Syncing iPhone to iMac after hard drive restore

My hard drive died very s l o w l y over the last couple of weeks.
I was very careful during this time not to delete any data from the phone (for example, I imported pictures to iPhoto, but did not delete them from the phone) as I just didn't feel terribly confident about my hardware.
I was beginning to feel a little better about things the night before the hard drive finally died (everyone had been saying, it's software it's software it's software), so one of the things I did was buy an album on iTunes after doing a full backup to Time Machine (I'd erased and restored my system the day before, so TM wanted to do a complete backup). I wanted to see if TM would pick up the incremental change. I also synced my iPhone after doing this and it updated the iOS, synced a few notes I'd made.
Then, hard drive dies, is replaced, and for a number of reasons, I opted to restore my data from a backup that I'd taken and archived before things started behaving so erratically. This means that I have some data on my iPhone - notes, that one album (my Purchased playlist syncs to my phone), iOS, which is newer than what the iTunes that I restored can recall - it seems to have a profile for my phone from late June, the last sync it remembers.
I'm just wondering a couple of things:
Am I in for some kind of almighty weird surprise when I plug my phone into my computer? Am I going to be presented with all kinds of options for erasing my phone, or worse, effing up my iTunes? Am I correct in thinking I should let my first TM backup of THIS hard drive complete before I attempt this?
Will I be pleasantly surprised to find that it will just move that one album to my iTunes? If it doesn't, is there any way I can move it manually from my phone to my iTunes? I wrote to iTunes Store customer support to ask if they could make the album available for download again, and it's been more than 24 hours and no response - not sure if they don't like my question.
Am I just worrying unnecessarily?

I went ahead and and changed the music file location, consolidated the library. That went ok. Tried a test adding an artist's folder from the external drive that I know had a new album in it but just a few other albums. Ended up with duplicate entries for the previously existing albums. Bah! I think I have 3 choices here: 1) add all the new stuff to the itunes library manually (but remember there have been hundreds of changes since January..the music files are > 80 gb total. 2) add to library selecting the main folder (which appears that it will then add thousands of duplicate items to the database list in addition to the hundreds of new items). 3) forget about trying to preserve ratings/playcounts etc and wipe the database and rebuild it from the external drive.
Is there a way to rebuild the database and preserve the existing ratings/playcounts?

Similar Messages

How do I get all my music library from my iPad to iMac after hard drive replacement?

Recently my iMac hard drive crashed and was replaced with a new one. Thankfully the entire music library was still on my iPad. However, with the new hard drive, iTunes will only let me move over the purchased tracks from the iPad to the iMac. This is not good since most of our music was purchased on CD and loaded into iTunes. iTunes states that you can only sync with one computer and the iPad is showning a different library than my iMac. How do I fix this? Apple is holding my legally purchased music hostage!

No, they aren't holding it hostage. You are relying upon Apple to provide a service you should be doing by backing up your computer properly.
Some of the information below is summarized by turingtest2 in the post at https://discussions.apple.com/message/18842615
Your i-device was not designed for unique storage of your media. It is not a backup device and media transfer is designed for you maintaining a master copy of your media on a computer which is itself properly backed up against loss. 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 purchased content.
iTunes Store: Transferring purchases from your iOS device or iPod to a computer - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1848 - only media purchased from iTunes Store
For transferring other items from an i-device to a computer you will have to use third party commercial software. Examples (check the web for others; this is not an exhaustive listing, nor do I have any idea if they are any good):
- Senuti - http://www.fadingred.com/senuti/
- Phoneview - http://www.ecamm.com/mac/phoneview/
- MusicRescue - http://www.kennettnet.co.uk/products/musicrescue/ - Mac & Windows
- Sharepod (free) - http://download.cnet.com/SharePod/3000-2141_4-10794489.html?tag=mncol;2 - Windows
- Snowfox/iMedia - http://www.mac-videoconverter.com/imedia-transfer-mac.html - Mac & PC
- iexplorer (free) - http://www.macroplant.com/iexplorer/ - Mac&PC
- Yamipod (free) - http://www.yamipod.com/main/modules/downloads/ - PC, Linux, Mac [Still updated for use on newer devices? No edits to site since 2010.]
- 2010 Post by Zevoneer: iPod media recovery options - https://discussions.apple.com/message/11624224 - this is an older post and many of the links are also for old posts, so bear this in mind when reading them.
Syncing to a "New" Computer or replacing a "crashed" Hard Drive - https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3141 - dates from 2008 and some outdated information now.
Copying Content from your iPod to your Computer - The Definitive Guide - http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/copying-music-from-ipod-to-co mputer/ - Information about use in disk mode pertains only to older model iPods.
Get Your Music Off of Your iPod - http://howto.wired.com/wiki/Get_Your_Music_Off_of_Your_iPod - I am not sure but this may only work with some models and not newer Touch, iPhone, or iPad.
Additional information here https://discussions.apple.com/message/18324797

