Hard drive crashed, files transferred BUT "files cannot be found"????

My hard drive crashed so I bought a new computer and used my actual i-pod to transfer my music files onto an updated version of I-tunes onto the new computer. All of the files showed up, but there are grey exclamation points next to almost all of the songs and a pop-up stating that "original files cannot be found". When I try to find them used edit/preferences/advanced I find where i-tunes has put a few of the files but the rest of them are missing??
I don't understand because I'm able to listen to the songs on my i-pod but I just can't "find them" when I use the actual computer. What happened??

Ejohan ,
Let me see if I've got this right,
1. You're using an unsupported "lite" version of a virus-prone OS, Windows ME to host iTunes.
2. You're not using any virus protection software.
3. You don't backup your system.
And you're mad at Apple because you lost your music? I hate to break this to you but it's your fault you lost your data not Apple's fault. You got exactly what you asked for based on your actions. You made the decision to cut corners and unfortunately you paid the price. Be an adult, admit it, make changes so that it doesn't happen again and move on the wiser for your experience.

Similar Messages

I just transferred my hard drive to an external but I cannot find the location of all of my photographs. A caution message pops up every time I try to open my library. HELP!

Hello! So i'm not super computer savvy so bear with me. I just bought an external hard drive for my ibook and I believe I transferred everything to the external from my laptop. But, I'm having trouble finding all of my photographs on the external hard drive and I'm afraid I've lost a number of them because I deleted a large amount once I made the transfer. When I try to open my library from the external hard drive, a caution message pops up. I've looked at a number of discussion forums and tried to open iphoto with the option key to open a different library but there is only one library available and it takes me back to the photo library as it is on my laptop hard drive. Any suggestions? Does this mean I lost the photos I deleted? And if so, will someone help me learn how to trasnfer files properly?
Thanks!
Blair

When I try to open my library from the external hard drive, a caution message pops up.
Exactly what do you see?

Computer hard drive crashed and rebuild but lost itunes library.

My computer crashed from a bad hard drive. After I put a new one in and rebuild the Vista OS I attempted to sync my Iphone.
Itunes prompted my device is already tie to another library and gave me a option to erase and startover.
Is it possible to push the content from the Iphone library back to the itunes desktop? Or do I have to restart from scratch.
From googling I learn it is important to backup *.itl and will do so from now on.

I just want to point out that it's important to back up C:\...\Music\iTunes\. This contains library data files as well as the music files themselves.
Is your music purchased from the iTunes Store? If so, look at this:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1848
If not, we'll need to look at some third party options.
iGadget
http://www.ipodsoft.com/site/pmwiki.php?n=igadget.Homepage
iRepo
http://www.purpleghost.com/index.php?q=irepo
iPod Access
http://www.findleydesigns.com/ipodaccess/indexWin.html
TouchCopy
http://www.wideanglesoftware.com/touchcopy/
CG

I cannot find videos (not movies) that i have transferred to my macbook pro from an external hard drive, these files used to be on my windows PC!

I cannot find videos (not movies) that i have transferred to my macbook pro from an external hard drive, these files used to be on my windows PC. Photos and a few of the videos came over but i am missing the majority of the videos. Help please!!! I have tried omnidisksweeper with no success in finding them.
in my Usage it says i have over 40 gb of movies when i only have about 9gb which i can see using spotlight search. i really hope the other amount is my missing videos! these are videos of my kids as babies.

Read this post and do the migration again, putting the library in a portable shape first if necessary.
tt2

Old hard drive crashed, cannot get iTunes to find files

Hi,
Please help. Been working on this for weeks and can't get it right. Am at my wit's end:
Old hard drive crashed; had new one installed. Tech person was able to find my iTunes on old drive and saved to thumbdrive. Downloaded most recent software and synced iPod - it "read" some of what was on it but would not play anything. tried to consolidate libraries/import from thumbdrive, then could view my whole library, but when I try to play any song it says it cannot locate the original file - does not matter if i purchased it from iTunes or added from CD. This computer is authorized, I've tried all the other "tutorials," added files (didn't work), tried using my iPod to xfer music to new computer - didn't work. I have my old hard drive booted and ready to go, can see the files and have copied them direct from drive to drive, still didn't work (followed the directions to keep music folder organized, etc.) What am I doing wrong?? I can't use my iTunes at all - just downloaded three new songs and that's all I can play from it. iPod itself seems unaffected.
Thanks!! - [email protected]

Hi, you said you still have access to your old hard drive.
Can you move the entire itunes folder from the old to the new?
Not just the 'itunes music' folder - you need the parent folder of that.
It has an important file named itunes library.itl that holds ratings, play counts and the paths to your music files.
Copy that entire itunes folder and all its subfolders over to the new PC.
Press *and hold* the shift key while starting itunes and choose the ITL file you just copied over.

