How to restore iTunes Library from a recent time machine backup

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Level 1

15 points

How to restore iTunes Library from a recent time machine backup

I have to make room on my internal HD on my iMac. The HD is a 1TB and I have 391GB of music and video etc that are in my iTunes Library. So I decided to move it to a new 5TB external HD which I formatted with 2 partitions. One partition 2.5TB will be my new Time Machine Backups and the other 2.5TB for iTunes Library so I never have to worry about this again. Using the knowledge I gained (?) from a YouTube video I copied my iTunes folder over to the new partition on the new HD. However, there was no library .itl file. So I found an old one but found I am missing playlists and content from iTunes. So I was thinking maybe the easiest way was to do an iTunes restore from Time Machine.

I am hoping that someone can guide me through this as I have already botched things up and want to do it properly this time.

Thanks

iMac (24-inch Early 2009), OS X Yosemite (10.10.1), 3.06 GHz C2D 8gb Ram NVidiaGT130

Posted on Apr 19, 2015 2:02 PM

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Answer 1

CynicChick Author

Level 1

15 points

Apr 19, 2015 4:25 PM in response to CynicChick

I found an article on how to do it. It seemed very simple! However, now my library is still missing recently bought songs. And, I made a lot of changes in the past few days to my playlists and it is back the way it was a long time ago (not sure how long ago).

Getting very frustrated. 😟

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Answer 2

Limnos

Level 10

411,187 points

Apr 19, 2015 9:17 PM in response to CynicChick

One partition 2.5TB will be my new Time Machine Backups and the other 2.5TB for iTunes Library so I never have to worry about this again.

Your worry now is what will you do when the single hard drive containing both your library and its backup makes a screeching sound one day and is toast, or get stolen?

from a YouTube video

Uh-oh, those unspecific and sometimes incorrect YouTube videos. I dislike those things. I watched one once and some kid droned on in a barely audible monotone for about 5 minutes to show how to do something to which I could have typed instructions in two sentences.

Downloading (using iOS or computer) past purchases from the App Store, iBookstore, and iTunes Store - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht2519

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