iTunes managing media, but storing it in different locations

[punkromance]

I have the majority of my music on my laptop, but backed up to an external hard drive too.

My method of adding new music is using the "Copy files to iTunes Media Folder when adding to libary" and then I delete the downloaded songs from my download folder, leaving just the ones iTunes copied to the media folder.

My problem is when my external was plugged in and I added new music to iTunes, it added it to my media folder on my external HDD. When that wasn't plugged in, it added it to the media folder on my laptop.

So now I have my library in two places, the majority of which are the same, but a whole bunch of recent songs are only on one or the other.

How can I consolidate the two? I just tried changing the media folder location, and then selected the "Would you like iTunes to move and rename the files in your new iTunes Media folder to match the “Keep iTunes Media folder organized” preference?" option when prompted, but that only succedded in moving the files on my laptop. The ones that were on my external stayed there.

Anything ideas?

TL;DR
iTunes library split between two locations, internal and external HDD. How to consolidate?

 

[LaWally]

I have the majority of my music on my laptop, but backed up to an external hard drive too.

My method of adding new music is using the "Copy files to iTunes Media Folder when adding to libary" and then I delete the downloaded songs from my download folder, leaving just the ones iTunes copied to the media folder.

My problem is when my external was plugged in and I added new music to iTunes, it added it to my media folder on my external HDD. When that wasn't plugged in, it added it to the media folder on my laptop.

So now I have my library in two places, the majority of which are the same, but a whole bunch of recent songs are only on one or the other.

How can I consolidate the two? I just tried changing the media folder location, and then selected the "Would you like iTunes to move and rename the files in your new iTunes Media folder to match the “Keep iTunes Media folder organized” preference?" option when prompted, but that only succedded in moving the files on my laptop. The ones that were on my external stayed there.

Anything ideas?

TL;DR
iTunes library split between two locations, internal and external HDD. How to consolidate?

What is the iTunes Media folder location (iTunes -> Preferences -> Advanced)?

 

[punkromance]

What is the iTunes Media folder location (iTunes -> Preferences -> Advanced)?

It was originally in a folder inside that iTunes folder. When I changed it, it moved all of it from that folder into the new one, but all the files which were only on the external HDD stayed where they were.

For example, this song's moved properly:

The vast majority of my library is like that, but I have about a thousand songs which are only on the external.

 

[LaWally]

Image


It was originally in a folder inside that iTunes folder. When I changed it, it moved all of it from that folder into the new one, but all the files which were only on the external HDD stayed where they were.

For example, this song's moved properly:
Image

The vast majority of my library is like that, but I have about a thousand songs which are only on the external.

Can you easily identify the missing songs? If so, you should be able to use Add to Library to get them to the internal folder as you have all the proper checkboxes checked.

 

[punkromance]

Can you easily identify the missing songs? If so, you should be able to use Add to Library to get them to the internal folder as you have all the proper checkboxes checked.

Nah, that's the problem. I remember iTunes used to have a column field where you could order it by location, but I guess they've gotten rid of that now. At the moment the only way of finding out whether it's on my computer or the external is individually through the Get Info box, and I'm not doing that for 20,000 songs.

 

[Kate.]

So you're trying to corral the songs that are in the wrong location? If so, have you tried Doug's AppleScripts for iTunes? He seems to have a script for practically every occasion.

 

[punkromance]

So you're trying to corral the songs that are in the wrong location? If so, have you tried Doug's AppleScripts for iTunes? He seems to have a script for practically every occasion.

Yeah pretty much. I checked out that site and there wasn't anything there that dealt with it exactly, although there are some things that could maybe help.

One of them shows dead tracks, and then compiles a .txt listing them all. I could in theory make one, then remove the external and run it again. The ones added in the second run that weren't in the first should be all the ones on the external. I'll see how that works, although it seems like an extremely convoluted way of doing it.