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Moving iTunes to HD 2 on iMac

I recently transfered my iTunes folder from the 251 gig Macintosh HD to the 1 TB SATA Macintosh HD 2 on my iMac. I checked the HD 2, found the iTunes library intact in the iTunes folder, clicked on some tunes, they played. When opening iTunes, I held the option key down and "pointed" to the new location of the folder. I then deleted the iTunes from the origianl location. (I have back ups on an external drive too.) Now when I open iTunes, it opens, all my music appears to be there, but when I click on a tune, I get the "The song XXX could not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it" message. I click locate, open the folder on HD 2, find the song, click on it, accept the option to locate the other 9,000 or so songs this way, agree to this, and it doesn't work.

Any help?

Posted on Feb 9, 2014 7:16 AM

37 replies

turingtest2

Level 10

278,263 points

Feb 12, 2014 7:49 AM in response to Marquebber

No problem. I was trying to get you to do a proof-of-concept with a test library before you set about restoring the original just so you know how it should work. If I can get access to a Mac mini at some point I'll rehearse the steps again myself to ensure that my previous knowledge still holds good.

In the meantime I guess it is probably going to be necessary to restore the backup of the library to the original location so you may as well do that when time permits, then option-start-iTunes to connect to it.

tt2

Marquebber Author

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Feb 12, 2014 7:49 AM in response to Marquebber

(wanted to edit that last remark but don't see an edit button now) For example, tt2, I don't know exactly what it mean to put something in the root of HD 2, so steps to do this would be really halpful. Also, and to repeat myself, when pointing to the new library, I must actually CLICK on "iTunes Library.itl" and not simply click on the iTunes folder. Is this correct?

Thanks again,

Next time I am in London, dinner on me if you like.

Mark

turingtest2

Level 10

278,263 points

Feb 12, 2014 7:56 AM in response to Marquebber

You only get a 15-minute edit window from posting.

The root folder of a drive is the highest level. If you're going to move an iTunes library to a new drive there is no need to bury it down in a matching set of nested folders to match the source path such as /Macintosh HD2/Users/<User>/Music/iTunes when /Macintosh HD2/iTunes would be simpler.

And yes, you should need to select a specific .itl file to open. I suppose there could be some quirk that makes OS X different from Windows but I'm sure I've managed it the same way.

tt2

Limnos

Level 10

428,501 points

Feb 13, 2014 7:00 AM in response to turingtest2

I use iTunes 7.5 (yes, from 7 years ago) but I only have to click on the folder for the library I want, not the actual .itl file. Must be a Windows/OSX thing.

turingtest2

Level 10

278,263 points

Feb 13, 2014 7:10 AM in response to turingtest2

I managed to get access to a Mac earlier. New test library created in /Volumes/Mavericks/Users/Steve/Music/iTunes Test - imported an album to the library, closed iTunes, moved the test library to /Volumes/Mountain Lion/iTunes Test, opened the library file at /Volumes/Mountain Lion/iTunes Test/iTunes Library.itl and the media files are being correctly located within /Volumes/Mountain Lion/iTunes Test/iTunes Media.

BTW I got to to choose a specific file to open. Time was when the main library file on a Mac didn't get created with the .itl extension, the media folder was called iTunes Music instead of iTunes Media and the artist folders were placed inside the main media folder instead of a Music subfolder. I have vague memories of iTunes 5 which, if I recall correctly, would let you group rename multiple songs to the same thing and eliminate all but one of them in the process! 😮

tt2

Marquebber Author

Level 1

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Feb 13, 2014 11:40 AM in response to turingtest2

Ok, it APPEARS that it worked this time. It tried this sevreal times before. I have no idea what I did differently. I almost expect it to be broken again after the next re-boot. Thank you tt2 and anyone else who even thought about it.

Mark

turingtest2

Level 10

278,263 points

Feb 13, 2014 12:18 PM in response to Marquebber

You're welcome. 🙂

If you got there with two copies of the library you can make sure it is working properly by renaming the folder of the "old" copy of the library, making sure that tracks still play, and checking the file locations of some representative tracks to make sure they are inside the active media folder on the correct drive. Once you're satisfied all is well you can remove the old copy of the library.

FWIW I was struggling with how to move rather than copy the folder of my test library earlier on... OS X is an unfamiliar beast at times. 😕

tt2

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Moving iTunes to HD 2 on iMac