Unable to transfer backup to iMac after hard drive replacement

After upgrading to Mavericks, my iMac ran slow and crashed. Hard drive failed diagnostic testing so it was replaced. Now when I try to transfer backup information it reads "No volumes found in backup". I've seen a couple possible solutions out there, but needed to make sure I'm not erasing data off the Time Capsule. Help!

After upgrading to Mavericks, my iMac ran slow and crashed. Hard drive failed diagnostic testing so it was replaced. Now when I try to transfer backup information it reads "No volumes found in backup". I've seen a couple possible solutions out there, but needed to make sure I'm not erasing data off the Time Capsule. Help!

Local Folders does not access all existing subfolders after hard drive restore

I had to restore my hard drive using Time Machine. Now Local Folders does not show my complete list of subfolders. I checked the hard drive location,
/Users/carol/Library/Thunderbird/Profiles/u7n9368b.default/Mail/Local Folders
and the folders all are there. I have reinstalled TB without a change. How do I get TB to read those folders? Needless to say, I have a LOT of really important stuff stored in there that I need to be able to access. The data is in there. I was able to open it in text, but it's pretty hard to read that way.

I was mistaken. NOT all the folders are still on the hard drive in my Library. Unfortunately, my Library was hidden in backups and I cannot find it to restore from an older backup. If anyone has a hack for showing a user Library in a Time Machine backup that was not visible when the backup was made, let me know!

IMovie does not see Aperture / iTunes library after hard drive restore

Hi all,
I recently exchanged the 320GB drive in my MacBook for a 500GB drive. I installed the 500GB drive and restored everything from my time machine backup. This went flawlessly and the MacBook works great, except for two issues:
1st: It did not read NTFS volumes anymore, I had to reinstall NTFS-3G - problem fixed.
2nd: I do not see my Aperture and iTunes libraries in iMovie '09 anymore. This worked great before.
Does anyone know how to fix this? Or what the problem could be?
Many thanks,
Michael

DaneelGiskard wrote:
.. restored everything from my time machine backup.
.. I do not see my Aperture and iTunes libraries in iMovie '09 anymore. ..
Does anyone know how to fix this? Or what the problem could be?
read about that problem frequently.. never got an answer, if the following usual advice fixes the problem:
• check permissions with Disk Utility
• check read/write rights of specific Folder AND files inside via Finder..

Add file to library after hard drive restore

Had to restore an old (January) image backup yesterday. About a month ago the music files were moved to an external drive from the C: drive so they are intact as they were before the restore. iTunes database (itl/xml file) don't include the hundreds of songs that have been added since January. (Yes, you are preaching to the choir.) I realize that I will need to go into preferences - advanced and change the music folder location to the external drive & that ought to see most of the songs. Question is the restored iTunes doesn't know about all the new files and am not sure the best way to add back to iTunes. I think that I want to use the "add file to library" option. If I select this and go to the external drive music folder will it only add files that aren't in the iTunes database already, will I end up with thousands of duplicate entries? How will it handle songs purchased since January? Advice please? Thanks.

I went ahead and and changed the music file location, consolidated the library. That went ok. Tried a test adding an artist's folder from the external drive that I know had a new album in it but just a few other albums. Ended up with duplicate entries for the previously existing albums. Bah! I think I have 3 choices here: 1) add all the new stuff to the itunes library manually (but remember there have been hundreds of changes since January..the music files are > 80 gb total. 2) add to library selecting the main folder (which appears that it will then add thousands of duplicate items to the database list in addition to the hundreds of new items). 3) forget about trying to preserve ratings/playcounts etc and wipe the database and rebuild it from the external drive.
Is there a way to rebuild the database and preserve the existing ratings/playcounts?

