Library file corruption

I'm running iTunes software on my PC with Windows XP Home Edition. I recently upgraded to the latest software revision. Now every time I start the application I get an error message stating that library files are corrupt and when the program comes up my playlists are either deleted or duplicated. Anyone experiencing this?
Any fixes/patches out there?
Can re-download already purchased music after the software deletes it without having to pay for it again?
Can you sync the music from your iPod to your computer to re-establish your playlists?

+how can I find the corrupt music in an easy and timely fashion?+
No idea how large your library is, but basically the only way I know to do it is add your music in chunks to find where the bad file is.
Say you have 100 songs, add 50. If it goes OK, the bad file is in the last 50.
If it doesn't go OK, the bad file is in the first 50.
If you have multiple bad files and 1000s of songs, it's going to take awhile.

Similar Messages

ITunes library file corrupt after updating?

Just the other day I updated to the latest iTunes software. This is the first time I've tried to use it and it keeps freezing (the swirly rainbow icon) until I eventually have to give up and force quit. My iTunes library is on an external hard drive which has admittedly been taking longer and longer to boot up each time I connect it, I don't know if this is related.
After doing some research on here I created a new test iTunes library on my hard drive and it worked perfectly, so it must be a corrupt library file? I followed the advice on an old thread and replaced the corrupt library file with an older one from December.
It worked....but here's the complication. Since that last backup in December I started using iTunes Match. When I opened the older library file, I saw that iTunes Match wasn't turned on, so I turned it on and it was saying that none of my library had been uploaded to iCloud except for iTunes purchases. I quickly exited, because frankly I couldn't bear the thought of all my library having to be uploaded to iCloud again (it took days and days...and days!). The music is still on the iCloud, but if I open that older version of my iTunes library it doesn't seem to think that it is.
Any idea what I should do?
Thanks for your help

hmmmm. perhaps try running a chkdsk over the drive on which your iTunes library file is stored:
How to perform disk error checking in Windows XP
does that find/repair any damage? if so, do you still get the same message from your itunes?

Library file corrupt - error 1450

I have had some irritating problems with iTunes since installing the new 7.3.1 version last week.
The error message I got originally was:
The iTunes Library file cannot be saved.
An unknown error occurred {-1450}
I have uninstalled and re-installed the program, but the error continues when I re-import the music folder. The music appears in the "Music" folder in iTunes, but the same error as above occurs when iTunes is trying to process the album Artwork. I have tried deleting the tracks that the error comes up on, but the error continues on other tracks, apparently at random.
Please can you give me some advice to fix this problem, as iTunes and my iPod is pretty unusable at present.
AMD semperon 3000+ Windows XP Pro

I don't use adobe mobile packager for this purpose; however there are some basic things to worry about during packaging so that your file won't be corrupted:
1> Did you Entered Correct UID order for an edition (2nd or 3rd Editions)?
2> Did you create .key and .cer files ? (key and certificate) ?
3> Did your Swf run normally in the mobile phone before packaging ?
4> Did you make sure you entered a valid path for your application to be installed during extraction ?

ITunes Library file corrupt or unreadable -- unable to be saved

When I open itunes, I have to import my library everytime... and it says that the library file is corrupt or unreadable and cannot be saved. Can anyone else with this issue, please?

hmmmm. perhaps try running a chkdsk over the drive on which your iTunes library file is stored:
How to perform disk error checking in Windows XP
does that find/repair any damage? if so, do you still get the same message from your itunes?

