Interesting iTunes library topic

Thanks for reading.
I recently had a hard drive that went bad. After using a data recovery tool, I have recovered all my music in bulk, and I need to add it back to my iTunes library.
I have "Copy files to iTunes library when importing" selected in my iTunes settings, so when I re-import these files they will be moved from the external hard drive they are now sitting back to where I want them.
My external hard drive, when doing a search in finder, shows that I have 12,387 music files. While importing these to iTunes, the process took a very long time. In the middle, iTunes crashed (go figure!). I restarted it and continued to import from where I perceived it left off. The process is finished now, however iTunes shows only 12,310 music files.
So somewhere between the transition from my external hard drive to the iTunes library location, 77 out of over 12,000 files were not copied.
My question is, how can I ever find which 77 are missing in an attempt to also import them?
I have looked up various methods for using Finder or the command-line, such as diff, however the directory structures and file names are wildly different because iTunes renames them when importing. I can do a search on Finder and obtain a listing of the music files in both locations, but there is no way for me to save these listings to CSV/Excel so that I could compare them without going line by line.
Does anybody have any ideas what I could do? I'd hate to arbitrarily lose 77 dear music files simply because they were lost in transition.
Thanks again,
James

Here are 2 possible solutions:
1) use a backup program that compares the contents of folders, like Compare Folders
Fore more options search the versiontracker or macupdate sites.
2) you simply could reimport the files from the external with iTunes, check "do not import existing files, apply to all" check box, and only the ones that aren't in your library will be imported. Then edit the smart playlist "recently added" to today and you should see the missing songs.
Given that iTunes crashed the first time you imported the songs, and the time it takes iTunes to scan and determine the files to be imported, this might be not your best option.

Similar Messages

I will soon be purchasing a new PC running Windows 7. I need to know how to migrate my iTunes Library and apple devices to the PC. Is there a previously published support document on this topic? Thank You.

I will soon be purchasing a new PC running Windows 7. I need to know how to migrate my iTunes Library and apple devices to the PC. Is there a previously published support document on this topic? Thank You.

Connect a blank powered external drive to the PC.
Right click on the Disk in the File manager and choose format: exFAT
(if it's a XP machine, first install exFAT from Microsoft and reboot)
navigate to your user account folders on the PC and drag and drop copy (or copy and paste) to the external drive.
(if a program has your files, then export them out first)
Hook up the drive to the Mac, and transfer files to the desktop or to their same appropritate folders.
Import photo's into iPhoto program, import music into iTunes etc and they will manage those files.
You can continue to use the external exFAT drive between Mac's and PC's
Do not format the drive NTFS or FAT, NTFS can't be written too by the Mac and FAT can't hold over 4GB sized files.
If you format exFAT on the Mac, it likely won't work correctly on the PC.
"Migration" type programs are a utter waste of time and effort between PC's and Mac's for the fact that only certain files (and no programs or anything else) will work between them, also it's a hassle and takes too long. So don't even bother with it.

PLEASE HELP!! How Do You Restore ITunes Library From IPOD Back To Computer

My entire library on intunes has been deleted and now all I have left is the music which i still stored on my ipod. I have done a total search on my PC and there is no track listings at all. My only chance is to restore the itunes library from the Ipod back to the PC. Is this possible and how do you do it. Am totally gutted and cant beleive the files are gone. Plllllease help me.

If you're using iTunes 7, you can copy purchased music back to iTunes directly. If you're not using iTunes 7 or want to copy other tracks, the easiest way will be to search VersionTracker for "iPod". You'll find a number of utilities that can transfer your tracks and your playlists from your iPod back to your PC.
It's also possible to do this manually, but the procedure is rather involved. If you're interested, though, see this thread:
MacMuse: Computer crashed
Forum Tip: Since you're new here, you've probably not discovered the Search feature available on every Discussions page, but next time, it might save you time (and everyone else from having to answer the same question multiple times) if you search a couple of ways for a topic, both in the relevant forums, in the User Tips Library and in the Apple Knowledge Base before you post a question.
Regards.

