recovering iTunes library database .itl via time machine
In short, when I go back beyond a week in time machine I cannot find any .itl or even any of the .itdb or .xml files on my mac that I can restore with time machine. The only version that is there is for the current library which is missing 99.9% of the content.
The context:
1. I had itunes folder on my hard drive and an external with all of the content. Over the years the external must have been disconnected or what not as a sizeable media folder had also developed on the hard drive.
2. In order to free up space on the hard drive I consolidated the media and moved the library to a second external that had much more free space.
3. I ended up deleting the iTunes library on the hard disc on or around 6 april 2015. I believe I deleted the whole folder.
no dramas - everything worked for weeks
4. Today I noticed that the iTunes library was pretty much empty but for purchased music. All the podcasts, playlists and basically anything not purchased was gone.
5. I look into the iTunes folder on the hard disc and I noticed that there is a music folder with two songs that my kid likes to play. It leo has all of the usual library xml files and the .itdb / .itl files (which to be honest I have never noticed before, I had only remembered ever seeing the .XML files).
6. The "new" .itl file was created on Sunday 26 april at 5.30 pm. The whole iTunes folder it sat in on my hard drive also did not exist before this time.
7. If I use time machine and scroll back further in time than sunday there is no iTunes folder on my hard drive.
8. I thought I would just need to find the .itl file that predated this new library that was created on Sunday. Trouble is I can't find one. On any disc, hard disc, the first external or the second external. The only iTunes folder I can find with any of the database files needed is the one created on Sunday that is empty.
9. I have all of the media organised on the second hard disc however I don't want to reimport and lose all the metadata that I have built up since 2001 at least.
THE QUESTIONS
A - where should I be looking for the old iTunes database files using time machine if I used the advanced features of iTunes to move the database to the new disc
B - Can I perform some sort of system wide restore that would take me back in time to a point before last Sunday to get my old iTunes database back?
Any ideas?
Thanks in advance
Len
iMac, Mac OS X (10.7.5), itunes 12.0.1