Itunes lost my library.....again

[whitenoise]

2010 MBP with itunes files on a DROBO.


I have seen several posts around here and using google, but I am yet to fix the problem.

Last week, while starting iTunes, I got the message saying my Library file was damaged and that a new file would be created, (as well as a backup "library (damaged)").

All my podcasts/apps/music were gone, though they were still on the drobo. I tried several things moving the library files around and renaming, but gave up and finally tried "add to library" and pointed it at the Itunes folder.

This worked eventually, (it seemed to take all night), and I was left with almost the same iTunes as I started. A few podcasts had split into two lists, but that was a small annoyance. Also, my iPhone has the "updating library" page after syncing every time now, which didn't happen before - the sync finished and the iPhone was available for use straight away.

So, apart from that, all fixed then? .....No!! Its just gone and done it again! I am at a loss, as I had no problems with iTunes when I used it with my xp machine, although I did move everything to the external drobo drive, so that may have something to do with it? (I havent just done the transfer, btw. It was done a few weeks ago and seemed to have worked out okay.)

It would be nice if someone would help me out here. I don't enjoy using iTunes at the best of times, but this is giving me a headache. I obviously have some issues here, and there must be a reason and a fix for this, I don't want to have to rebuild the library every week!

Anyway, thanks for any tips/help you can offer.


I will be trying:

Deleting the library file and renaming the damaged file.

Reinstalling iTunes.

Giving up and seeing if I can get back to normal with my windows desktop!

 

[whitenoise]

hmmm, I tried renaming the original 2mb file, but it was still showing as damaged. Took a look in the previous library folder and used a 1.5mb library file instead.....it took a while to update itself, but most of my stuff seems to be back.

I suppose its just the media downloaded in the last couple of weeks that isn't listed? I'll take a better look and try to get iTunes upto date.

Any idea why this is happening?

 

[whitenoise]

Well this is annoying.

I thought I would leave it a while, incase someone came up with an answer. Started iTunes and its gone and done it again!! .... I was transferring some files from the drobo at the time, (I wonder if this could be a factor?).

Anyway, I'm back to being at a loss.

I'm also trying to remember exactly how I moved the library and iphone data last time, so I can maybe just try keeping iTunes on a external drive rather than on the network.

 

[hexonxonx]

I'm also trying to remember exactly how I moved the library and iphone data last time, so I can maybe just try keeping iTunes on a external drive rather than on the network.

I have always kept my iTunes library on external drives and have never lost a file in over two years and neither has iTunes. I use a MBP as well. I have four 1TB drives, two per enclosure plus one 2TB drive in it's own enclosure.

The drobo has to have something to do with your problems.

 

[BaronStein]

Well, kinda similar problem happened to me. I've upgraded iTunes to 9.2 and after that whenever I clicked the iTunes icon on the dock, gave an error message saying that the library has created with a newer version of iTunes and not possible to open. However, I've noticed that the fresh install of iTunes 9.2 put itself to a different directory than the previous iTunes. Therefore the icon on the dock was linked to the previous installation. Changing the dock icon resolved the problem.

 

[whitenoise]

Thanks for the help. I tried changing the dock icon, but it didn't make any difference, so I've ended up moving the entire iTunes folder to an external and connected it directly to my mbp. (remembering to change the destination folder in iTunes aswell as in the xml file),

I used my the previous library again, and rebuilt, but I of course had those missing podcasts and iPhone apps. I ended up just deleting the mobile apps and podcasts in iTunes then - "add to library" and selecting the relevant folder. Apart from a couple of podcasts still showing in two seperate listings, everything seems to be in order.

I'm crossing my fingers now that the problem is fixed, but I will be making sure I backup the iTunes folder regularly. (I might keep a spare backup of the library files - better safe than sorry.)

Now, since everything I have added is marked as new, all I have to do is try and remember which podcasts have been listened to and which were part of the growing backlog.