HELP!!! Damaged Itunes File

2 days ago when I turned my computer on and plugged in my iphone, I got a strange error message and itunes completely shut down. When it restarted, I had lost ALL of my playlists. My songs are still there, but the recently played, 90's, etc. are all gone. Also when i synced my ipod, the same thing happened and now the playlists are gone from there. I check the apple support page and i began to reload the playlists, but when i went looking for them, i discovered something bizarre. I now have a file in my itunes folder called Itunes Library (Damaged) with the exact date the problems started. Anyone have any ideas how to fix this so I can get my playlists back or at least get the list back so I can start to have my recently played songs start to fill back in???
HELP!!!!
Thanks!!!

OK
Close iTunes
Drag iTunes Library.itl and iTunes Music Library.xml out of you iTunes folder to your desktop.
COPY the old iTunes Library(date).itl from the Previous iTunes Libraries folder to you iTunes folder.
Rename it iTunes Library.itl
Start iTunes - iTutnes should start converting it to the new version.
Once that has completed, assuming it goes OK, you can add your iTunes Music folder to iTunes with File>>Add Folder to Library. This will add any music you have added to your library since upgrading.
Once you are satisfied with your library it is a good idea to make a backup copy of the itl and xml files from time to time so you can recover easily if you get the damaged library porblem again.

Similar Messages

Damaged iTunes File

I have over 50gigs on my mac mini on my car and when it booted up today it said iTunes file was damaged and I clicked ok bc that was ONLY option then VIOLA NADA, no music etc... The music is still on iTunes folder but not showing in iTunes? How do I recover all this without importing it ALL OVER again?
PLEASE SOMEONE HELP
THANKS
G
http://homepage.mac.com/gwilchek/poweredbymac/PhotoAlbum37.html

Not sure about playlists but I suspect they may be gone and will have to be recreated. There are two database files in the iTunes folder which contains that information. If you opened your library and it was empty, then those database files may have been rewritten without the playlists. With the actual music, it is still on the drive and you need to re-add it, but with the playlists, they may have been overwritten unfortunately.
Which is why it is a good idea to back up those two database files occasionally somewhere outside the iTunes folder.
Patrick

Need help accessing itunes files on a share

My roommate was running out of space on her macbook, so I created a share on my iMac which has 1TB of space.
We moved all of her music from her computer to the shared space on my computer
I redirected iTunes on her computer to make the share on my computer the default path to play music from
I opened finder on her computer and dragged all the music into iTunes. Everything worked fine. It was playing the music files from my computer on her iMac.
On her macbook, I unmounted the connection to her share on my iMac and reconnected. She can still read and write to the Itunes folder on my iMac, but now when we try to launch iTunes, a message comes up saying "The iTunes Library file is locked, on a locked disk, or you do not have write permission for this file." So now I can't even run iTunes because it automatically closes after this message comes up.
This doesn't make sense because a) she does have write read/write permissions b) the songs worked just fine until i unmounted/remounted and c) even though Itunes says we don't have access, we do because we can still navigate to the music files on the share from her macbook.
Help! Thanks in advance.

Update:
I removed the "iTunes Library" file from Home>>Music>>iTunes, which allowed me to get back into iTunes, but I don't know how to connect to the files without it locking up again in the event that the mount to her share on my iMac becomes unmounted again.

Repairing damaged itunes files

Hi, not sure what happened but i went into my itunes one morninging and found my library file was damaged and a new one was in place. the new one only had a few of my songs... i lost play lists and almost all my music. any way to repair the old damaged file and get my play lists and music back? PS I have minimal computer knowledge.. Thank Q !

I'd love to know an answer to this one too. Better yet, is there any reason why iTunes just decides to randomly corrupt the library in the first place? It's really getting to be extremely annoying dealing with this once every handful of starts, especially when I have to resync my iPod up with a "new library" each time.

Help! Windows says my Itunes file is damaged.

Help, when I open Itunes after a while it will freeze it will then come up ''error itunes files damges'' then windows trys to repair it but it freeze and it doesn't repair. I'm thinking the best idea is to reinstall itunes on my computer. Is this what i need to do?

Yes, I would try removing and reinstalling iTunes. You media files and other data will be retained.

