james a Leff

Q: iTunes Playing Tracks off an External Drive

I had my itunes library on an external drive, but wanted to move it back to my computer's hard drive.

 

So I I copied all media files to my computer's hard drive, changed the itunes media folder location in prefs, and checked "keep itunes media folder organized".

 

But iTunes is still playing the files off the external drive.

 

When I eject the external drive, iTunes plays the files off my hard drive. When I remount the external, it goes back to playing files off the external.

 

(I'm confirming the location of the tracks by highlighting tracks and control/choosing "Show in Finder")

 

Help?

Posted on May 20, 2014 8:39 PM

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Q: iTunes Playing Tracks off an External Drive

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  • by Limnos,

    Limnos Limnos May 20, 2014 9:15 PM in response to james a Leff
    Level 9 (54,543 points)
    Mac OS X
    May 20, 2014 9:15 PM in response to james a Leff

    You say you had the library on the external drive.  The whole library?  A library isn't just media files, it's the media files plus a series of other files and folders that iTunes uses.

     

    You don't tell iTunes where media is located by doing anything with preferences.  That only tells iTunes that's where you want it to keep media from that point on.   If you had your whole library on the external you move it to another drive by copying the whole iTunes folder to the internal drive, hold down the option/alt key while starting iTunes, then guide it to the iTunes Library.itl file in the iTunes folder you moved.  If you only had media on the external drive you will need to change media location preference, then consolidate/organize media to the new location.

  • by james a Leff,

    james a Leff james a Leff May 20, 2014 9:19 PM in response to Limnos
    Level 1 (4 points)
    iPad
    May 20, 2014 9:19 PM in response to Limnos

    You say you had the library on the external drive.  The whole library?  A library isn't just media files, it's the media files plus a series of other files and folders that iTunes uses.

    yes, as I said, I changed the itunes media folder location in prefs from the external drive to my internal one as well as copied the media files.

     

    I now have a Library.itl file (as well as my media files) on my internal drive. If the external drive is ejected, everything works as expected; iTunes happily uses the Library.itl file + the media files on my internal. I'd like that behavior to continue when the external is mounted.

     

    Do I need to delete the Library.itl off the external drive?

  • by Limnos,

    Limnos Limnos May 20, 2014 10:35 PM in response to james a Leff
    Level 9 (54,543 points)
    Mac OS X
    May 20, 2014 10:35 PM in response to james a Leff

    If you need to have media relocated and are not keeping everything in one iTunes folder then you have to let iTunes do the moving.  You do not do that simply by changing preferences.  You have to do it by changing preferences then consolidating/organizing your media to the desired location so iTunes does the moving and it then knows to where things have been moved.

     

    I have no idea why it works when you don't have the external connected -- it shouldn't.  Even if it does, it should continue to work when the external is connected.  This isn't making sense and I think this somewhat haphazard copying amd changing preferences settings is somehow working but in an upside down manner.

     

    I asked:

    You say you had the library on the external drive.  The whole library?  A library isn't just media files, it's the media files plus a series of other files and folders that iTunes uses.

    You replied:

    yes, as I said, I changed the itunes media folder location in prefs from the external drive to my internal one as well as copied the media files.

    That did not answer my question asking if you have all your library on the external drive.  If you do, follow my first set of instructions on how to move the whole library iintact to another drive.  If you don't you need to let iTunes do the copying, not you.

     

    What are the iTunes library files? - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1660

     

    More on iTunes library files and what they do - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITunes#Media_management

     

    What are all those iTunes files? - http://www.macworld.com/article/139974/2009/04/itunes_files.html

     

    Where are my iTunes files located? - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1391