Entire Library Gone!!!!!

I am fairly new to Aperture and am hoping there is a logical explanation for this.....
Over the past few days I have been building my Aperture library, first by importing my existing iPhoto library, and then building new projects. I've chosen to make all the images referenced and they exist on an external drive.
All was going well, until I opened the program this morning to find NOTHING there. A blank library. All the projects I created still exist in the hard drive, as does the Aperture Library Package, but the application itself is completely empty.
Anyone have a clue?

I've got the exact same problem, except that double clicking on the Library when not in Aperture doesn't fix the issue. When I do that, Aperture opens, showing the CORRECT library in the default Library Location chooser in Preferences (meaning the one that I double clicked on), but, alas, nothing appears in the main deskspace. The only "library" options visible are the preset "Smart Libraries," but they are empty.
The Library exists, is fully visible and explorable in Finder. When I "show package contents" everything seems to be in order, even drilling down to individual previews, files etc. It's just not showing up in the Aperture project selector panel. (Or whatever the file browser on the left side of the Aperture workspace is called.)
It's a 23 GB library and contains about 8,000 images. As an Aperture library, it was created just yesterday from a slew of iPhoto folders. The iPhoto folders and files inside remain healthy and visible.
After creating the Aperture Library in the ~users/pictures folder I moved it over to a Dropbox (www.getdropbox.com) folder for storage in the cloud and access from my laptop, but when I didn't see anything on reopening Aperture in either desktop or laptop, I moved it back to ~/User/Pictures/. It was also taking forever to upload to dropbox (like 2 gb in 5 hours), so I interrupted the upload and moved it back to the main HDD.
I can rebuild it from the iPhoto folders if necessary, but it took a couple of hours to create, and if I just have some little setting wrong, I'd rather not have to do that again. I'm also wondering if the size of the library requires some "regeneration" or "rebuild" time after the library as a whole is moved from one folder location to another. I created in in Location 1, moved it to Location 2, and then moved it to Location 3.
Thanks in advance.

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I'm so frustrated-Unable to download from ITunes and my entire library-GONE

Just upgraded last night and am so mad, my entire library is gone! I also am unable to preview/download anything from the ITunes Store. I can only play ITunes radio-anyone know what to do??????

Hopefully you did not do a clean install of OS X since that would erase everything on your drive. If you just did a standard upgrade install (which is the default option), you might be OK.
First, a question: Are your songs listed in iTunes but simply display the "!" next to them indicating that the files are missing? If so, and if you ripped the songs from CD, you can re-rip them and retain a lot of your tag data.
When you insert the CD and start importing it, iTunes will ask you if you want to replace the existing songs. Select the Replace Existing option and iTunes will transfer tag data (though sadly not play count or rating) from the original item to the new one without duplicating the entries. This is certainly time consuming but it's awesome that it preserves tag data.
If your library displays no songs at all, one of two things can be going on. Either the original library file is gone (which is the case if you did a clean install/erase of the new OS) or iTunes simply can't find it.
I suggest the following:
1) Open iTunes and determine where the active library is. You can find it under iTunes>Preferences>Advanced>General.
2) Search your computer for the files "iTunes Library" and "iTunes Library.xml".
If the only instance of those files is in the location indicated in iTunes, then you may be out of luck. Someone else may know of some way to recover the original but it doesn't look good. If, however, there is another instance of those files, close iTunes, then hold down the Option key and re-open iTunes. iTunes will prompt you to select a library. Select the second "iTunes Libary" file (the one not listed in iTunes) and see what happens. You may get lucky.
Also, if the actual music files are still on your computer, you may be able to import them again, though you will likely lose any tagging you did.
As for the the iTunes Store, perhaps this is elementary, but did you authorize the computer for iTunes purchases? if you are using a new Library file, you will need to do this again. In iTunes go to Store>Authorize Computer and enter you ITMS login information. Once authorized, try to open a purchased song.
I hope this helps! Good luck!
Scott

Entire Library gone after Safari update.

