HD crashed, music on external, how itunes can recognize?

Initially I was using itunes on my C drive with all my music data stored on an external drive. C drive crashed. I replaced it and system is running Windows 7 and itunes 9, but itunes does not recognize the data on my external drive.
- I have changed the folder directory under Edit>Preferences, but itunes does not recognize the files or folders. I have a hunch the file system was created with the older folder structure which the current itunes no longer sets up. Likely, in the past, when I updated Apple software, the newer version of itunes accomodated my existing folder structure, but the new version isn't getting it.
- I have access to all the old data on my crashed C drive. I can restore any library files or pointer files. I just don't know which they are or how the itunes system works.
Any help would be super appreciated!

Transferring your iTunes Library
Moving your iTunes Media folder
changing iTunes library
Apple Support iTunes

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HELP! "My Music" in external drive -- iTunes now can't find the music

I've used an external drive for my iTunes music for a few years. Not sure what just happened, but as of a couple days ago, iTunes can't find any of the music. Highlight a song and an exclamation point appears next to it.
I went into "preferences" and remapped the directory to the correct folder, but it's still making me go back and "reorient" all my music, album by album to the "G" drive location. Anyone know how to fix this in one fell swoop? Seems to me remapping the folder location should've done it, and iTunes would take care of the rest.
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1 - in the future never delete a file until you have fully tested the backup you made
2 - depress the option key and launch iPhoto - use the :select Library" option and you should see all available libraries
Report back exactly what happens and what you see if it does not solve your issue
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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

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I've moved my music folder and now iTunes can't "find" my music

I recently moved my iTunes folder of music (46 gigs) from an external drive back to my iMac's internal drive. The music files are all on my iMac now (in the music folder), and I've changed the preferences in order to map iTunes to the new location. But when I attempt to play most of the songs, iTunes will give me a message saying the song could not be found, and I have to manually locate each song in order for iTunes to play it.
There seems to be no commonality to the problem either. For the "compilation" albums, I can kinda understand why I would have to do this. But I'm having to do it for single songs, full and partial albums, and even iTunes-purchased songs.
1) Why is this happening?
2) Is there a way to batch-process this requirement to map ALL the songs for iTunes so I don't have to do it for every other song file in my 46-gig folder?
3) Once I finally do "find" all the files for iTunes, will I face the same problem when I move my music back to another external drive in the future?
Thanks in advance for any advice.

I see. For your future benefit, here is the "canned" response I usually post for people trying to move their library to an external drive...
Assuming you use the iTunes default settings where iTunes copied added items to your iTunes folder and organizes your library (meaning - everything is all self contained in the iTunes folder), then all you have to do is drag & drop your iTunes folder (not just the iTunes Music folder you find inside the iTunes folder) to the external drive and copy the entire thing.
If you want to test that it worked or would like to actually start using it from that location instead, use these instructions when you start iTunes to point it to the new location...
How to open an alternate iTunes Library file or create a new one
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1589
If you are just testing to make sure a backup copy works and still want to use the internal location, then close iTunes after you verify it works, and restart iTunes again with the same instructions and point it back to your internal drive (original) location. Otherwise you are all set to use the library from the external location.
Additional info...
Back up your iTunes library by copying to an external hard drive
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=307074
Cheers,
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New PC, music on external HD, Itunes account on old PC

Hi,
I have a wonderful new PC which I want to use for my existing I-tunes account. All my music is on an external hard drive (where it should stay), but I believe that the art work is on the hard drive of the old PC (?). Can anyone tell me the best way of changing PCs without messing everything up ?
Thanks sooo much in advance !
Adrienne

You have not said exactly how you have your iTunes set up on the old PC.
I think you have your iTunes folder containing your library files and artwork on c: drive.
What is the setting for the location of your iTunes Music folder in Edit>>Preferences>>Advanced?
Does it point to the location of your music on your external drive.
If it does, the transfer is very simple. (If not post back with the setting)
1) copy the iTunes folder from Music on your c:drive to a convenient place on your external drive.
2) install iTunes on the new PC, but don't add any music. With iTunes closed, drag the iTunes folder out of Music to your desk top.
3) plug in the external drive and copy the old iTunes folder to the Music folder on the new PC, so it replaces the one you dragged out.
4) you need to check the permissions on the old iTunes folder. Because it was created on another PC Vista may not let you access it. You need to set the permissions so your account has full control of the iTunes folder. You may also need to do the same with the music folder on the external drive.
I will give some links on help with permissions at the end.
5) Open iTunes and go to edit>>Preferences>>Advanced and set the location of the iTunes Music folder to the location of your music on the external drive.
6) authorise the PC.
Vista file folder permissions help
http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/2464a180-e5dc-45d1-a2b8-3c8a 2b571e9d1033.mspx
http://www.mydigitallife.info/2007/05/25/how-to-take-ownership-and-grant-permiss ions-in-windows-vista/

