Help! My computer died... is my library gone!

Our computer died Monday. We were not able to recover anything from our hard drive. When I downloaded Itunes on to our new computer, my library was empty. All of my music is loaded onto my Ipod nano (newest generation) If I hook up my Ipod to my new computer, can I get my music back? I'm afraid to hook it up b/c I don't know what will happen since my library is now empty. Can someone please help? Thanks!!

Connect your iPod to your new 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
Once you are safely connected there are a few things you can do to restore your iTunes from the iPod.
The transfer of content 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
iPod2PC Windows Only
iGadget Windows Only
iDump Windows Only
SharePod Windows Only
iPodRip Mac & Windows
YamiPod Mac and Windows
Music Rescue Mac & Windows
iPodCopy Mac and Windows
iRepo Mac & Windows (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
iPod Access Mac & Windows (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
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
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.

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Please help! Computer died and I'm stuck in Germany!!

Hello there,
My computer stopped working yesterday and I'm going to be in Germany till May, where there are no support centers, genius bars, etc.
When I try to turn on my computer it instantly goes to a gray screen, with only a small folder with a question mark on it. That question mark folder then turns into the finder icon, and they switch back and forth.
My comuter won't do anything else. I tried holding down the alt key, which brought me to a screen with a refresh button and and arrow button. On that screen the cursor can click either icon, then disappears and the screen freezes. I tried using the arrow keys but that did nothing.
The problems began last night.My computer slowly turned on, the cursor got stuck, and then it shut down. After that it wouldn't turn on. That was last night, and now its doing the folder icon thing I previously described.
Please help! This computer is how I do everything from Germany and it will be 3 months until I can bring it to a Mac center. Thank you so much!!!!!

Welcome to the Apple Discussions!
I'm absolutely certain there will be Apple Authorized Service Providers in Germany who can help you out. If you let us know where you'll be, someone here may even be able to make a recommendation.
http://www.apple.com/de/support/contact/
In the mean time, do you have your original install disks? The question mark means the iBook can't find a valid system folder to startup from. The reason may be a simple file directory problem that could be fixed with the Disk Utility on your install disk. Or, it could mean the hard drive has gone bad and we should get a S.M.A.R.T. status from the Disk Utility or an error code from the Apple Hardware Test (also from your install disks).
-Doug

Help library gone

My whole library has gone , it came up with a message saying that the ipod wasnt logged on this computer or something but I have never synced it on any other computer. Now whole library gone andall that money wasted? please how do i get it all back thaks

For iTunes purchases, see this Apple support document for information on how to redownload it at no cost.
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht2519
For content imported outside of iTunes, you'll need to re-import it if it's no longer on your computer's HD anywhere.
B-rock

Computer died need help to recreate my library

My desktop computer died yesterday and is not able to be repaired. I have all the music backed up on an external hard drive. Is there anyway to plug in my Ipod and start a new itunes library on my laptop?

My desktop computer died yesterday and is not able to be repaired. I have all the music backed up on an external hard drive. Is there anyway to plug in my Ipod and start a new itunes library on my laptop?

Help to get my photo art edit software working in my new computer.i saved a backup before my old computer died. i have a new computer now, and is what i backed up, all i need to make my new computer have what i had in my old/dead computer?

help. am not a tech savvy person.
i do art with a win vista computer filledwith photoshop cs3 and tons uf unbelievable plugins that were given to me by a now deceased ps wizard.
that computer died. i now have a new computer, but it is of no value to me without the same art setup that i backed up into an ext hard drive.
i have wetechies @ 300 usd/year trying to remotely do that. day 2, so far no success.
i cannot afford to buy all that. i have cancer also, and with 6 months to live, friends have generously bout me a great computer for my art needs.
but i need more than a computer. and i need more than photoshop. i need the programs n things in my plugins .
does anyone know how to do that?
my wetechies from india are on day two, and ony have given me a 1.16 kb pd icon! then asked me if that was fine.
i said to them it is fine if it works! which it did not.
tody is day 2, person 2 attempting this.
is this an impossible feat?
they are not familiar with plugins, but they do comp tech stuff.
my cs3 extended and the plastic case bearing the serial #, bought for 900 usd, were stolen the night i was in the hospital having my mastectomy.
i had the ps3 inside the plastic case in my living room drawer. when i came home, there was a psc ( not extended ) in one of the 2 computer drawers.
i am not sure why. but in the second drawer was my chest xray from the hospital???? i suppose ,since i never looked at it myself, it may have had my personal info needed for the thief to pose as me. also, my purse, with passport,all forms of id and my keys, were stolen on another day . but i have bad credit, so good luck to them.
i want to spend my remaining time doing art. I even entered an art competition for charity. sponsored by Lilly oncology.
i know of no one who did art in my building at the time which was in florida, where i was having my chemo and radiion, and first surgery.
that computer, was broken, by someone trying to fix it. perhaps the only person i know who wopuld have an interest in the plugins as he was a photog and was familiar with the photog and ps wizard who supplied me my art stuff.
wheredo i go from here, inexpensively, i was gifted the computer of my choice. it is awesome for art. but i wanta photoshop in it, which i do not use for much, but i do use the plugins.
question- is it true that my new 64 bit computer with win7 is compatible with cs3 and higher? as well as plugins tha are 32bit not 64 bit?@

