Itunes library deleted itself

Hi, I had nearly 6000 songs in my itunes library and I turned on my PC today to find it had all erased itself from the library somehow. All the songs and podcasts etc are on my ipod but I daren't reconnect it incase the ipod automatically syncs itself and loses everything currently on it. What is the best way to go about solving this issue, with minimal/no loss of data? Thanks

*I had nearly 6000 songs in my itunes library and I turned on my PC today to find it had all erased itself from the library somehow*
Try holding down the Shift key in Windows when launching iTunes 7. In the resulting dialogue you will get the option to create a new library or navigate to an existing one. The default location for your iTunes library is in \Documents and Settings\Username\My Documents\My Music\iTunes\. Look in there and see if you have more than one library file (they have the extension .itl) If you have more than one try opening them in turn, you may find your original library is still intact: How to open an alternate iTunes Library file
*All the songs and podcasts etc are on my ipod but I daren't reconnect it incase the ipod automatically syncs itself and loses everything currently on it*
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 7.3 or later installed hold down the Shift + Ctrl keys together. 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 - Keyboard Shortcuts for Windows
When your iPod appears in the iTunes source list change the update setting to "manually manage songs and videos", that way you can continue to use your iPod without the risk of accidentally erasing it. Keep your iPod in manual mode until you can sort out the issue with your library: Managing content manually on iPod

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ITunes library deleted

I tried to restart earlier today and when the filevault thing wouldn't stop after about an hour and a half, I shut down manually. Now my itunes library "recovered" itself with larger quantities of files missing.

I tried to restart earlier today and when the filevault thing wouldn't stop after about an hour and a half, I shut down manually. Now my itunes library "recovered" itself with larger quantities of files missing.

ITunes Library Erases Itself

My iTunes for Windows clears out all my songs, playlists, movies, etc. and basically resets itself everytime I shut down the iTunes application. When I reopen it, everything disappears from iTunes. The files are all still on my computer, under "My Music"-->"iTunes" and are perfectly fine; I can reimport them into iTunes and they all function. If anyone has any ideas or insights on how to stop iTunes from resetting itself, I would greatly appreciate it.

Your Sony Vaio software is kindly deleting the iTunes library.itl file.
See this -> iTunes creates an empty library file in Windows
"Symptoms"
Some file scanning software products that are not made by Apple, such as the Sony VAIO Entertainment Platform, may damage your iTunes library. If the library becomes damaged, iTunes may create a new, empty library.

ITunes library deleted on mac when trying to transfer to iPad.

I went to transfer my iTunes library from my mac to my iPad. Before I could do anything, my entire iTunes library on my mac was erased. Since I still have everything on my iPod, how do I #1 - get the contents of my iPod back into my iTunes library on my mac and #2 - get my library onto my iPad without making this mistake again. Appreciate any help.

Again, the problem is not with installing the drivers. The drivers install fine. I needed to reconfigure the printers' wireless settings so that I could use the printer over wifi. The problem is I updated OS X to 10.9 and it broke the HP Setup Assistant software that allowed you to configure the printer's wireless settings via USB. HP didn't write a new compatible version.
The driver software doesn't allow you to configure the printer's wireless settings, so your suggestion still was not helpful.
I ended up having to wing it. The User Guide that comes with the Officejet 6000 E609n mentions that the printer, after going through a full factory reset, will put itself in ad-hoc wireless mode on "hpsetup" wireless SID with a self-assigned IP. However, the user guide does not explain how to figure out the self-assigned IP.
After figuring out the correct factory reset key combo (there are various versions of this, not all work - google it if the user guide version doesn't work for you), I reset the printer and joined the "hpsetup" ad-hoc network. At that point, I had to figure out what the self-assigned IP address was so I could connect to the HTTP admin console and manually configure the wireless settings on the printer. I accomplished this with the "HP Utility" portion of the Setup Assistant suite of software that still worked on OS X 10.9 and tried to add a new printer by scanning the wireless network. When scanning, it will show the IP address of devices found on the local network.
Once I connected to the printer via HTTP on the IP I had figured out, I was able to reconfigure the wireless settings for my wireless network.
I am not inclined to buy HP products in the future. This is not the first time that I have been caught by the fact that HP appears to show no interest in maintaining updates to client software support for their products after they are released.

IPad Not Getting Backed Up-iTunes Library Deleted

I accidently deleted my iTunes Library from my PC. I don't think that can be restored again. However, I still have a couple of apps and games on my iPad and I want to back them up on my PC again. But those apps are not getting backed up/synched now. Please help.
Thanks

Can some one please give me some instructions on how to recover my Itunes library from my Time Capsule.
Do you have *Time Machine* enabled? Time Capsule is a wireless, external hard dive.
Go to Time Macine icon in the menu and select *Enter Time Machine*.
Select the Music icon on the left side of the Finder window.
Scroll back in time Machine to when you want to Restore from.
Make sure \Music\iTunes\ folder is selected then click on Restore.
Make sure you select *keep the restored items* if asked.

