Restoring iTunes library on new drive where music was added via dragging and dropping

Question

Level 1

34 points

Restoring iTunes library on new drive where music was added via dragging and dropping

I recently got a new SSD that I'm using as my main drive, so I'm in the process of reinstalling all of my programs, including iTunes. I have 3 drives total -- 2 SSDs and one HDD. I previously had iTunes installed on the old SSD, and I would add my music to my iTunes library by first saving it to a folder on my HDD, then dragging and dropping the specific music folder/files to my iTunes library. Now that I've installed iTunes on the new SDD, it appears that the music that I had accumulated in the iTunes library on my old SSD is no longer there.

I understand that dragging and dropping files creates a 'reference' to the music rather than a separate file, but I'm curious if there's any way to restore the 'referenced' music that I'd been adding to my iTunes library form my HDD to the newly installed iTunes on my new SSD? There's obviously the option of dragging all of the files over again from my HDD, however there were a lot of times where I had to tweak settings, add album art, rename songs, etc. after they were added to my iTunes library on the old SSD. If I drag and drop the files again at once, they will not be added in the same order they were previously in nor will they have the changes that I made to them after adding them to my library previously.

Is there any way to restore the version of the library that I had on my old SSD to my new SSD? Or am I going to have to manually recreate the library?

Windows, Windows 10

Posted on Apr 12, 2024 4:34 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

culmccor Author

Level 1

34 points

May 2, 2024 8:29 AM in response to Katana-San

Katana-San wrote:

Hello~ How could that possibly have worked for you if you are using Windows? Just saying…

~Katana-San~

I just copied the 'iTunes Library.itl' file from the file location in my old SSD to the same file location in my new SSD (C:\Users\name\Music\iTunes) and it worked. I didn't even need to use the Shift + Click to specify a library since this is the file it would automatically use when opening iTunes.

Reply

Answer 2

May 2, 2024 7:39 AM in response to Community User

MacGuru180 wrote:

To transfer your iTunes library to the new SSD, locate the iTunes folder on the old SSD containing your music files, and copy it to the same location on the new SSD. Then, open iTunes while holding down the Option key (Mac) or Shift key (Windows), and select "Choose Library" to pick the iTunes library file you copied. This should restore your iTunes library, including music files and settings, to the new SSD.

Why do you include Mac instructions when the poster has indicated they have Windows?

Reply

Answer 3

May 2, 2024 7:25 AM in response to culmccor

To transfer your iTunes library to the new SSD, locate the iTunes folder on the old SSD containing your music files, and copy it to the same location on the new SSD. Then, open iTunes while holding down the Option key (Mac) or Shift key (Windows), and select "Choose Library" to pick the iTunes library file you copied. This should restore your iTunes library, including music files and settings, to the new SSD.

Reply