My itunes library was damaged and lost most of my songs and playlists

last night my itunes was working fine, but today when i tried to open itunes, it said that my itunes library was damaged and most of my songs and playlists were gone.
i tried re-creating my itunes library, but it didnt help at all.
i did not back up my itunes library.
how do i get my songs and playlists back?
please help! i'm really really desperate to get all the stuff back ):

There are a few things to try.
Make a copy of the one named damaged, and rename it to iTunesLibrary.itl
Look in the Previous iTunes Folder and see if one of those has a fairly recent date.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1660
For any ITL file you find, you can use the shift-start option while opening itunes to see if it give s you any joy.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=iTunesWin/8.1/en/15502.html
And of course, going forward, make sure to do regular backups of that ITL file!

Similar Messages

Installed 8.1 said library was damaged and lost

I tried to open i-tunes after installing and re-staring my computer and it told me my library was damaged and saved to my computer. I-tunes said my library was lost when it tried to import it so i tried manually but my library is not in my music folder to import. help me please.

This Article is useful: No music shows up in iTunes after upgrading
Perhaps you may still have the music files on your PC -- but not seen in iTunes or the PC.
Do a thorough search of your PC for your Music Files using the tips below:
First - Make sure that you enable your Windows Explorer to view 'Hidden' files:
1) Open Windows Explorer
2) Select 'My Computer'
3) On the main Windows Explorer menu: Tools=>Folder Options=>'View' tab
4) In 'Advanced Setting' --> Files and Folders --> Hidden files and folders:
4a) Select 'Show hidden files and folders’
5) Click 'Apply to All Folders'
6) Click 'OK'
Then check using Windows Explorer in 'My Music\iTunes\iTunes Music\...' for folders containing your music (or wherever you keep your music folders).
Also check in your Recycle Bin to see if you accidentally deleted it. If so, ‘Restore’ it back to it’s original spot.
Then try running a search using Windows Explorer (or similar) for files with the extensions of: m4a, m4p, MP3, OR with the partial names of the songs you are missing.
Do all the above before you decide that your music files have been completely erased from your hard drive.
IF you can locate the music files/folders, we can get iTunes to recognize it. Try one of these:
If you have a backup iTunes database file available....
1a. --- Close iTunes. If you have a backup (or previous version) of the ‘iTunes Library.itl’ database file, then place a copy of that file in the ‘...\My Music\iTunes’ folder (or wherever the current, incomplete file resides). Also look in the ‘Previous iTunes Libraries’ Folder for the backup ITL files saved by iTunes prior to an upgrade.
1b. --- Open iTunes
If you have a full version of the iTunes Music Library.xml file available....
2a. --- Within iTunes: File=>Library=>Import Playlist and browse to the location of the XML file
2b. --- Select the XML file and allow iTunes to Import the music information
If no backup ITL or XML files exists….
3a. --- In iTunes choose: Edit=>Preferences=>Advanced tab. Select 'Change' and browse to the music folder in your PC drive (if it isn’t already). Click OK to save that setting.
Then....
3b. --- In iTunes choose: File=>’Add Folder to Library’ & browse to the music folder in your PC drive. Click OK.
Without the ITL file or the XML file, re-‘Adding’ the music files to the Library will lose you the Ratings, Play Counts, Date Added and Last Played attributes, as well as your Playlists. No real way to recover them if you haven’t made prior backups. Something to consider for the future.
IF your music files are truly gone, and you have some or all of your music files on your iPod, these links will give you several methods of recovering whatever songs remain on your iPod; some free, some third-party software, some more comprehensive for restoring Playlists, Ratings, Play Counts, etc. Read them and their associated links before deciding on a strategy that works for you. There are many various third-party software programs that will offer a more robust process, or an easier GUI. Do a Google search for them if the links below leave you wanting.
Don King Resurrected: Deleted files from hard drive (free user steps – music recovery only)
MacMuse: Computer Crashed (free user steps – music recovery only)
Copying music from iPod to computer (a primer on various methods and software)
Copying Songs from Your iPod to a Mac or PC (resource for 3rd party software)
iPodRip Software (Free trial: Mac & Windows)
PodUtil Software (Mac & Windows)
YamiPod Software (Free: Mac & Windows)
PodPlus Software (Windows)
TuneJack Software (Windows)
Senuti (Mac OS X v10.3 or higher Recovery Utility)
XPlay (Windows software For Music Recovery &/or Cross-Platform Functionality)
XPlay Photo Browser (For recovering Photos)c
Extremely Simple & Free Method: (just to recover the song files – may not work on a Mac)
1 - Open iTunes
2 - Edit=>Preferences=>’Advanced/General’ tab
2a --- Select ‘Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library’: checked
2b --- Select ‘Keep iTunes Music folder organized’: checked
2c --- Click OK to store changes
3 - Attach your iPod to the PC and hold down the ‘Shift+Ctrl’ keys until the iPod is fully recognized (this will defeat the auto-sync process)
4 - If you get a dialog box to link the Library, decline this option
5 - Within iTunes: Edit=>Preferences=>’iPod’ tab: switch iPod to ‘Manually manage songs & playlists’ – click ‘OK’
6 – Eject iPod
7 – Close iTunes, then reopen iTunes and attach the iPod (it’s in manual sync now)
8 – File=>Add Folder
9 - Browse to and open ‘My Computer’ (click on the ‘+’) and select the iPod (or the lower ‘\iPod_Control’ sub-folder)
10 - Click OK
The music files should start to transfer back into iTunes with its correct information
This will take some time depending on your PC’s speed and the amount of songs on the iPod
No Playlists, or Ratings, Last Played, & Play Count attributes will be transferred from the iPod to iTunes using this method.
If you have problems with seeing the iPod within 'My Computer', try again switching your update method to 'manual', detach the iPod, then reconnect the iPod to the PC.
AFTER recovering your Library, strongly consider developing a thorough backup strategy for just this type of situation.
You need at least two full sets of your music, not including what is on the iPod:
a) One full set on the PC within iTunes (on internal HD or ExHD)
b) One full set on an separate external backup medium (CD/DVD/ExHD/other)
c) One (full or partial) set on the iPod
Music files on just the iPod and only one other medium is not considered having any backup.
If you cannot store your complete music files on the computer’s internal HD, then create and maintain at least two external sets (any multiple combinations of ExHDs, DVDs, CDs).
Backup both the music files and the Library database file (iTunes Library.itl). What are the iTunes Library files?
Here is a post on developing a thorough backup strategy:
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=9095648#9095648
Best of Luck

