Restoring Lost track numbers

Trying to create a path for a lost album (which I have redownloaded from Apple so I didn’t need to) I have inadvertently corrupted some other song paths and lost a lot of track 1 songs. Not sure how I did it and where the songs have gone. Maybe I erased the number?? But how can I find the file? It’s not coming up on search. Thanks

In which program are you missing the files?

Did these files have the track number in the metadata and the filename previously? And which one is missing? Perhaps one can help restore the other.

If you can find at least one example of one you can fin manually, that would help to decide how to handle the rest.


I've probably accidentally changed or deleted a number. I saw the song vanish. I think a cluster of songs must have been highlighted while trying to convert files. Made a hash of it. Tried following Florian's advice. He was great, I just feel stupid... didn't put in the % on the metadata tags... Didn't know how to enter the numbers so either entered the wrong number or deleted the song so now it can't read the file name...
Thanks for you patience

AFAI can tell, all the filenames (which are no tags) have a leading number.
Do you want to get that number into the field TRACK?

I don't know? If you gave me the number where do I put it? Is this number for restoration purposes or for converting files? I have seen these... (numbers and letters?).

I don't understand - what number should I give you?
This screenshot shows a set of files with a leading number in the file name.


e.g. 08 The Baited Line.m4a
Is this leading number (08) the one that you want to see in the metadata?

I didn't know how to not highlight the box, sorry. If you notice, the number 1 tracks are missing (because of me) and I need to retrieve them before I can get help on getting their correct tags so I can renter them on iTunes.
They play on my iPhone but the Mac hasn't got them because it's linked to mp3tag. I also can't refresh my Sonos library at the moment as Sonos is now reading or not reading the missing files...
Click on locate missing files pic1
In picture 2, track 1 is missing, top right and I don't where to find it. I think they went missing when I was trying to convert some other files...


MP3tag can only edit files that exist and have a supported file type.
If you have deleted them or modified them to an unsupported file type then there is not a lot that MP3tag can do for you.

I've got the original CD so I can rip these few songs back on. Once they are back on, will mp3tag be able to read it?
Also, when I refresh/update my Sonos music library it reads the missing data as it's linked. I don't want to lose mp3tag but I don't want Sonos to copy from you as the files are missing... so can I put mp3tag in the bin for the time being? It won't copy from the bin, will it?

I'm not sure what this means. Sonos reads nothing from mp3tag. Just the actual music files. If they don't exist there is nothing to read.

I don't think this is a necessary step.

Before you go reripping your CDs I would do a quick drive search for a song you think is missing. Just look for a title without the track numbers.

Just to get this clear: MP3tag is a program to edit metadata in files. After that is done, it is up to the other programs to interpret the data. This means that their functions are completely independent from the absence or presence of MP3tag.
If you deleted files but you can restore them from somewhere like re-ripping them, then afterwards MP3tag may help you to set the metadata. But after that is done, it is back to the 3rd party programs to deal with the extra information.

Aha... nothing happened with the drive search BUT I've just remembered that I played a song and it was one of the songs that was missing but was under a different name.... so I've changed the track number or data for a song and now the songs there under an alias that's why there are no songs without numbers.
Once I find them is it simple to change them back? I'll do it tonight... or try
Thanks

Hello. I've found some of my lost files in a file called .movpkg on This Mac/Searches. While I know that most of these songs are in the right place, there are some that were fine last week. Can I put .movpkg back in the system? I clicked on one, the one highlighted, right clicked,I opened show in enclosed folder and show package contents so it's there but how to I reload it.




How do I restore these?

Sorry I can't help here. Not a Mac guy.

Not a problem, appreciate you trying to help a novice...
Jay

Isn't restoring files a file system operation?
In the screenshots I do not see an MP3tag window.
Where do you see MP3tag's functions to bei used?

These are typically directories and contains fragments of the downloaded media files, inside you will find a m3u8 file as well that lists all the fragments. If you want them back to one single media file you need to use custom software like FFMPEG.

One of the guys said I should do a drive search to find lost files so I did one under Finder so you're right, it's a Mac issue.

It's on mp3tag under last 7 days but to find this info I had to go to the Mac to find it