Help, I need to restore Music playlists using an old iTunes backup

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Level 1

8 points

Help, I need to restore Music playlists using an old iTunes backup

To free up space on my iPhone I tried deleting a bunch of songs. I don't know what happened but the songs didn't just disappear from my phone, they also vanished from my playlists across all of my devices. The songs are still in my library but my playlists are now mostly empty. I've spent years building my playlists and will now have to re-organize thousands of songs.

I do have a Time Machine backup on an external drive but it is from a previous OS, (High Sierra I think), the one right before iTunes was broken up into separate apps for Music, TV, etc. Is there any way I can restore that old iTunes library into the new Music app and get my playlists restored?

FYI, I do not subscribe to Apple Music, if that matters.

Thanks!!

iMac 27″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Oct 25, 2021 1:38 PM

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Answer 1

Nov 8, 2021 3:11 PM in response to cedricstudio

Response to cedricstudio ; Restore Music Playlists

If you're syncing , a deletion on one device / computer deletes it from all .

Time Machine can't back up to a disk formatted for Windows , iPhone , iPad or iPod touch .

I would plug in the external drive and see what happens … if it shows up , it's probable that you'll be able to restore the playlists .

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Answer 2

turingtest2

Level 10

278,351 points

Nov 8, 2021 5:37 PM in response to cedricstudio

See Empty/corrupt iTunes/Music library after upgrade/crash - Apple Community. Note in particular the comments on iCloud Music Library. What you should have done on your device was used the remove download option, which would have freed up local storage without touching the playlists.

tt2

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Answer 3

cedricstudio Author

Level 1

8 points

Nov 8, 2021 3:14 PM in response to SteelCityAnne

Thanks. I have a backup but the backup is from High Sierra when iTunes was one unified app. Then I upgraded to Catalina and iTunes was split up into different apps so now Time Machine can't use that backup file to restore my playlists. That's the problem. Any suggestions?

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Answer 4

Nov 8, 2021 3:33 PM in response to cedricstudio

Oh , okay , I haven't used Time Machine so I can't help you there , though I recently put in a back up disc from 2008 and the songs showed up on the iTunes screen which leads me to believe it's not a unification issue ?

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Answer 5

turingtest2

Level 10

278,351 points

Nov 11, 2021 2:15 AM in response to SteelCityAnne

One has to learn from one's mistakes to avoid repeating them. I've also provided information that should allow the OP to retrieve their data from their Time Machine backup. They are more than welcome to ask follow up questions if required.

tt2

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Answer 6

Nov 11, 2021 12:58 AM in response to turingtest2

Restore Music Playlists ; Response to turingtest2

🎵 Telling the user what they should have done isn't going to do them any good now .

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Help, I need to restore Music playlists using an old iTunes backup

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