After Drive Replacement, iTunes Points To Wrong Folder Even After Adjusting Settings

I moved my music to a new hard drive. I then adjusted settings within iTunes to "point" to the folder on the new drive. The folder name is identical as are all the files within it. I did this a few months back and had no issues once iTunes "located" my files.

While it sometimes works to have iTunes try to mend broken links it is more of an emergency measure rather than standard procedure, and of course does not always work.

Here is how you move a library 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. Hold down the option (alt) key (shift on Windows) and open iTunes. At the prompt to create or choose a library choose the copied iTunes folder.

If this is to a new computer and you put the copied iTunes folder 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.)

If you really are talking about moving just music you need to let iTunes move it, not you. iTunes 12 for Mac: Change where your iTunes files are stored - http://support.apple.com/kb/PH19507

Your playlists are in the "iTules Library.itl" (and the .xml version) which according to what you say are not in the part of your library you were copying to the backup. You will have to start over with a new library, but at least you have the media files.

To resolve this we will need details. I don't know exactly what is where. Even though it "worked last time" I see people post with that and almost invariably there is something different in the scenario this time.

The iTunes application alone has no idea where media files are. You could drag all the media folders you like to the Media folder and it won't know. You could "point" iTunes to that folder in preferences and it still will never look there. iTunes knows where files are because as you add them to iTunes it puts them in the Media folder and makes a note in that .itl file where the files are located. When you try to play a track iTunes looks up in the .itl file which media file it should try to play when you request the track and goes to that location to play the file. If there file isn't there you get ! You have to mend the links one by one, or iTunes might try, based on you repairing links. to repair other links, but it doesn't usually work that way and is only partly successful at times (as we have already discussed). If you have ever walked into a store and see an empty shelf but their web site says they have 3 in stock and the sales person says all their stock is out on the shelf, iTunes is like that.

Here's a bunch of links on how iTunes works. As you can see, an entire library is a whole bunch of files and support folders working in concert and when they get split up iTunes starts misbehaving.

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/thread/6477809?answerId=26404702022#26404702022

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.

I don't see the dread word "NAS" in your posts but this is a classic issue with some NAS and a split library (library files on an internal drive and media files on an external drive). Are you using just plain vanilla hard drives here?

The problem is, there may be no way to fix them except one by one unless you are willing to give up play counts, ratings, and date added.

If it isn't presenting you with bad links then I don't know how to repair it. From what you said earlier the file you just displayed doesn't play but the link isn't broken.

I kind of think this happened because you were using RAID but I haven't seen many posts here with issues like that. I think it is more likely to happen where iTunes is having to address files on another drive from where the main library files are kept.