ITunes automatically imports music after re-boots (damaged .itl file)

Every time I start ITunes after my computer has been re-booted, ITunes starts importing my music library and says I have a damaged Music Library file (itl). If I allow ITunes to import my music files then it works fine (all playlists and ratings intact) even if I exit & re-enter the Itunes Application. However, as soon as I reboot the system I get the same damaged file dialog box. Also, I've tried waiting after I have booted the system for a long time to make sure it isn't conflicting with startup processes.
I have a lot of songs and it takes ITunes a long time to import each time, and it is really frustrating. A temporary work-around is that I make a backup copy of the "itl" and "xml" files each time after I exit Itunes when I have made changes. Then after a reboot when I start Itunes, I stop it from importing the library, finding artwork, gapless scan, etc... I copy the previously saved "itl" & "xml" files into the ITunes folder and the ITunes program will then start up correctly with all my music files, ratings & playlists.
_*A. COMMENTS*_
1. Since the "itl" file I copy into itunes folder (as per my work-around)is an exact copy of the "itl" file that was originally in the ITunes folder after a reboot, I don't think the ITunes file is actually damaged, since ITunes will boot from this file after Itunes is started a 2nd time. This also shows me that it is not a path issue.
_*B. SETUP*_
1. Dell 3.4Ghz Pentium 4
2. MS Windows XP Home Edition (service pack 3)
3. Recently upgraded to ITunes 9.0.3.15 (did not resolve problem)
4. McAfee Security Center virus/firewall software
5. Ad-Aware spyware checker(resident)
6. Spy-bot Search and Destroy spyware checker(resident)
5. My Music files are located in C:\Documents and Settings\My Name\My Documents\My Music\ (itunes folder is also in same folder)
6. My Itunes Library .itl file is 2,842 KB
7. My Itunes Music Library .xml file is 16,580 KB
_*C. WHAT I HAVE TRIED SO FAR*_
1. I have re-installed ITunes
2. I ran scan disk (fixed errors & checked physical disk). It did say it repaired something with an "XML" extension, but I didn't write it down because I thought it fixed the issue, but I don't think it was the itunes xml file
3. I cleaned a bunch of junk files (internet cache, etc) and defragged
4. I completely un-installed ITunes and ran a registry cleaner to remove all references to Itunes, Then I installed ITunes. ITunes imported my library and lost all my ratings & playlists however it found all of my artwork (not just automatically created from internet) I re-used an old .itl file for ratings/playlists. However I did try with the newly imported "itl" file and the same problem was persistent
5. I tried restoring my computer to month ago when everything was working correctly
6. I tried for hours looking through multiple forums and the ones that I found that have the same problem (only after reboots) were never resolved. Most of the others just tell people how to get their library back
7. I tried to call Apple Itunes tech support on the phone and was told that Apple does not provide Itunes phone support for PC's. I did pay good money for 30Gb & 16Gb Iphones, so I am giving Apple Money. I would own a Mac however my profession uses software not supported by Apple.
_*D. QUESTIONS*_
1. Does anyone have any idea why this is happening? I'm going to try to figure out how to start in some sort of safe mode and log the processes to see if there are any conflicts, but I'm running out of options.
2. I did copy rather large 1200x12000 artwork from the internet into some of the CD's because I was printing them, however I later removed the artwork and replaced it with 300x300. I noticed the Album artwork Cache & Download folders seems rather large and convoluted. I was thinking about possibly deleting all artwork from my library and deleting these folders to see if there is something in there.
Please Help, I've spent far too many hours trying to resolve this issue. I just don't understand that after uninstalling, and cleaning registry that re-installing didn't fix this issue.

