Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

iTunes not showing everything that's on my external HDD library

#1

Might be an odd one this (and sorry if it's in the wrong section)


I've bought a 2017 27" iMac and moved to it, yesterday, from my 2012 Mac Mini


My iTunes account and folders/everything is on a 3TB external HDD, which ran faultlessly on my Mini, but now that I've moved it over to my iMac, it shows that everything isn't downloaded (has the small blue cloud next to every music album, movie and tv programme) and also none of it shows when I access my Library via my ATV3


As soon as I download something, it then shows!


Please can someone help me with this as I'm stumped and I don't want to start downloading everything to my iMac as I've simply not enough storage!


Thanks
***
To update this; I've got iTunes pointing at the external HDD for my iTunes folder, but it's showing all the stuff that's in there, more so all the movies I copied to my Mac Mini (they can be seen on the HDD, but iTunes isn't showing them)

iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2017), iOS 11.2.6

Posted on Mar 4, 2018 9:10 AM

Reply

Similar questions

3 replies

Mar 4, 2018 9:39 AM in response to d_a_n1979

Uh-oh, I see that dread word "pointing". If you did this in preferences that doesn't "point" to the location for old media.


It sounds to me like you either didn't do the relocation properly, or you were manually managing your media instead of letting iTunes do it. Normally relocating a library is an extremely easy process.


Apple's 6 pages of exhaustively meticulous step-by-step instructions: How to move your iTunes library to a new computer - https://support.apple.com/HT204318 Use this if you suspect any of your media are not in the standard location (iTunes Media folder).


My one-sentence summary if you always use iTunes' default preferences settings: Copy the entire iTunes folder (and in doing so all its sub-folders and files) intact to the other drive, hold down the option/alt key (shift on Windows) while starting iTunes, and when requested to select a library select the iTunes Library.itl file in the copied folder (Open a different iTunes Library file or create a new one - https://support.apple.com/HT201596).


When this is to a new drive/computer put the copied iTunes folder in the default location of Macintosh HD > Users > *User Name* > Music (or Home > Music) then you don't even need to start with the option key held down, iTunes will automatically look for it there. (Make sure there isn't anything already in the iTunes folder there that you want to keep since you will be replacing it with the one you are moving.) Remember to authorize the computer in iTunes to your Apple ID if you use this to sync to Apple mobile devices or play DRM protected media (e.g., movies).


If you don't see your entire library after you update iTunes on your Mac or PC - https://support.apple.com/kb/HT203225

iTunes not showing everything that's on my external HDD library

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple ID.