Out Of Control Temp Files In Itunes Folder

Not sure why iTunes would be doing this. The program will write a temp file whenever it re-writes the ITL database file. I see it do this upon exit, but the temp file is erased once iTunes finishes the write process.

It appears that iTunes is not erasing the temp files it creates, or quite possibly, never able to convert the temp file to the ITL file.

It also seems to update the ITL file each time a change is made. This make sense that you would see another temp file after every song, as the playcount, last played and other attributes stored in the ITL file are changed.

My only guess is to make sure that the ITL file is not tagged as a read-only file on your PC, or that the total 'iTunes' folder is not read-only. Do this in Windows Explorer: highlight the file, right-click, properties, remove the check-mark from read-only.

Not sure if this will help. If not, wait for another experienced user to weigh in, or you may have to reinstall iTunes (try a 'repair' install first - from the 'Add/Remove Programs' selection).

Best of Luck

Interesting. I also have the same problem (I thought I was the only one). Inconcurrence with this message, I also get an error that says "cannot write iTunes Music Library.xml"

Not sure if these two are related, but if someone has a solution, that would be much appreciated..

Only a stab-in-the-dark:

Try resetting/rebuilding your .pref file. It may have gotten corrupted and is causing a strange save issue (big guess). Make a copy of this file and save it in case you need to restore it.

See Otto's link: Otto42, "Lost equalizer presets" #11, 01:19am Nov 2, 2005 CDT

If that does not work, then a full uninstall & reinstall of iTunes may be needed:
Buegie, "reinstall iTunes?" #1, 05:55pm Nov 8, 2005 CDT

I've got the same problem. When i noticed these files, i had over 1500 temp files totalling over 7 gigs of space on myhard drive.

Ive tried uninstalling iTunes (version 6) and reinstalling, but nothing seems to work. What i dont understand is that ive got nearly 5000 songs in iTunes, so, theoretically, i should have had the same number of temp files, but i have much less. Im wondering if this began with an upgrade of iTunes.

Those of you having this issue: Do you have Dual Core processors, by any chance?

I don't.

I spoke with someone from the support line at Apple.

They consulted with an iTunes product specialist for nearly half an hour and they finally told me that they had no idea why it was creating the temp files, but that there was no danger in deleting them. They did tell me to be careful that i deleted ONLY those temp files.

Quite frustrating!

Dang. Well, it was worth a shot.

It happened to me once on a day when my office was having network hiccups. The "My Documents" folder is on the network, and so my docked laptop was repeatedly connected and disconnected from it throughout the day. My XP Pro laptop was set to sync offline files. There is a mirror of "My Documents" on the laptop's hard drive, in other words. I think this meant that every time "My Documents" dropped out, iTunes wrote temp library files to my laptop so I'd stay, theoretically, in sync with the missing network. By the end of the day I had a dozen temp files.

I have since relocated "My Music" to the local hard drive so I wouldn't have to deal with these sync-related network problems.

The Temp files are definitely related to backing up the XML file. The XML file is a "human-readable" version of the ITL file. The ITL file is a binary version of the database that iTunes uses directly since it's much faster to process.

When you quit iTunes, it regenerates the XML file from the ITL file, but uses a Temp file in the process. Only when the Temp file has been created does it overwrite the XML file and then delete the Temp file.

I'd check every folder and subfolder in the path of those files:

C:\Documents and Settings\<user>\My Documents\My Music\iTunes

If any one of them has incorrect settings or permissions, iTunes may be having trouble working with files.

(During backups of your music, it is recommended that you back up the XML file periodically, as well. It contains all the playlists, play counts, rating, etc. from your Library.)