Restoring iTunes library from backed-up files

How should I go about restoring my iTunes files from a backup?
I used to keep all of my iTunes media files (i.e., music, video, etc) on an external hard drive, using the Preferences:Advanced:iTunes Music Folder Location setting. My external hard drive has completely died (sidenote: never trust LaCie!), but thankfully, I made a backup by copying the directory tree onto a second drive. The second drive is now attached, but, of course, my songs still generate "file not found" errors. I have way too many songs to manually find each one... but I don't want to lose playlist and playcount information...
How should I go about mass "re-linking" the files on the backup disk to my iTunes database, so that I can then change my library location and "consolidate" all the files onto my internal hard drive?
Has anyone done this successfully? I'd appreciate some guidance!
Thanks!

In case anyone has the same problem, here was the best fix I found:
Basically, you copy the files into the directories where iTunes is looking for them:
1. Pick a few grayed-out songs in iTunes and open the song properties. Look for the song filename, paying particular attention. After a few, you should see a pattern, indicating where iTunes is looking for the files based on the song/artist/album name.
2. Just copy the backed-up files to the locations where iTunes is expecting to find them. With luck (and particularly if your backup was recent), the pattern should be the same as the pattern in your backup, so you'll probably just have to drag files only once.
3. Now double-click on a grayed-out song (that has had its file moved into the folder where iTunes is looking for it) and it should start playing and stop being grayed out.
Hope this helps someone else!

Similar Messages

Possible to Restore iTunes Library from Back-Up Drive?

Hi --
I just want to clarify what I've read on another thread about restoring my library from a backup.
I have a machine running XP Pro and I find myself in the unfortunate position of having to reinstall the OS. I regularly back-up my machine to an external hardrive so my iTunes library is safe. After I reinstall XP if I copy the back-up of my library back to my machine will iTunes recongnize everything? All I have to do is copy it back?
Thanks,
John

Your plan should work. One thing you need to do is deauthorize the computer prior to the reinstall. If you have purchased music & don't deauthorize, iTunes will view the system as new & will require another authorization.

How do I restore iTunes library from Backup files on External Hard Drive?

How do I restore iTunes library from Backup files on External Hard Drive and keep the new iTunes library on the External Hard Drive. I have all the media and playlist and .xml .itl files, just want the iTunes to recognise the content.
I backedup my iTunes content by dragging to External Hard Drive. Formatted and reinstalled OS. My iTunes content is so large, that I wish for the Library and content to remain on the External Hard Drive. I have all the music files and playlists, I just cannot get the iTunes application to display all the content. Hoping to Not have to drag and drop all the content to be recopied into new iTunes organised files.
Troubleshooting this by researching other conversations on the web, I have come stuck for a solution. One Troubleshoot told me to hold down the Command key and then lauch iTunes and a dialogue box will appear to Choose a new library, however when I try this, no Dialogue box appear to give me the option!?

It sometimes has that funny switch symbol on it too.
tt2

How do I restore iTunes library from flash drive backup?

How do I restore iTunes library from flash drive backup?

brigdool wrote:
How do I restore iTunes library from flash drive backup?
HI Brigdool,
It depends how you made the backup.
If you copied your entire iTunes folder onto the flash drive, just copy it back to the appropriate place on the computer.
If you copied individual folders or files, add them back to iTunes by inserting the flash drive in your computer, and then dragging the files into your "Automatically Add to iTunes" folder.
The first method recreates your library as it was, with all playcounts, playlists, etc. The second method builds a new library with the same content.

How to restore iTunes Library from Time Machine on Mavericks?

Please, can someone give me the instructions on how to restore iTunes Library from Time Machine on Mavericks?

See Pondini's TM FAQs, for details.

Restoring itunes library from a backup

I copied my iTunes folder into a backup drive. My hard drive died, and now I want to "re-connect" my iTunes with its library. How can I do it? Simply pointing iTunes to the library location doesn't work.
I need to be able to sync my iphone, etc... Help!