Palm Zire 31 sat idle for too long and then my hard drive crashed - I have recovered my palmOne files from the hard drive but don't know how to install to desktop?

Since this product is no longer supported by the manufacturer, I hope that someone out there will be able to help me find a way to get my calendar and contacts restored to the desktop. My handheld sat unused for a very long time, but my desktop calendar and contacts were current up until my hard drive crashed. I was able to recover the PalmOne files from the crashed hard drive but all I can see are *.dat files. When I try to import or restore, the *.dat is not a supported file extension. HELP! I have the original installation CD. Thank you
Post relates to: Zire 31
This question was solved.
View Solution.

.dat are the actual working files Palm Desktop is looking for - you can't import them.
Just create a user in Palm Desktop and copy the .dat files (that have more than 1k of data) over the existing address.dat and datebook.dat (or calendar.dat, I forget which existed on your device).
WyreNut
I am a Volunteer here, not employed by HP.
You too can become an HP Expert! Details HERE!
If my post has helped you, click the Kudos Thumbs up!
If it solved your issue, Click the "Accept as Solution" button so others can benefit from the question you asked!

Itunes cannot locate my files on the external hard drive - I changed preferences but still not locating songs?

itunes cannot locate my files on the external hard drive - I changed preferences but still not locating songs?

This work for the most part:
https://discussions.apple.com/message/20361846#20361846

Hard drive crash - new computer - files cannot be found

I had an extensive hard drive crash December 31st, just a few weeks after I had iTunes 8 updated, which lost all my music and I had to fill my music in manually again - which on a 60GB ipod is VERY time consumming...
My Computer guy installed a new hard drive and I have itunes once more - since he rescued a lot of old files from my former PC - the album artwork is there, so are the titles.
When I click on one I get the feared ""The song ... could not be used, because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it?" appears.
Now, this time I have all my music stored on an external hard drive ;O)
BUT - do I really need to locate each single file - click it on - and then iTunes can find it as well - as long as the external hard drive is on that is (if it's off the entire thing starts all over...)
Is there an easier way - I don't feel like playing this game again with 55 Gb of music?!
My frustration level has sunk to a new record and I am almost ready to give up on iTunes and my iPod - I seem to spend half my life with them lately :o(
HELP - PLEASE!

Is this a new drive or one that you've been using with you mac for a while?

HELP! My hard drive crashed, can I copy my iTunes library files to a new PC

My hard drive crashed, but I attached it as a slave drive using an older PC and I can see all of my files but I can't start any programs (iTunes) from this slave drive.
How can I copy iTunes music files and library to a removable drive, and then use that drive to restore it all in iTunes on another PC? I would like to keep my playlists too.
I have everything I want on my iPod too, can I just copy everything from my iPod to my new PC? Which is easier?

I have everything I want on my iPod too, can I just copy everything from my iPod to my new PC? Which is easier?
For iTunes version 7 or later, then you can transfer purchased iTunes store music from the iPod to an authorized computer by using the "file/transfer purchases from iPod" menu. Note that the maximum of 5 authorized computers applies here.
Find out how to do that here.
How to copy iTunes purchases from an iPod to a computer.
For all other non purchased content (your own CDs etc) try this method which works on some Windows PCs.
Enable your iPod for disk use.
See: iPod Disk Use.
Open iTunes and select edit/preferences/advanced/general. Put a check mark in the box marked "copy files to iTunes music folder when adding to library" and also "keep iTunes music folder organized", then click 'ok'.
Connect the iPod whilst holding down the shift/ctrl keys to prevent any auto sync, and if you see the dialogue window asking if you want to sync to this itunes library, click 'no'.
Then go to file/add folder, open 'my computer', select your iPod and click 'ok'.
The music files should transfer to your iTunes.
If this doesn't work (and it may not because officially it's not supposed to), check out the instructions/suggestions here.
Music from iPod to computer (using option 2). This a manual method using "hidden folders" and although it works, it is a little more involved than other methods.
Much easier ways are to use one of the many 3rd party programs that copy music from the iPod to the computer.
One of the most recommended is Yamipod. This is a free program that transfers music from iPod back to the computer. However, it does not transfer playcounts/ratings etc.
Another free program is Pod Player.
SharePod is also freeware.
If you want to recover just the structure of playlists from the iPod (and not the actual song files themselves), there's iRepo for Windows. which I understand has this feature along with all the standard features for these programs.
iPodRip also has the feature enabling you to reconstruct playlists.
There is also CopyTrans. This does preserve ratings/playcounts etc if those are important to you but this program is not free. It also supports video transfer.

