Corrupted Library File. Recoverable?

my computer crashed while in the process of downloading some songs and when i turned it back on again my itunes library file was corrupted and instead of having roughly 8000 songs and 45 playlists i had 3000 songs and zero playlists. is there any way to recover the library file or do i have to individually reload each song?

If the article was no help then you can try - drag the iTunes Library file to the desk top. When you open iTunes another fresh file will be generated. If you have the 'copy' feature enabled then disable that feature. I am assuming that you use the 'keep' feature. If not then it is a good idea to use it.
With iTunes open - +O - and you can add tunes back to the Library data base file - Select some tunes and add them back. Try to select some tunes that you knew were in a PL. What happens? If you don't like what is showing up then you can close iTunes and take out the new iTunes Library file and put the one on the desk top back in place. No harm done as you had the 'copy' feature turned off.
MJ

Similar Messages

Corrupt Library Files, Disk Util: No Valid Packages, apps, plug-in probs

Darn, I could just kick myself. The current state of my computer is flashing me back to a nightmare from my pre-Mac days.
While backing up files to DVD I inadvertently/mistakenly/clumsily/stupidly (not sure) dragged what I thought was a copy of the Library folder I had created on my hd into Trash. When some of my apps stopped working and messages about missing internet plug-ins began to appear I realized I had screwed up. I ran Disk Utility a few times and either got the error message: "No Valid Packages" or a system hang. I attempted to repair the Library by moving files back to where I thought they should go and now have 2 Library files (syst and user) that have become a bit convoluted.
The good news is that I copied all of the files from both Libraries to my hd so I think I have everything saved. The bad news is that I don't know what goes where and I don't have a frame of reference, (ie the file structure) to work off of. For example, there is only one folder, (Library) inside the System folder and I can't remember if this is right or not. (System > Library > Automator, Caches, CFM Support etc.) My User Library looks intact but may have had some files shuffled around.
The way I see it, there are three alternatives or a combination thereof:
1) Ideally, I'd like to be able to get the files where they belong and return the file hierarchy to it's correct state.
2) Start more or less from scratch and re-install all of my effected apps, plug-ins, etc.
3) I read about an archive function that uses the OS installation disk to return files to their proper places. Can't remember the exact name and haven't been able to find the knowledge base article.
TXIA for any advice you might offer that will help get me out this predicament.
~ I.M. Stewpid
Message was edited by: Old-E
Message was edited by: Old-E
Message was edited by: Old-E

Copying Library files is problematic because of permissions issues that arise when you then try to copy them back.
The procedure you're referring to is called Archive and Install which will install a fresh copy of OS X and archive the old system into a Previous System Folder. See the following:
How to Perform an Archive and Install
An Archive and Install will NOT erase your hard drive, but you must have sufficient free space for a second OS X installation which could be from 3-9 GBs depending upon the version of OS X and selected installation options. The free space requirement is over and above normal free space requirements which should be at least 6-10 GBs. Read all the linked references carefully before proceeding.
1. Be sure to use Disk Utility first to repair the disk before performing the Archive and Install.
Repairing the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger.) After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported, then quit DU and return to the installer.
2. Do not proceed with an Archive and Install if DU reports errors it cannot fix. In that case use Disk Warrior and/or TechTool Pro to repair the hard drive. If neither can repair the drive, then you will have to erase the drive and reinstall from scratch.
3. Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When you reach the screen to select a destination drive click once on the destination drive then click on the Option button. Select the Archive and Install option. You have an option to preserve users and network preferences. Only select this option if you are sure you have no corrupted files in your user accounts. Otherwise leave this option unchecked. Click on the OK button and continue with the OS X Installation.
4. Upon completion of the Archive and Install you will have a Previous System Folder in the root directory. You should retain the PSF until you are sure you do not need to manually transfer any items from the PSF to your newly installed system.
5. After moving any items you want to keep from the PSF you should delete it. You can back it up if you prefer, but you must delete it from the hard drive.
6. You can now download a Combo Updater directly from Apple's download site to update your new system to the desired version as well as install any security or other updates. You can also do this using Software Update.

Corrupt Library File?

