PC crashed. Have 3,000+ songs backed up on 6 DVD's. Downloaded iTunes onto new computer. Cannot get the songs back into the library. iTunes does not ask "import? ect." now is there "add folder to library" just add file. please help.
Window 7 PC-OTHER, Windows 7
What program created the backup DVDs? Normally you need to use the same software to restore unless the software created a mirror of the file and folder structure. The last version of iTunes able to make or restore backup CDs/DVDs was 10.3.
Press CTRL+B to enable the menu bar. You should now be able to make use of File > Add Folder to Library.
For future backups see Backup your iTunes for Windows library with SyncToy.
tt2
I want to thank you very much.. Had no clue about cntrl/B. The backups were made by an earlier version of iTunes, however, I also had backed up songs on my own by copying them to an external drive. Seems as though everything uploaded fine.
I do have many duplicates. I hesitate to delete them, as not all opf them play. Some give me the "file not found" message, and I do not know how to tell the difference between a valid file and one of those, unless I try to play every duplicate, which would take many hours.
Anything you can offer in that department would be helpful, however, if not, you have helped me a ton as I now have my library back, dupes & all.
Thanks again,
Billy
Apple's official advice on duplicates is here... HT2905: How to find and remove duplicate items in your iTunes library. It is a manual process and the article fails to explain some of the potential pitfalls such as lost ratings and playlist membership.
Use Shift > View > Show Exact Duplicate Items to display duplicates as this is normally a more useful selection. You need to manually select all but one of each group to remove. Sorting the list by Date Added may make it easier to select the appropriate tracks, however this works best when performed immediately after the dupes have been created. If you have multiple entries in iTunes connected to the same file on the hard drive then don't send to the recycle bin.
Use my DeDuper script if you're not sure, don't want to do it by hand, or want to preserve ratings, play counts and playlist membership. See this thread for background, this post for detailed instructions, and please take note of the warning to backup your library before deduping.
(If you don't see the menu bar press ALT to show it temporarily or CTRL+B to keep it displayed.)
The most recent version of the script can tidy dead links as long as there is at least one live duplicate to merge stats and playlist membership to and should cope sensibly when the same file has been added via multiple paths.
tt2
Library is backed up, now....
