Itunes (on Windows 7) just deleted my entire library of music, apps and playlists

Read this post near the beginning of the thread. If you have AVG I recommend uninstalling and switching to Microsoft Security Essentials or Avast, or anything else. If AVG isn't your issue then I'd be interested to know which AV package you use and whether you have any other anti-malware package or active backup system.

tt2

Hi

thanks for the info, I'm sure that AVG was the problem and have uninstalled it and replaced with Microsoft security essentials.

for anyone else with similar problems, the advice from tt2 is excellent, I managed to reinstate my library by opening itunes whilst pressing shift key, box appears asking to select a library, when clicked an option appears to select a previous library, although my last backe dup file was 6 months ago it reinstated most of my songs. i would recommend anyone with this prob to uninstall AVG asap.

Don't waste your time as I did ring AVG help line - useless!!!!!

Thanks again tt2

You're welcome. 🙂

I'd suggest however that you close iTunes and copy the library file you're using into the main iTunes folder, rename it as iTunes Library.itl then use the shift-start-iTunes technique to connect to it.

tt2

Cheers, will do

I have the same issue. For the last two day, I also have noticed that in my recycle bin are new files (I have deleted nothing.) One is called "Itunes Librabry extras.itl" and the other is "Itunes Library Genius.itl" I not have two pair of these files, which appear to be database references. Restoring them fails, as it says I do not have permission.

I have not done anything other than start Itunes. I spent the better part of yesterday downloading everything back from the cloud and restoring tings that were not in the cloud. Now it seems I need to do it again?

It seems there is a significant bug in the update. I am running Windows 7 64 bit, and have zero issues until updating to 11

The two .itdb files are discarded when the main .itl file is missing and iTunes builds a fresh library.

Do you have AVG? If so remove it and switch to Microsoft Security Essentials. The restore a working copy of the database as described earlierin this thread. Your library should remain stable.

Don't forget to make a backup!

tt2

I do normally run AVG. So, on your advice, I removed it and put AVAST on. I used the utility to back up, as you suggested. However, that does not resolve the issue. I have never had an isue with ITunes until this rendition, and have run AVG for years. Something is wrong. I had the same problem with both my system and my wife's, so this is not an isolated problem.

Thank you for the fix, though. I miss the older version of ITunes....

Is there a way to get my playlists from my Ipad onto ITunes now?

dansails wrote:

I do normally run AVG. So, on your advice, I removed it and put AVAST on. I used the utility to back up, as you suggested. However, that does not resolve the issue.

Once you have repaired your library taking a backup will make you better prepared for the next crisis. It won't repair the damaged library however if you read this post again there instuctions for doing that.

I have never had an isue with ITunes until this rendition, and have run AVG for years. Something is wrong. I had the same problem with both my system and my wife's, so this is not an isolated problem.

Indeed it is not isolated. There are many recent reports of a similar nature, in the majority AVG has been present, and once removed the issue has been resolved. If your wife's computer also runs AVG you can see the common factor. I believe the problem lies with a recent update to AVG rather than itunes, and although AVG have acknowleged the problem, and created a patch, that doesn't appears to have fixed things for some people. Moving away from AVG has.

Thank you for the fix, though. I miss the older version of ITunes....

Is there a way to get my playlists from my Ipad onto ITunes now?

Did you attempt to rename any of the .tmp files? One of those might have produced something closer to your lost library. Again if you read my original post you'll see this link:Recover your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device. Some of the tools listed there can be used to reimport playlists from the device, however if you've restored your most recent .itl file from the Previous iTunes Libraries folder then you should only have lost playlists created in the last few months. If you can restore a .tmp file you may lose nothing at all.

tt2

Unfortunately, I have 9 temp files, all dated within the last day. Not knowing which to use, I think I wil just make new playlists. I have recovered all else. The software seems to be stable and the backup went well. I transfered what I could from my Ipad, but apparently playlists are not included. So, I am almost back to where I was a week ago, thanks to your help!

You're welcome. 🙂

If you're interested you might be able to use my SyncStats script to bring back some of the recent ratings & playcounts, assuming they are still on the device and didn't transfer with whatever tool you used.

tt2

Hi all,

I am in stuck in a similar situation: iTunes deletes my iTunes Library file over and over. I know how to restore it but I find it rather annoying to start with this procedure several times a week in order to play some music.

What deviates from the other occasions in this list:

> I run iTunes 10.7.0.21 (consciously, because I prefer its interface)

> The first event in my case clearly occured imediately after installing Spotify

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

Igor

Have you been able to reinstate a working library? Have you backed up?

I don't use Spotify, but if it catalogues your media collection then there is a chance that it may have interfered with iTunes updating it's library at some point. If it happens repeatedly see if disabling Spotify changes the behaviour. If you have AVG then that may actually be the cause and the timing a coincidence.

tt2

Sorry turingtest2,

I forgot to mention that I immediately uninstalled Spotify (being aware of this risk I'd rather experiment a little on another machine).

And yes, I use AVG, but hardly ever have my whole system scanned. I can't imagine AVG disrupts my iTunes as it immediately happened after installing Spotify.

thanks, regards,

Igor

Every time iTunes processes a change to the library it updates the database files. This happens at least twice when any song is played, and for all tag changes etc. The process seems to be.

1. Write out new temporary copy of database
2. Delete original database file
3. Rename temporary file to replace original

I believe AVG in particular (following an update to its Resident Shield engine several weeks ago) is delaying step 3 while it checks the file for suspect content. The way it does so may be legitimate, and may not always cause problems, but the result is that sometimes the rename doesn't happen. Other background tasks that intercept file system actions have the potential to do the same. I haven't installed AVG to test it myself but I can see the temporary files pop in and out of existence, and I know they are left behind when the library vanishes. I've had enough feedback from other users who have removed AVG and found their problems have stopped to be confident that I can say there is a good chance that AVG is responsible, and that removing it would be a reasonable troubleshooting step to take. AVG have acknowledged their software may be responsible and have announced two patches both aimed to prevent the behaviour. It is also of note that for those users with the problem excluding the iTunes folder from real-time scanning didn't prove effective while removing AVG did. Obviously this is all anecdotal, but I'm happy with the conclusions that I have drawn.

tt2