Resolve Vista Scan and Fix Error When Plugging in IPOD or other Devices

Vista is just too smart for its own good. I spoke with a member friday evening that said after setting up Vista home premium his computer would give him an error to Scan and Fix his IPOD. However when he would plug his IPOD into his wife’s Windows XP machine there was no error.

error_ipod.jpg

I was able to recreate the error by forcibly ejecting my own ipod from a Windows XP machine. The reason for the error is that his IPOD was formatted FAT32 on Windows XP; this can affect thumbdrives, cameras, smart cards. What happens is the device was not properly dismounted by Windows XP and there is an archival bit set that Vista needs to reset before it will stop reporting there is an error.

At this point if you don’t read anything else read this: don’t click the “Scan and Fix” button.

Instead open up a command line prompt by clicking on the windows logo key and then clicking on the command prompt icon:

cmd_start.jpg

At the command prompt type the following command.

chkdsk (device drive letter): /f

for instance my ipod was mounted at drive l so I typed

chkdsk l : /f

cmd1.JPG

Once the chkdsk process is completed you should not see the “Scan & Fix” dialog for your ipod or other device again.

– Mark Flavin

201 Comments

  1. Johnny Appleseed on February 24, 2008 at 3:10 am

    So, what happens if we click the ‘scan and fix’ button? Does it wipe your iPod? You aren’t specific but that must be what happens. Can you please confirm? Thanks. JA.

  2. Mark Flavin on February 26, 2008 at 6:04 pm

    Sorry Johnny there if you click Scan and fix it will not hose your ipod it just takes forever and does not fix anything. I should have been clearer thank you for asking for the clarification.

  3. Justin K. on March 2, 2008 at 8:00 pm

    I went to do run the chkdsk, but I got the following message: “This type of the file system is RAW. CHKDSK does not available for RAW drives.” Any ideas on how to deal with this?

  4. Mark Flavin on March 4, 2008 at 12:39 am

    Justin you don’t say it but I am going to assume you are having other issues with your ipod then just checkdisk. If your IPOD is working and itunes and everything else is working then I would leave it as it is however when you get the raw format message typically the ipod is not accessible via itunes or playable so if that is the case read on.

    First off if you are recieving a RAW format message that means your IPOD file system was corrupted. Before doing anything else check to see if it is under warranty if so then I would take it back and return it.

    Failing that you could also try doing a soft reset in which you essentially reboot the ipod instructions can be found at http://www.reset-ipod.com/. If that does not work and it then you can plug the ipod in Right-click on the ipod disk when it is mounted choose Format, then chose “Quick format” after it is done the iPod will be FAT32 and should work properly. Please don’t format unless nothing else works as you will lose everything on the IPOD.

  5. Carlos Lares on March 6, 2008 at 4:53 pm

    It Works , nice Job.
    Thanks

  6. Mark Flavin on March 6, 2008 at 4:54 pm

    Awesome glad to hear it.

  7. JoE on March 7, 2008 at 7:29 pm

    Worked great. Thanks.

  8. Julie Rodriguez on March 15, 2008 at 1:40 pm

    Hi. I’m having the same message pop up and no matter which choice I make it goes to the dreaded blue screen. I tried the chkdsk option but got this message – cannot open volume for direct access. Any other ideas? Thanks in advance!

  9. Mark Flavin on March 15, 2008 at 4:29 pm

    Julie are you saying that when you plug your Ipod into your computer you get a blue screen?

    Are you using an IPOD shuffle? If so that uses a flash drive which can have the error that you describe.

    My suggestion is to make sure you have all the windows updates installed, you can go to http://www.update.microsoft.com/to check. After doing that also make sure you have the latest version of itunes installed by going to http://www.apple.com/itunes/ afte you have installed both restart your computer so that the new ipod service can startup and plug in your ipod.

    If you get the error message try and do the checkdisk option if that does not work or if you get a bluescreen. Then using itunes try to restore your ipod (note you will lose all the music on your ipod doing this so make sure you backup your playlist).

    Open iTunes.
    Click the button in the sidebar that says “YOUR_IPOD’S_NAME”
    Click the tab at top that says “Summary”
    Click the button that says “Restore”
    Choose “Use Newest Version” when you are prompted for restore options – this will restore your iPod to the newest iPod software available
    Wait for the computer to restore the iPod.

    After it has restored the ipod should work without giving you the error but you will need to replace all your music and playlists.

  10. Rick N. on March 23, 2008 at 12:36 pm

    This worked perfectly. Thanks for the help.

  11. Hector Mayorga on July 19, 2008 at 12:11 pm

    Well my friend I tried everything (reset, updates, check, etc)…but I can not fix my mini ipod issues. So frustrating 🙁

    some items:
    – I have an incon in my pc (safely remove hardware) that dont go away
    – after reset the ipod..I tried to sync the songs and it syncing for 3 or 4 minutes (around 150 songs) and it appear a “attempting to copy the disk failed. the disk could not be read or written to”
    – I just get the Iphone 2.0 update…im not sure if this is the reason????
    – I am not sure when “do you want to want scan and fix ipod (E)” appears but it is annoying :)…by the way try to fix it …nothing happened
    – I pluged the ipod to a different pc (xp) and i could use the remove hardware icon..and i had like 20 songs in the ipod. But when I tried in home all begins again.

    if you have any solutions besides put the ipod in a box to alaska ..please let me know. Thanks!!

  12. Mark Flavin on July 19, 2008 at 12:13 pm

    Hector have you tried plugging the device into a new usb port? Sometimes that will fix these kind of issues.

  13. Hector Mayorga on July 19, 2008 at 12:16 pm

    yes…tried 4 different ones

  14. Mark Flavin on July 19, 2008 at 12:49 pm

    I would try downloading an re-installing itunes. If that does not work then you may have to restore your i-pod to factory settings. Try reinstalling itunes and let me know if that works.

    Also check out the following support page

    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1207

  15. Ana on July 19, 2008 at 4:01 pm

    This solution worked for me. Thanks for your help!

  16. Cory on July 21, 2008 at 6:09 am

    how long does this process take?

  17. Cory on July 21, 2008 at 7:20 am

    This is really pissing me off I cant seem to fix it.

  18. Cory on July 21, 2008 at 7:21 am

    nvm lmao as soon as i think its not working it works
    thanks for the info.

  19. Xavier on July 29, 2008 at 6:42 pm

    I tried your solution, but at the command prompt I received this error: Cannot open volume for direct access.

    hmmm . . . .

  20. Sean on July 31, 2008 at 5:50 pm

    Hi, whenever i try to open up “chkdsk /f” there is a screen that pops up very briefly and then disappears. Little help please.

  21. Mark Flavin on July 31, 2008 at 5:55 pm

    Sean you need to open a command prompt first. Click on start then run and type cmd and press enter. From the command prompt type chkdsk /f

  22. Sean on July 31, 2008 at 6:10 pm

    haha yea i just discovered that bit…but when i do enter chkdsk /f in the command prompt i get “Access Denied as you do not have sufficient privelages. You have to invoke this utility running in elevated mode.” …..no idea what that means

  23. Mark Flavin on July 31, 2008 at 6:12 pm

    Just hold ctrl-shift and hit enter after typing cmd in the run box.

