Breaking up a large folder.

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Level 1

24 points

Breaking up a large folder.

I have a large folder of several thousand files in the iTunes directory (latest iTunes on my MPPro). It takes iTunes ages to do anything with it so I want to create some more folders called e.g. All Genre As, Bs, etc. I tried opening Finder to the iTunes music dir. and creating manually all the new folders I needed, copying the appropriate subset of files across and then creating a Playlist the same as the folder name and they appeared and played OK. The Info told me the file was in the new folder. NOTE i did not perform any action in iTunes apart from the above actions to create the Playlists. I then deleted the large folder from within iTunes by selection the album and did CMD Delete. This seemed to remove the large folder and its files to the Trash. BUT the files in the individual folders I created disappeared! Why? I would like to know but essentially how do I safety do what I want to achieve and get rid of the large folder for good leaving the split files intact?

Thanks.

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Yosemite (10.10)

Posted on Feb 13, 2016 9:44 AM

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Answer 1

turingtest2

Level 10

272,887 points

Feb 13, 2016 10:02 AM in response to omits

It is a Mac. When you move files around within the same volume OS X will ensure that they can still be accessed by file commands. Hopefully you can restore everything back to the way it was before you started. There is no reason to suppose that changing the physical layout on the disk will have any impact on performance. This is more likely to be in a power relationship to the number of tracks and smart playlists. If space is an issue it is best to move the entire library to a new drive large enough to house it and option start iTunes to connect to it on the new path. See Make a split library portable for details.

tt2

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Answer 2

omits Author

Level 1

24 points

Feb 13, 2016 10:09 AM in response to turingtest2

Thanks. The files had disappeared from Finder as well so not sure why even if I understand your explanation. I guess this is a quirk of iTunes "owning" the folders. I did restore back to a previous and started again. This time I am creating the folders as before, copying the files over, the "adding" the new folder into iTunes then creating a Playlist from there. I notice when I add the folder to iTunes it calls it "Unknown Album" under it's Album view. I rename it then create the playlist with the same name. Is this a better way of proceeding?

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Answer 3

turingtest2

Level 10

272,887 points

Feb 13, 2016 10:37 AM in response to omits

If iTunes is connected to a file on <Path A> and then you drag it to <Path B> on the same volume then iTunes can find and play the file if you try to play it, or remove it when you delete it from the library. This is a feature of the OS X operating system, not iTunes. The advanced iTunes preferences for the location of the media folder, and the options for Keep.. and Copy... control what happens in iTunes when you add content to the library, update metadata, or delete files. Only content inside the media folder should be relocated (if Keep... is active) or deleted.

Unless you have really good reasons for doing otherwise, and are prepared to experiment to get a deep understanding of exactly how iTunes behaves in response to the various settings, I would recommend you leave it to do the file management and concentrate on the logical organization of the library. If you're seeing Unknown Album for example that suggests you are importing untagged files, perhaps wavs. iTunes works best when each file has a meaningful tag that includes the album, artist, album artist, song name and track number. I'd also recommend album artwork, genre and year are completed. See Grouping tracks into albums for more.

You shouldn't need to create playlists for albums, artists, or genres as iTunes is already able to expose each of these collections.

tt2

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Answer 4

omits Author

Level 1

24 points

Feb 13, 2016 10:34 AM in response to turingtest2

Hm, yes I will watch out from now on. I use the Playlists because they display at the side and I send these to my iPod. I do not like the Album view as it scrolls so much I will look to see if it can be presented to the side - apparently not but I do have a lot of stuff. I have just reopened iTunes and the changes I made seem to have remained even though I deleted the copied files from their source (large) folder. Thanks again.

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Answer 5

turingtest2

Level 10

272,887 points

Feb 13, 2016 10:39 AM in response to omits

You're welcome. 🙂

And yes, playlists are the best way to manage what does and doesn't get synced to a device.

tt2

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