Accidentally cleared Library in iTunes. Can it be recovered?

I accidentally had my library cleared in iTunes and I was wondering if it can be recoverable? All my files are scattered around so it will take time to re-add them. I do have Norton Erase Protection on my Recycle Bin so it would recover any deleted files. Is there any way to restore the library before it was cleared? I have a previous library file from 9/12 when I upgraded first upgraded to iTunes 7 but iTunes will not let me import it saying it is not a valid exported file.

I have always had this exact problem. So annoying. It seems to happen when clicking a song with album art that hasn't been preloaded or something. The artwork seems to lag and suddenly I'm renaming a song. I now have to right click play every song just to avoid screwing around for 5 seconds every time I want to start a song.
Message was edited by: helfon

Similar Messages

After an iTunes update I can't access my library as iTunes can't find my .itl file

After an iTunes update I now. Can't access my library as iTunes can't find my .itl file. Any ideas how to rectify this?

Your iTunes Library.itl file will normally be at C:\Users\<User>\Music\iTunes\iTunes Library.itl. If it isn't there should it be somewhere else (you ought to know if you deliberately moved it) or is there a Previous iTunes Libraries folder containing backups made during iTunes updates.
See also Empty/corrupt iTunes library after upgrade/crash.
tt2

I accidentally erased i-tunes match can it be recovered?

I accidentally erased i-tunes match can it be recovered?

Erased my entire library in i-tunes match. Over 12.000 albums :-(
Hope it can be recovered. I have made a lot of adjustments to songs/djsets and was intend to dwnld them that way .
Still have the original files but not in the versions i uploaded to i-t.unes match so hope i will not have to start all over again!

ITunes library gone! Can it be recovered?

Having spent most of last weekend sorting out my sons ipod - I now have a problem with mine!! Only a hour ago my library was there - and I just went back and it's gone! completely! No where to be found! Pligged in my ipod and system tells me that it's found new hardware!! Then itunes openas and says that this ipod it linked to another library (not so). Everything still on ipod - so in fear of lossing that too I unplugged ipod - searched and searched recycle bin etc and found nothing. Any suggestions? I have been searching the postings as I recall last week reading a similar problem but regret I cannot find it now - so I hope I don't offend anyone by repating a similar question. Many thanks. SM

Once I plug in my ipod will I be able to rebuild playlists?
Just want to be clear so I ddon't direct you the wrong way and have your library messed up more, but did you add the "xml" file by dragging to itunes and it loaded all your songs in without the playlist or did you add the actual music files/songs to itunes and don't have playlist?
Now - how do I back this up to prevent it happening again.
It depends on what you have handy to backup on, like an external harddrive or a CD/DVD burner (DVD is better since they hold more info than a CD you end up with less disc)
do you recommend updating to version 7
THis LARGLY depends on what you want. I mean theres ALOT of really cool neat handy features in 7. THat said tho SOME, NOT ALL BUT SOME people have issues with it. Usually long as your system and windows is up to date and you have things backed up and have scanned and removed malware/adware you should be OK.
I can only talk from experience, but for me I've not had any issues on my old 5-6 year old test machine. I can't say if you will have issues or not.
Again not all, but most posting here with issues about iTUnes 7 I have helped have one of these reasons why there having issues
1) have not updated there system and windows.
2) have malware "Fudging" things up
3) was impatant with the "Gapless scan" itunes does on first setup, cancelled it or forced itunes to shut down and not have a fudged up system because they could not wait.
4) Didn't have there antivirus disabled during install or didn't manually remove itunes and qwuicktime completely before the install (Yes apple doesn't say to do this but in some cases when I helped them clean out itunes and quicktime, then reinstall itunes 7, everything worked fine)
Message was edited by: pac_80

Moved iTunes library, but iTunes can't find it

I followed the online instructions and moved my iTunes library from one external hard drive to another. The music is all there on the new drive, but iTunes is looking in the wrong folder and the music doesn't show up in iTunes.
I tried changing to the correct folder in Preferences/Advanced, but that doesn't change anything.
Everything I find online is about how to make iTunes COPY all your files to a different drive and then access it there. How can I make iTunes recognize files that already exist in a different location?

If you see a file called library.itl in the folder on the other drive that means it is likely your whole library is there. Copy that entire folder (do not import, do not export, do not change preferences, do not...) to the other drive. Start iTunes with the option key held down and guide it to the library file on the new drive.
If you do not see a library file there then the library file is in the iTunes folder on your computer and just media were on that first drive. Dealing with that is a whole different set of instructions.
Yes, many, many, many sites confuse a library with media files. It is not the same. It's like confusing a pile of random books in a vacant lot with an organized library building.
This is the one you probably needed to follow, except it is confusing:
iTunes: How to move [or copy] your music [library] to a new computer [or another drive] - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527 - a somewhat bewildering and not always easily understandable set of options.
Do not confuse moving your whole folder and library with moving just media files as in
iTunes for Mac: Moving your iTunes Media folder - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1449

Accidentlly deleted purchased Itunes, can it be recovered?