  24. Sean on July 31, 2008 at 6:22 pm

    ah man i feel dumb, im not at all really computer savvy, so..wheres the run box :]

  25. Sean on July 31, 2008 at 6:45 pm

    well i really feel dumb bout askin where the run box is but yea, i put cmd in it…clicked on it…and it took me to where i was, at the command prompt window…but its still telling me that “access denied” message when i enter in chkdsk /f

  26. Bob on August 3, 2008 at 1:12 pm

    When I try this with my ipod mounted at drive M, I get an error message:

    Cannot open volume for direct access.

  27. Bob on August 3, 2008 at 1:24 pm

    Actually, I figured this one out for Vista:

    First, you have to run Command Prompt as Administrator.

    Then, you have to make sure that your iPod is syncing with iTunes. (You may have to manually sync it)

    Then you can run the chkdsk program.

  28. Sean on August 3, 2008 at 2:03 pm

    …well, i did the whole run as administrator and i typed in “chkdsk /f” but it told me my disk is NTFS, so i went and tried reformat it and i couldnt cuz it said it would erase all the data on the disk and that would suck…alot

  29. Sean on August 3, 2008 at 2:06 pm

    …it did in total say:

    “The type of this file system is NTFS.
    Cannot lock current drive.

    Chkdsk cannot run because the volume is in use by another process. would you like to schedule this volume to be checked the next time the system restarts? (Y/N)”

    ..i said no,but yea, help

  30. Sean on August 3, 2008 at 2:38 pm

    ok i made some progress and read around and entered in “chkdsk f/ f:” and that got the command prompt to see that it was a FAT32, but it says now:
    “Chkdsk cannot run because the volume is in use by another process. Chkdsk may run if this is dismounted first. ALL OPENED VOLUMES TO THIS HANDLE WOULD THEN BE INVALID. Would you like to force a dismount on this volume? (Y/N)

    i haven’t answered it yet, cuz i dont know what the means

  31. Sean on August 3, 2008 at 3:48 pm

    well i did some more research on the stuff im gettin back … and well turns out all i had to do was exit itunes, and so i ran the “chkdsk/f f:” and it worked!!! im so excited

    thanks for your guidance when you could..thanks!

  32. Nakia on August 11, 2008 at 4:25 pm

    I can’t get this to work. It says “Cannot open volume for direct access.” Am I doing something wrong?

  33. Ken on August 21, 2008 at 8:13 pm

    I get the “file system is RAW…” error when I try the “chkdsk N: /f /r” fix. iTunes and my iPod are functioning perfectly. I have v1.3 on the iPod and 7.7.1.11 on iTunes. I regularly sync up my ipod to get podcast, download music, redo playlist etc. Everything works as advertised but I still get this message — which does not appear on my windows XP laptop.

    I know you told one guy to leave it as it is but this is annoying as hell. Every time I plug it in I have to wait a minute for the error message to pop up and click ignor. If I don’t it will never sync.

  34. Mark Flavin on August 21, 2008 at 11:09 pm

    Ken

    Make sure you have your iPod set to “manual” sync in iTunes.

    Connect your iPod to you computer.
    Go in iTunes preferences and select the “iPod” tab.
    Check the box for “manual” sync.

    After that close out iTunes and retry the fix

  35. stace on August 22, 2008 at 3:56 am

    hi, i did exactly as i was told but when i did it, this came up:

    ‘chkdskF:’ is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.

    please help!

  36. Mark Flavin on August 22, 2008 at 6:36 am

    The command is

    chkdsk [drive-letter-of-ipod] : /f

    To find the drive letter of your ipod:

    Click on the Window’s Orb (start button in XP)
    Click on “Computer” and the drives will be listed look for the one labeled iPod.

  37. Cam on August 29, 2008 at 8:28 pm

    Thank you for this solution! It worked perfectly, as soon as I made sure to exit iTunes before opening the command window.

  38. JR on September 6, 2008 at 7:33 pm

    That worked great, and resolved an irritating error message that I have been living with for months.
    Thank You!

  39. ChipR on September 11, 2008 at 6:20 am

    Ok – I ran the “chkdsk g:/f” and it starts to check the disk. It reports finding files “cross-linked on allocation unit” and then reports the cross link to be resolved by copying. It also reports a bunch of “the size of ……….(insert file name a location)…… entry is not valid”. So it goes through a bunch of these two messages and the sends an error message in a window labeled “Windows – Wrong Volume” and in the window is states the following:
    “Exception Processing Message OxcOOOOO12 Parameters Ox75F6023C Ox75F6O23C Ox86BCD78C Ox75F6O23C”

    The iPod then crashes (locks up) and has to be reset to get working again and for the computer to find it again.

    Any thoughts?

  40. lorie on September 17, 2008 at 8:36 pm

    Hi, I have 2 ipods with this error in Vista.
    Both synchronise perfectly in iTunes BUT have the “RAW file” notification when I try to chkdsk in DOS in order to remove the Vitsa error. I have followed your instructions to the letter & changed iTunes preferences to manual sync. but STILL get the RAW disk reading after I close iTunes.

    I hope to sell these iPods to people at work, as working – fully functional, but I need the Vista Error removed before I can do so.

    Your assistance has been invaluable to date and I’d love to see your thoughts on the continuing problem checking iPod disk in RAW format (when iPod works perfectly).
    Cheers

  41. Koen on September 24, 2008 at 6:06 am

    worked ok for me. Thanks for the information.

  42. Tim on October 5, 2008 at 9:15 pm

    Excellent! Thanks!

  43. Sarah on October 6, 2008 at 10:12 am

    Hurrah for Mark Flavin! Thank you so much! That had been bugging me for ages, the setting iPod sync to manual was the key piece of info missing from your initial post however (for people like me anyhoo)

  44. Mark Flavin on October 6, 2008 at 10:14 am

    Sarah I am really happy it worked for you. When I originally wrote the piece I forgot that most people do not set their ipods to Manual sync and thus skipped the step.

  45. bethan on October 11, 2008 at 1:15 pm

    I have an 80GB classic ipod, I set it up on my old pc, which was windows xp. It is working perfectly and is only about 2 months old. I now have a new computer which is Vista. I get this error message everytime I plug in my ipod.
    My ipod is set to manage songs and videos manually, not to sync.
    I no longer have access to my old computer and do not have any of the music backed up because of this, so am anxious not to lose anything.
    If i follow your instructions stated at the top of this thread, will it wipe any info from my ipod?

    Many thanks.
    You must be sick of being asked about this!

  46. Jim on October 24, 2008 at 7:47 am

    Hi
    I downloaded some Nvidia drivers to a flash drive on a laptop using XP, then plugged it into my vista desktop and the drivers werent there. Later I plugged it in again for something else, and it came up with the scan and fix thing. I clicked scan and fix, hoping it’d show up my nvidia drivers, but instead it deleted a folder on the flash drive. Some of the files in this folder were quite important and I can’t recover them, I’ve tried using 2 different programs for recovery of deleted files.

  47. Josh on November 2, 2008 at 6:57 pm

    I’ve done all of this…..then,
    “The type of the file system is NTFS.
    Cannot lock current drive.

    Chkdsk cannot run because the volume is in use by another process. Would you like to schule this volume to be checked the next time the system restarts? (Y/N)”….