How can I import playlists, ratings, and play counts from an old iTunes library into a new one?

After reading countless threads re: how to get the iTunes artwork screensaver to work, I decided to delete my iTunes library file and reimport all of music which resulted in fixing the iTunes artwork screensaver. Unfortunately (and expectedly), my playlists, playcounts, and other information were lost with the creation of a new library. Is there any way to import the playlists, ratings and play counts for my music from an old library file to my current one? I realize this may be complex, but I'm up for the task.
Thanks in advance,
B

I can't begin to describe how frustrating the screensaver issue has been for me (and I suspect countless others, judging by the number of threads on the topic).
I took your advice, though, just to test it. After backing up my current library.itl, I copied and pasted the old .itl file into its place. As expected the playlists, play counts, etc were instantly restored. And now the screensaver fails to work with the dreaded error 'No iTunes artwork found' which makes me think it IS an issue with the old library file. The only work around I've seen so far is to rebuild the library (which I did).
I'm afraid I'm going to be forced into choosing either a working screen saver or all my itunes data. Very frustrating indeed.
Here's a link to the 'definitive' fix for the screensaver, if you're interested.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3695200?start=0&tstart=0
Thanks again,
B

System restore / restoring itunes library

I recently had to carry out a system restore on my pc. i therefore lost my itunes library off my pc. all of the tracks (ripped from my cds) are on my ipod but i cannot find a way to transfer the tracks from my ipod to itunes on my pc. there have been a number of similar threads previously posted on this topic and i have tried the suggestions of a number of the threads but with no success. any sugestions?
sony vaio Windows XP

The transfer of non iTMS content such as songs imported from CD is designed by default to be one way from iTunes to iPod. However there is a manual method of accessing the iPod's hard drive and copying songs back to iTunes on Windows. The procedure is a bit involved and was written long before iTunes 7 so it requires a little adaptation as the iPod preferences are no longer in the location described for instance but if you're interested it's posted in this thread: MacMuse - iPod to iTunes
If you prefer something more automated then there are a number of third party utilities that you can use to retrieve the music files and playlists from your iPod. This is just a selection, 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, they are generally quite straightforward. You can also read reviews of some of them here: Wired News - Rescue Your Stranded Tunes
YamiPod Mac and Windows Versions
iGadget Windows Only
Music Rescue Mac & Windows
iPodCopy Mac and Windows Versions
TuneJack Windows Only
iPod2PC Windows Only

Sharing one iTunes library across multiple accounts on the same Mac

Hello, I've poked around at some of the posts dealing with sharing one iTunes music library across multiple accounts on the same Mac but it seems like this can only be done if the libary is moved to a shared folder. I realize this can be done but I was trying to share it the way it is described in a post on Apple support (See link below.). That post seemed to imply that you don't have to move the library from its original location (owned by account A, e.g.), rather just make a couple preference changes in the accounts, use fast user switching and voila. That doesn't seem to work. So my question is this: Is the only way to share one iTunes music library across multiple accounts on the same Mac to move it to a shared folder? I'm running 10.4.8 on an Intel iMac. Thanks in advance!
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93195

After reading this and several other related threads, I am becoming thoroughly confused about all of this. I have a situation similar to the one that pokerpal described in the post dated January 7 at 8:06 pm, except that the music files on my system are located on an external hard drive. Everything else is pretty much the same though - I am the admin user (and the main iTunes user and maintainer) and my girlfriend is a standard user who has no music in her own iTunes library. She can see and listen to and make playlists from and sync her iPod with the music in this library from her account, and I can do the same thing, independent of her, from my account. And if I make a change to information within a song, she doesn't see it, and vice versa, and I understand that. What I don't understand is why when I add a song or an album to the music files by importing a CD or downloading something from the iTunes Music Store, she has no way of knowing that unless I tell her, and then she can add it to her library by using the "Add to Library" function. Is there no way of automatically updating her library files to add the new song(s)? We have almost 15,000 songs and videos in that library, and I don't even want to think about what might have to happen if the answer to my question is "no." Interestingly enough, if I put an update to a Word document in the same exact location (on the hard drive), we can update that and pass it back and forth all day - why is that such a difficult task for iTunes to accomplish?
Sorry I went on so long, but this has been building up for some time, and none of the solutions I've read about here have really been of any help, so I'm a bit frustrated and, as I said at the beginning, confused.
iMac G5, MacBook Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Since reinstalling itunes i can no longer sync. Error message says already synced with another itunes library. I get a blank sync - no songs, photos ect as it comes up with this error whenever try to select what is to be synced. Help - lost everything

