iPhone/iPod Touch Upgrade to iOS 4: One problem solved (?)

2010-06-23 05:09:36

The new iOS 4 has been released, and I am one of the many people who had problems. Everything was up-to-date, iPhone 3G not jailbroken, done with iTunes on an iMac. Mine kept on crapping out with an Error 34 message. From the web, I gather this is an out-of-disk-space error.

The problem can arise if you are using the new option to transcode to 128 Kbps when syncing music from iTunes to the iThing. In the process of the backup and restore + update, the upgrader forgets that that switch was set, so it is likely that the music on the computer is too big to fit on the iDevice.

People are saying that you need to do a Restore, rather than a simple upgrade, to overcome many of the problems. In my case, I had to set up the iPhone as a new phone, and then sync most of the stuff afterwards, having remembered to set the Transcode switch. With about 10 GB at 128 Kbps, this takes a Very Long Time, and you also have to manually select which of all the apps you've bought you actually want on the thing. But it does seem to work.

Over the last few hours, a number of people seem to have discovered this gotcha, but it's still not headline news: I hope this post may save a few people a lot of time and headscratching. Do allow overnight for music transfer--else wait until Apple have got the upgrade a bit better sorted.

iPhone/iPod Touch Upgrade to iOS 4: One problem solved (?)

Reply #1 – 2010-06-23 19:24:06

It still seems best to postpone the iOS 4 upgrade, at least on a 3G device. My iPhone now seems to be having an identity crisis when connected to iTunes, and it looks like it needs a Restore again.

Since iOS 4 doesn't seem to win you much at the moment, the optimum strategy would seem to be to wait until Apple have their ducks in one row and their shit in one sock.

iPhone/iPod Touch Upgrade to iOS 4: One problem solved (?)

Reply #2 – 2010-06-23 23:16:23

A friend of mine upgraded their iPhone 3GS to iOS4 without issues.  I don't think I would do it on the 2G iPod touch or iPhone 3G as the main benefit (multi-tasking) is nowhere to be found for those devices.  I am waiting until Fall of this year to upgrade to iOS4 simply because Apple isn't releasing iOS4 for the iPad until later.

This wouldn't be the first time that firmware issues occurred on a device like this.  I was upgrading my 1G 16GB iPod touch to iPhone OS 2 a few years back and the process never went through.  I had to eventually shift-click on the restore button, manually locate the firmware, and restore the iPod touch using the new OS.  I no longer have that iPod touch as I "reverted" back to the iPod classic when the 120GB model was released.  Hopefully this is all ironed out here in a week or two.  I am already hearing complaints of yellow spots showing up on iPhone 4 screens.  Then again, problems with new devices tend to always overshadow the people without issues.