how to get iTunes to NOT default the library folder when external HD not detected?

[sk3pt1c]

hey guys and dolls,
i have a Western Digital MyBook Studio external hard drive on which i keep my music and media in general. My music alone takes up around 160gb so i needed an external drive. I've changed the default iTunes Library folder to one in my external drive and have let iTunes organize everything inside it and it all works well... the thing is though that when i launch iTunes and the external HD is not detected (power failure for example, no power for the HD but my macbook pro works fine) it defaults to the folder it had set at first, the Music folder in my Home folder.
Is there any way i can stop it from doing that?
it sounds pretty thick to me to check if the folder is set properly whenever i add music to the library and i can't know whenever i get back home if it's defaulted to my Music folder for whatever reason...
this is probably the one thing that pisses me off about iTunes so far...
so any help would be greatly appreciated, thank you!

 

[mgpg89]

It's only logical that iTunes selects another library available if your default one can't be found ...

Would you rather that iTunes doesn't launch at all if your external HD isn't detected?


Btw, if you hold the option key when launching iTunes, it lets you select the library you want to use.

 

[sk3pt1c]

even if it does launch, all the media will be missing so i'd rather get a pop-up or something telling me that it can't find the library, so i at least know that there has been a problem and i need to re-set it...
is there a way to force it to not default to the Music folder when it can't find the library?

 

[plinden]

I think it should access your proper library the next time your Mac's connected to your external drive. Defaulting to ~/Music/iTunes is just a way of allowing you to continue running iTunes on the road.

 

[sk3pt1c]

that's the thing, it doesn't access it, you have to quit and start iTunes again for it to actually find the external drive library, which sucks...
if there's no media in the library there's really no use in it running, is there?
so, can i force it to stay on the external drive library?
or at least display a warning when it can't find it?