Need info on iTunes Library

[wdrzal]

Here's the story.A neighbor has a PC(not mac) which had 2 users on it,thus 2 different Itunes librarys. The pc froze and would not boot into windows XP,I ran a antivirus disk and trojon disk. I then could get into windows but there where more trojans and pages of registry issues.

I ran windows non destructive restore(keeps files and folders) that should have just fixed the OS. Well it did,but the iTunes librays where empty......that had pages of paid for music. The programs & icons were not deleted,just the music in the library.

I'm not familiar with Itunes or iPods(trying to help a friend) but is there a back-up of the music library on line from apple??????....Or is the entire library on your pc? If a Hard drive fails do you lose your music? Does apple maintain a back-upserver just in case a customers pc is destroyed,stolen or just failed. Seems to me there should be a way to recover the Itunes you paid for.

Or once you paid for the song it's only on your pc in the itunes library list?

The son has a 32gb ipod that has most of the music on it, but not all.

What the pc did I believe is remove or corrupt the connection to the music files,Could a hard drive recovery program find and recover the itunes????? off the HD......The drive is fully functional.

Any suggestions will help?????

Walt

[RyderOCZ]

Walt,

Are you talking about inside the program or in "My documents > My Music > Itunes > Itunes music" directory?

[wdrzal]

Just the default itunes Library screen, either start,all programs,iTunes or by double clicking the itunes icon on the desktop.

The iTunes folder is there and iTunes normal screen is there ,it's looks likea fresh download with no music. All the lines where the music was are now empty.

Once I let the pc connect to the net,it hadn't been for severial months,it updated to a newer version of iTunes. But music doesn't show up.........just like you deleted every song.

Thanks for any help, I just don't use itunes and not familiar at all.

Walt

[RyderOCZ]

Ok, so in the itunes program. If you go to location folder I specified, you should find all the music, it is just not in the itunes program because of the reinstall. Itunes has to be "authorized" no a machine to sync with their server (or some crap). The authorization may be gone because of the OS reinstall (maybe it builds a "key" off of Windows? I don't really know).

You just need to get the library back into the program. The library file should still be in the folder I listed or just "add folder to library".

[wdrzal]

I give that a look in a day or two,I don't have the pc here.

From what I was told each iPod you enter a unique serial number when new and that iPod syncs only with it's library. You can't down load songs from someone elses library.We did plug the iPod into the pc but didn't we didn't get tones that it normally does when it syncs up.

I feel all the files are there we just lost the "codec" (during the windows recovery) that apple uses to secure the itunes to one user & his ipod.

Not knowing much about apple,I thought apple iTunes may have a "Backup server" for the music you purchased, to make recovery easy.

Walt

[henryp]

From what I was told each iPod you enter a unique serial number when new and that iPod syncs only with it's library.

My kid and I share a PC running XP. We each have an iPod.
Either of us can add tunes to either iPod and either of us can add tunes to either iTunes library. In fact, either of us can add tunes acquired from a source other than iTunes as long as it's a compatible format.

It's possible all your tunes are on the hard drive, but your version of iTunes doesn't see them. I don't have iTunes in front of me but there's a file->add to library option. If the tunes are on the hard drive select this option, navigate to where the tunes are, select them all and go.

[wdrzal]

Thanks for the info so far, I,m going to look for the files hopefully tomorrow. I found some help(they list file extensions to search for) on the apple site. Seems like this happens a lot when you reinstall/repair windows.

On the apple site they say you can re-download apps,but not iTunes. So be sure to back up your iTunes.

Depending on how things go, I may need more help/ideas.

Walt.

[Jor3lBR]

Thanks for the info so far, I,m going to look for the files hopefully tomorrow. I found some help(they list file extensions to search for) on the apple site. Seems like this happens a lot when you reinstall/repair windows.

On the apple site they say you can re-download apps,but not iTunes. So be sure to back up your iTunes.

Depending on how things go, I may need more help/ideas.

Walt.

If everything else fails you can always restore the iTunes library FROM the iPhone:

http://www.macroplant.com/podtopc/

[wdrzal]

If everything else fails you can always restore the iTunes library FROM the iPhone:

http://www.macroplant.com/podtopc/

They don't have their complete library on a ipod or iphone, but if everything else fails,recovery of some is better than nothing.

Thanks for the link

Walt