The pc that I used to download CD music to into my itunes library was stolen and I had no backup. I have all my itunes music on my iphone and ipod. can i have music from music from my iphone or ipod transferred to my mac computer through itunes?

The pc that I used to download CD music to into my itunes library was stolen and I had no backup. I have all my itunes music on my iphone and ipod. can i have music from music from my iphone or ipod transferred to my mac computer through itunes?

I have a similar problem. I recieved an IPAD for my birthday, and my daughter updated my itunes library so i can use it with the ipad...and somehow all my songs (unpurchased from itunes, and downloaded from a large collection of CDs) ...and play lists were deleted. I still have them on my old ipod, and wonder how to get them back onto my computer so I can redistribute some of them to the ipad. I must be getting too old for this tech stuff, it gets less user friendly every year.

The harddrive holding my itunes library is damaged and I would like to purchase the icloud. Can I restore files to the icloud without the disk/libraries?

the harddrive holding my itunes library is damaged and I would like to purchase the icloud. Can I restore files to the icloud without the disk/libraries? Thanks!

iCloud does not provide a service like Dropbox where you can save random files to it as a way of having external storage. As for the HD damage, don't you have a backup of the itunes library elsewhere? If so, copy it to the replacement hard drive, along with any other important files that were on the damaged HD.

ITunes library was erased and how do I move my iPod library back to iTunes

I had a problem with my computer and my entire iTunes library ended up being erased along with other files. Though I have all of the music on my iPod still and I want to transfer it back to my iTunes library. Is this at all possible since I did not backup my songs in any way before the library was erased? I really dont want to import all of my cd's again since it close to 10,000 songs so any info would help. I was able to get my iPod to show the songs when plugged into iTunes but it wont let me import the songs or playlist other than just playing them. I cant even burn a cd using my iPod files. What can I do to make get my songs back please help?

