iTunes Library Relocation

[j3tang]

This is probably similar to 1000s of other threads asking for help transferring the iTunes library to an external drive. I've done my searching and i just can't get it to work ..

I have my collection of music in my "Music" folder on my mac, but i'd like to move all the music to an external drive. The folder on the external is "External/Music". I've transferred all my music over to the external drive, i go into iTunes and point the location of music collection to the new folder on the external drive (Preferences >> Advanced >> Change button)

I try to play some songs in iTunes and they're all broken links :s

Here are the settings in the advanced tab
i don't have "keep itunes music folder organized" checked,
i don't have " copy files to iTunes music folder when ..... " checked either.

I suspect the problem is because iTunes doesnt organize the music for me, and i refuse to let it do so. I've got a certain way that i organize my music, which is not the same as how iTunes does it. For this reason, the music is not actually in the "Music/iTunes/iTunes Music" folder but just in "Music" as i mentioned above. I'd like to keep the music organized the same way i have it now on the External; not let iTunes organize it for me.

Has anyone run into this problem before and know how to get around it?

 

[mad jew]

If you just let iTunes organise your music then all you have to do is change the location in the Preferences and iTunes will copy your files over for you. I don't even touch the Music folder on my Mac. There's no need when I use iTunes for everything. Really, don't be stubborn, just dooo it.

 

[sk3pt1c]

since you copied your music folder elsewhere, remove all the songs from itunes and then change the location of the library and re-load them into it. itunes will analyse them but of course not copy them onto themselves. depending on how many you have, it should take some time...
not too long though, i've got 17.000 and it took like 5 mins

 

[balamw]

Here are the settings in the advanced tab
i don't have "keep itunes music folder organized" checked,
i don't have " copy files to iTunes music folder when ..... " checked either.

I suspect the problem is because iTunes doesnt organize the music for me, and i refuse to let it do so. I've got a certain way that i organize my music, which is not the same as how iTunes does it. For this reason, the music is not actually in the "Music/iTunes/iTunes Music" folder but just in "Music" as i mentioned above. I'd like to keep the music organized the same way i have it now on the External; not let iTunes organize it for me.

Has anyone run into this problem before and know how to get around it?

You could always just copy the folder structure over and make ~/Music an alias (symbolic link) to the folder on the external...

From Terminal something like:

cp -ar ~/Music /Volumes/External/Music
mv ~/Music ~/Music.backup
cd ~
ln -s /Volumes/External/Music ~/Music

B

 

[mad jew]

since you copied your music folder elsewhere, remove all the songs from itunes and then change the location of the library and re-load them into it. itunes will analyse them but of course not copy them onto themselves. depending on how many you have, it should take some time...
not too long though, i've got 17.000 and it took like 5 mins

Does this keep playlists and playcounts?

 

[j3tang]

I like the way my music is organized, and it's been that way for years, i'd really hate to have to let iTunes redo it for me :s
I'd really like to keep my music organized the way it is : )
i didn't remove the music in iTunes cuz then i'd lose playcounts, etc.

I've since moved the music back into the original location on my drive and everything plays fine right now, so i have still yet to relocate everything onto the external yet

As for the alias .. i've tried that but i'm not getting the right results, and I'm wondering how iTunes is keeping track of where my music is.

my music in all it's categories, "Category 1", "Category 2", etc. ... all reside inside "Music".

The iTunes folder is also in "Music" >> Music/iTunes
and therefore the "iTunes Music" folder is in "Music/iTunes/iTunes Music"

Currently, the preferences is pointing to "Music/iTunes/iTunes Music" even though that folder is empty, since my music is just in the root of the Music folder. So how is it keeping track of my music if it's not even pointing in the right folder?

So going back to the alias suggestion, should i create an alias of "music" ? or should i create an alias of "Category 1", "Category 2" etc ??


I'm mightily confused at this point :s

 

[j3tang]

can anyone else offer any advice?

 

[quigleybc]

I use an external for all my iTunes music.

All I did, was go to preferances>advanced>and selected a folder I made on my external as my iTunes Music location.

Then, I went to the top of the screen, advanced>consolidate library.

and it copied everything to my external, then I trashed my original music folder.

Allow iTunes to organize your music folder.

Works great for me.

 

[cutemartin]

I use an external for all my iTunes music.

All I did, was go to preferances>advanced>and selected a folder I made on my external as my iTunes Music location.

Then, I went to the top of the screen, advanced>consolidate library.

and it copied everything to my external, then I trashed my original music folder.

Allow iTunes to organize your music folder.

Works great for me.

I'm trying to do the same, but the consolidation doesn't work! I get a message saying "Copying Music failed. The disk could not be read from or writted to".

The external HD is new today and working fine otherwise, the internal HD is also working otherwise.

Any ideas?

 

[mad jew]

cutemartin, how is the disk formatted? When you say it is otherwise working fine, does this mean you can read and write from/to it with a Mac?

 

[cutemartin]

cutemartin, how is the disk formatted? When you say it is otherwise working fine, does this mean you can read and write from/to it with a Mac?

The disk is formatted "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)"

Yes, I can read/write to it from the Mac.

Any help would be most welcome!!

 

[mad jew]

Okay, well I'd reformat the disk if it's not too much trouble (it's new, that's why I imagine it shouldn't be any drama). Also, select the disk and then Get Info from the File menu to see what the permissions are set at.

 

[cutemartin]

Okay, well I'd reformat the disk if it's not too much trouble (it's new, that's why I imagine it shouldn't be any drama). Also, select the disk and then Get Info from the File menu to see what the permissions are set at.

Thanks for your help, madjew.

I've still had no luck, so I'm sending the HDD back to the suppliers to be checked. Hoping that its the HD and not my Mac that's got the problem!!

Cheers!

 

[usedlime]

It's a problem with the drive

I had the "Copying Failed" problem and was able to work around the issue. I scanned my external drive that held my music with Tech Tool Pro and found I had bad blocks. The mp3 files that were written on these blocks were the cause of the problem. When trying to consolidate the iTunes library, I noticed which song would hang and then I would delete that song. Sometimes I would get the error so quickly it was hard to see which song file was the issue. Try restarting computer or iTunes, to see if it's easier to find where the consolidation hangs. Delete these song from your iTunes and then continue. I don't know if there's an easier way to find out the bad files. i did notice when selecting these particular songs in the iTunes library that it would hang for a few seconds or more.