Whether your music purchases will be in the cloud will depend upon what country that you are in, and whether it is still in the store (record companies occasionally remove their music) - you can't add music to the cloud without subscribing to iTunes Match.
You should be able to copy your library over from your existing computer : http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527

HT1296 Can't get my Music off of my iPhone 4. My computer died & had to get a new one, so now I cannot sync my iPhone 4 with the new computer, without losing all of my Music, because the only Music I have is on the iPhone 4 only, not on the computer. Help

Can't get my Music off of my iPhone 4...
My computer died & had to get a new one, so now I cannot sync my iPhone 4 with the new computer, without losing all of my Music, because the only Music I have is on the iPhone 4 only, not on the computer. No Backup anywhere : (
If I choose to sync it tells me all of the Content that does not match the iTunes library on the computer will be erased, do you want to proceed & I have to say no.
How do I replace the music library on my Computer with the Music on the iPhone?
I got my pictures off because you can access them when you connect the iPhone using Windows 7 but you cannot see any of the music so you cannot access it when using windows so don't know what to do...
Help...

The music sync is one way - computer to iphone. The only exception is itunes purchases. File>Transfer Purchases
It has always been very basic to always maintain a backup copy of your computer for just such an occasion. Use your backup copy to move everything to your new computer.

I have an old ipod and want to know how to get everything off it and into my iTunes library. My old computer died and the original library was lost, so don't have any of the content saved anywhere else.

I have an old ipod (it's the very thin oblong one in purple, the one before the one that does video) and want to know how to get everything off it and into my iTunes library. My old computer died and the original library was lost, so don't have any of the content saved anywhere else. I now have an iPhone 5S and listen to music on that, so want to be able to listen to things from the old ipod too.
Can anyone help please?
Thanks very much
Jane

Apple normally does not get involved in handling lost objects like this. Since a real name is not installed it will be much more difficult.
You can try contacting Apple support at the US number, assume you are US going to BWI from the listing: http://support.apple.com/kb/HE57 and explain the situation and see if they offer any suggestions.

Old computer died, need to import whole library/playlists to new

My old computer died without warning last week, and thankfully I was able to recover all my music and such from my hard drive and put it on my new computer. How do I import my whole library with playlists and everything into my new iTunes? I spent tons of time putting different playlists together and don't want to have to start from scratch. Is there a way to pull them off my iPod??
Any help is appreciated!

There are a number of third party utilities that you can use to retrieve the music files and playlists from your iPod. You can read reviews and comparisons of some of them here:
Wired News - Rescue Your Stranded Tunes
Comparison of iPod managers

Old computer died - how do i upload my music library from my backup discs?

My old computer died, but I do have a set of itunes backup discs. I've downloaded iTunes to my new laptop, but when i put in my back up discs, it shows the music, but doesn't transfer it into my music library.
I can't find anywhere in itunes to "restore from backup discs". When I plugged in my iphone, it asked me if i wanted to erase the music on my phone and sync to the new emplty library. NOOOO
Any help would be appreciated!
Thanks!

