External hard drive crashed...need to move iTunes music files

I had all my music on an external hard drive which recently crashed. Fortunately I did have the library xml file on my laptop hard drive so I still have the library info, playlists, play count, etc. So I used 3rd party software to dump the music files from my iPod back on to another external hard drive. However, when I go to preferences and change the iTunes directory to that folder it still does not recognize the songs. I have gray exclamation marks beside each song and when I try to play songs it says that it can not locate the file. I have a huge library with close to 13,000 songs in it so I am really trying to figure out the easiest way to restore the music back to library so everything will play. Can someone please help me figure out what I need to do. So to summarize I still have the library xml files...I just need to know how to associate the actual songs with the library so that when I try to play a song I do not get an error message saying the file can not be found.

If I do that won't I have duplicates of songs and will the songs that are added have the play count and etc?

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My hard drive crashed can i move my music from my phone onto my computer?

My hard drive crashed. If I load Itunes onto my computer or if I just hook my iPhone up to the computer with the music transfer or sych?

Content purchased from iTunes can be redownloaded.
Downloading past purchases from iTunes
iTunes purchased content on the device can be transferred to the computer, simply connect the device. Do not Sync! Select File > Transfer Purchases.
The best solution is to use the backup of the computer to put everything back.

I want to keep my music on my macbook and my movies on my external hard drive how do i get itunes to recogonise my external hard drive.?

I want to keep my music on my macbook pro and my movies on my external hard drive how do i get itunes to recogonise my external hard drive.? so i can drag more movies across later. i am able to plug my external into my Apple Express to stream to my apple Tv arent i..???

Post your question in the iTunes area:
https://discussions.apple.com/community/itunes/itunes_for_mac

Hard drive crashed, replaced. Downloaded iTunes again, but now I can't get to my apps, music, movies, etc from computer through iTunes. Any help?

Hard drive crashed, replaced. Downloaded iTunes again, but now I can't get to my apps, music, movies, etc from computer through iTunes. Any help?

If you have access to them anywhere, restore them from it. If not, click here and ask, or redownload the applications freely.
(58121)

External Hard Drive crashed with all songs on it. HELP!!!

Hello. My kids have used my work PC as their itunes playground for over the past year. I added a Lacie external hard drive to help them save thier music and had itunes on it, as well as my pc. The external hard drive crashed and won't communicate with the pc at all so when we bring up itunes on the pc it shows exclamation marks next to almost all of the songs and won't play them. I still have almost all of our music on my ipod, except about 170 songs that they purchased since I last plugged in my ipod, they have their own mini's. I want to know how to get the songs back to my computer. I am afraid if I connect the 60GB ipod to the pc all of our songs will be wiped out since my ipod is on autosync. Can anyone give me a reliable way to get everything back to normal? PLEASE!!!!

Connect your iPod to your computer. If it is set to update automatically you'll get a message that it is linked to a different library and asking if you want to link to this one and replace all your songs etc, press "Cancel". Pressing "Erase and Sync" will irretrievably remove all songs from your iPod. Your iPod should appear in the iTunes source list from where you can change the update setting to manual and use your iPod without the risk of accidentally erasing it. Also when using a lot of the utilities your iPod needs to be enabled for disc use, changing to manual update will do this by default. Check the "manually manage music and videos" box in Summary then press the Apply button: Managing content manually on iPod
Once you are safely connected there are a few things you can do to restore your iTunes from the iPod. If you have any iTMS purchases the transfer of purchased content from the iPod to authorised computers has been introduced with iTunes 7. A paragraph on it has been added to this article:: Transfer iTunes Store purchases using iPod
The transfer of non iTMS content such as songs imported from CD is designed by default to be one way from iTunes to iPod. However there's a manual method of copying songs from your iPod to your Mac. The procedure is a bit involved but if you're interested it's available at this link: Two-way Street: Moving Music Off the iPod
If you prefer something more automated there are a number of third party utilities that you can use to retrieve music files and playlists from your iPod, this is just a selection. I use Senuti but have a look at the web pages and documentation for the others too, you'll find that they have varying degrees of functionality and some will transfer movies, videos, photos and games as well. You can also read reviews of some of them here: Wired News - Rescue Your Stranded Tunes
Senuti Mac Only
iPodRip Mac Only
PodWorks Mac Only
PodView Mac Only
iPodAccess Mac & Windows
YamiPod Mac & Windows
PodUtil Mac & Windows
iPodCopy Mac & Windows
Keep your iPod in manual mode until you have reloaded your iTunes and you are happy with your playlists etc then it will be safe to return it auto-sync.

