Hard Drive Crash! Music safe / Library.xml not
I lost my boot drive last week and apple care had to install a new HD. None of my old data could be recovered. Needless to say, my "iTunes Music Library.xml" is gone. Is there a way to recreate it? I still have my iPod, can it be used to help recreate it?
Thanks,
Bert
If your entire library is on your iPod, you can by most part restore the library in iTunes by using applications like Senuti or iPodRip (latest versions on versiontracker.com).
As far as I know these applications can't restore Smart Playlists, but can restore other data, like ratings and normal playlists.
Similar applications can be found on Versiontracker by searching for 'iPod'.
Hope this helps.
M
Similar Messages
-
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 -
My hard drive crashed and my songs were not stored on my iPod.
My eleven year old son Mike has an iPod Nano. Mike had bought about 40 songs on iTunes. Our hard drive crashed and my older son had erased Mike's songs from his Nano.
Is there any way to download the songs again? How can I contact iTunes to find out?im sorry but unless you backed them up on a cd or flash drive they are probably pretty much gone
-
Hard Drive Crashed - Non-Recoverable - Reasons for Crash?
Hi, My hard drive crashed this week and was not recoverable. It was running on Tiger 10.4.
I have since bought a new hard drive, maxxed out my RAM, installed Leopard, and am reinstalling all my apps. QUESTION: does anyone know the reasons that would cause a hard drive to crash?
My specific concern is that I had some kind of bug in the system. If I reinstall all my old files (primarily Word docs, mp3s, and photos) will that trigger a second crash on my NEW hard drive?Hard drive failures are often simply random. Most times when the heads touch the platters, maybe a little bit of data is destroyed or maybe none at all. If the head crashes really hard it can do all sorts of bad things including taking out the system area (sort of the mother of all head crashes).
There are things you can do to reduce the chances of a crash. Minimize movement of the drive when it's in operation (it's generally safe to move when the heads are parked where there's no data). Some head crashes are caused by sudden environmental changes. It's important that the breather hole in the drive isn't blocked so that it can adjust to pressure changes. The heads are flying on a cushion of air, and abrupt changes in pressure can increase the chance of a head crash.
Of course the future may be in solid-state drives replacing hard drives for mobile applications. They're already highly resistant to shock and "best in class" SSDs outperform even the fastest 10,000 RPM mobile hard drives in read speeds. -
I lost my iTunes library on my pc when the hard drive crashed. None of the data on the drive was recoverable and I did not have a backup either locally or on the cloud. Much of the music is from old vinyl and podcasts which are no longer available.
How can I get the music that resides on my ipod nano (4th generation) back onto the new hard drive on my pc.
I have been reluctant to install iTunes on the new hard drive out of fear that I will lose all the contents on the ipod if I try to synch to the new hard drive.
Help!No backup is a huge mistake.
You can redownload some itunes purchases in some countries:
Downloading past purchases from the App Store ... - Apple - Support -
Hi, I lost my entire music library when my hard drive crashed 2 wks ago. It's all on my iPod, though..but the songlist appears gray. I just cannot figure out how to download my iPod music list BACK into my iTunes library. All they seems to address is Library -> iPod transfers. I'm not an iT geek.. Help meeee!
See Recover your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device.
tt2 -
Any way to get music from ipod back into library after hard drive crash?
I just survived and am recovering from a hard drive crash. For some reason, on my backup, I only retained about 500 of my 2500 songs in my library. All of my music is intact on the ipod however. Is there any way at all to resolve this issue and get the music from the ipod into the libary, or in the alternative, any way to back up the stuff on the ipod? Thanks.
