ITunes with Time Machine

I cannot get iTunes to work in Time Machine. Every time I have iTunes open and click on the Time machine icon on the deck a screen of my desktop pops up instead. I spoke with the "experts" at tech support and they are telling me that Time Machine will not work with iTunes. Any one out there have any suggestions or answers.

As others have said, TM is not (yet) integrated with iTunes. It will back up your iTunes Music folder, so long as you hadn't excluded it from the backups when you set up TM. To see an example where it is integrated well with an App, check out Mail or iPhoto. I don't think the lack of iTunes integration is any big deal at the moment; your music library is still backed up and safe. Integration would be helpful for recovering changes to playlists and such.
-Ken

Similar Messages

  • Re-installing iTunes with time machine

    Somehow I can't find a clear way in other forums in how to re-install iTunes and associated playlists from the time machine back-up.
    I installed a 650gb hard drive and took the old 100gb drive out and erased it. I backed up everything via time machine. When I loaded a iTunes again. All the playlists, artwork, and different menus I had for the 'music' were gone?
    I have tried to drag the 'iTunes" folder from time machine and put it in the "music folder' of the computer - NOTHING
    Tried the restore function from time machine - NOTHING
    What am I doing doing wrong or missing? How can I get my 'iTunes' the way it was before I switch hard drives? with all the playlists and artwork?
    I don't understand why after loading from time machine I get a music tutorial thing and not my music?
    Please help, this is just has dragged for about a month now.
    Thanks

    In which order do you do all this?
    What did you do to get everything back onto the new HD
    Did you run Migration Assistant and pull everything off the TM backup?
    No particular order. Open the the MBP took the old HD and put the new one in. Then using my external HD followed the intructions TM told me to follow to restore the HD.
    Never used Migration Assistant
    Did you install the iTunes app first?
    Then you should go to the Time Machine and copy /Macintosh HD/Users/yourusername/Music and copy the iTunes folder to the new drive.
    -All know is that I copy everything that you said and even try a restore cause the other option did not work. Even by doing this I still don't have the playlists; Im even missing artwork.
    The files are copied but it is in a really raw format - there is organization in the files. In other words , it is not the same iTunes that I used to have.
    Any other thoughts?

  • Good/Bad idea: restore slightly older version of iTunes with Time Machine?

    Hi folks,
    For years, my old but reliable Rio Cali mp3 player worked fine with iTunes and my Mac. All of a sudden, not only does iTunes not connect with the Rio, but it freezes/crashes the MacBook when I try! I've troubleshooted this several ways, including using different mini-USB sync cables (in case of short circuit) and even buying a much newer Rio Cali player, but same result. Then I searched the web, found that other Mac/iTunes 8.0.2 users have found the same problem ever since late November '08. Even though iTunes officialy says it's compatible with Rio Cali, it clearly is not.
    So I'd like to go back to using 8.0.1 of iTunes (or perhaps 8.0). Can I use Time Machine to do this safely? All I want is the earlier version of iTunes, not the earlier version of all my iTunes music and App store app holdings! I know I can use Time Machine to restore for instance an MS Word document or my entire computer, but can I use it to restore just a single application, namely iTunes 8.0.1? What do I risk by trying? (I'd prefer not to screw up lots of other things).
    Many thanks!
    -- Josh
    [PS Yes, I realize that it would be easier just to drop the old mp3 player. But it's nearly a one of a kind sports/athlete-oriented player -- rubberized and water-resistance-sealed for runners like me, useful logical hard buttons, and FM reception. iPod and nearly all other players fall short in each of these features which are important to me. Thanks for understanding.]

    Ha! The manufacturer's support site? Rio went out of business a few years ago! Their websites still exist, but their last support posts about Mac iTunes compatibility are from 2004 and 2006. At that time, there was native compatibility, and there was also an iTunes plug-in which one could download and install in order to make the player and iTunes talk to each other (although I never needed it). That was back in the days of OS 10.2 and perhaps 10.3. That plug-in installer these days does nothing, it won't even finish running if one tries running it now. I know, since I've tried, and since I've thoroughly researched the other people and posts from Rio owners whose iTunes suddenly stopped working recently. I made a bug report to Apple, but who knows if re-establishing the compatibility is any kind of priority to them (doubt it). So I'm trying to handle this by using a slightly older iTunes version because I doubt there is any other fix.
    -- Josh

  • How to restore iTunes on Time Machine

    When I try to restore my lost music on iTunes with Time Machine, it tells me that iTunes cannot be modified as it is an integeral part of OS X.
    There has to be some way to restore this lost music (Thank you, Onyx!) and I would appreciate your good help.