- iTunes purchases by:
iTunes Store: Transferring purchases from your iOS device or iPod to a computer
- For other music you will need a third-party program like one of those discused here:
Copy music

PLEASE HELP! Itunes library gone but music still on iPod

I recently have started organising my 'my music' files and deleting folders with more than 3 copies of songs, I have a lot of music 2500 songs and opened up itunes and all music I have imported (not bought) has gone, my music is still on my ipod though but I'm too scared to sync it in case all my music has gone, I still have my original music in 'my music' file but it's not shown up on library as usual PLEASE HELP!

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

I had an HP laptop with Itunes on it and kept my library on an external hard drive. I had a 160gb classic Ipod. My computer died and i am buying a new one (mac is out of budget) When I get my new computer, obviously I will download Itunes. My Ipod s

I had an HP laptop with Itunes on it and kept my library on an external hard drive. I had a 160gb classic Ipod.
My computer died and i am buying a new one (mac is out of budget)
When I get my new computer, obviously I will download Itunes. My Ipod still has all the music on it and the external hard drive is ok.
I don't want to "erase" or lose any information when I sync with a new itunes that is "empty"
What are the steps? After I download Itunes and set the folder location to my external harddrive what is next? Will Itunes recognize my IPOD? Will it load the music/list from my ipd or external into itunes?
Thanks in advance

The following user tip is worth checking through:
Recovering your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device

How do I get my iTunes library onto my new computer when my old computer died?

How can I upload my iTunes library onto my new computer from my iPod or iPad? our old computer died and now I cannot move my iTundes library from my iPod or iPhone onto the new iTunes. Anyone have a workaround for this?

It depends on what you mean by "died".
If the old computer is a Mac, you can try starting it up in "Target Disk Mode" - it doesn't attempt to start up like a computer, it pretends to be an external hard drive so it might work even if your old computer still has power (even if it's otherwise unusable). You then use a firewire cable (or or firewire to thunderbolt adapter) to plug the old computer into the new one, and can copy the music off the old hard drive.
OS X Mountain Lion: Transfer files between two computers using target disk mode
Or, if you're handy with a screwdriver, open up the old computer and take the old hard drive out. How easy that is depends on what model computer it is. You can then pop the hard drive into an "external enclosure" (about $20 from any computer parts store), plug that into your new computer's USB port and copy away - and you even get to keep using the old hard drive as an external hard drive. But that's assuming it really is the computer that "died" and not the hard drive itself.
Finally, if it's the hard drive in the old computer that died, but the computer itself is still good, you can try using a utility like DiskWarrior or TechTools Pro to try to recover the old hard drive, then use one of the above methods.
if you want to copy the music directly from you ipod, you can try these instructions - How to transfer music from an iPod to your computer | How To - CNET

My computer died, but I have 2 iPads and an iPod. How can I sync iPad and iPod to update iTunes library on ipod?

Computer died that I use to sync to itunes to iPod. Can I sync iTunes library using iPad and iPod?

iDevices cannot sync to one another, they only sync to a computer or iCloud.

My old computer died. How do I add new songs to my iPhone using a "new" library?

My old computer died. Its d-e-a-d DEAD! So I have a new iTunes library. All I want to do is add a few new songs to my iPhone and it wont let me unless I let it erase my other songs. Am I screwed?

Restore computer from backup, then you shall have same iTunes library ID and be able to sync.
No backup? This is worse, your options include:
- If your music was bought from iTunes, this is no worry. iTunes will fetch them from cloud.
- If you ripped your CDs, you'd need to re-rip them.
- If you downloaded your music elsewhere, you'd need to repeat the process.
If you must grab remaining music off your iPhone, there are some paid software tools exist to do this.
You may have a look at trying Ubuntu that used to have some tricks to do that (free). Just run a live CD or off USB stick, do not install.

My computer died. Can I recreate my iTunes library from my old hard drive?

My computer died and I had not backed up my iTunes library (I know, I know). The crash was not due to a corrupted hard drive, however, and I can access all the files from my old hard drive with my new computer, including any iTunes files. Can I recreate my iTunes library from these files on my new computer?
Thanks!!

Yes.
Transfer the iTunes named folder located in the Music folder from the hard drive on the failed computer to the appropriate location on your new computer - with iTunes quit when doing so.
In Windows Vista and Windows 7, click the triangles next to the folders and drives to navigate. In Windows Vista, the default location is: \username\Music\iTunes. In Windows 7, the default location is: \username\My Music\iTunes.

Help! My computer died... is my library gone!

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