HT1751 My win8 pc hard drive failed. After the hard drive was replaced, I copied iTunes Media backupfiles from external hard drive (Karen's Replicator was used). ITunes does not recognize the back up files - help! (it does show cloud & recently burned m

Question

My win8 pc hard drive failed.  After the hard drive was replaced, I copied iTunes Media backupfiles from external hard drive (Karen's Replicator backup software was used).  ITunes does not recognize these back up files even though the location is the same as cloud & recently burned music that does show- help!  The backup files consist of 34,000+ songs; almost all burned from my own CD collection.  I do have most of the songs on an ipod classic but hesitate to try to restore from that.  Can someone tell me how to get these 34,000 songs to show up in iTunes?  Thanks!!

Answer 1

This diagram shows how a typical iTunes library ought to be set out (click on it to enlarge)
The red outline highlights the media folder and its contents, the various subfolders are only created if that kind of content is in your library. The right-hand side shows the files that should be found in the iTunes library folder; sentinel is normally hidden so may not be visible. The core of your iTunes library is the file iTunes Library.itl, you need to restore this, the other library files and the Album Artwork folder, as well as the media folder, to restore your library.
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