I had a computer crash recently, but thanks to Windows Backup I was able to recover Windows from a month-old system image. Since I fortunately keep all my documents and music on a separate physical drive, not C:, in the end I didn’t lose too much.
One thing I did lose, though, were the iTunes playlists I’d created in the past month, since the iTunes database is stored on the C: drive by default. Since my iPhone is still working fine, it’s just a matter of getting that information off it. Fortunately, there are steps to follow:
- Make sure iTunes has auto-sync disabled (on Windows, it’s under Preferences->Device). Do not plug your iPhone into your PC until after you’ve confirmed this, or it will get wiped.
- Follow the directions here to create a new playlist on your iPhone that simply consists of all the songs on the playlist you want to save.
- If you need to rescue the music files as well from your iPhone, you can use the excellent and free app SharePod to get them.
Enjoy.