    Neil,
    I have a list of iTune Libraries within Macintosh HD. None can be opened or restored via Time machine. i get the following: "The alias "iTunes Library 2013-09-26.itl" can't be opened because the original item can't be found."
    What to do?

  • 2 external hard drives with iTunes and Time Machine

    Hi folks.
    My 160gb hard drive on my iMac is full so I've bought 2 x 1tb external hard drives, my plan being to move my iTunes library to one of them (as this uses the majority of space) and run it from there and use the 2nd hard drive with Time Machine.
    My question is this, will Time Machine backup any changes to my iTunes library if it isn't on the computer's internal hard drive?
    Thanks!
    Brian

    Just be sure the iTunes volume is formatted +Mac OS Extended (Journaled).+ Most drives come formatted for Windoze, and TM can't back them up.
    See #1 in [Formatting, Partitioning, Verifying, and Repairing Disks|http://web.me.com/pondini/AppleTips/DU.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of the +Using Snow Leopard+ forum) if you need to reformat and aren't sure how.

  • Restore Mac with time machine, consequences for itunes library

    Ok, here is the problem, if there is one. (Using SnowLeopard)
    (I want to restore my Mac because I want to install Windows 7 as additional OS. However, therefore have to install OS X once more because otherwise partitioning the disc does not work).
    I want to set up the computer completely in a new way, but with the help of time machine, so that the computer looks exactly the same as before with the only difference that I will be able to partition the hard drive afterwards.
    I am in particular concerned about how Itunes will behave in this situation:
    Since I have a very huge Itunes library and it took me a lot of time to create it, I want to be absolutely sure, that it works afterwards in exactly the same way as it does now, that means basically: Not being necessary to import any music into itunes library again, instead the music should appear in exactly the same way as I see it now when I open Itunes with all the artwork etc. This should normally be the case with time machine. But it is getting more complicated now and this challenges me regarding my itunes preferences:
    I did NOT go for "organizing itunes library by itunes" + did NOT go for "copying files to itunes library when importing music". THis basically means I use my own structure of folders, some of the music is located extern, same is located on the mac. Itunes work perfectly fine with this preferences until now. Timemachine does only back up the music located on the mac harddrive of course. However Itunes on the other hand can reach the extern music and play it in the same way as the music located on the mac. Me as a consumer, I do not realize when using itunes where the music comes from.
    So if I restore my computer and using timemachine to set it up, will itunes still work in the way it works now? In particular will itunes still know where all the different media files are located and that some of them are located extern? I do not want to import 200 albums once more. Otherwise I forgo installing Windows.
    I am not exactly sure how Itunes works and how timemachine behaves in connection with itunes (especially with my settings), thus I would rely in your help now. I would appreciate your comments. Thanks for your help.

    christian111113456 wrote:
    Thanks for the hint.
    However, does this safe my problem? When trying to partition my harddrive, it always says that a file has been changed and thus partition is not possible to proceed. So if I clone this harddrive and then reclone it back, woudn't I get the same error?
    not if you have enough space on the drive overall. the most common reason for this error is hard drive fragmentation. cloning to an external, reformatting and cloning back defrags the drive as the cloning is done on file level not block level. I thought that's what you were trying to do. doing a full system restore will achieve the same thing as it also defrags the drive. and the end result will be exactly the same if you do a full system restore or clone. why did you think doing a TM restore would work when cloning wouldn't? of course, you need enough free space overall to do it. how big is your hard drive, how much space is used and how big do you want the bootcamp partition to be?

  • I've recently bought a Time Capsule (3TB); then I've added an external HD of 2TB to my TC via its USB port to store my iTunes Libraries. I would like to backup my external HD with Time Machine in the HD of TC. Is it possible?

    I've recently bought a Time Capsule (3TB); then I've added an external HD of 2TB to my TC via its USB port in order to store my iTunes Libraries.
    I would like to backup my external HD with Time Machine in the HD of TC. Is it possible?

    I would like to backup my external HD with Time Machine in the HD of TC. Is it possible?
    Sorry, but not possible.
    Time Machine can only back up the internal drive(s) in a Mac....or a drive that is connected directly to a Mac via USB or FireWire.....provided that the drive is formatted in Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
    I am not recommending this, but you might be able to move the drive from the USB port to the Mac, and have Time Machine back it up that way.....then move it back to the USB port on the Time Capsule......but this will involve doing some risky things.....and manually changing settings around everytime you make the swap. Something will surely go wrong....but up to you if you want to try it.
    Carbon Copy Cloner will back up the drive connected to the USB port on the Time Capsule to the Time Capsule disk, but these will not be Time Machine backups.  SuperDuper claims to also be able to do this.....but I have not tested it.

