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Resolved Question

iTunes Library Disappears Regularly

Nov 4, 2011 5:20AM PDT

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.

Discussion is locked

cresheim has chosen the best answer to their question. View answer

Best Answer

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HP Simple Save backup
Apr 7, 2012 4:34PM PDT
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HP SimpleSave
Apr 7, 2012 10:16PM PDT

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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Answer
I've seen this.
Nov 4, 2011 5:54AM PDT

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
Nov 4, 2011 10:29PM PDT

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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Answer
Although an External hard drive was not
Nov 4, 2011 10:28PM PDT

explicitly mentioned, I guess it can be assumed.

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iTunes if Running off of the internal drive
Nov 5, 2011 7:58AM PDT

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,
Nov 6, 2011 1:48AM PDT

so where do you "pull everything over" to?

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Pull from my C drive
Nov 6, 2011 8:16AM PST

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

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Something new.
Nov 14, 2011 11:32PM PST

Finally another instance and here's what we found.

The machine's owner was using registry cleansers.

-> Ugly!

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Registry Cleaners?
Nov 15, 2011 3:09AM PST

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
Nov 19, 2011 1:28AM PST

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.
Nov 19, 2011 3:56AM PST
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Registry Cleaners
Nov 19, 2011 6:23AM PST

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
Nov 25, 2011 12:21AM PST

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
Me too
Apr 7, 2012 4:09PM PDT

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
Apr 8, 2012 2:01AM PDT

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.
Apr 8, 2012 5:59AM PDT
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HP is the problem
Apr 8, 2012 12:05PM PDT

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.
Apr 8, 2012 3:30PM PDT

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