Deleted iTunes library from laptop - help!

I have just (stupidly) deleted my iTunes library instead of transferring to my new external hard drive... the recycle bin was already full so there is nothing in there. I followed the instructions on recreating a library but nothing happened ... is there anything I can do?? I have all the songs/downloads on my iPod - is there anyway of restoring the files from there or will iTunes just delete them if I plug it in?? I also purchased some new music today just before deleting - can I still get them back?
I'm not massively tech-minded so if anyone can help me using simple words (!!) I'd be really really really grateful!!!
Nicky

You should find this post from Zevoneer helpful if you want to recover music from your iPod.
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=9990366#9990366

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Transferring itunes library from laptop to a PC which has itunes library

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Do I simply copy it to my external hard drive and then to my PC, or will this result in some of my library items being deleted from my PC? I have read a few threads and I'm a bit (or a lot) confused!

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thanks in advance.

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Your i-device was not designed for unique storage of your media. It is not a backup device and media transfer was planned with you maintaining a master copy of your media on a computer which is itself independently backed up against loss. To use a device with a new computer you transfer the content from the old computer (or its backup) directly to the new computer, not the device to the new computer. Media syncing is one way, computer to device, updating the device content to the content on the computer, not updating or restoring content on a computer. The exception is iTunes Store purchases which can be transferred to a computer.
iTunes Store: Transferring purchases from your iOS device or iPod to a computer - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1848 - only purchases from iTunes Store
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HT4623 My iphone wont import itunes library from laptop

My iphone won't import the itunes library from my mac. How do I fix this?

Please read this article on syncing data from itunes to your mobile device.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1386
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I have my Itunes library on my desktop pc which I access from my laptop with my ipod classic with no problems. My wife now has a 4th gen Ipod touch and i am trying to set up her laptop so she can access the same library and manage =her music via a playlist. From what I've read this should be pretty straight forward but I can't get it to work.
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Welcome to the Apple community.
What are you doing when you get this message, are you trying to set up homesharing or trying to access your library.

Moving iTunes library from laptop to new desktop

I'm thinking about getting an iMac desktop, and would like to move all my music and video files from my iBook to the new setup. What is the correct procedure for doing this? I'm reading on these boards that there's a way to just plug the computers into each other, but will that copy everything onto the new hard drive? I'm thinking about doing this because my 60 GB laptop's capacity is maxed out from my iTunes library (33 GB and growing); once I move it to the desktop can I trim down my laptop's iTunes library and still play from there? Can I then only update my iPod to the desktop (if I want the full library)?
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get the two, system prefs, click sharing, make sure personal file sharing is checked on both
second in finder click go in the menu bar and click connect to server, click browse
enter your login name and pass for the user account you want music from from the old computer . .
that computer will appear on your desktop, double click it, find your music folder, open itunes on the new computer and go to user/music/itunes/itunes music and drag itunes music into the library source on your new itunes . . . it will do the rest and this is also the best for the new computer, to create new files while coping not moving and taking all the old bagage with it.
then just clear your ipod and set it for the new iMac and back everything up from there and clear off the ibook. keep it authorized and when they are on network if iTunes is open on the desktop you will be able to play music from it, worked great i use it on 4 computers in my house . .
then as far as travel goes . . no music on the old laptop . . who cares, you have an ipod . . enjoy!
hope i understood your question, please feel free to ask if you have any more!

Itunes library from laptop to desktop

I want to take my itunes library that is on my backup drive from my laptop and put it on my desktop. Is it as simple as just dragging the library off my external drive and dropping it in the itunes library on my desktop?
Thanks

Place it in the location of the current library after moving or renaming the item which already exists. You cannot add items to or merge iTunes libraries in the Finder.
(30292)

HT1386 i have followed your instructions and still i cannot add my itunes library from laptop to iphone

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Is it on a NTFS drive?
Mac can read but not write to NTFS, and it does not see all NTFS drives equally well.
To write to NTFS I use and recommend Paragon Software $20 NTFS for Mac OS X.
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There are a few things you could do, from networking the two computers to using an external hard drive. Have a look at this User Tip: Migrating iTunes for Windows to a new PC
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iGadget Windows Only
iPodCopy Mac and Windows Versions
iPod Access Mac and Windows Versions
YamiPod Mac and Windows Versions
PodUtil Mac and Windows Versions
iPodCopy Mac and Windows Versions
PodPlayer Windows Only

Lost Itune library from laptop

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Probably the most straightforward way to copy iTunes from one computer to another computer is to network the two devices and copy over your iTunes folder. This works fine if you have been using iTunes to completely manage your music and all your songs are in iTunes Music not in different folders.
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On the PC you'll find the iTunes folder in: \Documents and Settings\Username\My Documents\My Music\. When you copy the iTunes folder make sure you put it into the same location on the new computer. When you open iTunes on the second computer it will be the same as on the original one Songs, Playlists, Play Counts, Ratings etc. When I moved iTunes a while ago for my daughter I was also using the same version of iTunes, not sure how important that is but it's probably worth keeping them the same.

I need to move my itunes library from a pc to a laptop in a different home, can I do this? help!

