These links will give you
several methods of recovering whatever songs remain on your iPod; some free, some third-party software,
some more comprehensive for restoring Playlists, Ratings, Play Counts, etc. Read them and their associated links before deciding on a strategy that works for you. There are
many various third-party software programs that will offer a more robust process, or an easier GUI. Do a Google search for them if the links below leave you wanting…
Don King Resurrected: Deleted files from hard drive (free user steps – music recovery only)
MacMuse: Computer Crashed (free user steps – music recovery only)
Copying music from iPod to computer (a primer on various methods and software)
Copying Songs from Your iPod to a Mac or PC (resource for 3rd party software)
iPodRip Software
PodUtil Software
Senuti (Mac OS X v10.3 or higher Recovery Utility)
XPlay (Software For Music Recovery &/or Cross-Platform Functionality)
XPlay Photo Browser (For recovering Photos)
Extremely Simple:
- Open iTunes
- Edit=>Preferences=>’Advanced/General’ tab
--- ‘Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library’:
checked
--- ‘Keep iTunes Music folder organized’:
checked
--- Click OK
- Attach iPod to PC and hold down the ‘Shift+Ctrl’ keys until the iPod is recognized (this will defeat the auto-sync)
- If you get a dialog box to link the Library, decline this option
- File=>Add Folder
- Browse to and open ‘My Computer’ and select the iPod
- Click OK
- The music files should start to transfer back into iTunes
No Playlists, or Ratings, Last Played, Play Count attributes will be preserved
After recovering your song files, strongly consider developing a thorough backup strategy for just this type of situation (and many other potential disasters).
You need
at least
two full sets of your music, not including what is on the iPod:
-- One
full set on the PC within iTunes (on internal HD or ExHD)
-- One
full set on an
separate external backup medium (CD/DVD/ExHD/other)
-- One (full or partial) set on the iPod
Music files on just the iPod and only one other medium is
not considered having any backup.
If you cannot store your complete music files on the computer’s internal HD, then create and maintain at least two external sets (any multiple combinations of ExHDs, DVDs, CDs).
Backup both the music files
and the Library database file (iTunes Library.itl).
What are the iTunes Library files?
Here is a post on developing a thorough backup strategy:
http://discussions.apple.com/click.jspa?searchID=394618&messageID=1263275
