iTunes Deleted 4 Years Worth of Music... D:

[lexapr0]

Running on Windows 7, latest version of iTunes.

I transferred all 20gb of my music to an external hard drive the other day. I changed my iTunes Media folder to a folder on my external and had iTunes consolidate all of my files to the new folder, then deleted the originals on my laptop because I needed the space. Worked perfectly fine. So, my boyfriend unplugged the external hard drive from my computer. When I plugged it back in, the music played fine, but after I updated my iPhone software, I began getting the "!" next to all of my songs, indicating that the file path is no longer valid. iTunes then proceeded to delete all of my music, none of which is in my recycle bin. The strange part is, in my external hard drive, all of my folders and files are still there, but no matter what I do, none of the files show up in my iTunes library. And yet, they are still on the external hard drive. Any ideas as to what is going on and how I can get my music back onto iTunes...?

p.s. - sorry for the long explanation.

 

[Lukeyy19]

i would assume you have checked this already, but just to be sure, is itunes trying to look in your computers local itunes folders that it used to use, instead of on the external hdd, it may have reverted back when it was unplugged as it couldn't find it?

 

[lexapr0]

i would assume you have checked this already, but just to be sure, is itunes trying to look in your computers local itunes folders that it used to use, instead of on the external hdd, it may have reverted back when it was unplugged as it couldn't find it?

yes, i checked that and it said the file path was in the external hard drive where I placed it, but it wouldn't play as if there weren't a file.

 

[Lukeyy19]

yes, i checked that and it said the file path was in the external hard drive where I placed it, but it wouldn't play as if there weren't a file.

if you click on the little ! that comes up and direct it to the correct file on the external HDD, what happens?

 

[lexapr0]

Okay, I lied. Only some of my music files are in their folders now... most likely because itunes has deleted them....

 

[lexapr0]

if you click on the little ! that comes up and direct it to the correct file on the external HDD, what happens?

I can't check since iTunes has deleted all of my music D:

 

[Lukeyy19]

I can't check since iTunes has deleted all of my music D:

oh i thought you said all the files were there... well then if they are gone i cant see them coming back...

I can't see why iTunes would delete it all though, maybe its a faulty HDD...

 

[nunes013]

did you try an uninstall of itunes and reinstall it, if you have an ipod and all the music is on there you can use pod to pc to get it back

this is pod to pc but it says it requires itunes 9 but doesnt say later so if you have itunes 10 it might not work. if all your songs were bought from itunes you can in itunes click file and then transfer purchases


http://www.macroplant.com/podtopc/?gclid=CIvxq_bI-aUCFRRKgwodVSZhpg

EDIT: i guess pod to pc works with itunes 10 according to the developer. it wasnt working with my sister earlier so if you use it good luck. any trouble just make another post and ill try my best.

 

[lexapr0]

did you try an uninstall of itunes and reinstall it, if you have an ipod and all the music is on there you can use pod to pc to get it back

my iphone has maybe half of my music on it.. is there any way to get it back on my computer?

 

[mikelegacy]

my iphone has maybe half of my music on it.. is there any way to get it back on my computer?

Download Senuti.

 

[nunes013]

my iphone has maybe half of my music on it.. is there any way to get it back on my computer?

the program i said earlier. if there was anything else that wasnt on the iphone and was deleted you are out of luck. unless when you copied to the external the originals were left on your internal drive

 

[nunes013]

Download Senuti.

she has a pc not a mac. senuti would have been my first choice though lol

 

[lexapr0]

the program i said earlier. if there was anything else that wasnt on the iphone and was deleted you are out of luck. unless when you copied to the external the originals were left on your internal drive

oh blah ): thank you for your help, it's better than nothing!

 

[mikelegacy]

she has a pc not a mac. senuti would have been my first choice though lol

Is it still free do you know? It's been like 3 years since I've used it lol

 

[xlii]

Have you mounted the external hard drive and search the hard drive to see if the music is still on it? The links might be broken but the mp3s might still be there and with a little manual work you can recover it.

 

[hushmartin]

MAJOR EDIT: Okay, so are your music files on the external hard drive, or aren't they?

If they are not, then they aren't because you didn't move them there yourself. iTunes doesn't move files for you unless they are files that you purchased on iTunes. Then those files are moved with the iTunes media folder-- I think. Not 100% sure on that. It still may be that you should move the files yourself, or at least check that they are moved by iTunes. If this is the case, and iTunes really has deleted your music files... congrats, you are screwed. iTunes won't let you re-download purchased music files for free. Amazon will and keeps a library for you on the site. I am no longer purchasing music from iTunes because of this.

If they ARE on the ext. HD, then the file path is incorrect. Pay close attention to the drive letter assignment. (ie. C:, D: and so on) My laptop randomly decided to change my ext HD's drive letter assignment from F: to G: or some such bs. There is a way to change it back in windows. (google "change drive letter") That's the quickest fix. You'll have to reboot the computer and all that to get iTunes to work right after the change.

The 3rd option is that you have a faulty HD. This has happened to me one time. I think you mentioned that the HD was new, so this is certainly a possibility. Look up as many reviews as you can about the hard drive. Check newegg.com, Amazon.com, Bestbuy.com and anywhere else you can think of. If HD failures are common for your model, you will find reviews saying so on those sites. Heck, even google "hard drive failure" and the model name. If it was the HD's fault, sorry, that sucks. You should really keep back ups of your files, a back up ext HD for your main one.

Anyway, those are my guesses as to what happened.