Library file corrupts almost every time Itunes restarts

I have three issues which started around the time I upgraded to the latest new version:
1) Almost every time I shut itunes down and go back into it, it claims that the library file is corrupt, and starts re-importing it from the xml. If I restore the library from a backup, it works ok first time I load, but then if I shut down Itunes again, it corrupts again. It does this almost every time I shut down and restart Itunes. If I allow it to reimport the library from the xml file, I lose all my podcast settings, so I prefer not to do that.
It seems that if I take a backup of the library file after shutting down itunes, I can use that backup succesfully. This would seem to indicate that the corruption or issue is occuring when Itunes starts up, and that the library file integrity is ok after shutdown.
2) Twice in the last week, 2 of my purchased albums were deleted from my c drive. They were still in the library, but the files had vanished. At first I thought I had messed up and deleted them by mistake, but the same thing happened again to exactly the same songs a few days later. This is worrying when Itunes starts to delete your music without any message or warning.
3) Not sure if this is coincidence or causal, but since I upgraded to the latest Itunes my computer seems to have become generally less stable - applications crashing on startup and so on, including even taskmgr.exe crashing, which is obviously not a good thing at all.
I have been using Itunes for several years with no issue up to now.
I have seen on this forum that quite a few others seem to be having the same issue in the last week or so, but I didn't see any solutions yet. If anyone has any ideas, please help?
thanks

I finally fixed it, what I did was I backed up all my music files to data disks, then I deleted everything from my computer that was related to itunes or apple. I even deleted all of my music on my hard drive, then I restarted my computer and re-downloaded itunes and it was as if my computer had never seen itunes before and I restored my music into my computer and itunes, and it was never a problem. Maybe this can solve alot of the the problems people have relating to this error.

Library file corrupted and absolute chaos in my itunes folder

Hi,
Is there any way to retrieve the library folder that contains all the info for the playlists?
I just bought a macbook pro with yosemite from June 2014 and wanted to sync my itunes library. I had all on an external hard drive and then hit absolute disaster:
Itunes 12 won't recognise an old library file from itunes 9.2.1.
So from the previous libraries folder I dragged the file into the itunes folder, renamed it, opened 12 but none of my playlists showed up and none of my over 12000 podcasts either.
Only purchased songs were visible.
I finally realised that 9.2.1 works in yosemite when opened from the external hard drive. I assigned the itunes folder and presto everything showed up.
But then I made the huge mistake of opening in itunes 12 again and for some reason it resorted all the files in an impossible way. It created a folder for every podcast edition and then chucked a hole lot of mp3s into the trash. The itunes folder is now utterly unrecognisable and the library file won't open in 9.2.1 any more. The library files from previous library folder do not work in 9.2.1 either any more, it's a mess and took me previously months to create the right order.
I had also reduced the podcasts in file size to fit them all onto my ipod classic and now it's all gone.
Is there any way at all that I can retrieve the library file from my ipod to re-create the order that I had?

i just migrated all my mp3's over to a new computer. installed the latest version of itunes 6.
when you open itunes on a 'clean' install, there are no songs in your library folder.
so what i did was copied 5 gigs of songs into the default itunes folder into "my documents/my music/itunes/itunes music" folder. to be honest, your 'music' folder can be on any local drive on your machine. i just put mine where i can access it quicker than a networked drive or itunes sharing from another computer.
then in the 'file' column, i did "add folder to my library" to load the songs into the library. after about 15 minutes, itunes had all 5 gigs of my songs. i'm listening to my itunes as we speak.
good luck.
btw- if it doesnt do it the first time.
un-install itunes, re-start, install itunes, re-start, then do the above...

ITunes Music Library File Corrupt

Hey,
Yesterday I was putting some podcasts on my ipod shuffle, when itunes froze. I force quit it, and when i booted it up again, it said that the iTunes Music Library File was locked or that I don't have permissions for it. I replaced it with my previous library, except now I have a library that's like four months old. Is there any way to import the songs/podcasts from my music folder into my music library? Or perhaps to repair the damaged Music Library File?
PS I don't have any .AACs.

Do you still have a copy of the problematic library file? (or of the "iTunes Music Library.xml" file that was in the (home)/Music/iTunes at the time? If so, use the File->Import function to import either of these files.
(First make a backup copy of your current "iTune Library" file just in case.)
If the import won't work because it says the file is locaked, go in the finder and select hte file, do control-I to bring up the get info box and make sure the file's preferences are set to read and write. If that doesn't help use the Disk Utility application in your Utilities folder to "repair permissions" on your hard drive.
Finally, if these methods don't work, then you can manually add the missing music (but this won't bring back any ratings, playcounts, etc associated with the tracks in your old library). Go File->Add to Library and select your music folder. It will go through the files and only add the ones not already in your library.
By the way, AAC files wouldn't affect this problem one way or the other.