Since reinstalling itunes i can no longer sync. Error message says already synced with another itunes library. I get a blank sync - no songs, photos ect as it comes up with this error whenever try to select what is to be synced. Help - lost everything. Complete nightmare - Apple sort a fix NOW, but will take any help

Plawexki wrote:
... do you know if the contacts, photos, messages etc will be wiped?
Yes... Everything will be Wiped and Replaced with what is currently on Your Mac.
SYNCING with iTunes
See here > http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1386
From Here > http://www.apple.com/support/iphone/syncing/
You may find this information of interest...
Have a read here...
https://discussions.apple.com/message/18409815?ac_cid=ha
And See Here...
How to Use Multiple iDevices with One Computer

How can i transfer my new purchased itunes apps to my itunes library

actually having several problems, installed itunes on a new computer, have transfered/sync all of my existing ipod touch apps/music successfully. I purchased new apps and a movie, but they do not appear on my itunes library, how can i transfer these new purchases, to my new itunes library on the new computer, so they can be synced to my ipod touch. also, my computer is online and my ipod is online, but when i connect the ipod touch to my computer, and i try to update the software update, it says it cant because its not connected to the internet?...any info on either of these topics. thanks

Welcome to the discussions,
as already mentioned, use File->transfer purchases to copy your apps and bought media to your computer, or right click on the device in the device list and choose "transfer purchases"
To make sure that iTunes can contact the Apple server, check your security settings as well: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3125

5th gen iPod transfer iTunes library contents from device... Please help

I have a 5th generation iPod with video, a new laptop (Windows Vista) with the latest iTunes 10.4 installed and am trying to transfer entire contents to iTunes library. I have gone through help topics, discussions, manuals, etc. When I open My Computer and Select F: drive / iPod device my photo folders appear but none of the music files. My device does appear in iTunes but thats it. Since my previous laptop with the iTunes library associated with this iPod crashed a year ago, Im unable to access anything from previous library . I have been at this for 2+ hours, I hope someone is able to help me, please. Thanks.

See this older post from another forum member Zevoneer covering different methods available for copying content from your iPod back to your PC.
Different Methods for Copying Content from iPod to PC
B-rock

Please help - how do I import music from my ipod into a new itunes library?

Hello
I would very much appreciate it if someone could tell me how to get the music from my old ipod mini into the new itunes library on my new laptop.
The mini was previously sync'd with my old PC which died so my files are only present on the ipod. Upon loading itunes, the software is only letting my sync the ipod providing I wipe it (obviously not desirable...)
Thanks for any support, Andy

Connect your iPod to your computer. When you get the 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" as you already know will irretrievably remove all the songs from your iPod. Your iPod should appear in the iTunes source list from where you can change the update setting to manual and use your iPod without the risk of accidentally erasing it. 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. Check the "manually manage music and videos" box in Summary then press the Apply button: 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. 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 to a computer
The transfer of content from other 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 of some of them here: Wired News - Rescue Your Stranded Tunes
TuneJack Windows Only
iPod2PC Windows Only
iGadget Windows Only
iDump Windows Only
SharePod Windows Only
iRepo Mac and Windows
iPodRip Mac & Windows
YamiPod Mac and Windows
Music Rescue Mac & Windows
iPodCopy Mac and Windows
There is also a manual method of accessing the iPod's hard drive and copying songs back to iTunes on Windows or a Mac. The procedure is a bit involved and won't recover playlists but if you're interested it's available at this link: Two-way Street: Moving Music Off the iPod
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.