    Don’t know what this means?

    iTunes is not open, when I plug in the iPod I get the: Do you want to scan and…Message, I say no and then iTunes starts and frezzes!

    I think thats all I’ve done. Although I think I did do the scan and fix button the first time. What do I do? Nothings working!

    Thanks Josh

  48. Joel r. on November 22, 2008 at 12:30 pm

    worked for me!

    thanks a lot for the tip!!!!!!

  49. andrew bethke on November 23, 2008 at 12:34 pm

    Hey I have an 80 gb ipod classic that i bought from a friend and when i plug it in to my computer i used to get the scan files message but i did get that taken care of, but the ipod has never shown up in my itunes and i cant figure out why. Sometimes right when i unplug my ipod the itunes screen will swith to the ipod screen as if it were plugged in and an error will show up saying my ipod cannot be synced because it cannot find the required file

  50. andrew bethke on November 23, 2008 at 1:36 pm

    never mind i got it all figured out

  51. Steve on November 26, 2008 at 11:23 am

    I have tried all of the above “fixes” and I have not found one that works for my laptop. When I plug in the Ipod it gives me the standard “Scan & Fix or Continue” message. Then Itunes always opens up and starts to sync. I cannot change any setting to prevent it the next time I connect. It always goes back to the “original” settings. I’ve tried the chkdsk command but it does not let me access the drive (G in my case). I have also tried all the updates in both Vista and Itunes. Do you have any more suggestions?

  52. Steve on November 26, 2008 at 11:33 am

    I am also getting the message “Ipod cannot be synced. The required file cannot be found.” every time.

  53. Mark Flavin on November 26, 2008 at 12:12 pm

    Man this has really turned into the support IPOD random issues thread 😛

    Steve regardinging your issue please try the following

    To force a manual sync hold down Control and Shift and keep holding it until iTunes starts

    This will force iTunes to initiate the iPod connection wizard. You will be prompted to confirm the name of your iPod. Simply deselect (un-check) the option for “Automatically update” your iPod.

    I would then choose to manually sync everything and attempt to update your iPod if that does not work below are some suggestions.

    1. If you are syncing photos go to the folder you are syncing photos from (generally my documents/pictures) and delete the folder named “iPod Photo Cache”

    Try to sync if that does not work

    2. Open iTunes and choose

    2. Check to ensure that you are running the latest firmware and try renaming your ipod to a generic name like “music” no special characters like apostrophe this has been linked syncing errors and worth a try.

    Try to sync if that does not work

    3. Try uninstalling and reinstalling itunes

    Finally if those do not work use itunes to restore your ipod to factory settings you will lose your music, photos and contacts but it should resolve the issue.

  54. Grant on December 8, 2008 at 11:19 pm

    I type in the chkdsk thing but then I get invalid parameter. Am I maybe typing in the wrong drive or something?

  55. Grant on December 8, 2008 at 11:31 pm

    I actually got it to work however I am getting a message that says unrecoverable error in the Ipod control folder and it asks me to convert the file to a folder then i say yes and the whole process stops

  56. Cory on December 9, 2008 at 2:09 pm

    I do CMD stuff and it works fine i get everything you got. But my ipod still doesnt show in iTunes and I cant eject is normally.

  57. Nat on December 9, 2008 at 6:46 pm

    ok i did what you did and i got the message the type of filse system is fat32 and the thing about the volumserial number but after that it just stopped and i could not press anything on the command prompt

  58. Nat on December 9, 2008 at 6:47 pm

    i did what you did and i got the message the type of filse system is fat32 and the thing about the volumserial number but after that it just stopped and i could not press anything on the command prompt

  59. Anu on December 15, 2008 at 9:14 pm

    Hi

    I tried to chkdsk with /f and /r options.

    H:>chkdsk h:
    The type of the file system is FAT32.
    The volume is in use by another process. Chkdsk
    might report errors when no corruption is present.
    Volume ANUVUPPALA’ created 8/1/2007 10:35 PM
    Volume Serial Number is 5B99-A10A
    Windows is verifying files and folders…
    File and folder verification is complete.
    Windows has checked the file system and found no problems.
    29,191,840 KB total disk space.
    912 KB in 57 hidden files.
    384 KB in 24 folders.
    22,591,104 KB in 3,138 files.
    6,599,424 KB are available.

    16,384 bytes in each allocation unit.
    1,824,490 total allocation units on disk.
    412,464 allocation units available on disk.

    The volume is in use by another process. Chkdsk ??????????????????

    Why do i get that error ?

    1) I have enabled the disk access and selected the manual selection of the sync

    2) exit of the itunes

    3) Run the chkdsk with /f option and i get the above error.

    4) re-open itunes and try to sync

    5) my iPod shows do not disconnect

    6) but my library does’nt show as if its sync-ing up

    All your help is appreciated in resolving this issue.

    Thanks in advance !

  60. Casey on December 19, 2008 at 8:19 pm

    im just gonna dive right into it

    ipod 5 gen with itunes (latest update) hp pavilion media center with vista ultimate installed

    problem: ipod shows up momentarily in “my computer as drive letter M then this error message pops up (do you want to scan now blah blah). i recently formatted my ipod and i KNEW i had this message because of a reminant error file. when i choose the yes scan now it says: windows cannot access the disk. so the error message dissappears and so does the visible disk drive M!! i try no answering the error message and the M drive still disappears. itunes does not see the ipod what so ever. i choose device manager, i see disk drives, i notice i have several disk drives for (cameras and media cards… etc) a total of four disk drives that i dont ever use. i so i disabled them now the only ones that are enabled are: C drive and Apple Ipod. another thing! The windows WPD filesystem shows a yellow ! and when i open properties for this device it says error code 10. i’ve this entire post and many more like it. i just can seem to get my ipod to be recognized by windows vista. i tried the chkdsk but because it doesnt see the drive it wont do a chk. ipodservice is running in the background and all other storage devices work fine via usb ports. and the ipod works on almost any other computer but my own! also. i have choosen to update my driver for the ipod manually and choose [diskdrive] as there were no other choices, it restarts, and for a brief moment i can see the drive, open it, access the files, and then boots me out with “the {path …. etc} is inaccessible, make sure the drive is connected properly blah blah… so what can i do about all this? i cant rename the drive if its not there right?

  61. Casey on December 19, 2008 at 8:21 pm

    by the way i appreciate any help you or anyone has to offer

  62. ace on December 21, 2008 at 4:00 am

    Nakia,
    Checkout Bob’s work around it worked for me

  63. Linda on December 26, 2008 at 9:40 am

    I typed in the command you recommended and it says Cannot open volume for direct access. What do I do now?

  64. James Daly on December 28, 2008 at 10:42 pm

    I attempted to rund the chkdsk command and I get a message that states cannot read boot sector can you help
    Thanks

  65. Ann on January 2, 2009 at 3:12 am

    I’ve been looking for a solution for my iPod, and this one worked perfectly. Thank you so much.

  66. Ryan on January 8, 2009 at 10:54 pm

    After searching in futility for ways to whip my 80GB back into working order (all my data remained on the iPod, but iTunes wouldn’t recognize it and the iPod itself claimed there was “no music”), I stumbled across this site, thinking, “what the heck is real estate gonna do for my undernourished ears?” Well, Mark, thanks a billion–my iPod’s gone from an expensive wannabe paperweight to an actual functioning digital music device again! Seriously, you’ve made my day!