Library file corrupted

Hello.
I opened iTunes the other day to receive the message that my "iTunes library file is damaged".
My first option to fix this problem is to simply start again, but I did not want to lose all of my playlists and playcounts so I have been trying to sort this problem out with the old backup 'library files'.
They work just fine, the only problem is that the backed up library files contain information from a time when my library was on my first HDD, but since then I have moved it to my second HDD.
So when I use these old library image files, my whole library (all 6,000 songs) have the little exclamation symbol and are not in the right location.
My question is whether there is a way to direct iTunes to where the library is now, instead of where it thinks it is. I could do it file by file, but that could take years with 6,000 songs...
Any proposed solution that could let me use the backed up library image file would be awesome, it would be great if I could keep my playlists somehow.
Thanks in advance
Windows Vista

Katrina,
Thanks for your reply. It was very helpful. Would you know what I could do about a damaged library file. Everytime I open Itunes it tells me I have a damaged library file and renames the library file to something damaged.rtl and says it tried to extract any info. it could from the damaged library. This happens everytime so numerous damaged library files are created. Do you know how to repair a damaged library?
Thanks

ITunes library file corrupt PLEASE HELP

My sister and I both got new iPods for Christmas. I had an extensive library, while she was brand new and I just added songs to hers. We have Windows XP and I figured since we have different screens, we'd have different iTunes. I just updated hers and went to open my iTunes. What opened was a blank screen and the message "The file or directory C:\Documents and Settings\Kaitlyn\My Documents\My Music\iTunes\iTunes Library.itl is corrupt and unreadable. Please run the Chkdsk utility." I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA WHAT TO DO AND I AM HYSTERICAL. If someone could PLEASE answer me, you would save my Christmas. Thank you.

This is an image of what my iTunes looks like right now. If I follow the instructions on the website, everything will come back? I mean, I had SO MANY songs a few hours ago and now it looks like this...
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b360/thesongiknow/Forum%20Stuff/itunesempty.jp g
I'm sorry I'm asking so many questions. It's just that I am so nervous about losing everything. Also, on that site, it doesn't say that it's a corrupt .itl file... will it still work?

10.5.1 add to library file corruption?

I manually download podcasts to my desktop with Safari and then use itunes' add to library with 'copy files to itunes folder' feature to import them from there. Since October, using 10.5 or 10.5.1 (not sure when problem started) every mp3 added in this manner has been corrupted. I listened to a sample podcast in quicktime before importing, it played fine. After importing/syncing, that podcast's copy plays briefly and then causes my ipod to freeze and itunes to skip to the next track. Then the next track skips too.
Am I being punished for not joining the cloud?

Thanks for the article referral. So far my problem is not solved - there were no .mov files in the iTunes library. I'm currently in the process of removing .pls files and examining others for the potential problem.
I'm not there yet, but it gives me a good start - thanks.
- Chad

Restored from Time Machine but iPhoto library file corrupted

iMac OSX 10.9.4 crashed mid-use. Would not chime let alone re-start. Restored successfully from Time Machine and apart from Mail sending (hopefully) a few up to four year old emails again, it seemed fine. However, apart from one or two images, iPhoto (9.5.1) library was not visible in its location on an external hard drive. Inspecting Package Contents revealed that the size seemed right and the masters were present so I used Photo Library First Aid (Command Option start) to Repair Permissions and then again to Repair Database. All images and events now ok, as I believe are the locations, but the previously identified Faces are all missing. Is there a way to recover these?
I do have a separate Carbon Copy Cloner back up from the iPhoto external hard drive to another external hard drive and before, throughout and after the iMac crash, this back up process continued to operate normally. So I could try and re-store the iPhoto library from a CCC back. I just wondered if anyone knew another way that I could just repair the Faces part as the rest seems ok now.

