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Level 1

9 points

music on external drive has 'cloud' icon beside them

hiya, i didn't think i was able to access my music library that i copied onto my new external hard drive but i was able to find the iTunes library.itl folder. I was then able to open iTunes via my hard drive. I'm just checking to make sure that my music is on on the hard drive and it is but every single once has a cloud beside it which i assume means its in the cloud? but i can hear my hard drive whirling away as I'm scrolling through iTunes so Im also assuming that my iMac is reading from the external drive.. so why are my songs in the cloud still?

I'm confused, can anyone clarify for me what the heck I've done/ 😟

Posted on Jul 24, 2015 6:03 PM

61 replies

moondidge Author

Level 1

9 points

Aug 9, 2015 7:36 AM in response to turingtest2

Hi tt2

I want to scream now. I was about to start deleting my music files, thinking all was well. Decided to triple check my music and clicked on an old album which then listed all the individual tracks, which showed clouds with exclamation marks in them. Ive now gone into loads more albums and can see these clouds on every.single.song. when iTunes shows me my music it shows the album cover and no clouds are on these which is why i didn't pick up on it earlier. I know what these clouds mean.

Re. the active .itl file, well I've taken a screen shot (see below) which shows todays date on it HOWEVER it is black and always has been. Of course its not black on my iMac HD.

Why has it all gone completely wrong tt2? Have I f**ked it up?

very gutted

😢

moondidge Author

Level 1

9 points

Aug 9, 2015 7:37 AM in response to moondidge

turingtest2

Level 10

272,955 points

Aug 9, 2015 9:39 AM in response to moondidge

Alt/Option-start-iTunes and go back to the iTunes Library.itl file stored in your <User>/Music/iTunes folder on your internal drive. Check content plays and doesn't turn cloudy. If we can get back to where we were we can move everything on the external to one side and try again.

tt2

moondidge Author

Level 1

9 points

Aug 9, 2015 10:18 AM in response to turingtest2

Ok.

iTunes library.itl as stored in user>music>iTunes plays all my music with no pesky clouds. Heres a picture

As compared to my untitled HD which looks like this (I know I sent it already but Im just double checking;)

I'm sorry to repeat to myself but just for clarification, I've twice now noticed that when I try to copy over the .itl file… it turns black, I guess this is what is causing my clouds to appear? Anyway, I hope I've answered your question.

Thanks for your patience tt2

turingtest2

Level 10

272,955 points

Aug 9, 2015 11:11 AM in response to moondidge

I don't know why the colour of the icon changes, but I don't think it matters.

Let's take things slowly. On the volume UNTITLED make a new folder called OLD STUFF. Move everything on that drive apart from OLD STUFF into OLD STUFF. Make sure doing this hasn't broken your library. Even if some of your active content is somewhere inside these folders OS X is more forgiving than Windows when you move things around on the same volume so I don't expect any problems.

Let me know when that it is done.

tt2

moondidge Author

Level 1

9 points

Aug 9, 2015 11:42 AM in response to turingtest2

I've done it tt2

🙂

moondidge Author

Level 1

9 points

Aug 9, 2015 11:45 AM in response to moondidge

my library - user>music>itunes is playing music with no pesky clouds 🙂

turingtest2

Level 10

272,955 points

Aug 9, 2015 2:15 PM in response to moondidge

OK, lets repeat what we tried earlier, but with a pause in the middle.

Close iTunes if it is open and wait for it to fully save the library files.
Make a new empty folder called iTunes in the root of the UNTITLED external drive.
I'd be grateful if you would make sure to observe the correct casing, capital T and everything else in lower case.
Copy the following items from <User>/Music/iTunes into /Volumes/UNTITLED/iTunes.

iTunes Library.itl
iTunes Library Extras.itdb
iTunes Library Genius.itdb
Album Artwork

Option/Alt-start-iTunes and open the library file at /UNTITLED/iTunes/iTunes Library.itl. Check that the content plays as expected.

Let me know how you're getting on.

tt2

moondidge Author

Level 1

9 points

Aug 9, 2015 3:09 PM in response to turingtest2

So far so good , music that had clouds beside them earlier do not & play fine. There is one difference which I noticed before but did not comment as (I thought at the time) it didn't seem to matter.

