HT1449: iTunes for Mac: Moving your iTunes Media folder

Learn about iTunes for Mac: Moving your iTunes Media folder
Needhelpnowplease
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Q: This does not help me at all.

This does not help me at all. I have followed the instructions to the letter, and still it does not work. iTunes cannot find my music files. Can anyone help? Thanks.

Posted on Jun 13, 2012 8:21 PM

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Needhelpnowplease

Q: This does not help me at all.

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  • by Limnos,

    Limnos Limnos Jun 13, 2012 8:25 PM in response to Needhelpnowplease
    Level 9 (54,642 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jun 13, 2012 8:25 PM in response to Needhelpnowplease

    I must say your (non) description of the issue doesn't help me very much either.  I'll go by the fact that it seemed to originate from: iTunes for Mac: Moving your iTunes Media folder  I will then guess that what you were trying to do was move your library, not just the media.  From that I will suggest:

     

    iTunes: How to move [or copy] your music to a new computer [or another drive] - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527

     

    Quick answer if you let iTunes manage your music:  Copy the entire iTunes folder (and in doing so all its subfolders and files) intact to the other drive.  Start iTunes with the option (shift on Windows) key held down and guide it to the new location of the library.

  • by Needhelpnowplease,

    Needhelpnowplease Needhelpnowplease Jun 13, 2012 8:51 PM in response to Limnos
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 13, 2012 8:51 PM in response to Limnos

    Limnos: Many thanks for your prompt reply. Here's my story: In fact, three years ago, I successfully rerouted iTunes so that the program would find my music library on external hard drive. Two days ago, my Apple MacBook computer was updated to the Lion operating system. iTunes was also updated.

     

    Now I have to go back into iTunes and give the program new instruction to go find the music files on external hard drive.

     

    Details:
    My folder on external hard drive, called "iTunes Music," contains various music files and also, I notice, a folder called "iTunes."

     

    Within that "iTunes" folder, the following folders or files are located:

    FOLDER: Album Artwork

    FOLDER: Automatically Add to iTunes

    FILE: iTunes Library Extras.itdb

    FILE: iTunes Library Genius.itdb

    FILE: iTunes Library.itl

    FILE: iTunes Linrary.xml

    FOLDER: iTunes Media

     

    None of this makes any sense to me!

     

    Meanwhile, on the computer's hard drive, following this routing, in the folder called "iTunes," the following folders and files are located:

     

    Users -- Hard Drive -- Music -- iTunes

     

    FOLDER: Album Artwork

    FOLDER: Album Artwork 6.29.26 PM

    FOLDER: Automatically Add to iTunes

    FILE: iTunes Library 6.29.26 PM

    FILE: iTunes Library Extras.itdb

    FILE: iTunes Library Extras.itdb 6.29.26 PM

    FILE: iTunes Library Genius.itdb

    FILE: iTunes Library Genius.itdb 6.29.26 PM

    FILE: iTunes Library.itl

    FOLDER: iTunes Media

    FOLDER: iTunes Media 6.29.26 PM

    FILE: iTunes Music Library 6.29.26 PM.xml

    FILE: iTunes Music Library.xml

     

    I do not understand any of this. It makes no sense to me at all. I do not understand WHICH FILE OR FOLDER I should instruct iTunes to go to in order to find the desired music files.

     

    Once the desired files are found, they should appear in the iTunes window on screen. This is not happening.

     

    Thanks for your attention and for any insight you might be able to share. This baffles me.

  • by Limnos,

    Limnos Limnos Jun 13, 2012 8:55 PM in response to Needhelpnowplease
    Level 9 (54,642 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jun 13, 2012 8:55 PM in response to Needhelpnowplease

    Guide it to the folder with iTunes Library.itl on the external.

     

    When you installed Lion it probably placed by default a set of files on your main drive.  The folders you see on the external may be a mix of old and new style iTunes organization.  Here's links for you to learn about iTunes:

     

    What are the iTunes library files? - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1660

     

    More on iTunes library files and what they do - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITunes#Media_management

     

    What are all those iTunes files? - http://www.macworld.com/article/139974/2009/04/itunes_files.html

     

    iTunes 9: Understanding iTunes Media Organization - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3847

     

    Image of folder structure and explanation of different iTunes versions (turingtest2 post) - https://discussions.apple.com/message/13025536 and https://discussions.apple.com/message/17457605

  • by Needhelpnowplease,

    Needhelpnowplease Needhelpnowplease Jun 13, 2012 9:08 PM in response to Limnos
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 13, 2012 9:08 PM in response to Limnos

    Limnos:


    Many thanks for your second reply. This seems to be the key comment in your message. You wrote:

     

    "Guide it [the iTunes "Preferences" routing, that is] to the folder with iTunes Library.itl on the external."

     

    Thanks for the links to various documents describing various aspects of iTunes files, folders and the way in which they are unorganized (or disorganized, as the case may be).

     

    I'm on the east coast of the USA, where it is late at night right now. Will examine those documents tomorrow morning.

