Do I need to back up iTunes?

I want to reinitialize my mac mini. Running the latest OS. I have music that I've purchased including movies. Will I lose my library if I don't backup?
What do I need to do prior to revamping my mac mini? Please explain through baby steps. Thanks!

What do you mean by "reinitialize" and/or "revamping"..., because generally it is not necessary in OS X like it is with windoz.
For example: I have file's on my Mac that date back to before 10.4 that have survived 10.5, 10.6, 10.7, now 10.8 and I've never had to do anything except upgrade and update.
Things can go wrong, Hard Drives can fail, AV software and third party cleaning utilities can foul up your OS X and Files, but for the most part OS X does not need any kind of defraging, cleaning, "reinitializing or revamping"
If your data is important to you, then by all means backup.
see > My backup plan: Dan Frakes | Macworld

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System trouble, Need 2 back up iTunes & purchased music.

I am having some relatively minor, but none the less annoying glitches with my System Using OS-X.3 Panther. (Classic not installed, I use OS9 on diff. partition) I am planning on Zeroing out the drive & partition OS-X resides on & starting with a fresh System.
I am currently using OSX.3/ iTunes v4.7/ QuickTime v6.4. I do not plan on doing any upgrading of the applications or system files beyond what was required to use my current suite of software.
One of my biggest concerns is, I have roughly 5 gigs of music (I have it backed up on DVD's). I have a number of mp3's I purchased through the Apple music store and I want to be sure that I still have them available to me after the fresh system install.
I have done a few searches here but I'm not asking the right question or using the best "Key" words. I've pieced together some of the procedures to do this properly, but I want to be sure that I have it all, in proper order before I risk losing what is a fairly significant investment in music.
Here is a (sort of) brief description of my system troubles;
The iTunes & iPod have been working fine, with only a few minor hiccups. The rest of my system has been a little touchy lately. Internet apps., (news readers & safari & the like) quitting unexpectedly or freezing, requiring a forced quit. Document & App. Icons doing weird things like changing back & forth, (between low res. & quartz type). All the free disk space starts to spontaneously fill up. Stuff like that!!
Norton AV v9.0.3 doesn't seem to find any virus to account for it, (although Norton seems to have some problems of it's own I won't go into here). It has detected a couple trojans in web cache files recently, but it quarantined them & I deleted the files so hopefully they aren't the problem. (I delete & keep re-deleting the NAV "spacesucking" file, disk still fills up)
I've run DiskWarrior, repaired permissions, used disk first aid & these problems seem to persist. So I've decided to start again from scratch.
If it isn't to much trouble, I would very much appreciate a complete, step by step breakdown on how to re install X, without messing up iTunes or my purchased music & iPod. (or at least a link to any already posted guidelines for this procedure)
Thank you for your patience,
Craig
p.s. (I realize I included a lot of system troubleshooting information that might not be particularly relevant to backing up iTunes, but I wanted to be sure that I included everything that might affect a clean install, and someone might recognize the problems I'm having and help me avoid breaking the system next time) Thnx!!

Craig hello,
read this post for a starter... check all of it for your reference to backups and anything else you need to know come and ask...
TP2GO, "iTunes 5.0 a disgrace; Lets stop buying music for a month!" #23, 01:02am Sep 24, 2005 CDT
One tip, get rid of the 'Norton'... search the OS X forums for it and you will see what I mean ... here is one to start with....
Barry Hemphill, "Application Problem" #1, 05:07pm Sep 30, 2005 CDT
take care .... TP

Do I need to back up itunes library to a portable hard drive?

I'm in my late 50's and I'm totally new to ipod & itunes. I have just purchased the ipod classic 160g mainly because I want to store all my CD collection & download all the new stuff too. Have loads of tunes in my library & have been given mixed messages about backing up. If iTunes is stored online is the sole purpose of backing up just incase laptop goes down? Also, can I access my iTunes account from another computer?

I would definitely back up your iTunes on a seperate hard drive, iTunes is only stored on line if you've either bought the music from iTunes or if you subscribe to iTunes Match. Even if you have iTunes match, it isn't designed to be a back up, besides, why trust a third party with your valuable music?
You can have your iTunes account on 5 seperate computers. I wouldn't try to download music to a different computer using your iPod though, it might work if you sign in to your account on the other computer first but it'd be better to transfer from a portable hard drive.

NEED HELP: Backing Up iTunes library to an external drive

I like to keep my music backed up on on external hard drive just in case. Been having trouble dragging the library onto the external. Any Suggestions on how to do this??

