Cracked Hard Drive, Lost Music Library.

This one is a bit of a doozy, and was previously left unanswered months ago. So far, it seems I've exhausted all that the Apple Support and Google searches can offer. My goal, as stated in the title, is to get a set of old music onto a old replacement hard drive and my iPod Touch.
The conflict that started it all was the hard drive that held my music cracked and failed to recover any data. Since then, I have had to replace the hard drive in my MacBook Pro with an older hard drive that currently is running OS X 10.6.8
To add insult to injury, my disc drive is incapable of reading my CDs, probably due to the damage the computer took in the same instance as the cracked hard drive.
The only remaining files I have for my music lay in my very outdated, very low-charge 30GB iPod Classic that I cannot use unplugged. What I thought I needed to do is mount my iPod Classic onto the desktop and replace the iTunes library with the one in my iPod as the official support recommends. However, whether it be the outdated iPod model or that I am running 10.6.8, I cannot see or find a disk mounted anywhere on the computer.
If anyone has any helpful pointers, it would be greatly appreciated to let them be known to me. Thanks in advance, and if any other spec details are needed, I can offer them at any time.

[Discussion: Zevoneer's post on replacing music downloaded from iTunes music Store|http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=8794716] - basically it is up to the individual to ensure their music is backed up against loss.
Actually your music is still around, it is on the old hard drive. Do you still have that?
Purely at Apple's discretion they may possibly allow a one time second download, but you have to contact them about that.

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got a new hard drive. All itunes content is gone. Do they have a copy somewhere or is it gone?

[Discussion: Zevoneer's post on replacing music downloaded from iTunes music Store|http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=8794716] - basically it is up to the individual to ensure their music is backed up against loss.
Actually your music is still around, it is on the old hard drive. Do you still have that?
Purely at Apple's discretion they may possibly allow a one time second download, but you have to contact them about that.

External hard drive failed, lost music library. Any way to get music library from iPod classic to itunes on PowerBook G4?

External hard drive failed, lost music library. Any way to get music library from iPod classic to itunes on PowerBook G4?

Recover media from iPod
See this post from forum regular Zevoneer for options on moving your iPod data back to your computer.
tt2

Since i upgraded to mavericks,my external hard drive lost half of the files ,how can i get them back?

Since i upgraded to mavericks,my external hard drive lost half of the files ,how can i get them back?

Type move itunes library into the google serach bar.
It has always been very basic to always maintain abackup copy of your computer. Do you not have a backup copy?

Can i use the time capsule as just an external hard drive for music or does it have to be used soley as a backe up?? im thinking for music and photos

Can I use the time capsule as just an external hard drive for music or does it have to be used soley as a back up? I'm thinking for music and photos

Nickles96 wrote:
Hello friends.. I have a similar question, in that I would like to purchase the 2TB TC for use as a NAS device, in addition to taking advantage of the Air Port extreme.. Then I could dump my Linksys router.
I was originally looking at a Synology NAS solution, but the TC seems like it can meet my needs.
I have a Synology NAS as well as the Time Capsule. If you look at the 3.2 beta program, the Synology actually attempts to replicate TC functionality in that you can use it with Time Machine on your Mac.
I must say, Airport on the TC is definitely a nice feature!
Nickles96 wrote:
In addition to the obvious feature of the backup, can I indeed also use the TC as a NAS drive to access from remote locations (example from the office)?
I'm surprised more people aren't using the TC as a dedicated NAS deviced.. I've searched high and low on forums around the web, and don't seem to see many people trying to use it as I've outlined.
I can't see why this wouldn't fufill my needs, and take the place of a separate NAS solution (like the Synology, or iOmega, Seagate, etc....)
Has anyone used this TC as such?
Yes, you can do this and it's something I've been trying to do, but I'm currently having issues. I have another thread stating I consistently get "connection failed" messages. I'm basically storing my music/photo/video files on the TC and keeping my Mac hard drive fairly lean. In terms of NAS functionality, the TC is very basic. Synology/QNAP and others have a lot more features so don't rule them out.

