Quick answer
If you accidentally delete songs from your iTunes library, don’t panic! The songs are not immediately erased from your computer and there are several ways you can try to recover them:
- Check the Trash Can in iTunes to see if the files are still there and restore them
- Use data recovery software to scan your hard drive and retrieve deleted files
- Restore your iTunes library from a previous backup
- Re-download the purchased songs from iCloud if applicable
The quicker you act after accidentally deleting files, the better chance you have of being able to recover them before they get overwritten on your hard drive.
What exactly happens when you delete a song from iTunes?
When you delete a song from your iTunes library, it is not immediately erased from your computer’s hard drive. Instead, iTunes removes the reference to the file’s location from its library database. This makes the file seem like it is “gone” from iTunes, but it still exists on your computer’s hard drive in the same location.
The actual song file will remain in its folder on your hard drive until that storage space is overwritten by new data. This gives you a window of opportunity to recover deleted songs before they are truly erased.
iTunes also stores recently deleted songs in a Trash Can, which we’ll cover in more detail shortly. This provides another chance to retrieve accidentally deleted files.
Removed from iTunes library but not hard drive
To summarize, when you delete a song in iTunes, here is what happens behind the scenes:
- The reference to the song file gets removed from the iTunes library database
- The song no longer appears in your iTunes music library or playlists
- But the actual song file remains saved in the same location on your computer’s hard drive
- It stays there until the storage space it occupies gets overwritten by something else
Knowing this helps explain why you have a chance to recover deleted iTunes songs, provided you act quickly enough before they get overwritten.
Check the Trash Can in iTunes
The first place to check when looking for accidentally deleted songs in iTunes is the Trash Can.
iTunes stores any media files you’ve recently sent to the trash for a limited time before permanently erasing them. This gives you a chance to retrieve anything you may have deleted by mistake.
Here’s how to restore songs from the iTunes Trash Can:
- Open iTunes and click on the Trash Can icon in the upper right corner
- This will open up a list of all recently deleted songs, albums, and playlists
- To restore a deleted item, simply click on the Restore button next to it
- The song or album will be added back into your iTunes library
Items in the Trash Can stay there until you empty the Trash Can. So unless you’ve already emptied the trash, you have a good chance of finding accidentally deleted songs there.
However, iTunes will eventually delete files from the Trash Can to free up space after an unspecified amount of time. So don’t wait too long to check for deleted songs there.
Trash songs are temporarily stored
The key takeaways about the iTunes Trash Can:
- It contains songs and other media files recently deleted from iTunes
- Items stay in the Trash Can until you permanently erase them or restore them
- Check it right away if you think you may have accidentally deleted something
You can potentially recover iTunes songs deleted as far back as a few days or weeks if they are still sitting in the Trash Can.
Use data recovery software
If you don’t find the missing songs in the iTunes Trash Can, your next step is to use data recovery software to scan for deleted files on your hard drive.
Keep in mind the window for recovering deleted songs is limited. As mentioned above, the files will remain on your hard drive until that storage space gets reused for something else. So the sooner you scan for deleted data, the better.
There are many data recovery apps available, both free and paid. Look for one that is designed to recover lost media files like music, photos, and videos.
Here are some specific tips for recovering deleted iTunes songs using data recovery software:
- Download and install a top-rated recovery app like Stellar Data Recovery, Disk Drill, or EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard
- Select the hard drive or device where your iTunes library is stored
- The software will scan the drive and show you files that can be recovered
- Preview and select the deleted iTunes songs you want to restore
- Specify a new save location, usually a different drive than the one you are scanning
- Allow the software to recover and restore the music files
The best recovery apps make it easy to target just certain deleted file types like audio files rather than everything on your hard drive. This makes finding deleted songs much easier.
Act quickly for best recovery chances
Again, act quickly when using data recovery software. The likelihood of overwritten files goes up over time as you continue to use your computer as normal. So recovery right after deletion offers the best odds.
Many data recovery apps let you do an initial quick scan first, then do a much more thorough deep scan if the songs are not found on the first try.