I want to put music onto my partners phone from my Mac computer. The message comes up that her phone is synced with another iTunes library (not in use anymore) and do I want to erase this iPhone and sync with this itunes library.

There is currently no music on her iPhone and all the apps are already in the iTunes library on the mac that I want to sync it to so its not a problem, the apps won't be lost.
My question is are photos and messages and contacts classified as iPhone contents? Because I don't want those to be wiped. So can I sync her phone to this iTunes library? I have not been able to find online whether or not photos and contacts will be lost.
Also her phone is already backed up on this computer because it gets plugged into it all the time we have just not tried to put music onto it yet until now.
Thanks for any help clarifying this

Plawexki wrote:
... do you know if the contacts, photos, messages etc will be wiped?
Yes... Everything will be Wiped and Replaced with what is currently on Your Mac.
SYNCING with iTunes
See here > http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1386
From Here > http://www.apple.com/support/iphone/syncing/
You may find this information of interest...
Have a read here...
https://discussions.apple.com/message/18409815?ac_cid=ha
And See Here...
How to Use Multiple iDevices with One Computer

Songs show up in my iTunes Library that I have not purchased - anyone else have this happen?

So I was just organizing my iTunes library and am finding songs that I have not purchased, have not interest in and are coming via the cloud.
Is anyone else seeing this? When I try to delete, it will only allow me to hide them... ***?!

Is your cloud account shared with anyone else? Maybe they're adding them.

Removing item from iTunes library AND computer

Under the "Help" search for the topic on iTunes 11 it says:
"3. Do one of the following:
Remove the item only from your iTunes library: Click Keep File.
Delete the item from your computer: Click Move to Trash. The item is removed the next time you empty the Trash."
However, those options don't appear.
I'm trying to delete the items from my computer, not just my library, but when I press delete it only lets me delete them from my library not my computer as well.
What's up with this?
Basically, whenever I delete something, it just deletes it from my library but no longer gives me the option to delete it from my computer.
I reset my warning catches etc.
No luck.
Please let me know asap.
-David

The second question about "Keep File" only shows up if the file you are deleting is in the iTunes Media Folder. If the file is outside the iTunes Media Folder, you won't see that second question.

I am unable to synch music from selected playlists in my iTunes library onto my new iPod Classic, despite meticulously following the User Guide.

I just purchased an iPod Classic, and after making sure I had the latest ver. of iTunes on my Intel MacMini, printed out the User Guide and carefully began learning how to operate the iPod. My first step was to ensure I had manual control (vs. auto synch) because I want only selected songs and playlists on the iPod, not my whole iTunes Library.
On pg. 24 of the Guide is the topic "Synching music from selected playlists onto iPod Classic." Just what I wanted. OK, I selected iPod "in the source list" (aside: Shouldn't it be "in the device list?" I dispair of imprecision). This brought up the iPod Summary page, showing I had selected Open iTunes when connected and Manually manage music and videos. Next I clicked on the Music tab.
This presented me with Synch Music next to an empty check box. Below it, and entirely grayed out was:
Entire music library (showing a checked box)
Selected Playlists, artists, albums and genres (next to an unchecked box).
There's also a third grayed out item: Include music videos that is checked.
When I selected Synch Music, I got the message: "Are you sure you want to removed existing mlusic, movies and TV shows from the iPod and synch with this iTunes LIbrary? I selected Cancel because:
1. The grayed option Entire Music Library is checked, not mly preferred option of Selected playlists, artists, albums and genres. .
2. I can't find anywhere in the User Guide how to "Select the Playlists" I want to synch to my iPod. At present all I have in iTunes is my list of playlists in the left hand side bar.
OK, my first thought was the checked box in the iPod's Summary window: Manually manage music and videos. So I went there and unchecked it, which immediately brought up an alert to the effect "Are you sure you want to automatically synch your entire iTunes library, etc. etc...? I quickly cancelled. Thus, I seem to be in a Catch-22 situation.
So the questions are:
How do I resolve the Synch Music issue so I am assured only selected playlists will be sent to my iPod?
How do I create a list of playlists in my iTunes library to be transferred to my iPod?
How do I manually move a playlist in my iTunes library to my iPod's lists of playlists?
Any help much appreciated. Thanks to all.
John in the Pacific Northwest

