Noblesville Schools Technology Department

How to Back-Up & Restore iTunes Music and PlayLists

Playlist are an empty file until the music has been restored to your device. Here are instructions to back-up and restore iTunes music and playlists.

Copy the iTunes folder to your external drive

To copy all the items in your iTunes library (including the iTunes Library file that holds all your playlists, playcounts, ratings, and other data) to your external drive:

  1. Quit iTunes.
  2. Locate your external drive.
    Mac: On the desktop or Finder sidebar.
    Windows: In My Computer.
  3. Locate your iTunes folder:By default, the iTunes folder is located in:
    Mac: Finder > username > Music
    Windows XP: \Documents and Settings\username\My Documents\My Music\
    Windows Vista: \Users\username\My Music\
    Windows 7 or 8: \Users\username\Music\

  4. If the iTunes folder is not in the default location listed above, find the iTunes folder by following these steps:

    1. Open iTunes Preferences:
      Mac: Choose iTunes > Preferences.
      Windows: Choose Edit > Preferences.
    2. Click Advanced.
    3. The location of your iTunes folder will be listed in the "iTunes Media folder location" box.
      yos_media_folder.png

  5. Drag the iTunes folder to your external drive. This can take a while if you have a lot of items.
    yos_drag_to_external.png
  6. When the transfer is complete, your iTunes Library will have been successfully copied to your external drive.

To Export Playlists:

  1. Export each Playlists by selecting them separately
  2. In iTunes go to File - Library - Export Playlist. Repeated this step for each Playlist
  3. Created a folder on the Desktop titled, "iTunes Playlist" to store all file

Restore your iTunes Library backup

When you need to restore your backed up iTunes Library from your external drive to your computer:

  1. Quit iTunes.
  2. Locate your external drive.
    Mac: On the Desktop or Finder sidebar.
    Windows: In My Computer.
  3. Drag the iTunes folder (backed up earlier) from your external drive to whatever location you desire on your internal hard drive. It is recommended that you choose the default location for the iTunes folder, which is:
    Mac: Finder > username > Music
    Windows XP: \Documents and Settings\username\My Documents\My Music\
    Windows Vista: \Users\username\My Music\
    Windows 7 or 8: \Users\username\Music\
  4. While holding down the Option key (Mac) or Shift key (Windows), open iTunes.
  5. When the Choose iTunes Library message appears, click the Choose Library button.
    yos_choose_library.png
  6. Select the iTunes folder you just moved to the internal hard drive.
  7. Click Choose (Mac OS X) or Open (Windows).
  8. Then choose the iTunes Library file inside.

After following these steps, iTunes will open and your iTunes Library will be restored.

As long as the music is backed-up and returned to your laptop, then you can import the playlist that has been exported. It will pull from the music that has been restored into iTunes.


To import your playlists to iTunes:

  1. Open iTunes - File - Library - Import Playlist
  2. Select each Playlist file separately
  3. The music that was imported will automatically go to the correct Playlist


Articles from:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201625
http://www.technipages.com/copy-playlist-ios-to-itunes-on-computer

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