Music application on MAC Tahoe disaster

While running synch via Finder to update iPhone music playlists, function rewrote my entire Music library on my Mac. Music library has 49,500 songs. Result Music app on Mac now reports that it cannot find files, even though they are there (file info is correctly shown on song location (file tab). No logic, random missing files throughout the Music app. Application cannot find random songs within the same album folder.

Window states: " The song "example" could not be used because the original file could not be found..."

How to fix this without rebuilding my entire library manually for each file entry?

Running Tahoe 26.6.2

IOS 26.6.1

Music 1.6.6.4

A 30 year customer. Never encountered such a disaster.

Mac mini (M4, 2024)

Posted on Sep 9, 2026 11:27 AM

Sep 9, 2026 11:34 PM in response to LenKwiat

Yes. I'd make a copy of the current database first, just in case, but if you restore the database from a backup made before it messed up then it will return Music to the state it was. The database contains all the links from Music to file locations as well as Playlists and all the other meta data.

I don't know why your iPhone stopped synching and possibly caused this. When you said that you deleted the music on it, did you do this on the phone or via a synch? If the former then that might have caused it. To get rid of music on the phone you should do it via Finder and synch - just untick the synch music option. I'd do this before restoring the the database if I were you and then you'd be starting synch again once you've recovered the database.

As for your comments regarding Music - I agree. There are bugs in it that have been there since the first version. and the overall look and design is clearly by someone who never uses it.