For the immediately problem, you can shut down the computer and disconnect the iPod.
There may be a process (program) running on your computer in the background that continuously monitors mounted volumes for things like maintenance, data corruption, and malware. The iPod's storage is a mounted volume. If you know of any such program, such as an "anti-virus" utility, and it has settings that allow you to exclude certain volumes, you can set it to ignore the iPod "disk" when connected.
Also, if you are using automatic syncing (not the manual method) to load the iPod, and you have Enable disk use turned ON, turn it OFF. With Enable disk use turned OFF, iTunes only mounts the iPods disk when syncing, then immediately unmounts the disk. Thus, other processes you have running on your PC (not iTunes) will have less of a chance to make the disk "in use" and cause this problem. You won't even have to eject the iPod before disconnecting.

My itunes library and ipod playlist disappeared?

i'm not sure what happened, but i intentionally deleted a bunch of mp3 files from my library (about 75% of my music folder) after uploading them to my 30 gig new generation Ipod. I believe that after this action, my Itunes library disappeared - including my Ipod playlist (the playlist i defaulted my Ipod to sync with). Now, whenever i open up Itunes, there's no music in my library or anything. I still have my 10 gigs of music on my Ipod that i had uploaded prior to this, however, i want to add more songs onto my Ipod. The problem and question here is, i'm afraid that when i sync my Ipod with a new playlist, will all of the songs on my Ipod be erased?
i had the idea of downloading IpodRip to retrieve the songs from my Ipod to my computer, then just starting from scratch and adding all the songs at one time, however, IpodRip would only open with errors and not retrieve my songs.
i hope someone understands this situation - i have a difficult time explaining it in type without sounding confusing. i'm not very feature-savvy with Itunes or my Ipod.

You can use a keyboard command to prevent your iPod auto-syncing with iTunes. While connecting the iPod to the computer on Windows with iTunes 7 installed hold down the Control and Alt keys (or Shift + Ctrl keys in older versions). This will stop the iPod from auto-syncing with iTunes and the iPod will appear in the source list. Wait until you are sure the iPod has mounted, and that it will not auto sync and then you can let the keys go. This may take between 20 to 30 seconds depending on your computer: iTunes 7 Keyboard Shortcuts for Windows
Your iPod should appear in the iTunes source list from where you can change the update setting to manual and use your iPod without the risk of accidentally erasing it. 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. Check the "manually manage music and videos" box in Summary then press the Apply button: 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. If you have any iTMS purchases the transfer of purchased content from the iPod to authorised computers was introduced with iTunes 7. A paragraph on it has been added to this article: Transfer iTunes Store purchases using iPod
The transfer of non iTMS content such as songs imported from CD is designed by default to be one way from iTunes to iPod. However there is a manual method of accessing the iPod's hard drive and copying songs back to iTunes on Windows. The procedure is a bit involved also it was written long before iTunes 7 so it requires a little adaptation as the iPod preferences are no longer in the location described. Also it won't transfer playlists or videos as far as I know. However if you're interested it's posted in this thread: MacMuse - iPod to iTunes
If you prefer something more automated then 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 also read reviews of some of them here: Wired News - Rescue Your Stranded Tunes
TuneJack Windows Only
iPod2PC Windows Only
iGadget Windows Only
iDump Windows Only
YamiPod Mac and Windows Versions
Music Rescue Mac & Windows
iPodCopy Mac and Windows Versions
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 in case you have problems again. 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.

Interesting iTunes library topic

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for