How to back up Nano?

[cooldep]

Hello, I hope that I'm in the right place! I would love to know how I can back up the Nano 2GB. I had to re-install Windows on my PC and all my music on the Ipod was gone when I plugged it in to charge battery on USB. Well the next time I have to re-install windows I would love to save the music.
Thanks,,Paul

[krmathis]

Set iTunes not to auto-sync music with your iPod

[cooldep]

Thank you Solaris,,but I can't find where to check or un-check your advice.

Set iTunes not to auto-sync music with your iPod

So by doing this will all the music on my daughters iPod be safe & not be wiped out when we hook up the Nano to PC for charging battery especially after doing a Reformat and re-install of Operating System XP Home SP2 on my PC.
Thanks for you timly assistance Solaris By the way,,GREAT SITE!

~~Paul

[wyneken]

Originally posted by cooldep
Thank you Solaris,,but I can't find where to check or un-check your advice.

Paul, when the Nano is plugged in, click on the little iPod icon in the lower right corner of the iTunes window (or select Preferences > iPod > Music).

This will open a window with a series of check-boxes. Select "Manually manage songs and playlists."

From now on (unless you change this setting) iTunes will will NOT automatically load or erase any tracks when you plug in your Nano. You'll have to do this stuff by dragging and dropping tracks or playlists. So all your music on the Nano should be safe when you reformat your computer.

Another way to back everything up, of course, would be to copy the entire contents of your iTunes Music folder onto an external storage device.

Here's one more thing you might want to do. To preserve all your playlists, song ratings, "last played" data and the like, make a backup copy of the file called iTunes Music Library.xml, which is located in your main iTunes folder. It's a large file (on the order of 2MB per 1000 songs in your library), but you can burn it onto a CD, load it onto your iPod in disk mode, or whatever else will work. After you reformat your computer and open iTunes for the first time, you can run File > Import > [select the backup of this file], and you should recover all that information.

[cooldep]

wyneken, so now when I disconnect the Ipod from the UBS cable all the songs on the Nano will stay on it, correct! So after i format the hard drive and re-install nice clean install of Windows I'll install I Tunes before I plug back in the IPOD. I will hopefully be a hero in my house again with my kids now after they see the music on IPOD after my next Clean Install.
Thanks my friend....
~~Paul

[ericboo]

When adding an unrecognized iPod in Itunes, you will be asked if you want to automatically sync the first time you hook up the iPod. Just set it to manual. I would also suggest doing the backup as already mentioned. You will have to choose the consolidate library option for all your songs to be copied to your Itunes folder. Then backup to some external storage media.

My family uses one computer with 6 iPods without any problems.

There is also a program called Podplus that I use or Sharepod and a few others that allow you to copy music off an iPod, which Itunes does not allow you to do. Podplus costs but I believe Sharepod is free.

[wyneken]

Paul, that's all true -- but the downside is, if this screws up somehow, your kids will attack and destroy you.

cheers, bro
stav

[cooldep]

Ericboo & Stav, sorry that I didn't get back to your posts. I got a new PC & was just learning and trying stuff. Thanks though for the added help & I am doing it correct so far Stav, kids have allowed me to continue living Ericboo, I'm looking into the software you mentioned.
Thanks again all,,
~~Paul