The Old Fart

Q: Move library & music files to new location.

If I move my library to another drive does it just move the catalog or does it move the music files as well or do I have a choice of having both mover?  The reason that I ask is because my music files are a mess in Windows 10.

 

If I go to 'My Music' the total number of GB & number of tracks is about 3 times the real number which is displayed at bottom of iTunes library, all tracks view.  I'm trying to get just my library & its associated music all in one location so that I can recover the wrong volume displayed in MY Music which is absurd. 

 

I feel that I will be better of just ignoring Windows 'My Music'.

 

If there is a better way of achieving this I would like to hear what it is?

Windows 7, 64 bit

Posted on Jul 5, 2016 11:38 PM

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Q: Move library & music files to new location.

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  • by turingtest2,

    turingtest2 turingtest2 Jul 6, 2016 7:18 AM in response to The Old Fart
    Level 10 (86,986 points)
    Apple TV
    Jul 6, 2016 7:18 AM in response to The Old Fart

    I think we've met in other threads. For general advice see Make a split library portable. If the library is in the portable shape of an iTunes folder containing the library files and an iTunes Media folder that contains the media files it is relatively easy to move it from one drive or computer to another. If there are duplicate files in the media folder you may choose to consolidate the existing library to a new path and then copy over the library files so that your new library's media folder only contains the items that are attached to the library. Again the choice of target folders for each component would ideally result in a library that is in the portable layout to make backing up and subsequent moves easy. E.g. X:\iTunes for the library files and X:\iTunes\iTunes Media for the media folder. An alternative is to add everything that is in the media folder to the library, dedupe to clean up, then resolve any organizational issues.

     

    tt2

  • by The Old Fart,

    The Old Fart The Old Fart Jul 7, 2016 6:00 PM in response to turingtest2
    Level 1 (9 points)
    iTunes
    Jul 7, 2016 6:00 PM in response to turingtest2

    Thanks for the replay.  Yes you are correct is saying that I have asked some of these things before or a variation of my latest question.

     

    I think that I know what happened when the current library was created.  Firstly 100% of the library is made up on my own CD's.  The library is just used to play music on the PC & for a few thousand tracks that were copied to the Nano.  I found that some of the tracks that were mover to Nano were not on the PC where most listening is done.

     

    I has able to copy all of the music from the Nano.  The data from the Nano has that 4 digit code that seems to be the link pin that links song to library.  I know that I added the entire file from the Nano back into an iTunes library at least once, maybe twice.  This accounts for Windows 10 seeing something like 72 GB in its' MY Music' properties tab while the bottom of the iTunes library shows about 20 GB. This suggests to me that Windows is seeing perhaps 3 times as much as the iTunes library does, & the library isn't seeing these duplicated tracks because of the linkage to music not being recognized.

     

    As a consequence of all of this my library has an absurd address.  If I go to preferences to library I see after c drive\my name\Music\iTunes Media\iTunes 2\iTunes Media  Clearly this address is now absurd & should be simplified if possible.  Is It?

     

    If that is possible then the next task would appear to be my 'C' drive to only have the music data.  How this can be achieved I can't be certain. If I ignore the fact that I have lots of tracks on the Nano that aren't on the PC then surely then there must be some way to just create a copy of the current 20 GB library & move it away from the confusion that Windows creates with it's own library system. 

     

    I want to get rid of the 50 GB of unwanted duplicated tracks as It's only clutter that serves no purpose.

     

    I think that Windows created its own library in an attempt to consolidate data & make things faster for some users. The speed feature isn't a problem as I have an SSD drive.

     

    SSD's brings up another question about where to locate files saying,music,photos & documents should not be on the C drive which should be reserved just for programs.  Any thoughts on this?

