Can I restore the library and iPod contents?

[gepetto]

Please choose the appropriate forum for this topic. Thank you. I'm wondering if I can recover / restore my library and contents of the iPod. - 20G iPod, WinXP, iTunes 4.7.1.30

Here's what I did to mess things up:

I attempted to move/copy my iTunes folder from C:\My Documents\...iTunes to D:\iTunes in order to free up some space on my C: drive. After the copy completed, I changed the Preferences to reflect the new iTunes music folder location. Everything looked good in iTunes, so I exited iTunes and deleted the contents of the original iTunes folder, but left the folder. The iPod was not attached to the PC. I did not perform the Consolidation (didn't know I needed to do it at the time, and still have not done it yet).

Later I connected the iPod and purchased / downloaded two songs. The Library and contents appeared to be intact at this point. A message (that I should have researched) occasionally appeared indicating the "iPod is linked to another library", would you like to... I kept clicking NO, but eventually selected YES since it appeared the new files would not transfer to the iPod. Shortly thereafter, the contents of the library list updated and now it only shows the two songs I purchased and downloaded.

After a bit of research, I now know that iTunes wants to keep the 'iTunes 4 Music Library.itl' and 'iTunes Music Library.xml' files in the original location. iTunes created two new files to replace the ones I had moved. The new files are obviously a lot smaller than the original files I moved since they only need to index two songs... No, I do not have a backup of the contents of the iPod... But I do have the original .itl and xml files.

I'm wondering:

If I shutdown iTunes and restore the .itl and .xml files to their original location, will I be able to recover the contents of the iPod?

Is there a chance the two songs now in the Library were copied over existing songs corrupting the files?

Since I have the two new songs on the hard drive (.m4p's), can they be added to the iPod again? Then again... it's only two songs, not a big loss if the rest of the music can be recovered.

Did I mess it up to the point where "All is lost"?

Any and all comments, suggestions, are welcome and greatly appreciated!

gepetto
I hate it when I get stupid...

[honeybee1236]

If I'm understanding you correctly, you only moved the music folder you didn't delete all of the music did you? If I'm wrong correct me.

Data recovery from the iPod HD
http://forums.ipodlounge.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=45619
and
YamiPod www.yamipod.com does recovery
Use either of these methods if your music has been completely deleted from the computer & iPod.

If the songs are still available on a different drive then put them back in the original location and point iTunes to it, go to File>Add folder to library & repopulate it.

Then use the iPod 201 article to properly move the library to a different location:
http://www.ipodlounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/moving-your-itunes-library-to-a-new-hard-drive/

This is the only way I can think of right now to correct the problem.

[gepetto]

Yes, I did move the music folder and the and the files that make up the database / library ( .itl and .xml). I copied the music folder, verified, changed the location within iTunes, and then deleted the contents of the original folder. Unfortunately, the music folder only contains a few songs, not the entire contents of the iPod. I was trying to minimize the amount of space required on C: so not all of the songs were stored in the music folder.

I still have the original .itl and .xml files - several copies now... If I had not purchased / downloaded two new songs things may be a bit easier where I may be able to copy the .itl and .xml files to their original location, restart iTunes, and resync. This may still be an option. I'm thinking the risks may be:

1) The new songs may have been written over existing songs resulting in the loss of the new songs and a couple of existing songs - all things considered, it's not too much of a loss... once found the bad files could be deleted.

2) A possibility of corrupting the iPod drive with the 'new' database / index.

I'm sure the songs listed in the original .itl and .xml files are still on the iPod, even though the display only shows the two new songs.

Putting the original .itl and .xml files back in their proper location and resyncing may allow me to recover the contents without using the recovery utiliities.

Thank you for the links in your reply! I saw your reference to yamipod in another post and already have it opened in another tab to learn more about the software. I'll check out the other link on data recovery too. I've learned quite a bit reading the posts here, including what I should have done to move the music folder. I plan to bookmark your link shortly. Learning about 'manual sync' is on the list too!

Thank you for your reply.

gepetto