Computer hard drive crashed and rebuild but lost itunes library.

My computer crashed from a bad hard drive. After I put a new one in and rebuild the Vista OS I attempted to sync my Iphone.
Itunes prompted my device is already tie to another library and gave me a option to erase and startover.
Is it possible to push the content from the Iphone library back to the itunes desktop? Or do I have to restart from scratch.
From googling I learn it is important to backup *.itl and will do so from now on.

I just want to point out that it's important to back up C:\...\Music\iTunes\. This contains library data files as well as the music files themselves.
Is your music purchased from the iTunes Store? If so, look at this:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1848
If not, we'll need to look at some third party options.
iGadget
http://www.ipodsoft.com/site/pmwiki.php?n=igadget.Homepage
iRepo
http://www.purpleghost.com/index.php?q=irepo
iPod Access
http://www.findleydesigns.com/ipodaccess/indexWin.html
TouchCopy
http://www.wideanglesoftware.com/touchcopy/
CG

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My computer hard drive crashed and all my i-tunes were lost - can I re-load them from my iPod?

My hard drive crashed and destroyed all the i-tunes that I had burned from my CDs and purchased. The are still on my iPod Classic, can I load them on the computer, I have re-installed the i-tune program and the last purchase I made was re-installed, but nothing else. I don't want to sync my iPod, iPhone and Shuffle and lose them. What should I do?

Your iPod is designed to sync with only one iTunes library at a time. It will recognize the iTunes library on the reloaded PC as a new library. If you sync the iPod with this new library, all content will be erased from the iPod and replaced with what is in the new library. So what you will want to do is copy everything from the iPod to your new iTunes library on your PC first.
See this older post from another forum member Zevoneer covering the different methods and software available to assist you with the task of copying content from your iPod back to your PC and into iTunes.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2452022?start=0&tstart=0
B-rock

Computer Hard Drive Crashed and lost all of itunes

My hard drive crashed on my computer, and I need a new drive. So I lkost all the info I had in itunes. Now I have my computer up again I want to be abvle to transfer back the songs from my ipod to my harddrive. Can this be done?

If you wanna take tunes off your iPod and put them onto your computer, check out these sites.
www.crispsofties.com - iPod.iTunes (FOR MAC)
www.thelittleappfactory.com - iPodRip (FOR MAC)
www.ephpod.com - EphPod (FOR PC)
www.kennettnet.co.uk/software - PodUtil (FOR MAC AND PC)
Let us know if anyone has any success with these downloads

My hard drive crashed and I have lost all of my music. How do I get it back?

My hard drive has crashed and I have lost all of my music. Is there a way to contact the itunes people and get at least all of my purchased music back?

If you are a resident of the U.S., have iTunes 10.3 or later, you can re download purchases for free.
Downloading past purchases from the App Store, iBookstore, and iTunes Store

I have a new Windows tablet computer with limited hard drive space, and cannot transfer my itunes library to the hard drive. Can I run t media from an external hard drive? If so, how do I transfer my files?

I have a new Windows tablet computer with limited hard drive space (32 GB), and cannot transfer my itunes library to the hard drive. Can I run itunes from an external hard drive? I have tried to follow some of the directions on this site, but am having no success. Thanks.

iTunes will run fine with the media on an external drive.
However, I suggest that a tablet computer with a tiny hard drive is not ideal as the primary computer for managing an iTunes library, even a small one. If you have another machine, perhaps a big, boxy, inexpensive old desktop with a decent amount of storage, that might be a better choice.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1364

HELP! My hard drive crashed, can I copy my iTunes library files to a new PC

My hard drive crashed, but I attached it as a slave drive using an older PC and I can see all of my files but I can't start any programs (iTunes) from this slave drive.
How can I copy iTunes music files and library to a removable drive, and then use that drive to restore it all in iTunes on another PC? I would like to keep my playlists too.
I have everything I want on my iPod too, can I just copy everything from my iPod to my new PC? Which is easier?

I have everything I want on my iPod too, can I just copy everything from my iPod to my new PC? Which is easier?
For iTunes version 7 or later, then you can transfer purchased iTunes store music from the iPod to an authorized computer by using the "file/transfer purchases from iPod" menu. Note that the maximum of 5 authorized computers applies here.
Find out how to do that here.
How to copy iTunes purchases from an iPod to a computer.
For all other non purchased content (your own CDs etc) try this method which works on some Windows PCs.
Enable your iPod for disk use.
See: iPod Disk Use.
Open iTunes and select edit/preferences/advanced/general. Put a check mark in the box marked "copy files to iTunes music folder when adding to library" and also "keep iTunes music folder organized", then click 'ok'.
Connect the iPod whilst holding down the shift/ctrl keys to prevent any auto sync, and if you see the dialogue window asking if you want to sync to this itunes library, click 'no'.
Then go to file/add folder, open 'my computer', select your iPod and click 'ok'.
The music files should transfer to your iTunes.
If this doesn't work (and it may not because officially it's not supposed to), check out the instructions/suggestions here.
Music from iPod to computer (using option 2). This a manual method using "hidden folders" and although it works, it is a little more involved than other methods.
Much easier ways are to use one of the many 3rd party programs that copy music from the iPod to the computer.
One of the most recommended is Yamipod. This is a free program that transfers music from iPod back to the computer. However, it does not transfer playcounts/ratings etc.
Another free program is Pod Player.
SharePod is also freeware.
If you want to recover just the structure of playlists from the iPod (and not the actual song files themselves), there's iRepo for Windows. which I understand has this feature along with all the standard features for these programs.
iPodRip also has the feature enabling you to reconstruct playlists.
There is also CopyTrans. This does preserve ratings/playcounts etc if those are important to you but this program is not free. It also supports video transfer.

