accidental placement of itunes media in wrong location

[ayres]

so i meant to place my bloated music library on an external (aka splitting it) but keep the rest of itunes on my mba's ssd. but i goofed. (i blame my daddy brain)

i forgot to uncheck the two boxes in advanced preferences before restarting itunes with the option key depressed & indicating that the music would be on the external.

so now, itunes won't open unless the external is plugged in.

so that i don't cause any more digital mayhem, could someone please advise me on the simplest way to get the intended result of keeping my music on an external but still be able to operate/open itunes without having to connect the external?

CHEERS!!!

 

[Ianbuckley]

Take look at this article: http://www.maclife.com/article/howtos/how_split_your_itunes_library_across_multiple_locations

 

[ayres]

Take look at this article: http://www.maclife.com/article/howtos/how_split_your_itunes_library_across_multiple_locations

thanks, but this does not answer my needs... i understand splitting libraries when starting from scratch (though i made a mistake). i'm needing to backtrack, and not sure of the most reasonable way to get back to having itunes media located on the mba's ssd, and have my music on an external.

i accidentally located the entire itunes library on the external, so when the external is not attached, and i open itunes, it requests that i either locate the existing library (ie attach the external) or i create a new library. i like using itunes for store browsing and podcasts without having to connect my external.

i figured that if attached the external, open itunes, go to advanced preferences, and deselect those two evil boxes (that i forgot to deselect in the first place), that i could then quit itunes, unplug the external, start itunes again, and all would be good again. i assumed that the playlists and albums would still appear but when trying to play a song, the exclamation would appear.

i was wrong.

when starting itunes, it still asks me to either locate the library or create a new one...

here's my question... if i do not connect my external, and create a new library, the itunes directory folders will be created on the ssd, right? (just like when you start using itunes on a new mac). but will my music library be empty?

and at that point, i guess i then have to ensure the two boxes in advanced preferences are deselected and i then link my external hd music to itunes.

any help?

 

[satcomer]

You might screwed up. You moved the iTunes Media manually and Apple doesn't like this in iTunes. You have to use iTunes itself to transfer in Library and the blog/video post article How to move an iTunes library to an external drive.