HT203167 Music files present but iTunes can't see them

OK, I have the unfortunate situation that all of my music files appear to be present and correct, but iTunes just shows nothing at all. I have tried all of the suggestions I can find online, including changing the Music folder using iTunes Preferences/Advanced, selecting a new folder on startup by pressing the Alt key on my MacBook, and re-installing iTunes from scratch, but nothing seems to work.
Config: OS X 10.7.4 (Lion) and iTunes 10.6.3 (25)
I have a sneaking suspicion that this occurred just after the system upgraded my version of iTunes, but can't be 100% certain since upgrades seem to happen all the time.
This is obviously frustrating, so any advice would be gratefully received. It's an unusual case I think, in that I've got my music and backups, but can't actually play the blasted stuff with iTunes. As a last resort I may have to just re-import it all, but this will take and age and will almost certainly lose my playlists, so I consider this a last resort. Everything is there on the 'puter, so I don't see why it has to be so **** difficult!

Oh well, nobody replied so I went out on a limb and thought I'd try a combination of the various fixes that I had seen for similar problems on this forum. This seems to have worked, so I thought I'd document them here, in case anybody has the same problem. Yes, I know it's just repeating stuff that other people have said (by definition), but it'll be useful for me, even if nobody else ever uses it.
I'd pretty much resigned myself to screwing everything up, so I thought I might as well tidy up my iTunes folders to begin with, since these had got rather scrambled over the lifetime of iTunes.
As a first step, I exitted iTunes and used the OS X Activity Monitor to kill the iTunes helper.
I then moved all of the various iTunes media folders from the "iTunes" directory to the newer "iTunes\iTunes Media" folder. The media folders that I had on my system were: Album Artwork, Audiobooks, Books, Mobile Applications, Movies, Music, Podcasts, Ringtones, TV Shows, Voice Memos, iPod Games and iTunes U. Note that this is just what I found on my setup - ymmv.
Rather pleasingly, by performing this step I located a number of orphan media files that I hadn't seen for ages (years in some cases), so it was a step well worth doing imho.
Since I didn't want to waste time actually moving any files at this stage, I started up iTunes and set the iTunes/Preferences/Advanced dialog to disable the "Copy files to media folder" option.
I then dragged each of the media folders from the Finder into iTunes. I was really pleased that it was able to automagically assign them to the correct categories under the iTunes LIBRARY. Apart from the music selection the transfer was pretty fast, which made it easier to stomach. I also began by transferring some of the smaller folders (e.g. Books) which reassured me that the process was working correctly.
Note that the "File/Add to Library..." menu option did not work in the same way - only dragging from Finder.
After all of this, my media content inside iTunes was pretty much pristine, with all of the media located, in the correct place and with al of the artwork as expected.
Unfortunately, I had lost all of my playlists, which is something I had resigned myself to. However, I'd read elsewhere that these might be recoverable from the "iTunes Music Library.xml" file. I did a quick scan of this file and was able to locate some of my old playlists - much to my surprise (recall, this was after I had already made several attempts to recover my files, so I was expecting this to have been scrambled).
I therefore copied this file to my desktop and used the iTunes "File/Library/Import Playlist..." to see if I could recover any playlists from this file. Amazingly, they all re-appeared. Better yet, they actualy worked, despite the fact that I had moved loads of the files during the earlier housekeeping stage. A few playlists were duplicated but it was a trivial step to delete the unwanted ones.
To finish up, I re-enabled the "Copy files to media folder" - fully expecting this to take an age to move the files around. Once again, I was pleasantly surprised that nothing seemed to happen - possibly because all of the media files were already in the 'correct' location - I'm not sure on this point.
So, to finish - all of my media files are back in iTunes, all of the playlists recovered, and I've also recovered some music files and movies that I thought I'd lost. Not a bad outcome for a couple of hours work (most of which was during the initial housekeepign step).
If I had the time, it'd be nice to write a script to do the housekeeping step, but well, you know how life goes...

ITunes music in folder but iTunes can't locate it after transfer to exHD.

