HELP : I Tunes Library Disappeared

[Yorkie Si]

Hey, Pls can someone help ...
I had 11500+ songs in my library , turned my PC on last night ...ALL GONE ...aaaaarggh ...
i did not have a back up copy located elsewhere...(idiot) ...

where did the songs go .. ???

i found my ITUNES library folder in MY MUSIC , and imported them, but only about 6000+ songs in there ? why ....

i then imported a load of songs from a spare hard drive...

total number of songs now in ITUNES Library is 10900 .... still about 600 short....

question is : where are they ??? whay did they go ?? can i get my original 11500+ songs back ...( hope so, as i dont want to have to do all my renaming of songsd etc again )..


any help please...for a itunes novice ... (who in future will keep a back ip...hoping that it saves everything the way it was..)


cheers
Si

[studogvetmed]

Occasionally iTunes will lose track of the .itl file that is in the iTunes folder. This means you get what appears to be an empty library. Searching the hard drive, you'll find that your music is still there, but not linked to iTunes.

Sometimes you can find the old .itl file in the iTunes folder and get it back to where iTunes is reading it. Look for a folder called "previous iTunes libaries." Search for "itunes library file" and look for one with a recent "modified" date outside of where the loss happened.

I always back up both the .itl and .xml file for this instance. Read here for info on the library file. If you back these up you can put the backup copies back in the space in that article and reclaim your library information.

The fact that you now seem to have less songs than originally could be for a couple different reasons.

1) you originally imported songs from different locations and did not have :copy to iTunes folder: turned on. This means that some songs are in the iTunes folder, but others are spread across your hard drive in other locations.

2) you deleted files somewhere along the line...

3) your computer is possessed and deleting things... (i.e. I have no idea what your computer did what it did)

I'd guess number one is the most likely scenario.

I back up my .xml and .itl file once a week for sure, and also after large additions/changes, to songs, playlists, or metadata in iTunes. On top of my weekly backup of music/as needed.

[Yorkie Si]

Thanks fella.
yes, it turns out that i had 2 seperate MY MUSIC folders and the tunes were split....
i now have them all back ... phew


cheers for the help

Si