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BACKUP!? Data lost, iTunes

M

macfriend1

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 14, 2007
143
0
Stockholm
hello everyone.

I have a bigger problem.
Last time I launched iTunes all my playlists and like the half of my music in the library were gone. I have this iTunes-folder where - everytime when I import music to the library - it saves the music again to this folder.

how can I get to MY LIBRARY AGAIN? Is there something like a reset button to go back intime? like, entire system goes back to december 5th... you know what I mean?

I just enjoyed my mac soooooo much... never had problems (im new, have my macbookpro 4months) and now **** like that happens... I start my mac, launch itunes and baaaaaaaam no playlists, no music, nothing! if you can't do anything about it apple has no good solutions to save datas..
from windows I know, I can get "back in time" and say I wanna reset my computer to december 5th.

someone help please!!! this is driving me crazyyyyyyyy
 
I'm assuming you're not running Leopard. Try doing a search in Spotlight for some of the songs that are missing. They might have been moved to another location on your hard drive.

If you can't find them on your hard drive, I'd suggest searching for some file recovery software. A quick Google search pulled up Data Rescue II and FileSalvage.
 
JSchwage said:
I'm assuming you're not running Leopard. Try doing a search in Spotlight for some of the songs that are missing. They might have been moved to another location on your hard drive.

If you can't find them on your hard drive, I'd suggest searching for some file recovery software. A quick Google search pulled up Data Rescue II and FileSalvage.
Click to expand...

exactly. no leo here.

I find almost all the songs, that's the weird thing. But I tunes looks like when I bought my mac and installed it first.. no playlists... and like 30gb songs are just not in my library. the are on the harddisc. they are in this iTunes folder..
I just wanna have it like yesterday :) Yesterday everything was okay. can't I just turn a button on and booom there you go..
I DON'T WANNA IMPORT ALL THE MISSING SONGS. for some reasons:
1. dublicates
2. no STARS :) I dont wanna listen and seek for my fav. music and rate again...
3. I had so many cool playlists. it would take years to recover "rebuild" them and so on...

oah.. this things pissing me off :)
 
So the audio files are on your hard disk, just not synchronized in iTunes?

Make sure all your music is either inside one folder, or all folders for each artist or album is within one folder which serves as a parent folder.

If so, in iTunes go to File -> Add Folder (highlight the parent folder) then click "OK"

iTunes will then import all music into your Library.

At this point it would be smart in iTunes to:

View -> Show Duplicates and remove copies.

After doing this, backup everything to a CD using iTunes File -> Backup to disc... or invest in a Time Machine setup if you opt to upgrade to Leopard. Time Machine infers buying an external HD connnected via Firewire and Leopard automatically backs up everything you change, similar to basic "version control" in software development. It is a very easy to use interface that allows browsing archived backups of the current window and its content using a graphical timeline with a powerful "restore" feature. Backups are done on changed items roughly once per hour, queues updates in sleep mode, set it and forget it, 100% fully automated.

You can still backup traditonally, i.e. all at once using conventional backup built into OS X, but Time Machine makes recovering specific content just rediculously simple.

-jim
 
SrWebDeveloper said:
So the audio files are on your hard disk, just not synchronized in iTunes?

Make sure all your music is either inside one folder, or all folders for each artist or album is within one folder which serves as a parent folder.

If so, in iTunes go to File -> Add Folder (highlight the parent folder) then click "OK"

iTunes will then import all music into your Library.

At this point it would be smart in iTunes to:

View -> Show Duplicates and remove copies.

After doing this, backup everything using iTunes backup or invest in a Time Machine setup if you opt to upgrade to Leopard.

-jim
Click to expand...

thanks for your advice.

but how can this happen? it must be a problem with the itunes software.

your questions:
I've nothing changed in the folders. remove copies... from my original 60GB music there is like 30gb in the library. so if I'm gonna import the all 60GB there wil be 30GB dublicates to remove... that's hard work.
thanks so far.
 
Make sure you're using the latest iTunes version.

Can only speculate that if you didn't move the files from their original location, check iTunes advanced setup to confirm music folder location is right, then make sure "Copy files to iTunes music folder when adding to library" is checked.

If all okay, could be permissions on the folder or iTunes core files wrong - run Disk Utility -> Repair Permissions. Beyond this, not sure.

-jim
 
macfriend1 said:
but how can this happen? it must be a problem with the itunes software.
Click to expand...

Sounds like someone/something was messing with your itunes library file...Or you or some mysterious person moved/renamed your itunes music folder. It doesn't just mysteriously happen.

What's the full path of your music folder? Should be /Users/<username>/Music/iTunes
 
kingjr3 said:
Sounds like someone/something was messing with your itunes library file...Or you or some mysterious person moved/renamed your itunes music folder. It doesn't just mysteriously happen.

What's the full path of your music folder? Should be /Users/<username>/Music/iTunes
Click to expand...

it's exactly that path.

I'm for this mysterious version... like software problem iTunes. I have the latest version of itunes...

sooo great to "know" so many helpful kind ppl. much much appreciated!
 
btw, I found a backup of my harddisc (it's like 1-2 months old) my playlists were not modifieded till then... I have the entire iTunes-Musicfolder..
there's a file named: "library"

Are there the links saved? The playlists too?
 
helphelphelp

where is the backup saved? better, where are the playlists, ratingstuff and things like that saved?
 
As far as I can tell, on a Mac all related iTunes music are in /Users/<username>/Music/iTunes as the other user informed you.

I looked in mine and it had folders for artwork, music and libraries plus other proprietary files (such as *.itl and *.xml) related to the internal database and XML files iTunes uses to synchronize everything. iTunes doesn't just read the music folder, all these files work together to make iTunes work. No problem if you're just backing them all up and restoring them, intact.

Otherwise, follow previously stated advice to make sure iTunes is pointing to that path and all the original files are there including those proprietary files. The go into iTunes and see if it has the right settings and music. If not, you'll need to use the iTunes configuraton and various file import options to "restore" it, which means to synchronize it (update it's proprietary database).

If you can't find some or all of the original files or they're not organized properly, you could spent alot of time moving them around and messing with iTunes config. I advise starting over, reconfiguring iTunes, importing just the music and re-customizing your library at that point and let iTunes handle the database setup.

BTW, a backup is saved on a CD or another hard disk, specified by the person doing the backup (File -> Backup to Disc) otherwise if for an automated backup use spotlight or finder and find an mp3 or acc file you now the name of and you'll fnd the path that way. I've never had it break where I had to do it, so hope this helps. Others will chime in if I'm wrong on any of this.


-jim
 
this is ridiculous.

I can only back up my library to a disc?! it would take 35 blank cds...

how can I back up? seriously, I don't think this weird file is everything.
 
just back up the iTunes folder in you music directory.

all the playlists, song counts, ratings, window size/arrangement etc are in either the iTunes Library data file, iTunes Library.xml or iTunes Music Library.xml.

all your music is in the iTunes Music folder.

to restore your iTunes music library just restore the iTunes folder to you music directory then open iTunes while holding option and select this folder.
 
It's me again. I could solve the other problem. This was a few months ago though.

I now have a macbook pro, with leo :)

Another problem: I have lost my music files, all are gone. However, I have still my iPod here. How can I put these information on my iPod (files + playlists + ratings) in my iTunes? With senuti you can only drag them on your harddrive?
What I want to is simply gaining access to my entire iPod on iTunes... actually copying all the data on my iPod to itunes.
 
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