Backing up iTunes library to CDs

I want to back up my library to CDs but there is no back up option on the iTunes menu File>library. (iTunes 10.4)

HI Alan
I agree with you I found it a very useful part of iTunes and needless to say, im very disapointed that it has been removed.
Ever since I started unting iTunes, I have backed up onto DVD and havent had issues with it at all... I dont understand where the unreliability has come from?
Hopefully they will change their minds...... can always hope for clear skies I guess here in the UK....lol
Dyf

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I upgraded to iTunes 10.5 and now I can't back up iTunes library to disc. In previous versions it was in file library backup to disc. In iTunes 10.5 that is gone!

I upgraded to iTunes 10.5 and now I can't back up iTunes library to disc. In previous versions it was in file>library>backup to disc. In iTunes 10.5 that is gone!

Some of us have our enture itunes library backed up on CD/DVD - what a waste of time and effort as now presumably you can't use these discs to restore itunes on a new computer! WHY NOT APPLE?
Very unimpressed with itunes 10.5/ios5 - wifi tracking apps have been removed from the store (and won't function in ios5), it's impossible to sync photos (I have spent a whole day trying to sync my iphone 3GS with itines 10.5) to no avail and now, no CD backup facility.
I have never had problems with apple before - I was thinking of upgrading my whole system from PC to Mac but now I am doubtful - if this is typical of apple software, I will stay with windows!

I lost songs on my itunes library n i have same songs kn my iphone. So how can i get them back to itunes library?

I lost songs on my itunes library n i have same songs kn my iphone. So how can i get them back to itunes library?

See Recover your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device.
tt2

Back up itunes library

i've backed up itunes library then went back to update cd using option( only back up items added or changed since last back up)using an unformatted disc or formatted i get messages : please insert isert blank disc or disc is not blank. so either way i can't update the disc. the ony way i found to do it is to use a formatted disc and go to source folder and copy from there. not ideal.

If you want to back up everything to an external drive, copy the entire iTunes folder.
Or you can use any backup program to do the same.
Is it also possible to back everythign up in MP3 format to a CD or DVD?
iTunes prefs -> Advanced - Burning.
Set to Data CD/DVD.
Create a Smart playlist where Kind contains MPEG audio file.
Click Burn.

I have downloaded music to my Itunes library from CDs and want to copy the music to blank CDs. Is there a way to achieve this?

I have downloaded music to my Itunes library from CDs and want to copy the music to blank CDs. Is there a way to achieve this?

Make a playlist of the items you want to burn, put a blank cd in the drive and burn the playlist to it.

Backing up itunes library to a hard drive

I want to back up my entire itunes library to my hard drive but can only find instructons on backing up to cds, i have a very large library and dont want to lose any of my songs, please help
thanks

The instructions you saw are for using iTunes to back up to CD or DVD. You do not need them for backing up to an external hard drive. Just close iTunes. Make sure the hard drive is connected to the computer. Go into Windows Explorer, or "My Computer." Copy your entire "My Music" folder to the hard drive, along with anything else that you wish to back up.

Can't Back up iTunes library - DVDs keep getting rejected

Have just upgraded to iTunes 7.1. Tried to use the Back Up function mentioned in "What's new...". Unfortunately, every time I try to back up the iTunes library to a blank DVD-RW, the computer fails to work out what the disc is and then spits it out. Why would that happen?
Are some brands of DVD-RWs incompatible with Macs? Have tried TDK 4.7GB DVD-RW & Panasonic 4.7GB DVD+RWs. Both rejected.
Any advice appreciated. Apart from buying an External HD; too strapped for cash!
PowerBook 17" Mac OS X (10.4.8)

DVD-R or DVD-RW, either should be fine; it's the +R disks that won't work.
The fact that -RWs won't work suggests to me that you may have a hardware problem with the drive (it's quite possible for a drive to be able to work with CDs but fail with DVDs or vice-versa). In any case, it's not an iTunes problem, so you might want to take the issue up in the PowerBook DVD forum. Someone there may be able to suggest something to try to determine if it's an OS or hardware problem.

How to restore a backed up iTunes library from discs?

