iTunes Library.itl and .xml Missing; Content Lost?

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Level 1

20 points

iTunes Library.itl and .xml Missing; Content Lost?

So my iTunes library is on an external hard drive and iTunes is telling me that the "iTunes Library.itl" file was corrupted and could only save some songs. Because of this, most of my media and playlist information is no longer on iTunes. I cannot back-up from an old .itl file and the "iTunes Library.xml" file is based off of the corrupted library. However, when I open the location folder for iTunes (Media Folder) and click on the Music folder, everything is still there. Same goes for the Books, Apps, Tones folders, etc. Is there a way to force iTunes to recognize these folders as the source instead of manually importing each one to recreate my library? There is also a Temp.tmp file that seems like it could be used as a back-up I could restore from but I cannot make it work. Any serious help would be appreciated.

Black MacBook1,1, Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on Nov 30, 2015 10:43 PM

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Answer 1

Limnos

Level 10

411,217 points

Dec 1, 2015 4:40 AM in response to DJMT1287

iTunes has no facility to inventory a folder for media other than standard adding files. iTunes relies upon the .itl to be up to date as far as where it knows media to exist. It s the .itl that you see when you have iTunes open in front of you, not an active inventory of the media folder. It is as if you relied upon knowing the contents of your kitchen by keeping track of what you had bought and what you had used and not by actually looking at the shelves.

I have no idea what that Temp.tmp file is. I have never heard anybody mention it.

Without the .itl or .xml you will have to re-add the files to a blank iTunes library. Use the Automatically Add To iTunes folder and hopefully it won't result in any duplicates actually being made since entries there are moved, not copied.

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Answer 2

turingtest2

Level 10

272,749 points

Dec 1, 2015 1:46 PM in response to DJMT1287

See Empty/corrupt iTunes library after upgrade/crash. The .tmp file might contain a valid copy of your library. Make a copy of the file and rename the copy as iTunes Library.itl.

tt2

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