Library has lost all my music

all 4,500 files have an exclamation mark along the left hand side saying file cannot be found.
my music was not on a computer but on a separate hard drive. but somehow itunes reset its preferences to look for all the files in the itunes folder on my computer. i have changed this back to the external drive but it is still not looking there.
short of going one by one and locating 4,500 files how can i get it to look in the right place?

You get exclamation marks or dead tracks because iTunes can’t find the file. This can happen for a number of reasons:
The song file or a folder in its path was renamed
The song file or the folder it is in has been moved
The song file has been deleted
The device containing the song files e.g. external drive is not accessible.
If you start iTunes when the drive is not accessible, iTunes will default back to the internal drive.
I assume from your comments that you have your iTunes folder containing the iTunes library files in the iTunes folder on your c: drive.
If this is the case, you should be able to get things working again by setting the location of the iTunes folder to the folder where your music is located on the external drive. This ought to work provided nothing else has changed. iTunes is extremely sensitive to changes in the path to music files.

Similar Messages

  • HT1414 'Restore iPhone in Recovery' iPhone 4 has lost all my music.

    After following the 'Restore iPhone in Recovery mode' instructions and resettiong all setting my iPhone 4 has lost all my music.  It is in ICloud on home Mac desktop but cannot find how to re import it to my phone. Please help.

    Thanks but...umm.. Its on the home Mac all 203 songs, now it says I have just 50???  tries to download, then says that it can't download each song, moves on to next..unable to down load and so on and so forth.them .
    Itunes Library just has a search bar... to buy music.... how do I sync?  Thought that I had... thats why icloud/library had all the songs...

  • HT201210 my itunes has lost all my music, they are still on my ipod, can I copy them back ?

    my itunes has lost all my music, they are still on my ipod, can I copy them back ?

    ''''' "My bookmarks from firefox were all on IE. " '''''
    That wouldn't happen automatically, Firefox doesn't synchronize bookmarks with IE favorites.
    Any chance you were using Google Bookmarks in Firefox? And then with the Google Toolbar not working any longer you just can't access your Google Bookmarks from within Firefox ??
    GBookmarks (Google Bookmarks for Firefox) add-on <br />
    https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/gbookmarks-google-bookmarks-fo/

  • IPhoto library has lost all my landscape photos.

    Hi,  My iPhoto library has lost all my landscape photos (the thumbnails are there, but no photos when you try to slide show them). 
    I've tried reverting to original and restoring the library.  No luck.
    I have them all in a back up outside of iPhoto - as individual jpg files.  Can Iphoto help to re-import the missing ones bring them back into the library? 
    I'm hoping to avoid having to start from scratch!!! 
    I don't know what caused the issues - I haven't made any changes to the back end!!!
    Thanks.

    If that doesn't help...
    Download iPhoto Library Manager and use its rebuild function. (In Library Manager it's the FIle -> Rebuild command)
    This will create an entirely new library. It will then copy (or try to) your photos and all the associated metadata and versions to this new Library, and arrange it as close as it can to what you had in the damaged Library. It does this based on information it finds in the iPhoto sharing mechanism - but that means that things not shared won't be there, so no slideshows, books or calendars, for instance - but it should get all your events, albums and keywords, faces and places back.
    Because this process creates an entirely new library and leaves your old one untouched, it is non-destructive, and if you're not happy with the results you can simply return to your old one.  

  • My iPod Classic 160GB has lost all its music and won't sync or restore

    My iPOD Classic 160GB has spontaneously lost all its music - approx. 5000 songs. One minute they were all there, now they're all gone - display says "No Music" although memory still shows 23GB in use? I tried to re-sync on iTunes but the iPod won't sync (error 1415) or restore (error 1439). As things currently stand,my iPod is just a very expensive paperweight - please can anybody help with this?

    hi lindsay
    i understand you have all your music still in your itunes library?
    Try the basic resetting of your ipod,also try another usb port.
    Have you tried ,when ipod is connected,click on your ipods name,for example lindsays ipod,another window should open up and you can see  summary,click on the sync box ,bottom right hand corner,see if this helps.
    Or you could ,when you have itunes open,click for updates.
    hope this may help you
    thanks madforit

  • 9.0.3 has lost all my music

    I've just updated to 9.0.3 this week, and since then, all my music that wasn't bought on iTunes has disappeared. I also can't add any music that I've bought since I upgraded to my iPod (4G Nano). Can anybody please help?

