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Level 1

8 points

Can I replace curent iTunes Music Library.xml with previous Windows based Library to restore some lost metadata?

Old Pc motherboard failed, not sure which iTunes version I was using, but was using Windows XP. I was able to recover the hard drive and transfer the files to my iMac using a USB external hard drive dock . All of the music was transferred to my iMac, however, I lost some of the metadata, (specifically, number of times played, last played, date added). Song names, genres, albums were all intact. Spent a few hours updating album covers to more high resolution (yes, I'm obsessive compulsive) since upgrading from a 15" screen to a 27". Is there any way to replace the current iTunes Library.xml file with the previous Windows based version, or will that really mess up the file directory? When I transferred my music, I transferred the entire windows iTunes file, so I do have the previous library.xml file, but am concerned that since it was Windows based that it may mess up the currently restored library? It would seem that the easy thing to do would be to remove the current iTunes Library.xml file and just put the previous windows based file it it's place, but I'm not sure that would mess the newly restored files or wouldn't associate with the files since they've been relocated and partially renamed? I spoke with Apple support and they were not sure if the library would be corrupted or not, so I'm not sure I want to start this process all over again.

I guess another alternative would be to transfer the old windows based iTunes to our Windows laptop and then transfer the files from the laptop based iTunes directly to my iMac through the migration assistant? Of course, If I do that, I'd likely have two copies of each song (I have over 5300) in the library and would have to delete the ones without the metadata and then spend more time updated the album covers again.

I'm not quite that compulsive.....

Any thoughts, ideas or suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks : ))

iMac (27-inch Mid 2011), OS X Mavericks (10.9.5)

Posted on Mar 22, 2015 2:03 PM

Best reply

turingtest2

Level 10

272,881 points

Posted on Mar 22, 2015 2:38 PM

The important file is the .itl file, iTunes Library.itl. The .xml is provided for third party support. As a rule all you normally need to do is copy over the entire iTunes folder as a unit. If you copied the media previously then copy over the bits you left behind, e.g. the library files in the main iTunes folder and the Album Artwork and Previous iTunes Libraries folders.

See Make a split library portable for some general background.

See also Empty/corrupt iTunes library after upgrade/crash if the .itl file is missing from the main iTunes folder on the crashed drive.

tt2

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41 replies

Niwle Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 30, 2015 7:10 AM in response to turingtest2

OK, it's all done. I have all my music in one very neatly organized Media folder, no duplicates, the right file path and updated artwork to boot. I trashed the old files and it works great.

Thanks again for your time and help, we might've gotten it all organized at some point, but it was becoming WAY more trouble than it was worth.

🙂

turingtest2

Level 10

272,881 points

Mar 30, 2015 7:35 AM in response to Niwle

You're welcome. 🙂

tt2

Niwle Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 30, 2015 1:57 PM in response to turingtest2

You're going to think I'm insane....

OK, performed all the steps, iTunes was working great. Was using it all afternoon. Went away from the computer for a few hours and came back. When I went to open iTunes, it said it couldn't find the library, so I clicked on the only .itl file I now have, and it linked back to the iTunes library in the Trash 👿

So, I've had enough, I know I have ALL my songs in the new iTunes Media file, so I exited iTunes and just emptied the Trash. Of course iTunes couldn't locate any of the songs, so when I manually click on one song, it finds it, and puts it in the library, and you won't believe this, it has the correct metadata. However, it's not locating other songs automatically, I have to click on each one to activate it. Would you mind reminding me what steps I should try to automatically add the link to the music files?

I knew it was too easy 😁

turingtest2

Level 10

272,881 points

Mar 30, 2015 2:00 PM in response to Niwle

Use the Get Info > Locate missing file > Repair other broken files process to fix the broken links.

E.g.

Click Locate, then browse to and open the relevant file which should result in a box like this:

Click Find Files, and then hopefully after a while you will be presented with this:

tt2

Niwle Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 30, 2015 2:15 PM in response to turingtest2

Update, after I shut down iTunes, it located ALL but about 200 songs, however, there is no links in the library for the missing songs, if I click on each individual file, it adds it to the library. Is there a command I can use for iTunes to search for files that are not linked to the library? Almost there 😁

Niwle Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 30, 2015 2:32 PM in response to Niwle

Now, I've got about 4400 songs with broken links, when I click to find it, it finds ONLY the one song and says it can't find the other 4400, so right now in order to add them to the library, I have to click on each individual song??

There's GOT to be a better way??

Niwle Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 30, 2015 2:42 PM in response to Niwle

Not sure why it's not recognizing the files until I click on them?

turingtest2

Level 10

272,881 points

Mar 30, 2015 3:05 PM in response to Niwle

I have a fix for you in Windows, but not on OS X. But perhaps it is only fixing one at time because it doesn't realize they are broken yet.

You could try this.

Lost & Found Playlists

Create a playlist called Found, select everything in Music and drag it into the Found playlist (it may take some time to count the tracks that are to be dropped). Create a smart playlist called Lost matching All the rules Playlist is Music and Playlist is not Found. Your lost tracks will be in this playlist.

You can now try the repair technique again.

tt2