Blank iTunes library after Archive and Install

My PowerBook G4 suffered a catastrophic crash and after advice from Apple support, the only way I could restart it was to perform an Archive and Install. Before this, I couldn't start the machine and therefore couldn't back anything up. Everything seems to be all right after the Archive and Install except that my iTunes library is completely blank, and the old library is not anywhere on the hard drive. All of the songs are still on my iPod - is there any way to get them back into the library? I don't want to connect the iPod and lose everything I have now.
Thanks!
PowerBook G4 867 Mhz Mac OS X (10.2.x)

From the Keyboard Shortcuts in the iTunes Help menu:
iPod shortcuts
Prevent iPod from automatically updating when you connect it to your computer
Command-Option as you connect the iPod to your computer (hold the keys down until the iPod appears in the iTunes Source list)
After that, use an application like Senuti or iPodRip (latest versions on versiontracker.com) to transfer the contents of your iPod to the computer.
Hope this helps.
M
17' iMac fp 800 MHz 768 MB RAM Mac OS X (10.4.6) Several ext. HD (backup and data)

Similar Messages

Files missing from library after archive and install

Hi forum folk
any help you could give would be much appreciated.
I can't seem to verify my permissions on HD. I have run disk utility both from finder and from my OSX startup disk and consistently get the error message "Disk Utility has lost its connection with the Disk Management Tool and cannot continue." I then reinstalled the operating system all together making sure to archive and install as well as archive previous network and preference settings. This means I am running 10.3.4 at the moment (and I can't verify any of the software updates at the moment). After reinstalling I still cannot verify my permissions, so now I am trying to back up all my files so that I can reinstall the OSX again, erase everything, and start from scratch. But I'm running into some very strange problems while doing this. select files are missing from ~/library. there is no Safari file, for example. I tried looking in HD/previous systems/library where my library files were saved before I reinstalled the operating system but there is no such folder in there either. this means all of my bookmarks are gone. additionally, under library/preferences (in both the old and new library folders) there is no file named com.apple.itunes.plst. so all of my itunes playlists are gone as well. these are the only missing files I have found thus far and i can't explain why they selectively would not have been saved after the archive and install. Everything else seems to be intact. Any ideas?
thanks
jb
powerbookG4 Mac OS X (10.3.9) running 10.3.4 at the moment - can't verify permissions on 10.3.9

jbeep:
my HD has a capacity of 8.85 GB available. When I reinstalled panther I had little more than 3 GB available (I deleted a bunch of unneeded things since then)
Thanks for this update. What is the total formatted capacity of your HDD? I ask because I suspected that you might be cutting it pretty close. The rule of thumb is that you should have 10-15% of your total capacity available as free space. My personal rule is 15%-20%. This allows for more efficient perfomrance of OS X.
I am in the process of backing up everything on my seagate combo USB 2.0/firewire 200 GB external (I am using the firewire cord)
Having an up-to-date backup is one of the primary rules, often observed more in the breach than not. Since you have an HDD that supports Firewire, I suggest that you make a bootable clone of your entire HDD using SuperDuper. You can then use this backup as an emergency boot drive. However, it must be Firewire, as PPC Macs don't boot from USB devices.
I also have heard that it is advisable to reinstall the OS "every now and again" and I hadn't done this for at least two years. was I ill-advised?
Most experienced Mac users never re-install, except under dire circumstances. Since installing my new HDD in this computer I have never re-installed. Re-installation is the utlimate intrusive measure, and it exposes one to all kinds of issues, from lost data, to flawed installaton, to installations that fail midstream. Re-installation is not an effective maintenace procedure. Here are some helpful links in terms of maintenance:
Mac OS X 10.3/10.4: System maintenance
Macintosh OS X Routine Maintenance
Maintaining OS X.
I'm going to restart now and try and verify my permissions again using the procedure on the above link. I'll let you know what happens.
Instead of verifying permissions, just go ahead and Repair Disk Permissions. Verifying permissions does nothing, and wastes your time, as it is difficult to tell whether you need to repair, and you have to repair anyway.
Do post back with an update of your progress and any further questions or comments.
Good luck.
cornelius
Message was edited by: cornelius

