iTunes Media folder inside iTunes folder = Problems...help

Are you using iTunes, or Music in Catalina/Big Sur? It seems you already know that moving content from one folder to another will repair the broken links, so it may be easiest to do that to start with, which you should be able to do in bulk. After that you might look at getting your library into the best layout to avoid issues in future. Read on for my thoughts on broken content links.

The "missing file" issue with exclamation marks happens if the file is no longer where iTunes or Music 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, the drive it lives on has had a name change, 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 or Music have 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, or that you've been too aggressive when deleting duplicates at some point.

Select a track with an exclamation mark, use Cmd-I to get Song Info, then click No when asked to try to locate the track. Look on the file tab for the location the library thinks the file should be. Now take a look around your hard drives. Hopefully you can locate the track in question. If a section of your library has simply been moved, a folder renamed, or a drive label 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 Mac - Apple Community.

In some cases the library 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 you want me to try to provide specific advice please post back the following details:

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

See also FixLinks - an AppleScript to repair broken links in Music - Apple Community.

tt2

I was intending that you let Music do the bulk of the copying. Thinking again it would probably best to make sure that you've fixed the remaining 95 broken links before trying to create the new copy of the library on the new drive, so let's tackle that first.

See https://dougscripts.com/itunes/2019/10/list-mias-v5-0/ for a tool that can list all the tracks that are missing in action so you can either reapir or delete them. I think the free demo mode will be sufficient for your needs. As before you can either move content to where Music is looking for it or try my FixLinks repair script. Once every track in the library can play you can move on to the next phase.

The two main components of the library are the database and the media, your database file is presumably in ~/Music/Music where ~ is your user's home folder. It is the lower level Music folder that contains the Music Library.musiclibrary database for your library. There may also be some content in a Media folder inside ~/Music/Music. With Music closed (there are altogether too many Musics here!) copy the folder ~/Music/Music to the root of the new external drive as <External>/Music. Now press and hold down option as you launch Music, keep holding until you're asked to choose or create a library, click choose, then browse to and open <External>/Music/Music Library.musiclibrary. Check that the library works in this new configuration. It should, but life isn't always like that. If it doesn't stop here and let me know and we can address that, otherwise you're ready to consolidate.

In Music use the menu option Music > Preferences > Files to reveal the current media folder location, presumably it still reads as /G-DRIVE Music & Photos/iTunes/Music/Media. Clicking the Reset button should change it to <External>/Music/Media, otherwise use the Change... button to create and select this path. Now you can use File > Library > Organize Library > Consolidate Files to make Music copy in all of the music from the old drive into the correct locations in the new one, updating the pointers in the database as it does so. Once complete the Music folder on the external drive is a portable version of your library which can be backed up and moved between computers without it breaking.

Consolidate copies in any file outside the designated media folder into it, updating the reference in the library. It can only copy items that can be found at their last known location. Any not found will have an exclamation mark following the operation which remains until you close and reopen the app or otherwise repair the broken reference.

If you've any video content there is probably a parallel set of operations to be performed with your TV library. When you're confident that the new library or libraries on <External> are working properly and independent of G-DRIVE Music & Photos (test the libraries with the old drive disconnected) you can then delete the old content from it, empty the trash, and copy the updated libraries over so you have your original and a backup. You can use the option-start-Music method to swap between them, reconnect to the library if you change the volume label, or connect to the library on a new computer.

tt2

Given 3 the correct setting for 1. should be G-DRIVE Music & Photos/iTunes/iTunes Media/

In the long run your Music library would be more robust if the media folder was G-DRIVE Music & Photos/Music/Media/ and you had the Music Library.musiclibrary file stored inside G-DRIVE Music & Photos/Music. That can either be achieved by getting the library into the portable shape with the current media folder, and then massaging that library, or by consolidating the library to the new media folder (which makes a copy of everything) and then copying in the library database into the folder above. Either way the broken links need fixing first.

Once the library is in a portable shape you could, should you wish, rename the drive without breaking the library. It is the structure of a Music folder containing the .musiclibrary file and the Media folder (with all the music) that is key here.

tt2

I think if you reset the media folder to G-DRIVE Music & Photos/iTunes/iTunes Media/ that should allow music to find most of the content, hopefully without breaking anything that already works. If not you've seen how you can move artist folders to where the library is expecting to find them, which you should be able to do in bulk. Or you can try my repair script.

Once all your content plays on demand we can go through the details for moving the library into a better layout. It would be useful to know the size of the library and the amount of free space on the drive as that may determine which methods could be used.

tt2

Possibly best to work with a new drive. You can copy the current active Music Library.musiclibrary file into <External>/Music, option start to connect to this new copy of the library, reset the media folder to <External>/Music/Media then consolidate the library to copy in all of the files. Repair anything that is still broken and consolidate again. When you're happy all is working as it should you can remove the original from G-DRIVE Music & Photos and then clone the Music folder from <External> back to it so you have a full backup of your library. Use a folder syncing tool in future to keep the two copies in sync with each other without redundantly copying unchanged files.

tt2

Not a problem. Where is the Music Library.musiclibrary that Music opens each time you access your library? If you're not sure then press and hold down option as you launch Music and click the choose option. It should start you off in the current location.

tt2

Ah, your file extensions are hidden and I've neglected to account for the difference in what you might see. The folder G-DRIVE Music & Photos/iTunes/Music is one of interest. Copy this to the root of the external drive, option-start-Music and choose the library file <External>/Music/Music Library(.musiclibray). You should now be ready to move onto the consolidation steps I gave earlier.

tt2