     

    Thanks again for all you effort in trying to sort out my confusion & mistakes

  • by BigGee42,Apple recommended

    BigGee42 BigGee42 Jul 7, 2016 7:28 PM in response to The Old Fart
    Level 2 (253 points)
    Jul 7, 2016 7:28 PM in response to The Old Fart

    OK, so as I understand it you have as an example 5,000 tracks in iTunes, but the "My Music" folder in Windows contains say 15,000 tracks.

     

    Hopefully this should be easy to resolve.

    iTunes has the inbuilt ability to move everything in your library to a new location and it will only move what's actually in the iTunes library.

     

    Go to Preferences > Advanced then change the iTunes Media folder to be something else.

     

    I would recommend you select a folder outside of "My Music" for now until you have it cleared up, i.e. not a subfolder of My Music. Maybe set the folder to be C:\Users\{yourname}\documents\iTunes. You can move it back once you clean everything up.

     

    Make sure the "Keep iTunes Media folder organized" and "Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library" options are selected. This ensures that any music in the library is kept in one place. You need to remember to delete the original files though as iTunes will create a copy in it's own folder.

    As an example, if you have some music in your downloads folder and you add it to iTunes. With both options above selected, iTunes will copy the files into the iTunes directory in a subfolder named Music and a further subfolder named by Artist. The copy of the files in the Downloads folder will remain and should be deleted to avoid doubling up on storage space.

     

    Guide from Apple's support doc:

    https://support.apple.com/en-au/HT204668

     

    Find and change the iTunes Media folder location

    On the Advanced tab:

    • Look in the box under "iTunes Media folder location" for the location of your iTunes Media folder.
    • To change the location, click the Change button and enter a new location.
      iTunes media folder location

    After you change the location of the folder, existing files won't be moved unless you consolidate your files. To consolidate your files:

    • Mac: From the menu bar at the top of your computer screen, choose File > Library > Organize Library and select "Consolidate files." Then click OK.
    • Windows: Hold down the Control and B keys to open the iTunes menu bar. Choose File > Library > Organize Library, and select "Consolidate files." Then click OK. Learn more about menus in iTunes for Windows.

     

    OK, once you do all this your iTunes content should be in the new location and everything in the My Music folder will be everything else.

     

    You then have to decide what to do with the contents of My Music. You could add it to iTunes as well if it's not in there already or potentially delete it if they are duplicates.

     

    Once you have decided what to do and have the content cleaned up, you can select to move the iTunes library back to My Music if preferred.

  • by The Old Fart,

    The Old Fart The Old Fart Jul 7, 2016 9:33 PM in response to BigGee42
    Level 1 (9 points)
    iTunes
    Jul 7, 2016 9:33 PM in response to BigGee42

    Thanks for that but I think that there might also be another step.  I have noticed before that I still occasionally hit a song that's displayed in the library only to find that it isn't linked in & asks me if I wish to locate it myself. 

     

    Is it possible to get a complete list of all files that it can't find & if so how is that done? I have occasionally tried looking for the song & sometimes it links up & other times it doesn't.  I have even resorted to trying a free utility called 'Everything' that can index every file, of every type on your PC.  Once this is done its almost instantaneous finding anything, anywhere.

     

    Once its located a missing file I click on it & it starts to play in iTunes.  Even though it was playing it wasn't always seemed to remain linked in the iTunes library.

     

    Is there any way to tell iTunes be told to look in certain locations elsewhere in your PC or on another drive for music that isn't in the library?  I know that this might also capture audio files that you don't need in the library like special effects used for video editing.

  • by BigGee42,

    BigGee42 BigGee42 Jul 7, 2016 9:44 PM in response to The Old Fart
    Level 2 (253 points)
    Jul 7, 2016 9:44 PM in response to The Old Fart

    Try these 2 videos to help you locate missing files.

     

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNvhYP5fhGg

    https://youtu.be/jqZB584Jk9Y

  • by turingtest2,

    turingtest2 turingtest2 Jul 9, 2016 8:07 AM in response to The Old Fart
    Level 10 (86,986 points)
    Apple TV
    Jul 9, 2016 8:07 AM in response to The Old Fart