     

    Meanwhile, now, quickly, I'm going to try to route iTunes to the file you indicated, which is on my external hard drive, namely the one named "iTunes Library.itl."

     

    I hope it will work...

     

    Thanks. Will probably be back here soon, like tomorrow morning, my time.

  • by Needhelpnowplease,

    Needhelpnowplease Needhelpnowplease Jun 13, 2012 9:12 PM in response to Needhelpnowplease
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 13, 2012 9:12 PM in response to Needhelpnowplease

    Limnos:

     

    Alas, iTunes does NOT allow me to choose that file on the external hard drive (the one whose filename is iTunes Library.itl).

     

    It appears on the screen in light gray, not in clickable, selectable black. So it cannot be selected as my desired destination file.

     

    What to do?

  • by Limnos,

    Limnos Limnos Jun 13, 2012 9:22 PM in response to Needhelpnowplease
    Level 9 (54,642 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jun 13, 2012 9:22 PM in response to Needhelpnowplease

    No, no, hold down the option key while starting iTunes and when it asks for where the library file is located, then guide it.  You placed everything on the external and iTunes has forgotten that it needs to look there for the complete library.  Changing preference settings just tells iTunes where the media should be put in the future, but it's the library file that ties it all together and right now it is using the library file (empty) on the internal.  Once you get it using the right library file it should all be internally consistent and you won't have to change any preference settings.

  • by Needhelpnowplease,

    Needhelpnowplease Needhelpnowplease Jun 13, 2012 9:39 PM in response to Limnos
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 13, 2012 9:39 PM in response to Limnos

    Limnos:

     

    Okay. I followed your instruction. This time, pressing the Option key when I opened iTunes, yes, it asked me to choose a library. I chose the desired destination file on external hard drive, which this time was black and selectable.

     

    Then I closed iTunes.

     

    I opened it again, but there was NOTHING in the iTunes window, where normally the music content (songs) would be visible, with playlists over on the lefthand side. Nothing.

     

    (By the way, how did you create your kitty cat identification photo to accompany your screen name here? I'm obviously new to these Apple forums.)

     

    Thanks for your help.

     

    I'm completely stuck.

  • by Limnos,

    Limnos Limnos Jun 13, 2012 9:49 PM in response to Needhelpnowplease
    Level 9 (54,642 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jun 13, 2012 9:49 PM in response to Needhelpnowplease

    Okay. I followed your instruction. This time, pressing the Option key when I opened iTunes, yes, it asked me to choose a library. I chose the desired destination file on external hard drive, which this time was black and selectable.

     

    Then I closed iTunes.

     

    Why did you close iTunes??  Did you cancel it opening the library file? It should have opened the library file on the external and if you really had not touched the external since last using iTunes everything should have reappeared as a few days ago.

     

    Custom avatars are a level 3+ feature.  I think general ones can be set in your profile preferences.

     

    Apple Support Communities Reputation Overview - https://discussions.apple.com/static/apple/tutorial/reputation.html

  • by Needhelpnowplease,

    Needhelpnowplease Needhelpnowplease Jun 13, 2012 10:03 PM in response to Limnos
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 13, 2012 10:03 PM in response to Limnos

    I closed iTunes after selecting the destination library file after seeing that NOTHING happened. As noted in my last message, nothing appeared in the iTunes window (no listings of songs, no playlists over on the lefthand side). NOTHING happened. So I closed iTunes and reopened it. Again, NOTHING.

     

    Impossible to tell if iTunes took the command to go to the destination library file or not. The program appears to be completely unresponsive.

     

    I know nothing about avatars. I do not know what they are or what they might have to do with the function I'm trying to set up.

  • by Limnos,

    Limnos Limnos Jun 14, 2012 7:07 AM in response to Needhelpnowplease
    Level 9 (54,642 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jun 14, 2012 7:07 AM in response to Needhelpnowplease

    I know nothing about avatars. I do not know what they are or what they might have to do with the function I'm trying to set up.

    They have nothing to do with it, but you specifically asked me,

     

    (By the way, how did you create your kitty cat identification photo to accompany your screen name here? I'm obviously new to these Apple forums.)

  • by Needhelpnowplease,

    Needhelpnowplease Needhelpnowplease Jun 14, 2012 7:55 AM in response to Limnos
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 14, 2012 7:55 AM in response to Limnos

    Greetings. Thanks for your reply. I'll try to find out about avatars and about how to create an image to accompany my visible screen name here.

     

    Thanks again for your help yesterday. Although my iTunes problem remains unresolved, I'm going to continue trying to find out how to fix it. The program simply is not taking the route-to-external hard drive command. Nothing shows up in the iTunes window (list of songs, playlists on lefthand side).

     

    The presence of so many iTunes-related files or folders, both on external hard drive and on computer's hard drive itself, seems to be a problem. That's just my assumption...

     

    I'm based in New York. Alas, tomorrow I'm going to see an Apple-computer specialist technician - and pay dearly for his services! He was recommended by a friend.

     

    Thanks again...