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Itunes and external hard drive

K

KLTjonez

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 26, 2006
15
0
I needed to get an external hard drive because my itunes was getting to big. I moved it over to my hard drive exactly the way i was supposed to. I even checked to make sure it all got transfered over right and it was all there. Now some how everything from my itunes library is gone. My videos, music, and everything I bought from the store. Does anyone know how this happened and how I could fix it. Is this fixable? I have my ipod with all my music on there. Can anyone help? Thanks
 
How did you transfer your library. Did you check iTunes itself to see if it links to the right library on your External Drive?
 
alexstein said:
How did you transfer your library. Did you check iTunes itself to see if it links to the right library on your External Drive?
Click to expand...

I have a Lacie hard drive and i was told to change it by going to preferances and changing itunes music folder location to the lacie hard drive. And then they told me to move my music from the users, music folder into the new hard drive.
 
KLTjonez said:
I have a Lacie hard drive and i was told to change it by going to preferances and changing itunes music folder location to the lacie hard drive. And then they told me to move my music from the sharing folder into the new hard drive.
Click to expand...

hmmm...something sounds funny about you calling it or having it in the 'sharing folder'.
 
1. Are your music and video files on the Lacie hard drive? If so, where? (the exact name of the folder(s))

2. What folder is selected in iTunes preferences as being your music folder?

3. Did you move or delete your iTunes Music Library file?

As a side note, I found that video files I had added to iTunes would NOT sync to the iPod on my computer unless located on my boot drive.
 
iSaint said:
hmmm...something sounds funny about you calling it or having it in the 'sharing folder'.
Click to expand...

Yes indeed. Sounds a little of. To the OP here is a link that goes into detail how to move your iTunes library to a different location.

LINK
 
Did you change your preferences in iTunes to indicate the new location of files? (under the Advanced tab, and it is called (iTunes Music folder location) I have all my music on an external disk so I know it works fine. You may need to just reload your library file from the external disk.

Kimo
 
ok here it is exactly

I guess my friend didn't really know how to do it because all he told me to do was change the location of the itunes music folder location to the new hard drive and then go to users find my itunes music folder move that into the new hard drive then erase it off my computer to free up space on the hard drive. This is what he told me to do and that is what i did. I then went back to check to make sure it all transfered right and it was all there. A couple of days later i go to the external hard drive and my itunes looks as blank as when i first got it. Now he never told me to erase itunes of my computer so that it is just located on the hard drive. So with out the new hard drive connected i have a blank itunes on my computer. Again a couple of days later i go to look at itunes on my new hard drive and it is as blank as the one on the hard drive. Does anyone know what happened and how i can get ALL my music back. I did see a folder that said previous itunes libraries, but I can't get it open. I am not very good at this whole trying to find were stuff went to and transfering things around which is why I had a friend who "knew" what to do help me. Honestly did I really loose all my stuff or is it hidden somewhere. I do have all my music on my ipod, but not all the videos. I there a way I can get all my music from my ipod back onto my computer? Do I have to start all over again? The itunes doesn't even show that i have an ipod. It's like i never had anything. please help thanks
 
alexstein said:
Yes indeed. Sounds a little of. To the OP here is a link that goes into detail how to move your iTunes library to a different location.

LINK
Click to expand...
I did have it set up exactly like this link says and that is what my friend told me to do.
 
1. Locate your music files on the external drive.

2. Remember where the files are.

3. Open iTunes.

4. File > Add to Library > navigate to where the music files are, hit cmd+a then hit ok

5. Might take awhile, but it will add the files to the library.

Also, make sure you don't have the option selected to copy files locally within iTunes.
 
baummer said:
1. Locate your music files on the external drive.

2. Remember where the files are.

3. Open iTunes.

4. File > Add to Library > navigate to where the music files are, hit cmd+a then hit ok

5. Might take awhile, but it will add the files to the library.

Also, make sure you don't have the option selected to copy files locally within iTunes.
Click to expand...
my problem is, is that I can't find where all my music went to it isn't on my external or my computer hard drive. The music files are the same on both my external and my computer empty
 
You can try this:

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/17443

If that doesn't work, then you may have accidently deleted your music. I suspect your music is still on your hard drive or drives somewhere. Try searching for a specific song file within the Finder. Use the shortest name possible (not the whole song), or try to search or ".mp3" or ".m4a" and see if any files are on your computer.
 
So I got an idea and it worked. I finally realized that if I opened my external hard drive and looked at how much space was available and yup there is exactly 17 GB of space used which is exactly how large my itunes was. Now that I know it's all there I just need to be able to retrieve it.
 
baummer said:
1. Locate your music files on the external drive.

2. Remember where the files are.

3. Open iTunes.

4. File > Add to Library > navigate to where the music files are, hit cmd+a then hit ok

5. Might take awhile, but it will add the files to the library.

Also, make sure you don't have the option selected to copy files locally within iTunes.
Click to expand...
Ok I found all my music in the itunes music folder that was on my external hard drive. I did this and i wont let me add to library.
 
KLTjonez said:
Ok I found all my music in the itunes music folder that was on my external hard drive. I did this and i wont let me add to library.
Click to expand...

It will start adding the music to my itunes library and when it get close to being done and then itunes shuts down. What do I do?
 
KLTjonez said:
It will start adding the music to my itunes library and when it get close to being done and then itunes shuts down. What do I do?
Click to expand...

Well since I re-read your post, do you have a FW LaCie or USB 2.0? Did the music that transfered over to your HDD stay there when iTunes stopped or not? If not try putting half of it over and check it, then the other half and check it again. Open it up (iTunes) before trying to transfer anything again and see what you get, just so this doesn't get any uglier than it has.
 
Thanks to everyone for there help I've got it all back:) and put in the right place
 
Make sure you put an alias to the new folder on your hard disk.

That way it won't reset when you eject the disk.
 
Moving music to External HD

I am new with Mac's and I am trying to move all of my Itunes music onto an external hard drive. First I tried clicking and dragging, No luck. Can anyone give me some advice on how to move the files?
 
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