Finder not responding after Archive and install

I recently encountered my first problem ever with my mac(new in '05) This is the first mac I have owned; I have worked on G3's and G4's in the past. After reading through many message boards and support pages I don't believe my problem to be similar but different to previous posts.
My problem started off with an OS problem that I was able to diagnose in the "help" book I purchased when Leopard came out. It said I should Archive and Install to remedy the problem and keep my files. I ran the archive the install (it gave me no options to preserve user or network settings). After Archive and install my computer started up alright, but I got the permanent beachball and the finder does not work. it is constantly non responsive. I can relaunch finder, but after it restarts it goes non responsive immediately once again. So I can't actually access my "previous system" folder to move anything over. I checked my dock items and finder, they opened, but my itunes asked for an update. I list of update items came up; I did the non-restart items first. they updated fine, (my itunes old itunes playlists are viewable but not playable now) then I did the items that required a restart. That is when I found out that I could not shut down or restart my computer with std. procedures.
Currently I can only access my spotlight or apple pull down menu if I am in a functioning dock program (safari or itunes, quicktime. etc.) after reading some more support pages it looked like the common thing to do was check permissions and verify disk. I did, I repaired two permissions and the disk was OK. I did look at the HD files, they were as I remembered, but unaccessible (greyed out) and the "previous system" folder was present. +It didn't look like I would expect. The HD looked same as it used to just with a previous system folder.+ After checking the permissions and verified the disk I tried a hard restart. It came back the same as before, unresponsive finder and only the few dock items worked along with spotlight. I checked permissions and disk verify again and everything was OK.
Sorry to be long winded I am trying to be thorough...In short, My finder does not work after doing an Archive and Install to fix my original problem (which has been fixed)...the remedy for an unresponsive finder is to do an archive and install. Is another archive and install really going to fix my problem? Can I archive and install OSX 10.4 and work my way back up to 10.5.6?
Secondly is there a way to restart my computer without doing another hard restart?

It won't let me add a new account. I am locked out and when I try to unlock it gives me the beachball and becomes non responsive after it tries to authenticate.
I looked at the log file, I am not sure what exactly to look for. I am no programer. I see an awful lot of negative wording. I see some errors like "error (-4956) locating menu extra but they are mostly under system preferences...I see some stuff in the loginwindow that says is not a full path... Otherwise, the only reference I see to the finder is when I have force quit the finder.
2/8/09 8:59:55 PM com.apple.launchd[114] ([0x0-0x4d04d].com.apple.finder[304]) Exited: Terminated
2/8/09 11:10:17 PM com.apple.launchd[114] ([0x0-0x57057].com.apple.finder[321]) Exited: Terminated

Cd inserted but unrecognized after "archive and install"

After "archive and install" OS X.2 and clicking on "save settings", everything works fine, except sound cds are not recognized when inserted. iTunes works fine with the original files on hard disk, but doesnt see the cd (it did before).
I repaired permissions. I deleted the "previous systems" folder. still nothing.
I did notice that the "previous systems" folder has an "audio" file in it but the current "system" folder doesnt. I tried copying this audio file into the current "system" folder but I get the notice that it cant be changed.
I need to hear cds on this computer. Any ideas?
(It isnt a speaker problem as the itunes files play fine).
John in Vancouver

Hi John in Vancouver! And Welcome To
Discussions!
Open System Preferences > CDs & DVDs.
Adjust the appropriate setting there, and see if it
helps.
Good Luck!
ali b
Thanks, ali, but I did that early on. Didnt put it in the post. On insertion of a CD I have it set to open iTUnes.
I found a further problem which is that the midi set-up no longer locates my external keyboard. I will check the discussions under audio for this one, however. (I did check about the CD problem in the audio discussion but nothing there.)
John

Recover mail after archive and install

Hey there good mac people,
I recently archived and installed on my ibook g4. It was successful, my problem is that I forgot to backup all the mail I had in my osx mail app.
The previous system folder (library<mail<mail accounts<com.mac.mailaccounts<English.lproj< file, but I don't know if this will help restore or not?
Some of the mail is still on the server, but it is set to delete from the server once a week, and thus only a weeks worth at best is still on the server.
Does anybody have any suggestions?
In the future, what's the best way to back up mail?

Hello art-is-work.
I don't understand your problem. Archive and Install should have preserved all your data, unless you told it to do otherwise. Did you?
Mail stores most preferences and all account settings in ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.mail.plist. Everything else, including all your messages and mailboxes, is stored within the ~/Library/Mail/ folder.
If the problem is that you told the installer to not Preserve Users and Network Settings, then Archive and Install should still have saved a copy of your entire home folder in /Previous Systems/Previous System N/Users/, where N is a number. The old Mail folder and preferences file should be there. You can just copy them to the appropriate location of your current home folder, or follow the somewhat convoluted procedure described in the following article to safely restore them:
How to get files from a previous home directory after Archive and Install (Mac OS X)
Note: For those not familiarized with the ~/ notation, it refers to the user's home folder.