I recently updated Safari and Java. Now when I open iPhoto my entire library is zero photos.
If I boot up to a system drive running the old Safari, the library still works fine. What the **** is your problem Apple? Is there some reason I can't have a current browser AND keep my thousands of photos?
Message was edited by: Jamie Tucker

Thanks for your reply Terence.
I couldn't get the Java chat in Facebook to work, so I figured I would update Java and my Safari to the latest versions. So I used Software Update and installed ONLY those two items.
I restarted and and it didn't help the chat issue, so I figured it was somekind of interuption in service at Facebook and moved on to do some photo editing in iPhoto almost immediately. It just says there are no Photos when I opened it.
I checked the package contents of my library, and all the photos are still there.
My Pictures folder has an alias that points to an external FireWird Hard drive for the Library because it's too big for my MacBook's HD. Same goes for my other iLife Apps. They all have aliases pointing to the external drive.
I decided to install Leopard on another volume and see what would happen.
I used the option to import my account from the newly updated boot volume to the reverted boot volume.
Sure enough all my photos were back, when booting to the boot volume that has the reverted Safari and Java.
Since then I have tried to delete the preferences for iPhoto, update iPhoto, update iLife Support, update Leopard to 10.5.8. Nothing corrects this problem.
Obviously neither the alias or the Library are corrupted because they both work fine when my account is imported to a system with the older software suite.
Having worked for Apple's own IT department, and owned dozens of models for decades, I have encountered stuff like this before many times, and yes it would not surprise me at all that someone has dropped a ball of some kind. As a loyal user of their products, you better believe I hold them to a higher standard than Windows, and I will absolutely make a stink about something as unacceptable as a whole library disappearing.
My data is all backed up, but I can just imaging someone who doesn't having this happen to them and causing a heart attack.

Entire Library gone after Keychain reset

I'm not exactly sure what happened here. I don't know what a keychain is but I think I may have inadvertently done something to reset it. I lost a lot of saved programs and my entire iTunes library (songs I paid for!) are all now gone. What did i do and how do I get my songs back?

Thanks for your reply Terence.
I couldn't get the Java chat in Facebook to work, so I figured I would update Java and my Safari to the latest versions. So I used Software Update and installed ONLY those two items.
I restarted and and it didn't help the chat issue, so I figured it was somekind of interuption in service at Facebook and moved on to do some photo editing in iPhoto almost immediately. It just says there are no Photos when I opened it.
I checked the package contents of my library, and all the photos are still there.
My Pictures folder has an alias that points to an external FireWird Hard drive for the Library because it's too big for my MacBook's HD. Same goes for my other iLife Apps. They all have aliases pointing to the external drive.
I decided to install Leopard on another volume and see what would happen.
I used the option to import my account from the newly updated boot volume to the reverted boot volume.
Sure enough all my photos were back, when booting to the boot volume that has the reverted Safari and Java.
Since then I have tried to delete the preferences for iPhoto, update iPhoto, update iLife Support, update Leopard to 10.5.8. Nothing corrects this problem.
Obviously neither the alias or the Library are corrupted because they both work fine when my account is imported to a system with the older software suite.
Having worked for Apple's own IT department, and owned dozens of models for decades, I have encountered stuff like this before many times, and yes it would not surprise me at all that someone has dropped a ball of some kind. As a loyal user of their products, you better believe I hold them to a higher standard than Windows, and I will absolutely make a stink about something as unacceptable as a whole library disappearing.
My data is all backed up, but I can just imaging someone who doesn't having this happen to them and causing a heart attack.

Itunes loses library . I updated to 10.3.1.55 and i open Itunes and my entire library is gone

Itunes loses library . I updated to 10.3.1.55 and i open Itunes and my entire library is gone, put all the music back in itunes then next time i open it the library is gone again.I am using window 7 and after a few weeks of this it is driving me crazy.PLEASE HELP

I am afraid troubleshooting this is difficult if it is intermittent. That is why I suggested making copies of iTunes library.itl and iTunes Library.xml then you can restore these copies if the lirbary disappears. Then you only lose data since you copied them.
You can check for plugins by running iTunes>>Help>>Run Diagnostics. You don't need any of the check boxes ticked. Any plug ins will be shown.
Also you can run iTunes in "safe mode" by holding ctrl shift while starting iTunes. This runs iTunes without plug ins.
Think about other software that uses iTunes data - instant messaging that shows what's playing, and anything that might use the iTunes library.
If the problem occurs every time, you can use MSConfig to look for conflicts, but that is not feasible for an intermittent problem.
I would not expect to see a "saving library" message when closing iTunes, that does suggest that something may be slowing it down.
Are you using the default set up- for iTunes, that is everything on your c: drive or are you using an external drive or network drive?

