Restoring play counts & original data after reformat

I reformatted my computer and followed the steps online to restore my library, by importing my iTunes Library xml file from the desktop (and then dragging My Music into the iTunes window). Although I was able to obtain all of my original playlists, none of the play counts, or dates added, or similar, were restored.
If someone has any ideas about how to correct this, would be much appreciated!

You are guessing right
After a reformat, the best way to restore your third party apps is to reinstall from their install disks. SuperDuper or Time Machine can certainly restore your Applications folder but in many cases you will need associated files. There's the rub. It's rarely the application but the associated file that is the problem. My user tip on where important data is stored may help.
Have you tested your apps in a new user account?
Create a new account, name it "test" and see how your apps work in that User acct? (That will tell if your problem is systemwide or limited to your User acct.) This account is just for test, do nothing further with it.
Open System Preferences >> Accounts >> "+" make it an admin account.
If the problem is present in the test account also, then it is systemwide. In this case try repairing this with the 10.5.2 Combo Update This is a fuller install, as opposed to an incremental "delta" update so it should overwrite any files that are damaged or missing. It does not matter if you have applied it before.
Remember to Verify Disk before update and repair permissions after update from /Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility.
If the problem does not appear in the test account try starting in "Safe Mode" (It will take a bit more time to startup because it runs a directory check first).
If that works go to System Preferences >> Accounts >> Login Items and remove them. Boot normally and test. If there are still problems, go to ~(yourHome)/Library/Contextual Menu Items and move whatever is there to the desktop. Then do the same with /Library/Contextual Menu Items. Lastly, try moving /Users/Home)/Library/Fonts to your desktop and restarting.
Log out/in or restart, if that sorts it start putting items back one at a time until you find the culprit.
Let us know.
-mj
Message was edited by: macjack

Similar Messages

  • Got a new Mac, my iTunes is whack, (No Play Count or Date Added)

    Hello, everybody. It's been a rough night.
    I currently own a G4 iMac and I just got a brand new Macbook. The Macbook is very nice, it's extremely speedy and I am sure I will grow to love it. We've got just one hurdle to get through together: the organization of my music in iTunes. Now, I've had the iMac for five years, and not long after I got it adding music to it became something of an importance, it was my music player. Over the past five years I've not only added thousands of songs, but meticulously and very specifically organized them into playlists based on the number of spins they have and when they were added. To a lot of people I know this sort of thing isn't a huge deal, but for me this organization became, and I kid you not, a huge, huge part of my life.
    So I get the new Macbook, fire it up and use Migration Assistant, (with the iMac in Target Disk Mode), to move my data over. When it's done I open the iTunes and am greeted with... nothing. Well, okay, all of my music is there, that's nice, (it's what iTunes is for, etc etc), but NONE of my play count or date added information remains. I weep inside.
    Being that this is my first new computer in five years, (a long time!), you might be able to tell that I was hesitant about upgrading. Before getting my Macbook I asked experts at the Apple Store if this method would work, and even received assurance from several people online that everything would be preserved. So, I did my homework, but my Macs and I both apparently failed the test. Here's where we are now:
    1. The iMac, (running Tiger), still has iTunes on it, with all the information, nothing seems to have changed on that end.
    2. The Macbook has a hard drive full of music with no playlist, play count or date added data.
    3. I do own an iPod where I backed up the music before the move. I know that the data information on playlists, play count and date added is on the iPod. I do not dare plug it in to the new machine for fear of the unknown.
    Which brings me here, is there some way, any way of rectifying this? Here is what I would like:
    1. For the Macbook iTunes to look EXACTLY like the iMac's does.
    2. For it to work with both my old iPods without question.
    This has been long, and I fear that some may pass it over as something too much of an banality to be needed help with. But like some collect shoes or hats, I collect music. It's a lovely collection and it's a large part of who I am. I could start all over, but that's sort of like saying the world could start over if it by chance happened to forget how to turn. It would take a lot of effort, and there would be some (more) tears, but I could move on. But I really, really don't want to. I just want things to be the way they were. I'd very much like to have this information present, and I thank you all for your time.