Computer hard drive crashed and lost all photos

Is there a way to retrieve the photos from my iPod back onto my computer harddrive? The files that show up in the iPod photo cache on my hard drive are .thmb extensions and can't be opened by my system.

- If the photos were synced to the iPod they are gone
- If they were taken by or saved to the iPod gp to iTunes>Preferences>Devices and look at the date/time of the iPod backup. If it is when you synced then restoring from backup should get the photos back.
- If you had turned on Settings>iCloud>PhotoStream, then set up PhotoStream on the computer and get the last 30 days of photos from PhotoStream. You should also be able to get them back by simply turning one Photostream on the restored iPod.

My hard drive crashed and I have lost my Itunes library. How can I get my the music that I loaded from my own CDs back on my PC from my iPod?

My hard drived crashed in my HP Pavilion desktop and I have installed a new one. I have Windows 2007. My Itunes library is gone. How can I get all the music that I loaded onto my iPod from my own CD's back into an Itunes library?

The loading of audio files to iPod is designed to go one way only: computer to iPod. There are some third-party applications available which will rescue an audio library and write the files back to a PC HDD. The playlists might not copy, nor the album art work, nor videos but you might be able to recover all audio files. Some apps are open source and available for free download, for example: Senuti, Onyx. There are others which are Windows-based; do a Google search to find out.

Hard Drive Failure, so I've lost ITunes Library. Ipod more up-to-date how do I transfer music from IPod to library?

Hi,
I had a hard drive failure on my old PC and I couldn't retrieve anything. I have purchased a new PC and downloaded itunes (Version I'm not use to which isn't helping) and signed in however it only has my purchased songs on the cloud which I need to download into my library from cloud. However I have thousands of songs that I imported into my old library from CD's etc which is no lost apart from all the data held on my ipod.
So my Ipod is more up-to-date then my library now. When I look to sync my ipod it says everything will be removed and will be replaced with content from the library. I've had a look around and I can't see a way to get my music from my ipod to my library.
Is there anything I can do, please help?
Thanks

See:
Syncing to a "New" Computer or replacing a "crashed" Hard Drive: Apple Support Communities
or
Recovering your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device: Apple Support Communities

Computer Hard Drive Failure - How can I copy itunes library to new pc/ipod?

Hi
My old desktop pc hard drive recently crashed due to a critical error so I have invested in a new pc and am considering purchasing a more up to date ipod to replace my old ipod mini. Is there are way I can access, retrieve or transfer my existing itunes library of imported cd / downloaded (purchased) music from my old pc (e.g. from the ipod mini itself or by loading my original software disc on the new pc?) to my new pc / ipod or do I have to start again from scratch and lose purchased tunes etc? If so, Apple may lose a customer, which would be a shame.
Many thanks for your help.
Mike

1). Connect your iPod to your new computer. If it is set to update automatically you'll get a message that it is linked to a different library and asking if you want to link to this one and replace all your songs etc, press "Cancel". Pressing "Erase and Sync" will irretrievably remove all the songs from your iPod.
2). When your iPod appears in the iTunes source list change the update setting to manual, that will let you use your iPod without the risk of accidentally erasing it. Check the "manually manage music and videos" box in Summary then press the Apply button. Also when using most of the utilities listed below your iPod needs to be enabled for disc use, changing to manual update will do this by default: Managing content manually on iPod and iPhone
3). Once you are safely connected there are a few things you can do to restore your iTunes from the iPod. There are a number of third party utilities that you can use to retrieve the music files and playlists from your iPod. You'll find that they have varying degrees of functionality and some will transfer movies, videos, photos, podcasts and games as well. Have a look at the web pages and documentation, this is just a small selection of what's available, they are generally quite straightforward. You can read reviews and comparisons of some of them here:
Wired News - Rescue Your Stranded Tunes
Comparison of iPod managers
TuneJack Windows Only (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
SharePod Windows Only (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
iPod2PC Windows Only
iDump Windows Only
iPodRip Mac & Windows
YamiPod Mac and Windows
iPod Music Liberator Mac & Windows
Floola Mac & Windows
Music Rescue Mac & Windows (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
iGadget Mac & Windows (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
iRepo Mac & Windows (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
iPod Access Mac & Windows (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
TouchCopy Mac & Windows (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
If you have any iTunes Music Store purchases the transfer of purchased content only from the iPod to authorised computers was introduced with iTunes 7. You'll find details in this article: Copying iTunes Store purchases from your iPod or iPhone to a computer
There's also a manual method of copying songs from your iPod to a Mac or PC. The procedure is a bit involved and won't recover playlists but if you're interested it's available on page 2 at this link: Copying Content from your iPod to your Computer - The Definitive Guide
4). Whichever of these retrieval methods you choose, keep your iPod in manual mode until you have reloaded your iTunes and you are happy with your playlists etc then it will be safe to return it auto-sync.
5). I would also advise that you get yourself an external hard drive and back your stuff up, relying on an iPod as your sole backup is not a good idea and external drives are comparatively inexpensive these days, you can get loads of storage for a reasonable outlay: Back up your iTunes library by copying to an external hard drive

