Apps and Music gone - how to recover?

Question

Level 1

9 points

Apps and Music gone - how to recover?

I was advised by an Apple Support person today that I needed to erase my hard disk and reinstall OS X.

I was told to back up all files and I did that and that everything else would be in in iCloud so it was an easy task. It was easy but now I have a MacBook and all the paid and free Apps I had are gone. I can find and download Apple's own Apps (Keynote, Pages, Numbers and GarageBand) but not the others. In particular I am concerned with my Microsoft Apps (PowerPoint, Excel and Word) which I use daily and I can't find them in either iTune or the AppStore under 'My Apps' or 'Purchased Apps'.

I have also discovered that all my music, decades of it, except for five albums I bought from Apple last year are gone. I had my music all matched with iTunes.

Have I lost my paid apps and music? Can anyone suggest how I might get them back?

Thanks in advance.

Patricia

MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Late 2012), OS X Yosemite (10.10.2)

Posted on Jan 30, 2015 11:33 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Japib

Level 4

2,831 points

Jan 30, 2015 11:39 AM in response to patti_os

if you did a Time Machine backup like Apple Support suggested, they should have transferred back to the Mac... Did you backup using time Mapsule?

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Answer 2

patti_os Author

Level 1

9 points

Jan 30, 2015 11:42 AM in response to Japib

I don't own a time capsule.

I was asked if my iCloud was up-to-date and it was then i was told to backup all my files which I did.

I want help not smart answers thank you!

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Answer 3

Dah•veed

Level 9

64,729 points

Jan 30, 2015 11:59 AM in response to patti_os

You should find apps that you bought from the Mac App Store in the Purchases pane when you are signed into your account (Store menu.) If you don't see some they may be hidden.

Hidden Apps -

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4928

Those Microsoft apps aren't sold in the Mac App Store, you will need to get them from the source from which they were purchased.

As for the music;

Download the latest iTunes if you don't have it. Login (Store menu) with your iTunes account (this must be the account that you used to purchase the music). In the iTunes Music Store, on the right side of your iTunes screen, find Purchases. Click Songs or Albums to change the page view and All or “Not in My Library” to view your purchased content that currently is not downloaded on your computer. Click the iCloud download icon to the right of each item to download that item or simply download them all (bottom left corner.)

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Answer 4

patti_os Author

Level 1

9 points

Jan 30, 2015 12:09 PM in response to Dah•veed

Thank you Dahveed

I did not remember that you can purchase OS X apps without the AppStore. I will go find my receipt for purchase and get on to Microsoft directly.

As for the music... this really worries me. I had already done everything you suggested in iTunes, twice actually to be sure. I have just done it all again. The songs or albums to not show on the "All" or "Not in my Library" tabs. Well the 5 I got from iTunes in 2014 are there but everything else is gone. I pay an annual fee to iTunes for Match so I would be certain that since all my music was matched that I would always have a fallback but it does not seem to remember anything other than the music bought directly from Apple.

Time to cancel my iTunes payment I guess since it did not work the one time I needed it.

Again thank you.

Patricia

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Answer 5

Dah•veed

Level 9

64,729 points

Jan 30, 2015 12:19 PM in response to patti_os

Post the music issue directly in the iTunes forum to get help from someone who better understands iTunes Match.

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