How do I import photos from external hard drive to iCloud library?

I have saved many photos to an external hard drive for security. I would like to store at least some of them in iCloud so I have direct access from Photos. Is this possible please?

how do I import photos from external hard drive to iCloud library?
Just like you'd do it with iPhoto. Drag the photos or folder of photos into the open Photos Library window or onto the Photos icon in the Dock.
If you have the iCloud Photo Library activated in Photos the new photos will be copied to the online iCloud Photo Library along with the rest of the photos in your library. Remember, with the iCloud Photo Liberty it's all the photos or none. You may have to purchase additional iCloud space to store all of your photos.

Music on hard drive, replaced hard drive and now library won't match up

I put all my cd's on a hard drive (9000 or so songs) and had a hard drive failure, so I moved all the songs to a new hard drive and now I can't use the Itunes library to connect with that hard drive, except one song at at a time.
Is there any way to get these two to communicate?
David

Is the rest of your music located in a different folder? You'd need to know where those files are in order to add them to iTunes. If you're not sure of their location, try a Spotlight search. Are you not able to locate the files to add them to iTunes, or are you selecting them but they are not appearing in the iTunes library?
I have all the actual music files located on a external hard drive, but the itunes file name(s) are located on the computer. The problem started when I got a new computer and switched all the stuff over, and then got a new hard drive because the old one was making noises. I copied one hard drive directly over to the other and now am trying to connect the two so they talk together.
The fix you sent me semed to work great until I noticed that I did not have any music after the letter "a" (namely 1/36 of the music). I ried it again with another copy I had and lost that too. Now, I am working with the copy I had on the other computer, which doesn't have all the data, but does have most of it, and I can survive adding the other stuff later somehow by re-copying the music and getting the data over again, but I do want to somehow get the other 35 letters worth, if possible.
David Molony

How do i get itunes 11 to stop adding music played from external hard drive to itunes library

I use itunes 11 to play music from my external hard drive and when i am finished using the hard drive and disconnect it the artist and songs appear in the itunes libary and when i click on it to play them it cannot locate the file and i assume this is becuse under the advanced prefrences tab i unchecked the auomaticly add played music to itunes library. I do not want my external hard drive music to be added to itunes library which at this point it does not but it is still showing the music in the library even though it cannot be played this is very fustrating please help. how do i get the artist and songs played from the external hardrive from appering in the itunes library.

Do you have a working copy of the library anywhere? The key file is called iTunes Library.itl and normally exists inside <User's Music>\iTunes. This is the file that knows what is in your library and each of the playlists, and holds ratings, play counts etc. Changing the media folder path in preferences tells iTunes where you'd like it to store media in future. It doesn't magically connect iTunes to any media that might already be there, or fix links to media that has been moved, or make it pick up a non-existent library file. If the worst comes to it you will need to import the media into the new empty library.
See Recover your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device if you have any of these to recover ratings, play stats and playlists, and to associate your device with the new library.
tt2