Your last point #4 I don't see exactly what you say 'alt/start iTunes & open library file untitled/iTunes/iTunes Library.itl.

When i alt/start itunes, I click on Choose the library, it opens into my Untitled drive, I click on the iTunes folder I've just created & press Open, then itunes opens up with all my content.

turingtest2

Level 10

272,955 points

Aug 9, 2015 3:26 PM in response to moondidge

Great. If you select a folder that contain an iTunes Library.itl file and click Open it seems like it opens the correct file. You can check that it really has opened that file by looking at Date Modified.

Under iTunes > Preferences > Advanced change the media folder to /UNTITLED/iTunes/iTunes Media. The easiest way to do this should be to click the Reset button. If you need to make the folder yourself please call it iTunes Media with capital T and M as given. If iTunes prompts to consolidate say no at this time.
Under File > Library > Organize Library tick both boxes if you can, otherwise tick Consolidate files and click OK. Wait while files are copied...
Check that your content still plays as expected.

You should find that new copies of the files have been arranged in the desired folder structure within the new iTunes Media folder.

tt2

moondidge Author

Level 1

9 points

Aug 9, 2015 3:46 PM in response to turingtest2

Ok tt2, I've done it exactly as you said. I checked the .itl file in my iTunes folder and despite it being black (still!) the date and time shown was half an hour ago which is spot on, all the files showed that time intact apart from one. Sod it, heres a picture (for the sake of clarification !

in advanced preferences I clicked the reset button and it immediately changed to //Untitled/iTunes/iTunes Media. After clicking ok, a dialogue box popped up asking me if I wanted to rearrange my files etc. etc., sorry can't remember exactly what it said but it didn't take long and the request seemed reasonable. Could only Consolidate files and that is what is happening now. I know from the previous time that this takes FOREVER 😉

The first time I did this I did exactly as you said bar not putting the right name in advanced preferences/naming the file incorrectly. Fingers crossed that is what caused my problem as Im pretty sure I did everything else you said.

I pray this works this time tt2, thank you for not giving up on me 😉

Will let you know how it goes tomorrow

Cautiously optimistic 🙂

turingtest2

Level 10

272,955 points

Aug 9, 2015 4:15 PM in response to moondidge

I'm sure it will be fine. 🙂

I notice there are new Automatically Add to iTunes and Downloads folders at the root of the external drive. You should be able to delete these and not have them reappear now.

tt2

moondidge Author

Level 1

9 points

Aug 10, 2015 9:32 AM in response to turingtest2

Hi tt2, all seem well 🙂

Music now playing and no pesky clouds and exclamation marks. Ive also moved automatically add to iTunes and downloads to the trash bin.

Is this really it now?

Ever hopeful

🙂

turingtest2

Level 10

272,955 points

Aug 10, 2015 10:21 AM in response to moondidge

Clone the iTunes folder from UNTITLED to your other external drive as a backup. Rename the iTunes folder inside your internal <User>/Music folder as NOT iTunes. Prove that the library on the external still works, and the clone on the other drive works independently when it is the only thing connected. I'd also check a few random tracks with Get Info > File tap to confirm the tracks are inside the media folder of the library you have open.

When you're ready you can delete NOT iTunes, Old Stuff and any other duplicates you have on the other external drive.

Try Synkron for keeping the two copies of the library in sync.

tt2

moondidge Author

Level 1

9 points

Aug 10, 2015 4:21 PM in response to turingtest2

tt2, I think its all ok 😁 😁 🙂

still a few more tests to run but so far so good. have done as you suggested, copied iTunes folder from untitled HD onto my no.2 HD and both were running iTunes. Have renamed my iTunes folder on my internal HD as Not iTunes and both libraries on ext HD still work. Will run each hard drive independently tomorrow (run out of time now) and all going well I shall then delete in internal 'not iTunes' library off my hard drive.

Woohoo!

Will let you know if I have any problems 😉

But I'm really hopeful it will be fine.

Kindest regards

eternally grateful

Beverley

🙂

ps. you really are a saint you know 😉

music on external drive has 'cloud' icon beside them