Erased music on hard drive but still have it on my zune - HELP

[Chessneecat]

Ok - I guess one is due to do something really stupid in life once, and hopefully only once.

So I needed to move some files from computer's hard drive to make space. I decided I'd move some files onto my portable drive. The portable drive is where I backed up my music for my system. I deleted the file on my portable drive and I don't know how it did it but the file on my hard drive somehow was linked and both were deleted. Since the music files were so big they could not be placed into the recycle bin so I had to choose to permanently delete them, but again I thought I was deleting the portable drive and not taking the harddrive music with it.

Now the thing here is my Zune 120 still has all the music on it but I'm arfaid to just hook it back up to the computer.

I found this link about pulling music off your Zune onto another computer (in this this case my fiancee's)
http://www.zuneboards.com/forums/zun...-its-home.html
Help is appreciated.

Also, I tried to do a system restore but it didn't work.

Thanks
JB

[theguywholoveszunehd]

Originally Posted by Chessneecat

Ok - I guess one is due to do something really stupid in life once, and hopefully only once.

So I needed to move some files from computer's hard drive to make space. I decided I'd move some files onto my portable drive. The portable drive is where I backed up my music for my system. I deleted the file on my portable drive and I don't know how it did it but the file on my hard drive somehow was linked and both were deleted. Since the music files were so big they could not be placed into the recycle bin so I had to choose to permanently delete them, but again I thought I was deleting the portable drive and not taking the harddrive music with it.

Now the thing here is my Zune 120 still has all the music on it but I'm arfaid to just hook it back up to the computer.

I found this link about pulling music off your Zune onto another computer (in this this case my fiancee's)
http://www.zuneboards.com/forums/zun...-its-home.html
Help is appreciated.

Thanks
JB

Ok, you can sync your zune with your computer, but only after doing this.

Go into your software, click settings at the top right. Then, click Device, then Sync Options.

In Sync Options, choose the option to only sync music that you select. click OK at the bottom right, then hook up you Zune. you can now copy all of your music back to your computer (if you don't know how to do that, let me know, its NOT automatic) then u can put the setting back to syncing all music!

[Chessneecat]

I will give it a try tomorrow - too nervous at the moment. That, and I may have the music backed up on a larger portable drive that I use for editing on MAC systems, I'm hoping I have a copy there as well.

Question - is there a way for me to take my Zune and back what's on it now onto my girl's PC, even though she doesn't have Zune software on hers?

I have some trepidation here b/c if I should loose what's on the Zune I will be out of @ 15K songs.

Lol - how could I have been so stupid.

[roebeet]

I agree that you should take a step back and think this over carefully, first. This is what I would do:

1- If you haven't altered the external drive since the files were deleted, there are tools (some free) to undelete your files. When you delete a file, it's not actually deleted until you overwrite the drive with more data. I would attempt this first, given that the files are already gone and this won't affect your Zune at all.

Here's one tool I've used, that might help: Restoration Freeware download and review - file undelete utility from SnapFiles

2- If you can't undelete the files, then the Zune is your last resort. I would NOT attach the Zune to your PC unless you are absolutely sure that auto-sync is not enabled. An even better idea is to use another PC entirely as you mentioned, and make sure that you setup the Zune as a guest (which automatically disables auto-sync). You will need to install the Zune Software first.

Even if you get this to reverse sync, keep in mind it could take a very long time to complete. Good luck.

[Chessneecat]

I still have my old laptop, kept in just in case, and though it's been two years since I've used it, but all the music I originally loaded to my new laptop is still on it. Of course anything i added to my new computer is not on the old one. So, if the Zune method doesn't work at least I can recover a good portion from the old laptop.

I know it's stupid to post this info but it's been a stressful 3hrs so this development is wonderful.

[roebeet]

I have had the displeasure of wiping all my hard drive data, and losing hard drives, in the past. I know exactly how you feel, and it is very stressful. It's like having your house catch fire and losing all your possessions.

Kudos to you for having backups in several places - you are definitely on the right track.

[Chessneecat]

I'm in the process of transferring the music from the old computer to the new one. From there I'll see what's missing and try to get it off my Zune or perhaps off my other portable drive.