Backing up iTunes library to disc in OSX Lion

Hello everyone! I've trying to back up my iTunes music library to a DVD disc. I've done this in the past With Snow Leopard by Clicking File > Library > Back up to Disc. This option does not seem available with Lion 10.7.2. Maybe I'm missing something. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

I don't think it's a matter of operating system changes but iTunes changes. Several posts in the past few months with people complaining the backup to disc has disappeared from iTunes 10 versions. The programmers probably gave up on it because most people have huge collections these days that would be cumbersome to try to back up to the 50 discs or so they would require, and then repeatedly to keep them up to date. External hard drives are relatively inexpensive and it is much easier to back up the whole computer (including irreplaceable photos) to them. Factor in the cost of DVDs and a hard drive is cheaper in the long run.
You could still back up your iTunes folder using Finder's burn facility, but unless you have a tiny library it'll take some effort.

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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!

Backing Up iTunes Library to Disc

i recently tried backing up my Entire iTunes Library to disc, but i left the computer and it went to Sleep during the backup process, and the disc was ejected. now each time i try to backup, i get an error message saying the "burning was unsuccessful". i tried restarting the computer and iTunes, but nothing is allowing me to complete the backup. what can i do?

Depends on the disk you use. With a dvd it takes about 4.7 gig to fill one. So that would be about seven disc. I always have a back up on disk and one on my external hard drive.
Mort

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.

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.

Unable to back up Itunes library to disc

Have been trying to backup my library to disc .Itunes checks my media, says I need 19 discs ,initialises the dvd-r disc in the drive and then appears to start writing to disc but after about 5 minutes it comes up with an error 4483 and says unknown error unable to burn to disc Have tried various discs but cannot get it to work .Am using Vista SP1 and Itunes8 would appreciate any suggestions
Thanks

I've stuck with itunes 7.1 for this very reason. Any versions above 7.1.1.5, iTunes rendered my DVD burner useless, unable to recognize blank DVDs in ANY program, not just iTunes.
Go get the last version of iTunes that worked with your PC at filehippo.com.

How to back up iTunes library in iTunes 10.5.

I have been backing up my iTunes library to discs for ages in previous versions but it's different in 10.5 (BETA). When I navigate to FIle> Library I no longer have the option to back up my library.

The first time I backed up my iTunes on an external drive, it took a 1 hour +. Do I basically need to start over on my external hard drive? Or is there an easier/faster way?
Yes there is a faster way.
Check this out -> Backup your iTunes for Windows library with SyncToy
Don't change the library location or hold Option to update the backup on the external.

How to tell which items are in iTunes library on disc but not in program library?

I made a mistake the other night and I deleted some items from my iTunes library ... but NOT from disc.
These items are still in my 65 gig iTunes library on disc. Somewhere.
I'd like to re-add these songs. Is there any way to tell which songs in the iTunes library on disc are not in the iTunes program library?
I don't want to have to add all 65 gigs again and then remove all the duplicates
thanks!

You should try dragging some files already in the library into iTunes to see what happens. I just did, and the new iTunes 10.6 seems to be ignoring them. I then made a copy of a file already in the library, and I added both it and the original by dragging and dropping. Only the new file was added. There was no warning about duplicates in either test. So you may be able to drag your whole library back into iTunes.
For when you do want to determine what files on disk aren't in the iTunes library or vice versa, here's one way to do it (if there's an easier way, I'm all ears):
Export your library as a playlist to a text file.
Use a program that can recursively list all your files on disk as full paths and save its output to a text file.
Load the into a decent text editor. I use Notepad++. Then use a regexp search/replace to tidy up the files so that both consist of one fully qualified filename per line.
Sort the files.
Diff the files and examine the differences.
I can do both 4 and 5 in Notepad++.

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.

My iTunes library is missing since upgrade Lion 7.2. I have it all backed up so that's not the issue. How can I reinstall it with all my hundreds of playlists intact or do I have to recreate each one upon reinstalling the backup copy? Thank you for help

Almost my iTunes library is missing since upgrade Lion 7.2. (the last 2.5 weeks worth of added music has transferred post-upgrade, none of whcih was bought from iTunes)
I have it all backed up so that's not the issue. How can I reinstall it with all my hundreds of playlists intact or do I have to recreate each playlist upon reinstalling the backup copy? This would save a HUGE amount of time and efforts. Thank you for your help!

hi Limnos,
I do not mean the entire ITunes folder but, rather, the contents of the ITunes folder prior to September 29th. (90% of the media is missing, along with all playlists) The media that remains says it was added on 9/29 although I know most of it was added many months or even years earlier. There are no playlists listed at all, before or after 9/29. (I know for certain that I added non-iTunes purchased songs on 10/6 although I had not created playlists for them)
I have my iTunes folder backed up on both an external drive as well as Time Machine.
I run iTunes off of an ITunes folder on my computer rather than from the external, if that's what you mean about how I have it set up.
Is it OK to drag the entire iTunes folder from the external drive onto my laptop's drive and see if that fixes it?
Thank you for your help!
Deb

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

Lost my purchased iTunes library on upgrade to OSX Maverick's. Anyone know how I can restore them? I have authorised my iMac

Lost my itunes library on upgrade to OSX Maverick's. Anyone know how I can restore them. My imac has been authorised.

Download previous purchases from the iTunes Store - Support - Apple

Moving iTunes library from XP to OSX

Okay, I've tried about everything to transfer my iTunes library from xp to osx. On my last attempt I burned 24 DVDs of my music and copied them over to my iMac. Sadly not all the songs came through. I'm not sure why but there are several thousand songs missing. Anyway, I had this next idea in a dream of all places.
So, my idea is was this....take the xml file from my xp machine and copy it over to osx. I found and replaced all the locations of the songs from E:\itunes to the mounted shared xp folder on my osx (something like "smb://xpcomputername/E/iTunes").
Since I don't know enough about osx directory structure...is that the proper way to format it? I did format it that way but I'm unable to open the file. What do I have to do to open the xml file in osx?

It is my understanding that I can import the xml file to itunes.
I'm attempting to create a new library on my new iMac and then import the xml file with my xp library. I've tried this with the location "smb://xpcomputername/E/iTunes" but I only see 1757 tracks out of the 22606 total tracks on my xp iTunes library. The tracks that do show up look like they are streaming tracks (like online radio streams show up). How should I change the file locations in the xml file to make this work if my windows directory that contain my iTunes library is mounted on my iMac?

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.

Help with backing up itunes library

I need to transfer my itunes library to a different computer and i wanted to know if backing it up to a disc will back up music, videos, AND apps. The cmoputer has windows 7

Do you have an external hard drive? If not, you might want to get one. Much easier to back up the library that way...
Assuming you use the iTunes default settings where iTunes copied added items to your iTunes folder and organizes your library (meaning - everything is all self contained in the iTunes folder), then all you have to do is drag & drop your iTunes folder (not just the iTunes Music folder you find inside the iTunes folder) to the external drive and copy the entire thing.
If you want to test that it worked or would like to actually start using it from that location instead, use these instructions when you start iTunes to point it to the new location...
How to open an alternate iTunes Library file or create a new one
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304447
If you are just testing, then close iTunes after you verify it works, and restart iTunes again with the same instructions and point it back to your internal drive (original) location.
Additional info...
Back up your iTunes library by copying to an external hard drive
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=307074
Cheers,
Patrick

Backing up iTunes library to disc in OSX Lion

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