Lost half my stuff in iTunes :(

[Quicksilver71]

Tonight I was syncing my iPad and all I wanted to do was add one film to it. During the sync, iTunes crashed with an error message that there was insufficient disk space (there wasn't, my iTunes library is on an external hard drive which is only half full).

When I tried again to sync, I found that most of my music and about half my apps had disappeared from the iPad and from iTunes. I don't know where it has all gone, and it seems to be random what has gone (some recent stuff but some music that I have had in iTunes for years).

I am now restoring the iPad from a previous back up but it is from 10 days ago and I fear I will have lost some data. This is taking absolutely ages (it has been saying half an hour to go for half an hour!).

Any idea what I have done and how to put it right? Is it redeemable?

 

[Quicksilver71]

Update - I restored but the missing stuff is still missing. Most importantly I have lost Informant HD and all its data - the whole family's calendars gone

 

[Quicksilver71]

The missing music seems to be stuff I bought on previous iPods and iPhone, no chance of restoring all of that.

 

[DontUnderstandMyIpad]

You mentioned the music has been on an external harddrive. Does this mean the music also disappeared from there, or is it just missing from iTunes?

If the last backup was made 10 days ago and you have not synced Pocket Informant with any service, such as Google Calendar, then there is little chance to restore the lost app data. But all purchased content (music, etc.) should still be there, as they where saved on the harddrive.

Now, if the music is not just missing from iTunes, but also from the harddrive, then I would suggest you download Recuva http://www.piriform.com/recuva, run a Deep Scan (it asks you this when you first open Recuva). It will search for all files on the harddrive and give you the option to restore them.

 

[Quicksilver71]

Wow thanks for that, will take a look. It's midnight here but I can't sleep until I fix it!

 

[Quicksilver71]

I think I discovered the problem. I keep the iTunes library on an external hard drive as my laptop has very little storage on it (it's very old). Somehow iTunes 'forgot' that the library was on that drive and started trying to locate everything on the c: drive. The c: drive then crashed badly because it had no space on it.

Recuva has found a few bits and pieces, but loads is still lost. It seems quite random - sometimes 3 tracks of one album are there, and the rest lost! Quite a bit of the stuff is from CDs which I still have so I can re-load those over time. The rest will probably have to be bought again It's my own fault in a way though - because I had everything on the external drive, I didn't take any other backups of iTunes and so I can't restore anything.

 

[twerppoet]

Have you checked the library on the external drive to see if there is still an iTunes library there? Or is that the library that now has less than half your stuff?

 

[Quicksilver71]

That is the library that is missing stuff, and I scanned that with recuva and got about 200 songs back. I think I am still missing about 250 more, but it is hard to know exactly. I have also lost 2 movies (I only had 2).

 

[twerppoet]

Ok, are any of the missing songs hiding in the (unwanted) iTunes library on the C: drive? You should be able to import them to the D: drive if so..

I'm probably asking stuff you've already tried, if so please forgive me. Just trying to make sure no stone is unturned.

 

[Quicksilver71]

Thanks I had checked that. The c: folder only had a few songs in and then it crashed. I have pretty much given up now, I will put the CD stuff back and just repurchase a few essentials.

iTunes is now in a bad way on the laptop, and I can't sync the iPad without crashing everything. I am planning to uninstall iTunes, then reinstall it with the correct settings and see if that helps. I think it is trying to look for music on the c: and I can't get it to point to the external drive any more.

 

[twerppoet]

That sucks. Let us know when / if / and how you get it fixed. Maybe the next person will have less of a headache.

 

[Quicksilver71]

Well you won't believe this but I uninstalled iTunes and downloaded it again as new. Then I added the library file from my external drive and suddenly EVERYTHING is back! Even the stuff I couldn't find when I scanned the drive.

I don't know how or why, but I am certainly very happy about it

 

[DontUnderstandMyIpad]

That is certainly good news. The files must have been hidden in some folders, as Recuva only reports files, which Windows think that don't exist.

 

[twerppoet]

Probably all the files where there, iTunes just needed to rebuild the database. There are ways to force that, and I should have thought of it earlier. Still, alls well that ends well. Glad you got your music back