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iTunes forum: iTunes Library Disappears Regularly

by: cresheim November 4, 2011 12:20 PM PDT

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iTunes Library Disappears Regularly

by cresheim - 11/4/11 12:20 PM

This question is a lot more complicated and detailed than the ones I see in your question and answers pieces. I have run this through every other source I can think of, so here goes:

I have a Dell desktop running Vista.


With stunning regularity,when I open iTunes, my library is empty. This sometimes occurs several times a week. Other times, my iTunes library will stay in place for two or three weeks, but rarely longer.

My library is still on my computer. I open my iTunes Media Library and pull everything over - music, movies, podcasts, apps, etc. - and the library is again populated. I have over 17,000 songs in the library, so this procedure takes at least half an hour.

Then, when I go to sync a device, I get a message that this device is synced to another library and all files will be deleted. (We have an iPad2, two iPhone 4s - opposed to 4S - and three iPods). The erase and sync procedure take at least another half hour. When I look at the list of devices associated with my account, it shows two iPods that were retired years ago, before I got the current computer.

I have been on the phone with both Dell and Apple several times. And I have spoken with people at my local Apple Store. I have deleted and re-loaded iTunes a few times. I have looked at numerous on-line forums. I find the occasion reference to this happening to people, but not with the regularity with which it happens to me.

No one has an answer. The best I got was an Apple Store employee who said the Windows version of iTunes wasn't very good.

This issue started when the computer was a little more than one year old. So it worked fine at one time.

Aside from the iTunes issue, my Dell works fine. I am not inclined to buy another computer. I just want to find a solution to this.

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HP Simple Save backup

by SoCalSally - 4/7/12 11:34 PM

In Reply to: iTunes Library Disappears Regularly by cresheim

I came across another forum that suggests that running an "HP Simple Save" backup drive is the problem. I run one of these, and it makes sense for me. Have adjusted my backup settings so that the external drive does not backup iTunes, I'm probably going to move my music backup to the cloud... crossing my fingers that this works.

http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Other-HP-Consumer-Products-and/HP-SimpleSave-and-iTunes/td-p/542783


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HP SimpleSave

by cresheim - 4/8/12 5:16 AM

In Reply to: HP Simple Save backup by SoCalSally

We went on vacation and I put the HP drive away for safe keeping. Came back and noticed iTunes had not gone down for over a week which is rare. Hooked the HP drive up again and iTunes once again went empty. Thanks for the response as the timing is perfect. Sweet product there, HP.


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I've seen this.

by R. Proffitt Moderator - 11/4/11 12:54 PM

In Reply to: iTunes Library Disappears Regularly by cresheim

When the library is on some external drive.

I fear I know of no cure for that except to use an internal drive.
Bob


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Only a back up external drive

by cresheim - 11/5/11 5:29 AM

In Reply to: I've seen this. by R. Proffitt Moderator

The iTunes is on the internal drive of the computer. I do have an external backup, but no programs are mapped to that.


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Although an External hard drive was not

by mrmacfixit Moderator - 11/5/11 5:28 AM

In Reply to: iTunes Library Disappears Regularly by cresheim

explicitly mentioned, I guess it can be assumed.

That said, I wonder if the external was ever formatted as NTFS or whether it is still in the "out of the box" format of FAT(something).

Might this make difference if the iTunes Media Library, currently holding 17000 tracks, was pushing the edge of the FAT envelope capacity?

Just wondering

P


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iTunes if Running off of the internal drive

by cresheim - 11/5/11 2:58 PM

In Reply to: Although an External hard drive was not by mrmacfixit Moderator

so that should be properly configured. I don't pull in any thin gfom the back up external drive; I don;t see how that could be an issue.
But I can tell you this scenario hjas now happened three times this week.


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iTunes is running off the internal drive,

by mrmacfixit Moderator - 11/6/11 8:48 AM

In Reply to: iTunes if Running off of the internal drive by cresheim

so where do you "pull everything over" to?

Is the library that keeps disappearing on an internal or external drive?

I got the impression that when the library went away, and you pulled everything over, you were going from one drive to another.