 

[nunes013]

Is it still free do you know? It's been like 3 years since I've used it lol

its a free trial. i think its 15 to buy but it comes in handy for those scary moments

 

[lexapr0]

Pod to PC doesn't work... *sigh*

And I'd say about half of my MP3s are still in their folders, for example my folder for Van Morrison has all of the music in it, but the folder for another group which I once had the entire discography for only has one or two songs in it, if that. I can't import the MP3s to iTunes. I've tried importing the files individually, importing folders, dragging the files from folder to iTunes, and clicking the MP3s to make them play on iTunes. All has failed, but the MP3s are there.

 

[nunes013]

Pod to PC doesn't work... *sigh*

And I'd say about half of my MP3s are still in their folders, for example my folder for Van Morrison has all of the music in it, but the folder for another group which I once had the entire discography for only has one or two songs in it, if that. I can't import the MP3s to iTunes. I've tried importing the files individually, importing folders, dragging the files from folder to iTunes, and clicking the MP3s to make them play on iTunes. All has failed, but the MP3s are there.

make sure you are signed into your itunes account under store.

did you try a system restore, i dont have windows but it might do something. http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/products/features/system-restore

EDIT: pod to pc might not have worked, try this, its got high ratings. http://www.ipodpctransfer.com/

to get the path from itunes to the hard drive, go to edit> preferences > advanced tab > then under itunes media folder location click change and navigate to the hard drive, see if itunes accepts it

 

[lexapr0]

make sure you are signed into your itunes account under store.

did you try a system restore, i dont have windows but it might do something. http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/products/features/system-restore

Signed in to iTunes store... And if I'm not mistaken, system restore only restores registry files, not documents/pictures/music/etc. I appreciate the suggestion, though.

 

[sectime]

Pod to PC doesn't work... *sigh*

And I'd say about half of my MP3s are still in their folders, for example my folder for Van Morrison has all of the music in it, but the folder for another group which I once had the entire discography for only has one or two songs in it, if that. I can't import the MP3s to iTunes. I've tried importing the files individually, importing folders, dragging the files from folder to iTunes, and clicking the MP3s to make them play on iTunes. All has failed, but the MP3s are there.

Does your laptop require the usb drive be ejected or is it hot swap? Did you restart the laptop and can see the external drive in my computer? Look at the the drive properties to see if the 20gig is still there. If it is then this Apple support document might help, Oh and make your BF regret with cash or bling


Microsoft Windows Windows XP and Windows 2000
Documents and SettingsusernameMy DocumentsMy MusiciTunes

Microsoft Windows Windows Vista and Windows 7
UsersusernameMusiciTunes

Drag the iTunes Library file from the above location to the Desktop.
Open the Previous iTunes Libraries folder in the iTunes folder.
Locate the file named iTunes Library YYYY-MM-DD where YYYY-MM-DD is the date you upgraded iTunes (Year-Month-Day).
Drag this file to the iTunes folder (the enclosing folder).
Rename this file to iTunes Library.
Open iTunes.
You should now see your missing content in iTunes.

Additional Information
iTunes: Where to find the contents of your iTunes library

iTunes creates an empty library file in Windows

If you still do not see your missing content in iTunes, follow the steps in iTunes Store: Finding missing purchases and downloads.

 

[lexapr0]

I really have no idea what hot swapping is... And yes when I restarted my computer after i plugged the EDD in it showed up in My Computer with about 15gb worth of space being taken up.. like i said, a good amount of my MP3s aren't in their folders. Oookay so I followed what it said, and I have the names of songs and artists in my iTunes, but it says the file path is wrong... which it is. the files should be in H:/blahblah.. instead, it says the file path is file://localhost/H:/blahblah...

Also, today was our anniversary so I got some very lovely bling and a delicious meal for all of this trouble

EDIT: some of the MP3s in iTunes (not purchased) are actually directed to the right place... but most are not.

 

[iceterminal]

I'm confused on this.

The title of the tread says the music has been deleted. But the in the post the OP says all the directories and files still exist on the external drive.

So is the title of the thread wrong, or is the message wrong?

I'm more apt to think that iTunes library is pointing to a path that does not exist at the time. If so, close iTunes. Make sure your external drive is connected to your laptop and powered on (if required). Reboot. Start iTunes.

 

[lexapr0]

I'm confused on this.

The title of the tread says the music has been deleted. But the in the post the OP says all the directories and files still exist on the external drive.

So is the title of the thread wrong, or is the message wrong?

I'm more apt to think that iTunes library is pointing to a path that does not exist at the time. If so, close iTunes. Make sure your external drive is connected to your laptop and powered on (if required). Reboot. Start iTunes.

I've already done those things. Please read the past few posts... The path does not exist at all, anywhere, neither on my internal or external hard drive and I'm missing a considerable chunk of my music thanks to iTunes. The problem with missing music files due to iTunes still exists, but it's been expanded upon. Sorry for the partially misleading title.

 

[Dr Kevorkian94]

If it was purchased music from iTunes u can call customer service and they might be nice and let you re download your stuff. I am the most screwed my hard drive went and had a heart attack. So all my stuff gone, the night before I was trying to fixture problems I was having and I ran a hardware diagnostics and it said the HD was fine so i did not back up (remembered I had a 500gb external hard drive downstairs) but still didn't do it. So it's being replaced at apple. Now the genius said I can call costumer service tell them what happen and they let u only once re download everything.

So that is my depressing story, I wish you good luck.