I have a hard back up (not time machine) of my music library but the only way it imports ALL my songs is for me to choose that library on the separate hard drive?
If I try to copy the items over I lose my playlists AND about 1,000 songs?
Suggestions?
iMac 27", macOS 10.15
At a guess your library might not be in a portable shape (iTunes folder containing an iTunes Library.itl file and an iTunes Media folder that contains all media) so it works on the original path, but not when copied.
Choose the old .itl file on the external drive, save the new Music library as ~/Music/Music (you might want to delete whatever is there first), then under Music > Preferences > Files reset the media folder so it points at ~/Music/Music/Media and finally use File > Library > Organize File to Consolidate and Rearrange if not greyed out.
tt2
At a guess your library might not be in a portable shape (iTunes folder containing an iTunes Library.itl file and an iTunes Media folder that contains all media) so it works on the original path, but not when copied.
Choose the old .itl file on the external drive, save the new Music library as ~/Music/Music (you might want to delete whatever is there first), then under Music > Preferences > Files reset the media folder so it points at ~/Music/Music/Media and finally use File > Library > Organize File to Consolidate and Rearrange if not greyed out.
tt2
lost playlist and music during upgrade to Catalina how to restore.