The entire library is gone and a reinstall made things worse...

For a few days now I have been trying to fix a video playback issue since upgrading to ITunes 7.02. In the process of trying different fixes, the entire library has been lost--my music folder, picture folder, and document folder are empty. I re-installed ITunes and followed the instructions to recreate my library, but it doesn't work. I know, I am an idiot for not having a backup, but I don't. The library has to be on my computer somehwere. Also, the newly installed ITunes now has 6 of each of the playlist folders...90s music, recently added, recently played etc. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Just for a little bump and to add one more thing. I just added a GIG of RAM to my laptop--could this have triggered the problems I am now having?

IPhoto library Gone! (replaced in just one click w/o ever dragging 2 Trash)

iPhoto library gone / replaced in just one click (w/ o ever dragging anything to the trash)!
I currently own multiple PowerMacs all sharing the same high speed local network. All of them run the latest / Mac OS X.4.9 and have multiple HD’s (both internal and external) as well as iLife’ 06. And all of them also have iChatAV3 and are able to video chat one with the other at will while on the same local high speed network.
This is my very first iPhoto library nightmare since I’ve owned a mac. and yes I’ve always been conditioned to backup everything one wishes to keep. This particular scenario is no different. (altho my back up HD for one of the three G4 computers involved was a bit dated by at least 6 months).
This was essentially triggered via two separate iLife ‘06 apps , namely iPhoto and iChatAV3 (combined with at least an ounce of stupidity on my part). That combined with 2 people not communicating properly / being on the same page (or rather the same Folder) when working on the very same task. Hey... I do NOT claim to be an expert at this particular application even though I have used macs since apple first introduced the Apple IIe decades ago. So this does not stem from lack of experience but rather not thinking things thru entirely in terms of all the possible consequences of simple, yet catastrophic actions when it comes to replacing or authenticating one particular folder containing the entire iPhoto Library simply titled “pictures”.
Starts like this, ichatav is open on 2 of three macs and my teenage daughter asks me to send her a roll of pictures she downloaded into my computer (since it’s twice as fast as her own) from her digital still camera. Now she wants all 12 photos on her computer as well. So I drag all 12 photos to my desktop and place them in a folder titled “Jackies pics”. I drag this folder to her icon on my buddy list and ichat AV simply refuses to allow sending the entire folder and ask me to send them one at a time. That should have been my first clue. Strange I thought. Always worked well in the past. Why not now? So I tell her over ichatav that the app simply won’t allow me to send her the entire folder and that I’ll have to send them one at a time. Please make a new folder on your HD called Jackie’s pics. She agrees and creates a folder on her end called .... (you guessed it) ...... “pictures”...... to which she drags each of the 12 images I sent over our local network.
Little did she realize this newly created folder has the makings of an atomic bomb when it comes to importing the entire folder into iPhoto’s library on her own mac. A dialog box quickly materializes asking that she “authenticate” or hit cancel. So she ask me what to do. I said that’s fine, hit authenticate (assuming she titled it Jackies pics). BIG mistake! She hits authenticate and now she has the 12 images I sent her in iPhoto....BUT .... the 1600 or so originals in the entire iPhoto library quickly vanishes. Her entire iphoto library is now wiped out or rather replaced with this new folder. She asks me, what happened? And in less than 30 seconds she in complete tears. Over 2-3 years of her photos (all 1600 images) gone in the click of a mouse.
Today is father’s day .... and I remembered that I have a complete backup of her HD (even though it is a bit dated). So together, we managed to recover about 90% of the lost images. If anyone reading this knows how I can possibly recover the final 10% (most current photos) then please help us.
Bottom line: We were fortunate. This Father’s Day iPhoto Nightmare ended happily....
TIA
(3) G4 PM's/(3) S-Drives/Sony TRV900/Nikons/6FWHD's/PS7/iLife06/FCPHD/DVDSP/etc. Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Just another update .... Today, my daughter was multitasking on her G4 powermac working within iPhoto as well as email account and last but not least the latest iTunes. As she opened this final app (and I mean "final").... her entire hard drive bit the dust after she saw the spinning beachball and hence attempted to force quit. (I should also point out we are having a heat wave in San Diego today ...which also may have contributed to this hardware issue mainly).
This time, I had a complete updated copy of her HD and simply cloned it to a new hard drive. Took me a few hours to troubleshoot, clone and install a new drive in its place. But all is working normally again (sure hope it stays that way this time).
Friendly reminder to those who read this post .....
BACKUP, BACKUP, BACKUP .... ESPECIALLY IN IPHOTO & ITUNES!