Accessing site files on .mac for iweb when hard drive crashed w/out backup

Hello,
My hard drive crashed. I built my website on iweb, had it stored on my desktop before being able to actually back it up.
I have been able to grab my site files from idisk, but cannot drag & drop the website into my desktop, so I can update it.
Can you please add this feature to the iweb software. I do not understand why I could save the website on the .mac
server, and not access it when I need it.
This should definitely be a feature for working with .mac.
Please let me know. I am a fine artist, and the site is great.
Help please.
Kellyann

There is no way for your to do this unless you remembered or knew to backup a file called "Domain" from your hard drive before you formatted it. The pages that you already published and that are still online do not constitute any sort of backup....they are simply the finished product of iWeb's processing. There is no way to import these files back into iWeb for editing from your iDisk or from .Mac.
In the future, you should know that iWeb stores all vital information about your webpages in a single file called "Domain". This file is the one and only file where iWeb stores everything it needs to be able to edit your webpages and publish them. This is the file that you would need to backup in case anything happens to your computer....or you just want to use iWeb on another computer. This file is changed everytime you make a change in iWeb, so in terms of backup, it is wise to make a backup after every major change that you make to your websites so that you always have the most recent work backed up. This file by default is located on your hard drive in the following folder pathway..... HardDrive/Users/yourname/Library/Application Support/iWeb/.... It is best to leave the file here in this location unless you are familiar with iWeb and its treatment of multiple Domain files.
I am sorry to be the one to tell you this bad news. You have lost the ability to edit the sites you have already published. Unless you have a backup copy of this Domain file laying around somewhere, you only course of action will be to recreate your site from scratch.

Sync files to computer from iPod after hard drive crash

My main hard drive crashed that had all of my music. I'm guessing only a few sectors failed since I was able to recover 95% of my music library but all of my songs had since been transferred to my 64gb gen 5 iPod touch.So now I want to pull all of my music off of my iPod and compare it to the songs I was able to recover (I have already added the recovered songs to itunes).
My problem is that when I sync my iPod I don't see any music at all. When I first connect the iPod it doesn't even show any audio files on the device but when I backup the device it shows the correct size amount for the files (24.88gb). Even though the bar at the bottoms shows that I have 24.88gb of audio files nothing is shown when I click on Music under my device. *** is going on here. I refuse to believe that I can't get the songs FROM my iPod.
Any help here would be much appreciated

Syncing to a "New" Computer or replacing a "crashed" Hard Drive: Apple Support Communities
or
Recovering your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device: Apple Support Communities

Moved iTunes library to an ext hard drive to make space on my int drive... Followed steps from apple. Now I cannot access my music... It says: "File could not be used because the original file cannot be found. Would you like to locate it?"

Moved iTunes library to an ext hard drive to make space on my int drive... Followed steps from apple. Now I cannot access my music... It says: "File could not be used because the original file cannot be found. Would you like to locate it?"
I moved my iTunes library to my external hard drive some time ago and I followed the directions listed here on the apple support page. It did copy my library and now is on my hard drive... I can open iTunes and use it to sync all of my devices but I would like to play my music... I can see all of my music files but can not play them if I click on an album or song it says the following: "(file name) could not be used because the original file cannot be found. Would you like to locate it?" I click locate but do not know where to go from there? I need a way to access all files and not to hunt down one at a time on my hard drive... I am pretty sure I deleted the original library to make space on my internal drive which was the reason for moving it. I have tried and tried to fix it and do not have a lot of time to do so with a one and two year old at my house who do not like it whenI sit down at my computer. What to do??? Any help is much appreciated!!!

See Make a split library portable. Move all of the bits of the library together in the the correct shape and it should work. Or undo exactly what you did and then start over.
If you're a former Windows user don't try merging two folders together that have the same name by dropping one into the same folders as the other, as that goes badly on a Mac.
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

Hard-drive Crash!! - Possible to get files from Apple TV to my new hdd?

My hard-drive just crashed and I just received the new hard-drive. I was wondering if there is a possiblity to restore into my new hard-drive the files I had downloaded from my old hard-drive to my apple TV. I have a alot of music, photos etc on my apple tv hard-drive, I hope there is a way to restore the files back to my new hard-drive.
Thank you.

there is no easy way... people need to realize that appleTV is not a backup drive and with all the valuable, irreplaceable things on your computer you need to have a backup strategy... can you really afford to lose everything on your computer? don't buy one hard drive, buy two... one to replace the dead one and one for a backup drive or buy a hard drive and a time capsule (with time capsule you can do wireless backups from your macbook).
getting the files off would involve breaking your warrantee...
1) taking the appleTV apart (not an easy task, but you can find instructions online), removing the hard drive, hooking it up to your computer... by putting it into a USB enclosure or eSATA or internally
2) hacking your appleTV (instructions online) SSHing to it and getting the files off that way...

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

Hard drive crashed, files transferred BUT "files cannot be found"????

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for