ITunes Library Deleted each time upon startup

Each time I start my computer, my iTunes Library is deleted. All the files are still on my computer, but still playlists, songs, movies, apps.. everything is gone from iTunes. Is it a settings issue? I'm lost. Any ideas?

Your sig states a Sony. Does that mean a Sony Vaio?
If so, read through this older topic. It's some Sony software conflicting with itunes. Redkeefy has a good post on it.
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1800551&tstart=90

Library deleted itself!

My computer restarted itself for no apparent reason (it seems to do be doing that often nowadays) and when I rebooted it and started up my iTunes, my library was cleared and there were no playlists. The play count of my songs were also erased, as well as a few songs have been erased.
This is not the first time that I have had this problem. I do not understand why this happens. Could someone maybe please tell me the possible reasons for this happening?
Thank you for your time.

*I had nearly 6000 songs in my itunes library and I turned on my PC today to find it had all erased itself from the library somehow*
Try holding down the Shift key in Windows when launching iTunes 7. In the resulting dialogue you will get the option to create a new library or navigate to an existing one. The default location for your iTunes library is in \Documents and Settings\Username\My Documents\My Music\iTunes\. Look in there and see if you have more than one library file (they have the extension .itl) If you have more than one try opening them in turn, you may find your original library is still intact: How to open an alternate iTunes Library file
*All the songs and podcasts etc are on my ipod but I daren't reconnect it incase the ipod automatically syncs itself and loses everything currently on it*
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 7.3 or later installed hold down the Shift + Ctrl keys together. 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 - Keyboard Shortcuts for Windows
When your iPod appears in the iTunes source list change the update setting to "manually manage songs and videos", that way you can continue to use your iPod without the risk of accidentally erasing it. Keep your iPod in manual mode until you can sort out the issue with your library: Managing content manually on iPod

ITunes library deleted/CopyTrans

My hard drive crashed, and my entire iTunes library was deleted. I've used CopyTrans before and it worked really well, but this time I installed iTunes and uploaded a few new CDs before using CopyTrans. If I use CopyTrans to put the songs from my iPod back onto my iTunes, will anything happen to the uploaded CDs? Do I have to have a completely blank iTunes to use CopyTrans?
Any information would be a great help, thanks!

Sorry, I don't know anything about CopyTrans.

ITunes library deleted - how do I get it back?

Recently, I was adding new music to my library when my computer froze and shut down on me. When the computer turned back on and I went to finish adding my new music (from cd's) to my library, I found that my library was empty. I plugged in my iPod and it gave me the options to "Erase and Sync" or "Transfer Purchases." Without buying a program, is there a way to get back my music? If I "Transfer Purchases", will it put back all my music even if not all of it was purchased from iTunes (some music was from cd's)?
(Additional info: i have an 80GB iPod Classic)

Try holding down the Shift key in Windows when opening iTunes. In the resulting dialogue you will get the option to create a new library or navigate to an existing one. The default location for your iTunes library is in C:\Documents and Settings\Username\My Documents\My Music\iTunes\ (or C:\Username\Music\iTunes\ in Vista). Look in there and see if you have more than one library file (they have the extension .itl) If you have more than one try opening them in turn, you may find your original library is still intact: How to open an alternate iTunes Library file
If that doesn't work.
1). 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" will irretrievably remove all the songs from your iPod.
2). When your iPod appears in the iTunes source list change the update setting to manual, that will let you use your 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 and iPhone
3). Once you are safely connected there are a few things you can do to restore your iTunes from the iPod. If you only want to copy your purchases to the computer that can be done using iTunes, you'll find details in this article: Copying iTunes Store purchases from your iPod or iPhone to a computer
For everything else (including purchases) 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. You can read reviews and comparisons of some of them here:
Wired News - Rescue Your Stranded Tunes
Comparison of iPod managers
A selection of iPod to iTunes utilities:
TuneJack Windows Only (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
SharePod Windows Only (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
iPod2PC Windows Only
iDump Windows Only
YamiPod Mac and Windows
iPod Music Liberator Mac & Windows
Floola Mac & Windows
iPodRip Mac & Windows (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
iPod Music Liberator Mac & Windows (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
Music Rescue Mac & Windows (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
iGadget Mac & Windows (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
iRepo Mac & Windows (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
iPod Access Mac & Windows (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
TouchCopy Mac & Windows (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
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
4). 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.
5). 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: Back up your iTunes library by copying to an external hard drive

Itunes library rearranged itself...all messed up now!

Very weird problem happened to me with itunes. Last night I wanted to move a playlist from my ipod to my itunes. I have a program called TuneAid that does such a thing. I moved over a playlist with a hundred or so songs into my itunes library. The move seemed to go OK but when I started to play songs in my itunes library, I encountered a very strange problem...there are now hundreds of songs that have the wrong information for them.
The song information (title, artist, year, album, track number) is still in tact, but it is for the wrong song. For example, I clicked on a song by the Rolling Stones, but what played was a song by the Beatles. So I searched for the Beatles song that was playing and found it, but when I played that, a song by Billy Joel plays. I spent an hour or so renaming files but I think there are still a couple hundred left.
What's strange is not all the songs in my library were messed up. I have about 2000 songs, but only a large handful were messed up. The second thing is that it wasn't just the songs in the playlist that I transferred from my ipod that got messed up. Some songs that were not on my ipod now have the wrong metadata.
I tried to restore a previous itunes library, but that didn't work. All that did was put an exclamation point by the song where files could not be found. This helps me identify the songs with the wrong path but I do not know what that song is now labeled.
Hope this description. Is there any hope for me or do I have to rename all these files? Is there anything I can do with the XML file or the .itl files.
Thanks!

