Unconsoled

Q: All music gone of my hard drive but in Itunes Match.

How do I get it back on my MacBook?  iTunes Match is on but not seeing it.  All fine on my iOS devices.  Little clouds with ! in them that say it isn't available.  Any help pleas?

MacBook Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Oct 2, 2012 1:47 PM

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Q: All music gone of my hard drive but in Itunes Match.

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  • Helpful answers

  • by Michael Allbritton,

    Michael Allbritton Michael Allbritton Oct 3, 2012 1:42 AM in response to Unconsoled
    Level 6 (16,832 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Oct 3, 2012 1:42 AM in response to Unconsoled

    If the music is stored on an external HDD plug in the HDD and relaunch iTunes.

  • by Unconsoled,

    Unconsoled Unconsoled Oct 3, 2012 5:03 AM in response to Michael Allbritton
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 3, 2012 5:03 AM in response to Michael Allbritton

    Sorry.  The title should say music gone "off" hard drive, not "of".  Hard drive is empty.  My wife unplugged it from the Airport and now the hard drive is blank.

  • by Michael Allbritton,

    Michael Allbritton Michael Allbritton Oct 3, 2012 6:14 AM in response to Unconsoled
    Level 6 (16,832 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Oct 3, 2012 6:14 AM in response to Unconsoled

    What do you mean "now the hard drive is blank?" Are you saying that after your wife unplugged the external HDD from the Airport then you plugged it back in there were no files on it? We need more detail concerning the sequence of event. Please describe in as much detail as possible the steps leading up to finding the HDD "blank."

  • by Unconsoled,

    Unconsoled Unconsoled Oct 3, 2012 7:11 AM in response to Michael Allbritton
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 3, 2012 7:11 AM in response to Michael Allbritton

    So my wife was moving some things around on the entertainment system and unplugged the hard drive connected to the airport.  When I opened iTunes all my files had the ! next to them and couldn't find the files.  The air disk (hard drive) couldn't be found.  I shut the airport down, moved the drive to my MacBook and it says the drive is empty and asks to initialize it.

  • by Limnos,

    Limnos Limnos Oct 3, 2012 7:22 AM in response to Unconsoled
    Level 9 (54,326 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 3, 2012 7:22 AM in response to Unconsoled

    It wants to initialize it??  I haven't seen a hard drive hosed that way through bad interfacing in years.  The only time that happened to me was when I had a bad third party USB card.

     

    If the directory damage really was so severe through simple hot unplugging (and I am still having a hard time believing it), you may need a stronger tool than Disk Utility.

     

    Diskwarrior might work, but it does not have a demonstration version.  If it can recover the directory it would be the best option for getting the drive up and running as before.

     

    Alternatively there's file recovery software: Try using an application such as Data Rescue 3 - http://www.prosofteng.com/products/data_rescue.php or FileSalvage - http://subrosasoft.com, or one of the ones listed in the link below. Some have free trial versions that let you see if the software will help before you decide to buy. You will also need a second hard drive equal to or larger in size than your first drive as a destination drive for recovered files.  A disadvantage with this solution is it leaves you with a mess of files to sort out.

     

    http://data-recovery-software-review.toptenreviews.com/mac-recovery-software

     

    Of course much of this you might be able to recover from Match unless you had files of higher quality on the drive than are stored in Match.

  • by Unconsoled,

    Unconsoled Unconsoled Oct 3, 2012 7:23 AM in response to Limnos
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 3, 2012 7:23 AM in response to Limnos

    No, the quality was all the same.  Mainly I am trying to find out why Match doesn't seem to get my files on the MacBook.  Little clouds with ! in them.  My Apple TV, iPad and iPhone all have the files as does my computer at work.  Why won't the MacBook see them?

  • by Michael Allbritton,

    Michael Allbritton Michael Allbritton Oct 3, 2012 7:27 AM in response to Unconsoled
    Level 6 (16,832 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Oct 3, 2012 7:27 AM in response to Unconsoled

    Limnos beat me to it on the state of the HDD. As to why iTunes is showing exclamation points... it is because iTunes is looking for the files on the external HDD, which are no longer there, not in the cloud. iTunes only looks for the music in the cloud if the track has been delete from the iTunes library.

  • by Unconsoled,

    Unconsoled Unconsoled Oct 3, 2012 7:43 AM in response to Michael Allbritton
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 3, 2012 7:43 AM in response to Michael Allbritton

    So what is the easiest way to make it look at Match and not the hard drive. In Advanced Preferences I have to have the iTunes look for something. How do I do that?  Should I "delete" a couple songs in iTunes and then update Match to fi d them in the cloud? 

     

    Thanks you guys. I appreciate the help.

  • by Michael Allbritton,Helpful

    Michael Allbritton Michael Allbritton Oct 3, 2012 7:45 AM in response to Unconsoled
    Level 6 (16,832 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Oct 3, 2012 7:45 AM in response to Unconsoled

    For streaming playback using itu Ed match simply delete the tracks from the library but not from the cloud.

  • by Limnos,Helpful

    Limnos Limnos Oct 3, 2012 7:46 AM in response to Michael Allbritton
    Level 9 (54,326 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 3, 2012 7:46 AM in response to Michael Allbritton

    Unconsoled says it is a cloud with the ! not just a !  "Little clouds with ! in them."

     

    ErrorThis icon may be displayed if the song file is corrupt or if there was an error uploading the song. Try updating iTunes Match (Store > Update iTunes Match) to resolve this. If updating does not resolve the issue, try importing a new copy of the song into your iTunes library.

    iTunes Match: Understanding the iCloud Status icons - http://support.apple.com/kb/TS4124

  • by Unconsoled,

    Unconsoled Unconsoled Oct 3, 2012 9:19 AM in response to Limnos
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 3, 2012 9:19 AM in response to Limnos

    Well I am currently downloading the whole library from iTunes onto my work computer. At least that way I have it and can transfer to another hard drive and bring home to my MacBook.

  • by Unconsoled,

    Unconsoled Unconsoled Oct 3, 2012 12:21 PM in response to Unconsoled
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 3, 2012 12:21 PM in response to Unconsoled

    I tried deleting an album I wasn't too worried about losing.  Gave me the option to down load from the cloud.  Think that answers my question.

     

    Thanks everyone!

  • by Michael Allbritton,

    Michael Allbritton Michael Allbritton Oct 4, 2012 12:14 AM in response to Unconsoled
    Level 6 (16,832 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Oct 4, 2012 12:14 AM in response to Unconsoled

    You're welcome.