iTunes library gone

[FatMax]

Hi!

So, in a number of weird circumstances, my library went poof on me today. It´s located on an external hard drive. Here are the events, as they occurred:

1. I install Snow Leaopard. Did not check iTunes
2. I install 10.6.1 and various other updates. iTunes opens and tells me my disk is full and cannot store the library file. Has happened before, so I did what I did last time: Closed iTunes, deleted data, opened itunes and located the library file. The iTunes Music file WAS EMPTY. Nothing inside it.
3. Cant find any of the purchased Tv-shows, movies and apps. My music is still there, but some of it has been deleted. Can find iTunes U content and podcasts.

What do I do now ? As it is an external hard drive, there is no backup.

 

[maflynn]

What do I do now ? As it is an external hard drive, there is no backup.

An external hard drive has no bearing on whether you should back it up or not. Time Machine and many other backup applications can and do backup external media.

If the music folder has been over written, there's little you can do to recover the lost files. You can try buying some software to try recover the music, or send the drive in to one of those services to recover it - that will be pricey though. Above all else, dont' use that hard drive until you figure out a plan of attack.

At the worst, this will be a lesson to back up your data regardless of where it exists.

 

[FatMax]

I just got a tip regarding checking the disk permissions ? Can this help ? I´ll have to connect it to my mac, as it is connected to my Airport at the moment. Thats why I ´m asking...

It´s a very tough lesson to learn..I have to say

 

[maflynn]

If your Music/iTunes folder is empty then you're SOL - its not a permissions thing, its a iTunes over-wrote your music folder.

Try using spotlight to search for the music, maybe just maybe iTunes moved it back to your internal drive and doing a search will be a quick way to see if its there or anywhere for that matter

 

[FatMax]

Just so I´m clear on how my music/data is sorted:

I have a folder I have called Music. I let iTunes sort my music for me. Inside this folder i have lots of folders, based on artist name, tv-show, movie and so forth. Inside this folder there is also a folder called iTunes Music. Here is where the library file is/was. Its this folder thats suddenly empty, not the one above it. And some music (small %) and all my tv-shows (purchased) are gone. Isnt that weird ?