Lizziejane81

Q: Help please! IPod music is gone!

Please help me! I don't know what my stupid Windows 10 has done! I hooked up my father's iPod classic to my laptop and was able to view his files in my iTunes along with my library. It didn't sync as I had the auto sync turned off. Then when iPod was disconnected from laptop, the album art didnt show up on the iPod and my father got very very upset. I hooked the iPod back up to my laptop and Windows said it needed to repair the files on the iPod and so I said ok, but now the iPod is showing as empty when disconnected from the laptop! My dad is going to kill me! Music is his life! Please help! I think  there's hope because now when I hook the iPod up to the laptop and view the hidden folders on the iPod, it shows all the music files. There must be a way to fix this! What do I do? Please please help. I will pay whatever it takes!

Signed,

Extremely Desparate

iPod classic, Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on Oct 2, 2016 12:00 AM

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Q: Help please! IPod music is gone!

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  • by Kenichi Watanabe,

    Kenichi Watanabe Kenichi Watanabe Oct 2, 2016 12:17 AM in response to Lizziejane81
    Level 8 (39,333 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 2, 2016 12:17 AM in response to Lizziejane81

    Since you use Windows, and you can actually see files on the iPod, I assume your father also uses Windows, and that iPod is currently formatted for Windows (not Mac).  Is that correct?

     

    Doesn't your father have all of his songs (currently on the iPod) stored in his iTunes library on his computer?  If he syncs his entire music library to the iPod, his iTunes library should have the songs on the iPod.  If so, the easiest solution is to connect it to his iTunes library, do a Restore using iTunes (which erases iPod and sets it to default "factory" condition) and then re-sync his music library back to iPod.  The Restore button is on iPod's Summary settings screen in iTunes. 

     

    If his songs only exist on that iPod, it's really his fault for not having a backup.  The iPod can easily break or get lost, or have data corruption (and need a Restore), which sounds like your situation.  If you can see the song files, you may be able to use the method described in this article, to off-load the song files and add them to an iTunes library.

     

    https://www.cnet.com/how-to/how-to-transfer-music-from-an-ipod-to-your-computer/

     

    There are also utilities that can transfer song files from iPod to computer (do an Internet search on something like "ipod music transfer").  After retrieving the song files and adding them to an iTunes library, do a Restore on iPod using iTunes  and sync the songs back to iPod.

     

    NOTE:  If the cause is data corruption, songs files may be missing or corrupted.

  • by Lizziejane81,

    Lizziejane81 Lizziejane81 Oct 2, 2016 12:42 AM in response to Kenichi Watanabe
    Level 1 (16 points)
    iPod
    Oct 2, 2016 12:42 AM in response to Kenichi Watanabe

    Thanks for the article, but it appears to be outdated. I can't select "enable disk use" as it is greyed out. Can someone call me please, I'm freaking out. Can't sleep. You are correct that his iPod wasn't synced to his iTunes. I was trying to back up his library to my laptop when all of this happened. In currently trying to copy the iPod control files to my laptop, but it's just frozen and not working.

  • by Kenichi Watanabe,

    Kenichi Watanabe Kenichi Watanabe Oct 2, 2016 12:53 AM in response to Lizziejane81
    Level 8 (39,333 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 2, 2016 12:53 AM in response to Lizziejane81

    If you can see the iPod's files using your computer's file manager (outside of iTunes), disk use is already enabled.  Disk use means the iPod appears on your computer outside of iTunes. 

    You are correct that his iPod wasn't synced to his iTunes.

    Then he was ultimately taking the risk of losing his music, because iPods can break, become corrupted, or get lost.  Going forward, the iTunes library should have ALL media on the iPod, set up to automatically sync any changes from iTunes library to iPod.

  • by Kenichi Watanabe,

    Kenichi Watanabe Kenichi Watanabe Oct 2, 2016 1:14 AM in response to Lizziejane81
    Level 8 (39,333 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 2, 2016 1:14 AM in response to Lizziejane81

    In currently trying to copy the iPod control files to my laptop, but it's just frozen and not working.

    One more thing you can try is to put the iPod into Disk Mode

     

    How to put your iPod into disk mode - Apple Support

     

    In Disk Mode, the iPod acts like a USB storage device.  That may overcome not being able to copy files off of it.  Quit iTunes if it's running.

  • by Lizziejane81,

    Lizziejane81 Lizziejane81 Oct 2, 2016 8:10 AM in response to Kenichi Watanabe
    Level 1 (16 points)
    iPod
    Oct 2, 2016 8:10 AM in response to Kenichi Watanabe

    Still having problems. It won't transfer all the files. Can I please have someone call me and look at my computer?

  • by Kenichi Watanabe,

    Kenichi Watanabe Kenichi Watanabe Oct 2, 2016 3:26 PM in response to Lizziejane81
    Level 8 (39,333 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 2, 2016 3:26 PM in response to Lizziejane81

    This is Apple's user discussion forum.  If you want help from Apple's official customer support, you need to use this web page

     

    Contact - Official Apple Support

     

    If the iPod has data corruption, you may not recover all the files.