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Hi, I am preparing to move data to a new PC (from an external HDD)
My ITL file, genius file, xml etc are in E:\Music\ITunes
My music is in E:\Music\ITunes\ITunesMusic\Music\Artist\Albums
How do I transfer from the HDD to my new PC so that iTunes will recognise my ratings, playcounts etc ?
(I'd like the new file structure to be as simple as possible )
Thanks
Windows, 6
See Make a split library portable - Apple Community for background. I'm suggesting you rename iTunes Music as iTunes Media. The iTunes Library.itl file would stay inside the iTunes folder, e.g. as E:\Music\iTunes\iTunes Library.itl unless you also choose to move the whole iTunes folder up one layer. For a portable library the .itl file is in the folder that contains the media folder. As long as all media is consolidated into the media folder that parent folder can be moved around and you can shift-start-iTunes to connect to the .itl file to access the library.
tt2
See Make a split library portable - Apple Community for background. I'm suggesting you rename iTunes Music as iTunes Media. The iTunes Library.itl file would stay inside the iTunes folder, e.g. as E:\Music\iTunes\iTunes Library.itl unless you also choose to move the whole iTunes folder up one layer. For a portable library the .itl file is in the folder that contains the media folder. As long as all media is consolidated into the media folder that parent folder can be moved around and you can shift-start-iTunes to connect to the .itl file to access the library.
tt2
See Move your iTunes library to a new computer - Apple Community. It looks as if your library is almost in the standard shape although iTunesMusic (did you mean iTunes Music?) would ideally be called iTunes Media. You should be able to rename the folder when iTunes is closed and it should normally pick up on that change automatically when you run it. Personally I'd then shift the iTunes folder up to E:\ as well, but that isn't so important as using the default name for the media folder.
tt2
thanks tt2
>> did you mean iTunes Music ? << I did indeed , sorry for the typo
>> You should be able to rename the folder when iTunes is closed and it should normally pick up on that change automatically when you run it. << Is that definite , if so I will rename it on my old PC then I have a standard shape ( apart from the first iTunes folder on E:\ ) but I'm really nervous about losing links to music and ratings. The iTunes settings (advanced) shows E:\Music\iTunes\iTunes Music as the media folder location.
>> Personally I'd then shift the iTunes folder up to E:\ as well << Will I be able to do that on my new PC by holding down the shift key and choosing the library itl in the (renamed) E:\Music\iTunes\iTunes Media ?
sorry for all the questions , just want to make sure I know what I'm doing - I'll take a HDD backup before any tinkering
KR
thanks tt2 - the links and advice you provided were really helpful.
I renamed iTunes Music as iTunesMedia ( as you predicted I didn't need to change the advanced settings, iTunes picked up the change automatically).
My folder structure is now E:\Music\ITunes\ITunes Media\Music\Artist\Albums ...and my content is fine (ratings etc intact)
when setup the new PC I shall copy the \ITunes\ITunes Media\Music\Artist\Albums structure and content to the new machine (moving iTunes up to the root and dispensing with the unneeded music folder) - hopefully this will work.
Thanks again
KR
You're welcome. 🙂
tt2
itl file in iTunes
