Restorin iTunes

rde

The main computer in the house has conked out, the motherboard failed. I sent it back to dell and they have written it off and replaced it under the extended warranty. They have sent the hard drive back to me.

This computer had iTunes on it, it was the main account so to speak. How do I transfer the data onto a new computer? I have got an Usb hard drive holder. Which files do I need to copy?

rde

Thanks i8change.

A few points,

Does it matter if I haven't deauthorised the old computer? Could I do it from the removed hard drive?

My son forgot the pin code for his ipod, and had to go to the original computer to reset it. How would we do it now?

What happens to songs, apps etc that my son has bought on his iMac using the same account? We only have one iTunes account in the house.

i8change

It only refers briefly in the link I gave:-

http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/moving-your-itunes-library-to-a-new-hard-drive/

If you have any content purchased from the iTunes Store, you will need to re-authorize the new computer for your iTunes Store account. Computer authorization is machine-specific. You should also make sure you DE-authorize your old computer if you no longer plan to use it with iTunes.

Not used iTunes a great deal but the details will be in this link which is more specific about the store:-

http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/the-complete-guide-to-using-the-itunes-store/

Page 4 covers previous purchases and authorisation in more detail:-

http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/the-complete-guide-to-using-the-itunes-store/P3

As you authorize each computer, a counter in your iTunes Store account is incremented, and once you reach the five-computer limit, you can no longer authorize any additional computers. The problem is that the authorization is based on unique information about your computer such as its hardware configuration and your current operating system installation. If you make significant hardware changes to your computer, such as replacing the main board, or you reinstall your operating system, then iTunes will see this as a new computer and require you to reauthorize your “new” computer for your iTunes Store account. This will take up another authorization slot, since iTunes thinks your previous authorization is still being used by another computer.
As a result, you should always be sure to de-authorize your iTunes Store account on your computer before sending your computer in for maintenance or performing any hardware upgrades or reinstalls on it. Likewise, if you’re switching to a new computer, make sure you de-authorize the old one before selling it or giving it away. You can only de-authorize a computer from that specific computer, so if you no longer have access to that computer, you will have no way of de-authorizing it. You can de-authorize a computer from your iTunes Store account by selecting Deauthorize Computer from the Store menu in iTunes. You will again be prompted to enter your iTunes Store credentials, after which iTunes will report that you have successfully de-authorized your computer and report the new authorization count.

Probably best to get a cup of tea and slowly wade through the details, sorry can't be more help.


The complete list of Tutorials may be helpful if there are any side issues, other than the main move. Good luck:-

http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/archives/tutorials

i8change

This link details a fix for Deauthorising a broken computer, if you have reached your limit of five:-

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/852623?start=0&tstart=0

Please refer to the instructions towards the bottom of this Apple Article, which will advise you how to deauthorize all of the computers on your account, if you already have the maximum authorized and want to reset the authorizations back to zero. (You can then re-authorize the ones you want to keep.) If you haven't already reached five authorizations, it won't work, however. Also, please note that you can only do this once per year.

rde

You're a star i8change! I did try googling it but got nowhere. Ilounge seems very good.

I think quite a few cups of tea are required! I'm in the process of shiting the music files over, but there is about 32 gb of it so I think it will be a while.

I will carry on having a look around the iLounge

i8change

Yes, I was very glad of iLounge when I first got an iPod.

I just slowly plodded through the "beginners guide" with Tea and biscuits.

It's probably even more useful now with the additional complications of iCloud etc.

Glad the links were useful. Hope it all goes well.

plumface

rde wrote: »

You're a star i8change! I did try googling it but got nowhere. Ilounge seems very good.

I think quite a few cups of tea are required! I'm in the process of shiting the music files over, but there is about 32 gb of it so I think it will be a while.

I will carry on having a look around the iLounge

I hope it doesn't hurt! :rotfl:

rde

I should proof read better! Just noticed the header!