Hi
I recently moved my more than 2TB iTines Library to an external drive. It mostly works well but the file pointers in the Library.xml are wrong and pointo the old file location. I have tried deleting that file so iTunes would build a new one, but it does with the same location problem.
How should I correct this?

How did you move the library? People often confuse the procedure for just moving media (but not all associated files) to an external with moving the whole iTunes package (media files, library files, artwork, etc.) to an external. The latter is usually accomplished by copying the whole iTunes folder to an external and starting with the option key held down to guide it to the new location. You also have to make sure the external is mounted before starting iTunes or it will default to the internal again.

ITunes library file corrupt after updating?

Just the other day I updated to the latest iTunes software. This is the first time I've tried to use it and it keeps freezing (the swirly rainbow icon) until I eventually have to give up and force quit. My iTunes library is on an external hard drive which has admittedly been taking longer and longer to boot up each time I connect it, I don't know if this is related.
After doing some research on here I created a new test iTunes library on my hard drive and it worked perfectly, so it must be a corrupt library file? I followed the advice on an old thread and replaced the corrupt library file with an older one from December.
It worked....but here's the complication. Since that last backup in December I started using iTunes Match. When I opened the older library file, I saw that iTunes Match wasn't turned on, so I turned it on and it was saying that none of my library had been uploaded to iCloud except for iTunes purchases. I quickly exited, because frankly I couldn't bear the thought of all my library having to be uploaded to iCloud again (it took days and days...and days!). The music is still on the iCloud, but if I open that older version of my iTunes library it doesn't seem to think that it is.
Any idea what I should do?
Thanks for your help

hmmmm. perhaps try running a chkdsk over the drive on which your iTunes library file is stored:
How to perform disk error checking in Windows XP
does that find/repair any damage? if so, do you still get the same message from your itunes?

Album art displays very slowly; iTunes library file is corrupted?

Since I have updated to the latest version of Leopard, my album art in the iTunes music folder displays at a snail's pace, where before it was fast as lightning. It appears my iTunes Library file is corrupted, because when I created a new iTunes library file, all my art work on my tracks displayed very fast, no slowdown at all. Also when I logged in as a different user, same thing. No problems with my album art being displayed. Is there a way of fixing a corrupted iTunes library file? I have a lot of music, videos and TV shows, all neatly arranged in various playlists I created. Just to do it over again would take me weeks. Also since I've been backing my internal drive using Time Machine, can I go back and retrieve my iTunes library file before it became corrupted? Thank you for any help you can give me.

You should be able to retieve your pre-corrupted library file from TM, provided the corruption didn't happen to far back.

ITunes Library File Size Limit?

I've been struggling to get my AppleTV to work as advertised since I bought it on the day it was originally released. I'm a big music fan and wanted to use it mostly as a music device. My iTunes library is huge. I have my entire CD collection ripped in lossless, as well as AAC for my iPod. I also have lots of other music, some DTS audio files, etc... and very detailed organization.
At any rate, I could always get the AppleTV to work if I just set it up to sync and play the files locally, but never to properly stream in a manner that's useable. And any syncing would take FOREVER. I'm on an N network, and I was getting speeds around 100KB/second. And then after it finally would get setup, I would often get pauses up to a minute where the AppleTV would freeze between menus while "thinking". It would take me 5 minutes just to navigate to a song and start playing it.
I tried all sorts of troubleshooting. Test libraries always worked fine. I've rebuilt my iTunes library from scratch, suspecting a corrupt library file, even though there was no other evidence to support this theory. No dice.
I'm finally giving up, and deciding that AppleTV has a limit to how large an iTunes library file it can handle. My iTunes library file is 160MB. Just the library file. You figure it's only got 256MB of RAM, and it's no wonder it can't handle it. I'm not sure how large the AppleTV OS is, but I suspect with a library file that large that the ATV has to do lots of going back to the HD to retrieve information it just doesn't have enough room for in RAM.
So my new strategy is to set up a secondary iTunes library just for my AppleTV that contains just music I want to sync, and any video I may want to stream. If I want to stream video, I'll launch this new library. If I want to listen to music without my computer on, the AppleTV will have a selection on it from this new library. If I want to stream my huge library, well, now I can use my iPhone as a remote to control my large iTunes library, and use the AppleTV with airtunes feature. And this works wonderfully, 100% responsive with no "waiting".
At any rate, I'm very disappointed that I couldn't get the AppleTV to work as advertised. I wish Apple would specify that there's a limit to how large a library it can handle. I've been screwing around with this for a long time and am essentially giving up, although the iPhone remote / airtunes solution works well for me.
Maybe down the road they'll come out with a new hardware revision with more RAM that can handle things better.

