downloaded music not copying to music folder

Stop, stop. iTunes will go bananas if you start renaming files and folders like that. Undo the renaming. Unless you know exactly what you're doing (in which case I have questions for you 🙂 ) you can really mess up iTunes by renaming and moving things manually. Since you said the "copy to library" was not already checked that suggests to me you were manually managing music, in which case only you know where it all ended up. If you do not have iTunes set to organize music and copy to the media folder then iTunes will just leave it where it is when you add it to the library. Downloading and ripping are exceptions where it will (I believe, since I have never purchased from Apple) put it in folder designated as the media folder in iTunes preferences. From what you said it sounds to me like you have your media on the external drive but the main iTunes folder with the library files and a media folder on the internal drive.

What were the preferences settings for "organize" and "copy music" previously?

Which version of itunes do you use?

Another thing we will need to know is how did you move the library to the external drive? Exact steps please. I am trying to determine what is where. I used to have my collection scattered over 10 folders in different directories on 2 different drives. It all worked, but I also knew exactly what was going on. 🙂

Some background structure:

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 [and later]: Understanding iTunes Media Organization - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3847

Image of iTunes folder structure Dec. 2011 - https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3547807?answerId=16923545022#16923545022
see also:
Image of folder structure and explanation of different iTunes versions (turingtest2 post) - https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2741246?answerId=13025536022#13025536022 and https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3700206?answerId=17457605022#17457605022

How many items does iTunes actually list in your collection? Hopefully roughly 499.

Where do the preferences indicate you have you media folder located (it should hopefully be on the external but if it isn't don't change anything yet)?

Just as a first approximation, I am doing educated guessing. 1) I think your library is indeed on the external. 2) Because you are using itunes 9 then things can get messy because iTunes 9 started changing how music was organized and most of your collection may be in old structuring. Maybe you had this selected in the past. You do not have this option selected until an hour ago, except iTunes may be doing it automatically for anything just copied since you checked that box. See the organization links I provided earlier. I have a catbox that needs urgent attention and can't type folder structure details here. 3) Likewise, is there a reason for not having iTunes copy your files to the Media folder when adding? I am guessing now that when you selected that option it copied the downloads that you were complaining were on your internal drive to the external. Have you checked the contents of these folders to see what is actually there in terms of your recent downloads?

I can't post regularly over the next few hours (domestic obligations) but I really think that unless you have objections that we should steer you to letting iTunes doing things as it wants in terms of copying and organization -- doing it by the book. Most people find that a lot more convenient, and it saves us having to do a lot of wild guesing as to your itunes organization becuse without those boxes set things could be anywhere on your drive, or even multiple places. With that in mind, I think you have some kind of skeletong library structure on the internal drive. All the basics but no media file or real contents. Ultimately when we are sure everything is on the external we can get rid of it.

I want to double check that the library you are using is in fact on the ehd. Hold down the option key while starting iTunes and guide it to the iTunes folder on the ehd. When it starts, double check the library that everything looks as you wish it to be. Nothing missing?

If all is okay, let's let iTunes do it by the book. Read at least http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3847 because we will be doing this.

Go to iTunes > Preferences > Advanced > General

Where it shows to store media you can click reset but it should say it is in the iTunes folder on the ehd. I still use iTunes 7 so I cannot check but it might even offer "Media folder" in the path name. The Media folder is a characteristic of iTunes 9 and up and you have an older structure. Don't worry if it doesn't because I think the next step will do it if "Media folder" isn't part of the name

We are aiming for the new structure. Go to File > Library > Organize library and select both of those options (as pictured). The first option re-organizes the files into folders as indicated. The second one uses the new structure. Say Okay.

Either at this stage or when you close the preferences window it will ask you if you want to move items, and/or if you want to update to the new structure. Say yes. Now this may take a while because it is dealing with 500 files but hopefully you will end up with a nice organized library.

I am going to cut this off here because there is a thunderstorm headed this way and we may get a power outage taking out all I have typed in the last 20 minutes. There's still cleanup but that's stage 2.

Is there a folder called iTunes on the external? If there is, does it look like the examples in the link I posted? Is there a library file in there?

Where did those files end up? In theory according to what you post about the media location they should all be at the root level of your external!

I looked in Finder/Music and to my surprise, found this: iTunes (6 items): album artwork (1); iTunes Media (1); iTunes Library LIB; iTunes library extras.itdb; iTunes library genius.itdb; iTunes library.xml

Was this on the internal drive or the external?

If internal, that is what your external should look like! According to your earlier post (which I misunderstood) you only have 2 items in your music folder on the external instead of 500.

It is sounding to me right now like you are either not really using the library on the external, or your files are not in the area to which you earlier referred.

Do you know how to do screenshots and post images here (command+shift+4 --> outline area, use camera icon above to put resulting file on your desktop into edit window)? I don't usually recommend it (avoid it myself) but I really think we need to be able to look at your external and figure out what is going on. Here's an example of my test library in my User > Music folder:

Is the area on the left of your first image the very top level of your drive? Earlier you said the preferences said your music folder location "it's located in /volumes/FreeAgent GoFlex drive" I just checked my preferences settings and it says my iTunes Music folder location is, "Music HD:Music:iTunes junk library:iTunes Music:" I keep mine on an external drive "Music HD" and in my path it specifies the actual Music folder "iTunes Music". Yours did not, or were you just not that specific? Even small details make a big difference in this kind of work (and in diagnosing correctly) because I am puzzled as to why your music isn't all on the top level right now since that is all you specified in your path description.

It looks like the iTunes folder on the internal drive is essentially empty. If you have that drive backed up I think you could get rid of it and see if that creates any problems. It shouldn't and if you have a backup then you can always put it back.

Create a folder called "iTunes Media" inside the iTunes folder on the ehd. Select that as the media folder destination in preferences. Now try that organize and copy function again and see if the option that was grayed out before is now active. If it is, see if the media are consolidated to it this time. If it isn't then I'm puzzled but it isn't a major worry since your collection seems okay under the old library structure.

If it does consolidate correctly, I am not sure if it will do this by copying or moving (usually consolidate copies). If it consolidates properly you may end up with extra files because items will be copied from ehd/iTunes/iTunes Music to ehd/iTunes/iTunes Media and inside that to another Music folder. You can check where the file that is used by iTunes is actually located by getting info on a track in iTunes and looking at the path in summary. If they look like they ended up in ehd/iTunes/iTunes Media/Music then you're all set and you can delete the ones in ehd/iTunes/iTunes Music. (Again, always a good idea to back up before major operations just in case things don't go as planned.)

Another small concern is if the stray items in the folder at the top of the ehd at the same level as the iTunes folder actually contains your new downloads. Ideally if those are in your iTunes library listing and you consolidate the files in the previous paragraph they should also be copied to folders inside the media folder. Check if this is indeed the case by getting info on a download track and see to which copy the library is referring.

Required disk cannot be found? Do you have the external drive turned on and mounted? It really sounds like you do not. If I go into that change media location preference and click change it will only show me whatever folders I have that exist and only on drives that are mounted.