Where is mail stored after archive and install?

Hello All,
I need to know where my old mails are stored after archive and install. To give a bit of background... This is a work computer. Its a MacMini which came with 10.4 installed. Before I joined the company boss upgraded to Leopard and thats what I have been using all this time. Recently it blue screened and I had to do an archive and install after trying various other options.
I only had the original install discs with 10.4 in them and not the Leopard discs. Since I needed to my computer up and running, I used those discs and did an archive and install.
I have all my old documents, etc but I couldn't open mail from the previous systems folder because its a different OS.
Is it possible to retrieve my old emails without having to install Leopard again?
Any help is appreciated.

When I started the computer up, instead of the login page with the account names coming up, there was just a blue screen. There are lots of articles that gave suggestions to try but nothing worked so I had to archive and install.

How do I restore previous settings after archive and install?

I had to do an archive and install (with the box unchecked about users) on Friday after I had a kernel panic issue, but now I don't know if there is a way to restore my previous settings and access my previous files. I found the "previous system" folders, but it restricts my access to almost all of the folders, and I can't even find all of my music (iTunes) files or my stickies. I also can't find all of my bookmarks and internet settings. I'm totally panicked...there is a lot of information for my business that I really can't afford to lose. Please help me!

See the following:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107297.
The following can also apply to locating and moving data from a Previous System Folder. The "Home" folder will be /Users/shortname/ where "shortname" is the user account name you created.
Because you did not transfer the users accounts when you did the Archive and Install you may have created a new user account and password that is not the same as the one you previously used. This means the PSF has different permissions associated with it.
<font "size=+1">Folders You Can Move to Your new Mac
From the Home folder copy the contents of Documents, Movies, Music, Pictures, and Sites.
In your /Home/Library/ folder:
/Home/Library/Application Support/AddressBook (copy the whole folder)
/Home/Library/Application Support/iCal (copy the whole folder)
Also in /Home/Library/Application Support (copy whatever else you need including folders for any third-party applications)
/Home/Library/Keychains (copy the whole folder)
/Home/Library/Mail (copy the whole folder)
/Home/Library/Preferences/com.apple.mail.plist (* This is a very important file which contains all email account settings and general mail preferences.)
/Home/Library/Preferences/ copy any preferences needed for third-party applications
/Home /Library/iTunes (copy the whole folder)
/Home /Library/Safari (copy the whole folder)
If you want cookies:
/Home/Library/Cookies/Cookies.plist
/Home/Library/Application Support/WebFoundation/HTTPCookies.plist
For Entourage users:
Entourage is in /Home/Documents/Microsoft User Data
Also in /Home/Library/Preferences/Microsoft
Credit goes to another forum user for this information.
Why reward points?(Quoted from Discussions Terms of Use.)
The reward system helps to increase community participation. When a community member gives you (or another member) a reward for providing helpful advice or a solution to their question, your accumulated points will increase your status level within the community.
Members may reward you with 5 points if they deem that your reply is helpful and 10 points if you post a solution to their issue. Likewise, when you mark a reply as Helpful or Solved in your own created topic, you will be awarding the respondent with the same point values.

"Lost" library following Archive and Install

After various Leopard crashing issues, it was necessary for me to re-install Leopard on my G5 Imac. I used the “Archive and Install” option but, for reasons I don’t understand, I wasn’t able to use the “Preserve Users and Network Settings”.
After re-installing iLife 08, I’ve now lost my iPhoto and iTunes libraries. Whilst I did back-up both libraries to an external hard drive, the last back up was back in November so I would like to recover the newer photos. I have searched through the “Previous System” folder and have found an “iPhoto Library” file. This is 8Gb big so, presumably, it contains all my photos. I don’t know how to restore the library back into iPhoto, however.
The thing I don’t understand is that this “iPhoto Library” seems to be a single file rather than a folder that you can drill down into and locate all the photos (as it is on my external drive following my manual back-up). Please tell me it’s possible to restore the library (and all albums, events etc) from this single file!
All help gladly received.