Well, I was hoping I could send you a private message, Greg Neil, because I don't know if you'll ever see this message. Regardless, your iTunes library is NOT the problem no matter what others have told you. 7000 files it's child's play. My iTunes library currently has 14,639 music files in it and 129 Movies ripped at 3000kbps. The library size is NOT the problem. If your network is slow then that will be what is hurting you. The second fastest behind 'n' (i always forget this bit of trivia) should be fast enough for streaming music and most movies. I know that because I've done it. Having said that, go out and buy a bit of ethernet cable and hook it directly into your machine and see if you can stream that way. If you can't then you need to take back your aTV because, in that case, it's the problem. If your network is of adequate speed per what I and the previous poster have mentioned and it still won't stream at all wirelessly then TAKE IT BACK. Mine has streamed fine in the past however, I eventually just hardwired it via ethernet to prevent any drops ever. Hope this helps. I just wanted you to know that going to that amount of trouble to make it work should not have been necessary, and btw, aTV running all your favorite music to your home stereo is worth the price of the device itself. You shouldn't have to suffer.
All the best,
A fellow music lover

Missing files - corrupt library after upgrade to 11.1.4

I updated iTunes to 11.1.4, and after launching, it looked like it was updating my library as it's done in the past. However, this time, after an hour I realized it had not yet completed, and a dialogue box asking about creating an iTunes U playlist was on the screen. I tried to do so, but it just kept repeating. So finally I stopped it, and now I have an file marked iTunes library (damaged) and an incomplete library. I am missing thousands of songs compared to the last .itl I have in Previous iTunes Libraries.
I thought when iTunes did an upgrade to the library it was supposed to make a backup? If so, and I did the upgrade yesterday, why is the most recent file in Previous iTunes Libraries dated from four months ago?
How can I repair the damaged .itl file, as the one iTunes is using now as, as I mentioned, missing thousands of songs now.
Is there any sort of script or utility I can use to figure out exactly which files are missing from the current .itl in my library?
Thanks in advance.

I thought when iTunes did an upgrade to the library it was supposed to make a backup? If so, and I did the upgrade yesterday, why is the most recent file in Previous iTunes Libraries dated from four months ago?
No, you need to do the backup as part of regular computer maintenance and before you do any software upgrades. iTunes moves the old library into the previous library area but perhaps your update failed before it did that.
How can I repair the damaged .itl file, as the one iTunes is using now as, as I mentioned, missing thousands of songs now.
https://discussions.apple.com/message/20401436 - turingtest2 11/2012 post on rebuilding empty/corrupt library after upgrade/crash from previous iTunes library file.
iTunes: How to re-create your iTunes library and playlists - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1451
Is there any sort of script or utility I can use to figure out exactly which files are missing from the current .itl in my library?
Yes, there's one on the Dougscripts web site that will crawl through a library. In yur case it's probably just as easy to drag the whole iTunes media folder to Automatically Add to iTunes. Anything already in the library it will ignore. Anything not there it will add.

Library file corrupt - error 1450

I have had some irritating problems with iTunes since installing the new 7.3.1 version last week.
The error message I got originally was:
The iTunes Library file cannot be saved.
An unknown error occurred {-1450}
I have uninstalled and re-installed the program, but the error continues when I re-import the music folder. The music appears in the "Music" folder in iTunes, but the same error as above occurs when iTunes is trying to process the album Artwork. I have tried deleting the tracks that the error comes up on, but the error continues on other tracks, apparently at random.
Please can you give me some advice to fix this problem, as iTunes and my iPod is pretty unusable at present.
AMD semperon 3000+ Windows XP Pro

I don't use adobe mobile packager for this purpose; however there are some basic things to worry about during packaging so that your file won't be corrupted:
1> Did you Entered Correct UID order for an edition (2nd or 3rd Editions)?
2> Did you create .key and .cer files ? (key and certificate) ?
3> Did your Swf run normally in the mobile phone before packaging ?
4> Did you make sure you entered a valid path for your application to be installed during extraction ?