  • How can I set up an external harddrive with time machine that already has data on it without losing the data?

    I have an external hard drive that I use to hold photos and other files on that no longer fit on my macbook. I also use the external hard drive for back ups set up with time machine. I don't believe I ever did anything to partition it, I've just always had separate folders (Photos, Music, etc) with one being called "Back Ups" (or Backups.backupdb) that my time machine back ups would automatically go into. Recently, I made the switch from my HDD in my macbook to a new SSD of the same size. I used the back ups on the external hard drive to restore all my content, which all worked out fine. My problem now is in using my external hard drive. When I plug it in, it no longer seems to be working with time machine. Also, I was organizing some files within the external hard drive, and when I dragged one into a folder, it took a while to load. Before, it was instantaneous moving a file already on the external hard drive to another location within it. Can anyone help me in getting the external hard drive to work with my new SSD? I don't want to delete any of the folders or back ups that are already on it, since that's the only place I have some of those files. Please let me know if you need anymore details. Thanks! (sorry if this is posted in the wrong forum)

    First, she has to be logged in to the same iTunes account as she used on the old computer.
    Second, when she plugs the iPhone in to iTunes, right click on the phone name and select transfer purchases.
    Third, enter one contact and one calendar entry into the new computer's addressbook/calendar.
    After that, she should be fine.

  • How does airplay interact with Time Machine?

    I just purchased a MacBook Pro, but the 256GB of flash storage is not going to be enough for my projects and media.  My iTunes library has become pretty extensive, so I'm wondering if I'll be able to stream to my TV the content in my iTunes using Time Machine in combination with Apple TV?  Anyone have this set up?

    Time Machine is software that backs up the contents of your Mac.  You will not be able to use those backups for everyday use to stream media over your network.
    Suggest that you add another external hard drive and move your iTunes library to that drive.
    Then Time Machine will backup both your Mac and the contents of the external drive. So, you have "originals" on one drive and "backups" on another. If one drive fails, then you at least have a copy on the other drive.

  • How do I go back to an older version of iTunes using Time Machine?

    This latest version of iTunes (v.12) is crashing, not to mention when I connect my iphone or ipod it's not only harder to use them but I can no longer see the break-down of what is on them, e.g. now it's just "12 GB full" rather than "9GB music, 1GB audiobooks, 2GB podcasts". I want to go back to the previous version but Time Machine just says iTunes "can't be modified or deleted." Is there a way around this?

    Do a web search for "revert iTunes".  There are many web sites with detailed instructions.  It is a complicated process and I do not think it can be achieved with Time Machine alone.  Time Machine can act as a source for your old library file but the rest involves going into protected files and folders of the system and removing various components.  Oh, the version to which you want to revert also has to be one of the few still available for download.  I don't, for example, think you can download a copy of iTunes 12.0  It would have to be 11.4 and you would have to have a backup copy of your library file from back when you used that version.

  • ITunes and Time Machine

    Hello,
    My 2006 iMac has a 160G hard drive. More than half that is the iTunes library! And lately, the hard drive is getting too full.
    I back up with Time Machine onto a Western Digital USB external hard drive with 320G capacity.
    I'm thinking I should put the iTunes library on the WD external HD.
    Will I have to delete all my HD back ups to do this? Should I re-format the WD external HD?
    Or should I buy a new 2T external HD which would be big and fast, usable when I upgrade to a new iMac later this year?
    What new external HD would you recommend?
    Many thanks,
    Art

    A couple of things.
    First I'd recommend against using WD EHD, their enclosures tend to have problems with OS X.
    Next is NEVER use the TM drive for any storage than TM. If you want to store your media library on an external HD (which is a very good idea) get another EHD and dedicate it for media, including your iTune, iPhoto (or Aperture) libraries.
    As far as what drives I'd recommend they would be:
    OWC Mercury Elite Pro series
    Lacie Quadra d2 series series
    G-Tech G drive series
    All are of similar build quality and features. Personally I use Lacie but wouldn't hesitate with either OWC or G-Tech.

  • Partitioning a disc already in use - for use with Time Machine

    I just bought the upgrade to 10.5 Leopard, and I want to use my external disc (LaCie 500GB - a couple of months old) to back up using time-machine. The thing is, I've already been using it to backup manually, and to be sure, I want to keep that possibility.
    But when I open TimeMachine, it says it will delete all contents and format my external disc if I want to use it as my TimeMachine-drive. Could I solve this by partitioning it using disc utilities so that, say 150GB's is for TimeMachine and the rest is for manual backup and temporary backup? Or will this delete the other contents I already have on the disc (about 200GB) that I want to keep there?