Pilgrim Tim
With iPhoto 7 (iLife 08) the old iPhoto Library Folder is now a Unix Style Package File. The change was made to the format of the iPhoto library because many users were inadvertently corrupting their library by browsing through it with other software or making changes in it themselves.
I have searched through the “Previous System” folder and have found an “iPhoto Library” file.
Drag it to your PICTURES folder and launch iPhoto. That should find everything.
Please tell me it’s possible to restore the library (and all albums, events etc) from this single file!
You cannot return to the old iPhoto Library Folder system. Period. There are many, many ways to access your files in iPhoto:
For 10.5 users: You can use any Open / Attach / Browse dialogue. On the left there's a Media heading, your pics can be accessed there. Apple-Click for selecting multiple pics.
To upload to a site that does not have an iPhoto Export Plug-in the recommended way is to Select the Pic in the iPhoto Window and go File -> Export and export the pic to the desktop, then upload from there. After the upload you can trash the pic on the desktop. It's only a copy and your original is safe in iPhoto.
This is also true for emailing with Web-based services. If you're using Gmail you can use THIS
If you use Apple's Mail, Entourage, AOL or Eudora you can email from within iPhoto.
If you use a Cocoa-based Browser such as Safari, you can drag the pics from the iPhoto Window to the Attach window in the browser.
Or, if you want to access the files with iPhoto not running, then create a Media Browser using Automator (takes about 10 seconds) or use THIS
Other options include:
1. *Drag and Drop*: Drag a photo from the iPhoto Window to the desktop, there iPhoto will make a full-sized copy of the pic.
2. *File -> Export*: Select the files in the iPhoto Window and go File -> Export. The dialogue will give you various options, including altering the format, naming the files and changing the size. Again, producing a copy.
3. *Show File*: Right- (or Control-) Click on a pic and in the resulting dialogue choose 'Show File'. A Finder window will pop open with the file already selected.
Regards
TD

I need help to recover/relink mail after archive and install

I am helping my friend fix her 15" G4 PowerBook after memory failures caused many crashes. There was no recovering short of a reinstall via "archive and install". All that worked great, but now Mail doesn't recognize the accounts, mailboxes, signatures, etc. that are still located in the user/library/mail folder.
What's up with that? I can't figure out how to relink Mail to this stuff.
Here's more detail:
1) After lots of prior debugging (Disk Utility, Disk Warrior, Apple Hardware Test, single-user commands per Apple tech notes), I did the A&I to 10.3.4 from the original disks.
2) Per Dr. Smoke and The X Lab, I ran the 10.3.9 combo installer right away so that the "older" system would not get confused by the "newer" stuff in the Previous Systems folder.
3) I Launched Mail and it started anew, i.e. didn't recognize accounts and wanted to start over.
Thanks for any help.

The account settings are stored in HOME/Library/Preferences/com.apple.mail.plist. It looks like that file became corrupt -- maybe its permissions went awry (Disk Utility cannot fix that) and Mail just deleted the file to create a new one.
If your friend doesn't have a backup copy of that file, just set up the accounts from scratch all over again. If given the option to import existing mailboxes or something like that, don't. Just enter the account information and Mail will automagically rediscover the data in HOME/Library/Mail/ when done.
You'll also have to re-configure most settings in Mail > Preferences. For spam-related security reasons, the first thing you should do is go to Preferences > Viewing and disable Display remote images in HTML messages if it's enabled.

Video podcasts won't play after archive and install

I'm one of the folks having capture issues with FCP 4.5 and OS X 10.4.9. So I decided to archive and install to 10.4.8. Now it seems I'm having all kinds of video problems, including downloading and playing video podcasts in iTunes (7.2). When I download a podcast, say "Tiki Bar TV", the file downloads, but in the podcast screen, I get an error message which reads,
"There is a problem adding the video to iTunes. The file might be corrupted, or a file type that iTunes cannot play." For the record, I have never run into anything like this before. And it's the same way with every video podcast.
I had some similar wonkiness going on with QuickTime, too. But after I installed a divx plug-in, and flip for mac, everything seems to be okay with the QT. iTunes is still a mystery. Any ideas on what my next step should be would be appreciated.
Thank you.
Ben
PowerMac G5 Dual 2.5Ghz Mac OS X (10.4.8) 3GB RAM, 500GB hard drive, ATI9800XT

There are files that are not brought along with Archive and Install.
Some are invisible and not accessible without enabling "root" access and even then you have to know exactly which files have to be moved from the 'previous System' folder.
Archive and Install never works with Apple's Pro apps.
If Niel's suggestion doesn't work you'll have to erase your hard drive and reinstall everything making sure you first backup important data to another hard drive.
(don't forget to save your mail and addresses)