  67. Mark Flavin on January 8, 2009 at 11:05 pm

    Awesome Ryan! Seriously with all the reads and comments this one post has gotten I should just blog about ipod support 🙂

  68. Maxine on January 16, 2009 at 7:40 am

    Hi Mark & everyone else.

    Thanks for all your comments & assistance. I’m stuck on “cannot open volume for direct access”.

    I want to try Bob’s solution, but am unsure as to how to run chkdsk as administrator.
    Please could someone advise me.

    Many thanks!

  69. Dave on January 19, 2009 at 2:29 pm

    Thanks, Mark, the chkdsk seems to have done the trick for my Shuffle. It was made a bit difficult because of Vista’s “helpful” way of quickly removing the Ipod from the “Devices with removable storage” folder after it’s plugged in, but I set it up to run quickly while it was still there.

  70. David on January 22, 2009 at 11:43 pm

    Wow!! Teh problem I was having was that when I would run the command prompt to run the chkdsk, I’d get a message saying that the drive could not be found. I know I entered the right letter. But then I realized that after I’d hit “continue without scanning” and once itunes would open up (I had it set to automatically open when I’d connect the ipod) – the ipod would literally disappear from “My computer” or any other place I’d try to view it.

    I finally changed my itunes so that it would not open when I connected. I kept the error message box open and noticed that the ipod was still apearing on “My computer”. So while the drive was still recognized I ran the command prompt and the “chkdsk _: /f” command & it worked like a charm!

    Thanks so much for the tip!

  71. yeefong on February 18, 2009 at 4:20 pm

    Hi, I did everything that you said to do, except that I got this error saying “cannot open volume for direct access” What should I do?

  72. Blaine on March 2, 2009 at 4:20 pm

    How long does the iPod say connected eject before disconnecting? If it takes an hour or so should I just do it via iTunes?

  73. Mark Flavin on March 2, 2009 at 4:22 pm

    Typically it will only take a few minutes at most. If it is not disconnecting make sure you close any folders or windows that are reading a directory on the ipod then try ejecting it again.

  74. Blaine on March 2, 2009 at 4:33 pm

    Thanks a lot that was annoying. Any clue on why my Ipod didn’t want the scan and the wifes did?

  75. Be Rad on March 3, 2009 at 12:03 am

    Nice. Worked like a charm.

    I’m glad I never scanned it too.

    Thanks for the crystal clear explanation.

  76. Tom on March 11, 2009 at 7:08 pm

    Worked perfectly – thanks for posting the solution.

  77. Shannen on March 27, 2009 at 12:10 pm

    When i plug my ipod into my laptop, it comes up that scan and fix pop up, but ive tried the disk check and nothing works! And due to this pop up, songs dont sync to my ipod anymore but the ipod is in full working order. This has been since i pulled the ipod out of the USB too qucikly before i got the OK to disconnect sign. Help!:(

  78. Steve on April 2, 2009 at 1:38 am

    chkdsk:/k

    is not recognized as an internal or external command., operable program or batch file.

    I’ve tried typing chkdsk 1: /k several way’s to no avail. I’ve tried with iTunes connected and with my ipod connected and without both. Still nothing.

    Any help getting this command to work would be greatly appriciated.

  79. Mr Apollo on April 12, 2009 at 11:13 pm

    You Rock!!! That message has been bugging me for months! Thank you SO much!!!

  80. jack on April 14, 2009 at 8:09 am

    cannot open volume for direct access….
    is there any way you could tell me what to do in layman’s terms?

  81. Michael on April 17, 2009 at 7:59 am

    Hi

    I’ve done what it says to do in the command prompt but it comes up with the below :

    Microsoft Windows [Version 6.0.6001]
    Copyright (c) 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

    C:UsersMichael>chkdsk f: /f
    The type of the file system is FAT32.
    Volume MARK’S created 25/12/2007 19:51
    Volume Serial Number is 3141-5926
    Windows is verifying files and folders…
    Unrecoverable error in folder iPod_Controlgamedata_RW.
    Convert folder to file (Y/N)? Y

    I clicked yes but it just seems to stay on 0% and does nothing and returns to users/Michael

    Any ideas?

  82. anthony h on April 17, 2009 at 7:24 pm

    heyy when i do the boot in the command prompt it says file is fat 32 then under it, it says cannot boot sectors, is there anything i can do ?

  83. Doug on April 18, 2009 at 7:55 am

    Worked like a charm. Thanks for your time and help.

  84. Taco on April 18, 2009 at 8:49 pm

    WORKED!!!

    Thanks

  85. Karyn on April 21, 2009 at 6:29 pm

    When I run the chkdsk I get the following:

    The type of the file system is FAT32.
    Volume Serial Number is 3141-5926

    and then it stops…any thoughts?

  86. Sam on April 22, 2009 at 11:43 pm

    Hi ,
    have run all the steps,
    and it comes up with
    “Windows is verifying files and folders…
    iPod_controlartworkF1060_1.ithmb is cross-linked on allocation unit 8302”

    any ideas mate?

  87. Sam on April 22, 2009 at 11:52 pm

    I ran the quick format after this stage and it completed properly…this was after uninstalling itunes

    iPod is good to go thanks. great help.

  88. Zerez on May 7, 2009 at 8:41 am

    Hey Mark, maybe I should just try to explain what has happened to my iPod. When I was trying to sync or to change some of my music’s information, suddenly iTunes stopped working, I tried to close it, and safely remove the iPod so I could start again, however I couldn’t, and I had to force the removal.
    As soon as I plugged my iPod again Windows Vista gave the “Scan and Fix” message, and i dismissed it cause I know it doesn’t work. I then found this forum, and tried the solution, however it gives me the message:
    “The type of the file system is RAW.
    CHKDSK is not available for RAW files.”
    The iPod and iTunes still freezes, and I really don’t know what to do.
    I would seriously appreciate any help.
    Thanks, and greetings from Mexico.

  89. Matt on May 15, 2009 at 1:54 am

    Thanks Mark, I have been having issues with my new Ipod Classic(120 gig) and Vista, getting that annoying pop up recently, EACH time the ipod was plugged into computer and synced.
    It worked a treat, after doing some fine tuning(first time I did it – it failed).

  90. Alex on May 30, 2009 at 5:31 pm

    Thank you so much. I’ve had this problem before where I’ve tried to transfer songs to my iPod, and I’ve gotten a (-69) error. After this check, it is now back to normal. The ?chkdsk g:/f? worked great. Make sure not to have a space after the colon, that was a problem for me.

  91. John Labriola on June 7, 2009 at 6:24 am

    Thanks man, that was really annoying message to dismiss all the time.

  92. Ryan on June 14, 2009 at 1:04 am

    I have a 160gb WD1600 external usb hard drive I have reformated it with Vista to NTSC then
    again with fat32format.exe in cmd prompt to FAT32 originally came formated in NTSC. I’ve
    tried to copy and paste a .CFG file and others from my Laptop running Vista to my external
    USB HD and or change their file names wich is successfull. The problem is after I unplug
    the USD HD and reconnect it the files and or their name changes are either not there or not
    changed as if resorting back to before the change/transfer. I am unable to figure out what
    to do to fix this problem.

