How to restore iTunes library from TimeMachine external hard drive backup after clean install

Question

How to restore iTunes library from TimeMachine external hard drive backup after clean install

I was not able to solve this problem, hence I decided to open this discussion.

1. Recently, I clean installed Yosemite so my new Mac is completely empty.

2. I have my time machine backup on my eternal hard drive and would like to restore only specific things - such as iTunes library.

3. I did not manually copy iTunes library to my drive, I did the TM backup only, but I also do have all the files in my own "music" folder I manually backed-up.

However, I cannot locate the library there, where is it?

How do I move the library to my new Mac and then establish a new source folder that would be on my drive?

PS: Previously, iTunes used my own music folder as a source = it contained all the music files. I had it on an external drive, later moved it to my Mac.

This leads me to the conclusion that my backup copy of iTunes library did not contain the files anyway.

Any advice?

Thank you in advance.

MacBook Pro (Retina, Mid 2012), OS X Yosemite (10.10), null

Posted on Feb 2, 2015 12:23 PM

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Answer 1

Feb 3, 2015 1:45 AM in response to Limnos

Thank you for your thorough reply.

Unfortunately, I feel like I ma giving up, I always seem to have inexplicable problems with iTunes that I am tired of now.

It is just that I have clean installed Yosemite, before that I backup everything via TimeMachine.

Now I have my new empty clean Mac, but I would like to get my iTunes playlists back, as well as my whole library, so I can continue listening to my music. because I do not want to open each and every music file I have and organise them again into playlists.

So, as I heard, I wanted to restore the iTunes-library-something (I guess the .itl file as you named it) that would give me my playlists back, and hopefully could be linked to my audio files easily.

Consequently, I am afraid, the audio files themselves are not in this iTunes library file I am searching for because I used to have the box "Copy files to iTunes media folder when adding files to library" un-ticked.

So the thing is, I do not know how hot to find this .itl file in my TM external hard drive backup, restore the iTunes library settings and playlists and then link it all to my audio files (which I have backup also manually-separately in my own, let's name it, "music" folder). Also, I hope I will not have to link the library to the songs one by one, because my own "music" folder is organised in subfolders that resemble my iTunes playlists, but this folder was not made by iTunes itself, but it was created and organised by me and iTunes used to use it as source - it just read it. This "music" folder I had was located in my Mac, but not in the folder "iTunes" inside the "Music" tab in finder.

Hope this make it more clear, it is possible I got it all wrong.

Thank you very much for your time.

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Answer 2

Limnos

Level 10

411,067 points

Feb 2, 2015 1:58 PM in response to for life love

06/2014 ChrisCA post: Restore iTunes library from Time Machine backup - https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6374283?answerId=26104480022#26104480022

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Answer 3

Feb 2, 2015 3:39 PM in response to Limnos

Hey Limnos,

Thank you for the link, but my problem is cannot find the iTunes library folder in the backup.

I have to find it on the external hard drive backup as my Mac is clean so there is no TM backup directly in the TM app.

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Answer 4

Limnos

Level 10

411,067 points

Feb 2, 2015 4:54 PM in response to for life love

I am confused as to what you had or have where and when. The bottom line is, your library (for the standard user) is everything in the iTunes folder. As far as iTunes' organization and display is concerned, your library is a file called "iTunes Library.itl" which points to all the other host of files and folders normally in the iTunes folder which all work together.

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

iTunes 9 [and later]: Understanding iTunes Media Organization - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3847 - plus supplemental information about organizing to new structure https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6477809?answerId=26404702022#26404702022

Image of folder structure and explanation of different iTunes versions (turingtest2 post) - https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-7392 and making an iTunes library portable.

If you kept everything together in one place then you need to put the whole iTunes folder on the drive where you want it, start iTunes while holding down the option key and guide it to that .itl file. If things were split up and you had media on the external and the rest of the library on the internal you need to get them back to exactly where they were before. If you can't find that iTunes folder holding the critical .itl file anywhere then you have a bunch of media tracks and no organization and will need to rebuild the organization from ground level.

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Answer 5

Chris CA

Level 10

82,434 points

Feb 2, 2015 6:06 PM in response to for life love

for life love wrote:

Hey Limnos,

Thank you for the link, but my problem is cannot find the iTunes library folder in the backup.

I have to find it on the external hard drive backup as my Mac is clean so there is no TM backup directly in the TM app.

Link you old TM backup to you new install.

See this -> http://pondini.org/TM/B6.html

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Answer 6

Chris CA

Level 10

82,434 points

Feb 3, 2015 6:15 AM in response to for life love

for life love wrote:

It is just that I have clean installed Yosemite, before that I backup everything via TimeMachine.

You don't have TM running all the time?

Now I have my new empty clean Mac, but I would like to get my iTunes playlists back, as well as my whole library, so I can continue listening to my music. because I do not want to open each and every music file I have and organise them again into playlists.

Hold Option, select Time Machine in the menu bar then Browse other backup disks.

Go to /Music/ folder, select the iTunes folder then Restore.

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Answer 7

Feb 3, 2015 7:09 AM in response to Chris CA

Hi,

No, I did not have TM running all the time, but if I had, I would still to my last backup manually just before clean installing Yosemite, to be sure everything is there in the backup.

Also, I do not have TM running all the time at the moment as well because I have very little going on at the moment and perform backups manually.

Unfortunately, the steps you suggested do not work, or I am missing something - I did that, selected my external hard drive, it opened TM "past-present floating layout" but I could not restore the folder because it was in "Now". There were no past entries as it is a new fresh OS X.

I think I should find the file manually in my external hard drive backup, or no?

Thank you in advance.

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Answer 8

Chris CA

Level 10

82,434 points

Feb 3, 2015 11:06 AM in response to for life love

for life love wrote:

Also, I do not have TM running all the time at the moment as well because I have very little going on at the moment

If you leave it running (as it is designed for) , then not much will be backed up but you will have a current backup up to the last hour.

I think I should find the file manually in my external hard drive backup, or no?

You could do it, yes.

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Answer 9

Feb 4, 2015 1:08 AM in response to Chris CA

Certainly - I think that is my only option as I only have the external hard drive backup, but I find it impossible to find the iTunes file there.

I certainly do not wish to be impertinent, but that is what this post is all about {original one and my replies}.

I need to find the file, copy it to my current iTunes folder, and make it work.

And then, after I have the library, I will need to link my audio files iTunes again (if step number one would not have already solved it).

Any advice please?

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