Yes.
If you are going to use the external for Time Machine and for other stuff, I'd recommend you partition it. Not nexcessary but it'll keep things separated. The TM partition should be 2-3 timnes the size of the data you are backing up.
Here's some good info about TM from Pondini who posts over in the Leopard/Snow Leopard forums
-> http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/FAQ.html

Itunes app no longer showing genres or the top charts/genius bar in the top bar ... it only displays a faint music in the centre with just the search box..why? i need them back:-(

itunes app no longer showing genres or the top charts/genius bar in the top bar ... it only displays a faint music in the centre with just the search box..why? i need them back:-(

The iTunes Store listing of your podcast is simply reflecting the contents of your podcast feed. Make sure all of the content you want displayed in the iTunes Store is still contained within your feed.
Are you able to supply your feed for reference?

I deleted my playlist off my iPhone (on my phone not on iTunes) and it deleted the playlists from my iTunes and I NEED them back...how?

It seems TOO MANY people are having this same problem. Honestly, Apple is just dirt now...more problems than now. I need help asap.
I went onto iTunes and clicked on my phone's name in the upper right corner. I have my music set on 'selected playlists, artists, albums, and genres' which this usually means, I just click below to which playlists I want on my phone. However, none of my playlists were updating (none of the new songs I added to my playlists already on my phone were transfering) so I went on my phone and simply deleted the playlists there, then was planning on re-syncing them on my phone from iTunes on my computer. BUT when I went onto my iTunes, somehow ALL my playlists were deleted EVEN THOUGH I ONLY DELETED THEM OFF MY PHONE NOT MY COMPUTER! THESE PLAYLISTS ARE EXTREMELY IMPORTANT AND I NEED THEM BACK NOW! I tried using the backup, which was done before the playlists were deleted, but of course Apple, it did not work. Great job, there. I just want these playlists back, both on my computer and on my phone. I have plenty of space free to hold these playlists/songs.
Apples exceptional failure of everything iPhone and iTunes related is too maturfully pathetic I don't know if I have the patience or time to deal with this company anymore, even though I have been along for the ride since the first iPhone came out. Congratulations, Steve Jobs would be so happy with how far Apple's sunk.
Problems:
Video's not synching
Playlists not updating
Playlists deleting from iTunes when simply deleted from iPhone
New songs not transfering to iPhone
My battery jumping from 30% to 5% in less than a minute
My phone completely shutting down at 30% and not turning back on, saying it needs to be charged
When above happens, and I plug it in, after it turns back on, it pumps straight to 30% battery again
Lock screen not always locking, even though it is set to 1 minute

I'm not ranting at you, I'm ranting at Apple.
Yes, I backed it up. It did not work when I tried this to get my playlists back.

My touch screen is broken and i need to back my files up but it wont let me connect to itunes because i have a passcode on my phone which i cant enter because my screen is broke

my touch screen is broken and i need to back my files up but it wont let me connect to itunes because i have a passcode on my phone which i cant enter because my screen is broke

Bummer. Hope you've been backing up to iCloud so you can restore your information after you get the phone replaced.

Where are my purchased movies through iTunes stored on my PC? I need to back-them up on a hard drive and then I want to play them on my iPad

where are my purchased movies through iTunes stored on my PC? I need to back-them up on a hard drive and then I want to play them on my iPad

They're in the iTunes folder, in iTunes Media or iTunes Music depending on when your iTunes was first installed. The iTunes folder by default is in My Documents/Music.
Regards.

HT1296 Help! I failed to back up the data on my iphone 4 16gb using iTunes Version 11.01. The error message read that the back up was corrupt. I am suppose to delete the back up. Can someone help me? I urgently need to back up the data!:\

Hi guys!
I really need help. I tried to back up the data on my iphone 4 on the iTunes version 11.01 but failed.
The error message read : the backup was corrupt or not compatible with iPhone. can anyone advise me on this,
as I urgently need to back up my phone in anticipation for my iPhone 5.
Greatly appreciated!

this usally happens when the backup you tool was from an old ios version. Two options that you can try is
1. Delete the back up by going to edit> preferences> devices & delete back up on itunes & try backing up again
2. Update the ios software of the iphone4 & then take a back up. then try restoring
Taz

When I try to back up my iPad to the computer it gives me a message saying it can't sync and cannot back up because there is not enough room in the iTunes library. How can I fix this? I need to back up the iPad content so I can restore it to a new 1

when I try to back up my iPad to the computer it gives me a message saying it can't sync and there is not enough room in iTunes library. How can I fix this? I need to back up iPad content to restore on a new one

juliefrombaton rouge wrote:
when I try to back up my iPad to the computer it gives me a message saying it can't sync and there is not enough room in iTunes library.
Pretty sure it doesn’t say there is not enough room in iTunes library because it is not backed up to the iTunes library.
What is the exact message?

Need to go back to iTunes 10.4, can't find it on this site.