    No errors pop up other than Vista promping me “Do you want to scan and fix local disk?”. I
    am running as true administrator account and I also tried with and without write caching enabled/disabled/ still same problem. If you have any suggestions let me know thanks in advance.

  93. Sylvia on June 15, 2009 at 11:43 am

    When I typed chkdsk j it said “Access denied as you do not have sufficient privileges.
    You have to invoke this utility running in elevated mode”

    What does that mean?

  94. Sylvia on June 15, 2009 at 11:48 am

    Nevermind, I figured it out!

  95. darryl on June 19, 2009 at 9:45 am

    i still cant do it i type it right im sure im spacing it right i type chkdsk k: /f but its just say other messages like pervious people have been sayin they get wat am i doin wrong what am i typing wrong help plz?

  96. darryl on June 19, 2009 at 10:02 am

    it keep sayin somethin about a raw drive advie anyone?

  97. darryl on June 19, 2009 at 10:33 am

    is the ipod suppose to be connected or dis connected when you do this?

  98. darryl on June 19, 2009 at 10:57 am

    it recognize it as fat 32 but why it keep sayin can not determine the number of volumes on this sector

  99. darryl on June 19, 2009 at 11:21 am

    it work but b4 it finishes its askin me do i want to convert lost chains to files? what that mean?

  100. darryl on June 19, 2009 at 11:51 am

    never mind i did it

  101. Lincoln on June 30, 2009 at 2:37 pm

    Thanks for the tip! It worked for me.

  102. Tim on July 3, 2009 at 8:46 pm

    Hi, I have a 5th gen 80gb classic and when I get down to about 30gb’s it will stop syncing but stay connected and say it is still syncing. This could go on all day. Any ideas on how to either scan and fix this or should I just not go below 30gb’s? It works fine until I get that low on disk space.

    Thanks,

    Tim

  103. Nyibol on July 7, 2009 at 8:18 pm

    When I typed chkdsk l : /f it said that the drive, path or the file name is not valid. What do i do????

  104. steven mc on July 16, 2009 at 6:20 am

    hi there i was having same problem as everyone else searched eveywhere 4 a fix then stubled across this site . i managed to sort out the scan fix problem but now my itunes freeze’s when i plug my ipod in if i just leave it to see wat happens windows just restarts can anybody help with this issue

  105. Jeff on July 23, 2009 at 5:38 pm

    Regarding the ” cannot open volume for direct access ” result from the command prompt:

    This can be fixed within iTunes. However, it does involves wiping the iPod data completely (“restoring” it to its original state when you first got it). This isn’t a big deal for a shuffle, but may be a real hassle for a larger GB iPod.

    1. Open iTunes.
    2. click on iPod icon.
    3. click on “settings” at the top, to the left of contents.
    4. click on “restore” under the Version heading.
    5. follow instruction on restoring the iPod to its original state.
    6. Add back all of your music.

  106. Liz H. on July 31, 2009 at 1:45 am

    Best. Site. Ever! Thank you so much for all your help! My ipod had more problems than I thought o.O
    restoring my ipod was the best option though 😀
    oh and I’m not sure if I did that checkdisk process correctly but it got rid of that annoying popup! ^^

  107. Alix on August 5, 2009 at 1:02 am

    I am having a similar problem with my Ipod –

    Was having problems a while ago when it stopped playing certain songs and got fed up so reset it and also wiped it clear ready to re-sync with Itunes. Now when I plug it into Itunes I get the ‘Do you want to run scan scan fix la la la” I originally said yes to this and it doesnt do much except pop up a window saying that It cannot run the scan whilst the Ipod is in use. So I read somewhere else that I could try and do this manually by pressing ‘Fast Forward’, ‘Rewind’, ‘Menu’ and ‘Action’ at the same time and that it would scan it’self. Tried this and nothing happened. I read your notes abouve about typing in a Command but I’m no whiz and don’t know how to do this or even how to find a command prompt. One person said to click ‘start’ then click run but my computer doesnt seem to have a ‘run’ option? My computer is laptop with Vista and my Ipod is 120gb classic…..not sure if this plays an important role? Can someone please shed some light? I need music!

  108. darryl on August 5, 2009 at 2:40 am

    alix i kno what you going thru and i followed his steps but it aint make my i pod work it just got rid of that thing that asked me if i wanted to scan but i couldn’t put music on. this is what i do friend so listen up and it will surely work for you. when you hook up ya i pod if i tunes comes up just close it out it must be closed out. go to start or that button that has the window logo in the bottom left corner you know it. go to computer or my computer .and if your i pod hooked up you will see it their. click it once then right click on it and give it some time it may be a lil slow to respond but it will just bare with it for music sake. a list will come up click on format. you will see file system ntfs default. change it to exfat. ((if that dont work just leave it on ntfs and hit quick format)) and check the box that says quick format. then hit start. the bar will load up then when its done unhook ya ipod and hook it back up this puts in in factory mode where you have to rename ya ipod after that just check the play lists you want to put on ya ipod and hit sync my friend

  109. darryl on August 5, 2009 at 2:46 am

    o yea doing that process also gets ride of that stupid message there for it saves you the hassle of clickin run prompt and typin all that weird stuff

  110. darryl on August 5, 2009 at 2:46 am

    i have the ipod classic 120 gb

  111. Alix on August 5, 2009 at 7:12 am

    Thatnks for the tip but sadly it didn’t work either. When I clicked quick scan it just said that windows couldn’t complete the scan. I made sure Itunes was closed etc, and the other option that you mentioned to change the formatt wasnt their either so can’t work out why it didn’t work!

    Any one else have anything to add to this annoying little problem…..please let me know!|!

  112. darryl on August 5, 2009 at 10:43 am

    did you change the format to exfat or did you leave it on nfts

  113. darryl on August 5, 2009 at 10:44 am

    make sure you changed the format to exfat then hit quick format and the start button

  114. darryl on August 5, 2009 at 10:47 am

    after pressin format, you should see file system .you should be able to switch between ntfs and exfat so change it to exfat and check quick format hit start and let me kno what happen.

  115. Bri on August 9, 2009 at 8:06 am

    Worked perfectly, thanks so much!

  116. darryl on August 9, 2009 at 2:22 pm

    no prob

  117. Dan on August 18, 2009 at 10:47 am

    Brilliant, thats been annoying me for some time now. Thanks

  118. Sean on August 19, 2009 at 8:26 am

    Hey if you guys are having trouble with the chkdsk part, I toyed around with it since I was getting some error messages and I finally reached some success with “chkdsk j:/”

  119. Sean on August 19, 2009 at 8:28 am

    And in reference to my previous post, it should be noted that “j” was the drive where my ipod was located. If you click on My Computer you’ll see it. I just took out the “1” in the previous directions since I had nothing to indicate any numberical drive number.

  120. Liz on August 27, 2009 at 6:49 am

    I have been trying to resolve this for months. I have followed almost every piece advice on every blog, save the one that eventually worked for me.