    Okay. we'd better start checking on other possibilities.
    By any chance, is your PC a Sony Vaio (or any other type of Sony)?
    What security software do you have installed on the PC? (Firewall, antivirus, antispyware?)

  • I had to wipe my PC, now itunes has lost all my music?

    Hi everyone (HELP) iphone 3gs
    I had to wipe my PC I had backed up all my files to external harddrive, re loaded them on new PC and discovered when I plugged my iphone in to sync all my music files had dissapeared from itunes. itunes recognised my phone no probs when I plugged it in on new PC.
    I thought everytime you plugged the iphone in it says it is making a backup of your phone if so how do I get it back (what really annoys me is that itunes in the first place took all my music file over and put it on to itunes if it hadn't of done this all my music would still be in my music folder outside of itunes). 
    Cruella Deauville

    Hi
    If I go into "my music" on the pc there is no music as itunes took it over.
    there is an itunes folder but I can't access anything in it.
    when you say did I restore itunes after the wipe how was I supposed to do that? I just plugged my phone in and it recognised it, its just that if you click on the music folders they are all empty, I didnt have all the music on my phone just some.
    I don't ask itunes to backup my data I just noticed it says that's what it is doing just before it syncs.

  • Somehow itunes has lost all my music

    I havent logged in for a while and all my music is gone.

    You can redownload them again without incurring additional charges. See this article:
    Downloading past purchases from the App Store, iBookstore, and iTunes Store
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2519
    If you are having difficulty downloading them, the itunes Customer Support should be able to assist you in reposting them back for you.
    http://www.apple.com/support/itunes/contact/
    Have a blessed New Year!

  • Um iTunes has 'lost' all my music - Any advice?

    I was messing about with iTunes preferences the weekend and although the songs still exist within the iTunes application the folders containing the original MP3 files are empty, all that remains is the album artwork in some of them.
    Its iTunes V9 on Windows Vista. I have Googled for the answer without any success. I cant restore from the iPod as its only a 4GB Nano. What the heck have I done????

    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1451
    Is the link with instruction on how to re create your libary. Good luck!

  • ITunes has lost all my music, playlists, ratings and preferences

    My stuff is backed up on an external drive, but if I reload it and sync my iPod, I lose all playlists, ratings and so on. Any suggestions as to how (and if) I can get my old prefs, playlists, ratings, playcounts, etc. back? I turned off my computer in the evening, switched it on uneventfully in the morning, went to sync my iPod and was told that it was synced to another computer (not so). Checked iTunes and found that it was a clean slate.

    You can redownload them again without incurring additional charges. See this article:
    Downloading past purchases from the App Store, iBookstore, and iTunes Store
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2519
    If you are having difficulty downloading them, the itunes Customer Support should be able to assist you in reposting them back for you.
    http://www.apple.com/support/itunes/contact/
    Have a blessed New Year!

  • My old iTunes library has been replaced by a new library, I didn't download a new version or authorize it. I have lost all my music, is there any way of retrieving my old library.

    My old iTunes library has been replaced by a new library, I didn't download a new version or authorize it. I have lost all my music, is there any way of retrieving my old library.