I had backed up my iTunes library a while ago (more than a couple years) on CDs as Apple "demanded" at the time. Now I find that I need to restore my library to iTunes on the computer, and lo and behold, restoration doesn't work in the same manner anymore. Apparently, the process used to be quite simple; you inserted the discs, iTunes would ask if you wanted to restore the backup to the library and voila, the library was restored. I'm not exaggerating when I write that I have been looking for a solution for hours and have yet to find any instructions to remedy this problem. Any help (specific instructions) would be greatly appreciated.
Using Windows XP, Dell, and iTunes 11.4.0.18
Thanks.

This is what I always do (and believe me, it's been done many times):
1. Quit iTunes.
2. Locate the current iTunes library (this assumes that you have used iTunes since your old lib got damaged). You can use find to do this, the current lib will be the one that's been modified last (so if you last used iTunes on September 22nd and quit afterwards, the library should show that it's been modified 22/9).
3. It'll probably be named just as 'iTunes library.xxx' (can't remember the file ending now). Now, back up the backed up library (you can never be too sure) and when done, change its name to be identical to your current, pathetically small library.
4. Move the old library to the folder where the new one is. The system will ask whether you want to replace the the existing library with the same name, and of course you will want to.
5. Start iTunes anew and you should have your old library back.

Moving Backed Up iTunes Library Back To Newly Formatted Laptop Question.

I've saved all iTunes library files plus music to ext hdd. How do I move everything back so it will be like it was before I moved it? Links to help docs will help.
Thanks
G
Message was edited by: GARTH

I have the same problem. Seems like APPLE needs to address this issue on its next update, if that's possible.
I got a new, bigger HD and transferred all itunes music files to the new HD. I did a copy paste of all the folders that represented individual CDs. For some reason, I was unable to transfer the entire "iTunes Music folder" that contained all of these "individual CD" folders.
Itunes cannot locate the files on its own. I've already made sure the letter drive is the same. I can locate the files but Itunes cannot.
BUT, Itunes CAN locate files that are MPEG-1 Layer 3 Audio! Itunes cannot locate MPEG-4 Audio Files, many of which are bought CDs that I imported into itunes.
A solution would be super!
Thanks

How to back up iTunes Library to external drive so it can be restored

I recently moved my iTunes Library from a firewire Lacie external hard drive to a Western Digital USd hard that is now having problems (It keeps unmounting itself and I don't think that's good). It was not easy to move my iTunes folder and make it work again. I do not want to send 3 weeks plus using my spare time relinking songs or recreating playlists. I had to re-link 6,000 songs one by one. I iTunes will make a backup on CDs or DVDs why not an external device? Why would I want to copy 80 plus gigs to CDs?
If I simply copy my iTunes folder to the LaCie drive like apple recommends and the WD fails, I will lose all my playlists, track info, art work. I just got it all back. There must be some type of back up program I'm not seeing.
Please, some one help me. I am very disappointed that this solution is not on here.
I'm going to copy the file for now but it's really a poor solution.
Message was edited by: CindyLoo

I want to back up every thing, but I can't find a way to do it. That is the problem. Apple recommends if you are backing up to an external drive to copy folder the music folder to the drive via drag and drop. But I know when you do this that if you try use the backup you will only have the songs as if they were first added to iTunes.
I was able this time to move my music folder successfully (Last time the problem wasn't immediately apparent as it didn't affect my iPod, so I hope I'm not jinxing it). For now, my music is back on the Lacie drive, but it's still not backed up. If the LaCie drive were to fail I'd be faced with reimporting all my music and re-purchasing the TV shows and movies. (I almost always make a CD of new iTunes Purchases. which is why I have no desire to have a second huge stack of CDs.) My computer will not burn DVDs.
I want to backup everything so that it could be restored and be like it is now, but I don't see a way to do it. And I am not backing up all 80 plus gigs to CDs. My computer would crash and burn.

Backing up Itunes library to external

Can I back up my entire ITunes library to an extternal hard drive? I don't want to move the library off my laptop - I just want to have a back up on my external hard drive in case of a catastrophic laptop failure.
I see options to back up to DVDs or CDs - bt that seems inefficient compared to an external hard drive for storing a back up.

+Can I back up my entire ITunes library to an extternal hard drive?+
Yes, but you don't need iTunes to do it. make sure the external HD is attached, which usually requires a USB connection. In Windows, copy your entire iTunes folder to the External HD. Make sure to get the whole iTunes folder, as it contains the library file as well as the songs themselves.
While you are at it, copy over all your photos, documents, and other valuable items.
You can also set up automatic backups in Windows.

Backing up iTunes library, do I have to separately save all my .mp3s too?