    I have had all the problems mentioned – computer did not recognize the device, or showed it as unknown device, or showed it as Mass Storage. I’ve uninstalled and reinstalled drivers again and again only to get the message the best drivers are installed or the driver can not be started. I’ve seen the scan & fix message. I’ve seen the Ipod corruption message. I’ve managed to get the hardward scan to install IPod drivers occasionally. I’ve had the IPod spin and spin and even crash my computer twice. I could not do the chkdsk since the few times I managed to even see the device in My Computer, it wasn’t accessible.

    The one piece of advice I kept ignoring was “try a different cable”. I lost my original cable a long time ago and have used an off-brand cable successfully on my old computer with no problems for at least a year. So I was certain this was not the problem. After spending HOURS trying to fix this, I finally borrowed an IPod cable and the only problem I had after that was that I saw the Scan & Fix message. But since my IPod showed up as an IPod in My Computers, I was able to do the chkdsk mentioned in this article. And my IPod showed up in ITunes perfectly and let me sync it.

    It’s a wonder my IPod survived all the resets, restores, installs, etc I’ve put it through, but my advice is ….. at least try to find an original cable if you are using a knock off.

  121. theljean on September 2, 2009 at 4:28 am

    Thank you so much!!! This fixed my problem!!! WONDERFUL!

  122. Sherri on September 23, 2009 at 4:41 pm

    Thanks for the tip! My daughter’s iPod mini (older one) was giving me fits in Vista. Now we can load up the Hannah Montana! (Groan…)

  123. Joe on September 23, 2009 at 8:08 pm

    Thanks! You’re the man… damn that’s been hacking me off for ages!

  124. Jeff on September 24, 2009 at 4:01 pm

    Thanks! Ran the chkdsk like you suggested, during scan i was asked if i wanted ti fix “truncated” data and convert them to files. I said “No” and the scan completed successfully. No More Scan and fix message. Kewl!

  125. Josh on October 12, 2009 at 12:28 am

    i ran the check, and it keeps telling me “insufficient disk space to correct disk error please free some disk space and run chkdsk again” i cant free up files if it wont sync to my itunes. PLEASE HELP!!!!

  126. Tamie on October 14, 2009 at 7:11 pm

    “One person said to click ?start? then click run but my computer doesnt seem to have a ?run? option? ”

    For anyone having this particular problem….
    Instructions given are for Vista Home Premium. I’m ASSUMING other versions of Vista would be the same.

    First, right-click any empty space on the taskbar and select “Properties.” Go to the “start menu” tab, and next to whichever version of the start menu you’re using (list in later steps is slightly different based on whether you’re using Classic or not, but otherwise there’s no difference), you want to click “customize.” Now, in the long list of options to customize how the Start Menu should look, somewhere you should find something about the “Run command.” In Classic, it says “Display Run,” in non-Classic, is says “Run command.”
    If this box is unchecked, check it.
    You should now have the “Run” option on your Start Menu, and can now follow related instructions.

    (Please note, in some versions/editions of Windows, there is a way to show/hide various options besides this customize method–like the “absence” of games in Vista Business; I DON’T know if “Run” is affected by that manner, but you may need a more roundabout method if my suggestion doesn’t work.)

  127. Sergio on October 18, 2009 at 1:07 pm

    when i typed it in it said “Access Denied as you do not have sufficient privileges. You have to invoke this utility running in elevated mode.

  128. Sergio on October 18, 2009 at 1:08 pm

    when i typed it in it said ?Access Denied as you do not have sufficient privileges. You have to invoke this utility running in elevated mode.” can anyone tell me what this means.

  129. C on October 18, 2009 at 6:42 pm

    Thanks went away. But noticed every few days I have to repeat the step. Any ideas??

  130. AM on November 13, 2009 at 7:43 pm

    Worked great for me. However, I did have to pre-type the chkdsk… in the command prompt and then have “My Computer” window open. I had to hit enter as soon as it appeared there because it would disappear quickly and the command wouldn’t work otherwise. Now it works with the dumb warning window popping up.

  131. Jon on November 14, 2009 at 8:39 am

    So what happens if you did click “scan” on, say, a 250GB MyBook with a buttload of files on it and now the Mybook locks up windows and you can’t access anything on it?

  132. Colin on November 14, 2009 at 11:34 pm

    Worked for me, thanks!

  133. C on November 17, 2009 at 7:03 pm

    Still doesn’t work consistently. I do the chkdsk, it’s good for 3-4 syncs and then it comes back again. Need a long term fix.

  134. Jaci on November 20, 2009 at 12:10 pm

    Hi, I tried this and my computer keeps saying :”chkdsk:” is not recognized as sn internal or external command, operable program or batch file. Any soultions?

  135. James on December 3, 2009 at 11:30 am

    doesn’t work for me either.
    It worked ONCE… until I added new music to my library
    and tried to sync…

  136. juliana on December 10, 2009 at 10:39 pm

    mine says cannot open volume for direct access

  137. ryan on December 17, 2009 at 9:22 am

    YOU DO NOT NEED TO SCAN AND FIX ON A PC!!!

    The same with ALL solid state drive, you should not defrag or run CHKDSK on it. I am on my second IPOD, had the same problem with my first one and the one day i decided to “repair” it, the unit stopped working properly the next day.

    Your IPOD will work just fine without repairing on PC.

  138. GeneralTHC on December 19, 2009 at 4:18 pm

    Thank you so much, Mark. My ipod was working fine anyway besides that “scan and fix” pop up window that was driving me nuts. At first, I got the error “cannot open volume for direct access.” I then realized why you said don?t “click the ?Scan and Fix? button.” It seems to me that you have to leave that pop up window open so that the ipod won’t disappear from “my computer” and that command can be run. At least that’s what I did and it worked for me, thanks again so much.
    .

  139. Alex on December 22, 2009 at 10:20 pm

    Thanks, I did the command prompt approach and it helped me a lot!

  140. David N on January 6, 2010 at 2:22 pm

    Hi, whenever i connect my ipod touch to my computer, itunes freezes so i have to close itunes down. I have tried connecting my old ipod video and that works fine. Any ideas why my touch makes itunes freeze everytime?

  141. t-cup on January 6, 2010 at 6:14 pm

    thanks a lot 🙂

  142. M on January 6, 2010 at 10:52 pm

    “…you should not see the ?Scan & Fix? dialog for your ipod or other device again” Not true. Still an issue. Works for a couple of times, but still get the pop up. Closing the window or clicking ‘continue without scanning, eventually it comes up again.

  143. Cassie on January 9, 2010 at 7:29 pm

    There is a much easier way to fix this. When you first plug your iPod into the computer and the pop-up comes up, click “Continue without scanning”. Go to iTunes and go to your iPod. Where it says “Options”, click Enable disk use, then click Apply over to the side. When it’s done applying, unplug your iPod from your computer and then plug it back in again. This time, when the pop up comes up, cick “Scan and fix”. It will scan your iPod this time (if you did this before without enabling disk use it would say it couldn’t scan your iPod and the pop-up would continue coming up) and hopefully say nothing is wrong with it. If there is nothing wrong with it, the pop-up won’t come up anymore!

  144. C on January 10, 2010 at 10:33 pm

    This is not an ‘Enable Disk Use’ issue and it does not solve the pop-up. It has always been checked. In Vista, this is randomly appearing then no longer appears then randomly appears again. You can run the DOS macro, but eventually comes back regardless of steps taken.

