All the content from my iTunes library has disappeared

You should only need to pull in the library files, not the whole backup. If the backup was to DVD be sure to remove the read-only flag from the recovered files.

My view of what has been going on with AVG revolves around the process that iTunes uses every time it updates one of the database files. As far as I can tell this goes:

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

Step 3 is the one that seems to get interfered with, leaving temporary files in the iTunes folder every time it happens. With the extras/genius/xml files it isn't that critical, but if the .itl is missing and the iTunes library is located at <User's Music> then iTunes behaves as if it has just been installed and creates a new blank library without any warning. If there are extras or genius files present these will be removed as they don't belong to the new library.

tt2

Thank you so much for posting this tip; sorted in 2 mins.

I was in a real panic as I had no idea what had happened.

I quite like AVG, so will see if this problem reo-ccurs; if yes then it will have to go as I can't replace iTunes unless I change phones!

You're welcome. 🙂

Take a security copy of your current library database now, just in case. It is probably best to exclude the iTunes folder from AVG's Resident Shield and scheduled scans (not that it seemed to help some).

tt2

I have taken your advice and fixed my AVG and used an old iTunes library, and everything is back in place! 🙂 My new problem...all of my iTunes purchases STILL stream from the Cloud. If I had a better internet connection I wouldn't care, but watching TV shows is pretty much impossible, and listening to a song takes several minutes of buffering. Is there a way to turn the Cloud...off?

If the files are stored locally in your library they should work from there and the entry should be shown without the cloud links..

Edit > Preferences > Store > Untick Show iTunes in the Cloud purchases - might help.

tt2

I did that, and it just made the files vanish, so I showed the Cloud again. I think what I need to do is download these from my Purchased tab in the Store again, because it's only a few recent purchases that this is effecting. My library should be back to normal after that. Thanks!

🙂

I unchecked "Show iTunes in the Cloud purchases" and the library screen went blank except for some text and two buttons. One of those buttons said "Scan for Media." When I clicked that, iTunes scanned my hard drive and recreated my library. My playlists are gone but I can recreate them from my iPod.

The problem, though, is that apparently all of my iTunes purchases have been downloaded to my PC so I have two copies of much of my music.

If everything was showing up with the cloud links then you really had an "empty" library which could have been restored using the technique on page 1 of this thread. What you've done instead is to redownload the content into the same folder as existing, but disconnected, copies of the same files. You'll have a bunch of physical duplicates on the hard drive to remove.

You may be better off reverting to an older library file which will restore playlists, ratings etc. You can then import the media folder, display exact duplicates, sort the list on Date Added and remove those files added today by the earlier import of the media folder.

tt2

Sounds like many with basically the same issue. Makes me wonder why Apple refuses to acknowledge any sort problem?!

Anyway, lost my entire library 3 times except for purchases. Am about half way through rebuilding it.

I am running the most current verison of AVG free. Sounds like that be a contributing factor, but otherwise I've had no problems with it in the past 4-5 years.

Do you believe they've adequately addressed and "patched" the problem?

Also, has anybody else had their pc suddenly unable to find the DVD/CD/Player/Writer after re-installing itunes? I did. Went to a Best Buy location and the first question asked was "Have you recently re-installed itunes?" They said that itunes can create registery errors? He installed the driver and it works fine now.

Thanks for the suggestions!!

Kishio

kishio wrote:

Sounds like many with basically the same issue. Makes me wonder why Apple refuses to acknowledge any sort problem?!

Anyway, lost my entire library 3 times except for purchases. Am about half way through rebuilding it.

Quick recovery instructions at the beginning of the thread. And a backup strategy. (Hint!)

I am running the most current verison of AVG free. Sounds like that be a contributing factor, but otherwise I've had no problems with it in the past 4-5 years.

Do you believe they've adequately addressed and "patched" the problem?

Right now? No. I think it started around 6-8 weeks ago with an update to AVG's engine. Two patches later and a couple of users who were prepared to experiment were still having their libraries disappear despite setting exclusions on the iTunes folder that should have prevented any interference. After removing AVG the problem went away.

Also, has anybody else had their pc suddenly unable to find the DVD/CD/Player/Writer after re-installing itunes? I did. Went to a Best Buy location and the first question asked was "Have you recently re-installed itunes?" They said that itunes can create registery errors? He installed the driver and it works fine now.

Not a problem I've personally been tracking, but I'm aware that sometimes iTunes seems to introduce instability into CD/DVD drivers. This may sometimes manifest itself as the ability to rip say only one CD until rebooting. Glad to know you got it resolved.

tt2

tt2.

Thanks, for all of the suggestions. You've been a great help!!

.. and Apple wants me to pay for their support?....

You're welcome... 🙂

Sadly I believe their phone support staff want to be paid... 😉

tt2

Hello turingtest2, I followed this workaround for my missing iTunes music/playlists after my update and it worked thank you. I also tried this on my father's laptop, but it didn't work. He has exact same Toshiba laptop, but after I carry out your instructions and open up iTunes, a brand new itunes library.itl file appears. I have tried over and over, but it keeps popping a new file in the folder each time I open it up. He is running Windows 8 and I was running 7. Is this the problem? He has an iPad and cannot sync just now for obvious reasons.

There shouldn't be any difference between Windows 7 & 8 over this. Assuming the laptop had AVG on it have you tried removing it yet? I take it you are restoring an older version of the library to the same location\filename as the new empty library that then replaces it. Try again and inspect the file size before and after you run iTunes.

tt2

I feel like a noob asking this but I know I'm not, at least not really ... anyway, just like the others I lost the content of my extensive (music) library bar the downloads which apple put in the cloud. Tried the renaming and other suggestons but to no avail. I rebuild my library the last two days, luckily it's still in there after rebooting but i'm afraid I might loose it all again and have to start all over again.

After rebuilding my music labrary I haven't seen change in the modification date of any .itl file in the main folder, only in the previous iTunes Libary folder, to be exact the following files, which all have the date of today.

iTunes Libary 2011-07-25 Extras.itdb
iTunes Libary 2011-07-25 Genius.itdb

iTunes Libary 2011-07-25.itl
iTunes Libary 2011-07-25.xml

Can I get rid of the unmodified library files (which has various dates in the file name or should I keep it all there, just to be safe?

Can I copy these 4 files to another location as some sort of extra back up and put them back when something like this happens again or ...

I set-up SyncToy to sync my entire iTunes folder but I whish Apple would just add a simple (automatic) library back-up function so that if this happens again you just have to go back to a self scheduled - for instance once a week or once a month - back-upped file. It would save a lot of time.

Oh and btw, not using AGV, didn't have any updates to the computer or iTunes (at least not that I know of) so no idea why I lost my library overnight.