Mind if I wait around and see if you get an answer, cibt?
I can't fathom the iTs way of doing things - but not quite doing things. Are files Windows files of are they iTs? What job does the .itl file have? Is iTs just a series of pointers to (real) Windows files?
Can files be moved around Windows folders and be recognised by iTs, or is iTs a file manager too?
It's a dog's breakfast to me. Too clever by half. An entire system within another entire system. I'll be waiting..

ITunes Library Deletion Issue

Hi, thanks in advance for the help.
I am running iTunes on a PC with windows XP Pro. I have my library stored on my external hard drive, as it is too large for my internal.
The problem is that, about 30 minutes ago, I unplugged my external, and then replugged it back in a few minutes later. This is something I do on a regular basis, as it is how I usually move my data around the house.
However, once my PC had gone through it's usual auto-read of the external, when I opened iTunes, my library was no longer there. This is incredibly frustrating, as I had just spent several hours customizing "My Top Rated" and other play lists. There doesn't seem to be any reason for this malfunction whatsoever, and I would like to know what can be done to resolve the issue.
Thanks again

ed2345, I misspoke. I should have said I have already placed a duplicate copy of the files on the external drive (the original files are still in place) and repointed my media files location to the external drive. what I'm trying to do is basically re-point my current itunes library to the files on the external drive as opposed to the files on the internal drive. When I try to organize my library, itunes freezes. When I try to consolidate my library (which is what I thought was supposed to help accomplish this) itunes freezes.
I'm working with about 45 GB of music files, and I don't know if the size is what is causing iTunes to crash, or if it is something else. Sorry for the confusion.

IPOD Music Library deleted itself :(

hi everyone....i'm having some very sad ipod problems
i'm using win xp on an asus a7v333 motherboard. up to now i've been using the usb 1.0 socket built into the motherboard to transfer files onto my ipod but i found a usb 2.0 card installed on the same board most recently. delighted, i started to use the usb 2.0 socket with an impressive boost in speed but i began to have problems. my 20gig ipod photo would disconnect itself from itunes and display an "ok to disconnect checkmark" without me wanting it to do so....confused i would disconnect the ipod and reconnect it....well today it did the same thing but this time all of the data on the ipod was removed. i did not remove any of the data myself and was adding songs at the time. this is a loss of 18 gigs of music and i'm not sure why the ipod formatted itself. if i check the library it is empty, including the playlists. if i check the music folder in ipod_control, it states that there is 7 gigs in there but it won't display any of it and like i said there was 18 gigs. where has my music gone and can it be restored?

you can copy your ipod songs back to your computer by:
How to Stop the iPod from Autosyncing (and Deleting My Music)
Moving from ipod to itunes

My Itunes library deleted all my music except two of the songs I bought from the store. They're all still on my phone, but I can't seem to be able to move them all back. I can get the music back another way, but I want to prevent it from happening again.

I'm not sure why it deleted everything. I had rearranged and cleaned up my desktop earlier, but I know for a fact I didn't delete anything. Now, I go onto my Itunes and only two songs I bought off Itunes are there. I had more that I bought, but even the ones I took off my CDs aren't there anymore. I had over four hundred songs and they're all gone. I can put all the music back on because I have it saved elsewhere, but I want to prevent this from happening again. Does anyone know what might have happened? I really want to keep using Itunes, but its becoming more of a hassle than anything.

See Empty/corrupt library after upgrade/crash...
tt2

My Itunes library doubled itself.

I opened Itunes tonight and it looked like everything was in the cloud. So I stated to redownload everything. Then I realized things were doubled and in some cases tripled. So I had to delete and hide them in the cloud. Now items are in the library and the cloud. Has this happened to anyone before? I don't understand what happened.

Bumpitty-bump...

ITunes Library Clears Itself

I just purchased a new computer a few months ago and added my songs to my library. Everything worked fine for the first two months and then one day I opened iTunes and all of my music was gone from my library. I searched my computer and found that all of my music was still on there, just not on my library. I then reloaded all of my songs and thought that would solve it. Now every time I open iTunes my songs are missing. I've contacted many computer repair services, and none of them can/will help me. Does anyone know why this happens and how I can fix it?

Probably after two months you ran some of the Sony Vaio media management software. It causes conflicts with itunes.
Either disable your VAIO Content Folder Watcher program, or set it up so it doesn't mess with the itunes folders.
More info in this long thread where a lot of Vaio owners had the same problem:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1800551&tstart=90

Itunes library deleted itself

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