Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

itunes library problem... help!!

J

jrm27

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 3, 2008
579
31
Hi all,
So a few weeks ago I bought an external hard drive to put all my music (from multiple computers) on, with the plan of making it my itunes library that I would then only access from my macbook pro. Everything was working great. I got all the songs onto my macbook pro, and then began consolidating my library to the external hard drive. My plan was then to go into my macbook pro after everything had been transferred over to the external hard drive, and delete everything in my music folder to free up space.

Well, during the consolidation we must have had a power failure or something, because the computer shut down and thus stopped the transfer. Now, itunes is looking to my external drive for my music (some of which is there), but since the transfer stopped at some point before it was complete, there are a bunch of songs that didnt move, and therefore it can't "find". I havent deleted any of the stuff from my macbook pro music folder, so everything is still all there, but it is not looking there for my music.

So, I need help. What is my next step? I'm thinking of completely uninstalling itunes, reinstalling it, directing it to my macbook pro music folder (which in theory still has all my stuff) and then reconsolidating to the external hard drive. Does that make sense? Can anyone give me some direction on a better plan? Thanks!

-jon
 
Reinstalling iTunes is pointless. It won't address your problem, and it's unnecessary. There are several approaches to take. One is to manually move all your music files to the external drive, then remove everything from your iTunes library and re-add them all from the external. Another approach is to simply add the folder from the external drive to your library, then do the same with the files on the internal drive. That way, everything will be in your library. Be sure that you have UNchecked "Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library", or it will make duplicate files.
 
Thanks for the response!

So, I should get all my media together on the external then (a seperate folder for music and movies), then wipe my itunes library. Then assign the itunes library to a new (empty) folder on the external drive, and do the whole "add folder to library" thing telling itunes to import my music/movie folders from my external drive. Is that right?

Will it copy all the music from the folders into the new itunes library? What do I need to do to move all my iphone stuff (games, backups)? Same thing?

Sorry, just a little confused. I had received advice earlier to precisely not manually get all my music together and add to library that way. Now I'm just willing to try anything!

-jon
 
Here's one method:
  1. Create a folder on the external drive called "iTunes"
  2. Create a sub-folder under "iTunes" called "Music"
  3. Create a sub-folder under "iTunes" called "Movies"
  4. Move all your music to the iTunes/Music folder on the external drive
  5. Move all your movies to the iTunes/Movies folder on the external drive
  6. Remove all files from your iTunes library. In iTunes:
    • Select all
    • Option+Delete
    • Choose "Remove"
    • Choose "Keep Files"
  7. Now your iTunes library should be empty and all files located on the external drive.
  8. In iTunes > Preferences > Advanced:
    • UNcheck "Keep iTunes Media folder organized"
    • UNcheck "Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library"
    • Change "iTunes Media folder location" to your iTunes folder on the external drive.
  9. In iTunes, click File > Add to Library and select your iTunes folder on the external drive.
 
Just out of curiosity, why would I uncheck the "organize" and "copy to itunes media folder" boxes? When I download new music, I'd certianly want it added to my itunes library. Just wondering if I am missing something.

Also, how would this affect my apps and such? Thanks for your help!
 
jrm27 said:
Just out of curiosity, why would I uncheck the "organize" and "copy to itunes media folder" boxes? When I download new music, I'd certianly want it added to my itunes library. Just wondering if I am missing something.

Also, how would this affect my apps and such? Thanks for your help!
Click to expand...
You can still add music to your library. By unchecking the "Copy to", iTunes will add the music where it is, but not make a copy of it, so you won't end up with duplicate files. You can still download directly to your iTunes/Music folder, so it will be in the proper place.

Some people prefer leaving those boxes checked, and some don't. That's why I said "Here's one method". I prefer my music file organization to the method iTunes uses, which is much less organized.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back