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 the songs from your iPod. When your iPod appears in the iTunes source list change the update setting to manual, that will let you use our iPod without the risk of accidentally erasing it. Check the "manually manage music and videos" box in Summary then press the Apply button. Also when using most of the utilities listed below your iPod needs to be enabled for disc use, changing to manual update will do this by default: Managing content manually on iPod and iPhone
Once you are safely connected there are a few things you can do to restore your iTunes from the iPod. If you have any iTunes Music Store purchases the transfer of purchased content from the iPod to authorised computers was introduced with iTunes 7. You'll find details in this article: Copying iTunes Store purchases from your iPod or iPhone to a computer
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
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 - Windows version only)
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
Whichever of these retrieval methods you choose, 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. I would also advise that you get yourself an external hard drive and back your stuff up, relying on an iPod as your sole backup is not a good idea and external drives are comparatively inexpensive these days, you can get loads of storage for a reasonable outlay. -
My old hard drive crashed and had to get it replaced. How do I reinstall my old library to the new hard drive from my iphone4s so I don't lose my music?
Officially you don't. 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 properly backed up against loss. 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.
Note: The information below hasn't been updated since early 2013.
Some of the information below has subsequently appeared in a document by turingtest2: Recovering your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device - https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3991
iTunes Store: Transferring purchases from your iOS device or iPod to a computer - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1848 - only purchases from iTunes Store
For transferring other items from an i-device to a computer you will 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):
- Expod (free) - http://www.headlightsoft.com/expod/ - Mac, universal for 104.+ (newer machines try de-Tune)
- deTune (free) - http://www.headlightsoft.com/detune/ - Mac, 10.5+
- Senuti - http://www.fadingred.com/senuti/
- Phoneview - http://www.ecamm.com/mac/phoneview/
- MusicRescue - http://www.kennettnet.co.uk/products/musicrescue/
- 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
- iexplorer (free) - http://www.macroplant.com/iexplorer/ - Mac&PC
- Yamipod (free) - http://www.yamipod.com/main/modules/downloads/ - PC, Linux, Mac [Still updated for use on newer devices? No edits to site since 2010.]
- 2010 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. -
When I tried to remove the existing library so I could start ripping again, I got a message that said that all of the library entries I delete will be removed from my iPod next time I sync. I do NOT want to do that. It will take me some time to rip all of my CDs again, and I don't want to have an empty iPod in the meantime.
Is there a way to clear my iTunes library of all of the invalid songs (which is most of them) and not have them deleted from my player?
Thanks - any help is appreciated. Hard drive crashes are awful.Unfortunately I do not. I had all of my music on this external drive that crashed. I have a replacement drive now but the re-ripping process will be slow to come. I just basically wanted to start with a `clean slate' in iTunes without emptying the contents of my iPod.
Thanks for the reply. -
Asking for help getting previous purchases on my ipod touch and iPad... my computer hard drive crashed and I replaced it. My music was a mess. I restored most back but some of my purchased music is saying it is downloaded but it is nowhere to be found. I don't understand why I can't get the music I already paid for back in my library. Any help? would be appreciated...
You can redownload most iTunes purchases by:
Downloading past purchases from the App Store, iBookstore, and iTunes Store
Are you doing this?
You have to sign in and download each iTunes account individually. -
Hi everyone,
I am looking for help and maybe someone can help me please. My hard drive crashed and dell installed a new one. I have two iphones and an ipad with all my apps, music, amd photos. Can anyone indicate me what to do so I do not lose everything when I plug in my phone. ThanksNaturally you should have a recent backup of your "crashed" hard drive. If you don't, well, hopefully you've learned a lesson but that doesn't solve your current problem.
If all your apps and media were purchased from the iTunes App Store, don't worry about them. Redownload all your apps and media, then allow iTunes to sync with and wipe your iOS devices - which will also put all the apps and media on them. You'll lose your settings, and any data which resided only on the iOS devices, and of course you'll need to organize your iOS folders and home screens and whatnot. But you won't really lose much, and without a backup this is your best choice.
If you have media from sources other than the iTunes App Store, look at Senuti or similar applications designed to copy media from iOS devices to computers. Use that first, then sync as I described in my second paragraph above. (I mention Senuti because it's popular. There are other options which work just as well, and some are even free.) -
My hard drive crashed and I replaced it. I also switched from ATT to Verizon for my iPhone. Now when I sync with iTunes, only about a tenth of my songs are on the new iPhone. one or two from each album. I still have an iPad with all my songs on it. I subscribed to music match, but when I try on the iPad it wants to match with iTunes and erase a\the music on the iPad. I have no music on iCloud when I sign in. Can anyone help me???
