iTunes Library Won't Move to NAS

Question

Level 1

5 points

iTunes Library Won't Move to NAS

Hi All,

I'm having problems with iTunes. I did the following:

Quit iTunes
Copied iTunes folder to my NAS
Restarted iTunes with Option held down
Selected the copy of my iTunes library on the NAS

iTunes then spent a good while scanning the library before giving me access. However, when I check the file locations of the music tracks (Command+I), it shows them to be on my local hard drive. The media location, set in the preferences, shows the media to be on my NAS.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

I don't want to have to rebuild the library from scratch on the NAS as I've lose some of the metadata (date added, album art, etc).

I'm running iTunes 12.9.5.5 on Mojave with the NAS connected via AFP. The Library is almost 80GB so you can imagine it takes a lot of my laptop storage.

Thanks,

David

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 10.14

Posted on Jul 25, 2020 8:14 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

turingtest2

Level 10

275,020 points

Jul 29, 2020 5:38 AM in response to GlasgowDave

iTunes Music is the old name for iTunes Media.

See Make a split library portable - Apple Community for my thoughts on moving libraries around. Changing the media folder in preferences controls where content is stored in future. It doesn't normally change where iTunes looks for existing content. If the media is no longer at the original path then it may sometimes be possible to get iTunes to reconnect to the media in the new media folder if there is a systematic change to the paths, you fix one broken link, and then let iTunes scan and fix others.

See also this recent post on broken links. The script I link to there could potentially be modified to work with iTunes and tracks that aren't currently broken to switch the links from your internal drive to your NAS. Or you could backup the content on the internal drive, delete it, empty the trash, and see if the iTunes repair steps will work, and use my script if they don't.

tt2

Reply

Answer 2

GlasgowDave Author

Level 1

5 points

Jul 29, 2020 4:34 AM in response to turingtest2

I just checked and the path is set to: /Volumes/Arc/PiTunes/iTunes Media

The NAS is mounted at /Volumes/Arc with PiTunes being the folder that contains the copied iTunes Library.

Now, the odd thing is that my old library was pointed at: /Users/David/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music

The old library never had a 'iTunes Media' folder. The NAS one is just a copy of the whole Music/iTunes folder structure so didn't have a iTunes Media folder originally. Now it does and it's empty. Curious.

Dave

Edit: I should add, changing the path to /Volumes/Arc/PiTunes/iTunes Music doesn't solve the current issue as the individual songs within the library are still referencing the copies on the laptop and not the NAS. I suspect that new songs would be added to the NAS though.

Reply

Answer 3

GlasgowDave Author

Level 1

5 points

Jul 29, 2020 6:00 AM in response to turingtest2

Thanks tt2, that gives me a few more avenues to explore.

The library has been with me since 2007 and migrated between machines. Hence the old structure.

My main reason for trying to move the files is the cost of large capacity storage on MacBooks. I added a 1TB SSD to my current 2012 MBP to store all my music and photographs. Adding a similar drive to a new MBA increases its cost by 15%. My music is on my iPhone anyway so I have an option when I’m out. At home I could use the NAS. I was wondering if there are any other favoured strategies for reducing SSD usage without losing convenience. (perhaps this is a different thread).

Reply

Answer 4

GlasgowDave Author

Level 1

5 points

Aug 17, 2020 11:29 AM in response to GlasgowDave

Problem solved.

I backed up my library to another disk and then deleted the original on my MacBook. When I reopened iTunes and pointed it at the library on my SSD it had some initial problems. For the first three, or so, music files it complained that the file wasn't located on my MacBook hard drive and offered to allow me to find it. I pointed to the file on the NAS. After doing this for a few files, iTunes eventually offered to check the rest of the library and update it for the NAS location. The process took around an hour to complete. Now everything seems to work as originally intended.

Thanks to tt2 for the support.

Dave

Reply