corrupted iPod DB, 42G of "other" space

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huge
Posts: 51
Joined: Sun Mar 28, 2010 9:12 pm

corrupted iPod DB, 42G of "other" space

Post by huge »

Last weekend I spent a bunch of time collecting music for my sister's wedding and using MediaMonkey to put it onto my new brother-in-law's old 60GB iPod. At some point in the process, and I'm not sure if it happened while I was working on it or after other people got their hands on it, his original music was gone and only the music I had added from MM remained. I was very careful NOT to check the "delete files and playlists ... from the device" specifically to avoid deleting his music. I believe I did connect it to iTunes at one point, but I certainly didn't click OK on any of the "OK to sync and delete everything?" warnings.

MM now shows 42GB of "other" space in the device's capacity, which is in the ballpark of the amount of music missing. If I access his iPod as a regular HD from Windows, I can see 39GB worth of files under iPod_Control/Music/F00,F01,etc. These files are mostly .mp3 & .m4a files that seem to correspond to the missing music - the tags look fine and I can play the .mp3's.

I also backed up his iPod as well as I could, using MediaMonkey and also just copying files from the device, before I started messing with it. So I actually think I have everything (probably multiple copies in fact) - I'm just wondering what the best way is to restore things. He's not going to be pissed off if I don't get things restored perfectly - if a few albums are missing he can probably just load them again, and if the play count is messed up or gone that's not the end of the world.


I have a free version of CopyTrans Doctor, which when I run it tells me that there are 6718 "Songs found on iPod disk but not listed in library". Again this number is roughly what I would expect in terms of the music that's "missing". Because it's the free version, it can't actually fix the problem - it just reports it.

Is there any (free) way to just "uncorrupt" the iPod's database, by telling it to search for music files under iPod_Control/Music and to include everything in the database? It seems like that would be the best way to just salvage what's already on the device (and is presumably what CopyTrans Doctor would do if I paid for it, but I'm cheap).

My other option is just to tell MM to load everything I've backed up onto the device, although then I'm not sure what will happen to all that "other" space. Will the iPod DB recognize that it's loading a duplicate file (based on its tags) so that I won't overflow the 60GB capacity?


Any advice on the easiest way to do a reasonable job of restoring would be greatly appreciated.

thanks
Lowlander
Posts: 56491
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2003 5:53 pm
Location: MediaMonkey 5

Re: corrupted iPod DB, 42G of "other" space

Post by Lowlander »

If you have iTunes you may want to try rebuild device database (right click on device in iTunes). I believe that MediaMonkey has the same for the iPod, but I suggest trying with iTunes first. iTunes may also see the files.
huge
Posts: 51
Joined: Sun Mar 28, 2010 9:12 pm

Re: corrupted iPod DB, 42G of "other" space

Post by huge »

Lowlander wrote:If you have iTunes you may want to try rebuild device database (right click on device in iTunes). I believe that MediaMonkey has the same for the iPod, but I suggest trying with iTunes first. iTunes may also see the files.
Can I do that even if my iTunes is on a different computer from the one that loaded music onto the device before I got my hands on it?
Lowlander
Posts: 56491
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2003 5:53 pm
Location: MediaMonkey 5

Re: corrupted iPod DB, 42G of "other" space

Post by Lowlander »

That I'm not sure about, but I think you can.
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