Files moved to external hard drive - now nothing playing in iTunes...help!

*Hi guys,*
*Just wondering if someone can give me some advice really. I think / know I've made a bit of a botch up of my files :-(*
*Here's the story - I'll try to be brief...I have done a number of different things to try and sort this mess out and this is the latest...*
*- Laptop storage full, with over 5000 music files saved on it. Laptop unhappy - says needs more space. I try to accommodate.*
*- Already have all music files backed up on external storage drive. Nice. Delete music files in C:/Program Files/iTunes file. Laptop happy - has enough space.*
*- Delete current iTunes music files. Drag and drop music files from external hard drive into iTunes window. Transfers music. No problem.*
*- Add new files to external hard drive - try to update in iTunes. iTunes not happy - shows exclamation marks by most songs, which then won't play.*
*- iTunes only opened with external hard drive connected and working.*
*- Me now not happy.*
*- Try changing path where library is saved. Does nothing useful.*
*- Only available option is to click on each track and manually locate it. Not fun when there are 600+ files.*
*- Decide to drag and drop files into iTunes window again.*
*- Now ended up with 12000 tracks in my iTunes, half of which are duplicates with exclamation marks that won't play.*
*- Now at end of my tether. Takes hours to move tracks and now using up unecessary room with unplayable tracks.*
*Does anyone know a. where I went wrong (given I've faffed around with it so much...I just want it organised once and for all...) and more importantly, b. what I can do to sort this mess out.*
*Is it actually possible to have all your music stored externally but to have them play through iTunes to transfer onto my iPod???*
*Also, if I used my iPod as a disk drive, and copied the files straight onto there from my hard drive, would they actually play, thus ruling out iTunes altogether?*
*Many thanks in advance.*
*Frustrated MP3 wrangler*

*Also...is there any way I can filter out all the tracks with the ! so I can delete the unplaying copies as they're taking up room in my iTunes? I know how to find duplicates, but then I have to go and delete each one individually...*
*Thank you!*

Trying to use my Lacie external hard drive to back up my iTunes library.

For some reason, I cannot send my iTunes song files to my external hard drive. My PC recognizes my hard drive (I formatted it) and it lets me save text files to the hard drive but it will not let me save my musci library to it. I am trying to transfer my iTunes library from my PC to my new Mac laptop and also just wanted to back up my iTunes library. Any help would be great.

