Reinstalled Windows

[Tekki]

I just installed windows onto a new hard drive and i had to reinstall iTunes as well.

I had a look for this problem in the FAQs and tutorials but I can't seem to find one relating to this.

Anyway, new windows, new iTunes and new HDD.

I reinstalled iTunes and of course, there was nothing in my library. I can easily add all the songs back on but I'd like to keep the play counts and playlists. Is there anyway to do this?

 

[Jesse Hollington]

Certainly. Obviously, if you still have the library on your old hard drive accessible to you, then the easiest way is to do that. However, I'm assuming that you don't otherwise have a backup of your music other than what's on your iPod?

To preserve ratings, playcounts and playlists, you'll need to use a third-party software tool that can read the iPod's database and rebuild an iTunes library from it. Two that I'm aware of are CopyPod and iPodRip, but there are several others that you can find in our Software Downloads section.

I'd also suggestion checking out our iPod 201 article, Copying Music from iPod to Computer as well as the thread How to Copy songs from your iPod to your hard drive.

 

[Tekki]

Actually I do have my original HDD and all the music. I would prefer to add those since I havent updated my iPod in a while.

I tried adding the music in but the playcounts and playlists didn't come with it, would I use the same programs?

 

[Tekki]

Actually never mind, I was going through my other hard drives and find the Library file, which I moved onto my new one. And everythings there

 

[Jesse Hollington]

Okay, in that case the solution then is to just copy the iTunes library database from the old computer's "My Music" folder to your "My Music" folder on the new computer.

The file is called "iTunes Library.itl" and this contains your ratings, playcounts, and playlists, as well as information on where all of your music is actually located.

The only catch is that for this to work properly, your music has to be stored in the same place on the new computer as it was on the old one, since the iTunes database also stores the location of each music file. If your music is in it's default location, this shouldn't be a problem (in fact, you could copy the entire "My Music\iTunes" folder from one computer to the other and that would pretty much do the job).

 

[Tekki]

Thanks :>

Strange thing is, it used to be on D, and now the music is on F but it still found the songs. However, one song couldn't be found, it had the ! next to it, even though all the other songs on the album was there. Weird.