music gone from ipod's original firmware (was: I DONT UNDERSTAND)

[ALBERTO]

I turned on my ipod today to sync some tunes.

After I get through I disconnect it and search for them.

Surpise surprise my whole music collection is gone but I dont panic I instead reset it and go to rockbox and what do you know the whole collection is there.

But know I have reset the ipod numerous times to see if its a mistake but I see its missing from apples firmware but its on rockbox.

I Have about 7,000 tunes and I never backed them up onto a harddrive not smart.

I Also have tried opening the ipod as a drive but when I try to open the tunes db it shows me its an empty file.

I Like rockbox but I would prefer it to be the back up player.

I Would like to know what I can do to fix this problem.

When I try to open with itunes it tells me that its unable to open the the ipod so go to the summary tab and restore it but I dont want to take a risk by deleting my tunes.


So please anyone that has had this problem or anything similar please leave your comments.

(edited by markun to make it a bit more readable)

[LambdaCalculus]

Oi!! We're not deaf on these forums! We can hear just fine!! Read the forum guidelines next time; they do mention that you shouldn't be screaming like this!

Why don't you not make with the Caps Lock key, and try and rephrase what it is you're asking? Your post is full of run-on sentences and bad grammar, and it's making it really hard to read it.

(EDIT: Thanks for fixing up the post markun!)

[ALBERTO]

Yeah your right im just freaking out. My question is why did my whole music collection get deleted from apples firmware? And is their anyway i can put it back on it?

[LambdaCalculus]

First, keep this link nearby for future reference:

http://forums.rockbox.org/index.php?topic=5738.0

Second, the Apple firmware (and iTunes) store music on your iPod in a hidden folder called iPod_Control, which is on the root of your iPod. The iPod_Control folder further obfuscates your music files by hiding them in further subfolders, and renaming the file to something like F00A.mp3. Rockbox's Database function can read through this folder to find music files and build a database.

But as for your files, have you restored your iPod previously? That'll be the reason why none of your music is on the iPod, since a restore in iTunes basically formats your whole iPod.

[Chronon]

He said the files are still on disk, but the Apple firmware can't see them.  This sounds like a corrupt iTunesDB to me.  There are 3rd party programs that can allegedly rebuild the iTunesDB.  I don't know the names of any of these offhand, though.  Google can probably help you.

PS: Please also change the topic title to something descriptive (and also not all in caps).

[LambdaCalculus]

Today's lesson: Never type advice when you're starting to fall alseep.   Thanks for clearing that up, Chronon.

[GodEater]

EphPod can do it I think.

[ALBERTO]

Thank you very much for the advice and I apologize for not following the rules. I realized that my itunesdb was corrupted somehow and i have never restored my ipod. I am know trying a recovery program but its not looking to good. I tried ephpod but it kept locking up at 15% and it did not find any type of file.

I will keep using rockbox as a default player for now until I can build my collection again and back it up. Thank you again

[Chronon]

I have found that it's a good idea to keep a backup of your iTunesDB file.

[krazykit]

I have found that it's a good idea to keep a backup of your iTunesDB file.

Not to mention a backup of your music ;-)

[maraz]

"At the very start of the database, a couple of what appear to be SHA1 hashes have been inserted which appear to lock the iTunes database to one particular iPod and prevent any modification of the database file. If you try to do either of these, the hashes will not match and the iPod will report that it contains "0 songs" when the iTunesDB would otherwise be perfectly adequate."

Read about it here.

[GodEater]

"At the very start of the database, a couple of what appear to be SHA1 hashes have been inserted which appear to lock the iTunes database to one particular iPod and prevent any modification of the database file. If you try to do either of these, the hashes will not match and the iPod will report that it contains "0 songs" when the iTunesDB would otherwise be perfectly adequate."

Read about it here.

What has this got to do with the thread ? It only applies to the new iPods, released Sept. '07, NONE of which run Rockbox.

[tdtooke]

If other things don't work out for you then you might try foobar with the foo_dop plugin.  It has a rebuild database feature which may, or may not help you.  If all else fails I do know one thing guaranteed to work: Add the music folder in iPod_Control to your library in RealPlayer.  Then use RealPlayer's rename and move feature to put the music back on your hard-drive.  Then you can restore your iPod and move the music back over.  Granted, that's a very bad worst-case solution, but I guarantee that will work.

[Flid]

Assuming the original files are still intact, and it's just a problem with the iTunes DB...

Just COPY the entire ipod control/music/ folder to another computer (this will be your eventual back-up). All tracks will still be named XLKY.mp3 etc.

Use a tagging program (or MediaMonkey) to completely re-build filenames and folder structure based on tag info (Genre/Artist/Album/## - Track  or whatever).

Ta Da... fully backed-up music directory with proper names and everything, and it literally takes seconds.

Connect iPod to iTunes. Restore. Copy/sync music back over.
Re-install Rockbox. Force database re-build.
Sorted.

Did this for my girlfriend last week, and another mate a few months prior (but that involved a fully crashed harddrive recovery and weeks of sifting through music to determine spurious corruptions).

- edit - Oops. Sorry Tooke. I failed to read the last few lines of your post (brain switched off as soon as you mentioned realplayer ~shiver~)

[maraz]

What has this got to do with the thread ? It only applies to the new iPods, released Sept. '07, NONE of which run Rockbox.

Ah, you are correct. Sorry for the derail.