Hi Alan, I never recommend messing with the iTunes or iPhoto Library files. Both iTunes and iPhoto applications if left to do the job they are designed to do you won't experience problems.
Just to make sure you are clear what the iTunes Library files you are thinking of restoring are. >> Files are "iTunes Library.itl" and "iTunes Library Extras.itdb". The >> time shown in the date-modified field corresponds to the time I copied the >> movies. iTunes Library.itl file: This file is a database of the songs in your library and the playlists you've created. Some song-specific data is saved in this file. If you delete the file, iTunes creates a new, empty copy when you open the application, but any playlists, song ratings, comments, or other information you created is lost. iTunes Library Extras.itdb: Contains some Gracenote CDDB information. iTunes Library.xml file: This file contains some (but not all) of the same information stored in the iTunes Library file. The purpose of the iTunes Library.xml file is to make your music and playlists available to other applications on your computer. In Mac OS X other iLife applications (like iPhoto, iDVD, and iMovie) use this file to make it easier for you to add music from your iTunes library to your projects. >> "iTunes Music Library.xml" does not seem to exist in Time Machine. The >> time shown in the date-modified field corresponds to the time I copied the >> movies. Absence in T.M. is a worry! Note: The iTunes Library.xml file does not get backed up in TM backups. That's specificalliy excluded, since it should be rebuilt when necessary. So what to suggest you can do now to relocate the wrongly tagged Movies? I would ‘think’ a safer way would be to restore the whole iTunes (Folder) from a backup created just before you wrongly tagged these movies. Cheers, Ronni On 26/04/2012, at 1:12 AM, Alan Smith wrote: > Hi Ronni > > This summarises the problem and action taken. iTunes "should" have > pointers to two movies in an external drive plus a full copy of a third movie > in the iTunesU library. These movies could not be located in the iTunes app > because I tagged them incorrectly. They display in the Apple TV menu so they > are in iTunes somewhere. I deleted some files/folders via Finder associated > with the full copy movie but am concerned that iTunes still has links > internally. > > I would like some guidance on proposed steps 5 to 7 below. > > 1. I deleted the three incorrectly tagged movies from the external Firewire > drive. > 2. I deleted the full movie copy and its parent folder "Unknown iTunes U" > located under the normal "iTunes U" folder in iTunes Media. > 3. I re-installed one movie and option-copied it to iTunes (and successfully > re-tagged it as an iTunesU file). > 4. iTunes app shut down and re-started. Apple TV still lists the three > (deleted) movies in its iTunesU menu. > 5. Tomorrow I propose re-installing two iTunes database files from Time > Machine on the premise that link data to external files has to be stored > somewhere. Files are "iTunes Library.itl" and "iTunes Library Extras.itdb". > The time shown in the date-modified field corresponds to the time I copied > the movies. > 6. A third iTunes database file "iTunes Music Library.xml" does not seem to > exist in Time Machine. The time shown in the date-modified field corresponds > to the time I copied the movies. Absence in T.M. is a worry! > 7. I have closed and restarted the iTunes app during the above steps but > have not done done a full power shut down of the iMac or Apple TV. Will do > this before trying the (partial) T.M. restore. Way too late to do it > tonight. > > Cheers > Alan > > > > On 25/04/2012, at 4:47 PM, Alan Smith wrote: > > Hi Ronni > > As explained, I keep special movies in the iTunesU category. This is a > parallel level to "Movies" (or "TV Shows") categories. It works well- when > properly tagged. The problem is how to REMOVE them from the unnamed > iTunesU collection as they don't display in iTunes or Finder. I understand > the structure and tagging of the Movie and TV categories. Just to terrify > you a little - I also have one group of movies I keep in the Podcast > category, but nothing to do with the current problem! > > Cheers > Alan > > > On 25/04/2012, at 4:31 PM, Ronda Brown wrote: > > Hi Alan, > > Under Library in iTunes, the movies should show in “Movies” not iTunesU > shouldn’t they? > Perhaps that is why you are receiving “unknown iTunesU structure” in iTunes. > > All my iMovie or iPhoto slideshow movies & other movies, show in Movies in > iTunes and in Finder are located: > /Users/ronni/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/Movies/xxxxx > > Movies generally just need the Title tag, and TV shows need Show, Season > Number, and Episode Number tags to keep them grouped together. > > Cheers, > Ronni > > 17" MacBook Pro 2.3GHz Quad-Core i7 “Thunderbolt" > 2.3GHz / 8GB / 750GB @ 7200rpm HD > > OS X 10.7.3 Lion > Windows 7 Ultimate (under sufferance) > > > On 25/04/2012, at 3:02 PM, Alan Smith wrote: > >> Using iMac with OS X 10.6.8 and iTunes 10.6.1. >> >> I made a mistake while editing tags on 3 movies and now they are invisible >> in iTunes to both eyeballing and spotlight searching. >> >> Movies were created in iMovie and exported to an external Firewire drive. I >> normally Option-Copy links into iTunes so movies can be viewed on Apple TV >> without creating a physical copy of the movie. Copied movies appear by >> default in the Films library of iTunes. For this type of movie I change >> tags and classify the Media Kind as iTunesU. My mistake was to leave the >> Album tag blank, which I think is used to name the Collection field within >> iTunesU. >> >> iTunes tag data seems to have been written back to the real file on the >> Firewire drive. I can't re-do the links as iTunes ignores the file as if it >> already exists. No file path data shows in Finder for these linked movies. >> I copied a physical file into iTunes, but this is invisible too. However >> the physical file reveals a path in Finder ... ~/music /itunes /itunes media >> /itunesU /unknown iTunesU /filename. This Unknown iTunesU folder does not >> display as an iTuneU collection header. >> >> Movies can be seen in Apple TV. (!) This just shows the text "3 episodes" >> without a Collection title on a separate line to other iTunesU Collections. >> This infers I have an un-named Collection in iTunesU, but - - -. >> >> How can I access the movies in iTunes to fix the tags? How can I delete >> the invisible Unknown iTunesU structure in iTunes? I have older backups of >> the movies (with no iTunes tags) so they could replace the Firewire drive >> copies if necessary. >> >> Yes, another example of rushing a 5 minute task and spending hours to repair >> the damage. >> >> Regards, Alan >> >> Alan Smith >> iMac 21.5" Intel Core 2 Duo 3.06GHz 4M - OSX 10.6.8 >> iPad2; ATV2 >> -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml> Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> Settings & Unsubscribe - <http://lists.wamug.org.au/listinfo/wamug.org.au-wamug>
