Moving iTunes library woes...

[colourmebad]

...Hope someone might be able to help.

My library has got too big for my laptop hard-drive, so I've copied everything over to an external. I copied everything in the iTunes folder, inc the library files and all that stuff that I don't really understand what it is/does. Once everything copied I deleted everything off my internal hard drive, and changed the iTunes music folder location to the folder with all my mp3s in it (HD>iTunes>iTunes Music). But my iTunes library is still empty. What should I do?

Also, have I still got all of my playlists etc? I'm a bit worried as they've all disappeared from sight.

 

[Consultant]

Quit iTunes.

Find these files from external. You need to copy
- iTunes Music Library.xml
- iTunes Library

back to laptop harddrive's
user/Music/iTunes/

Make sure your external is connected everytime you try to modify your library.

 

[Darth.Titan]

If you've moved the entire iTunes folder, you just need to quit iTunes and restart it while holding the option key (shift in Windows). Then you can browse to and select your relocated library.

Everyting should look identical to before the move.

 

[Galley]

You did it wrong; you should've used the 2-step consolidation method.

1. Enter location of new library in iTunes' preferences.
2. Use the "Consolidate Library" option in the main menu.

 

[ChrisA]

...Hope someone might be able to help.

My library has got too big for my laptop hard-drive, so I've copied everything over to an external. ...

Are you sure that the MP3 files were INSIDE the iTunes library. Sometimes people set up the library to "reference" the MP3 files and the files are kept in a folder outside the library. iTunes lets you choose to do it either way. How was yours set up?

If you used the reference scheme then all that is inside the library are the playlists and database, no music files.

 

[GimmeSlack12]

You did it wrong; you should've used the 2-step consolidation method.

1. Enter location of new library in iTunes' preferences.
2. Use the "Consolidate Library" option in the main menu.

Agreed, this is the easiest way to get it done.