Q: Consolidating itunes once iTunes is moved to an external drive
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Mar 6, 2015 7:40 AMby hhgttg27,You've posted this on the Windows forum but I'll assume that the essentials are similar for a Mac.
First of all "I have also told iTunes in Preferences to look for the iTunes Media Folder location on my external hard drive" is not exactly what that setting does. The iTunes Media folder location setting in Edit > Preferences > Advanced determines where iTunes will put new media when added to the library. It will, though, determine what iTunes does when you use the File > Library > Organize Library... function, which will move any media that's outside the media folders into that structure.
What you want to have is the data on your external drive structured like this:
where the settings on Edit > Preferences > Advanced should be as follows:
- This is the location of your media files - on your case, Volumes/MacBook Air Backup Drive/iTunes/iTunes Media. For a "well formed" layout the iTunes Media folder should be contained in the same folder in which the iTunes database file (iTunes Library.itl) is stored.
- When checked, this ensures that media files are placed in a consistent folder structure where file and folder names are set based on the metadata in the iTunes library
- This ensures that all media you add to the library (irrespective of the method by which it is added) goes into the media folders defined in (1). The rules about adding media are not as simple as you might think ...
To answer your question: "When I consolidate files in "Organise Library"-does this get saved onto my *internal* hard drive, and if yes, does it take up space?" ...
The Consolidate Files operation will:
- do nothing to media files that are already in the standard folder layout/locations on your external drive
- move any media files that are on your hard drive but in locations outside the standard layout into those folders (potentially renaming files if you have the Keep iTunes Media folder organize option checked
- copy any media that is on a different drive to the standard folder layout/locations on your external drive.
Only the third of these cases will increase the amount of space being used by the library on your external drive. If you've structured and configured your library on the external drive, it will not make any changes to your internal drive. Turingtest2's user tip on Make a split library portable goes into more detail about the preferred structure of the library folders, necessary to having a complete library on an external drive, as well as the steps that may be necessary to bring your library into the right layout.
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Mar 6, 2015 8:33 AMby turingtest2,Psych13 wrote:
... iTunes now works when my external drive is connected to my laptop (and doesn't work if my external drive is *not* connected)
If by "doesn't work" you mean that iTunes says the library is missing and prompts you to choose or create one, then my guess is that things are set up correctly. If nothing plays then you need to check the media folder location after connecting the external drive and restarting iTunes as the path may have reset to the default internal path. As suggested the Make a split library portable tip should help out if your library is currently split.
Don't neglect to backup your library to an independent hard drive in case the active drive fails at some point.
tt2
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Mar 6, 2015 9:12 AMby Psych13,Hi hhgttg27.,
Thanks for this: OK, have just had a few mins. to check the structure of my external drive, and yes, I do have it set up like that: iTunes-iTunes Media-Music, but I also have an iTunes media folder that sits underneath (so in the same structural level)-whatever the terminology is called, as iTunes.
Within the iTunes Media folder that sits right below the iTunes folder, I have: Automatically add to iTunes; Mobile Applications; Music, Podcasts and Tones. These are the same folders that are actually in the iTunes Media folder, as per your structure above; the only difference is that in my iTunes Media folder (as per your structure above), I also have a downloads folder; this downloads folder is *not* in the iTunes Media folder that sits below iTunes; I hope I am making sense? I don't know how to do a screen shot; it would be easier if I could show you but am hoping you understand what I am talking about.
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Mar 6, 2015 9:27 AMby turingtest2,Are the screenshots not turning up on your desktop?
- In Mac OS X v10.6 and later, the screenshots are saved as PNG files on the desktop. They're automatically named "Screen shot (date and time).png." You can open these screenshots with Preview or other image editing apps.
Once there you can insert into a post with the camera tool or drag & drop.
tt2
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Mar 6, 2015 9:37 AMby turingtest2,What is the path to the media folder under iTunes > Preferences > Advanced?
Compare the content of //<Device>/iTunes/iTunes Media and //<Device>/iTunes Media. Does it look like one is a straight duplicate of the other, or is some media only in one of these two alternate folders?
Check by looking at last modified dates that the active library file is the one at //<Device>/iTunes/iTunes Library.itl.
tt2
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Mar 6, 2015 9:41 AMby Psych13,The path to the media folder under iTunes-Preferences-Advanced is:
/Volumes/MacBook Air Backup Drive/iTunes/iTunes Media
When you say "compare the content of device: which device and where am I looking? Am I looking at my external hard drive set up or am I looking in iTunes-Preferences?
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Mar 6, 2015 9:46 AMby Psych13,Oh-I just figured it out! As I said, the content of the folders is the same: only difference is that one of the iTunes Media folders contains a "downloads" folder....having looked at the structure in the posting above byhhgttg27 I think my downloads folder is in the right iTunes media folder.
