Joseph Allen1
Level 1 (125 points)

Q: Why has iTunes deleted everything from A-F from my library?

I'm absolutely shocked to have just found all artists / music from letters A - F are suddenly missing from my itunes library. I have also checked for the actual music in the itunes folder and there is nothing there for artists from A-F either.

 

Everything was there a few days ago as I was building a new playlist. Something strange happened when I clicked 'done' after adding music to the playlist as none of the music saved to the playlist.

 

Since then I have reopened itunes and the music mentioned is missing. It is also not showing up using itunes match on my other devices.

 

I'm really concerned as to what can have happened to it all, as I haven't manually deleted anything.

 

Is there any simple solution to this at all?

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on Apr 22, 2014 12:00 PM

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Joseph Allen1

Q: Why has iTunes deleted everything from A-F from my library?

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  • Helpful answers

  • by Limnos,

    Limnos Limnos Apr 22, 2014 12:17 PM in response to Joseph Allen1
    Level 9 (54,353 points)
    Mac OS X
    Apr 22, 2014 12:17 PM in response to Joseph Allen1

    Well, yes, there is a simple solution but you may not like it.  Restore your iTunes library from your backup.  As iTunes becomes more and more complex there's even more reason to make backups regularly.

     

    No, I have no idea why this happened.  You may have found some magic key combination to do something nasty no programmer checked in iTunes, or you may have fumble-fingered the delete key while you thought you were pressing something else.  I guess you could experiment (forget I suggested that )...

  • by Joseph Allen1,

    Joseph Allen1 Joseph Allen1 Apr 22, 2014 12:23 PM in response to Limnos
    Level 1 (125 points)
    Apr 22, 2014 12:23 PM in response to Limnos

    Thanks for your reply.

     

    Unfortunately, I haven't made any manual backups.

     

    Will an automated backup have been made and stored anywhere?

     

    Would restoring an itunes library replace the music as well?

  • by Limnos,

    Limnos Limnos Apr 22, 2014 12:36 PM in response to Joseph Allen1
    Level 9 (54,353 points)
    Mac OS X
    Apr 22, 2014 12:36 PM in response to Joseph Allen1

    iTunes doesn't back up anything automatically.  If you have iTunes Match and/or purchased your media from the iTunes Store then you may be able to redownload some items.  Some details will depend upon what format files you stored on your computer.  For example, if you stored high quality files the format you get back from Match may be downgraded which is why Match isn't really a backup service.

     

    A library consists of different components,  What get restored would depend upon what is backed up.  One component is all the media files.  The other is all the files that give the library structure you see when you open iTunes.  Without those files you just have a bunch of media files which can be used to rebuild a library but it won't have your old playlists or ratings or original date addded, etc.

     

    What are the iTunes library files? - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1660

     

    More on iTunes library files and what they do - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITunes#Media_management

     

    What are all those iTunes files? - http://www.macworld.com/article/139974/2009/04/itunes_files.html

     

    Where are my iTunes files located? - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1391