iPhone and iPod touch: "Not enough free space" alert when trying to sync
Symptoms
When connecting iPhone or iPod touch to a computer, iTunes may not sync data with the device. iTunes may also display ones of these alerts:
"iPhone cannot be synced because there is not enough free space to hold all of the items in the selected playlists."
"iPod cannot be synced because there is not enough free space to hold all of the items in the selected playlists."
Products Affected
iPhone, iPod touch, iPhone 3G, iPod touch (2nd generation)
Resolution
There could be several reasons why this could occur. Start with Solution 1. If the issue continues, try Solution 2 and, if necessary, Solution 3.
Solution 1
In the case of iPhone or iPod touch becoming physically disconnected in the middle of syncing music or photos, it's possible that orphaned data files will be left on the iPhone or iPod touch. This can result in iTunes not being able to sync to the iPhone or iPod touch on subsequent sync sessions.
One symptom of this issue will be displayed in iTunes where the Capacity indicator for the iPhone or iPod touch will report a large amount of "Other" disk usage for the iPhone or iPod touch. To resolve this issue:
- Turn off the music and/or photo sync option in iTunes for the iPhone or iPod touch.
- Click Apply to sync the changes to the iPhone or iPod touch.
- Turn the music and photo sync options for the iPhone or iPod touch on again.
- Click Apply again to try and sync the iPhone or iPod touch to iTunes.
Solution 2
Try turning off the automatic syncing functions for the iPhone or iPod touch. To do this:
- Select the iPhone or iPod touch under Devices on the left side of the iTunes window and click the Summary tab.
- Deselect "Automatically sync when this iPhone (or iPod) is connected" and select the "Sync only checked songs and videos" checkbox.
- Click Apply to sync the changes to the iPhone or iPod touch.
- Reduce the amount of data that is being synced to the iPhone or iPod touch and resync the device. For example, if syncing your Music library exceeds the memory capacity of the iPhone or iPod touch, choose "Selected playlists" to sync to the iPhone or iPod touch rather than "All songs and playlists" under the Music tab in iTunes.
Solution 3
Restore your iPhone or iPod touch using iTunes.