Hi Mr D
Still wading through treacle!
I recall I used iPhoto Library Manager and then selected largest file size and most metadata to merge the two libraries. Still not perfect but images are there even if a few face thumbnails are absent.
Using SMART Utility I checked to see what was going on with hard drives as a CCC back up reported some deep system files were on an unreadable block. I should have replaced them from CCC but there were only a few and they were so unusual I hesitated. Whilst searching which replacement hard drive I could fit and whether I could fit it myself, iMac crashed again so another restore from TM. (According to SU my hard drive is failing as it has 6 re-allocated blocks and 1 event error). Back up and restored, I now see that various movies in iMovie '09 cannot access the source files as they are not in the original location. This I think is more to do with me relocating my iPhoto library for space reasons to an external hard drive rather than the crashes and re-builds. I hadn't realised the distinction between imported movies into iMovie '09 (from a movie camera say) and those from iPhoto (from an iPhone say) and what would happen if, for space reasons, I moved the iPhoto library to an external hard drive. Yes, I know now I should have consolidated the movies. There are occasions when a small user guide might help! Also the new iMovie '10 library, which runs as an alternative alongside iMovie '09, is happily located on the external hard drive whereas the iMovie '09 library sits on the iMac's hard drive.. All the still images are ok in all the movies in iMovie '09 (even having moved?) its just the .avi files that it cannot locate. Simples, I thought. I created a folder in iPhoto '09 with all the iPhoto avi files and thought if I exported them and then imported them into a new library in the location (my iMac user pictures folder) it would then be able to 'see' them. Problem is in the iPhoto '09 library on the external hard drive I have many more folders than in the newly created iMovie '09 library on the iMac hard drive. iMovie '09 is looking for /Users/'me'/Pictures/iPhoto library/Originals/'movie file title'/'file name'.avi but the 'Originals' folder is in fact just an alias to point to an adjacent folder in the iMovie library package called 'Masters' and in the new library I only have 'Masters' and not an alias 'Originals' folder.
So iMovie '09 still cannot 'see' the .avi files even though they are now (almost) in the right location on the correct drive (the iMac) as I don't have an 'Originals' folder in this library whereas the legacy library does. Can I get around this? Why does one library have a 'Masters' folder as well as an 'Originals' and 'Modified' aliases and the new library only 'Masters'? As I cannot re-point iMovie I need to have an 'Originals' alias pointing at 'Masters' for this to possibly work. My plan was to resolve the project issues once the files were all accessible in the correct place and then consolidate and move the iMovie '09 library as a working entity to the external hard drive where there is space.
The second issue is that of the c600 .avi files I exported (all of which function in the library from whence they were exported), 129 will not import into the new '09 library I have created on my iMac hard drive. This is odd as they are visible and play in their source library but refuse to be imported into the new one made with the same application. Other than a couple of the ones that do import showing a format in QT as 16 bit little-endian signed integer 44100Hz as opposed to 8 bit unsigend integer 16000HGz for one that didn't, I am at a loss to understand what the new library objects to.
I have now isolated all the exported .avi files that will not import into a folder pending someone hopefully providing a answer....

Missing files - corrupt library after upgrade to 11.1.4

I updated iTunes to 11.1.4, and after launching, it looked like it was updating my library as it's done in the past. However, this time, after an hour I realized it had not yet completed, and a dialogue box asking about creating an iTunes U playlist was on the screen. I tried to do so, but it just kept repeating. So finally I stopped it, and now I have an file marked iTunes library (damaged) and an incomplete library. I am missing thousands of songs compared to the last .itl I have in Previous iTunes Libraries.
I thought when iTunes did an upgrade to the library it was supposed to make a backup? If so, and I did the upgrade yesterday, why is the most recent file in Previous iTunes Libraries dated from four months ago?
How can I repair the damaged .itl file, as the one iTunes is using now as, as I mentioned, missing thousands of songs now.
Is there any sort of script or utility I can use to figure out exactly which files are missing from the current .itl in my library?
Thanks in advance.