I accidentally deleted a bunch of songs I purchased through ITUNES from my ITOUCH when I sunk it. Is there anyway to recover these songs or am I beat?
Thanks

Purchased songs, videos, iPod Games, and albums can be downloaded only once. See kb article:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1469?viewlocale=en_US
You might want to contact the iTunes Store and ask if they will authorize another download. They are not obliged to do so but have done so in the past on a one-time basis. You can contact them here:
http://www.apple.com/support/itunes/contact.html

After yesterday's "upgrade", iTunes can no longer find and play my music library. It points to the correct location in "Advanced", but clearly iTunes is not actually seeing it.

After yesterday's "update", iTunes can no longer find and play my music library. It points to the correct location in "Advanced", but clearly iTunes is not actually seeing it. What gives? And why does Apple force these constant updates that just screw up everything? It was all working fine yesterday before I ran the update.

Does anyone know where I can get support for this issue?

I accidentally delete my old itunes and I can not install new itunes

I accidentally delete my old itunes and i can not insttall new Itunes

I browsed around here and I found that if I hold shift while opening iTunes and it asks what library to load so my real question then is where is my "old" library that I want to load? The only library I can find is my current one.

How can I clear the library so I can reupload all of my music?

I have transferred all of my music from my hard drive to an external hard drive, and I want to clear out my music library so I can start fresh. All of the music that is in the library has the exclamation point saying that iTunes cannot locate. Instead of having to go through and manually find all of my songs I thought it would be easier to start from scratch. Any ideas on how to do that?

Hi cboling!
Depending on how you want to go about doing this, I have a couple of articles for you. If you want to be able to keep your library of music files on your external hard drive and access them through iTunes on your computer from that location, then you will want to take a look at this article, about keeping your iTunes Media folder on your external hard drive:
iTunes for Mac: Moving your iTunes Media folder
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1449
However, if you want to move your iTunes folder back onto your internal hard drive and use iTunes as you were before, you will want to reference this article:
iTunes: Back up your iTunes library by copying to an external hard drive
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1751
Specifically, you will want to reference the section about "Restoring your iTunes Library backup," which can be found here:
Restoring your iTunes Library backup
When you need to restore your backed up iTunes Library from your external hard drive to your computer, follow these steps:
Quit iTunes.
Locate your external hard drive.
Mac: On the Desktop or Finder sidebar.
Windows: In My Computer
Drag the iTunes folder (backed up earlier) from your external hard drive to whatever location you desire on your internal hard drive. It is recommended that you choose the default location for the iTunes folder, which is:
Mac OS X: /Users/username/Music
Windows XP: \Documents and Settings\username\My Documents\My Music\
Windows Vista: \Users\username\My Music\
Windows 7 or 8: \Users\username\Music\
Open iTunes while holding down the Option key (Mac) or Shift key (Windows).
In the resulting dialog, click the Choose Library button.
Select the iTunes folder you just moved to the internal hard drive.
Click Choose (Mac OS X) or Open (Windows) and then choose the iTunes Library file inside .
After following these steps, iTunes will open and your iTunes Library will be restored.
Thanks for using the Apple Support Communities!
Cheers,
Braden

HT201272 I lost all my files after dowloading Icloud and updating Itunes on 24 September 13. having reloaded the computer and and files from an Emergency Backup folder I can no longer see My Library in Itunes or in Itunes store, and my ipod and ipad aren

can anyone help with retrieving My Library in Itunes and Itunes store - having updated Itunes and Icloud on 24 September 13, my computer failed and I lost all my files which were eventually backed up to an Emergency Backup. my computer is now working again and I have down loaded Itunes and transferred all the files from my Emergency Backup. Non of the music went back into Itunes, so I had to find these files and manually moved them to Itunes. The music is now in Itunes, but I no longer have the folder named My Library, which I think is the reason my Ipad, ipod no longer sync any additional music I have added to Itunes. Does anyone know how to rectify this please.
Many thanks. Crusey

iTunes expects files and folders to be in very specific locations. When you start iTunes it looks for a file called library.itl which is in the iTunes folder. It then uses all the references in that file which tell it where all your media files are located to build up the view you normally see. Probably you moved the library file so iTunes cannot find it and it will make a default one which is empty. When you plug in your iPod it isn't recognizing the library since it is not the same one to which you synced last.
Simply put, you need to undo all your file moves. Not as eaily done as stated but since I cannot quite see from here exactly what you spent an hour doing last night it will be up to you. Did you make a backup before doing all this?
What are the iTunes library files? - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1660
More on iTunes library files and what they do - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITunes#Media_management
What are all those iTunes files? - http://www.macworld.com/article/139974/2009/04/itunes_files.html
Where are my iTunes files located? - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1391
iTunes 9 [and later]: Understanding iTunes Media Organization - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3847
Image of folder structure and explanation of different iTunes versions (turingtest2 post) - https://discussions.apple.com/message/13025536 and https://discussions.apple.com/message/17457605

