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HD Purchases disappear as soon as the download is over

Hi! I am using an external USB drive for my iTunes folder since the Mini has such a small hard drive and Video files take so much space...

I downloaded a bunch of new NBC content (Yay!) selecting in call cases the HD version...

The File downloads the 1.4Gbyte files, and then moves onto the next download (which is the SD version of the same episode)... While the HD download is in progress the HD version shows in the list of TV shows as selectable... as soon as it finishes downloading and the download manager moves to the SD version the HD version in iTunes becomes greyed out and has an exclamation mark against it.

The error message when you click on it says "The TV show "episode name" can not be used because the original file can not be found. Would you like to locate it?" With a Yes/Cancel option... Choosing Yes opens a standard Open box where I can navigate to the files location to tell iTunes where it is. Except that I don't know where it is... it's not in my iTunes folder as far as I can tell...

Obviously I'm not going to be happy if I just spent $50 on TV Episodes I can't get.

Apple.. where are my files?? User uploaded file??

Mac Mini, Mac OS X (10.5.4), iTunes 8

Posted on Sep 9, 2008 8:23 PM

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33 replies

Sep 9, 2008 8:30 PM in response to ZBeeb

I had the same thing happen when downloading the free HD Episode of BG. The HD episode downloaded, then the SD, but by the time the SD was done, the HD version could not be located.

I then downloaded a free HD episode of Eureka, and stopped the SD download. In this case, the HD version was not lost, and I was able to watch it. I have not finished the download of the SD version.

Very strange, but these types of major glitches are getting to be a fact of life of every major Apple update lately. I have faith they will fix it, but are they rushing out new code before it is really ready?

Sep 9, 2008 9:42 PM in response to ZBeeb

I had the same problem. Oddly it only seems to happen on the first or last episode of a season -- for me anyways. The problem is in the file's name. iTunes typically adds a 1 (or 2,3,etc) to the end of a file if there is already a file with the same name in current folder. For the HD episodes that weren't overwritten, they have an additional number at the end. I watched an HD file appear and then disappear as the SD version was download. So... iTunes is just over writing the first file in the folder.

I suspect they'll add a suffix or prefix to the file names with the next iTunes x.x.1 update. Maybe they'll add a season number to the file names while their at it....

Sep 10, 2008 12:00 AM in response to brandon95030

This is a solution, but I want to leave this listed as unresolved in the hopes someone from Apple will see it and take action. This is a BASIC mistake that QA should have found and the development team should have fixed.

Now I have to go argue with Apple to retrieve the ones that got self deleted.

Best Regards, Bruce

Sep 10, 2008 5:30 AM in response to ZBeeb

Im also having this issue. Download season two of Heros and after the HD download completed it moved on to the SD version and it appears the HD version is no where to be found.

This is really frustrating! How can apple overlook something like this? Will I be able to re-download the files that have seemingly vanished or will I be left out of pocket.

Im not very happy with Apple at the moment.

Care to comment Apple?

Sep 10, 2008 9:12 AM in response to Peterwhite171

You are right, it is not resolved until Apple fixes it... But the workaround works, you just have to change the setting to allow simultaneous downloads until Apple can fix it.

The other fix for downloading with simultaneous downloads turned off would be to go to the downloads screen in iTunes and pause the download of the SD version before the HD version finishes.Then you could go in and move the HD file somewhere else before allowing the SD version to be downloaded... but it's a bit messy and Apple absolutely needs to fix this.

As to the question about getting downloads over again... iTunes can and should help with that. Go to http://www.apple.com/support/itunes/store/ and choose "Check your Purchase History". This opens a window inside iTunes that checks your password and then lets you see your recent purchases and at the bottom of the window has a "Report a problem" button - there you can choose the purchase you didn't get and tell Apple your story...

EVERYONE who has this problem needs to tell iTunes Support and ask them to refund or credit or let you download again etc... they need to know this is a big problem.

The response I got from iTunes is that the order is still in processing and maybe for 2 - 3 days, and when that is done they'll come back to it and sort me out... Not the best response... but I can live with it.

Sep 10, 2008 11:30 AM in response to Peterwhite171

I too, am having this problem and have figured out what is causing it. When the standard version of the download starts it overwrites the HD version because they use the same file name. If you pause the standard version so that it doesn't start downloading when the HD version finishes. Then exit iTunes and reopen it. When you start downloading the standard version iTunes renames the standard version with a number 2 at the end so it doesn't overwrite the HD version. You think they would have bug tested this before launching.

Sep 10, 2008 3:14 PM in response to ZBeeb

I just wanted to point out that having "allow simultaneous downloads" does NOT work.

I left the computer downloading Battlestar season 4 in HD overnight. This morning I discovered that it had downloaded the first episode correctly - but appears to have immediately deleted the HD versions of all other episodes, just as other posters report.

This is a ridiculous bug for a download manager to have.

Sep 10, 2008 3:18 PM in response to Chroko

I've got a whole bunch of SD downloads "paused" in the download manager, that I have to go back in and re-pause every time I launch iTunes, because I'm afraid to let them go.

What makes it even worse is that the SD downloads are useless in the first place, and why the heck do I have to waste time and bandwidth downloading them at all?

Sep 10, 2008 6:25 PM in response to ZBeeb

I'm having the same issue. Two of my HD episodes of Season 4 of The Office were overwritten by the SD version. I've paused my SD versions for the time being and are renaming the file names of the HD version by placing HD at the end of the file name. Hopefully this will alleviate the problem for the time being, and hopefully Apple will let me re-download the two HD episodes I've lost.

Sep 10, 2008 6:59 PM in response to JPsEvil

I saw a mention here that quitting and re-starting iTunes before allowing the SD download to finish made it not overwrite the HD version. I tried it with the free episode of The Office, and indeed, the SD version went into its own file with "1" appended to the name.

So, at least it appears that this workaround will let you allow the SD downloads to finish.

Sep 10, 2008 7:53 PM in response to ZBeeb

I'm also having this problem. I've been downloading the free NBC shows and have had to redownload five of them. I'm glad that I'm only having the problem with free shows because I can "purchase" them again for nothing. If I had to pay, I would be screaming. I'm on my third or fourth download of Heroes HD but so far no matter what I do it still disappears. This is a bug they better fix soon.

Why can't someone at Apple be smart enough to stick HD or SD into the file name to differential them since we are forced to download the standard def version along with the HD whether we want it or not.

And meanwhile when you try to download things again, you get referred to Store menu and the "Check for purchases..." item. But my copy of iTunes 8 says "Check for Available Downloads..." instead, so someone at Apple did not proofread or copy edit.

It looks like they were rushed and sloppy with this version of iTunes.

HD Purchases disappear as soon as the download is over

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