I thought when iTunes did an upgrade to the library it was supposed to make a backup? If so, and I did the upgrade yesterday, why is the most recent file in Previous iTunes Libraries dated from four months ago?
No, you need to do the backup as part of regular computer maintenance and before you do any software upgrades. iTunes moves the old library into the previous library area but perhaps your update failed before it did that.
How can I repair the damaged .itl file, as the one iTunes is using now as, as I mentioned, missing thousands of songs now.
https://discussions.apple.com/message/20401436 - turingtest2 11/2012 post on rebuilding empty/corrupt library after upgrade/crash from previous iTunes library file.
iTunes: How to re-create your iTunes library and playlists - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1451
Is there any sort of script or utility I can use to figure out exactly which files are missing from the current .itl in my library?
Yes, there's one on the Dougscripts web site that will crawl through a library. In yur case it's probably just as easy to drag the whole iTunes media folder to Automatically Add to iTunes. Anything already in the library it will ignore. Anything not there it will add.

Corrupt Library Files, Disk Util: No Valid Packages, apps, plug-in probs

Darn, I could just kick myself. The current state of my computer is flashing me back to a nightmare from my pre-Mac days.
While backing up files to DVD I inadvertently/mistakenly/clumsily/stupidly (not sure) dragged what I thought was a copy of the Library folder I had created on my hd into Trash. When some of my apps stopped working and messages about missing internet plug-ins began to appear I realized I had screwed up. I ran Disk Utility a few times and either got the error message: "No Valid Packages" or a system hang. I attempted to repair the Library by moving files back to where I thought they should go and now have 2 Library files (syst and user) that have become a bit convoluted.
The good news is that I copied all of the files from both Libraries to my hd so I think I have everything saved. The bad news is that I don't know what goes where and I don't have a frame of reference, (ie the file structure) to work off of. For example, there is only one folder, (Library) inside the System folder and I can't remember if this is right or not. (System > Library > Automator, Caches, CFM Support etc.) My User Library looks intact but may have had some files shuffled around.
The way I see it, there are three alternatives or a combination thereof:
1) Ideally, I'd like to be able to get the files where they belong and return the file hierarchy to it's correct state.
2) Start more or less from scratch and re-install all of my effected apps, plug-ins, etc.
3) I read about an archive function that uses the OS installation disk to return files to their proper places. Can't remember the exact name and haven't been able to find the knowledge base article.
TXIA for any advice you might offer that will help get me out this predicament.
~ I.M. Stewpid
Message was edited by: Old-E
Message was edited by: Old-E
Message was edited by: Old-E

Copying Library files is problematic because of permissions issues that arise when you then try to copy them back.
The procedure you're referring to is called Archive and Install which will install a fresh copy of OS X and archive the old system into a Previous System Folder. See the following:
How to Perform an Archive and Install
An Archive and Install will NOT erase your hard drive, but you must have sufficient free space for a second OS X installation which could be from 3-9 GBs depending upon the version of OS X and selected installation options. The free space requirement is over and above normal free space requirements which should be at least 6-10 GBs. Read all the linked references carefully before proceeding.
1. Be sure to use Disk Utility first to repair the disk before performing the Archive and Install.
Repairing the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger.) After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported, then quit DU and return to the installer.
2. Do not proceed with an Archive and Install if DU reports errors it cannot fix. In that case use Disk Warrior and/or TechTool Pro to repair the hard drive. If neither can repair the drive, then you will have to erase the drive and reinstall from scratch.
3. Boot from your OS X Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When you reach the screen to select a destination drive click once on the destination drive then click on the Option button. Select the Archive and Install option. You have an option to preserve users and network preferences. Only select this option if you are sure you have no corrupted files in your user accounts. Otherwise leave this option unchecked. Click on the OK button and continue with the OS X Installation.
4. Upon completion of the Archive and Install you will have a Previous System Folder in the root directory. You should retain the PSF until you are sure you do not need to manually transfer any items from the PSF to your newly installed system.
5. After moving any items you want to keep from the PSF you should delete it. You can back it up if you prefer, but you must delete it from the hard drive.
6. You can now download a Combo Updater directly from Apple's download site to update your new system to the desired version as well as install any security or other updates. You can also do this using Software Update.