    ADDED:
    Now that I look at it, appears that nothing except for my applications transferred over. My old computer is listed in the Hard Drive, but I can't access any of the folders because I don't have that "level of privileges" or whatever, (odd, considering they're both my computers, do they need to be hooked up for this?). I don't really need for my old applications to be there, (Hello, iWork '06 Demo!), so can I just go and erase them, or am I better just starting all over again?

  • I restored my phone on iTunes, but when I did, all my info deleted and now it's my sister's old data. I tried to go back on iTunes and restore, but my original data isn't even an option. How do I get my old data back?

    I restored my phone on iTunes, but when I did, all my info deleted and now it's my sister's old data. I tried to go back on iTunes and restore, but my original data isn't even an option. How do I get my old data back?

    Before you did the resotore Via itunes you should of made a Back-up of your Data. But to be honest, i don't think that you would be able to get that stuff back.. Sorry mate

  • Hard drive crash...want to restore play counts from ipod.

    My hard drive crashed and obviously I lost all of my iTunes library stuff.  I have all of my song files on an external hard drive so that is not the issue.  What I want is to restore my library including play counts and all of that.  My ipod touch is still synced to the library that died so I was wondering if anyone knew a method to restore play count and other relating counters directly from the ipod.

    Restore your library from the backup you keep of your media and other important files.
    You do have a backup, correct?
    You iPod really doesn't keep the play count, it offloads that information whenever you sync to iTunes.

  • Just updated my ITunes, Plays fine, but play count and date played do not change. What is going on?

    Updated I Tunes 11.0 and all plays well, just the last date played never changes and the play count remains the same no matter how many times I play the song. Not really sure where to go with this.

    Hi Liz,
    Sorry to hear you are having a similar problem.  Last night I went to the tool bar at the top of iphoto, clicked on "File",  then clicked "Browse Backups" in the drop down menu.    I have an external hard drive that is set up to Time Machine.   The Browse Backups  opened the iphoto pages in the Time Machine.  I selected a date one day ahead of the day I performed the now infamous update, and it showed my iphoto library as it had existed that day.   I then clicked  "Restore Library" at the bottom right corner of the Time Machine screen.   Roughly 2 hours later my iphoto was back to normal.   When I opened iphoto there was a message saying I need to upgrade my program to be compatible with the new version of iphoto(version 9.2.1).  I clicked "Upgrade" and within seconds it had done whatever upgrading it needed to do. 
    The only glitch in the restoration was that it restored the library as it appeared last week, so I no longer had photos I had imported this past weekend.   I simply went back to the Browse Backups in the drop down menu,  when Time Machine opened I selected the page showing my pictures from this weekend and again said to Restore Library.   Roughly 45 minutes later the library was restored including the most recent photos.  
    I am now a happy camper. 
    I don't know if any of this will be of help to you because your email says you are having trouble with photos imported after the upgrade was performed.   Have you had any pop up notices when you first open iphoto,  that tell you you need an upgrade to be compatible with the new iphoto?     If so have you clicked "upgrade"? 
    Good luck Liz,  if you have Time Machine running as a back up to your library, maybe you wil be able to get help there, by following my instructions above.   Otherwise,   good luck with your investigations.   I'd be interested in hearing how you make out.
    Karen

  • Restoring play count from library.xml?

    OK, i just reformatted my hard drive, and not sure i backed up everything correctly. All my music is there, but there is no play count/date added/playlists. I am ok with this, but i opened the iTunes Music Library xml file just for fun, and i noticed in the xml the playcount integer was there along with the date added. Is there a way to "import" this xml file so the playcounts show up? date added etc?Its more just for fun, but itd be nice to have. Playlists would be a bonus too, but not critical. I didtn think any of this was possible until i saw this xml file...
    Thanks!

    GARTH,
    While I understand your perceived need for this attribute, I have not seen a method to recover the 'Date Added' value. Perhaps there is a JavaScript available from another. If I happen across this facility, I'll include it in my recovery instructions, but I do not go looking for something not critically required (see my reason below).
    This begs the question of many Library problems I see here: If your music Library is so important to you (and why shouldn't it be), you need to proactively guard against the typical and expected failures of digital life.
    This means *+frequent and complete backups+* of your data - including your entire iTunes Library. Failure to plan means you are planning to fail.
    See what you need to do to Completely Backup iTunes.
    Do anything less and we'll try to help you recover, but one cannot expect Apple or those of us here to save you from every self-inflicted problem. We do, however, get many of them happily resolved.
    Best of Luck

  • Is there a way to retain the original date after editing?

