ITunes Music Folder Missing on external hard drive after changing iTunes Media Folder Location from MacBook Hard Drive. Not deleted...just missing?

I store my iTunes media folder on my external hard drive and can no longer find it there. It seemed to becomd lost after I re-designated the default iTunes media location. I had downloaded some things from iTunes without my external hard drive plugged in and when they downloaded they downloaded to the default location on my Macbook Pro. In recognizing that, I wanted to move those files from the hard drive on my MacBook Pro to the external hard drive. When I re-selected the location as the external hard drive a copy process began. I cancelled the copy process fearing the small number of files from my Macbook Pro would over-write all of the files on my external hard drive so I quit the copy process. Now I do not see my "iTunes Music" folder on my external hard drive. I fear that I have somehow lost the path but I believe the content is still on my external hard drive although I no longer see the "iTunes Music" folder on my external hard drive. I know I didn't delete it, but it isn't there. Is there a way to make it re-appear? I would really appreciate any guideance anyone has.
Thank you.
Best,
Matt

When you change the location in preferences it tells iTunes to start, from this point on, storing new media files in the new location. It then presents you with the option to move any old files in their current locations to the new location. It doesn't move the library files which are not media files. Read the links below to understand how iTunes works because you are the one with the computer in front of you and are in the better position to understand how it stands as regards to iTunes files.
What are the iTunes library files? - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1660
More on iTunes library files and what they do - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITunes#Media_management
What are all those iTunes files? - http://www.macworld.com/article/139974/2009/04/itunes_files.html
Where are my iTunes files located? - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1391
Now, did you keep the whole library on the external drive, or did you keep just media? From your description of the situation it sounds as if you kept the whole library there and when the external was not attached it returned to default location on the internal drive. What you should have done then was plug in the external drive, hold down the option key, and guide iTunes to the library file on the external. At this stage you could have dealt with the mislocated new files on an individual basis.
I guess the key question is, did your trying to move the couple of new media files to the external drive overwrite the iTunes folder there, which because you then canceled may have also just resulted in it being deleted. I am not going to test the theory on my system.
How big was your library on the external? If it was 40GB do you now suddenly have 40 GB free?
Look for any iTunes folders on the external drive. In view options turn on "calculate all folders sizes" and see if there are any big ones.

Similar Messages

ITunes Music Folder Missing on external hard drive after changing iTunes Media Folder Location from MacBook Hard Drive

The store my iTunes media folder on my external hard drive and can no longer find it there. It seemed to becomd lost after I re-designated the default iTunes media location. I had downloaded some things from iTunes without my external hard drive plugged in and when they downloaded they downloaded to the default location on my Macbook Pro. In recognizing that, I wanted to move those files from the hard drive on my MacBook Pro to the external hard drive. When I re-selected the location as the external hard drive a copy process began. I cancelled the copy process fearing the small number of files from my Macbook Pro would over-write all of the files on my external hard drive so I quit the copy process. Now I do not see my "iTunes Music" folder on my external hard drive. I fear that I have somehow lost the path but I believe the content is still on my external hard drive although I no longer see the "iTunes Music" folder on my external hard drive. I know I didn't delete it, but it isn't there. Is there a way to make it re-appear? I would really appreciate any guideance anyone has.
Thank you.
Best,
Matt

Any ideas? Anyone?

I am running iTunes on an IBM comp system Win XP with a 70gb hard disk. I have 4 kids with 4 IPOD Touches. Their apps and album art are eating up the hard disk space. I changed the Media Folder to an external hard disk. How do I get the apps to go their?

I am running iTunes on an IBM compatible system running Windows XP with a relatively small hard disk (70gb). I have 4 kids with 4 IPOD Touches, multiple IPOD Nanos, etc. Their apps and album art are eating up the hard disk space. I changed the Media Folder through Edit, Prferences, Advances, iTunes Media Folder to an external hard disk. The new music downloads and purchases go there but the apps and other items do not. How do I get the apps and other iTunes software and downloads to go to the external hard disk

There is no built in function to make this happen.
Your options are:
Upgrade the existing hard drive.
Try creating a link for the app folder on the external drive... this may or may not work.
Realistically, a larger hard drive is a better solution, then use the external drive for keeping a backup of the ENTIRE iTunes folder and any other personal data on the system.

