Itunes has changed the pointer to where the media is. How can I fix this?

Go to Edit > Preferences > Advanced, find the box for the location of the iTunes Media folder, and change it back.

Note that if the media folder is on an external, and you start iTunes without the external being accessible, iTunes will default back to the local.

Change it back like ed2345 posted.

The way I do it, I put the itunes database file on the exHD. That way, if itunes ever gets started before the exHD is available, itunes starts with a blank library and I know something's wrong.


Also, windows may have assigned a new drive letter the the exHD if you plugged in anything else - an ipod, camera card, USB stick, printer, etc. I've assigned my exHD a permanent drive letter further down the alphabet using Disk Manager in windows.

Hi Katrina.

Could I just ask you a quick question please?

To be brief, all my music was on an external HD which is having problems, tomorrow I am going to do my best to retrieve my music from there and put it on a new ext HD. Thus my iTunes Library links/pointers will all be wrong.
How do I go about getting rid of all the music links held within my iTunes data so I am able to replace them with the new data when I have all my music on my new external drive?
BTW when I have got it all sorted I will want to put my database file on the new external HD, but how do I do this? - sorry to be a pain!

Thank you in advance for any help you can give me

myeika1,
For XP, copy and paste this file to your exHD.
C:/Documents and Settings/My Music/iTunes/iTunes Library.itl



You can copy the old exHD files to the new exHD using windows explorer. Then you can assign the old drive letter to the new using disk management. iTunes pointers should still work.

You can't edit the .itl file directly, however it is possible to use the scripting interface to reconnect the files provided they are in a predictable location. I have a script for this called SwitchLinks.vbs which you are welcome to try out, however it should be possible to reconnect things as follows.

Connect external drive & check files are visible from Windows Explorer.
Open iTunes.
Use *Edit > Preferences > Advanced* to point iTunes at the correct media folder.
Close iTunes, wait a few seconds for it to close fully and save the library.
Open iTunes.
Test that music plays.

If that still doesn't work, download my script, select a few test files and run the script. If it does the right thing select a larger batch of files and run it again. Repeat until finished.

In the long run life will be much simpler if the library files are moved to the parent folder of the media folder on the external drive. That way, as mentioned above, if you ever start iTunes with the external offline then you get a prompt to choose or create a library. Just cancel, connect the drive, and start iTunes again and everything will work as it should.

tt2