You can Use iTunes for Backing up your Music, but I do not favor this mehtod.
It works fine for music files BUT: I prefer more control and completeness over my backup process. It is also very important to note that a large limitation of using iTunes to manage the backup is that the iTunes method does not create or maintain backups of the two meta-data files (iTunes Library.itl & iTunes Music Library.xml) where your Playlists, Ratings, Play Counts, etc. are stored. See: What are the iTunes Library files?
If you are heavily invested in your Library data (Playlists, Play Counts, Ratings, Last Played, Date Added, etc.), it is crucial that you also make and archive multiple backups of your ‘iTunes Library.itl’ file.
If your music is located under one common Folder (e.g.-‘iTunes’), then it is easiest to physically copy that folder and all its sub-folders in one simple process. It can be done quickly, and incrementally – several times a day, when necessary. In the case of any data loss, just re-copy your entire (or partial) music library back to wherever it was, placing it in the main Folder that the previous iTunes expected. Along with the ‘iTunes Library.itl’ metadata file, this completes a full ‘restore’ of your music to the time of your last backup.
Use of a backup software program will greatly help. It will allow you to easily perform incremental backups of only the files that have changed. WinXP has such a facility built-in. I use a free program called FileSync ( http://www.fileware.com ). There are many out there. Some use Zipped files or proprietary formats, others use standard file formats. I like FileSync as it uses normal file formats that can be viewed/managed via any Windows program or utility.
iTunes Files to Backup (anytime you make additions or changes to the Music or Library that you want to retain)
1) All music files in their current folder structure (usually located in and under the ‘iTunes Music’ folder)
2) The Library database file: ‘iTunes Library.itl’ located in the ‘iTunes’ folder
3) The Library XML file: ‘iTunes Music Library.xml’ located in the ‘iTunes’ folder
4) Any XML playlist files created for Playlist retention
5) The two iTunes.pref files (optional)
-- C:\Documents and Settings\<your username>\Application Data\Apple Computer\iTunes\iTunes.pref
-- C:\Documents and Settings\<your username>\Local Settings\Application Data\Apple Computer Inc\iTunes.pref
6) The XML file of Ratings, Play Counts and Last Played attributes saved from the main Library and created by Otto’s SaveRatings script (also optional, but recommended):
“Download this: http://ottodestruct.com/itunes/SaveRatings.zip . It's a program, just run it like any other program. Run it on the machine where you're copying the info from BEFORE you move the files to the new machine. Click the "Save Ratings" button and it'll create a ratings.xml file. Now when you move the files, move the program and this file as well. Then after you make your new iTunes library, run it again and click the "Restore Ratings" button. Voila, all your information is back in the Library. Well, most of it anyway, it's not perfect. It'll tell you what songs it couldn't figure out though, and there's usually not very many.”
Here's a list of possible ways to copy your music files from your main iTunes computer to another storage medium for backup purposes.
1) Use an External Hard Drive to store the complete iTunes meta-data files and underlying Music Folder structure and songs from your main computer. They are quite cheap now, for their storage volume. This is my preferred main medium.
2) If you have Two Computers:
2a) Connect them through a router
2b) Connect them using a Direct (w/Mac) or Crossover (PC/PC) Ethernet cable (See: http://www.ifelix.co.uk/tech/3001.html)
2c) Connect them via a USB-to-USB Network Bridge. See: here as an example.
Copy the files and folders from one computer to the other. Use the second PC as your backup repository.
3) Burn several DVDs (at 4.7+ GBs each) with the music data files and store them safely. Re-writable ones are good for backup purposes (if your DVD drive can manage these).
4) Burn 6x more on CDs (at 700MB each) than in #3 above and store them safely in more space Re-writable ones are good for backup purposes (if your CD drive can manage these).
5) Use a larger USB Flash drive (1GB – 4+GBs) to store the files only if you have a small amount ripped music or have multiple and/or jumbo USB drives at your disposal that will fit your music library.
6) Use the Second Internal Hard Drive (if available) of your PC -- not optimum, as you really want to physically separate the storage of backups from the originals, but good as a tertiary storage device.
By keeping only one copy of your music (other than on the iPod), you are not truly 'backed-up' and are running a high risk of losing your music. Music files on just the iPod and the computer is not considered having any backup. If you cannot store your complete music files on the computer’s internal HD, then create and maintain at least two external sets (any multiple combinations of ExHDs, DVDs, CDs).
You need at least two full sets of your music, not including what is on the iPod:
-- One full set on the PC within iTunes (on internal HD or ExHD)
-- One full set on an separate external backup medium (CD/DVD/ExHD/other)
-- One (full or partial) set on the iPod
It is a good policy to backup all your important data. It is a very smart policy to back it up on more than one medium.

Can a time capsule store a movie from an external hard drive then allow that movie to be played on an iPad on the network?

Can a time capsule store a movie from an external hard drive then allow that movie to be played on an iPad on the network?

I don't use ipad for this so i am just googling.
https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/media-player-playerxtreme/id456584471?mt=8
https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/oplayerhd-lite-best-free-video/id385896088?mt=8
http://www.freemake.com/blog/5-free-video-players-for-ipad/
Anything that will play from Samba network file store..
You will probably also need filebrowser loaded on the ipad to find the files.
Is the ipad necessary btw.. ?? If you only want to play the file to your TV you can buy a WD Live TV.. unlike the Apple TV it is a media player.. and can play files of almost any format direct from the TC.

