trobert225

Q: Moving iTunes Music Folder: conflicting information

Hello. This is a somewhat complicated question, so bear with me as I give some background. I have a Mac Pro with 3 internal 1 TB drives. I use the Mac Pro mainly for music production with Logic Pro 10.1.1. It also contains my music library for DJing, and I also use it for business. I'm using iTunes 12.1.

 

Currently, my 2nd internal drive (NOT the boot drive) contains my Logic Projects, my iTunes Music folder, and a lot of business documents. My music files for DJing are in my iTunes Music folder, but the organization of my DJing music library is done by Pioneer's rekordbox 3.2.0 software. My 3rd internal drive currently contains only my music samples.

 

I plan to erase my boot drive (first time in 4 years of owning it) and reinstall all my software. I also plan to erase the 2nd internal drive. I do not plan to erase the 3rd internal drive.

 

When I restore files (from an external backup drive), I want to put ONLY my Logic Projects back on the 2nd internal drive. I want to move the iTunes Music folder (along with my other business files) to either the 3rd internal drive or the boot drive. My intention in doing this is to write less to the drive with my  Logic Projects.

 

So my question is this: I know that Apple's recommendation for moving the iTunes folder is to use the Change button in the "iTunes Media folder location" pane, along with the "Consolidate Files" function. However, rekordbox support advised me not to use the consolidate function, saying, "I would not consolidate - that will end up moving all sorts of files, making relocation MUCH more difficult within rekordbox." They instead advised me to simply put the iTunes music folder to where I want it when I restore files, then launch iTunes and see if the music still plays (I assume they meant also that I should use the Change button in the iTunes Media folder location pane).

 

My main concerns are these: a) I don't want to lose the metadata in my iTunes mp3 files (such as artist, BPM, grouping, comments, etc. and b) I don't want rekordbox to be unable to locate and/or read my iTunes files and their metadata, and I also don't want to lose cue points that I've added to my tracks using rekordbox.

 

If anyone has any thoughts, I would gladly welcome them, and if you made it this far, thanks very much for reading.

Mac Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9.5), 3.33GHz 6-Core 32GB RAM

Posted on Mar 26, 2015 11:35 AM

Close

Q: Moving iTunes Music Folder: conflicting information

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

  • by Limnos,Solvedanswer

    Limnos Limnos Mar 26, 2015 9:14 PM in response to trobert225
    Level 9 (53,936 points)
    Mac OS X
    Mar 26, 2015 9:14 PM in response to trobert225

    I know absolutely nothing about the other software you are using.

     

    iTunes is pretty unforgiving about moving files to a different drive except by specific methods.  To start, iTunes library.itl file is central to your media listing.  when you add a file to iTunes the application reads the file metadata and put that and the location of the file in its library file and uses that reference for pretty much everything.  If you move the file, in particular to another drive which is not normal moving but copying to a new file + deleting the old, iTunes loses the link.  iTunes also works with managing its own media file placement and you can disable this but you do not say if you have done this (but I think it possible if your other program wants to manage media too).  That too will change the rules on what you can do.

     

    Moving files to a different drive works in 3 scenarios:

     

    1) You keep all your iTunes files in one master iTunes folder and move the whole folder to the different drive, then start iTunes with the option/alt key held down and guide it toe the new (actually old) library on the other drive.

     

    2) Use iTunes to consolidate/organize the files to  different location, even on a different drive.

     

    3) Have kept iTunes' default preferences for organizing media and use Finder to copy the media folder to another drive, even if your main library file remains on another.  iTunes will complain about broken links but if you guide to one file in the new location it will (hopefully -- keep your fingers crossed -- and slowly) find the locations of the other files.

     

    iTunes is set up to be consumer level software.  One you go beyond the basics (as you are doing) you need to know in detail how the application operates.  Get used to browsing topics of relevance on this forum and read these links:

     

    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.

     

    Note when reading Apple help documents. They may look casual but word by word understanding to detail is absolutely critical. If they say "relocate your media" they mean just media which is not the same as a library which is all your iTunes files together.

  • by trobert225,

    trobert225 trobert225 Mar 27, 2015 8:11 AM in response to Limnos
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 27, 2015 8:11 AM in response to Limnos

    Hi Limnos,

     

    Thanks very much for your detailed reply and all the advice, I really appreciate it. I had already read some of the articles you suggested, but a lot I hadn't, so I have learned a lot already.

     

    So now I'd like to ask you a follow up question.

     

    First, a couple conclusions (and please correct me if you think these conclusions are wrong):

     

    One, my current iTunes Music folder contains all my music in an organized fashion, as I have always had the "Keep iTunes Media Folder Organized" and "Copy files to iTunes Media Folder when adding to library" checkboxes checked in the Advanced pane of iTunes prefs. So it appears to me that consolidation is not necessary, and I could simply restore my old iTunes Music folder to the ITunes Media folder (after reinsalling the OS).

     

    Two, I have a backup of my current iTunes folder, including the iTunes Library.itl and the iTunes Library.xml files. So, it seems that, after erasing my boot drive and reinstalling the OS, I will need to restore the iTunes Library.itl and the iTunes Library.xml files in order to retain my files' metadata (and rekordbox's use of the iTunes library).

     

    Assuming those assumptions are correct, my remaining question is whether I should, once iTunes is installed and my iTunes Music Folder and the .itl and .xml files are restored, relocate the iTunes Music Folder by launching iTunes with the option key held down, or use the change button in the "iTunes Media Folder location" window, or do something else.

     

    Any thoughts you have, I'd greatly appreciate.

     

    Best, Tim

  • by Limnos,

    Limnos Limnos Mar 27, 2015 9:25 PM in response to trobert225
    Level 9 (53,936 points)
    Mac OS X
    Mar 27, 2015 9:25 PM in response to trobert225

    I need to know which files and folders you have on which drives now.  You talked about wanting to move your media to a different drive and that is something iTunes does not like unless you do it right (as I mentioned before).  Most people keep their whole iTunes library (all the iTunes library files, support files and folders, media files) inside the iTunes folder.  This is easy to move (portable) because you simply start iTunes and guide it to the library file you want it to use.  You specifically said, "contains my Logic Projects, my iTunes Music folder" which implies your library is split with support folders on one drive and media on another. If you move only the media folder iTunes will lose track of the move and you will have to use method 3.  However, since you said this other software needs its own media organization I had assumed you were not letting iTunes manage your media which would have made method 3 impossible.

     

    The best solution will be to re-read the turningtest2 articles I linked earlier and make your library portable.  This will allow you to simply copy the entire iTunes folder (not the Media folder, not the Music folder, but the entire "iTunes Folder" including those) to whichever drive you desire and use the option+start method to tell iTunes where everything is located.  If you do it this way you should not notice any changes in your library.  You can omit the consolidate step if you wish but this is simply to ensure everything is indeed inside your iTunes folder before you copy it to the other drive.

  • by trobert225,

    trobert225 trobert225 Mar 28, 2015 1:53 PM in response to trobert225
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 28, 2015 1:53 PM in response to trobert225

    Hey Limnos, thanks for your additional help. The rekordbox support guy was insistent that I not use iTunes consolidate function (and, intuitively, it didn't make sense to me to use it, since all my music files were contained in one folder). So I decided to use migration assistant to restore my iTunes library (I mean the regular folder with the .itl and .xml files etc.). Then I just copied my music folder (i.e the folder containing my music files) to replace the empty Music folder in the iTunes Media folder. Both iTunes and rekordbox were able to read everything. So it all worked out fine, and now my library is portable. So thanks again for your help. Cheers, Tim