When restoring Itunes library from a backup DVD, will it overwrite anything already in the library?
No.
(47058)

PLEASE HELP!! How Do You Restore ITunes Library From IPOD Back To Computer

My entire library on intunes has been deleted and now all I have left is the music which i still stored on my ipod. I have done a total search on my PC and there is no track listings at all. My only chance is to restore the itunes library from the Ipod back to the PC. Is this possible and how do you do it. Am totally gutted and cant beleive the files are gone. Plllllease help me.

If you're using iTunes 7, you can copy purchased music back to iTunes directly. If you're not using iTunes 7 or want to copy other tracks, the easiest way will be to search VersionTracker for "iPod". You'll find a number of utilities that can transfer your tracks and your playlists from your iPod back to your PC.
It's also possible to do this manually, but the procedure is rather involved. If you're interested, though, see this thread:
MacMuse: Computer crashed
Forum Tip: Since you're new here, you've probably not discovered the Search feature available on every Discussions page, but next time, it might save you time (and everyone else from having to answer the same question multiple times) if you search a couple of ways for a topic, both in the relevant forums, in the User Tips Library and in the Apple Knowledge Base before you post a question.
Regards.

Restoring iTunes Library from Time Machine

I messed up my iTunes library when I attempted to move it to the Shared folder so that my wife could access my music on her account. Now when I load up iTunes, none of my media (songs, videos, podcasts) are there. I tried to restore from Time Machine (I restored the Music/iTunes) folder, but I still have nothing in iTunes. All my music, etc. is in the right folders, etc. -- nothing's been moved -- but it doesn't show up in iTunes. I could just add everything back and start from scratch, but I'd really like to recover my playlists, ratings, etc.
What do I need to do to do this? I must be missing something?

Try holding down the option key while opening iTunes. Select the option to choose a library. Inside the Music/iTunes folder there should've been a database file called iTunes Library. Select this file to use.

Any way to restore iTunes library from iPod?

I lost a hard drive on my labtop and had to re-install the iPod and iTunes programs after getting a new disk. Now the iTunes library is empty and would not recognize the old iPod and want to erase all its contents. Is there any way to restore the library from iPod to my laptop (a Compaq running Windows XP)? The Apple site says I can reverse sync up to five computers with the songs purchases from iStore, but I can't figure out where are the buttons either on the iTunes or the iPod. For the experts out there please help!
Kirkbrook in Cupertino

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. Your iPod should appear in the iTunes source list from where you can change the update setting to manual and use your iPod without the risk of accidentally erasing it. 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. Check the "manually manage music and videos" box in Summary then press the Apply button: Managing content manually on iPod
Once you are safely connected there are a few things you can do to restore your iTunes from the iPod. The transfer of purchased content from the iPod to authorised computers was introduced with iTunes 7. A paragraph on it has been added to this article: Transfer iTunes Store purchases using iPod
The transfer of non iTMS content such as songs imported from CD 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 back to iTunes on Windows. The procedure is a bit involved and was written long before iTunes 7 so it requires a little adaptation as the iPod preferences are no longer in the location described for instance also it won't transfer playlists. However if you're interested it's 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. 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 also read reviews of some of them here: Wired News - Rescue Your Stranded Tunes
TuneJack Windows Only
iPod2PC Windows Only
iGadget Windows Only
iDump Windows Only
YamiPod Mac and Windows Versions
Music Rescue Mac & Windows
iPodCopy Mac and Windows Versions
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 in case you have problems again. 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.

Restoring iTunes Library from corrupted external hard drive

I had my iTunes library and all the associated files on an external hard drive. This was working fine until I plugged this external hard drive into my TV to watch a movie. When I plugged my external hard drive back into my Macbook it is no longer readable, the file structure was corrupted and it will not mount.
I got a program to recover the files and this seemed to work. It was able to recover all the files however not the same file structure or file names etc. Just the files. So now I have all my files back but they are all sequentially named and stored in folders based on file type i.e. not the same folder structure or location as before. One good thing though is that I have found the itunes library files in all the mess.
Does anyone know how I would go about restoring my itunes library with this? I have the library files and all the audio/video files but they are not in the same location nor do they have the same names or folder structure. Basically before they were organized by iTunes in folders by Artist and now they are in folders by file type (eg mp3, avi, mp4 etc). Is it possible to restore it all? Could I just import all the songs back into itunes and then somehow restore the library file to get all my ratings and playlists back?
Or did I lose everything?