Please help - entire library is missing

Hello guys,
I am currently experiencing some problems with iTunes, I hope someone can help me. After not having used my PC since September, I accessed it yesterday. After installing the iTunes update, everything was still normal, but after the computer had to be restarted for the HP update, ALL my media files are gone. Not only is the library wiped, the actual folder where the file should be is empty.
I will explain what I did below.
Also, please excuse my English, it's not my first language.
Okay, then let me explain my problem from the beginning. Maybe someone can tell me what I did wrong.
I am from Germany, but I am currently in the US as an exchange student. At home, I used a HP PC with Vista, but I decided to buy a little netbook (Asus eeePC)to take with me. The most important thing for me was (and still is) my music, my iTunes library. It is 86.4 GB big and consists of everything; songs, TV-shows, movies, apps, podcasts, audiobooks - you name it. In short, it's the result of years of listening to and collecting music; and it's not mine alone, the whole family uses it. I researched ways to copy my library unto my new netbook, but with a file that size, it's not that easy. Eventually, I decided to use a backup and re-create the library on the netbook. However, this did, for reasons unknown to me, not work, the backup was (from the 2nd disc on) unreadable. I created 2 more backups, tried to read them with different PCs - the same problem every time.
Finally, I had to leave without having accomplished anything. But I took my iPod touch with me, it had most of the files on it. I hoped that I could somehow transfer the files from my iPod. However, shortly after I arrived, it was stolen. I bought a new one, but of course all the files on it are gone.
In he meantime, my family at home created a new backup and send it to me - but this one, again, is not readable. Now I researched other possible ways on how to get my files over here. I decided to use a torrent this time. I had someone install a VNC client on my PC so I can access it from here, and then I installed utorrent and created a torrent from my entire library, send it to myself per e-mail and started downloading on my netbook. I was really happy to finally have found a way - but I should be wrong.
Since I had access to my iTunes after so much time, I decided to open iTunes and listen to a few songs. However, as my PC has not been used since I left in September, there were some available updates. Unsuspecting, I installed the new iTunes version and also a HP update. After the iTunes update everything was still okay, but after the PC had to be restarted for the HP update to work, my entire library was gone! And I checked, not only is the library empty, but the actual song-file is gone, meaning when I open, eg, "C:\Users\Chris\Music\iTunes\iTunes Music\Linkin Park\Meteora" the folder is totally empty.
That's how it is now. I decided not to do anything big, as I am afraid I'll mess it up even worse (though I don't think that's quite possible - there is nothing to mess up left, afterall).
Please please please, can somebody help me?

If you don't have any other back up, and the torrent files you sent to yourself are gone, then your music is gone.
Nobody can help you recover data that no longer exists, but I can offer some sympathy. Sorry to read your story.

Please help before it kills my entire library!

