iTunes Media folder changes back to default when external medium is not available

From what you said you made it sound like it was only changing the location of the media folder. In fact normal behavior depends upon configuration. If you have your entire library on the external and iTunes cannot find it, it will revert to using the internal drive location for everything. You will end up with blank library. If you only have media on the external drive then (not having done this myself) I thought it would keep the preferences settings but of course complain about broken links because it would show your library but not find the files.

This has been happening ever since iTunes was introduced, probably because back then nobody had the huge libraries they have now and their computers had big enough drives to accommodate it all. iTunes simply hasn't changed that much except in the marketing direction. Perhaps there are settings you can change on the NAS so it does not sleep.

Comment to Apple but yours is not the first post about this and probably not the last.

http://www.apple.com/feedback/itunesapp.html

I'm moving my complete iTunes folder to the NAS device like written here:

• Under the main iTunes Menu, go to Preferences and select Advanced.Make sure both these boxes are checked: "Keep iTunes Media Folder organized" and "Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library."
• In this same panel, click “Change” under "iTunes Media Folder Location" and navigate to the new drive such as MyNAS_Device and the folder you want to move your iTunes data to. Click “OK.”
• Under the File menu, select Library, then Organize Library. Now check the "Consolidate Files" box, and click “OK.”

That is not how you move the whole iTunes folder (many, many web sites incorrectly claim it is). That is only how you move only media, but not the rest of the library. You do it like this:

iTunes: How to move [or copy] your music [library] to a new computer [or another drive] - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527 - a somewhat bewildering and not always easily understandable set of options.

Quick answer if you use iTunes' default preferences settings: Copy the entire iTunes folder (and in doing so all its subfolders and files) intact to the other drive. Open iTunes and immediately hold down the Option (alt) key (shift on Windows), then guide it to the iTunes Library.itl file in the moved iTunes folder.

For the record there's this reference for iTunes 11 but it really doesn't strike me as having the specifics you need. iTunes 11 for Mac: Move your library to another computer - http://support.apple.com/kb/PH12168

If you put it in the default location of Macintosh HD > Users > *User Name* > Music then you don't even need to start with the option key held down, iTunes will automatically look for it there. (Make sure there isn't anything already in the iTunes folder there that you want to keep since you will be replacing it with the one you are moving.)

I had this issue and fixed it as below:

I was using my entire library on an external drive (itunes library database files like the .xml and .itl and itdb files, plus the itunes media folder all on the external drive). I had issues when the external drive was slow to spin up or went to sleep while itunes was loaded, because iTunes didn't find the database and would open the default on the internal drive.

The simple solution for me was to do the following:

(1) copy my most current itunes library databases from the external drive to my internal drive's default folder,

(2) but I left my itunes > itunes media folder on the external drive,

(3) then I option-launched iTunes and choose the duplicate library file that I just put on the internal drive,

(4) then I made sure in itunes > preferences > advanced that itunes is still using the itunes media folder on the external drive.

Now if I launch iTunes it will use the database file on the internal drive to get the music from the external drive, and if the external drive is not there iTunes wont crash or go to another library. THIS DOES NOT COPY OR MOVE ANY EXISITING MEDIA FILES IN THE LIBRARY, AND THEY STAY ON THE EXTERNAL WHERE YOU HAD THEM BEFORE.

The only issue is if you download something before the external drive appears, it will be added to the internal drive, but when the external drive appears iTunes will use both media folders combined.

You can move the new content that went to the internal drive onto the internal drive later, and iTunes should find it again when you try to use it (if you used the same directory path as before like External Drive > iTunes > iTunes Media > Movies > The Incredibles > The Incredibles.m4v)

PS: I keep a backup copy of all the databases on the external drive for safekeeping, and I copy the most current iTunes databases to the external drive once a day. But I never choose the external drive's library database to launch iTunes.

I also had this issue but what annoyed me was that there was no alert that itunes had reverted back to the internal media folder so at times much of the music I was importing wasnt going to my network drive. Although the fix is quite easy, it can become very tedious so I figure two work arounds to prevent itunes importing anything unless the network drive is attached. Both workarounds result in itunes kicking up an error when you try to import if your network drive is unavaliable. This for me is much better as I treat this error as an alert that my newtork drive has been removed from itunes media location in advanced preferences but also it prevents me from ever importing to the internal library.

The first method I used was simply to go to the internal itunes media libray, hit get info and remove all permissions for admin (myself) and everyone. This way itunes can not access the the internal media folder but neither can it create a new one as there is in fact already an 'iTunes media' folder there. The only thing iTunes can do is kick up an error and refuse to import anything. When this happens you simply make sure your networked drive is on and attached and go into preferences and reselect the network drive as itunes media location.

The second alternative method (that im now using) is to make an alias of your network drive 'iTunes Media' folder drag it next to the one one your internal drive and then delete the one on the internal drive. Once you have deleted the one on the internal drive, rename the alias to 'iTunes Media' essentially your removing the alias part of the filename. Now itunes will only be able to import media if the network drive is connected as the alias is point there. When the network drive is disconnected itunes still sees the alias and will not attempt to create a new folder since technically there is already one there but iTunes wont be able to import because the alias destination is broken. Again all itunes can do is throw up an error message informing you that it is unable to import. At this point you only need to make sure the network drive is connected and all will work again, no need to go and reselect your network drive in iTunes preferences because it is still pointing to the alias.

Hope this helps

Hi betsmithbrown,

Having the same issue, I was wondering if in these months of experience with your second work-around (with the alias folder) you had any "catastrophic" issues...I think your solution is a fair one but wouldn't want to have to make more damage than good!

Thanks,

Cheers

Having the issue too. I have a complicated setup where my media files are on a drive attached to my Airport Extreme base station. My Library is on Dropbox so I can sync it between multiple Macs. It works surprisingly well and is cheaper than an NAS, but often the drive is asleep.

My current solutions are:

1. Play some music before ripping. This helps ensure the drive is not sleeping.
2. Check the music after each rip to ensure it didn't end up in the default folder. If it did (and it happens for unknown reasons), I right click and consolidate right away. Tedious, but it's the best solution I can think of. I usually then have to go back and switch folders again ... sigh.

Agree that it is tedious and wish it didn't switch back to the default drive.