Followup:
The link you posted wasn't really any help, but I believe I have finally resolved the issue (after 2 consecutive reboots without problems -- knocks on wood). I wish I could single out exactly what resolved the issue, but I went crazy and did a lot of things last night/this morning (and didn't have the patience to reboot after each single change).
Here's a list of a few things I remember doing
1. Installed updated hardware drivers using Uniblue driver update software (a couple were bundles that affected quite a few things). I booted up this morning only to get a repeated "REFMONINITIALIZATIONFAILED" dialog with the blue screen of death. I wasn't worried as I did a complete backup of all my personal files last night, anticipating a full rebuild today. So the next time I rebooted I used the "last known good configuration".
2. I don't have any indexing programs (that I'm aware of), but I clicked the library file, xml files and all other files in the itunes library root directory and unchecked the "For fast searching, allow Indexing Service to index this file" box after right clicking and selecting "properties" and then "advanced"
3. I rolled back ALL Uniblue SpeedUPMYPC2009 system tweaks (except internet) that were automatically done when I ran the program on 1/10/10.
I have a strong inclination that one (or more) of the Uniblue system tweaks did something that prevented my library file from being accessed the first time after after a boot that I started ITunes. I apparently hadn't accessed ITunes for a couple weeks after I ran the Uniblue program, so it didn't register that it could have caused the issue. At some point in the future I'll try to pin down which tweak caused the problem, but for now I've wasted far too much dealing with this and don't care if my computer runs a few milliseconds slower.
Thank you for responding

My purchased itunes files will not show up on my ipod after a virus Help!!!

I got a virus. I took my comptuer to a computer store, and got it fixed. They backed up my itunes files, and put them on a new hard drive. Everything shows up in itunes, but my purchased files from itunes wont sync to my ipod. They still play in itunes. Is there way to get them to sync? Help please!!!

They backed up the files but you need to authorize the computer again.

I have a MacBook Pro, I want to copy Itunes files to an SD card to play in my car, the SD Card doesn't appear in Itunes when I insert it, and I don't know how to convert the files to the correct format, can anyone help?

I have a MacBook Pro, I want to copy Itunes files to an SD card to play in my car, the SD Card doesn't appear in Itunes when I insert it, and I don't know how to convert the files to the correct format, can anyone help?
Thank you

So it seems from reading the COMMAND manual that my first issue is that I used a 16GB SD card, and the manual says it will only recogize up to a 2GB SD card. I did use my MB Air's SD card slot and crated a folder and dragged the music files to it, then to the card. So I am going to get a 2GB card and try that next. Otherwise just stick with the iPOD connected. At least that is 8GB

Looking for a specific iphone app - it is supposed to help with identifying/transferring data to purchased itunes files

I had to get my iPhone 5c fixed today because there was a problem with syncing itunes files from my laptop; I changed the names of some of the song files/artists from my laptop and attempted to sync it to my iphone, but that created a corruption in the process, which in turn ceased any kind of syncing altogether. So my iphone is restored/fixed, but I still have to deal with having itunes purchases and old CD data listed as "Various Artists" or "Unknown Artist."
The Mac employer who helped me told me about an app that can identify those "Unknown Artist" files and interpret the data so that the iphone can recognize it. I know that's kind of a conveluted description, but he basically said that I can type in the name of an album, and the app will identify the relevent artist name/album artwork (within a database of music info, i'm guessing) and send it over to itunes.
I can't for the life of me remember the name of the app, but I know it starts with an S, and the app icon has the color red. I searched the music apps, but I can't seem to find it, so i'm guessing it's under a different category.
Does anybody know the app that i'm talking about?

The outer brown outline is just the background from the website I saw this on. Only look at the white frame. Then you can see the black frame around the photo. Please help!!

I deleted all my iTunes files and need help recreating them.

Hello everyone
I accidentlly deleted all the iTunes files (NOT the content, just the files iTunes uses in its database). When I tried to create a new database, iTunes moved all my my music videos into the Movies or Home videos, which I don't want. I have a copy of my folder set up that I want iTunes to use and to not alter (exactly as it was before I deleted the files). Here is what I thought I need to do. Please corect me if I am wrong:
1. remove all the files that iTunes has relocated to different folders (IE, basically delete them all)
2. copy the folders onto the drive I use for my media
3. start itunes
4 unselect Keep my files organized
5. scan the folders
6. Select all the music and videos and classify them as "Music" or "Music Videos"
This should keep all the files in the same folders as the backup copy, without moving them to Videos or Home Videos. I assume this will also retain the current Artist / Album / Song hierarchy.
Is this correct?
Any better way to do this?
Thanks everyone who can help!
JoHN

1) If you bought them from Apple you canprobably download them again.
2) If you back up your computer as you should, they will be on the backup.
3) If you stop using your computer this instant (because as you use the computer it overwrites deleted files even if you have lots of space), buy recovery software ($100+), there is a chance you can recover some of them, though they may have lost filenames and will be in quite a mess.