I’m sure this has come up before but I have to ask.
When I add new songs to my iTunes, it will “misplace” older ones and adds exclamation points to them?
At first I thought this was because I had to have my hard drive replaced and it lost the original songs but the more songs I add, the more get “lost” and now its started to affect the songs that I have purchased from iTunes recently so I KNOW its not due to the hard drive replacement. What can I do? Way too many of my songs are exclamationed now. I backed up the list several weeks ago because I had a suspicion this was what was wrong. The weird part is, even though the songs are gone in iTunes, it doesn’t delete them from the iPod. Even if I clear those songs. It will add the new ones just fine, but it won’t delete the old ones. There doesn’t appear to be any rhyme or reason to the deletion of my songs. They just go as I add more. I have 330 songs and 70 of them are exclamationed. I had more but started deleting them before I figured out what was happening. So far, I seems to only happen when I add new music, no matter where its from. It even happens when I purchase from iTunes. Please help before it kills my entire library!
I have an 8 gig iPod so I know its not because its full. Oh, and Im running on an older Gateway, but I can’t even begin to tell you what year or anything and OS is Windows XP Pro. I also have the latest version of iTunes and update regularly. Any other info you need?
I haven’t needed to lately, but Im scared for if I need to restore my iPod. (I have had to do it once before) Im sure that it will delete the songs that have been preserved that were deleted on the tunes. One more thing, it APPEARS to be mixing up the artwork on the iPod itself with other artists. For example, my Kerli artwork is now my Matchbox 20 artwork and so on. That problem is only with a few songs though.
Any ideas? Thanks SO much for trying to help!

Check your Preferences > Advanced > iTunes Music folder location to make sure that it is correct. Also, is "Keep iTunes Music folder organized checked"? Have you tried to Consolidate Library? (Note: I'm not saying to do that, yet, just asking if you have.) Have you used Windows Explorer to actually locate your music?
I've seen where iTunes could be "missing" a song but not indicate it with the exclamation mark until some action is attempted -- moving, dragging, playing. For me it would be because I forgot to turn on the external drive where my music is stored. But then, once I mount the drive, I still have to point iTunes to its Music folder again.

Entire library vanished!!!

Hi everyone,
As the title says!! Opened iTunes to find the entire library empty!! All my music is still located in the windows music folders so I can copy that back over (takes an absolute age), but where have the 2 movies I recently purchased gone.
What on earth could the problem be?
Any assistance most gratefully received!!!!
Thanks,
Loopy

There is a problem with media management software Vaio xml library Manager, the Vaio content manager and the Vaio Music Box software
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=8537277#8537277
In Control Panel, turn off Vaio Content Folder Watcher and VAIO Content Metadata Intelligent Analyzing Manager.
Also see.
http://support.apple.com/kb/ts2715
Check the Sony support site to see if there is an upgrade for your model that fixes this.

Entire library disappeared

Fired up iTunes this evening, and suddenly, my entire library was gone. Same with playlists. I manually manage my music on my iPhone, and I can no longer do so without completely wiping out the current contents (says the phone is synced with another library).
How can I recover my library? All the song files are still in place...
Help!

Even if you don't have a Vaio, the same troubleshooting method applies.
Here is a poster that used SysInternals to find that Carbonite online backups were conflicting with itunes:
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=10604888#10604888
If it only happened once, though, it is going to be tough to figure out why it happened.
You'll have to rebuild your library, and from now on, make frequent backups of that important ITL file. Did you recently update itunes a new version? If so, you can use the ITL file from the day you updated. It will be missing any changes between now & then, but at least it's a start.

Exporting entire library and its structure.

Hello, I've seen this question before, but not with straight answers. I'm gonna ask one more time just to be safe.
I'm changing my computer, I have my music library stored in a 1Tb external HD. As you may imagine it has several thousands songs and in iTunes they are organized in several hundreds folders, many of them (probably hundreds) are nested folders and so on.
*Is there a "safe" way to export my entire library and ITS STRUCTURE (organization) to my new computer?* so next time I open lunch iTunes in my new computer it looks exactly the same as my old one. (of course after importing and setting everything)
Thanks in advance

Connect the external to the other computer.
Hold Option and launch iTUnes.
Select *Choose library*.
Select the *iTunes library* file in the iTunes folder on the external.

Wow! 22gb library-gone?

