Can I move ALL iTunes files to my D drive and keep all music in my folders?

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Can I move ALL iTunes files to my D drive and keep all music in my folders?

I have a new media server I've built with an SSD boot/programs C drive and a 4TB RAID 0 D drive and a large music collection I've ripped from CD and would like to have all of the iTunes files and all of my music in one folder on my D drive. I have a very organized artist/album folder structure in D:/Media and have set preferences in iTunes to set media folder to D:/Other hoping it would put everything iTunes data-related there (mainly so I don't fill up my 32GB SSD drive), but find that iTunes still puts its library in my documents (or Win 7 equivalent)/(My) Music, which I don't want it to. How can I move the library to my D:/Other folder? Also, when I imported my music collection (again with Edit/Preferences/Advanced media folder set to D:/Other), iTunes put (moved? looks like--copied? maybe) some of my music folders to D:/Other/Music. Why did it do this and how do I stop it? The results I want is all of my music stored in my very organized music folders and all iTunes database and any other data files stored in D:/Other. Thanks.

AMD Phenon II X4 965, 4GB RAM, Windows 7, 64-bit iTunes

Posted on Jan 6, 2011 5:35 AM

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Answer 1

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Katrina S.

Level 7

24,131 points

Jan 6, 2011 4:12 PM in response to Swordini

I'll see if I can clear things up a bit for you.

+have set preferences in iTunes to set media folder to D:/Other hoping it would put everything iTunes data-related there+
That itunes preference is where itunes will put the content, not the database.
And it only affects FUTURE additions.

+but find that iTunes still puts its library in my documents (or Win 7 equivalent)/(My) Music, which I don't want it to.+
This means that at some point, you opened itunes without the D: drive being available, so itunes reset back to defaults.

+Also, when I imported my music collection (again with Edit/Preferences/Advanced media folder set to D:/Other), iTunes put (moved? looks like--copied? maybe) some of my music folders to D:/Other/Music. Why did it do this and how do I stop it?+
You can't stop it. That's how itunes is designed. Have a look at this post by turingtest2 on how itunes deals with folders
http://discussions.info.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=11369702&#11369702

My advice is to put your ITL file in the Other folder. DO a shift-start of ituens and choose that ITL file. And never, EVER start itunes without D: being available or it will reset back to C:

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Answer 2

Swordini Author

Level 1

1 points

Jan 6, 2011 5:28 PM in response to Katrina S.

Katrina, thanks but wow, that really *****. I have almost 2TB of perfectly organized music and I really don't want iTunes reorganizing it or moving parts of it places. Probably will leave iTunes if I can't fix this. PS, my D drive has never not existed in my system since iTunes has been installed on this PC--perhaps this happened because I forgot to change the default media folder location when I first imported my music (the first of many times trying to get this fixed). PPS, there is no music whatsoever on my system in the folder structure outlined in tt2's diagram; iTunes copied a fraction of my music into my D:/Other/Music folder (it created the Music subfolder here), but the vast majority of it still remains in my D:/Media folder (where I want it all to stay and not be messed with). I have no music whatsoever under the iTunes folder or any of its subfolders.

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Answer 3

Katrina S.

Level 7

24,131 points

Jan 7, 2011 1:02 AM in response to Swordini

+I have almost 2TB of perfectly organized music and I really don't want iTunes reorganizing it or moving parts of it places.+

Then make sure the checkboxes on the advanced preference tab are both empty!
You should be able to still use itunes with those two options unchecked.

Do a shift-start of itunes and tell it to create a new library in D:/Other.
You have your folder in D:/Media with your tracks as you want them. Using windows explorer, just drag & drop that entire folder onto the word LIBRARY in itunes.

It should add the tracks to its database without moving them or anything. If D:Other is available every time you start itunes, it should your the ITL file you created there.

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Answer 4

Swordini Author

Level 1

1 points

Jan 7, 2011 4:11 AM in response to Katrina S.

Thanks Katrina, you've been very helpful. I'll try what you're saying...

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Answer 5

turingtest2

Level 10

272,725 points

Jan 7, 2011 6:01 AM in response to Swordini

As long as you are manually organising everything you should be able to move the existing library to a new location without breaking the links to the content that remains static. Try copying the existing library to D:\ and choosing that library instead of starting over.

tt2

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Answer 6

turingtest2

Level 10

272,725 points

Jan 7, 2011 6:32 AM in response to turingtest2

To elaborate you can copy the iTunes folder from C: to D:\iTunes.

If you are interested it would also be possible to get your organisation moved so that it is at D:\iTunes\iTunes Media although the intermediate steps are somewhat involved. The advantage of doing this however would be that you could then easily backup the entire iTunes folder to another drive or network share such the backup library is usable in its own right. If your library is divided then the backup files only "work" when everything is "restored" to the original locations.

tt2

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