You can't sync or drag your music back directly from an iPod to iTunes, the transfer of music 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 but not playlists back to iTunes on Windows 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. Have a look at the web pages and documentation for these, they are generally quite straightforward.
iPod Access Mac and Windows Versions
YamiPod Mac and Windows Versions
PodUtil Mac and Windows Versions
iPodCopy Mac and Windows Versions
PodPlayer Windows Only
iGadget Windows Only

Since iTunes v8.1 install I lost most of my song files

Since installing v8.1 a few days ago when I open iTunes it shows that I have 1250 songs on 7.54 GB. But, when I try to select a song, a window opens stating; THE SONG COULD NOT BE USED BECAUSE THE ORIGINAL FILE COULD NOT BE FOUND. WOULD YOU LIKE TO LOCATE IT? I click, YES. Next window opens titled; CHOOSE A FILE. My iBook disk selection is highlighted. It indicates that I have only 180 song files. Why does iTunes v8.1, when opened, show me that I have 1250 songs (which is how many there should be) but there are only 180 songs that actually exist and are randomly from various albums? Have I lost all those other songs? And, what do I now do to get back all those songs I paid for from iTunes store and from other music web sites if they are gone?

iTunes upgrades don't recycle your preferences from the previous version - you need to reset them to how you had them before (e.g. "Keep my iTunes Library organised" and 'Copy songs to my iTunes Library when importing", etc). Having done that, quit and relaunch iTunes and see if the problem is gone.
Why does iTunes v8.1, when opened, show me that I have 1250 songs (which is how many there should be) but there are only 180 songs that actually exist and are randomly from various albums?
The 1250 is taken from the iTunes Library database file (in your ~user/Music/iTunes folder) - this is all the song information and locations, not the songs themselves. iTunes 8.1 SHOULD have found these from the database file though.
Have I lost all those other songs?
No, an upgrade of iTunes has no impact on the actual music, which will be exactly where it was before.
And, what do I now do to get back all those songs I paid for from iTunes store and from other music web sites if they are gone?
I suspect that the 180 songs are in the ~user/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music folder, which is the default location, and is where Apple Store Purchased tracks always get downloaded to. The other songs will be on your HD where they were before. Try using a Spotlight search on one of the titles of the "missing" søngs. Then having found where the songs are located, use Add to Library to get them into iTunes.

My iTunes library is "damaged" and now thousands of songs are missing. How do I get them back without re-importing each one?

I tried to open my library and it said the library had been corrupted and saved as a damaged file. When it finally opened thousands of songs were missing. I can't re-download and then re-import each of these songs. I tried to repair the library after going into programs and clicking repair but it did not restore the missing content. I have the lastest version of iTunes. With Apple tech support being a PITA to actually get in touch with I'm hoping someone here can help.

send an email to the iTS customer service using this form and ask the folks there nicely if you can re-download the files.
it has been reported here that you can sometimes get one free redownload request granted but never more than one.
good luck !

ITunes Library File Damaged; How Do I Get My Playlists Back?

My PowerMac G4 was in Sleep mode, and the power went out in my house for two seconds. iTunes was open when the computer went down as was Stickies. Upon starting up my computer, I found all of my Stickies memos were gone, but worst of all, I got a window telling me the iTunes library was damaged, so I had to go through a new iTunes setup. After iTunes found all of my music files (nearly 10,000 songs), I now have all the songs retrieved but my hundreds of playlists are gone. My 80Gig iPod still has all of the playlists, but of course, if I sync it with my computer, I'll lose them from the iPod. Is there any way to get my playlists back without having to go through the arduous task of creating them all over again in iTunes? Help (And thanks in advance to anyone who can offer me some enlightenment...)

Do you have a backup of your library files?
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93063

Had to restore cpu to factory settings and itunes library was lost. help!

I had to restore my cpu running, windows xp, to the factory settings and my entire itunes library was lost. I uploaded these songs from cd's I owned and then sold these cd's. the version of itunes on my cpu is about five years old, the ipod software needs to be reloaded and the ipod software version is on 7 something. I am worried that if I load the ipod software and download the latest version of itunes that the library will sync the ipod to its content, which is nothing, and I will lose all my prized music. Please advise how I can transfer my music from my ipod to my itunes library under the stated conditions. Thank you for your help

Connect your iPod to your computer. If it is set to update automatically you'll get a 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. When your iPod appears in the iTunes source list change the update setting to manual, that will let you use our 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
Once you are safely connected there are a few things you can do to restore your iTunes from the iPod. 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 and comparisons of some of them here:
Wired News - Rescue Your Stranded Tunes
Comparison of iPod managers
TuneJack Windows Only (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
SharePod Windows Only (iPhone and iPod Touch compatible)
iPod2PC Windows Only
iDump Windows Only
iPodRip Mac & Windows
YamiPod Mac and Windows
Music Rescue Mac & Windows
iPod Music Liberator Mac & Windows
Floola Mac & Windows
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)
If you have any iTunes Music Store purchases the transfer of purchased content only 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 or iPhone to a computer
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
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:
Back up your iTunes library by copying to an external hard drive