Just went to put some songs on my ipod touch and got this message...
"The song “What We Do-punk uprising” could not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it?"
When I click "locate" all of my home folders come up but I cannot select them.
About a month ago I tried to put 30gb of music onto my computer. (dragged a folder I labeled "music" into itunes but it would not work.) I then tried to change the format to another and then tried to drag them into it again. Didn't work so I left it alone....
Did I change the format of my entire library and thus it cannot be recognized now? Man, that was a lot of music-both mine and itunes purchased!!!!
Thanks!

Yes you are absolutely correct ... I wrote in anger late at night.
I was trying to add more photographs as usual , but this time for some reason I got a lot of pop-ups questions about proceeding further. I though I answered all the questions properly without of course saying YES delete my whole library / life of pictures. I do not know what all the questions were now this morning .... so I guess this does not help you at all ?
In iPhoto ... I have in the left side window ... I have boxes that say
{ } events
( ) photos
{ } faces
{ } recent
recent
{ } last 12 months
{ } last import
{ } falgged
{ } trash
in the events I have maybe 10 pictures for something I called Sarah's Wedding and my Mom's visit
recent .. and the same pictures are in the next folder called " photo" s.
All the other folders are empty , including Trash.
All my pictures ware in the first Library which does not exist anymore. Why all my wildlife / art / family pictures are gone but why only the two "Sarah's Wedding" and Mom's visit is left I do not know.
What ever happened last night .. it left those two folders / events names and deleted all the rest ??
Is there any help ? or do I have to take my computer in to see if I can get the harddrive checked over to se if the pictures still exist on it somewhere ?
Thanks for you help

Entire Library Artwork Re-Sync..?

Hi iTunes People,
The other day, my PC informed me that it couldn't locate the iTunes library file.
I showed it where it always is, and I proceeded to find all my tunes effectively missing (i.e. with an '!' next to every track!).
Somehow, iTunes seems to have gone mad, and lost its ability to find its own library file, and subsequently all the links not only to all the tunes, but more annoyingly the links between all the artwork and the tunes!
I dragged and dropped the entire music library folder back onto the iTunes library window, which allowed it to understand that all the tunes did indeed still exist (in the same place as normal!), but now I find all my artwork is messed up.
Some albums retain their artwork intact, but many have tracks missing the artwork, and a stack load have lost their artwork / link to their artwork!
Is there any 'macro' way of getting iTunes to scan the entire library, find tracks / albums with missing artwork and then replace them automatically..?
What if I selected the entire library, then hit 'Get Artwork'..?
Any suggestions as to what's happened and how to clear up after it would be much appreciated!

Hi SaxonMusic,
If you are having issues getting all of your music to sync to your iPod Classic, you may want to go over the following article just to make sure that syncing is set up correctly in iTunes. Make sure that the sync "Entire Music Library" is selected. Also, you may be seeing doubles if you previously had your music library set up to sync manually and your iPod Classic is treating the new computer as a completely seperate library.
iTunes: Syncing media content to iPod
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1351
If you continue to have issues, you may want to restore your iPod to factory settings and do a fresh sync:
Apple Support: Restoring iPod to factory settings
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1339
Cheers,
- Brenden

HT1349 I updated my Itunes and my entire library disappeared including all my playlists. How do I fix this?

I updated my Itunes and my entire library disappeared including all my playlists. How do I fix this?

Are they really gone? Look in your Home > Music > iTunes folder and folders inside. Do you see media there? Also try to use Spotlight to search for things you know you have.
If you keep media on an external drive, are they there? If it is all there, try starting iTunes with the option key held down and guide to the external.
If really gone, use a backup of your drive to restore the iTunes folder.
If no backup and they are really gone, you can download some items from Apple again. You'll have to re-construct the library though as all the playlists, ratings, date added, and some other things will be gone.
Downloading past purchases from the App Store, iBookstore, and iTunes Store - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht2519 - enabled with iTunes 10.3 and newer; not available in all countries; only apps, books (not audiobooks), music, and t.v. shows (not movies). Discontinued items not available. For items not included in the iCloud list, or locations or computer systems where iCloud is not (yet?) available, you only get one download per fee paid. Apple notes it is your responsibility to back up your purchases.

Entire Library Gone!!!!!

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