I have all my music on an external hard drive. I just transferred all my files to a new hard drive . How do I sync all my files with my itunes library without losing all my playlists etc and keep everything intact?

I have all my music on an external hard drive. I just transferred all my files to a new hard drive . How do I sync all my files with my itunes library without losing all my playlists etc and keep everything intact?

Launch iTunes with the Option key held down, click on Choose Library, and specify it. If the external drive doesn't contain the iTunes database files, create a new library there and import that music.
If the library contains any rented movies, they won't play on a different computer.
(109334)

MY hard drive crashed and i lost all my files. How do i move my files from my phone or ipad back to my new hard drive?

MY hard drive crashed and i lost all my files. How do i move my files from my phone or ipad back to my new hard drive

See Recover your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device.
tt2

I have imported and processed photo's in Lightroom 2 and kept stored files on external hard drive. External hard drive crashed....how do I export photo's from Lightroom when it says 'file not found'?

Folders with photo files are lost due to external hard drive crashing. Processed photo's are still in LR. How can I export from LR to a file (any file) that no longer exists? Help!!!

Well, no backups, the technical term for that is "a problem". I think from this point forward, you need to commit yourself to making regular automated backups of all of your photos and catalog file to different physical disks, no excuses.
Your photos are not stored in Lightroom. However, Lightroom does create "previews", this is what you are seeing, but these are usually smaller and low-quality compared to the originals. There are plug-ins that can extract the previews from Lightroom. One such plug-in is here robcole.com - PreviewExporter

All of my imovie events are stored on an external hard drive. How do I backup this external hard drive? If the external hard drive crashes, how do retrieve the imovie events?

I have all of my imovie events stored on an external hard drive in order to save space on my MacBook Pro's internal drive. I currently back up both my MacBook Pro and the external hard drive using a second external hard drive via Time Machine. I have a few questions:
1. How can I be sure that the external drive is actually being backed up.
2. How do I retrieve the imovie events if the 1st external hard drive crashes?
Thank for your help!

Let me give you some thoughts. I can tell you my plan, but ultimately you will need your own plan that makes sense for you.
I do not think that your idea of having two separate Time Machine destinations will work. You can have two external drives as Time Machine volumes, but they will both back up the same data set. You cannot dedicate one to iMovie and one to everything else. They will both have everything, so you may still have a space problem.
One way to overcome this is to back up the iMovie volume by using a tool like SuperDuper! or Carbon Copy Cloner. The good news is that your Event files should be pretty stable and there is no need to back them up every 15 minutes. So something like SuperDuper, which you can set to automatically backup once a day, for example, is probably fine. I am pretty sure that this would work if you kept the Projects on the same external drive. As long as Projects and Events are on the same drive, then the cloning stragy should work (but you should always test.)
Because projects change more often than events, and projects can become corrupted, I would definitely back up the Project Library to Time Machine. You can do this even though it is on an external drive. (And even though you may be periodically backing up the entire drive that contains the projects.)
Here are some thoughts on how I approach backup, copied from an earlier answer...
============================================================
Great question. I think the issue of backup is a important one, and one I always worry about since I have a lot of video footage that is irreplaceable.
For back-up, it is helpful to define the risk you are trying to protect from.
For example,
1) risk of corruption in iMovie --> I use Time Machine
2) risk of hard drive failure --> I use SuperDuper! nightly for bootable backup) and Time Machine all the time
3) Risk of theft or fire --> offsite backup
Here is what I do...
1) I back up my boot disk with SuperDuper automatically each night so I always have a bootable system.
2) I back up my original video files. For my Motion JPEG, VHS-->AIC, DV, and 8MM to DV, the EVENT is the copy I back up. (I keep the tapes, but I never want to have to import the tapes again.)
For my AVCHD high def video, I back up the camera archive of the AVCHD, but I am not currently backing up the Event files, because I would need from 4 to 8 TB to back up these events depending on whether I made one copy or two. I can always re-create the Event from the camera archive.
3) I use CrashPlan for my offsite backup. It costs less than $4 per month, and I seeded the initial backup to an external drive to minimize having to transfer video files over the Internet. I currently have over 2TB of data backed up to CrashPlan, which includes my entire boot drive, and the files described in #2.
4) All of the above is automated, so I don't have to think about it too much. If I have to manually do stuff, I tend to get behind.
You have to consider the value of total multiple redundancy vs. the likelihood that 2 or three unlikely events would all happen at once. For example, CrashPlan could lose my data. My hard disk could fail. I could lose everything in a fire. But it is unlikely that they would all happen at once, except in nuclear war, in which case, who cares?

