Problems backing up iPad - Freezes at 95% Backed Up - Solution?

[NebulaClash]

Every once in a while my iPad 1 would have problems doing my nightly sync with my MacBook Pro. It would do the backup and then freeze just before completion, roughly 95% of the way through according to the status bar. I've tried leaving it at that state for hours, but it never changes. My only solution is to stop the sync, reboot the iPad while deleting the backup file for the iPad in iTunes, and then plug the iPad back in. It takes a while to get that intial backup done again, but it works.

That was an occasional issue, but in the last week or two it's been a constant occurrence. I get it pretty much every day now. I go through my workaround described in the previous paragraph, and I can even plug it back in right away and it backs up a second time normally. But sure enough when I try to sync the next day, same old problem. This is now an annoyance.

Latest software is running on all devices. I have several GB free on the iPad and plenty of disk space on the MacBook Pro. Given all that, is there a solution besides wiping out my iPad's contents and starting completely from scratch? I'd be more interested in knowing what is causing this condition to reappear every day. From what I've read as I've poked around for a solution, perhaps too many backups have been done on this device (18 months almost) and I've exceeded some folder limit in the backup area or something. But if I delete the device backup file, shouldn't that start me fresh?

 

[Night Spring]

A possibility is that there is an app that is the source of this problem. Back in the early days of the app store, I once had an app that froze the iPad like that. I tracked it down by opening the backup folder and opening up the last file that was being backed up in a text editor -- lucky enough, the name of the app was written inside the file. I deleted that app and sure enough, no more freezing during backups.

 

[NebulaClash]

Worth a try, thanks.

 

[VSMacOne]

I would do a Restore to Factory Settings and start fresh by syncing apps and not using the old backup.
If that doesn't work, then go to an Apple store. It might be hardware.

 

[NebulaClash]

I just wanted to update this thread to say my problem was finally solved. I tried the tips in this thread, but what I finally did at the suggestion of Apple's Tech Support was to not only delete the iPad backup files, but to also delete every trace of iTunes from my computer. Then I reinstalled iTunes, did a complete factory restore of my iPad, copied everything back and then it's been fine ever since. Runs great, in fact.

Clearly some file got corrupted, some permission in iTunes got messed up, something like that. Unable to trace it precisely down, I did the nuclear option and it worked. A bit of work, but problem now fully solved.