My iPhone has two identical options under "iTunes wi-fi sync" that are the same computer. I only have one user on my computer, and I tried moving my iTunes file in Finder to organize it and now my library's not synced with my phone. Help?

My iPhone has two identical options under "iTunes wi-fi sync" that are the same computer. I only have one user on my computer, and I tried moving my iTunes file in Finder to organize it and now my library's not synced with my phone. Help?

I have the same problem. Right now my iPhone 5S shows 3 instances of the computer to which it is connected under Settings » General » iTunes WiFi Sync. I'm having problems connecting and syncing, and this is probably the cause: the phone chooses one of these connections, and it isn't the one that's actually in use. What's probably happening is that the phone and computer establish a connection using a dynamic IP address, the address becomes "disassociated" due to error, another address is associated, the phone retains each address/link, and each link is displayed as if it represents a separate computer (the fact that the name of the computer is identical is ignored, as the only thing that is considered important is the IP address). But that's all conjecture. More important, I'm not sure how to fix the problem. A network reset doesn't do it.

HT1364 help I just completed this task to free up my hard disc and be able to upgrade my iTunes but when I re-opened iTunes it is a blank new account! When I copied the iTunes file to the recycle bin it made me effectively empty as I copied over as it was

Hey can someone help???
I just completed this task (support.apple.com/kb/HT1364) moving my music to an external HD to free up my PC hard disc and all went well until I re-opened iTunes and it is a blank new account!
I also don't can't access anything from the recycle bin as when I copied the iTunes file to the recycle bin it said it was too large to copy over so made me effectively empty as I copied over as it was so big.
Any help gratefully recieved or where I can get some, I am going round in circles. I also don't know which itunes operating system I have, it is around 3 years old.

hi i had the same problem today when i updated my itunes to latest version. however, i have just found my songs in the 'itunes media' folder. this was accessed through 'my music' then keep clicking through until you find itunes media and all my library songs were in there and i then just added these files to my library and all were restored however, i have lost all my playlists but at least my 700 songs are back. very dissapointed with apple that they have let this happen with their latest update, the previous version was miles better than this one . hope you find them. stevo

Can't find previous itunes file after moving info to an external drive to move library to new computer!!! HELP

I have moved my itunes files numerous times to new computers as I get one. This last time I had everything running off an external drive, to conserve hard drive space on computer and hopefully from computer failure. I need to move library over to new computer and get away from old computer that has Windows XP to the computer with windows 7. After installing itunes on new computer and plugging in external to new computer, it finds all music and movies, etc., however, I can't seem to find the file that has the playlist info, play count, and to see where the backups of my iphone(s) are. I have been working at this for days to no avail. It may be right in front of my face but can't see where to find it. HELP!!!!

Hi mechellr!
Here is an article for you that explains in depth how to move your iTunes library from one computer to another:
iTunes: How to move your music to a new computer
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4527
Thanks for coming to the Apple Support Communities!
Cheers,
Braden

I would like to use GarageBand to remaster downloaded music files that are in iTunes. Poorly mastered files keep clipping and damaging my speakers. When I try to use an iTunes file as a new project, it greys out the iTunes songs so I can't select them.

I would like to use GarageBand to remaster downloaded music files that are in iTunes. Poorly mastered files keep clipping and damaging my speakers. When I try to use an iTunes file as a new project, it greys out the iTunes songs so I can't select them. Any ideas?

As I said - look whether your original file is damaged or not. If not, I wouldn't change it and find out what in your system makes it sound like it's clipping.
Good sound file, with volume maxed out. No need to change anything.
The same song clipped - no chance to repair.

In my computer some of the iTunes files got deleted accidently and I couldn't reinstall it . Evrytime I try torun setup file I am getting this error message "C:\Users\Rif\AppData\Local\Apple\Apple Software Update\" ,appreciate if anyone can help me on th

In my computer some of the iTunes files got deleted accidently and I couldn't reinstall it . Evrytime I try torun setup file I am getting this error message"C:\Users\Rif\AppData\Local\Apple\Apple Software Update\" ,appreciate if anyone can help me on this pls?

Even after deleting all files and folders from hard drive i am still getting this error!!

HELP!!! Damaged Itunes File

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for