbroken iphone, but never with my un-jailbroken one. i think it's also related to syncing my contacts, but haven't tried to dig into it yet...

Click to expand...

i have his contacts checked to sync with windows contacts. could this be the issue???? if i uncheck it and wipe his phone to sync with this new itunes (he used his old one on his work pc before). will it wipe out his contacts?

big_malk said:

Try disabling automatic syncing of all iPhone in iTunes preferences, then when you connect it, wait till the little spinning arrows stop spinning beside iPhone in the source list, then sync manually. Worked for me, bit annoying though.

Click to expand...

tried this ^ didnt work.

ryanjbonnell said:

This worked for me: Go to Applications > iSync > Preferences > Reset Sync History

Click to expand...

tried this ^ didnt work.

alanoconnor said:

i had the same problem and solved it by simply unchecking the calender sync option in the info tab of iphone... hope this helps

Click to expand...

calendar sync was unchecked. so this cant be it.

dawgdays said:

I found the answer that worked for me on another forum but came back here to help others.

Preferences/Devices Tab:

Delete any device backups

Reset sync history

Click to expand...

again, tried this ^ didnt work. and i even deleted the unfinished backup history that was on there from previous attempts.

any help would be appreciated. thanks.

graphitegray, I was having the exact problem you were.

Do you have the iPhone plugged directly into the computer? I had been plugging the cable into a hub since it's easier to get to than the back of my iMac. Once I moved the cable to a port on the back of the machine, the sync worked.

sherrme said:

graphitegray, I was having the exact problem you were.

Do you have the iPhone plugged directly into the computer? I had been plugging the cable into a hub since it's easier to get to than the back of my iMac. Once I moved the cable to a port on the back of the machine, the sync worked.

Click to expand...

i got it to work last night.

i had it plugged in directly to the PC. i had sync contacts unchecked. and i noticed when i was checking music and apps to sync it would automatically tell me if it was over capacity. so i unchecked some apps until it went under capacity (my bf has an 8gb 3g). and it sloooooooowly worked!

try it out and see if that works.

i tried upgrading to OS4; the backup was taking FOREVER. i left it on overnight and crossed my fingers. the night before it was left hanging in backup. this time i woke up and it was upgraded.

yay! now hes off my back. haha

itunes could not sync contacts to the iphone because the sync server failed to sync

Error Message: itunes could not sync contacts to the iphone because the sync server failed to sync the iphone

Solution:
1. Select your iPhone in iTunes
2. Click the Info tab on the right
3. Uncheck Sync Contacts - click Apply
4. Choose "Remove Contacts" - it removes it from the iPhone
*Make sure your Outlook contacts are backed up and any new iPhone contacts are backed up or written manually
5. Click Sync
6. Check "Sync Contacts" again
7. Apply
8. Sync

ERROR Message GONE

"itunes could not sync data to iphone because iphone is disconntected"

i had this problem with a new iphone 4. i tried everything that people on multiple forums recommended and nothing worked.

if you have a new iphone and your contacts and not coming from an old model i think i have found the problem. it appears that the contacts file is corrupted because one contact has a problem. all of your contacts are grouped together in one "file" so if one contact is corrupted, the entire file will be too and will not sync.

to fix it (this is very manual) you should:
1. create a new group
2. move contacts to that group in batches (try 10 or alphabeitical)
3. sync the new contacts group ONLY
4. if that works, add 10 more contacts
5. repeat this until the error message appears; you will know which batch has a corrupted contact
6. find the corrupted contact within that batch by trial and error and delete it from the contacts list and the new group
7. add the remainder of the contacts in batches until the full group syncs
8. after this is completed you can delete the group, re-create the deleted contact(s) in the main contact list and all contacts should sync normally.

i did this and it worked. good luck

Started having this problem recently.
Noticed that I had been plugging the phone into a USB port that was a little farther from the powered hub, so I changed it by plugging it into the powered USB hub itself, thinking the voltage might be just a little higher there.

As soon as I did that, the problem disappeared, and hasn't returned.
Makes sense when you think about it. iTunes thinks the phone disconnected because it didn't have quite enough power to maintain a reliable connection. Giving it more power (and the difference is obviously tiny) made all the difference.

I had to use this method. The others did not work. I finally found the corrupt contact, which by the way hadn't been added or edited in several months.

timmya74 said:

i had this problem with a new iphone 4. i tried everything that people on multiple forums recommended and nothing worked.

if you have a new iphone and your contacts and not coming from an old model i think i have found the problem. it appears that the contacts file is corrupted because one contact has a problem. all of your contacts are grouped together in one "file" so if one contact is corrupted, the entire file will be too and will not sync.

to fix it (this is very manual) you should:
1. create a new group
2. move contacts to that group in batches (try 10 or alphabeitical)
3. sync the new contacts group ONLY
4. if that works, add 10 more contacts
5. repeat this until the error message appears; you will know which batch has a corrupted contact
6. find the corrupted contact within that batch by trial and error and delete it from the contacts list and the new group
7. add the remainder of the contacts in batches until the full group syncs
8. after this is completed you can delete the group, re-create the deleted contact(s) in the main contact list and all contacts should sync normally.

i did this and it worked. good luck

Click to expand...

Thank you!

timmya74: because of this posting, I was able to take care of the 'contacts' issue for my partner after they disappeared with the most recent icalendar update. The contacts just quit syncing.

We spent total of 9 hours with Apple and Mobile Me trying to fix a problem that ultimately took me about an hour and fifteen minutes to fix. (The search for an answer and finding the corrupted contact).

Thank you so much! Those contacts were mostly for business and not having them on the phone, and mobile, for a week and a half was not fun.

Norma

timmya74 said:

i had this problem with a new iphone 4. i tried everything that people on multiple forums recommended and nothing worked.

if you have a new iphone and your contacts and not coming from an old model i think i have found the problem. it appears that the contacts file is corrupted because one contact has a problem. all of your contacts are grouped together in one "file" so if one contact is corrupted, the entire file will be too and will not sync.

to fix it (this is very manual) you should:
1. create a new group
2. move contacts to that group in batches (try 10 or alphabeitical)
3. sync the new contacts group ONLY
4. if that works, add 10 more contacts
5. repeat this until the error message appears; you will know which batch has a corrupted contact
6. find the corrupted contact within that batch by trial and error and delete it from the contacts list and the new group
7. add the remainder of the contacts in batches until the full group syncs
8. after this is completed you can delete the group, re-create the deleted contact(s) in the main contact list and all contacts should sync normally.

i did this and it worked. good luck

Click to expand...