I recently purchased an external hard drive to transfer all my music to since my internal hard drive is full. I followed all the directions to change the iTunes folder to the external drive but it only copied 338 of 619 folders(artist). I tried it again and it copied 558 folders. I finally changed it back to the original folder but now most of the music,videos, etc. are not found by iTunes. However, the info in the current iTunes window shows I have all the albums,artist and songs. All the album art is there too. I've tried selecting a few songs and bringing them over manually and iTunes plays like normal. I really need to get the music off the internal hard drive to free up space but I first need to have iTunes find all the music that is in the iTunes Music folder. I have also tried removing the iTunes library file and replacing it with the previous one before the 8.0 but that didn't help so I put it back the way it was. Is there a simple way to tell iTunes to search the folder and replace the missing songs/movies/etc. inside of locating them one by one?

Well I finally got it to work. Part of my problem was with my Time Capsule. When I finally got it working and could access the iTunes folder on it and I just restored the old iTunes Library file and erased the current one. It couldn't find about 10 artist but I just did the "add to library" command and got them all back. I also create the new file location in the window pane through iTunes instead of creating a folder on the external drive then just picking that folder. I think iTunes prefers you create the new folder within the software. Lastly, I copied the new iTunes Library file and dragged it into the "Previous Library" folder as a backup.

My music is there, but iTunes can't see it.

My wife and I have different accounts but share our music files. The files are located in the Users/Shared/iTunes directory. Both of us have a shortcut from ~/Music/iTunes to that location.
After upgrading to v 7.6, everything works as normal for my wife. When I open iTunes, however, I see nothing in my library. According to the preferences, my version of iTunes is still pointing to the correct location. I've checked all the file permissions and I have read/write access to all of the iTunes files in the shared location.
I tried importing an existing song file from my iTunes Music folder just to see where it would end up. It showed up in iTunes in the correct location without duplicating the song.
What could be wrong? I'm at a complete loss for what to do next. How is it possible that iTunes recognizes all of the files when logged in under one account but not the other?

Adam,
In both iTunes accounts ..... navigate from Menu Bar ..... iTunes/Preferences/Sharing and check that both accounts have the appropriate boxes checked or filled-in to conform with your setup.
DIXIE

Can i access my music without connecting to itunes, can i access my music without connecting to itunes

Basically my friend was on my iPod and the battery was low. So I turned off my iPod as my charger was at home. When I turned it back on however, my iPod would not turn on and was stuck on a screen showing a plug pointing up to a disc which read 'iTunes.' I know I have to plug in my iPod to itunes but my previous laptop broke and so I was wondering, if I plug my iPod into a new computer, will it delete all my songs? If so, how do I stop it? Can I get the songs back?

They will not be accessible and you'll need to restore your iPod, which will wipe all content and data from the device. You can redownload almost all past iTunes purchases again at no cost. See this article for more information.
Downloading past purchases from the App Store, iBookstore, and iTunes Store
B-rock

In order to create space on my MBA I just bumped iTunes media to G drive linked through Time Capsule. Now pointed iTunes at new iTunes libary on G drive and, even though all music files are there, iTunes can only 'see' 10 albums. Any help appreciated.

Bit more detail...
Mac Book Air has been struggling for space for a while so I bough at time capsule a) for back up and b) to host my itunes folder remotely. This didnt' work. I took it into the Genius bar and the genius there told me that time capsule is not designed for anything other than back up. Instead I have to connect a G drive through the time capsule's wireless router to my MBA.
I followed his instructions - moved my files from the Time Capsule and MBA directly onto the G Drive - which took a heartening 2 hrs so something must have been happening - and the held down 'Alt' when starting iTunes and selected the new itunes folder as the location of my itunes libarary which I wanted iTunes to 'point at'. When I opened iTunes only 10 albums are visible now.
In ITunes advanced preferences it says it is pointing at the correct folder. The files are all cleary there when I open the G Drive folder to take a look. But I cannot get iTunes to find them.
Any suggestions?
Secondary challenge - in spite of deleting the original itunes folder on my MBA I still get messages pop up telling me my start up disk is out of space and I need to clear some - I expected to stop getting this message now I had done this exercise above. I have emptied Trash. Again - any pointers appreciated. I am new to this world of 'intuitive' macbooks.
Cheers

After admittedly only a quick read the one thing you don't say is how you are trying to make this move. Most people with moving library issues do it the wrong way. Plenty of web sites tell you how to do it the wrong way.
If the iTunes application is started before the drive with the library is fully mounted and awake iTunes will revert back to the internal drive.

Im trying to import music from widows media player to itunes, but when i delete the music from media player itunes can no longer locate it, i just want the music saved to itunes so its not taking up double the space.

I am having trouble transfering music from windowns media player to itunes. If i delete the music from windows media player itunes cant locate the song.

See Getting iTunes & Windows Media Player to play nicely for tips on sharing the iTunes library with WMP.
tt2

HD crashed, music on external, how itunes can recognize?

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