Hard drive crash, music on external drive but no library or playlist backup

I'm guessing this question has been asked many times but I've searched all over the internet and these forums and am exhausted. So I beg for your help.
My computer hard drive crashed. Not sure if I can get the files off it yet or not but will find out this weekend trying to connect it as an external drive with a special cable. All the Itunes music is on an existing external hard drive that works fine. No backups were ever created of the playlists or of the library file on the crashed drive, the external drive, or anywhere else.
I'm using what I guess they call on original Ipod, 25 GB.
The main thing I care about is getting 5 years' worth of playlists back. Most of them do exist on my Ipod, so at worst I could reference them visually there and recreate them in Itunes. But, um, I'd rather not!:)
So if with that information you can tell me what series of steps I should take to try to restore my playlists into Itunes on my new PC, or point me to a link, please do. I'll put my thoughts and questions below if this helps in figuring it out. I would say the chances are that I can't access any files from my old hard drive, but it is possible.
My Ipod also contains most of my songs and playlists, but not all, such as different versions of the same song etc. That is in addition to the external hard drive that all my songs are safely on.
1) If I can access the files on the old hard drive, is there anything there that contains information on the playlists if I haven't backed them up individally? From my reading it seems like playlists are not contained in the library file itself, is that right or wrong?
2) What information is contained in that library file, what does it do? If I can't get it from my old hard drive what will happen if I have Itunes create a new one?
3) I've read that I may be able to get playlist information from my Ipod, but it seemed really confusing and I was uncertain if that was correct. Is that a possiblity? Can I do it by accesing the Ipod as an external drive?
4) Would I also be able to get the libary file from the Ipod if I can't get it from my old hard drive? If the Ipod contains most but not all of my songs, would it be bad to use this file with the complete list of songs on my external drive?
That's about all the questions I can think of, so if anyone can help I'd appreciate it. I just can't seem to find an answer specifically to what happens if your music is backed up but playlists and library are not.
Message was edited by: overthetide

+"1) If I can access the files on the old hard drive, is there anything there that contains information on the playlists if I haven't backed them up individally? From my reading it seems like playlists are not contained in the library file itself, is that right or wrong?"+
See: What are the iTunes Library files? Both the ITL and XML files keep your Library data. The ITL file is used by iTunes. The XML file is created by iTunes and can bu used in other programs or Imported back into iTunes to re-create your Library. hey are only as good as your last archived backup file (should you corrupt the current Library database file).
+"2) What information is contained in that library file, what does it do? If I can't get it from my old hard drive what will happen if I have Itunes create a new one?"+
These are only in the iTunes Library files (ITL & XML):
Playlists
Ratings
Play Count
Last Played
Date Added
Date Modified
Equalizer
Volume Adjustment
These are stored in the music file itself:
Artist
Album
Song Title
Year
Comments
Compilation tag
Lyrics
Genre
Grouping
Volume Adjustment (a special iTunes-only tag in the file - non-standard)
Composer
Bit Rate (not a tag - inherent to the file itself)
BPM
Kind (not a tag - inherent to the file itself)
Album Art (only stored in the file - not copied to the iTunes Library ITL or XML files)
+"3) I've read that I may be able to get playlist information from my Ipod, but it seemed really confusing and I was uncertain if that was correct. Is that a possiblity? Can I do it by accesing the Ipod as an external drive?"+
These links will give you several methods of recovering whatever songs remain on your iPod; some free, some third-party software, some more comprehensive for restoring Playlists, Ratings, Play Counts, etc. Read them and their associated links before deciding on a strategy that works for you. There are many various third-party software programs that will offer a more robust process, or an easier GUI. Do a Google search for them if the links below leave you wanting…
Don King Resurrected: Deleted files from hard drive (free user steps – music recovery only)
MacMuse: Computer Crashed (free user steps – music recovery only)
Copying music from iPod to computer (a primer on various methods and software)
Copying Songs from Your iPod to a Mac or PC (resource for 3rd party software)
iPodRip Software (Free trial: Mac & Windows)
PodUtil Software (Mac & Windows)
YamiPod Software (Free: Mac & Windows)
PodPlus Software (Windows)
TuneJack Software (Windows)
XPlay (Windows software For Music Recovery &/or Cross-Platform Functionality)
XPlay Photo Browser (For recovering Photos)
+"4) Would I also be able to get the libary file from the Ipod if I can't get it from my old hard drive? If the Ipod contains most but not all of my songs, would it be bad to use this file with the complete list of songs on my external drive?"+
Not directly. You'll need to use the recovery software mentioned in #3 above.
Best of Luck

Music files deleted from hard drive and iTunes library

Often, after iTunes software updates, I find that some of my music files that have been uploaded from cds are completely erased from my music library and from my external hard drive, where I keep all my music. I always make sure I turn on the external drive before opening iTunes, and I quit iTunes before turning off the external drive.
So why is my music disappearing?! Where does it go? This has been a problem for a long time and I can't find any solutions online. Please help! Thank you!