I've backed up my iTunes library to CD, but is that it? It seems too easy (not that I'm complaining if it just is!).
It says there is no need for many discs and it uses only a few (true), but is that just so I know what was in my Library without having to add them all again? If my PC crashes and I lose all the .mp3 files accessed by iTunes, will I somehow have those back too as well as my Library if I open iTunes, put in the backup CDs and go from there? I can't see anywhere where it says I have to ensure all my mp3 files are saved separately.
Thanks.

Without knowing how big your library (database & media) is and how many discs you've used I couldn't tell. However the iTunes built-in backup is probably not as straightforward and reliable as could be wished for. I prefer to clone iTunes folder and all its subfolders.
*Fast backup for iTunes library (Windows Only)*
Grab SyncToy 2.1, a free tool from MS. This can be used to copy your entire iTunes library (& other important data folders) onto another hard drive or network share. You can then use SyncToy periodically to synchronise or echo your library to the backup. A preview will show which files need to be updated giving you a chance to spot unexpected changes and during the run only the new or updated files will be copied saving lots of time. And if your media is all organised below the main iTunes folder then you should also be able to open the backup library on any system running the same version of iTunes.
tt2

Backing up Itunes Library to Disc Problem. Help!!

Whenever I try to back up my library to a disc, Itunes says "please insert a blank disc." I've inserted 10 blank disc (just purchased) and Itunes says the disc is not blank. However, when I put the same disc in another computer it list it as a blank disc. Please help!! Thanks in advance. Rod
Dell XPS 1210 Windows XP

Have a look at this article in the Apple Knowledge Base, in particular the bottom section Inability to use CDs and let us know if it helps you resolve your problem.

**HELP** How do you "lost" music on your computer back to iTunes library

*+_PROBLEM #1_+*: I was deleting files and apparently deleted too many. I restored the CDs from the recycle bin but now I can't find them. *+_PROBLEM #2_+*: When I find them how do I restore them back to the library? Pleazzzzzzze help me.

Problem #1 - if restored from the recyle bin, the files should be back where they were originally. If you have a standard iTunes arrangement, music files are in Music\iTunes\iTunes Music\aristname++albumname\
If you can't find them use Windows search assuming you cna remeber the name of one or more of the files, or just look for Music files.
Prblem #2 - Once you have found the files you can link them manually if there are only a few. Otherwise your File>>Add Folder to Library to add the files back.
The dead tracks can be removed with a script called iTunesRemovenotfound, which you can get from here:
http://home.comcast.net/~teridon73/itunesscripts/
Or if you prefer not to use a script it can be done with playlists:
Using a playlist to collect dead tracks.
Create new regular playlist – Playlist1
Select whole library and drag to Playlist1
Create new Smart Playlist with the rule: Playlist is not Playlist1
This playlist should contain all the dead tracks
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=5696793#5696793

How Can I Roll Back my iTunes Library?

I'm guessing it may no tbe possible at all, but here goes.
What I would like to do with my music estate is roll back my current iTunes library file, automatically updated to iTunes 11 when updated on MPBr when this was my only PC using iTunes. Now I have three and some iOS devices too. My library has been moved from windows machines to macs and is several years old and has received 100s of hours of tweaking to get it just right.
Now my server is a PowerPC mac and I can only go as far as iTunes 10.6.xx, I want this to be always on and share the library with other PCs accross home sharing (i will sync iPhones over the wi-fi with this PC too, though it may not play with iOS7, so perhaps not).
I want to see the iTunes library on the macbooks, probably through Home Sharing, I also want to be able to sync the iphones, but only have a single copy of the music files on the server. is this possible? This will just be for when out of the house as I can also use home sharing in the house for music.
Thanks

You say you want to do this with multiple devices. Let's say you have a new iPhone 5 that requires iTunes 11. You will not be able to sync that if your base iTunes is iTunes 10.6 since your hardware will require at least whatever version of iTunes was current at the time of purchase. You're seeing this with your iOS7 phone. Anyway, unless all your hardware is old enough to use the lowest version of iTunes you need to run, you may be out of luck. You cannot share the library. Sharing media is different, and relatively easy, but it will be complex to ensure all the multiple libraries are kept up to date.
You also can't roll back iTunes libraries to earlier versions unless you kept a backup of your library from the point to which you wish to revert, or it is still in the previous libraries folder.

Backing up iTunes library to CDs

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