Moving library question

Question

Level 1

10 points

Moving library question

I read a bunch of threads about moving a library, but I couldn't find one which matched my scenario...

I have had my library on an external drive for a while, and I just purchased a larger external HDD to migrate to. I cloned the old drive to the new one, then started working on telling iTunes about the move. I then realized that my Library.itl file and a bunch of other files are still on my internal boot drive. Do I need to move these files? They obviously have been pointing to the old external HDD, and I just want to redirect them. What is the easiest way to do this?

Thanks!

Mac mini, OS X Mavericks (10.9.4)

Posted on Sep 7, 2014 1:43 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Jason L

Community Specialist

Sep 9, 2014 8:00 AM in response to bcemail

Hi bcemail,

Welcome to Apple Support Communities.

It sounds like you want to know if you've successfully moved your iTunes Media folder to a new external drive. The articles linked below will provide details about moving and viewing alternate libraries, which should address your concerns.

iTunes for Mac: Moving your iTunes Media folder

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1449

iTunes: How to open an alternate iTunes Library file or create a new one

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1589

I hope this helps.

-Jason

Reply

Answer 2

Limnos

Level 10

411,109 points

Sep 9, 2014 12:50 PM in response to bcemail

You didn't have your "library" on the external drive, only your media. A "library" is everything in the iTunes folder which would normally also include media. In your case the library is split. Even Apple's documents talking about this are unclear. Use JasonL's first link to relocate your media to the new drive if it is still using media on the old drive. It is possible iTunes has started using media on the new drive but this only happens if the drive is arranged exactly as the old one was (as cloning would do) and also have exactly the same name.

Consider unifying your library again to facilitate future moves. turingtest2 article: Make a split library portable - https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-7392

Reply

Answer 3

bcemail Author

Level 1

10 points

Sep 28, 2014 7:02 AM in response to Limnos

Well, I've tried following all the directions in the links, but can't figure it out. When I open the Music folder in my new HD, there were some iTunes media files there already, but iTunes Library.itl was not there. I copied that over from my internal drive, then opened iTunes while holding Option and chose the iTunes Library folder on my new HD. It was still using the files from my old HD (I chose a song and used "Show in Finder" to confirm). I tried this with my old HD unplugged, and iTunes could not find the songs (they have exclamation points). I also tried the advice to Organize Library, but that didn't seem to help.

Is there a step I'm missing to tell iTunes that the files are the same, just on a new HD? I wasn't sure how hard it was to show it where all the songs were manually.

Thanks again

Reply

Answer 4

bcemail Author

Level 1

10 points

Oct 10, 2014 1:50 PM in response to bcemail

Any other ideas? iTunes is killing me. Is there anyway to create a new itl file and just have it scan my new HD and re-add everything?

Reply

Answer 5

bcemail Author

Level 1

10 points

Oct 10, 2014 4:46 PM in response to bcemail

I followed these instructions, and basically copied my whole library again. It seems to have worked, except about half my album art is missing, but I can live with that:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1449

Reply