Moved Music library - mac OS Big Sur

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Level 1

60 points

Moved Music library - mac OS Big Sur

Help please -- I recently moved my Music library to a larger drive. Both drives are external.

I used Carbon Copy Cloner to move everything from the old drive to the new drive. I then used Option-start-Music to point Music to the new drive.

I've been using Music for a few days - everything seemed to work normally.

The older drive was still connected to the Mac --- but today I disconnected the old drive.

All of a sudden Music cannot find the library. Under Music / Preferences, the library is still listed on the new drive. But all of the songs have the "!" mark.

I'm baffled ...

Help please ...

Mac mini, macOS 11.6

Posted on Oct 22, 2021 7:07 AM

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Answer 1

Lissy_12

Community Specialist

Oct 23, 2021 8:24 AM in response to David Ris

Hi David Ris,

We understand you need help with your music files. We would recommend the following resource that can help:

Change where your music files are stored on Mac

Hope this helps!

Have a great day.

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Answer 2

Lissy_12

Community Specialist

Oct 24, 2021 12:33 PM in response to David Ris

David Ris,

We appreciate those details. You mentioned the songs show an exclamation mark. This means the song can’t be located as it is now in a different location since you are using a new external drive. The above article can help change where the music files are stored, not the Music folder. As noted "When you add an item already on your computer to your library, Music places a copy of the file in your Music folder. The original file remains in its current location."

Thank you.

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Answer 3

David Ris Author

Level 1

60 points

Oct 24, 2021 11:51 AM in response to Lissy_12

Hi Lissy,

I appreciate the response - unfortunately, it does not address my issue. I have a hard drive that is beginning to show signs that it is failing. I've purchased a new hard drive and need to move the library.

The article here says: "For best results, don’t change the location of the Music folder or the folders inside it."

I have no choice -- I have to change the location of my music files.

I've moved my music library over the years more than a few times -- over 3 different Macs and at least 2x as many drives.

Is the difference Big Sur?

I remain baffled. Help please.

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Answer 4

David Ris Author

Level 1

60 points

Oct 24, 2021 5:21 PM in response to Lissy_12

Lizzy,

I do appreciate your reply. However, it seems to indicate that there is no longer a way to move the thousands of songs to a new drive. Is that the case?

Thank you.

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Moved Music library - mac OS Big Sur

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