Duplicate copies of music files

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Level 1

52 points

Duplicate copies of music files

I just bought a new Macbook Pro with OS X Yosemite, and have been transferring content from other computers.

I had a substantial music collection in iTunes on a Windows 7 system. To transfer it to the new Mac, I copied all the folders/files from MyMusic/iTunes on the Windows box onto an external hard drive, and then copied them onto the Mac under /Users/myname/Music/iTunes.

When I then started iTunes, all of my music appeared correctly. However, it now looks to me as though iTunes on the Mac has made a second copy of all of the music files. In addition to the folders/files I placed in /Users/myname/Music/iTunes, there is now another set under /Users/myname/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music.

So my question is this. I assume that the copy that iTunes for Mac wants is the set under /Users/myname/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music. Am I safe in deleting the folders/files I placed directly under /Users/myname/Music/iTunes?

Posted on Apr 18, 2015 8:54 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

sberman

Level 10

264,075 points

Apr 18, 2015 10:52 PM in response to FrankO23

The simple answer is "yes".

The cautious answer (which I recommend) is to delete a few files from /Users/myname/Music/iTunes and then check to see that all is behaving as expected. It should be.

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Answer 2

FrankO23 Author

Level 1

52 points

Apr 18, 2015 10:52 PM in response to sberman

Thanks, your note about caution is well-taken, but since I figured I could always start over and redo the transfer from scratch if things didn't go well, I went ahead and removed all of the files directly under /Users/myname/Music/iTunes. Everything seems to be fine.

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Answer 3

sberman

Level 10

264,075 points

Apr 18, 2015 10:55 PM in response to FrankO23

Great!

One additional test you can do is use iTunes' menu to click View > Show Duplicate Items and make sure you see what you expect.

Enjoy your new MacBook Pro!

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