Can't Print PDF/Folders Need Password To Opem After Archive and Install

Greetings:
I did a archive and install on my 10.4.11 eMac because of ever sluggish performance and Safari 3.1.1 and QuickTime 1.4 problems (gotta be a better way than all that!). First, maybe by my shakey hand or because of bills, I somehow did the archive and install twice in succession, ending up with 2 previous system folders. (The second one doesn't contain any personal goodies). But I've lost my prefs and happily I regularly Sync Firefox/Thunderbird separately so they weren't lost in the grand sweep-up. I dumped the library folder in the 1st Previous System folder into the "new" System folder's (blank) library one and retrieved most of my functionality. What I can't do now is Print PDFs and annoyingly, most every other system folder wants my permissions password before I can use it. This sneaky lock-out kept NeoOffice from booting for hours despite reinstalling it several times before I realized the NeoOffice folder in the library folder was locked. Unfortunately, Safari seems to choke when you type a password or characters into some input windows, like some kind of auto-fill was trying beat you and gets hung.
How can I kill all these pesky permissions off and how do I recover Print PDF?
Thanks.
James Greenidge

Hi,
Could you clarify this... seems to cover an awful lot of ground...
Did everything standard in print what should be done.

Quicken 07 remains after Archive and Install?

Will the Quicken 07 application AND all my accounts remain after doing Archive and Install? I mean, will they be up and ready to use or need to be located in a folder and re-installed?

On an "Archive and Install", you have the option to save user data and network settings. This will copy all your user data into the home directory on the new install, and make the install process as seamless as possible. Applications are copied over as well, I believe, but if they're not they are left in the "Previous System" folder and you can copy them over manually and test them out. I believe "Quicken" is one of those applications where you just drag it to the applications folder to install it. As such, it should migrate to the new system easily and be up and running without the need to reinstall it. Most apps that require reinstalls are those that put extensions and plug-ins into the system folder (Adobe CS3, for example). Some things to keep in mind:
Corrupt preference files can cause applications to run funny or not at all. If an app doesnt behave normally then remove the preference file for that application from your user library. Corrupt preference files can happen during an install, so its good to be aware of the possibility they might crop up.
In a similar manner as corrupt preference files, sometimes the install process can change the permissions on files and folders, which will result in the same funky behavior. Using Disk utility to fix permissions BEFORE and AFTER the install will greatly reduce the probability of this being an issue.

'Transport Monitor' error after archive and install....?

The application "Transport Monitor" could not be launched because of a shared library error: "8<Transport Monitor><Transport Monitor><HotSyncLib.PPC>"
Thats the error reading I get after I performed an archive and install of 10.4.6.
Any ideas?

Hello!
A quick search of the KB came up with this article, hopefully it'll help you out!
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=25578
Name a Mac, and I've used it. I Promise. Mac OS X (10.4.6)

Re-Syncing iPhone after Archive and Install

I recently did an Archive and install on the computer that my iphone was synced with. After I did the re-install, it does not recognize the iphone and wants me to restore it from scratch. Is there any way around this??
Thanks in advance

I pluged my iphone into my new computer to get the new update and this pop up came up.
It said:
itunes could not back up the iphone lauren friedl's iphone because the iphone disconnected.
that was the itunes error i got

After Archive and Install = computer running slowly

I just ran Archive and Install, repaired my Hard Drive with disk utility and ran software update, everything should be gangbusters.
But now, it takes much longer than usual for my computer to boot and when I do basic things like run a web browser, the finder and itunes at the same time, I get a 'pinwheel of doom' consistenly as if the computer needs to stop and process what's going on.
Why is my computer running so slowly? I have enough ram, processing to run very smoothly and my hard drive now has 15% free space.

After I started a new user and used some of my old programs in that user, they loaded faster on the admin user I've been having problems with, and it seemed like my computer was starting to go back to normal.
New problems... I ran software update and there were a bunch of security updates, quicktime and other stuff I hadn't updated. It took a while to download and install so I left my house for a few hours. I came back and my computer showed the "restart to take effect" prompt. But then it wouldn't boot to OSX and I'm back to square one. Why would this keep happening? Why would my OS stop functioning after leaving it idle for several hours?
So now I'm re-installing the OS again and we'll see what happens.
Could it be that the climate is too hot? I have a thermometer program that says the inside of my computer is 135 degrees F. Is it too hot? Maybe a fan is broken?
In the past my OS has only stopped working due to lack of HD space but now I have about 15% free space. I'm really out of ideas here.

Blank iTunes library after Archive and Install

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for