How do I load my Iphone to a New Hard Drive

I have been able to transfer my purchased music to a new Itunes that that I reinstalled, but still have several gig's of music from cd's that were in my old itunes libary (on my Iphone). I even just started loading cd's all over again, but I have purchased new music on my desktop and it wont load into my iphone. Not sure where to go fro here

The iphone is not a backup device. The music and photo sync is one way - computer to iphone.
You should ALWAYS have a backup.
The only way your purchases music will be there is if you put it there. You get one download, after that it is your responsibility to keep up with it.
If you have failed to maintain a backup, then you can transfer itunes purchases from the iphone:
Without syncing: File>Transfer purchases
When you sync iphone with the new hard drive, the media from the iphone will first be erased, then replaced with media from the new hard drive.
In the future, you really need to maintain a backup.

HT1473 My laptop hard drive crashed and I lost my ringtones, but they're still on my iPhone. If I sync my iPhone with the reimaged hard drive, I'll lose the ringtones from my iPhone. Is there any way to transfer ringtones from my iPhone back into iTunes

My laptop hard drive crashed and I lost my ringtones, but they're still on my iPhone. If I sync my iPhone with the reimaged hard drive, I'll lose the ringtones from my iPhone. Is there any way to transfer ringtones from my iPhone back into iTunes?

Thanks, but ringtones not purchased from iTunes, created them just before computer crashed.just before the next scheduled biweekly backup.
I found and downloaded TouchCopy 12 for PC and was able to copy the ringtones from my iPhone to my Windows laptop very easily. It also enables you to transfer photos, memos, voice messages, etc.

I have been using my newly purchased Iphone for Iphonagraphy (Iphone photography). I would like to sync my Iphone to my external hard drive so I can move photos in and out of my Iphone, to make use of the apps I have exclusively on my phone.

I want to sync my Iphone with the external hard drive so I can move photos from my phone to the hard drive AND BACK! I'm using a Windows OS

You have several options:
Connect the phone using a cable to your computer. Use the camera and scanner wizard to import the photos from the Camera Roll, then organize them and sync them back to the Photos app (see: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4083). the Camera Roll is intended for temporary storage only.
Save the images to your Dropbox account. It's free, http://www.dropbox.com. There's a Dropbox app for the iPhone, and also for Windows, Mac and Linux. Dropbox can also be accessed using a web browser. Dropbox (and similar services) provide cloud-based storage that can be accessed from anywhere.
Use Photo Stream
Email or text (MMS) the images to yourself
Create a Picasa or Shutterfly account, save the images to it, then download to your computer
I'm sure there are others.

My iMac's hard drive keeps filling up.

My iMac's hard drive keeps filling up. It has 320GB but only 1.37GB free! Other than Photos (3.43GB) and Songs (12.34GB), I have hardly anything installed on it. I recently got the message "Disc almost full...". Everytime I delete something (and I've delete a lot of things now) the free space relentlessly depletes. I have tried searching for files or programs that might be taking up a lot of space but can't find anything unusual or big enough to make a difference. I saw another comment from someone saying it was Mail failed downloads or something like that and suggested changing Finder preferences to "Other" to find the hidden files. But after doing this, I cannot find anything that looks bad. Look at the screenshot below, which shows what's taking up the disc space. How can the "Other" possibly be taking up 297.71GB when there's hardly anything on my mac that's bigger than 1GB!?!? Please help....

Do you own and backup any iDevices?
Anything else you have on this drive?
Any other places you store personal data?
You have any images or photos anywhere else?
You have a lot of documents?
Have you emptied OS X Trash icon recently.
iPhoto has its own trash the needs emptying.
Have you emptied the trash in Apple's Mail app?
Other things you can do to gain space.
Delete any old or no longer needed emails and/or archive older emails you want to save.
Look through your Documents folder and delete any type of old useless type files like "Read Me" type files.
Again, archive or delete any old documents you no longer use or immediately need.
Uninstall apps that you no longer use. If the app has a dedicated uninstaller, use it to completely uninstall the app. If the app has no uninstaller, then just drag it to the OS X Trash icon and empty the Trash.
Download an app called OnyX for your version of OS X.
When you install and launch it, let it do its thing initially, then go to the cleaning and maintenance tabs and run all of the processes in the tabs. Let OnyX clean out all web browser cache files, web browser histories, system cache files, delete old error log files.
Typically, iTunes and iPhoto libraries are the biggest users of HD space.
If you have any other large folders of personal data or projects?
Good Luck!