"Project or Library file is corrupt" when trying to open XControl

This is not a question, this is an account of my learning experience that I hope saves you from throwing your monitor through the wall.
When trying to open an XControl, I received the following error: "Project or Library file is corrupt"
Knowing Projects/Classes/XControls are all XML files, I opened the XControl using Notepad++ to see what was going on. The file structure is somewhat intuitive, and you'll be able to recognize many components of your library.
I used a binary search approach to find the offending XML by deleting all of the virtual folders, then seeing if the XControl would open. It did, meaning the headers of the XML were fine. Then I took the original file again, and deleted half the virtual folders to see if it would open, and it did not, meaning the offending XML was in a virtual folder I had not deleted that round. I took the original file, and deleted the other half of virtual folders, and it opened. I took the original file, and deleted only one virtual folder, and it opened. Aha! that virtual folder had only 5 items, and I knew one of the items must be the culprit.
Anyway, it only took about 10 minutes to narrow it down to an item that had a duplicate entry, two lines that were exactly the same:
After I deleted the duplicate item, the XControl opened up just fine! No data loss, no corruption.
How did the item get duplicated? Beats me. Could have been the product of a crash, some of my notorious renaming shenanigans, who knows.
Lessons learned:
Version Control (Source Code Control) is a hero, as usual.
Try poking around with the XML if you get corrupt libraries - it may be an easy fix, but your mileage may vary.
Don't even think about #2 unless you have #1 "under control"
Action Item for Applications Engineer: could you point this error to the Owning Developer? I would suggest this type of an error fail more gracefully, or at least with more information. Possibly, this type of error could self-correct silently since it's so easy to diagnose? Watching the library tank due to a benign issue nearly cost me a monitor and a monitor-sized area worth of sheetrock damage. ( )
a.lia-user-name-link[href="/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/88938"] {color: black;} a.lia-user-name-link[href="/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/88938"]:after {content: '';} .jrd-sig {height: 80px; overflow: visible;} .jrd-sig-deploy {float:left; opacity:0.2;} .jrd-sig-img {float:right; opacity:0.2;} .jrd-sig-img:hover {opacity:0.8;} .jrd-sig-deploy:hover {opacity:0.8;}

I cannot find the result about this topic.
So I recreate a new project file
Hope there is better solution for this problem
thank you all
QIA
http://www.vitst.com
Virry Test & Control
LabVIEW Certified Developer

After HD crash, restoring to new HD. Library files missing or corrupt. How can I get iTunes 10 to see my music

The hard drive on my fairly new HP Pavilion desktop died hard on boot-up. HP replaced the drive the next day. Used the Recovery Disks and got the unit up and running. I have been using Memeo Premium Backup and never did get any error messages during backup. When I went to restore the data, much of it is missing or corrupt. In the Restore data on the backup drive, I can see many folders but only a few have data. I opened a ticket with Memeo and after they made a few useless comments, they closed the ticket.
Fortunately, most of my iTunes data (folders and files) were restored in-tact. The exceptions were the library files, which are missing. The library files in the Previous Itunes Library folder were corrupted. I installed iTunes 10, but there are no songs, podcasts,etc, in it. I have tried every article in the knowledgebase and tried to fix the ITL and XML files, but it is hopeless. Also, when iTunes is running, at the top it shows .iTunes Preferences.plist. So, I have a disaster and about 10 gb of music going nowhere. Any ideas? I would really appreciate any help I can get.
Brad

They are all mostly the same size at around 6MB but there are a couple that are very large 55MB (including the 30 tmp file I mentioned above. There is also one around 7KB). I tried renaming the most recent (as of 8:30PM last night) tmp file as iTunes Library.itl but when I launch iTunes, I get the "The file 'iTunes Library.itl" cannot be read because it was created by a newer version of iTunes" popup.
But when I go into a directory I created to get the most recent itl file I've been saving as a backup and copy it into the iTunes directory to replace the one that I tried to make with the tmp file, and launch iTunes, my whole library loads with no problem.
However, if history repeats itself, this will work for at most a couple of days before I have to copy the saved itl file back into the iTunes directory.

