Most of my music is missing in Music app since Catalina upgrade

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tarkin Author

Level 1

26 points

Most of my music is missing in Music app since Catalina upgrade

I discovered that about 95% of my music is missing since updating to Catalina. Here is what I've done so far:

I've tried restoring the media folder with Time Machine but I get a "not enough space" message.
I deleted my music and tried restoring the music files via Time Machine but I get the same message.
I tried using my Super Duper backup but as far as I can tell it isn't compatible with Catalina yet.

I don't understand why there isn't enough space to just restore or copy the files back.

Any ideas?

Posted on Oct 15, 2019 9:30 AM

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Answer 1

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turingtest2

Level 10

273,039 points

Oct 17, 2019 11:08 AM in response to tarkin

Check the hard drive for errors. You mentioned thinking the free space suggests the media should still be there. Perhaps it is disconnected from the active file system which needs relinking to it. Check in the trash. Try one of these to work out where the space might be being used up: https://www.cleverfiles.com/howto/best-disk-space-analyzer-mac.html.

tt2

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Answer 2

tarkin Author

Level 1

26 points

Oct 15, 2019 9:39 PM in response to turingtest2

Thank you for posting this, if I hadn't deleted the actual music files in an attempt to solve the issue I'm sure this would have worked (I'll hang onto it when I upgrade my MacBook). If I want to completely reset Music/iTunes and start over how would I do that? I have my music files backed up on an external drive and could just start over.

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Answer 3

turingtest2

Level 10

273,039 points

Oct 16, 2019 6:27 AM in response to tarkin

tarkin wrote:

If I want to completely reset Music/iTunes and start over how would I do that? I have my music files backed up on an external drive and could just start over.

Delete the folder ~/Music/Music and empty the trash to reset the Music library. Launch Music which will either automatically create a new empty library in ~Music/Muisc, or prompt you to choose where to create one. Check that you have Copy files media folder when adding to library selected in advanced preferences. Add your music from your external drive and Music will make fresh copies in the new media folder. Repeat with TV for your video content. Podcasts and audiobooks will have ended up in new hidden folders somewhere in ~/Library if you have either of those so resetting those might be a little more complicated and done from within the app I guess.

tt2

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Answer 4

tarkin Author

Level 1

26 points

Oct 17, 2019 9:25 AM in response to turingtest2

I ended up restoring my iMac with Time Machine, using a date that was before the issue appeared. I then applied the 10.15 update. All playlists and songs are listed in Music but get "original file could not be found" errors when I attempt to play them. Are the actual files missing? When I do a search in Spotlight or finder the mp3 files appear to be gone. Available hard drive space tells me that they are still on the Mac.

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Answer 5

turingtest2

Level 10

273,039 points

Oct 17, 2019 9:45 AM in response to tarkin

Assuming your library was in the standard shape before the upgrade to Catalina your media would typically have been in ~/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/Music. Is that path still there? Is anything in it? Can you locate that path inside your backup, and if so does it have content if you drill down? Do you still see the files on your external backup? Are they set out in an iTunes Media folder or some other layout?

tt2

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Answer 6

turingtest2

Level 10

273,039 points

Oct 15, 2019 11:29 AM in response to tarkin

See Empty/corrupt iTunes/Music library after upgrade/crash - Apple Community.

tt2

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Answer 7

tarkin Author

Level 1

26 points

Oct 17, 2019 9:59 AM in response to turingtest2

Do you mean inside my Time Machine backup?

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Answer 8

turingtest2

Level 10

273,039 points

Oct 17, 2019 10:10 AM in response to tarkin

You've mentioned both Time Machine and music files backed up on an external drive. As long as your media is one location or the other it should be possible to copy it back to where it belongs.

tt2

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Answer 9

tarkin Author

Level 1

26 points

Oct 17, 2019 10:14 AM in response to turingtest2

Right. Yes, I have my music backed up in Time Machine and via Super Duper and can see the file. When I attempt to restore the music I get a "not enough memory" error message.

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