I had set up my original itunes library on a pc in my previous home. I have left this home due to a marriage split up and now live somewhere else.
I have a new lap top which I am desperate to update my ipod nano on.
I have set up home sharing, and authorised my laptop. Unfortunately, I no techno whizz, and I'm really struggling now with this.
I have plugged in my nano to my itunes on my lap top and it is offering to either delete everything off my nano for what is held on as purchased songs from itunes - a total of approx 30 songs, from approx 1400 songs on my nano, or just update to show my purchased songs.
Help!! I'm getting to the end of my tether with this. Yes, I have read the tutorials and help through itunes.
Nothing is making sense or working.
Can someone please explain this to me like I'm a 3 year old?
I'd appreciate any help anyone can give me!!
Thank you!!

A PC cannot read a Mac formatted drive without using special software (MacDrive).
iTunes: How to move [or copy] your music to a new computer [or another drive] - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527
Macworld - How to transfer iTunes libraries between PC and Mac - http://www.macworld.com/article/46248/2005/08/shiftitunes.html
Move an iTunes library from a Windows PC to a Mac - http://www.macworld.com/article/1146958/move_itunes_windows_mac.html

After getting a new dell laptop, I was able to easily move my itunes library from my old mac to my new laptop,however now when I try to sync my music to my iphone,my songs have an exclimation point next to it and cant sync most of my music. HELP!

I recently was given a new dells windows 7 laptop. I then was able to successfully move my itunes library from my old mac to my new dell. Now I am trying to sync my whole library of music back onto my iphone 4, but when I try it says most of my music can not be located. I have exclimation points next to the majority of my music (I have 368 songs in my itunes acount). Please help me be able to sync my songs to my iphone. I am only able to sync about 31 of my songs.

Copy them from your old computer, or your backuo copy of your old computer. to your new one.
The music sync is one way - computer to ipod. the exception is itunes purchases.

Need help transferring itunes library from old computer to new laptop

Hello,
I recently purchased a new laptop and am having trouble getting my library to transfer to my new laptop, i followed this step by step process http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1329?viewlocale=en_US and in the end ended up with no music on my ipod and no music in the itunes library on my new computer...
So then i went into Itunes on the new computer and clicked import library under File, so i found the Music folder that i had transferred over and it imported the music but all my playlist were not there, just songs. So i ended up syncing my ipod back to my old computer so i would get all the songs and playlist back on as it was originally before this whole process...
My desktop runs XP while my new laptop runs Vista Ultimate w/ SP1 home edition, dont know if this matters...
So not sure where i should go from here, i have already Authorized my laptop with the itunes store , i was thinking of uninstalling Itunes on my laptop and starting over from scratch, will this help?
BTW when i did the original transfer i used my Ipod as the hard drive as it had plenty of storage room left on it, i do have access to a 250GB external HD i was thinking of using that and trying that to transfer the library...
So if anyone can tell me how to transfer my Itunes library from old comp to new laptop it would be greatly appreciated...

The method you used should work if followed exactly.
The key points are - is your music all together? It must all be in the iTunes Music folder in the iTunes folder.
When you copy the iTunes folder to the iPod you get the library database with your playlists and the iTunes Music folder containing the music files.
Since you had trouble doing this with the iPod, why not try copying your iTunes folder to the external drive.
The method is identical the one for the iPod except you leave out the iPod specific stuff.
You install iTunes on the new PC, then you drag the newly created iTunes folder out the Music folder to the desktop, then you copy the iTunes folder from the EHD into Music, replacing the one you dragged out.
When you have done that, you need to check that your account has full control of your iTunes folder - Vista is fussy about that - you will not be able to edit track info if you don't have full control.
Vista file folder permissions help
http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/2464a180-e5dc-45d1-a2b8-3c8a 2b571e9d1033.mspx
http://www.mydigitallife.info/2007/05/25/how-to-take-ownership-and-grant-permiss ions-in-windows-vista/

I just had to have my toshiba laptop hard drive replaced and I am unable to move my itunes library from my ipad back to the laptop. It says it is linked to another library and I can only transfer purchased music etc and not the rest of the library.Help!

I have just had my Toshiba laptop hard drive replaced. This has resulted in all previous content held on the laptop to be lost. I wanted to try and transfer my music library from my ipad to the laptop, but it will not allow me to do so. The message is that the ipad is linked to another computer and it will only allow the transfer of the items purchased on through the ipad and nothing else. Does anyone know if the full library can be transferred back to the computer?

You need to transfer the iTunes Library from the most recent backup you made before the hard drive was replaced.
You can't transfer the full iTunes Library from the iPad back to iTunes.
There are third-party Windows applications that will transfer data from an iOS device, but they don't re-create the iTunes Library exactly as it was before.

How do i restory my entire itunes library from the hard drive of a new laptop to itunes?

I recently got a new laptop and would like to transfer my itunes from the old to the new. I backed up the itunes library to an external hard drive, and have transferred it to the hard drive of the new laptop (I haven't deleted the library from the old laptop). I am operating on windows. I am now stuck and can't seem to restore my entire itunes library to itunes. The items purchased from the itunes store are in the library on the new laptop, but the rest of my music is not. How do I restore it to my itunes library? I have tried opening itunes while holding down shift and selecting "choose library" option, but when I select the itunes folder, it doesn't appear in the library.
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Hello ggjsa,
Congratulations on your new laptop! I understand that you have copied your old iTunes Library to your new computer, but you are still not seeing the music. I recommend reviewing Part 5 in the section titled "External drive" in the following article:
iTunes: How to move your music to a new computer
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4527
If you are still having trouble transferring the library using this method, you may want to try using the Home Sharing method in the article.
Thank you for using Apple Support Communities.
Best,
Sheila M.

Deleted iTunes library from laptop - help!

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