    Your i-device was not designed for unique storage of your media. It is not a backup device and media transfer was planned with you maintaining a master copy of your media on a computer which is itself independently backed up against loss.  To use a device with a new computer you transfer the content from the old computer (or its backup) directly to the new computer, not the device to the new computer. Media syncing is one way, computer to device, updating the device content to the content on the computer, not updating or restoring content on a computer. The exception is iTunes Store purchases which can be transferred to a computer.
    iTunes Store: Transferring purchases from your iOS device or iPod to a computer - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1848 - only purchases from iTunes Store
    For transferring other items from an i-device to a computer you will have to use third party commercial software.  See this document by turingtest2: Recovering your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device - https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3991

  • HT1386 I have a new computer and when I tried to sync my iPod Touch with the new iTunes, it has lost all of my music and videos from my iPod/old iTunes library: including all but 4 songs of my bought songs, videos and audeobooks!

    I have recently updated my computer since my old one broke and therefore had to download a new iTunes. When I came to add my iPod to this new iTunes, I was given no option to transfer the contents of my iPod library to this new iTunes and was forced to try 'sync'; when my old computer was repaired once we lost all of our data so I had to download a new iTunes then,all of my iPod downloads were transferred and I could easily reburn my CDs so I didn't think the wiping of my iPod would be a problem. When I clicked 'sync' it warned me that it would replace the contents of my iPod with the new iTunes library, as I said I didn't think this would be a problembut then it asked if it should transfer my recent iTunes downloads so I said 'yes'. The sync was completed but now I only have 4 downloaded songs and 5 albums which I burned to my new iTunes! I have lost all the music I bought, all the videos I bought and all the audiobooks I bought! (Luckily I still have my apps.) I tried to restore backup but realised that only covers calendars, contacts E.T.C and I checked my iTunes account and that shows all my downloads but I can't see a way to restore them or anything like that!
    Please help! I am in despair as you can imagine how much moneys worth I have lost and am losing faith in Apple

    Correct. When you update via iTunes all synced media that is not in your iTunes library will be lost.
    As IO said before:
    You can redownload most iTunes pruchases by:
    Downloading past purchases from the App Store, iBookstore, and iTunes Store
    I do not think it included audio books.

  • Lost all my music from IPod, but music is still in library

    Lost all my music from IPod, but music still in my library.  How do I get it back on my IPod?

    Sync it
    iTunes: Syncing media content to iOS devices and iPod

  • I have an iPod Classic 5th Gen.  After 1 month I've lost all my music and playlist files.  The only files left are music I have purchased from iTunes.  How do I restore my music library to my iPod?

    I have an iPod Classic 5th Generation.  I have not used it for about one month.  When I turned it on, I had lost all my music and playlist files.  The only thing left on the iPod was the music and audio books I have purchased from iTunes store.  I tried to delete everything on the ipod by sliding the hold button and then pressing the center button and the menu and I saw the apple logo on the screen but the iPod wouldn't reboot.  Any suggestions as to how I can delete everything on the iPod and then plug it into my computer to restore my music library?  I am using a Windows 7 operating system.

    Does both your Windows and Macbook iTunes have the same library of songs?
    if it  does then, much easier to proceed, else try to load the Macbook with the same library as Windows.
    Note that only one of the Macbook USB port is good for iPod Classic, the other is too slow and may cause timeout, and I would suggest disconnect all other USB devices, while you Restore or Sync the iPod Classic.
    Connect the iPod to the Mac, (if iTunes launch, please close it back.)
    Use Disk Utility -> select the iPod Device->First Aid->Repair (use option FAT32)
    After the Repair complete, eject the iPod.
    Connect back to the Mac
    When iTunes launch, Restore the iPod when Prompted, (use FAT32)
    Sync your library.
    Good Luck!

  • I recently tried to update my iPhone 3 software via my mothers Mac book comp - during the upgrade I lost all my music and calendar dates and now the iTunes on my phone has my mothers iTunes detail - how do I get all my info back on the phone?

    I recently tried to update my iPhone 3 software via my mothers Mac book comp - during the upgrade I lost all my music and calendar dates and now the iTunes on my phone has my mothers iTunes detail - how do I get all my info back on the phone?

    Restore it using the computer you normally sync with.

Maybe you are looking for