  145. Willie on January 11, 2010 at 2:54 pm

    If I already clicked “scan and fix”, am I screwed? Or is there any way to reverse this? Itunes wont read my ipod and the iPod shows no music, even though all the files are still there… PLEASE HELP

  146. GeneralTHC on January 12, 2010 at 11:43 am

    Willie,

    No, just start over. From what I gather, the ipod needs to be listed just like any other drive in “My Computer” for the command to work. This time when you plug in your ipod don’t click ?scan and fix.? Just ignore it. Open up a command prompt by typing “command” in the run box. Then run the command.

  147. Russ on January 12, 2010 at 10:07 pm

    Thank you SOOOOOO much for this article. My iPod would mount fine on my wife’s laptop, but never on my desktop. i was considering throwing it out the window until I found this article.

    Thanks!

  148. Jonny on January 13, 2010 at 9:48 am

    I just want to say a BIG THANK YOU to Darryl who helped me here with my iPod – completely formatted and syncing perfectly!

    THANK YOU! 😀

  149. betty on January 18, 2010 at 4:53 am

    how to fix error from usb nad said error opening when I scan

  150. Bryan on February 4, 2010 at 6:56 pm

    Mine will come up with the scan fix, i typed in the command and it will come up with the fat32 but will not but then it says “cannot read boot sector” Any ideas?

    I can not open itunes when my ipod is plugged in. I also can not properly disconnect the ipod becuase it says that it is in use. I have throw other Ipods on this computer and it works fine. I also went to the apple store and of course my ipod worked fine there on both there mac and windows XP, I am running windows 7. Any help would be much appreciated

  151. John on February 7, 2010 at 10:09 pm

    Yes, make sure that disk usage is enable. Otherwise, itunes unmounts the driver letter from windows

  152. andrew on February 16, 2010 at 9:14 pm

    after a few weeks of getting the “scan and fix” message, I made the mistake of clicking yes.

    now, windows recognizes my ipod but itunes doesn’t. i’ve tried restarting my ipod, reinstalling itunes, and have read a bunch of help forums online but nothing seems to be working. when I try to play a song on my ipod, it just stays at 0:00.

    and, since itunes can’t recognize my ipod, I can’t restore it to factory settings. what should I do? thanks

  153. Andy on February 21, 2010 at 12:09 pm

    hello i have a problem with my ipod photo 40gb with color when i plug the ipod the scan thingy comes up and my computer recognizes the ipod but when i try to open itunes it freezes when the ipod is connected and some times get blue screen thing my os is windows 7

  154. Beth on February 21, 2010 at 1:36 pm

    Thanks for the post. i kept getting that on an ipod i was using and was told to fix. it worked a treat thank you 😀

  155. Will on February 22, 2010 at 5:58 pm

    hi i keep getting a error 53 on my ipod and i have tried restarting my i pod counless of times , i restored twice and still i keep getting it

  156. Zack on February 22, 2010 at 10:14 pm

    When I enter chkdsk into the command prompt I then get “Convert lost chains to files?”… Don’t want to mess anything up so should I type Y for yes or N for no? Any help would be nice

  157. dvopek on February 25, 2010 at 12:56 am

    Hi guys.
    Been working on this problem for days (professionally).
    Vista (maybe XP or Win 7 too) sometimes sets a reserved bit (BS_Reserved1) in the FAT32 boot sector.
    (Search for fatgen103 documentation.)
    This can happen when some programs do a perfectly correct file write. The bit gets suddenly set for no reason at all.
    Vista (not XP) is sensitive for this bit when plugging in a device.
    So I have a program to reset it (no chkdsk needed) and the “Do you want to scan and fix” will not appear any more when plugging out and in again. However, next time some program writes, it might (or not) popup again. So my suggestion, sue Microsoft… Vista at least is real crap.

  158. Kielan on February 25, 2010 at 1:35 pm

    Mine keeps saying ”cannot open volume for direct access” when I use chkdsk on Commans Prompt. Are there any solutions to this?

  159. Tim on March 14, 2010 at 9:11 pm

    Didn’t fix it for me, running Windows 7. Tried every solution on the net…Apple “Genius Bar” says IPOD is fine, it must be Windows. Ready to throw IPOD into the ocean…

  160. GeneralTHC on March 14, 2010 at 9:23 pm

    Tim,
    Were you able to run the chkdsk command on your ipod?

  161. Jane on March 17, 2010 at 3:17 am

    Hey, I’ve been having some trouble this article. I’ve done everything it says but my computer is not letting me access the files(?). Please help!!

  162. Jane on March 17, 2010 at 3:18 am

    Hey, I’ve been having some trouble this article. I’ve done everything it says but my computer is not letting me access the files(?). Please help!! Also I have no idea what a “device drive letter” is, so I don’t think it’s working for me properly.

  163. Alex on March 21, 2010 at 10:59 am

    mine keeps sayi ng acess denied as you do not have th esufficient privileges and then you have to invoke this running in elevated mode when i do the chkdsk thing. Does anyone know why. My ipod says it’s connected but it doesn’t come up on itunes!!!!!!! I am so near to smashing the computer and ipod!!!!!

  164. g on March 25, 2010 at 3:56 pm

    Thanks! This was usefull.

  165. Kara on March 27, 2010 at 4:51 am

    i started getting the scan and fix error some time ago….i allowed it to scan, but being very cautious i had unchecked the box for automatic fix….it didn’t find anything wrong, but the dialog box still came up every time i plugged in my nano 5g (win 7) and i would click continue without scanning. Well i just followed your command line fix and it seems to have worked!! YEAY!!

  166. Jippy on March 30, 2010 at 1:28 am

    To anyone getting the “cannot open volume for direct access” error:

    Go to the Settings tab of your iPod in iTunes. Check “Enable Disk Use” and allow iTunes to apply these new settings. When the Scan Disk prompt comes up again, run the command prompt as mentioned above and it should work without a hitch. 🙂

  167. ByTheSea on March 30, 2010 at 7:00 pm

    If you get any kind of “unable” to do so error message at the Command Prompt after entering chkdsk X: /f Undock and turn the power on the ipod for about 10secs or so. Then power off, redock and try the line command again. Worked for me after failing the first time on a Vista O/S. Luck.

  168. gordon in oz on April 5, 2010 at 6:39 am

    Perfect solution thanks so much – its been driving me mad for 3 days

  169. Kerry on April 8, 2010 at 4:14 pm

    Very much appreciated. Worked like a charm. That message sure was irritating!

  170. Antrikshy on April 12, 2010 at 9:52 pm

    Yes, I guess I got it fixed. Thank you very, very much. Check out my YouTube channel for cool computing tips and tricks.

  171. Smurff on April 23, 2010 at 8:41 pm

    If you clicked (scan and fix) you cant restore your ipod to factory settings using itunes.. instead:
    1. go to my computer
    2. right clic on your ipod
    3. click format
    4. make sure quick format is selected, & run

    I did this, my ipod works fine

  172. Me on April 24, 2010 at 9:57 am

    YAY!!! This worked. Thank you so much!!!!

  173. Jared on April 24, 2010 at 10:48 pm

    I use a 4 gig I SD card for Ready Boost in Win 7 and I keep getting the message that says do you want to scan and fix Ready Boost (F)?

