How to change iTunes Media Folder location after Hard Drive Died

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How to change iTunes Media Folder location after Hard Drive Died

I have been trying to figure this out from other posts but can't seem to find what I am looking for. I store all my music files on an external hard drive. Recently, the external drive died on me. Fortunately, I had the external backed up on another drive using Time Machine. I bought a new drive for the music and transferred the files onto the new drive. My question is what do I do next? Currently iTunes still searches for the files on the dead drive and I get the exclamation marks next to each song which is obviously not a surprise. I want to change the Media Folder preferences to the new drive but will I then lose all my playlists? Basically what I want to do is direct iTunes to the new drive and keep everything else intact. Is that possible? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

j

Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.3)

Posted on Apr 19, 2011 9:25 AM

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Answer 1

Apr 19, 2011 11:02 AM in response to jrc362

Launch iTunes whilst holding down the Option key and then navigate to the new library location when prompted.

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Answer 2

jrc362 Author

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Apr 19, 2011 11:11 AM in response to Diane Wordsmith

Diane Wordsmith,

Thanks for the reply. The option key gives me the choice to "Create Library" or "Choose Library". If I select "Choose Library" and navigate to the new Music Folder, I get the message: An iTunes library file could not be found in the folder "X". Please choose a different folder." I have not selected "Create Library" because I am assuming that will erase my playlists which I am trying not to do. I could be wrong about that but wanted to be sure before I did that. Thoughts?

J

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Answer 3

Apr 19, 2011 11:19 AM in response to jrc362

Was the actual music/library file backed up with the music files? If so, you need to copy it to the folder. If not, I'm afraid you'll have to recreate and lose your playlists and playcounts. There's more info about the library file here:

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1660

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Answer 4

jrc362 Author

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Apr 19, 2011 11:34 AM in response to Diane Wordsmith

Diane Wordsmith,

Thanks again for the help here.The library file was backed up, however, the file was backed up on the drive with the OS, not the external drive that contained the music files. Will that make a difference? Sorry to be so particular, just trying to preserve the playlists if I can help it. Thanks.

J

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Answer 5

Apr 19, 2011 12:00 PM in response to jrc362

It shouldn't make a difference as long as all of the music files are there. The library file just holds the data that pertains to your music files (playcounts, playlists, prefs, etc.). If you drop it in the folder and navigate to that file (after holding down option key), you should be back in business.

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Answer 6

jrc362 Author

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21 points

Apr 19, 2011 12:20 PM in response to Diane Wordsmith

Diane Wordsmith,

Okay, so I copied the iTunes Library File and iTunes opens fine, playlists intact etc., but it cannot find any of the music files. When I click to play a file the exclamation point comes up and the message "The song "X" cannot be found. Would you like to locate it?" Obviously I know that the song is now located on the new drive but I have over 25,000 songs which means I cannot go one by one and find the file for iTunes. I must be doing something wrong. Seems there has to be a way to do this. I feel like I was a "good boy" for faithfully backing everything up and now that the original hard drive is dead, I should be able to tell iTunes these are the same files you had before only in a different place! Ugh! Thoughts?

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Answer 7

Apr 19, 2011 12:48 PM in response to jrc362

I am not positive on this, but I think you may need to consolidate. (BUT I'm not sure.) Here's a doc that details moving your media folder. Perhaps something there can enlighten you to the answer:

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1449

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Answer 8

jrc362 Author

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21 points

Apr 19, 2011 1:11 PM in response to Diane Wordsmith

Diane Wordsmith,

Thanks for the link(s). I checked it out and I think you are right about Consolidating but here's the rub: Consolidating "copies all of your music and media files to the new location." Well, the files are already IN the new location! Consolidating will essentially make duplicate copies of the original files and place them on the same drive. Maybe that is the only way this can be done but it seems so ridiculous! Maybe it is the only way to tie the library and the files together. Anything else you can think of? So appreciate the help! At least if consolidating is the only way to go, I will feel confident I did as much as I could!

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Answer 9

Apr 19, 2011 1:17 PM in response to jrc362

You might read what this has to say about consolidate and dupes.

http://www.keyscorner.com/archives/2009/03/07/removing-duplicate-files-in-itunes /

More info here on consolidation:

http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/moving-your-itunes-library-to -a-new-hard-drive/

Message was edited by: Diane Wordsmith

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Answer 10

jrc362 Author

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21 points

Apr 19, 2011 3:24 PM in response to Diane Wordsmith

Diane Wordsmith,

Well, I did everything that was asked of me and Itunes still will not recognize any of the files in my music library. How disappointing. What am I missing here? The links you sent me to write about this like it is a no brainer. Maybe that's it. I have no brain! Are we at a dead end?

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Answer 11

Apr 19, 2011 3:37 PM in response to jrc362

I am sorry we haven't resolved this. If I come across anything else, I will post it. Otherwise, perhaps you should post a new question with exactly where things are now and how you got there. Maybe someone will see the new thread and have an answer for you.

🙂

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Answer 12

jrc362 Author

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21 points

Apr 19, 2011 4:11 PM in response to Diane Wordsmith

I will post a new thread. Thanks for hanging in there with me!

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Answer 13

Oct 5, 2011 4:58 PM in response to jrc362

Did you ever figure this out? I'm have the exact same problem.

Thanks, -Scott

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Answer 14

jrc362 Author

Level 1

21 points

Oct 5, 2011 5:22 PM in response to Scott Allen1

Hi Scott,

I tried and tried and tried but no luck. As far as I know, there is no way to do this. I lost all of my Playlists (and I had plenty). Obviously things would have been worse if the music was gone. You CAN print out the Playlists and reassemble them manually after you import files from the Backup Drive but that's about it. It was a real bummer. Wish i could have been more help. let me know if you come across a solution. I'd love to know for future reference.

Thanks,

John

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Answer 15

Oct 6, 2011 7:51 AM in response to jrc362

Hi John,

Thanks for your reply. I'm still looking into this and will let you know if I find a solution.

One thing that I tried was to rename the new drive to the name of my old drive that died, then iTunes was able to find everything, but there has to be a better way, plus I want to use a new drive name, not the old one. I guess my problem now is how to rename the drive my music sits on and have iTune still find everything.

I read about the steps of checking the 'Let iTunes Manage my Music' box and copying eveything to a new location and then using 'Consolidate' to copy it back to the new drive and I'll give it a try, but I'm having trouble believing that I can't simply tell iTunes that "my music is here now in this new location with the same sub-directory structure... use it."

-Scott

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