    I am using PSE 11 on a MacBook Pro, OS X (10.3). I have a lot of old pictures to edit, and they are in date order, which is how I want them.
    However, when I edit a picture and save it, it moves it to the bottom, with today's date instead of the original date.  I have them set to save with the original as a version set.
    Is there any way to retain the orignal dates, short of having to go in and reset the date on every picture after I save it?  I really want them to be in date order under their original dates.
    BTW, I used earlier versions that were Windows-based, and this didn't happen.  When I saved them, the version sets stayed where they were.
    This is really frustrating!

    SK Prairie Chicken a écrit:
    I'd like an answer to this too.
    What's your problem exactly?
    The 'date taken' is never changed by editing a picture.

  • ITunes resets play count to "1" after syncing

    Hi, recently I've noticed that after syncing my iPod the play count for the tracks I've played that day are showing as 1 even though many of them have been played a lot more than that (some in the 100s). This has only been only happening since I upgraded my software to iTunes 10.2.2 and is very frustrating as I find the play count info very useful.
    Can anyone shed some light on why this is happening and what I can do to fix it?
    Thanks,
    Chris

    When your ipod is plugged into your itune click on it in itune and uncheck sync at the bottom of the page.

  • Some of my songs play count had triple after activating iTunes Match

    After subscribing to iTunes Match I noticed some of my songs play count had tripled.
    Anybody have the same problem?
    This is a big burden for me as i'm a play count geek.

    Hayley,
    Have you seen this?
    Troubleshooting songs that skip on the iPod
    JC

  • ITunes 8 Trouble: erased my playlist, play counts and date added

    After installing itunes8 my library was empty so I added my itunes folder back in and everthing is back in the library. But my playcounts are at zero and my playlists are gone. All the "date added" say 9/10/08. When I plug in my iPod it says it's not synced to this library. So is there anyway to restore everything back to normal? Or atleast get my playlists back?
    they really messed up with this itunes 8. I'm dissappointed.

    Try these directions
    http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1967

  • Getting back play counts and ratings after moving the librar

    Hi,
    I have just moved my music library on to my other internal hard drive. I pointed itunes to the new folder and then imported the iTunesMusicLibrary.xml and got all my playlist back. Unfortunately I cannot get my playcounts or my ratings to import. Does anyone know where these are located and how I can get them imported. With thanks.
    Sean

    Sean hello,
    the reason that none of the info was in was in your library is, you started a new library file... by default when iTunes starts it looks in the home iTunes folder for the file 'iTunes Library' if it is not there a new file will be created and all songs will need to be added again but all playcounts, ratings and date added data will be lost ...
    To recover your situation open the home iTunes folder and put the iTunes Library file on the desktop... now move the original iTunes Library file from the other HD back to it's proper place the home iTunes folder and leave it there... start iTunes for the 1st time after putting the file back by double/clicking on the file.
    TP

  • If I backup my iPhone to iCloud, can I restore it without losing data after syncing with new computer/iTunes?

    The laptop my phone was synced to broke, so I had up get a new computer. I know that if I try to sync my iPhone 4 (running iOS 6) to the new iTunes on the new computer I'll lose my data. I have everything backed up to iCloud. Could I restore my iPhone after syncing with the new iTunes?

    yes

  • Restoring quicktime to original length after "trim to selection" debacle.

    After trimming a selection in Quicktime Pro, I accidentally saved the file, now I have a one-minute clip that is 9.7 GB on the hard drive. I'm using QTpro 7.1.5, how do I get my file back to the original length?
    I have seen this issue post on this forum twice before, and have tried the replace "free" with "moov" fixes posted there. However, that solution was for a QT 7.0 file, and there are some discrepancies ("[free" is "fREe" and when I change it to "moov", I get an unopenable file).
    A freind suggested dragging the whole thing into Final Cut, does anyone know if that will work?
    Please help.

    hi lown,
    I had the same problem as you, accidentally saved an unwanted trim over my original quicktime file. I found a solution based on this discussion:
    http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=4136088&#4136088
    Basically you need a Hex editor to search and replace "free" to "moov" in the quicktime file. You can use a Hex editor like this one called Hex Fiend,
    http://www.ridiculousfish.com/hexfiend/
    The thing is not to use "find and replace all" instead, only find the "free" that makes sense in a line, instead of the ones combined together with other characters (without spacing).
    Hope it works for you. After you edited it, save it as a separate file.
    Robin

  • HT1766 How can i restore all my data after deleting the apps? can i syncing back from the macbook?

