User profile for user: homestretch-harry
homestretch-harry Author
User level: Level 1
4 points

Can I recover lost playlists from Time Machine backup on iMac running Sequoia?

My old 2017 Imac was in a reboot cycle demise, so i took it to the genius bar for repair. The unplugging seemed to fix the problem temprarily, but all the music files and playlists were lost from Music app.


The problem continued so I bought my new (refurb) Imac, with its sequoia upgrade. Finally found the music files and imported them, but the playlists (a lifetime's work) seem to be lost.


Can I get them back from a Time machine backukp of the old machine?


[Re-Titled by Moderator]



iMac 24″, macOS 15.3

Posted on Apr 1, 2025 7:22 AM

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User profile for user: turingtest2
turingtest2
User level: Level 10
276,747 points

Apr 4, 2025 10:21 AM in response to homestretch-harry

What OS was the 2017 iMac running? Playlists would be stored either in ~/Music/iTunes/iTunes Library.itl if it was a pre-Catalina OS or ~/Music/Music/Music Library.musiclibrary for Catalina or later. You should be able to extract a suitable backup file and option-start-Music to access it.


See also Managing your Mac media libraries - Apple Community in case there is still some post-iTunes clean up to do.


tt2

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User profile for user: turingtest2
turingtest2
User level: Level 10
276,747 points

Apr 4, 2025 11:18 AM in response to homestretch-harry

See Empty/corrupt iTunes/Music library after upgrade/crash - Apple Community for some more background. Essentially you need to enter Time Machine to poke around. Select a date when your library was working correctly. Restore the .musiclibrary package from that date to your live system. Move the existing .musiclibrary package out of the way, put the restored file in the ~/Music/Music folder, then hold down option as you launch Music and explicitly select the recovered file so that it is opened rather than the newer file that you've moved.


tt2

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User profile for user: homestretch-harry
homestretch-harry Author
User level: Level 1
4 points

Apr 4, 2025 11:10 AM in response to turingtest2

Thanks Turingtewt2. I believe it was Sonoma.


When I go into time machine and try to get the library, it refuses because of a problem? It may be because it's a different computer, but all the prompts are the same.


The option-start-Music is interesting. I tried that but nothing different happened. When I took the old IMac in, they rebooted in recovery. Immediately everything in Apple Music disappeared, (except of course for the U2 album). I am not an applemusic subscriber nor spotify. I have an excellent collection of my own music. It's all there, but the decades of actual curating and sorting is lost.

Maybe I better contact Apple support team for a realtime dig. I

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Can I recover lost playlists from Time Machine backup on iMac running Sequoia?

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