Help. iTunes Library wiped/reset/deleted

[BokJoy]

I recently updated my iTunes to version 10.6.1, reopened it and found that my library had been reset to default, wiping my immaculately organised library of 4000 songs, video's, apps and playlists that were on it. Ruined my day.
My music is the main concern, all the songs are still in the 'iTunes Music' folder but I really don't want to just put them all back in. Is there any way to restore my library so that things like # of plays, ratings, date added, playlists etc. are still intact? Because right now, I feel like crying.

Half of my library is on my iPhone and obviously all the apps I need to worry about are on there too. I tried syncing but it did nothing... what can I do with my iPhone? Also, this is on a Mac running on Snow Leopard.

 

[From A Buick 8]

I had a similar thing happen, i have no fix but thought i would share your pain. iTunes crashed this morning and after that it no longer recognized the ext drive i had been using for my iTunes media. I was able to hold down the option key while starting iTunes and point it to a previous iTunes library and then it did recognize the ext drive and looks like most of my playlist came back. But that library was from march, so everything i have added since then is not showing in iTunes. There are on the ext drive, just not showing in iTunes.

 

[JediMeister]

If you were running Time Machine, I would restore ~/Music/iTunes/iTunes Library.xml and ~/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music Library.xml while iTunes is closed and then relaunch it. You could also restore the entire iTunes folder if it came down to it.

 

[Consultant]

I recently updated my iTunes to version 10.6.1, reopened it and found that my library had been reset to default, wiping my immaculately organised library of 4000 songs, video's, apps and playlists that were on it. Ruined my day.
My music is the main concern, all the songs are still in the 'iTunes Music' folder but I really don't want to just put them all back in. Is there any way to restore my library so that things like # of plays, ratings, date added, playlists etc. are still intact? Because right now, I feel like crying.

Half of my library is on my iPhone and obviously all the apps I need to worry about are on there too. I tried syncing but it did nothing... what can I do with my iPhone? Also, this is on a Mac running on Snow Leopard.

I had a similar thing happen, i have no fix but thought i would share your pain. iTunes crashed this morning and after that it no longer recognized the ext drive i had been using for my iTunes media. I was able to hold down the option key while starting iTunes and point it to a previous iTunes library and then it did recognize the ext drive and looks like most of my playlist came back. But that library was from march, so everything i have added since then is not showing in iTunes. There are on the ext drive, just not showing in iTunes.

iTunes SAVES your previous library whenever there's an update.

Go into iTunes folder, then look for "Previous iTunes Libraries".

And backup your computer with time machine next time.

 

[From A Buick 8]

I am using time machine, but i was not sure it would help since my iTunes library is on an Ext drive and that is not backed up with time machine. It is however backed up on a second ext drive.

Using the earliest previous iTunes Library is what i did, but it was from march so i have 2 moths to catch up on.

 

[BokJoy]

Fixed it!

Hey guys, I looked around all morning and I eventually fixed all my iTunes as if nothing had happened. Thanks for the suggestions guys, but I wasn't running Time Machine but was still able to restore everything. If this happens to anybody else then the steps I took were:
1) reinstalled iTunes completely (even though I'd just updated)
2) went to Music > iTunes > Previous iTunes Libraries
3) choose the most recent .itl file and drag it into iTunes, the enclosing folder. (even though my most recent .itl was on the date which I had updated iTunes and apparently corrupted it, it seemed that by reinstalling iTunes it read the Library previous to that day... somehow..., I had nothing that I needed to catch up on which was beautiful)
4) Launch iTunes and everything was there and experience sweet relief and weep for joy while spending the rest of the day enjoying the bliss and beauty of a painstakingly built iTunes library, appreciating your music oh so much more.

 

[617660]

This is how my iTune folder looks like.

Strange that I have two .itl files, one is dated to 2011-01-08, another is not.
In the "Previous iTune Library" folder, it shows my most recent .itl is 2012-03-09, but I just added a few tunes yesterday...how is this right?

 

[From A Buick 8]

Bokjoy, how did you remove iTunes prior to reinstalling.

 

[BokJoy]

@whohasaquestion: I don't think a new .itl is made every time your library changes. I add new songs a few times a week and I only have 6 .itl files in the folder spanning over the past 2 years. I think it saves your previous libraries when you update iTunes. For example some other people have indicated that the same thing happened to them and they had to revert to a much older version of their library and try to replace all the recent stuff. I think though if you reinstall it, the latest dated library is your most recent one because that's what happened for me.

@From A Buick 8: I didn't uninstall iTunes, I just went on the apple website and downloaded and installed it again, dragged it into applications and it automatically replaced the older version...

 

[jh721]

I recently updated my iTunes to version 10.6.1, reopened it and found that my library had been reset to default, wiping my immaculately organised library of 4000 songs, video's, apps and playlists that were on it. Ruined my day.
QUOTE]

Been there...twice, but I thought it was because I'm running iTunes on Windows (planning on an iMac when the new ones hit). I have everything running well but get the shakes whenever the "iTunes update available" dialog comes up. Both times I did an update the thing crashed and I had to reload my entire library. ~0.7 TB. Not fun. Last time around, I held my breath, said 3 novenas to St. Itunio, and reinstalled the program. Everything worked fine and I haven't messed with it since.

It sounds now like others have had problems updating iTunes (on Mac and Win). Anyone know why this happens?

jh

 

[BokJoy]

THIS
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1967?viewlocale=en_US

is exactly what I followed. Worked perfectly.

 

[From A Buick 8]

THIS
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1967?viewlocale=en_US

is exactly what I followed. Worked perfectly.

I followed that and now i have nothing showing up again. No media at all. Does the iTunes file need an ext, on it. The file that i renamed had an ext on it.

 

[BokJoy]

This is what I did to mine in the pic.
Both the corrupted file and the good library have .itl
Make sure you rename your old corrupt one somehow (that's the one I added PHONY to on the end... in a stroke of genius... ), also make sure you remove the date at the end of the new one you got from Previous Libraries.
Should work?
Also maybe make sure iTunes is closed before you do all this??

[/IMG]

 

[From A Buick 8]

Thank you for your help, i think i might have a problem with the ext drive. iTunes juse refused to reconize the new file. I just started over but as i dragged my media into iTunes i would get a error every once and a while telling me that it could not copy from the drive. I stopped trying to create on the ext drive and just created it on the iMac and it seems to work. So i gong to have. To get a new drive i think. I have most of my stuff backed up so even if the ext i was using dies compleatly i should be ok.

I am thinking about just getting a 4 bay drobo, that way i can be safe from drive failure. I will just use my old OWC enclosures for a second backup.