Added iPod movie to iTunes - can't find it in the library

I converted a movie for my new iPod, and it seems that the only way to add movies to the iPod is to add them to the iTunes library.
Well, I did that, and the weirdest thing happened. I could add the movie to iTunes, but I couldn't add it to the library, the "plus"-sign didn't show there, but I could add it to one of the playlists. It also got transferred to the iPod, where I can watch it.
Since this was only a short test-clip, I wanted to remove it afterwards. Oops! it was in the library, and iTunes wouldn't even find it with the search-feature. So I re-synced the iPod with iTunes, to see if it was still there....and it was, but where? It was on my iPod, but I still couldn't find it on iTunes.
A search on spotlight revealed it: in the "Recently Added" playlist, but not in the library. Why is that?
After that I tried to delete it, but I couldn't delete it from the playlist. I had to use Spotlight again, and delete it from the finder.
Has anybody an explanation for all this? For now, I'm not adding anymore movies to the iPod, scared to lose some content with this unexpected behavior.

iTunes sorts all of your content into different Libraries depending on how it has been classified, e.g. Movies you download from the iTunes Store go in the Movies Library, Music and Music Videos go in the Music Library, and TV Shows go in the TV Shows Library. In Preference under the tab General there should be some options to show or hide certain Libraries. Make sure that the Movies box is checked and it should be fine.
If that doesn't work, or if it does, please come back and let us know.

Can anyone help me with a problem i am having with my music on my iPhone 4S. I have put alot of Compilation CDs in my library on iTunes. I download these tracks onto my phone, everything is ok so far. Now, this is what is niggling me and I don.t know how

Can anyone help me with a problem i am having with my music on my iPhone 4S. I have put alot of Compilation CDs in my library on iTunes. I download these tracks onto my phone, everything is ok so far. Now, this is what is niggling me and I don.t know how to resolve it. This is my problem:
Have downloaded for example: Queen – Bohemium Rhapsody from a compilation album as well as a few complete Queen Album CDs into the iTunes library and then put them into playlists,
When I go onto my phone and select Queen on the MUSIC app using Songs tab at the bottom of the screen it will display all Queen songs and their resective Alum pics, that is all those not in a complilation album, .
If I know the song title I can select the songs tab and find the song that way,
I’ve tried fiddling with the settings in the iTunes app by going to ‘get info’ tab and trying to sort the problem out that way but am not having much luck.What I want the phone to do is show, for example all Queens songs including those in compilation albums. Can this be done, would be grateful for any ideas on how it can be done, that is if ic can be done, any ideas
Thanks for your help

Try assigning Queen as the Album Artist on the compilations in iTunes on your computer.

How can I delete an old file from my library on iTunes

Occasionally I have to replace PDF manuals with ones that have been updated. But after I sync the new file the old one remains on my Mac itunes library. How can I delete the old file? So far all I do is deselect the old file but it's still there. Sooner or later there will be more old files then current ones making it hard to manage.
Thanks in advance.

You can do this with or without the iPad connected to your Mac.
Launch iTunes on the Mac. Click on Books under the Library heading. Click on the PDFs. Then click on the PDF that you want to delete in order to select it, and go to Edit>Delete and follow the on screen prompts.
if you are using iTunes 11 and do not have the sidebar enabled, and wish to do so, go to View>Show sidebar or use the keyboard shortcut OPTION+Command+S.
If you do not want to enable the sidebar, the library items can be accessed in the button in the upper left corner of the iTunes window.

I can't open my iPod library in iTunes, the app doesn't show the device at all, no error message, nothing, but windows 8 opens it like it would a flash drive. It has worked for me before just fine and both have the most updated software versions.

I can't open my iPod library in iTunes, the app doesn't show the device at all, no error message, nothing, but windows 8 opens it like it would a flash drive. It has worked for me before just fine and both have the most updated software versions. HELP PLEASE!

yeah i plugged in my iphone to my computer and itunes does not even notice that i plugged it in.

How can I download my iMac iTunes library to an external drive and reload the library to iTunes on a PC?

How can I download my iMac iTunes library to an external drive and reload the library to iTunes on a PC?

Hi Niel. Can you be move specific for those of us not tech savy? 1 - Can you provide steps to back up the library? 2 - How do you organize the library? 3 - When you move the entire iTunes folder, does it include iTunes paid for music along with downloaded music from CDs? Thanks

Accidentally cleared Library in iTunes. Can it be recovered?

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for