How To: Backup iTunes

[Neo-Tech]

So you've got a new computer, and you want to transfer all your iTunes Settings and Files to the new one, this is the guide your looking for!

Please Note: This guide is for Windows XP, in Windows Vista and above the file paths will be different.

1) Open "Windows Explorer" or "My Computer" and navigate to X: (where X is your OS partition)\Documents and Settings\Username(Your username)\Application Data\Apple Computer.

2) There will be numerous folders in this folder, it's up to you if you want to copy all of them across to your new computer. Here is some information on the folders:
iTunes - This contains your iPhone/iPod Touch Updater logs, iTunes Plug-ins and also contains your iTunes preferences. Backup everything apart from the logs as they are not needed.
Lockdown - Back this up.
Logs - Whenever a application crashes on your iPhone/iPod Touch and you sync with iTunes, it syncs a log of the crash. You don't have to back this up.
MobileSync - This contains all synced iPhone/iPod Touch Backups. So if you restore, then if you've got a backup, you can restore your things back. Back this up.
Preferences - Back this up.
QuickTime - Empty folder, if it contains anything, ask here.
SyncServices - I'm not so sure on this one, so back this uo.

If there are any other folders which I haven't listed, then let me know, as this is all I had in my iTunes folder.

3)Navigate to X: (where X is your OS partition)\Documents and Settings\Username(Your username)\Local Settings\Application Data\Apple Computer.
Backup all the folders and files in this folder, there should only be a few.

4) Navigate to X: (where X is your OS partition)\Documents and Settings\Username(Your username)\My Documents\My Music\iTunes.
Back up the whole iTunes folder, this maybe be big if you lots of apps and music.

5) On your new computer, cope everything you backed up in the same place as it was before, so your music goes in your My Music folder and etc.

Hope this helps
Neo-Tech

[Nemss316]

When I copied mine, I just copied the entire "My Music" folder, and when I transferred to the new iTunes on my new PC, it converted all of the albums to the iTunes format. I'm not sure now if I did it the right way, or the wrong way by your steps!

Whats odd is that some of the music won't play. It say's its not authorized (all the songs my girlfriend bought with her account). Do you know any way to fix this?

Thanks, and nice instructions!

[acosmichippo]

If you are moving to a completely new machine you will also need to "authorize" your computer to use any media purchased from the iTunes Store. This includes music, videos, and Apps. To do this, Go to Store->Authorize Computer. In total, you can have 5 computers authorized for one itunes account at a time. Unfortunately, you can only de-authorize them on the machine that you are wanting to de-authorize. If you find yourself in the situation where you are at your limit of 5 authorized computers, and do not have access to some you need to de-authorize, follow the instructions here to "deauthorize all computers associated with your account". You will then have to reauthorize the computers you use.

more details can be found here.

[Neo-Tech]

^What he said

I'll add in to the original post later.

[styfle]

The reason why just copying the itunes folder works is that it also contains all the info for the itunes library as well as the music/apps. Mobilesync has your backups if you need to restore to backup but if you want, you can just plug your iphone in and it will make a backup. I'm not sure about the other stuff.

[loveispeakincode]

ahh..so..I got my iphone and went to upload my music..but i dont have the newest itunes...i know that the answer is to download the new one, duh, but i dont have internet right now...so my question is..is there a way to get my friend to download the new itunes on a disk and have me upload it...or by slim chance does apple still make a disk with the new itunes on it...and if so..where might i find it..

[Neo-Tech]

You can get your friend to download it and put it on a Pen Drive/CD whatever.