Crash = Lost iTunes... now iPhone too?

[ee99ee]

As happens about once every 2-3 weeks, my mac (MacBook Pro, 4GB RAM, OS X 10.6.6) locked up to the point to where all I could do was move the beach ball around the screen. No apps would open or respond. As a result, I had to power off the mac and reboot it forcefully.

It came back, but when I open iTunes everything is gone. Also, when I try to sync, I get the following error:

I REALLY hate iTunes, and this is not the first time this has happened. It happens every few months. The problem is right now I have so much stuff on my iPhone that is important I really can't just erase it on a whim and start over.

What can I do??

-Chris

 

[cuestakid]

First thing-if you open your Music folder, do you see your music and or the iTunes folder? If you don't do you have a backup from Time Machine(or other backup utility?) if so, I would recommend doing a restore from that.

 

[ee99ee]

First thing-if you open your Music folder, do you see your music and or the iTunes folder? If you don't do you have a backup from Time Machine(or other backup utility?) if so, I would recommend doing a restore from that.

My iTunes folder is there. The old iTunes XML file is there, and I opened it in a text editor and it looks intact. It hasn't been truncated or is corrupt in any way. The database file itself, which is binary, is probably what is corrupt.

So, since I have the XML file can I do anything with this? Can I import the old XML file into the new iTunes library? Then how do I get the iPhone to sync?

It says my iPhone is synced with another computer -- but it isn't! This is the same computer.

-Chris

 

[nippyjun]

Worst case scenario is that you just hook up your iphone and transfer all purchases then back it up.. don't sync until you have transferred purchases and backed up. Then when you sync all your apps won't resync. You will lose your app folders on your phone that you will need to recreate. You shouldn't lose your app data.

 

[ee99ee]

I was able to resolve this as described here: http://www.ee99ee.com/2011/01/09/itunes-corrupt-erase-and-sync-iphone-no-thanks/

-Chris