I have also found a couple of itunes library files that were recovered from the corrupted hard drive. I have about 5 previous library files and I also have two .xml library files. Would there be a way to somehow salvage my ratings etc from these files? Can i restore the library from these? Everytime i start itunes and try to select one of them it just says that the library files appear to be damaged and creates new ones.

Restoring ITunes Library from disc, Computer says not enough space on C:?

Hi everybody.
I recently bought a new laptop. I currently have more than 200GB free.
I backed up my ITUNES library from my old computer using ITUNES' backup feature (it made me 6 DVDs). Upon trying to restore them onto the new computer, it gets 4 discs in and ITUNES tells me there is no more space on the C: drive. Obviously, this isn't the case. Any ideas? Is this a bug in ITUNES?
Message was edited by: AdamWM

If that prevents you from restoring as new, and then manually syncing then fine.
It seems to me the size of the backup file may well not correspond to the amount of storage occupied on the iPhone. There can be pointers, indirect references, etc.

New HDD - how to restore iTunes library from Time Machine

Installed a new HDD in my MacBook Pro, would now like to restore my iTunes library on the computer.
Searched & saw a post about "needing to use the Time Machine interface to restore the entire library".
What is this interface they are referring to and how do I find it?
I open Time Machine in preferences and see there is an "options" button, and you can add items to the restore window ... I'm hoping there is a document somewhere that details if this is the correct place to restore an iTunes library, if so, what files/directories need to be added for restore, etc...
What's the process to restore an iTunes library from a Time Capsule backup?

Please do not double-post.
Answered in your other thread on this subject: https://discussions.apple.com/message/17532046#17532046

Permissions error when restoring itunes library from old hdd's TM backup to new SSD OS X Music folder...

Hello,
I got my self a new SSD and installed Lion in it from the internet. I tried copy pasting the itunes library from the most current backup in the TM drive that was used to backup the old hdd. I keep on getting "not enough permission" error for every single file. This same happens when I restore using Time Machine by navigating to the foler using the option "Browse Other Backup Disks"
Note: There is no encryption problem here AFAIK cause i never used encryption on any of my drives.
Please help me restore iTunes library and iPhoto library form the backup. Thanks.
Neerav

AceNeerav wrote:
I tried copy pasting the itunes library from the most current backup in the TM drive that was used to backup the old hdd.
Don't copy & paste.
Just use TM to restore it.

Restoring iTunes library from Time Machine backup -- help!

I'm trying to restore my iTunes library from TM backup. I can restore songs from individual albums, but if I try to restore multiple albums at once I get this error: "The operation can’t be completed because you don't have permission to access [name of file containing a song]." At this rate, it will take days to restore my library. Help! There must be a better way!

http://pondini.org/TM/E10.html

How to restore itunes library from a faulty time machine backup?

Hello,
I just bought a new macbook pro 15inch. I have a time machine backup but I wanted to start fresh so I didn't use the migration assistant to transfer my info. The only thing I want is my iTunes library with the playlists, ratings, artwork etc. But here's the problem... The computer knows that my external hard drive (it's a 1 TB toshiba) has a time machine back up, but it won't access it the usual way. I choose "browse other time machine disks", enter the time machine, then choose the external drive from there, and then I access my stuff. I copied the whole iTunes folder, changed the iTunes media folder location in preferences. Now all my playlists are gone, 400 songs are missing artist info and the library duplicated itself so now I have 12000 songs.
Is there a way for me to have my exact same iTunes library from my other computer?
Any help is appreciated. Thank you

bilunpe wrote:
I copied the whole iTunes folder, changed the iTunes media folder location in preferences.
All you need to do is copy the entire iTunes folder to /Music/.
Then open iTunes.
This is all you need to do. Don't change any iTunes prefs.

Restoring iTunes library from backed-up files

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for