[iMore Question]

I have an iPhone 5 32 gb and I use a Dell XPS 8500 Win10Pro desktop.



I was doing pretty well until recently when my HD malfunctioned and I had to replace it. I re-downloaded iTunes after installing the new HD, authorized the computer, and used my iPhone to restore the info but it didn't fully sync.



iTunes on my iPhone contains the 494 songs that I purchased and nearly 1,000 from my own library, along with several playlists I created. iTunes on my computer only shows the purchased music, and none of the music I added from my library or playlists I created. When I do try to sync it tells me that there's only three steps, which it goes through, and it begins to download "Genius" info but that only lasts for a few seconds. At the bottom of the page where the sync button usually sits are two buttons. one says "Revert" and the other says "Apply". I didn't know which to press because I don't want to lose the info from my phone. When I closed iTunes I got a message saying I changed my iPhone settings and did I want to apply the changes. I clicked "NO" because I didn't know what the result would be.



Being a novice at this I don't know how to proceed. I want to restore my iTunes on my computer from iTunes on my iPhone without losing anything, including playlists and contacts



I realize this is kinda basic stuff so please take pity on a 68 year old, thanks.

iPhone 5, iOS 7.0.2

[robertk328]

Hi there,

iTunes is a 2-way sync for data, but will not pull music off of the phone back into iTunes. If you didn't have a backup of that music (ie the original CDs, etc.), it is essentially lost except on your phone. There MAY be work-arounds to get it that I'm unaware of.

[Rob Phillips]

What @robertk328 said. If you didn't make an effort to backup your iTunes data I don't think there's a way to recover it.

[retrochcop]

Like I stated at the beginning, I was replacing my HARD DRIVE. Assuming that the iPhone was not regularly backed up is wrong, the back up was on the OLD hard drive that malfunctioned.

When I loaded iTunes on the new hard drive and once the installation was complete, I set it up to restore from the iPhone and it restored everything but the music that was not purchased from Apple. I DO have the music on my computer. Are you telling me that I have to reload all that music in iTunes? That makes no sense.

[robertk328]

Right. iTunes will NOT take music off your phone but music bought in iTunes will show up.

If you already have the music on your computer, you can import it back into iTunes if you want to see it there.

[Sherry_B]

I DO have the music on my computer. Are you telling me that I have to reload all that music in iTunes? That makes no sense.

It makes sense because iTunes has no way of knowing where your music is unless you tell it. In iTunes go to Preferences and click on the Advanced tab. Ensure that you have the media folder location pointing to where the music is on your hard drive. Also make sure you have "Automatically sync when this phone is connected" checked in Summery.

After your phone is plugged in to your PC, in iTunes click on the phone icon, and right under Summery under the Music heading ensure you have Sync Music enabled.

Our music library is massive (years upon years of ripped music cd's). I actually have to pull out music I want from our library, move it to a special folder just for my phone's music, change the music format from flac to mp3, delete all the flac files and then have iTunes sync it all to my phone. I have 4,570 music files on my phone (and I'm still not done lol) so I know how time consuming it is... I've done it over a dozen times since January (I'm new to iPhone) trying to get it right and lost all my music on the phone several times in the process. No fun, but I think I've finally got it figured out!

[Mr.Willie]

Like I stated at the beginning, I was replacing my HARD DRIVE. Assuming that the iPhone was not regularly backed up is wrong, the back up was on the OLD hard drive that malfunctioned.

When I loaded iTunes on the new hard drive and once the installation was complete, I set it up to restore from the iPhone and it restored everything but the music that was not purchased from Apple. I DO have the music on my computer. Are you telling me that I have to reload all that music in iTunes? That makes no sense.

Do you have a back up of the old hard drive that you replaced ? That's where your music files are. The music industry only allows Apple to do one way syncing, to prevent theft.

The music you purchased through iTunes is downloaded from the iTunes Store. The music you ripped from CDs, will either have to be recovered from the drive you replace or you'll have to rip the CDs all over again.

Personally I use a networked drive. It's also part of my disaster preparedness plan. If/when I have to evacuate, I grab the hard drive. Insurance can replace computers.

[retrochcop]

I want to thank you all for your advice and I understand why the Music Industry would want to safeguard their property. I just finished restoring the music to iTunes and I'll go from there. The weird thing is that some of the songs I purchased from iTunes don't show up in iTunes on the computer, even though they are present in my iPhone. I attempted to download them from Apple and I got a message that I have to wait 90 days. Do I call Apple to resolve that?

[anon(9602380)]

Welcome to iMore!

Please do not misinterpret this, but there is a lesson to be learned here. And that being you should always backup your computer drive to and external drive for scenario's just like this. This way if your internal drive fails you have that added security of knowing your info is not lost.

[robertk328]

I want to thank you all for your advice and I understand why the Music Industry would want to safeguard their property. I just finished restoring the music to iTunes and I'll go from there. The weird thing is that some of the songs I purchased from iTunes don't show up in iTunes on the computer, even though they are present in my iPhone. I attempted to download them from Apple and I got a message that I have to wait 90 days. Do I call Apple to resolve that?

You can call them, they may be able to provide some insight into why that happened. If you do, please report back so we are aware and can guide others. Good luck!