So I just deleted my entire itunes library...

[melhow44]

In a really dumb and unresearched attempt to relocate where my itunes files are stored on my computer, I have COMPLETELY erased all of my songs, playlists, and photos from my itunes. My computer is new, so I haven't made a backup yet, but I already had my playlists all laid out to how I wanted them, and I had managed to get a bunch of songs stored in itunes.

I am sort of freaking out. My ipod is still safe and sound, undocked and completely loaded to how I had it before messed around with my computer.

I have been looking at the FAQ's and tutorials on how to get music back from my ipod to itunes, but I am unsure about the process. The programs that I have found on the web seem to be older and I am concerned that they will not support the latest verision of itunes. What I am more afraid of is that I will do even MORE damage and clear my ipod on accident in the process.

Could someone please point me in the right direction with how to fix this problem. The more explicit, the better, because obviously I am am still learning.

Thank you so much for your help!

Melissa

[AHHHHHHH]

Ehh...

Plug in ipod
Start menu > search
'search' your ipod hard drive
All the music is in there

[melhow44]

But doesn't itunes automatically synch to my ipod as soon as I plug it in? And if itunes is empty, won't it erase my ipod disk?

Like I said, neeeeeeeeewbeeeeeeeeeeee here.

[Ax-pod]

Did you try anapod? Of course it's not free, but I think it's what you need. The video part is a bit flaky, but not too serious. Still better than losing all your songs...

I think there's an eval version...

[melhow44]

ax,

yeah, I was looking at that and copypod, which is free the first 10 times used. Just don;t know ANYTHING about either.

[Jesse Hollington]

There are a number of ways you can do this, depending on how much you need to recover.

Also, if you haven't already done os, I would also do a search on your hard drive for any MP3 files and your iTunes library database to make sure that it's really gone (as opposed to just been moved somewhere). The iTunes library database is a file called "iTunes Music Library.itl" but it needs to be in the "iTunes" folder under your Windows "My Music" folder for iTunes to find it (if you've moved this file somewhere else you'll get a blank library when you start iTunes, but you could always put it back).

If your library is actually blank and unrecoverable, the first thing you need to consider is that if your iTunes library is actually empty then you'll need to be a bit careful when reconnecting your iPod to your computer, since you don't want it to auto-sync to the empty library and thereby remove all of the tracks from your iPod as well. To ensure that autosync doesn't run against iTunes, hold down CTRL+SHIFT while connecting the iPod, and keep it held down until you see the iPod appear in the iTunes source pane.

Once you've done this, you need to consider what you want to recover...

If it's the music files themselves that you're concerned about, you can do what has already been suggested and just search your iPod in Disk Mode (ie, through a drive letter) and copy everything in the \iPod_Control\Music directory back to your hard drive and then reimport it into iTunes. The files are all there, and correctly tagged. The catch is, however, that this will not recover your playlists, ratings, or playcounts. This will also not recover any photos.

To recover the meta-data, such as playlists, ratings, or playcounts, you will need a utility that can read the iPod database directly and recover that. For Windows, CopyPod is the best choice for this, as it will recover all of this data and build an XML file that can be reimported into iTunes to recreate your library almost exactly as it was. The only catch is that CopyPod is shareware, so you will need to pay a registration fee.

There are a number of other tools that can do this for you, and I'd suggest taking a look through our Software section.

I'd also suggest checking out the thread How To Copy Songs From Your iPod to Your Hard Drive for instructions on how to do this and a number of other possible suggestions.

If you've also lost the original photos that were in iTunes, which usually shouldn't be the case unless you've also blown away your "My Pictures" folder in Windows, there are two ways you might be able to retrieve these...

If you had selected to "Store Full Resolution Photos" on your iPod (under preferences in iTunes), then you can simply copy them off in Disk Mode. They will be in the \Photos directory.

If you did not set iTunes to store your full resolution photos, you will only be able to retrieve them from the artwork thumbnails databases. This can be done using a product called XPlay Photo Browser, however the maximum resolution you will be able to recover will be around 720 x 480 or so, since this is the maximum resolution the iPod stores.

Again, though, I'd check your hard drive for the original photos, as eliminating your iTunes library and music shouldn't also cause you to lose your photos, since they're usually in a completely different directory (ie, "My Pictures").

[AHHHHHHH]

Originally posted by melhow44
But doesn't itunes automatically synch to my ipod as soon as I plug it in? And if itunes is empty, won't it erase my ipod disk?

Like I said, neeeeeeeeewbeeeeeeeeeeee here.

It wont sync if you have 'manually manage' songs checked

[Jesse Hollington]

Originally posted by AHHHHHHH
It wont sync if you have 'manually manage' songs checked

However, you can't select "Manually Manage" songs until after you've connected the iPod.

If the library database itself has been completely erased and recreated, then the iPod will see this as a new library and iTunes will actually prompt you with a warning that your iPod is linked to another library (in this case, the one that's been erased). If you answer "no" to the question about replacing the content of your iPod, you should be okay.

However, if you've simply emptied the library, but are still using the same database, then there's a risk that the iPod will sync the empty library. Holding down CTRL+SHIFT while connecting the iPod is the best way to ensure this doesn't happen, and is the safe thing to do if you're unsure what situation you're in.

[melhow44]

I just wanted to post a quick update and a thank you to jhollington.

First, as directed I went to CopyPod and succeded in ROYALLY screwing up my free trial download, to the point where the application ceased to run because I had exceeded the amount of trys allowed in the trial period.

So

I ended up going to ipod agent. First, I uninstalled my itunes, the installed the free trial version of ipod agent. Then I followed the instructions for exactly what I wanted to copy from my ipod. Then I reinstalled itunes and made sure that I flipped my ipod to manual. ipod agent has a great feature that allows you to copy your music, contacts, notes, ect directly from the program to itunes, so I clicked that, and whammo, done. Ratings, everything. They onlly thing I couldn't figure out how to do was how to copy my playlists - but by the time I had finally figured out how to save my music, I could have cared less about the playlists - I can do those again.

Thank you for taking the time to respond back to my original post - it gave me an excellent jumping-off point with how I should handle my problem, and know I know what NOT to do next time, which is to never, ever touch my itunes music files when I don;t know what I'm doing with them.

Thanks again!

[bov]

be more careful with your precious music