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I have an iMac i7 that's got a collection of files, settings, etc. that's the culmination of being transferred from past machines (originally an iMac G4, then a PowerMac G5).

I finally decided to start from scratch, erasing the harddrive and doing a clean install of OS X Lion. Everything was backed up to a Time Machine backup on an external drive, but I didn't want to just bring it all back over, re-introducing all that crap back into the clean install.

I want to selectively move some stuff back, and I know how to bring apps back selectively (as long as they were a drag-to-Applications type of install), but what do I need to do to bring my iTunes and iPhoto libraries back completely?

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2 Answers 2

Reset to default
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Very simple, just copy the old 'music' folder from your user folder to the clean install user>music folder and relaunch iTunes.

I have tested this on a mac, coz i manage my iTunes Library on my Windows machine (MBP has just 500GB HD and my library is almost 100GB :-) ) . Please try this and let me know if it works.

No need to dig any Application Support folder AFAIK.

Hope this helps

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  • Sounds super easy. Will try when I get home this evening. Does this method bring over the playlists, playcounts, etc?
    – Keefer
    Commented Jul 9, 2012 at 15:46
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    @Keefer good question, playlists, yes ofcourse, but playcounts i m not sure, never checked that but i guess it should. Playlists i am pretty sure it is restored otherwise i would never be able to sync my iPhone with my Library after a clean format and reinstall.
    – iGameRam
    Commented Jul 10, 2012 at 7:40
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playlist and playcounts will be carried over by copying over the following files as per @iGameRam.

As for iPhoto it also works the same just copy over the Pictures folder or the iPhoto Library, you can do also do it directly from iPhoto and import your old iPhoto Library from back up.

HTH

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