Hello I am using a NAS storage device to access my music in iTunes on my Macbook Pro. At one time it worked fine & now when I select the server in the "Shared" list and login, the top activity view reads "Loading 'NAS server name' " though it does not load after any period of time. It is an issue that many people using NAS servers are experiencing, not just this particular brand I am using.
When I went to a support forum, a tech employed by the hardware provider said the problem is with iTunes 10.5. The changes Mac made this time were significant enough to create issues of compatability when loading content from NAS devices using an iTunes Server feature. The moderator advised switching back to iTunes 10.4 and not upgrading until the issue can be resolved. I need to go back to the old version of Itunes 10.4 because I can no longer listen to music with it.
Does anyone know where on the Apple site I can find a link to download this version so I can use iTunes again?
Are there any other ways that I do not currently understand that will allow me to access the content on the NAS server though iTunes?

Hallo, I installed the program as you said. Everything ok.
When i have to give my serialnummer, it is not accepted. Code is not valid he said
1160-4008-7475-7547-5706-0812
Op 21-sep.-2014, om 17:44 heeft Rikk Flohr <[email protected]> het volgende geschreven:
Hi, I want to install my lightroom version on a new mac pro. How do i get started. Can't find it on this site. Thx
created by Rikk Flohr in Photoshop Lightroom - View the full discussion
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Hit the Download link at the bottom the page.
Hit Lightroom
Hit Free Trial
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About to back up iTunes to XHD. Have old version 10.6.3. Have been afraid to update with 40GB of music. Been digitizing vinyl. In this version, playlists export as m3u, which needs to be converted to MP3-Song by song??? Help?? What do I do first? Coul

About to back up iTunes to XHD. Have old version 10.6.3. Have been afraid to update with 40GB of music. Been digitizing vinyl. In this version, playlists export as m3u, which needs to be converted to MP3-Song by song??? Goal is to also be able to burn MP3 to flash drive and to XHD as usable data.
Help?? What do I do first? Could export as m3u-then figure it out later? Or will this data be unreadable junk in a new version of iTunes?
Does new version 11.whatever., have a provision to make all into MP3? Obviously past applecare contract.
Been looking at forums-not clear what to do.
Is there a simple way to convert/export m3u as MP3 in the newest version of iTunes? Am I asking the right questions???

Hi printmistress888,
Welcome to the Support Communities!
The article below may be able to help you with this. Click on the link to see more details and screenshots.
iTunes: Back up your iTunes library by copying to an external hard drive
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1751
iTunes 10 for Mac: Save a copy of your playlists
http://support.apple.com/kb/ph1744
Cheers,
- Judy

HT2305 i have just bought a iphone 5 and am trying to back my 4 up so i can transfer everytghing on to my 5. it has said i need to update my itunes which i have tryed to do but still isnt working any help please

i have just upgraded my iphone 4 to a 5. and was trying to back my 4 up on the computure so i could get all my pics and music on to my 5. but its saying i need to update my itunes which i have tried to do and is still not working any help please i have been trying for hours

how is it not working?
what version of itunes?
what ios on iphone4?
does it give an error msg?

Please help. Ipod has black battery and keeps saying need to restore via Itunes.. but when I restore it goes back to the way it was...

Please can somebody help me.
My iPod keeps saying I need to connect to iTunes and restore.
I have done that, but then it says it has been restored and then reverts back again to same message.
Any help greatly appreciated.

Unfortunately, it is possible that the iPod's hard drive has become faulty. No matter how many time you Restore it, iTunes sees something wrong with the iPod's storage the next time, and asks you to Restore it again.
There is one more thing I can think of, that you can try.
Put the iPod into Disk Mode again. With iTunes NOT running, reformat the iPod's disk like it was an external drive, using the Windows command. Make sure you are selecting the iPod's disk for formatting. Select the format type of "FAT." If there is an option for a "quick" format, do not use it; do a "full" format. If there is a physical problem on the hard drive, this formatting attempt may fail. If it succeeds, run iTunes and do another Restore. (Even if it does not prompt you this time, you need to do a Restore so that iTunes can re-install the iPod's onboard software.)

I havent upgraded my iphone 4 to ios 4.3. Now when i try to back up in itunes, it doesnt recognise my iphone, but sees it as a camera, not giving me the links i need to back up. I have removed itunes completely and downloaded it new.

i havent upgraded my iphone 4 to ios 4.3. Now when i try to back up in itunes, it doesnt recognise my iphone, but sees it as a camera, not giving me the links i need to back up. I have removed itunes completely and downloaded it new.

What computer OS are you using. Here are links for iTunes not recognizing the iPhone in different OS.
Apple: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1591
Windows: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1538

Do I need to back up iTunes?

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