With powerful deep scanning and filtering by file types, there is a decent chance of recovering at least some accidentally deleted iTunes songs using DIY data recovery software as long as storage space has not already been reused.
Restore from a backup
Another option to retrieve deleted iTunes songs is to restore your iTunes library from a previous backup.
This requires having a current backup of your iTunes library that contains the missing songs you want to recover. But if you do regular backups, you can restore iTunes to a state before you accidentally deleted anything.
Here are some common ways to restore iTunes from a backup:
- Restore from a USB external drive – Connect the external hard drive containing your backup to your computer. Open iTunes, go to Preferences > Advanced and select the restore library option.
- Restore from Time Machine – Mac users can restore their entire iTunes folder from a Time Machine backup. Use the Time Machine interface to navigate to a date before the songs were deleted.
- Restore from iCloud – If you have iCloud Music Library enabled, you can restore missing music by turning on the Download from iCloud option in iTunes preferences. This will re-download any purchased iTunes content from the cloud.
If you don’t actively manage iTunes backups, then this method may not work. But for those who do regular backups as part of their digital organization system, restoring from backup is a fairly foolproof way to get back deleted songs.
Backups provide playlist and metadata too
An advantage of restoring from a backup is it will restore not just the songs themselves, but also all iTunes metadata like playlists, play counts, ratings, etc. Everything will be just as it was at the time of the backup.
Whereas with data recovery software, you are just pulling the raw song files from the hard drive, so any metadata and playlists will still be gone unless you can also recover an iTunes library backup file.
So if you have the option, restoring iTunes from a full backup provides the most complete recovery solution.
Re-download purchased songs from iCloud
If you purchased the deleted songs from the iTunes Store, you may be able to easily re-download them from iCloud.
Any music purchased from iTunes is automatically stored in iCloud. If you have an active internet connection, you can download those purchases again on up to 10 devices.
Here’s how to re-download purchased iTunes music:
- Make sure you are signed in to the same Apple ID used to purchase the songs originally
- Go to Account > Purchased on the iTunes menu bar
- Find the purchased albums or songs you want to download again
- Click the iCloud Download button next to each item to download it again
This makes it quick and convenient to restore purchased content without having to scour your hard drive or mess with backups.
Limitations of re-downloading
A few limitations to keep in mind with re-downloading:
- It only works for media purchased directly from iTunes. Songs ripped from CDs or downloaded elsewhere will not be there.
- You can only re-download on up to 10 devices per Apple ID account
- Playlists and metadata will not be restored, just the songs themselves
But overall, if you lost purchased iTunes content this method provides a simple way to get those items back in just a few clicks.
Take preventative measures
Recovering accidentally deleted songs can be a headache. While the options covered in this article may help, it’s always better to avoid getting into that situation in the first place. Here are some tips to prevent losing songs from your iTunes library:
- Be cautious when deleting – Double check what you are about to delete before confirming. Accidental deletions often happen from dragging the wrong tracks.
- Back up your library – Do regular backups to an external drive so you always have a recent copy you can restore from if needed.
- Enable iCloud Music Library – Having your purchased iTunes songs stored in iCloud provides an easy re-download option.
- Delete songs but don’t empty trash – You can delete unwanted songs but still leave them in the Trash Can for recovery later if needed.
- Use multiple libraries – Keep different iTunes libraries for your main collection vs test tracks you can freely add/delete.
Making redundant backups and deleting judiciously will minimize situations where you need to resort to file recovery for iTunes. But if you do end up needing it, use the tips in this article to give yourself the best chance.
Conclusion
Accidentally losing music is a common problem faced by many iTunes users over the years. Fortunately in most cases, there are options to recover deleted songs before they are gone for good:
- Check the Trash Can in iTunes to undelelete songs still there
- Use data recovery software to find deleted files on your hard drive that can be restored
- Restore your iTunes library and media files from a previous backup
- Redownload purchased iTunes content from iCloud
The sooner you act after deletion using one or more of these methods, the higher your chances of success. Additionally, implementing preventative measures like regular backups and cautious deleting makes mishaps less likely. But when accidents do happen, you now have the knowledge to restore lost iTunes tunes and get your music collection back to its previous state.