If the hard drive that crashed is the one that stored the itunes library, be sure to restore the library from Time Machine (mac) or whatever backup you use on windows. That will get back your music. I suspect that the replacement drive has an empty itunes library and thus, perhaps, the itunes match used that to sync to its servers.
Try posting in the iTunes Match forum, you'll probably find more knowledgeable folks there.
https://discussions.apple.com/community/itunes/itunes_match -
I recently reset my computer and copy my music from an external hard drive to my itunes library. When I click on a song to play i get an error message that says " the song could not be used because the original file could not be found". But when I have my external hard drive plug in the song will play with no problem. What do I need to do to play my music without having the external harddrive plug in ???????? Please help
Because the location for each song in your library is on your hard drive. If the hard drive isn't there, how can iTunes play it?
You'll have to move/copy the music from your hard drive to your computer's hard drive.
Basically, EASIEST way to do all this, if you don't care about your play counts, etc...
-Delete EVERYTHING from iTunes, so that your library is now empty.
-Go to "Advanced" inside of the "Preferences" window, found in the "Edit" drop-down. You can also access Preferences by pressing Ctrl+, (Press Ctrl and the comma key)
-Change your iTunes Media Folder Location to something simple, but on your computer. I use C:/iTunes. Make sure "Keep iTunes Media Folder Organized" and "Copy files to...." are both checked. You can close Preferences now.
-Now, drag and drop your music from your hard drive into your iTunes library. iTunes will automatically add the music to your library, as you would expect, and also creates a copy of each file to place into that iTunes Media Folder you just created.
Shouldn't have any more problems... -
MY hard drive crashed and I had to replace it. Now when I try to sync my iPod with iTunes it says that I have to replace the old library (that is lost forever) with the new library to sync. I do not want to lose all the songs on my iPod! What can I do?
Copy all the content on your iPod back to your PC and into iTunes. Then go ahead and sync the iPod with your new library.
See this older post from another forum member Zevoneer covering the different methods and software available to assist you with the task of copying content from your iPod back to your PC and into iTunes.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2452022?start=0&tstart=0
B-rock -
I am confused. Is there currently a way to transfer 160 gig ipod Classic music to another computer of mine after my hard drive crashed? it has old limited library already on it?
See this older post from another forum member Zevoneer covering the different methods and software available to assist you with the task of copying content from your iPod back to your PC and into iTunes.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2452022?start=0&tstart=0
B-rock
Maybe you are looking for
-
What is the best way to use a greenscreen effect in FCP. I have taken video of kids in front of the greenscreen for thier Christmas program now I have to put them in front of various locations. I have used Pinnacle on a PC in the past but this will b
-
Problem with jsp tag in jsf file c:import
<!-- <c:import url="#{backing_Home.whichMenu}"/>--> <jsp:include page="#{backing_Home.whichMenu}"/> I am trying to use a JSF variable in jsp tag I am getting error like this javax.servlet.jsp.JspTagException: /#{backing_Home.whichMenu} at org.apa
-
How to fix ORA-33262: Analytic workspace MY_AW does not exist ?
Here is my version of : http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E11882_01/olap.112/e10795/select.htm#CBBGEGFA I don't understand why I get this ORA-33262, it just does not make sense ... The API should be doing AW ATTACH MYSCHEMA.MY_AW RO Solution 1 : The
-
As in the question, everything works fine, but there is a lag with the mouse pointer, latency issue. I have seen on other forums this has been an issue, but with different solutions, and some with no solutions. Matrox technical team have no solutions
-
I want to import one imovie project into another one. In other words, I have created a short sequence in iMovie 11 on one computer, and I want to import it into a project that I am working on, on another computer. I copied the project files onto a