ITunes library is damaged, all playlists lost. how to restore?

yesterday my iTunes froze and it or something caused the computer to go very slow. i had to force quit all open applications and restart. iTunes then started importing music from Cloud and eventually I had a message to say the library was damaged. all my playlists have gone. does anyone have any suggestions how I can find or restore them?

iTunes Library.itml
iTunes library.itl (no "m")
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

I had to restore my computer to the factory settings, which means my itunes library was lost except for what was on my ipod nano. How do pull the songs from my ipod back onto my computer?

I had to restore my computer to the factory settings, which means my itunes library was lost except for what was on my ipod nano. How do pull the songs from my ipod back onto my computer? I have over 200 songs. There is no way I can re-purchase them! Any help?

How to use your iPod to move your music to a new computer

Please help me on this, what happened was that i connected my ipad to the computer and the itunes library was empty although a week ago i had 48 apps on the itunes library

please help me on this, what happened was that i connected my ipad to the computer and the itunes library was empty although a week ago i had 48 apps on the itunes library

see my main ques was that i have an ipad 2 in which i have 48 apps and i hv made an itunes account in my computer in which i can backup my purchased apps and i had backed up36 of them so that i can delete them from my ipad if the memory is full but recently when i opened my itunes account in the computer it tells that you dont have any app on this account whereas on my ipad i still do have them, so cant i get all my backed up apps on the itunes account on my computer again?

Tried to use iTunes library from Windows and Mac - lost everything

My iTunes Library is on a NAS (Dlink DNS-323) and until last night, I was only using it with my two macs (both running 10.5.6).
Last night, I wanted to use it from my Vista laptop so I looked up online and realized I can easily do it by renaming the "iTunes Library" file to iTunes Library.itl and double clicking from iTunes on Windows.
It seemed to work because when iTunes opened, I could see my playlists and I saw the message "updating library". I was afraid about the update to the library, so I just exit iTunes at the time thinking it would all be ok.
Guess not. This morning when I opened iTunes from my iMac, it opened with and empty library. I tried to do Library/Import Playlist and it did nothing but add the "standard" playlists to my library. I tried it a few times, with different settings (trying to re-rename the .itl back to just iTunes Library for example) and nothing worked.
Do I have any hope to recreate the library? From now on I will be backing up the NAS also, but meanwhile any ideas?

Your library file was being converted from Mac-based paths to Windows-based paths; apparently iTunes isn't courteous enough to work on a temp file while doing that conversion. You're not going to get it back. (And now you've learned the hard lesson of making backups of your important stuff
If the "iTunes Music Library.xml" file is still in one piece, you can use File menu -> Library -> Import playlist and point the file dialog to the xml file. Just about all the previous iTunes-only metadata will be imported (IIRC, about all you lose is some "Skip" info, and of course, Date Added will reflect the new date of import).

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

I have another computer that a virus may have taken over and I cannot log into it anymore. I just downloaded Itunes on a new computer but most of my songs are not on there. Is there a way to still access or find those songs? Remotely or another way? I

I have another computer that a virus may have taken over and I cannot log into it anymore. I just downloaded Itunes on a new computer but most of my songs are not on there. Is there a way to still access or find those songs? Remotely or another way? Or do I need to take it to a tech to get my files off of my hard drive?

Edit > Preferences > Store check Music under Automatic Downloads.
Open the iTunes Store from left hand column, then select Purchasedfrom the column on the right, click the Not In My Library button and select the tunes you want to download again.
That said, you seem to be under a misapprehension as to how iTunes works, or at least how it has worked in the past. It has, until recently, been up to you take care of your purchases once they have been downloaded. You had a one-time download which you were reminded to back up. With the recent change to this policy you can at least download your store purchases again, but having a personal backup of your iTunes store purchases, stuff purchased elsewhere and files ripped from your CDs will still be preferable to gathering all the stuff together again in the event of a disaster.
For a backup strategy see this User Tip.
tt2

My itunes library was damaged and lost most of my songs and playlists

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for