How can I get "library components" for Encore? download from Adobe site is corrupted/missing files

How can I get "library components" for Encore? download from Adobe site is corrupted/missing files. I have tried 3 times to d/l and each time problems. HELP please!
I just want the DVD templates and buttons that would come with actual purchase of Encore. Having creative cloud subscription should not limit this for me, right?
BTW I have CC subscription, Windows 7,

Thanks very much I have contacted them via this. Just hope they respond quickly- rather annoing! Greatly appreciated though

ITunes library file NOT corrupt but cannot locate music files

This is a new one... the library file seems to be NOT corrupt. iTunes loads fine and is populated by all the music information and artwork, etc. but when I click to play a tune, it says "cannot locate music". Nothing was moved, nothing has been changed. All my files are in the same location and iTunes shows the correct file path. The only files it can play are four songs that were imported before a massive rebuild of the library occurred the next day!
Any ideas!!
Thanks!

+The only files it can play are four songs that were imported before a massive rebuild of the library occurred the next day!+
This is probably a big clue, but I don't understand what you mean by it!

ITunes library file is corrupt

Hi All,
Today when I tried to open my iTunes library it kept crashing and I figured it its because the iTunes library file is corrupt. How do I repair it? Thanks!
FYI I just installed the most recent

Hi,
In your itunes folder there is another folder called previous itunes libraries. You will be able to retieve the last library immediately before the recent up date.
Close itunes then you will need to move the iTunes Library.itl to trash. Move previous itl file to replace the one you moved to trash - you will need rename it to iTunes Library.itl.
Jim

Corrupt iTunes Library file (.itl AND .xml)

I just got a new mac and decided not to put my music on it. Instead I kept my entire itunes library on an external hard drive. At some point, my hard drive must have disconnected while using iTunes and the library files became corrupt. When I see the files (in finder) on my mac, their size = Zero KB and their "kind of" = Alias. When I check out those same files on my windows computer, it says their actual numerical size (probably before they became corrupt). I've read that you can restore playlists with the .xml file but that is also corrupt.
Is there any way at all to repair/recover this library? PLEASE HELP I've worked very hard on creating this library.

I had this problem repeatedly and found that it seems to happen when you exit or restart Windows while iTunes is running. Note that when you close the iTunes window the program actually continues to run for a significant amount of time after its window disappears and even after the "saving iTunes library" message disappears. Basically iTunes starts writing out its library and then gets interrupted during the shutdown, causing the corruption.
I have solved the problem with the very pathetic solution of bringing up Task Manager, switching to the Processes tab, and waiting until the iTunes.exe process is gone from the list. Then I know it is done writing and it's safe to exit or restart Windows. I have never had corruption when I have done this.
(This isn't completely consistent with the posts above since one claimed that they restored a known good library after reboot and still had the problem. Perhaps that is something else, or perhaps the known good library had actually been corrupted before it was saved.)
Note that when the *.itl file is corrupted this way, it is pretty much always the case the the *.xml file is also corrupted. Since the XML file is text, iTunes is able to read what there is of it to rebuild the *.itl, but since the *.xml file is truncated, a lot of songs will be missing. It's a bit puzzling that Apple chose a library format that redundantly writes to two separate files but they write them out simultaneously so if one gets corrupted the other one almost always is corrupted as well.
The good news is that this problem is beyond simple to solve for Apple. The bad news is that for some inexplicable reason they keep releasing version after version with this same serious bug.

Corrupt itunes library file

I have had no crashes etc... I use iTunes daily. TOday I opened iTunes and it said it was importing my Library file... it then announced that the file was corrupt and created a new. Problem is, I now have nothing! None of my smart lists, playlist, no purchased music.. nothing. I even rented a movie last night... never started it... not there. Gone.
Ideas?

I suppose you could check in your itunes folder, and see if there is an old file there marked damaged, or corrupt or something. You could also try importing that file back into itunes from the file>import menu.

Corrupted Library File. Recoverable?

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