    I had nothing but nightmares with my LaCie 500GB drive and Time Machine. I had it partitioned, and I could never go back to previous backups to restore a file. After finally reformatting the drive back to a singe partition, I got it to work. But then a month later the drive gave out and I almost lost 250GB or my media. DIskWarrior saved that catastrophe. I ended up getting the drive repaired. LaCie would not replace it, even though it was only 3 months old. Other people with LaCie drives have had issues with Time Machine also. I went back to using SuperDuper and doing scheduled backups with a new Beyond Micro drive I purchased. I don't trust this Lacie drive anymore for backups, especially it's partitioned.
    -Bmer
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  • Trouble with Time Machine (runs constantly). Erase and install?

    Trouble with Time Machine (runs constantly). Tried re-installation (equivalent of archive install) of Snow Leopard. Time Machine still unable to complete a back-up. Erase and install recommended at Genius Bar. Have backed up data to external HD using Super Duper. Should be a bootable backup. Last successful backup through Time Machine was 6/1/11. Not sure if I can access this back-up if I erase and re-install.
    Computer shipped with Tiger (7/2007). Have original disks. Now running Snow Leopard. So: erase HD, install Tiger, then update to Snow Leopard? Start-up from Tiger disks does not appear to work (starting up holding "C" key). Suggestions? Want very much to transfer data to new iMac, but do not want to carry bugs forward. Very nervous about erasing HD. And have the questions above about reinstalling system software.
    Advice desired! Thanks.

    Well if you can hold option and boot off the Superdupes clone and it works fine then you should be set to do what you need to do to the original boot drive.
    Disconnect all drives and c boot off the Snow Leopard install disk, use Disk Utility to Erase > format HFS+ journaled your internal boot drive.
    Quit and reinstall OS X Snow Leopard, setup (do not use Setup/Migration Assitant!) and update to 10.6.8
    When you setup the new install, use the same hard drive name and user name as you did before.
    Now the free iLife that came on the Tiger disks you won't get naturally, but you can pick them off the disk with the shareware program called Pacifist.
    install your programs from fresh sources, this way you don't get the "crap" from the older setup.
    Once your machine is up and going. Hook up the clone and transfer your user folders over manually. With iTunes just replace the whole folder. Because you kept the same user and boot drive name as before, the playlists should be fine.
    Once your all peachy, take the opportunity to clone this new setup to a external drive, label and disconnect.
    Make another clone for day to day, or week to week clone updates and your just a hold option boot away for recovery.
    You know Superdupes and Carbon Copy Cloner both have auto-scedualing/updating ability, so you can leave them plugged in and it will perform a update so your clone stays fresh and recent.
    But you should keep a clone timed back about a couple of weeks back just in case you install something bad and don't learn about it right away.

  • System settings gone after "reanimation" with time machine

    Dear all,
    i had a problem signin' in with my first user. After entering the password there was just the "front page" blue screen with my cursor but nothing more. I tried to solve the probmlem in single-user mode entering some things in the terminal. Nothing happened. So i decided to "reanimate" the system with time machine getting my latest backup back on. Everything went well and quick but now i have the problem that there is just the "others"-section displayed in systemsettings, the rest is gone.
    I tried to fix it, deleting the file in the directory "caches", but didn't work.
    Do you have a clue how to fix it?!
    Thanks for any answers
    Benny

    Try downloading iTunes directly from http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1426
    Install it over your current iTunes, no need to delete anything.

  • When I back up on my exertnal HD drive with time machine can I erase what on my computer HD for more space?

    When I back up files on my exertnal HD drive with time machine can I erase what's on my Mac HD for space without losing what's on external HD?

    If the data is valuable to you, redundant backups are essential.  Time Machine is an excellent vehicle when you have to restore data that no longer exists on your internal HDD.
    Mende1's suggestion of using Carbon Copy Cloner is excellent because it gives yous a HDD that is 'ready to go' should your internal HDD fail (as all HDDs eventually will). 
    For example, I have 5 copies of my iTunes folder, one each on three MBPs, on a HDD devoted strictly to iTunes and Time Machine (this does not include the iPod).  One may view this as excessive but since I have over 100 GB in this application, I am very comfortable with this.
    I advocate that the best backup strategy is Time machine combined with a boot HDD and a third HDD for the most important user data.  If there is non essential data, the you may certainly compromise and use just Time Machine.
    Ciao.

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