iTunes File Size Discrepancy

There's always a very small difference between the sizes reported by iTunes and the Finder, but 20GB is way to much. Did you make your check in iTunes in the Library with all files selected (including podcasts and videos)?

M

David:

Duplicate entries in the iTunes Library are not the same as duplicate files in your iTunes Music folder. The Library is a database of what you've added into iTunes, not the contents of the folder.

You can end up with file duplicates for any number of reasons, but the primary culprit is when you've used the Consolidate Library function more than once after changing the location of your iTunes Music folder in the Preferences>>Advanced pane. If that is the case, you'll be able to easily spot the duplicates using Spotlight.

Working on the assumption that your music is in either AAC or MP3 format, you'll need to search for the following:

*<space>1.mp3
and
*<space>1.aac

<space> is actually a single space between the asterisk (*) and the number 1. When files are duplicated in the Music folder, they are placed in the relevant artist/album subfolder. To avoid duplicate file name problems, the OS automatically appends a number after the file name and before the extension.

Be careful though, if you have music files that have the number "1" as part of the name (such as Pt. 1), can't do a mass delete of these duplicates. Also, be aware that the Library may be linked to the duplicate files (the ones with the number before the extension).

Another reason why you may have bloat is if you imported music in a lossless format, converted those files and removed them from the iTunes Library (database) without removing the actual files from your hard drive.

Search for those simply by .AIFF or .WAV.

Finally, you can have music on your hard drive that are not listed in the Library. If you imported music and then had iTunes lock up and you needed to force quit, the Library changes may not have been saved.

Givin the 15 gb difference, that's a lot of music files that are not in the Library. I'd start by using the Finder and going through folders at random to see if there are any artists or albums you don't recognize. Keep iTunes open and the Library in the main window as a reference. Use the sort heading and the browse feature to enable your search.

Let us know how this works out.

Lita

I've registred XRay, a utility that will let you get extended info on files and folders.
Just visited the website and saw you can download a full 15 day working version here
It will give you full details about the number of files (and the invisible ones) and folders inside a folder.
You might give it a try.

M

17' iMac fp 800 MHz 768 MB RAM Mac OS X (10.3.9) Several ext. HD (backup and data)

David:

The Finder will work just fine - I had to do the same thing about a year ago. Same problem - external drive and too many consolidations.

Good luck!

Lita

David:

One other way to solve your mystery is to back up your entire iTunes Library onto DVDs using the iTunes data disc option, then erase the external drive and reload the music directly from iTunes. The effect will be that ONLY the music files registered in the iTunes database will be copied to the data discs, and not the extraneous files.

First, you will need to create a new playlist and put all of the files you want to back up (this should be your entire iTunes library - at least for the first time) into that playlist. Ideally, you should name the playlist with the date of the back up (more on this later). After making certain that you changed the burning format to Data CD/DVD, select this Playlist and click on the Burn button. After inserting the DVD media, you will get a warning screen that you are about to burn a DVD in data format, which will not may not be readable by DVD player (i.e., the type connected to your TV). Click on OK, since you want this for backup, and not playing purposes. In fact, you will get this annoying warning each time you insert a new disk to burn. Also, you may see an initial screen saying that it can take up to an hour to burn the DVD. Don't worry - at 4x, it takes about 15 minutes per DVD. Also, don't worry if you see a message at the end of a disk burn about finalizing taking up to an hour - this is also pretty meaningless. It takes about 3 mins or less.

Keep inserting media until done. Keep these disks safe, if possible, in a secure location separate from your computer (like all good backups).

Now, as for the reason why you should name the playlist with the date. You do want to keep backing up, but you don't really want to keep backing up the same files (a waste of time and media). After you've completed the backup, create a new SMART playlist. It should have a few conditions:

Date Added IS AFTER (Date of Last Backup in MM/DD/YYYY format, i.e., 03/27/2005)

And if you listen to Internet radio or sample streams:

Kind IS NOT Stream

LIVE UPDATING should be checked.

If you do a lot of work with the ID3 tags, you may want to consider setting up a second Smart Playlist:

Date Modified IS AFTER (Date of Last Backup in MM/DD/YYYY format, i.e., 03/27/2005)

Kind IS NOT Stream

LIVE UPDATING should be checked.

Which will capture tracks you have modified.

Unfortunatly, you can't use both conditions in the same smart playlist, but you can create a third Smart Playlist that references both the New and Modified ones, so you only have to burn one playlist to maintain your incremental backup. Once a month, you can burn these playlist (as a Data CD or DVD, depending on the size) and after the burn is finished, you will need to change the dates to the date that you burned the backup.

Even if you chose to go the Finder route for the initial backup, you should use Smart Playlists and iTunes' Data Disc option to back up the incremental changes.

Also, you need to back up the metadata stored in the iTunes Library file, which is found in the ~/Music/iTunes folder. This can be done by duplicating the file and moving the copy to your documents folder, or if space is an issue, you can make an archive of it. I like to make an archive, then email a copy to my Gmail address - this way I know I have a copy of the file in offsite storage.

Lita