corrupt libary?

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Level 1

1 points

corrupt libary?

ITunes freezes when I atempt to export my Music file for backup. I have more than 41,000 songs and hundreds of playlists, so I give it plenty of time, but it always does this. I can export small playlists OK.This may be related to the issue I reported previously of having a 27+ GB "Other" file show up on my ipod Classic. Another troubling symptom is the actual deletion of songs from my iTunes library on my PC during the sync process. I have a backup file of my music and can replace everything, but this also happens every time. This whole situation is very daunting. Would uninstalling and reinstalling iTunes help?

Any thoughts appreciated.

iPod classic, Windows 7, Dell XPS8500

Posted on Oct 13, 2012 10:00 AM

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Answer 1

Oct 15, 2012 3:39 PM in response to MHLEV

All you should need to do is make a copy of your iTunes folder to make a backup. I have my library on a wifi external drive and can be accessed by any computer with iTunes.

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Answer 2

turingtest2

Level 10

272,725 points

Oct 15, 2012 4:31 PM in response to MHLEV

Backup the library with this User Tip.

tt2

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Answer 3

MHLEV Author

Level 1

1 points

Oct 20, 2012 7:58 AM in response to MHLEV

My library is backed up on a hard drive, thankfully. What could possibly cause an iPod sync operation to delete music files from the library? This is extremely scary. I have tried this a few times and the missing songs are different each time.

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Answer 4

turingtest2

Level 10

272,725 points

Oct 20, 2012 9:31 AM in response to MHLEV

In principle merely syncing your library to a device should not remove any music files from the library. Are the entries going or the files they are connected to? Is anything else like Windows Media Player able to shift your media files around? Have you tried disabling iTunes options for Keep... & Copy...?

tt2

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Answer 5

MHLEV Author

Level 1

1 points

Oct 20, 2012 11:31 AM in response to turingtest2

Thanks for the response. The iTunes entries remain but the files are missing from the iTunes Music folder (in the expected Artist and Album folders). Sometimes only 1 song from an album is missing. I have merged the backup file with the current one on more than one occasion and verified that songs that I origianlly saw were missing were copied back correctly.

What would the value be to uncheck "Keep Files Organized" and "Copy to iTunes Media folder"?

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Answer 6

turingtest2

Level 10

272,725 points

Oct 20, 2012 11:37 AM in response to MHLEV

With the Keep option enabled iTunes will move files around as and when it detects any changes in the metadata. This can happen when 3rd party tools such as Windows Media Player "helpfully" correct your tags. (The actual change in metadata may have happened in the past.) If there is something odd with your current set up then moving the file to reflect the change could be what makes it disappear.

If would be interesting to know from Get Info where iTunes thinks the file should be... If there are any junctions involved in that path that could be a relevant factor.

tt2

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Answer 7

MHLEV Author

Level 1

1 points

Oct 20, 2012 2:16 PM in response to turingtest2

I've always been conscious of changing WMP settings so they don't affect iTunes files, but it could be a factor. I'm on a new computer and although I changed the usual settings in Options, the Library was still compiling. I deleted the WMP music library today.

The path for missing files is indeed different than it should be: file://localhost/C:/Users/ and then the rest of the address is correct - except all slashes are forward instead of backward. The normal path is C:\Users\Mark\ etc.

Is this a clue?

Thanks very much for the dialogue.

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Answer 8

turingtest2

Level 10

272,725 points

Oct 20, 2012 2:39 PM in response to MHLEV

The file://localhost bit is exactly as expected if the file isn't there. My concern is what happens when old libraries are imported to new systems and there is the potential for multiple paths to the same location, e.g. My Documents\My Music which is redirected to User's Music, but that probably isn't an issue.

As to WMP see Getting iTunes & Windows Media Player to play nicely for more information.

tt2

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