    How can i restore back all my data after deleting the apps and re-install back.
    After reinstall back stll retrieve all my data.
    Can i syncing back the original frm my macbook since last update is Mar

    Favor the route via iTunes and local storage on the computer. MUCH faster than any cloudy backup, no matter the speed of your Internet connection. No network beats the speed of a hard drive. Just make sure there's enough room on the computer before you start, must contain all that's on the iGadget.

  • Media Go - iTunes Data (Play count, ratings) Import

    Hello,
    I'm trying to import all my ratings/play count data from my music and podcasts in iTunes to Media Go. So, for example, my 'most played music' in iTunes. For now, I only know how to import a playlist. When I do this, I lose the play count/rating data.
    Is there any way to do this? I understand there is two options for connecting to iTunes - 'monitor' the iTunes folders (which I have just done, and my data does not import) or to fully import all iTunes files (which also does not seem to import data).
    Thanks

    Sam, thanks for your help. It's a shame but at least I know for sure! I have been thinking about this and have some ideas to help fix this:
    1. 'Static' playlists can be imported. This is a playlist where the contents doesn't change. For example, you have a playlist based on the soundtrack of a favourite film. You simply right click on that playlist in itunes and click export, or you drag and drop it into Media Go.
    2. Ratings - I have an idea. Make playlists in iTunes with '1 star songs' '2 star songs' etc. I do this for all 5 star ratings. Now use the above method to export to drag these playlists into Media Go. When you view these songs/podcasts/other content in Media Go, highlight them all either with your mouse or by pressing CTRL+A. When you have all items selected in a playlist, edit the details and add the particular rating. So, for example I have 5 star podcasts or 5 star songs. I drag them into Media Go, highlight them in Media Go, change the details in Media Go to 5 star again and it should be complete. You may wish to to create a view in Media Go with your 5 star items, this is similar to iTunes 'Smart playlists', meaning, as you add more ratings to your songs or podcasts, they are added automatically to this View.
    3. Maintaining play count. The best I can recommend to others is to drag your playlists into Media Go, for example I have 'Favourite songs' or 'Most played new music'. When you drag them into Media Go, they will not maintain their rating but if you sync this playlist to your device you should be able to access your favourite music from your last device e.g. iPod quickly. With some normal usage, you will regenerate your favourite lists. You may wish to add a new View such as 'Most Played music', as I say, the Views add content over time like iTunes smart playlists.
    If anyone else has helpful ideas do add! Lets make our Xperias and Media Go our favourite devices and software!!

Maybe you are looking for

  • Safari/Windows Vista Home Premium x86 Answers Needed

    I have a few things that need to be answered 1. Is it possible to have more than one version of Safari installed at the same time. Can I have 3.1.2 and either 3.1.1 or 4.0 installed so I can have 2 versions of Safari installed on the same operating s

  • Variable not initializing

    I have a class that is parsing the standard date string to extract each discrete element using StringTokenizer. There is two loops with a switch. The first loop looks for tokens separated by spaces; the second loop looks for the colons in the time pa

  • BOE xi 3.1 Clustering  not working

    HI We are using boe xi 3.1 sp3 on solaris i installed boe on uat server A and i installed boe on server b I did custom installation to cluster the server B with server A.Everything looks fine fo far, both the servers are up and running. we did some t

  • Layout of JDesktopIcons problem

    I have a JDesktopPane which contains a bunch of JInternalFrames, these frames are added to the desktop, then they are iconified. It seems as though they stack up vertically starting at the bottom left of the DesktopPane....but they keep on stacking u

  • Change the home button back to the left side!!!!! I've changed browsers and would like to change back and upgrade to FF 6.0 if you can get that fixed!

    "change the home button back to the left side!!!!! I've changed browsers and would like to change back and upgrade to FF 6.0 if you can get that fixed!" And why can't I send an email from the old browser? lame!