Querenciazine
Level 1 (4 points)
iTunes

Q: Had to install my itunes library/all media files on a new drive--now itunes can't find anything!

Hello, folks--

 

I've got an old and well-loved itunes library of some 38,000 songs and 1,100 podcasts, plus dozens upon dozens of playlists (I buy a lot of music and rip it, so every month for the past eight years I've made a playlist folder consisting of the songs I've ripped that month). My media isn't organized by itunes--it's all in its own folder.

 

However, I fried my CPU and motherboard and the guy at the store convinced me to upgrade to an SSD HD to run windows off. That's nice, but there isn't enough room for the itunes library. It's still on my old 2TB HD--that used to be C:, but now it's F:

 

I was able to get the library loaded up, but it has no idea where any of the songs are. They used to all be located in a file tree that went C:\users\Querenciazine\music\[subfolder], like so:

 

c:/users/Querenciazine/music/MP3s/Classical/bwv%20651-668%20-%20leipziger%20chor %C3%A4le/bwv%20659%20-%2002-bach&busoni%20_%20nun%20komm,%20der%20heiden%20h eiland.mp3

 

But now they're all in a tree that begins f:/music/MP3s.

 

Location of the above file, therefore, is:

 

f:/music/MP3s/Classical/bwv%20651-668%20-%20leipziger%20chor%C3%A4le/bwv%20659%2 0-%2002-bach&busoni%20_%20nun%20komm,%20der%20heiden%20heiland.mp3

 

I tried opening the two XML files in notepad and using find and replace to change "c:/users/Querenciazine/" to "f:/" in all filepaths, but that hasn't worked. I've done that once before but it was years ago and i'm wondering: what am I doing wrong, or what am I forgetting?

 

Does anyone have any advice how to go about fixing a problem like this?

 

Thanks so much!

Windows 7, Itunes 12

Posted on Jul 5, 2016 12:19 PM

by turingtest2,Solvedanswer
turingtest2 turingtest2
Level 10 (85,368 points)
iPod
A:

Did you keep the old .itl so you can roll back to it? Importing the XML file into a new empty library isn't always successful. One method to get things working would be to create a symbolic link or junction so that C:\Users\Querenciazine\Music redirects to F:\Music. First you'd need to move or rename any existing Music folder in your user's folder, then copy and paste this line into a command prompt.

 

MkLink /J "C:\Users\Querenciazine\Music" "F:\Music"

 

Once iTunes can see the files I can suggest a process to massage the paths so that you remove the junction.

 

tt2

Posted on Jul 7, 2016 12:10 PM

Close
Querenciazine

Q: Had to install my itunes library/all media files on a new drive--now itunes can't find anything!

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

  • by javaliga,

    javaliga javaliga Jul 5, 2016 1:22 PM in response to Querenciazine
    Level 4 (3,358 points)
    iCloud
    Jul 5, 2016 1:22 PM in response to Querenciazine

    This article should help:

     

    Manage and back up your iTunes media library - Apple Support

  • by turingtest2,

    turingtest2 turingtest2 Jul 5, 2016 6:16 PM in response to Querenciazine
    Level 10 (85,368 points)
    iPod
    Jul 5, 2016 6:16 PM in response to Querenciazine

    The "missing file" issue with exclamation marks happens if the file is no longer where iTunes expects to find it. Possible causes are that you or some third party tool has moved, renamed or deleted the file, one of its parent folders, or the drive it lives on has had a change of drive letter, or you've moved a non-portable library to a different path (see Make a split library portable for details). It is also possible that iTunes has changed from expecting the files to be in the pre-iTunes 9 layout to post-iTunes 9 layout, or vice-versa, and so is looking in slightly the wrong place.

     

    Select a track with an exclamation mark, use Ctrl-I to Get Info, then click No when asked to try to locate the track. Look on the file tab for the location that iTunes thinks the file should be. Now take a look around your hard drive(s). Hopefully you can locate the track in question. If a section of your library has simply been moved, a folder renamed, or a drive letter has changed, it should be possible to reverse the actions. If the difference between the two paths is an additional Music folder in one path then this is a layout issue. I can explain further if that is the case. If everything is where it is supposed to be try Repair security permissions for iTunes for Windows.

     

    In some cases iTunes may be able to repair itself if you go through the same steps with Get Info, or when playing a track, but this time click Locate and browse to the lost track. It may then offer to attempt to automatically fix other broken links. Although it says something like "use the same location" I think it expects to find the tracks in the same artist & album layout they were in previously, with one systematic change to the path.

     

    If another application like Windows Media Player has moved/renamed the files, or the library has been moved from OS X to Windows, then the chances are that subtle differences in naming strategies will make it hard to restore the media to the precise path that iTunes is expecting. In such cases, as long as the missing files can be found somewhere, you should be able to use my FindTracks script to reconnect them to iTunes. See this post for an explanation of how it works. It might need some tweaking for your non standard layout.