"Project or Library file is corrupt" when trying to open XControl

This is not a question, this is an account of my learning experience that I hope saves you from throwing your monitor through the wall.
When trying to open an XControl, I received the following error: "Project or Library file is corrupt"
Knowing Projects/Classes/XControls are all XML files, I opened the XControl using Notepad++ to see what was going on. The file structure is somewhat intuitive, and you'll be able to recognize many components of your library.
I used a binary search approach to find the offending XML by deleting all of the virtual folders, then seeing if the XControl would open. It did, meaning the headers of the XML were fine. Then I took the original file again, and deleted half the virtual folders to see if it would open, and it did not, meaning the offending XML was in a virtual folder I had not deleted that round. I took the original file, and deleted the other half of virtual folders, and it opened. I took the original file, and deleted only one virtual folder, and it opened. Aha! that virtual folder had only 5 items, and I knew one of the items must be the culprit.
Anyway, it only took about 10 minutes to narrow it down to an item that had a duplicate entry, two lines that were exactly the same:
After I deleted the duplicate item, the XControl opened up just fine! No data loss, no corruption.
How did the item get duplicated? Beats me. Could have been the product of a crash, some of my notorious renaming shenanigans, who knows.
Lessons learned:
Version Control (Source Code Control) is a hero, as usual.
Try poking around with the XML if you get corrupt libraries - it may be an easy fix, but your mileage may vary.
Don't even think about #2 unless you have #1 "under control"
Action Item for Applications Engineer: could you point this error to the Owning Developer? I would suggest this type of an error fail more gracefully, or at least with more information. Possibly, this type of error could self-correct silently since it's so easy to diagnose? Watching the library tank due to a benign issue nearly cost me a monitor and a monitor-sized area worth of sheetrock damage. ( )
a.lia-user-name-link[href="/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/88938"] {color: black;} a.lia-user-name-link[href="/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/88938"]:after {content: '';} .jrd-sig {height: 80px; overflow: visible;} .jrd-sig-deploy {float:left; opacity:0.2;} .jrd-sig-img {float:right; opacity:0.2;} .jrd-sig-img:hover {opacity:0.8;} .jrd-sig-deploy:hover {opacity:0.8;}

I cannot find the result about this topic.
So I recreate a new project file
Hope there is better solution for this problem
thank you all
QIA
http://www.vitst.com
Virry Test & Control
LabVIEW Certified Developer

After HD crash, restoring to new HD. Library files missing or corrupt. How can I get iTunes 10 to see my music

The hard drive on my fairly new HP Pavilion desktop died hard on boot-up. HP replaced the drive the next day. Used the Recovery Disks and got the unit up and running. I have been using Memeo Premium Backup and never did get any error messages during backup. When I went to restore the data, much of it is missing or corrupt. In the Restore data on the backup drive, I can see many folders but only a few have data. I opened a ticket with Memeo and after they made a few useless comments, they closed the ticket.
Fortunately, most of my iTunes data (folders and files) were restored in-tact. The exceptions were the library files, which are missing. The library files in the Previous Itunes Library folder were corrupted. I installed iTunes 10, but there are no songs, podcasts,etc, in it. I have tried every article in the knowledgebase and tried to fix the ITL and XML files, but it is hopeless. Also, when iTunes is running, at the top it shows .iTunes Preferences.plist. So, I have a disaster and about 10 gb of music going nowhere. Any ideas? I would really appreciate any help I can get.
Brad

They are all mostly the same size at around 6MB but there are a couple that are very large 55MB (including the 30 tmp file I mentioned above. There is also one around 7KB). I tried renaming the most recent (as of 8:30PM last night) tmp file as iTunes Library.itl but when I launch iTunes, I get the "The file 'iTunes Library.itl" cannot be read because it was created by a newer version of iTunes" popup.
But when I go into a directory I created to get the most recent itl file I've been saving as a backup and copy it into the iTunes directory to replace the one that I tried to make with the tmp file, and launch iTunes, my whole library loads with no problem.
However, if history repeats itself, this will work for at most a couple of days before I have to copy the saved itl file back into the iTunes directory.

Library file corruption

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