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Connect/restore iTunes Library located on a secondary drive to a new iTunes app to be installed on a new system drive (C, Windows 7)?

Apologies for my infelicitous summary question, but it reflects my jumbled head after trying to discover a method (if one exists) for restoring the exact features and functionality of my iTunes Library to my 'new computer' after I was forced to wipe my C drive (an SSD) in order to clean reinstall Windows 7 Enterprise. Fortunately (I imagined), in my previous installation of iTunes on what became a dysfunctional C drive, I had located my iTunes Library on a separate, secondary (D) drive (an HDD which has been reconnected in my 'new computer' with the same drive name). Unfortunately, I've been unable to determine exactly how to reconnect (and, I hope, fully restore) the existing iTunes Library on my D drive (where I want it to stay) with a new installation of iTunes (on my 'new' C drive).


Because of my uncertainty about how best to proceed (or, indeed, whether my aim can be achieved), I thought it prudent to wait to see if anyone responds before installing the most recent iTunes on my 'new' C drive and attempting to direct it (connect it) to my existing iTunes Library folders/files on my D drive.


Perhaps I should also note that all of my many music files are in the same Music folder (iTunes -> iTunes Media -> Music) on my D drive, but only those I have linked to iTunes are in my iTunes Library and are present in and playable by iTunes - and I'd like to keep it that way.


Rather than setting forth how I believe I can achieve my aim (or actually attempting it), my hope is that experts in the Apple community (such as turingtest2) will respond with a method without feeling obliged to correct my inexpert judgments about how the problem might be solved (if, indeed, it can be solved).


Thanks in advance!

Windows 7

Posted on Aug 26, 2015 12:27 PM

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Question marked as Best reply

Posted on Aug 27, 2015 12:41 PM

Hello rfloe,

Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.


From your post I see that you have an iTunes library on a separate hard drive, have iTunes installed on another drive but with no library associated with it, and you would like to point iTunes in the right direction to the library that already exists. Since you already have a fully functioning iTunes library on your D drive, all you need to do is select the iTunes Library on that drive by holding down the Shift key when opening iTunes. The steps for pointing iTunes in the right direction are outlined below.


  1. While holding down the Option key (Mac) or Shift key (Windows), open iTunes.
  2. When the Choose iTunes Library message appears, click the Choose Library button.
    User uploaded file
  3. Select the iTunes folder you just moved to the internal hard drive.
  4. Click Choose (Mac OS X) or Open (Windows).
  5. Then choose the iTunes Library file inside.

After following these steps, iTunes will open and your iTunes Library will be restored.

Back up your iTunes library by copying it to an external drive - Apple Support


Take care.

6 replies
Question marked as Best reply

Aug 27, 2015 12:41 PM in response to rfloe

Hello rfloe,

Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.


From your post I see that you have an iTunes library on a separate hard drive, have iTunes installed on another drive but with no library associated with it, and you would like to point iTunes in the right direction to the library that already exists. Since you already have a fully functioning iTunes library on your D drive, all you need to do is select the iTunes Library on that drive by holding down the Shift key when opening iTunes. The steps for pointing iTunes in the right direction are outlined below.


  1. While holding down the Option key (Mac) or Shift key (Windows), open iTunes.
  2. When the Choose iTunes Library message appears, click the Choose Library button.
    User uploaded file
  3. Select the iTunes folder you just moved to the internal hard drive.
  4. Click Choose (Mac OS X) or Open (Windows).
  5. Then choose the iTunes Library file inside.

After following these steps, iTunes will open and your iTunes Library will be restored.

Back up your iTunes library by copying it to an external drive - Apple Support


Take care.

Aug 27, 2015 2:28 PM in response to rfloe

Update -

Perhaps I should have waited a bit longer, studied a bit harder, before posting my question. I did eventually solve this problem, mostly by reading a lot of not very helpful and a few very helpful articles/posts. Among the most helpful were an oldish article (Nov. 30, 2011) by Jesse Hollington in iLounge (http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/moving-your-itunes-library-to -a-new-hard-drive/) and a more recent Apple Support Community standalone post (last modified July 4, 2015) by turingtest2 (Make a split library portable), which also provides links to other support documents and discussions of similar issues. Of course other articles/posts also helped along the way, but (predictably) none set forth a step by step procedure that was exactly applicable to my particular situation.


After reading turingtest2's article, I realized that I had only partially split my iTunes and wanted to fully split it (to make it more portable), so I followed his instructions and moved all the folders in the iTunes folder (except the iTunes Media folder) that I had saved from my previous, too dysfunctional C drive, to the iTunes folder on my D drive (after having saved elsewhere [in case I might need them] all but the iTunes Media folder from the D drive, which I left because it holds all my music).


Next I installed the latest version of iTunes (12.2.2.25x64) on my 'new' (clean install of Windows 7 Enterprise) C drive and set iTunes to find its way to my iTunes Media folder on my D drive through iTune's Edit->Preferences-> Advanced Preferences function. Because I don't want iTunes to mess with my Music folder (which contains many more artists and albums than I've put into iTunes), I made sure that both 'Keep iTunes Media folder organized' and 'Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library' were unchecked. For similar reasons I had always stayed away from the iTunes 'Organize Library' function and its two checkbox offers to Consolidate and/or Reorganize Media folder files for you (of course these functions might be relevant for users with different needs). Then I closed iTunes.


Finally, I crossed my superstitious fingers and opened iTunes while depressing the Shift key, clicked 'Choose Library' (rather than 'Create Library'), navigated to my D drive's 'iTunes' folder and, within that folder, clicked on the 'iTunes Library' folder (which contained several files gathered, it seems, under this name by the new iTunes, including their [apparently] recreated but [apparently] identical version of the crucial iTunes Library.itl data file whose most recent version I had earlier copied into the iTunes folder along with other files/folders recommended by turingtest2). Within a few seconds my 'new' iTunes opened and, to my relief, it contained everything and did everything that my previous iTunes contained and did...along with one pleasant surprise: viz., I discovered that music CD's ripped 4 to 10 times faster (previously up to ~9x, now as fast as ~47x).


Thanks turingtest2 and Jesse Hollington (and a few others) for helping me get my iTunes back...and make it more portable!

Aug 27, 2015 2:39 PM in response to chuck_3rd

Thanks, alex-hl, for your identification of an important part of the process which got my iTunes up and running. As my Update post shows (which I must have been writing while you were replying), I didn't quite understand the complexities of my situation when I first posted. Hopefully others will benefit from your guidance. I appreciate your expertise and generous spirit!

Aug 29, 2015 6:44 AM in response to turingtest2

Thanks for the good will, turingtest2. Happily, I discovered that you had already answered most of my questions (including questions that I wasn't aware I should have asked). Worldwide, users of Apple, Microsoft, and other products have been very fortunate that you have been so willing and able to help them.

THANK YOU!

Connect/restore iTunes Library located on a secondary drive to a new iTunes app to be installed on a new system drive (C, Windows 7)?

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