     

    If you want me to try to provide specific advice please post back the following details:

    1. The location of the media folder under Edit > Preferences > Advanced
    2. The location of a sample missing track shown under Get Info > File > Location that begins file://localhost/
    3. The true path to the file whose details you gave in 2

     

     

    tt2

  • by Querenciazine,

    Querenciazine Querenciazine Jul 5, 2016 9:39 PM in response to turingtest2
    Level 1 (4 points)
    iTunes
    Jul 5, 2016 9:39 PM in response to turingtest2

    Hi there--

     

    Thanks for the response.

     

    My problem is this: My MP3 collection was never entirely in the Itunes Media Folder. A lot of it is, but not all of it. Most advice tells you to check "keep itunes media folder organized" and consolidate your library before moving it, but unfortunately my CPU burned out before I had a chance to do that, and when it woke up it was on F: instead of the new small C:, which now runs only Windows.

     

    So, to answer your questions:

     

    iTunes Media folder location:
    F:\Music\iTunes\iTunes Media

     

    Location of sample missing track from Get Info/File/Location:

    file://localhost/C:/Users/QUERENCIAZINE/Music/MP3 Collection/Soul, R&B, and Blues/Big Bill Broonzy - Sings Folk Songs/04 - Martha.mp3


    ACTUAL location of missing track:
    F:\Music\MP3 Collection\Soul, R&B, and Blues\Big Bill Broonzy - Sings Folk Songs

     

    Does that give you any ideas? Thanks so much for your help!

  • by turingtest2,

    turingtest2 turingtest2 Jul 6, 2016 12:42 PM in response to Querenciazine
    Level 10 (85,368 points)
    iPod
    Jul 6, 2016 12:42 PM in response to Querenciazine

    Sadly iTunes doesn't provide access to the old path shown as file://localhost... so my script has to guess where the new one might be based on properties. From the look of things the script might be able to find everything that is in Soul, R&B, and Blues in one pass if you point it at that folder. Is that the same genre that is set in iTunes for all of the tracks? E.g. is your pattern <Genre>/<Artist> - <Album>/## - <Name>.<Ext>?

     

    iTunes might actually be able to fix the links itself if you set the media folder to MP3 Collection and try to locate a missing track using its own method, so I'd try that first.

     

    tt2

  • by Querenciazine,

    Querenciazine Querenciazine Jul 6, 2016 2:25 PM in response to turingtest2
    Level 1 (4 points)
    iTunes
    Jul 6, 2016 2:25 PM in response to turingtest2

    Hello again, and thanks once more for your response!

     

    I've made a bit of progress today by moving both XML files to the desktop, deleting the .itl library file, and changing the localhost in notepad to f:\music from c:\users\Querenciazine\music--.

     

    But!

     

    When I loaded up my library, it only loaded 17,000 of my 38,000 songs. And in some cases, playlists have gotten kind of mangled (some now contain podcasts in the place of songs). I really have no idea why. Do you?

     

    Thanks again for the help!

  • by turingtest2,Solvedanswer

    turingtest2 turingtest2 Jul 7, 2016 12:10 PM in response to Querenciazine
    Level 10 (85,368 points)
    iPod
    Jul 7, 2016 12:10 PM in response to Querenciazine

    Did you keep the old .itl so you can roll back to it? Importing the XML file into a new empty library isn't always successful. One method to get things working would be to create a symbolic link or junction so that C:\Users\Querenciazine\Music redirects to F:\Music. First you'd need to move or rename any existing Music folder in your user's folder, then copy and paste this line into a command prompt.

     

    MkLink /J "C:\Users\Querenciazine\Music" "F:\Music"

     

    Once iTunes can see the files I can suggest a process to massage the paths so that you remove the junction.

     

    tt2

  • by Querenciazine,

    Querenciazine Querenciazine Jul 7, 2016 12:09 PM in response to turingtest2
    Level 1 (4 points)
    iTunes
    Jul 7, 2016 12:09 PM in response to turingtest2

    Holy smokes, that did it! There's my whole library again, playlists, podcasts, even the play-counts!

  • by turingtest2,

    turingtest2 turingtest2 Jul 7, 2016 12:25 PM in response to Querenciazine
    Level 10 (85,368 points)
    iPod
    Jul 7, 2016 12:25 PM in response to Querenciazine

    Excellent. See SwitchLinks for the script that can edit the paths so you can afford to tear down the junction. Once iTunes is using the real paths you can decide whether or not to pursue the process in Make a split library portable.

     

    tt2

  • by JonathanB.,

    JonathanB. JonathanB. Jul 7, 2016 12:34 PM in response to Querenciazine
    Level 1 (16 points)
    iTunes
    Jul 7, 2016 12:34 PM in response to Querenciazine

    Even though it will take a while, try to make a new folder in C: for your music and then copy and paste all of your songs and podcast into that folder. (I did this once when I got a new computer and it worked just fine.) You might have to remake any personal playlists on iTunes, but at least you will have your files.

  • by turingtest2,

    turingtest2 turingtest2 Jul 7, 2016 12:41 PM in response to JonathanB.
    Level 10 (85,368 points)
    iPod
    Jul 7, 2016 12:41 PM in response to JonathanB.

    You've missed this. Our friend has their library back and working again.

     

    tt2