cul cul la praline

Q: iTunes Media Folder Renameable on External Drive (mac)

I have a 1TB collection of music in a folder on an external drive within a folder that is NOT called iTunes Media, but which until now had behaved as if it were.

 

I just switched to a clone of my old 1TB drive on a 1.5TB drive. After 11 hours of locating my 157000 tracks, I was able to find and use every track. However, when I added a new track, apparently I lost the ability to add new music tracks within the Music folder. Instead, a new iTunes Media folder was created within the folder which SHOULD have been called iTunes Media.

itunesfolderorganization.jpg

 

In the (new) iTunes Media folder there are a few folders containing the music I added after the switch. In the Music folder (below, but higher hierarchy) there is 1TB of music, which means it cannot be copied into the (new) iTunes Media file on the 1.5TB drive (not enough space).

 

Even though it would entail 100+ hours of new clone-backup time, the most logical solution would be to discard the embedded iTunes Media folder, rename the top-level folder iTunes Media, then let iTunes relocate the tracks again (over another 11 hours) and reload the few tracks loaded since the switch.

 

However I do not know if iTunes will allow this to work, and if so, what needs to be done in order to make it work.

 

Can the top-level folder be renamed? Do I need to untick and tick the Keep iTunes Media Folder Organized button?

 

Thanks

 

Mac OSX 10.6.8, iTunes 11.4

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on Sep 29, 2014 12:12 PM

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Q: iTunes Media Folder Renameable on External Drive (mac)

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  • by Limnos,

    Limnos Limnos Sep 29, 2014 12:31 PM in response to cul cul la praline
    Level 9 (54,277 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 29, 2014 12:31 PM in response to cul cul la praline

    I am getting a bit lost on what was done and exactly why you did it that way.  It looks to me like you use iTunes with standard preferences settings and you didn't so much move your media folder to the external drive as your whole iTunes library (everything in the top level folder including all the media files).  This should have been done simply by copying the iTunes folder from the old drive to the new one, renaming the AllMyiTunesMusic folder if you so desire, then starting iTunes while holding down the option/alt key and selecting that folder as the iTunes library to now start using.  Apart from the copy time when you could go away and drink a pot of coffee the actual labor time would be about 2 minutes.  I think you must have done something different which has kind of messed up your library and resulted in duplication of files.  Some of those folders such as Movies and the neighboring Music folder should be in the media folder, but don't move things about in Finder or iTunes may lose track of them and things will get worse.  If you can go back and do things properly then I recommend you do so, otherwise we can see what we can work with here.

     

    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

     

    Where are my iTunes files located? - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1391

     

    iTunes 9 [and later]: Understanding iTunes Media Organization - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3847 - plus supplemental information about organizing to new structure https://discussions.apple.com/message/26404702#26404702

     

    Image of folder structure and explanation of different iTunes versions (turingtest2 post) - https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-7392 and making an iTunes library portable.

  • by cul cul la praline,

    cul cul la praline cul cul la praline Sep 29, 2014 12:50 PM in response to Limnos
    Level 1 (19 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 29, 2014 12:50 PM in response to Limnos

    Thanks, Limnos. The top-level folder has been named that way though 7 or 8 years of iTunes releases... It was originally named that way to avoid conflicts with an old backup system years ago. The folder has expanded through the years, and there are no duplicates, as it has been meticulously managed on a daily basis. That's not the problem. The problem is, the folder is in the "new" iTunes Media folder organization (without being named as such), but for a newly introduced external media drive, it seems the latest version of iTunes will only place and manage media in a folder that is actually called "iTunes Media."

     

    It took so long to "find" all the files because the path had to be revised for each of the files, and I assume that a new name for the containing folder will entail a new round of path revisions. If it only takes a few minutes, that would be great, but I am prepared for the worst.

     

    I included a lot of information which may not be relevant. You say that I can rename "AllMyiTunesMusic" as "iTunes Media." That is what I would like to do, but there are many warnings online not to rename a folder "iTunes Media." These warnings may only apply to people who think they can simply rename the pre-iTunes 8, "iTunes Music" folder. But I wanted to make sure there wasn't another reason not to rename the folder.

     

    Thanks for the quick reply.

  • by Limnos,Helpful

    Limnos Limnos Sep 29, 2014 1:08 PM in response to cul cul la praline
    Level 9 (54,277 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 29, 2014 1:08 PM in response to cul cul la praline

    Read my links about how iTunes works.  A library folder is not the same as a media folder and it helps to keep the terminology straight.  As displayed your library folder is called "AllMyiTunesMusic" and your media is called "iTunes Media" except is appears that not all your media are in the media folder or there wouldn't be a movie folder and music folder directly inside the library folder.  Read the link on iTunes media organization.

     

    You can do things differently but you then have to take on media organization yourself which requires you memorize everything in those links I provided.

     

    Is there a compelling reason for calling the media folder other than "iTunes Media "?  I mean, if you were just storing the media folder somewhere else there may be, but if you are using iTunes preferences there shouldn't be.

     

    I don't use a recent iTunes but I haven't heard anybody say they have noticed a change in organization since changes with iTunes 9.

     

    You can rename your library folder.  I have 4 library folders, obviously all with different names.  If you rename it iTunes may need to check on file paths which may take some time.  I haven't changed the name of mine in 15 years so I can't say what exactly will happen.  At worst you will need to tell iTunes hte location of the library again by starting with the option key which shouldn't take much time.