P


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Pull from my C drive

by cresheim - 11/6/11 4:16 PM

In Reply to: iTunes is running off the internal drive, by mrmacfixit Moderator

The music files never leave my hard drive, iTunes just shows up blank every now and then.


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Something new.

by R. Proffitt Moderator - 11/15/11 7:32 AM

In Reply to: Pull from my C drive by cresheim

Finally another instance and here's what we found.

The machine's owner was using registry cleansers.

-> Ugly!


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Registry Cleaners?

by cresheim - 11/15/11 11:09 AM

In Reply to: Something new. by R. Proffitt Moderator

I have never put them on, but that doesn't mean someone in the family hasn't downloaded some without my knowledge. Will give it a look.


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Regsitry Cleaners

by cresheim - 11/19/11 9:28 AM

In Reply to: Something new. by R. Proffitt Moderator

OK. I got back to town and looked and there is a CCleaner, which my wife tells me she runs once a week. Now the question is, is there a correlation between the CCleaner run and the library disappearing.


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For a test. Stop using it.

by R. Proffitt Moderator - 11/19/11 11:56 AM

In Reply to: Regsitry Cleaners by cresheim

While I haven't heard of CCleaner doing this with stock settings. I wonder. Let's look into that.

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:WDmJzwuAHDsJ:forum.piriform.com/index.php%3Fshowtopic%3D19918&hl=en&gl=us&strip=1

So yes, CCleaner could indeed be it. More at that link.
Bob


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Registry Cleaners

by cresheim - 11/19/11 2:23 PM

In Reply to: For a test. Stop using it. by R. Proffitt Moderator

There may also be something in the Norton Suite Comcast provides. I am going to stop that as well. Could be one or the other or both.


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Not Registry Cleaners

by cresheim - 11/25/11 8:21 AM

In Reply to: Registry Cleaners by cresheim

I shut down the Norton Suite that comes with Comcast and deleted CCleaner but alas, this happened again. At least we know it is not registry cleaners. That's one down.


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Answer Best answer as chosen by user cresheim

Me too

by SoCalSally - 4/7/12 11:09 PM

In Reply to: iTunes Library Disappears Regularly by cresheim

This exact same thing happens to me regularly, and I'm about to throw my computer out the window. I've got an HP "All-in-one" running Windows 7. I've learned to backup my Itunes .xml file so that I can restore the library (which takes about a half an hour) - but the syncing back to my iPhone and iPad take two to three hours apiece! I'm contemplating just giving up to Apple and buying an iMac. I've searched so many forums looking for an answer and this is the closest I've seen to anyone even having a similar problem. So frustrating!


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HP is the problem

by cresheim - 4/8/12 9:01 AM

In Reply to: Me too by SoCalSally

Ever since I took the HP simple save off of my computer, I have not had this issue. That my problem was my back up took me over a year to figure out. That this problem does not happen with the HP drive disconnected shows it is not a Windows proble, nor it is a Dell problem. This is all HP. GOod luck straightening out the company, Meg.


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Thanks. See this discussion link.

by R. Proffitt Moderator - 4/8/12 12:59 PM

In Reply to: HP is the problem by cresheim

http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Other-HP-Consumer-Products-and/HP-SimpleSave-and-iTunes/td-p/542783

Hmm, do you have KB2488113 installed. Others have noted other failures without it such as
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2762816?start=15&tstart=0

After all this, it looks to be something all Microsoft?
Bob


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HP is the problem

by cresheim - 4/8/12 7:05 PM

In Reply to: Thanks. See this discussion link. by R. Proffitt Moderator

I run Vista, as noted above. I have every available patch on the compter. So it is not a lack of my patches. I had the SmartSave drive for more than a year before this problem occurred. Microsoft is always a handy target, but I'm stcking with HP as the source of this problem.


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Some patches are ones we have to go get.

by R. Proffitt Moderator - 4/8/12 10:30 PM

In Reply to: HP is the problem by cresheim

I think you are right. Today, no one is as accepting of the bugs like we were just a few years ago.

Folk don't want to know who or what it is. They only want.
Bob


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