Mac Music library reverted to old version after laptop crash and restart
environment:
- MacBook Air 2022 24GB/2TB
- Mac OS 14.4.1
- Music v 1.4.4.48
- No subscriptions to Apple Music or Apple Match.
Some time in mid-April, I restored a music library from a Time Machine backup and began using it. Over the last month and a half the changes have been extensive.
Last night (May 24) I closed the lid to my laptop, and when I opened it this morning, I got the message that my Mac restarted unexpectedly.
When I opened the Music app, all the changes I had made since I restored the library were gone. Deleted songs, playlists, and groupings re-appeared, and all the songs, playlists, and groupings that I had added since then were gone.
In the folder ~/Music/Previous Libraries/ there was a file "Music Library [2024-05-24 7.59.58].musiclibrary". I thought, great, I can just hold down the option key and choose that file and I will get back most of the changes I had made. No luck -- that file also had the same songs, playlists, and groupings as the originally restored library from April, with none of the changes that I had made since then.
When I right-click on either the original music library or the "Music Library [2024-05-24 7.59.58].musiclibrary" and choose "Show Package Contents", there are over 2,800 temp files that are about 22 MB each, and almost 5,000 temp files ranging in size from 2 - 25 KB. As a result, the library files are each over 64 GB in size.
Also, the date modified of "Library.musicdb" within either package is Aug 23, 2022.
So, some questions (in order of importance to me):
- Is there a way to "restore" the changes made through last night? (I do not have any Time Machine backups since I started this process.)
- Is there a way to make the Music app "save" changes to the library so that this doesn't happen again?
- What generates those temp files and what are they?
- Why is Music storing so many of them?
- Apart from choosing "Show Package Contents" and manually deleting the temp files, how do I get the Music app to delete them and have a reasonably sized library file?
Thanks in advance for any help.