Missing iphoto files after hard drive replacement

I am working with iMac (27 inch, late 2009) running OS X Yosemite. Run time machine to an external hard drive.
Earlier this month, the hard drive crashed and had to be replaced. Before the hard drive crash, the computer was not using Yosemite. The iMac's hard drive was replaced and a full time machine restore was done. Everything was there except for all photos in ten very recent events in iPhoto. The event is named correctly "Halloween 2014," but there is no thumbnail picture. When I click into an event, the thumbnails for all the photos are are gray with white dotted lines around them. I repaired the thumbnails, and that didn't solve the problem.
I noticed in one (only one) event album, when I click into it, I can see the images at the bottom (in the teeny thumbnails) but when I click on them, I get the exclamation point in a triangle.
I have a few fairly basic questions -
1. When looking for an original photo file in Finder, is the correct way to do it by "Showing Package Contents" when the iPhoto icon is selected in iPhoto? This is the first time I've had to dig around to make sure the actual photo is on the computer. What is the organization default on the folders? Upload date? It doesn't make much sense to me yet.
2. Is it worth it to even bother doing this? Should I just either a) repair permissions, b) repair database or c) rebuild database?
3. What do a-c even mean?
4. If I do a-c, am I in danger of loosing photos I've uploaded since the hard drive install? I have some very precious professional family photos that I have on the computer now that I am deathly afraid of loosing.
Thanks!

1 - best to stay out of the iPhoto library - it is very complicated and easy damaged
2 - Back up your iPhoto library, Depress and hold the option (alt) and command keys and launch iPhoto - from the resulting first aid window repair permissions and if necessary rebuild your database
3 - ?
4 - see 2 - step one is backup the Photo libreay in case a rare prblem does cause an issue
LN

Use iPhone as an external hard drive?

I am going to be purchasing an iPhone in the near future, and I was wondering, does the iPhone have an external hard drive mode? What I mean is, on the iPod, I can turn on "use as external hard drive" as a means of transferring files (i.e. word documents) to another computer. Can the iPhone do this? Thanks.

Why would you think it would be? The basic hardware is almost identical.
According to the Touch manual it doesn't appear to be able to do this either (I base this on the fact it isn't formated, as a "regular" iPod has to be for the Mac or PC, as well as the sync and operations within iTune is the same. But without one in my hand I couldn't say for sure).
If you are interested in this ask on the Touch forum -- I'm sure they know.

How to transfer big files from imac to hard drive

haveing diffulty of copying file from Imac to Hard drives. is there any free app which i can download and help me with my problem.

To show HD on desktop
go into FINDER at top then PREFERENCES then GENERAL tab
then check "hard disks" and "external disks"
after that drag and drop files as you need to. You dont need an application for same.

PC hard drive died and I have replaced it. Need to import the music on my iPod, but get a message that it's synced with another library (old hard drive). How do I import the music onto new hard drive? Senuti's just for macs.No old hard drive to copy.

My PC hard drive died and I have replaced it. Need to import the music on my classic iPod, but get a message that it's synced with another library (old hard drive). How do I import the music onto the new hard drive? Senuti (one respondent's suggestion) is just for macs. I have no old hard drive to copy to the new hard drive (another respondent's suggestion.)

See this older thread from another forum member Zevoneer on different ways to copy music from your iPod back to your PC.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2417169?start=0&tstart=0
B-rock

Can i use seagate goflex 3tb external hard drive for 2010 27" imac internal hard drive replacment if i take it out of the goflex case.do i need to format it before installation due to it allready having goflex software on it from manufacturer.

i have 3tb seagate goflex external hard drive.its brand new in package.i took it out of case and deleted partitions that were created by manufacturer.so now i have 2800 gigs.its formatted ntfs.will it work for late 2010 27" imac internal hard drive replacement.i found a apple repair place that will charge me 50$ to swap drives for me assuming i have the drive.i will have to install leopard myself at this price.i dont want to have to pay for anything other than the swap.will this hard drive work with this format or do i need to format it differently.

Hello
formatted ntfs
NTFS format not work on mac system , need to be formatted as Extended Mac os Journaled format and partition table need to be GUID
how to do that in video
HTH
Pierre

Syncing iPhone to iMac after hard drive restore

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for