iPod/iTunes has lost all ID3 tags for 25,000 songs
My external hard drive broke, containing all my music. It wasn't backed up elsewhere - I know, I know. I have spent a month using every software / trick I can find to copy the music from my iPod back into iTunes, but all the ID3 tags are gone. I can see 4-letter file codes, or song titles if I'm lucky. No artist names, no albums, no grouping (therefore no Smart Playlists will work), etc. 25,000 songs!
I've tried using tag-fixing software like Music Brainz Picard, etc. but I can't even find all the folders for the songs that are un-tagged, to fix those tags. I've looked all through the iTunes folder made after re-importing the songs to the app, and I can't find these songs in 'Unknown Artist' or anything, but I know they're in there because iTunes says the correct total number of songs have been imported.
I don't know what to do. I feel like I've just lost my entire music collection. And please DON'T just reply with, 'That's why you should use a cloud.' I get that. I just need genuine help here, if it can be given. I don't know why this would have happened. I can see ALL the information IN the transfer software. It just won't carry across into iTunes.
And years ago, my Mac updated iTunes without my permission and somehow automatically erased all of iTunes and lost all my music then. I used the same sort of software to restore everything from my iPod and all the music imported perfectly with the right tags. Most of that music is the same as it is today. Why would all the tags just have vanished since then?
Getting desperate....
This is an iPod Classic and I'm on a Mac, btw.
iPod classic