How do I export itunes library onto an external hard drive so i can put the music on my new mac book?

How do I export itunes library onto an external hard drive so i can put the music on my new mac book?

iTunes: How to move your music to a new computer [or another drive] - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527
do not confuse moving your whole folder and library with moving just media files as in
iTunes for Mac: Moving your iTunes Media folder - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1449
Quick answer if you let iTunes manage your music: Copy the entire iTunes folder (and in doing so all its subfolders and files) intact to the other drive. Start iTunes with the option key held down and guide it to the new location of the library.

Post external hard drive crash, imovie6 files no longer open despite all data being present

my external hard drive crashed.
Thanks to ontrack, I recovered most if not all of the data, and this included the iMovies, I was told, but not one iMovie will open.
The data size is the same as when they were functional. Yet, when clicking on the icon for the movie, it opens and then I see a prompt that says, "A project file is missing..." If I ignore all, the movie never opens. I dont ignore all, the movie does not open.
My questions:
(1) can I fix these files myself? If so, how?
(2) If this is too hard for a novice, is there a company who can look at priceless imovie files and fix themquestion
(3) is this a lost cause?
I've lost upwards of 15 imovies (and the countless hours and love put into each). I'm willing to go to some lengths to fix them, including paying someone.
Thoughts/advice/suggestions?
Thanks.
Damon

I'd like to amend my original post... This should be helpful to anyone out there...
my external hard drive crashed.
I DID NOT have documents backed up properly.
....I KNOW....
sigh...
Thanks to Ontrack, I recovered most if not all of the data, and this included the iMovies, I was told. Yet, when trying to open each file, none will open.
I've tried almost everything, including:
(1) show package contents (and trying to drag and drop "TimelineMovie.mov from cache to new iMovie)(nothing happens when dropping it into the new iMovie--quicktime opens but then nothing)
(2) show package contents (and clicking on the backup copy with ~ in the file name)(again, nothing happens)
What I know is the following:
(1) The data size is the same as when they were functional.
(2) Yet, when clicking on the icon for the movie, it opens and then I see a prompt that says, "A project file is missing..." If I click "ignore all", the movie never opens... i see it loading, loading, loading, and then it stops about 3/4 in.
(3) If I dont "ignore all", the process is the same.
(4) when I go into the media file, i see that all of the data is there
(5) while my new external hard drive(S)...lol... have plenty of space, my current macbook pro is maxed out and I operate with just under 1gb of available memory
My questions:
(1) do I have any hope here?
(2) If so, how do I fix these priceless files myself? I know, if priceless, why not backed up? again, sigh...
(3) If too hard for a novice, is there a company who can look at priceless imovie files and fixes them?
Again, I've lost MANY imovies (and the countless hours and love put into each). I'm willing to go to some lengths to fix them, including paying someone.
Thoughts/advice/suggestions?
Thanks.
Damon

I transferred my iTunes library from one external hard drive to another and added more music on the same day. How do I get rid of my duplicate files without going through them one by one which would take forever?

Please help. I have transferred my iTunes library from one external hard drive to another plus added additional music now I have duplicates of the same music in many albums. How do I delete the duplicates without going through them one by one which would take forever? I understand how to get the "show exact duplicate" feature up on iTunes but, because they were added to the library on the exact day I can't seperate them I'm that manner. So each duplicate is right next to eachother in the exact duplicate screen.

My DeDuper script is designed to help clean up. See this thread for background.
tt2

External hard drive crashed...need to move iTunes music files

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