    I tried the suggestion about going to the command prompt and I type in C:UsersJared>chkdsk:/f and it says chkdsk is not recognized as either an internal command or an external command, operable program of batch file. Should there be a space somewhere in the command line?

  174. Jared on April 24, 2010 at 10:57 pm

    Sorry I need to correct/clarify my post.

    I use a 4 gig SD card for Ready Boost in Win 7. I used the same card in Vista and it was fine, but after I upgraded to Win 7 I keep getting the message that says, do you want to scan and fix Ready Boost (F)?

    I tried the suggestion about typing in the command prompt, C:UsersJared>chkdsk:/f and it says, chkdsk is not recognized as either an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.

  175. Bill Hates on May 1, 2010 at 7:31 am

    SOLUTION:
    1) – Go to DEVICE MANAGER
    2) Under Disk drives – select the drive
    3) Under Properties / Policies
    4) Select “Better Performance” (and not!! Quick Removal)

    Be happy with the stupid alert message GONE!

  176. C on May 2, 2010 at 4:18 am

    Still not fixed after months of using this. It simply keeps coming back about once a week or so.

    I think I have an idea though. I noticed that when I get an reminder to upgrade to a new version of iTunes this pop-up appears. I’ll have to track more but so far this is the case.

  177. Katie on May 3, 2010 at 9:21 am

    None of these solutions are working for me. My ipod says its connected but it is not showing up on my itunes? Also everything has been deleted off my ipod. Any solutions to this?

  178. antonio soprano on May 14, 2010 at 8:20 am

    Hi all,

    I have run into this same problem on Win7 64. pretty effin annoying. I ran chkdsk on my ipod & that didn’t work at all.

    Hopefully I can find something that works.

  179. Rick on May 16, 2010 at 12:28 am

    When I tried to run chkdsk it gave the message:

    “The type of the file system is RAW. chkdsk is not available for RAW drives.”

    any suggestions? Thanx.

  180. Rick on May 16, 2010 at 12:29 am

    BTW, I’m running windows 7

  181. Ray on May 28, 2010 at 5:31 pm

    I had the same issue with my MagicJack (I thought I’d reply so the search engines would pick it up easier I guess) In Vista, and windows 7 finally I got tired of it and searched. This solution fixed the issue for it as well with a nice and clean popup free plugin.

  182. Petro026 on June 5, 2010 at 8:46 am

    These posts were extremely helpful in trying to get the “Scan and Fix” error resolved however I was unable to get the chkdsk utility to run when Vista was booted in “normal” mode. After doing to some research is appeared to have something to do with other program running that were interfering with the operating system obtaining exclusive access to the USB disk. I fixed this problem by booting into safe mode and running the utility. After rebooting into “normal” mode, the error was resolved.

  183. C on June 9, 2010 at 6:38 am

    Thanks Mark,

    Helped me. Two things I would add tp this article: 1. Why you shouldn’t select “scand and fix” and 2. What does chkdsk do?

    Thanks for your help

  184. AndreaC on June 15, 2010 at 8:03 pm

    I am getting this same error with my Flip Ultra camcorder. The chat support for Flip was not helpful, so I followed the advice here. No more error asking me to scan, HOWEVER, the FlipShare software did not automatically install on my machine when the camera was plugged in either, so it did not completely fix my problem.

    The software for Flips is on the camera and runs when plugged in, therefore can be used on anyone’s sytem (supposedly). It is not running on my new i5 Windows 7 system, but works on the Vista system for some reason … Now off to see if I can get the FlipShare software from them somehow. Thanks for the post anyway!

  185. C on June 15, 2010 at 10:22 pm

    Still looking for a permanent solution. This is still a weekly occurrence, and doesn’t fix the issue long term.

  186. nil on June 30, 2010 at 6:09 am

    now. this. is. magic.
    thanks a lot!

  187. OldTabby on July 18, 2010 at 5:22 pm

    WOW it worked!
    I have 2 USB drives I use on a daily basis & that —–ing pop up was driving me up the wall on my new Win7 system. Here’s how I got rid of it:
    1: entered the chkdsk command in the run box & clicked OK which set up the command with admin priviledges.
    (NOTE: I’m the only user so I usually run as admin.)
    2: insert USB drive
    3: decline the scan
    4: go to Run & click OK, it checks the disk & the problem is fixed.
    5: Repeat for any other device with the same problem

    Apparently the problem was the FAT32 issue “dvopek” referred to. Might not work for everyone but it did work for me & I’m back to purring happily. Thanks everyone 🙂

  188. study abroad scholarship on July 30, 2010 at 1:47 pm

    Terrific work! This is the type of information that should be shared around the web. Shame on the search engines for not positioning this post higher!

  189. Manic on August 2, 2010 at 7:56 am

    This didn’t work for me, and I’ve tried everything else! 🙁

  190. Marc on August 5, 2010 at 6:12 am

    Very helpful insight. This fixed the problem immediately. Thanks for posting this.

  191. Lou on August 13, 2010 at 4:09 am

    this didnt work,after finishing the command prompt process it seemed it would but then when the ipod was actually syncing to itunes it froze and it wouldnt allow me to eject it cos it was in use but i couldnt do anyting bout it cos it was frozen!!talk about neverending circle!

  192. john on December 26, 2011 at 3:04 pm

    thanks for posting this information, mark. it worked as you explained it should. very helpful.

    thanks again,

    john

  193. Mike on December 30, 2011 at 1:26 pm

    Awesome, thanks a bunch. Worked for my old dinosaur of an iPod.

  194. joe on January 4, 2012 at 6:31 am

    Worked a treat thank you very much.

  195. Don on January 23, 2012 at 10:54 am

    Every time I plug in my 160g ipod, my computer keeps telling me that I need to format it and it also comes up as corrupted in itunes. The ipod is brand new and works fine on my wife’s computer which runs with xp. My computer runs with Vista. What can I do?

  196. Mike on January 24, 2012 at 4:59 am

    Brilliant! Both the chkdsk and the “enable disk use” trick fixed this thing that’s been bugging me for months!

  197. Darnell D on January 27, 2012 at 6:53 pm

    For Those Of You Who clicked YES and Ipod’s Freeze just Leave ipod in computer with itunes on and Restart ur Ipod..Then ReOpen Itunes And U just have To Restore ur Ipod & Start From Scratch

  198. Yaniv on February 1, 2012 at 2:26 pm

    Thanks!! Worked!

  199. hyuei on February 27, 2012 at 12:32 am

    this works for my external hdd on my win7 64 bit! big thanks for you!!! ^^

  200. Rod on March 18, 2012 at 11:54 am

    Thank you so much! Worked a treat.

    I encountered a slight extra layer of Vistarynasty, which is that you must run command prompt as administrator in order to perform chkdsk, otherwise you get an invalid/access denied message. To do this right click on the command prompt icon after clicking on the windows logo/accessories.

    (Also there should be no space between the drive letter and the colon in the instruction. The screen grab is right, but the text example above it isn’t).

    Thank you again!

    Rod

  201. Rawnie on April 1, 2012 at 2:36 pm

    Oooh, I thank you. My newest iPod recently came up with the error so I had to look and see if there’s a way to fix it. Thank you! This worked. I had to close iTunes to run chkdsk properly, but it went on without a hitch after that. Again, thank you. Glad there’s a solution for the problem.

Leave a Comment