Apple Intelligence now features Image Playground, Genmoji, Writing Tools enhancements, seamless support for ChatGPT, and visual intelligence.

Apple Intelligence has also begun language expansion with localized English support for Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, and the U.K. Learn more >

You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

📰 Newsroom Update

Apple Music expands live global radio offering with three brand-new stations. Learn more >

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Relocating Media Files/iTunes Library

How do I move my iTunes Library from my external drive back to my iMac? I moved to an external drive a LONG time ago, and now I'm not sure how to reverse the move. Frankly I'm not even sure I should be referring to it as "iTunes" anymore.

iMac 27″, macOS 12.2

Posted on Feb 21, 2022 1:24 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Feb 21, 2022 3:30 AM

What is the path to your active Music Library.musiclibrary file? Typically this will be in ~/Music/Music where ~ is your user's home folder. What is the path to the media folder under Music > Preferences > Files? Presumably this will be something like <External>/iTunes Media or <External>/iTunes Media.


As long as the .musiclibrary file is on your internal drive you can use Music > Preferences > Files > Reset to update the media folder to Media in the location of the .musiclibrary file, and then File > Library > Organize Library > Consolidate Files to copy over the files from the external drive.


If the .musiclibrary file is on your external drive please back with its location and that of the media folder for further advice.


tt2

3 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Feb 21, 2022 3:30 AM in response to oskarmatzerath

What is the path to your active Music Library.musiclibrary file? Typically this will be in ~/Music/Music where ~ is your user's home folder. What is the path to the media folder under Music > Preferences > Files? Presumably this will be something like <External>/iTunes Media or <External>/iTunes Media.


As long as the .musiclibrary file is on your internal drive you can use Music > Preferences > Files > Reset to update the media folder to Media in the location of the .musiclibrary file, and then File > Library > Organize Library > Consolidate Files to copy over the files from the external drive.


If the .musiclibrary file is on your external drive please back with its location and that of the media folder for further advice.


tt2

Relocating Media Files/iTunes Library

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.