My hard drive crashed and i've lost over 5000 songs....

Yes, 5000, not hundred... thousand. OMG, I am so upset about it.
So my questions are:
1) is there a way to get my music back?
2) the play lists I have on my ipod and iphone, can I do a reverse sync where I plug in the device into my PC and have the music from the device loaded into itunes??
Thanks... I need help., I look forward to your reply,
SSC

Hello suzannefromthornhill,
Very sorry to hear about this. Apple and iTunes does NOT support "reverse" syncing.
To recover your music from your iPod you would have to use a different computer program. Sometimes called an "iPod ripper". Doing a search for some kind of iPod recovery software can produce some free options and some that cost. You can probally get away with a free program.
Read your reviews, have your anti viruses in place, and do at your own risk. The point is, there is a way to recover the songs from the ipod but Apple does not support it due to copyright protection laws.
Hope this helps.
~Julian

My computer hard drive crashed and now i cant get my songs off my old ipod onto my mac. any suggestions?

i have a 3rd gen ipod nano the first ones with the camera. its a full 16 gb and i cant seem to figure out how to put my music back on my macbook. my macbook is also like 7 years old maybe more hence why it crashed.

See this older post from another forum member Zevoneer covering the different methods and software available to assist you with the task of copying content from your iPod back to your PC and into iTunes.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2452022?start=0&tstart=0
B-rock

Hard disk crashed! How to save iTunes Library

OK so i am in a bit of a fix here.
My MBP Hard drive crashed and it has the iTunes library with all apps and music. Luckily I had OS X installed on external drive so am able to boot from external drive and access the crashed hard drive. I can read the crashed one but cant write to it.
Now how can I export my iTunes library so that I can import it on another machine? I cant export my library to CD as I cant boot the crashed drive.
Any alternatives?
Cheerio

KingDude wrote:
Any alternatives?
click here for tips/instructions.
or,
Do the following:
1. Quit iTunes
2. Drag the iTunes folder from your internal hd - located in ~/Music folder - to your external hd. DO NOT delete the original one from your internal hd... yet!
3. When the transfer is complete, press and hold the Option(alt) key and fire up iTunes.
4. A "Choose iTunes Library" window will come up. Click on the "Choose Library" button.
5. Navigate to where the iTunes folder is located in the external hd.
6. Within the iTunes folder, select the iTunes Library file and click Choose...
That's it. iTunes will now display all your playlists, songs, movies, podcasts etc. At this point, should you wish, you can delete the iTunes folder from the internal hd to free up space.
adjust these instructions to fit your situation.
for the future, see _*The Complete Guide to Backing Up your iTunes Library*_.

HT1473 My laptop hard drive crashed and I lost my ringtones, but they're still on my iPhone. If I sync my iPhone with the reimaged hard drive, I'll lose the ringtones from my iPhone. Is there any way to transfer ringtones from my iPhone back into iTunes

My laptop hard drive crashed and I lost my ringtones, but they're still on my iPhone. If I sync my iPhone with the reimaged hard drive, I'll lose the ringtones from my iPhone. Is there any way to transfer ringtones from my iPhone back into iTunes?

Thanks, but ringtones not purchased from iTunes, created them just before computer crashed.just before the next scheduled biweekly backup.
I found and downloaded TouchCopy 12 for PC and was able to copy the ringtones from my iPhone to my Windows laptop very easily. It also enables you to transfer photos, memos, voice messages, etc.

My original computer hard drive crashed. I have a new laptop, but I lost all my address book entries. Is there a way I can transfer my contacts on my ipad to my non-apple laptop? Tom B

My original computer hard drive crashed. I have a new laptop, but I lost all my address book entries. Is there a way I can transfer my contacts on my ipad to my non-apple laptop? Tom B

If you have a Mac, it's pretty easy. But you don't (should I make a pitch for you to get a MacBook Pro in the future)?
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http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1296

Computer hard drive crashed and rebuild but lost itunes library.

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