When you have the unit in the dock, anytime you sync, you have to make sure that it will sync again to the folder. If it isn't set to sync the same folder where you had the music sync before, it'll delete the file.
That's just the way it's set up. So you have be conscious of it.

Broken hard drive - lost library????

I have just had to replace the hard drive on my laptop. I have lost all my old files so there's no music on this new one. I have a few purchased songs from itunes that I've managed to move over but I don't know if I can move the other songs over that I imported of CD. Can anyone help me??? PLEASE????

*I have a few purchased songs from itunes that I've managed to move over*
Moved from where, an iPod?
*don't know if I can move the other songs over that I imported of CD.*
The transfer of content from sources such as songs imported from CD is designed by default to be one way from iTunes to iPod. However 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)
iPod2PC Windows Only
iDump Windows Only
SharePod Windows Only
iPodRip Mac & Windows
YamiPod Mac and Windows
Music Rescue Mac & Windows
iPod Music Liberator Mac & Windows
Floola Mac & Windows
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)
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

How do I transfer my music from external hard drive to itunes library?

Hello everyone!
How do I transfer my .mp3 files from my external hard drive to my itunes library?

Drag them into the open iTunes application window. You may need to copy them to the internal drive first or organize the iTunes library afterwards.
(65802)

Reconnect music folder/files on external hard drive to iTunes library?

Recently reinstalled iTunes. All music files previously recognized by iTunes on my external hard drive are now unrecognized by iTunes when I try to play a song within iTunes. How do I get iTunes to re-recognize all files without doing search to external hard drive and reconnecting every individual song (thousands of them!)?
An error that comes up when I first open iTunes is:
iTunes cannot locate CD Configeration Folder so you cannot import or burn a CD. This folder must be in same directory as iTunes.

Why not change Compatibility mode back, then?

How to Find and Restore Itunes Mini Lost music library?

Is there a way to retrieve my Itines music library? I have a Ipod mini. I deleted Quick time before having my computer hard drive cleaned of most programs. I then downloaded the new version of I tunes 7.1 which won't sync. It tells my I have a another library 6.0 i think, and do i want to sync and erase one of them. I can't find the old library. i'm not sure about that but I simply can't find my old version anymore. I'm lost and need help.

you can copy files off ur ipod with programs like copypod, search backup ipod in google, tons of programs come up

Broken Hard Disk, lost iTunes library

Recently my hard disk stop working. So I lost my iTunes library. It was practically empty since I manually managed all songs.
So now I have to create a new library but when I try to check the option "Manually manage music and videos" iTunes ask me to format my iphone.
Why should it delete the iphone content? Will I loose all my apps?

iTunes Store: Transferring purchases from your iOS device or iPod to a computer - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1848 - only media purchased from iTunes Store
Sync transfer is one way, computer to device, matching the device content to the content on the computer (except purchased content as mentioned above). For transferring other items from an i-device to a computer you have to use third party commercial software. Examples (check the web for others; this is not an exhaustive listing, nor do I have any idea if they are any good):
- MusicRescue - http://www.kennettnet.co.uk/products/musicrescue/ - Mac & Windows
- Sharepod (free) - http://download.cnet.com/SharePod/3000-2141_4-10794489.html?tag=mncol;2 - Windows
- Snowfox/iMedia - http://www.mac-videoconverter.com/imedia-transfer-mac.html - Mac & PC
- Post by Zevoneer: iPod media recovery options - https://discussions.apple.com/message/11624224 - this is an older post and many of the links are also for old posts, so bear this in mind when reading them.
Syncing to a "New" Computer or replacing a "crashed" Hard Drive - https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3141
In general do not regard your i-device as a reliable unique storage for your media. It is not a backup device and everything is structured around you maintaining a backup of your media on a computer backup.

Cracked Hard Drive, Lost Music Library.

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