I recently changed my PC and I transferred my iTunes music library to an external disc. Now, when I open iTunes I can only see the music I've downloaded, but not the rest of my music. Whatdo I need to do?

I recently changed my PC and I transferred my iTunes music library to an external disc. Now, when I open iTunes I can only see the music I've downloaded, but not the rest of my music. What do I need to do?

PDMex wrote:
I recently changed my PC and I transferred my iTunes music library to an external disc.
Did you transfer the entire /Music/iTunes/ folder?
Or did you only transfer /Muisic/iTunes/iTunes media? folder?

Share itunes music across family without sharing other things in the itunes media folder!

I am sick and tired of itunes. seriously! apple just wont let go off its tight control over how I can configure my machine!
i have had to create 3 user accounts on my machine (which is the only mac in my home and only used by me) just because my mom and dad each have an iphone and would want to be able to backup and update their iphones. its simply impossible to get it done from the itunes of a single user account.
now i set the target media folder in each itunes library of each user account to the 'Shared' folder on my mac but it ends up sharing more than just the music. worst, it doesn't handle apps from each account gracefully. consequently, it failed at syncing my dad's apps to his new iphone when i restored the back up from the old one cause there was some conflict with the same app from my user account and his. thankfully his smartphone needs are minimal and i'll only have to redownload about half a dozen apps. but this is getting more complicated by the day.
i decided to just move the music folder to the shared folder and keep a referenced library but that means that when one user account downloads a track the others cannot access it as the track creates and exists in a new music folder inside the itunes media folder (which is not 'reseted' back to its original location).
so now that i have the apps trauma sorted out my music needs to be manually managed! sigh. i have like 30 gb of PAID FOR itunes music (yes paid music! some legalized using itunes match and nearly half of them purchased) and i dont want my family who stays with me to purchase all of the stuff again.
is there any graceful way of handling this?
Message was edited by: AceNeerav

iTunes: How to share music between different user accounts on a single computer - Apple Support
this article mentions nothing about the conflicts created by the apps.

I copied all my CD's onto a hard drive. Can I transfer each CD from the hard drive to my iPhone either wirelessly or by direct connection?

I copied all my CD's onto a hard drive. Can I transfer each CD from the hard drive to my iPhone either wirelessly or by direct connection? Do I have to make a playlist for each cd and then transfer it to my iPhone?

When you buy your new iMac you will be able to have the installation process transfer all your applications, data (including music, pictures, documents, etc) and settings to your new computer. In the past that was done via Firewire. I'm not entirely sure of the process with the new iMacs that don't have firewire. I think it can be done via ethernet and probably via tha thunderbolt cord using a firewire adapter but you'll want to check that out.
    With the your new computer properly connected to your old computer, the initial booting of the new computer will include the ability to move everything over.
    If for some reason you don't want to do that (smart if you have some horrible software issue that is causing problems) you can connect your old computer to the new one and start it in Target Disk mode where it will be seen as a hard drive. You can then manually copy over all your music and import that into iTunes (and any other data you want).
    Somebody here will surely point you to directions for connecting an older iMac with no Thunderbolt to a newer iMac with no Firewire.

How do I fix my dvd/cd drive after updated Itunes?

How do I fix my dvd/cd drive after updating itunes today?

Hi there,
It sounds like you got about half way through the process. You may want to review the process for relocating you iTuens Media found in the article below.
iTunes for Windows: Moving your iTunes Media folder
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1364
-Griff W.

Edited photos will save in edited photos will not save in photoshop are being saved in my pictures on hard drive. wants me to import edited are being saved in my pictures on hard drive. wants me to import edited photos from my hard drive in to photoshop.

edited photos will save in edited photos will not save in photoshop are being saved in my pictures on hard drive. wants me to import edited are being saved in my pictures on hard drive. wants me to import edited photos from my hard drive in to photoshop.

Use iPhoto. What's the problem with iPhoto import? It's a two clicks job. Select your device and click import.

HT1386 I am having trouble synching all 1700 songs that I just put into iTunes Music Match onto my iPod Classic device. It worked on my iTouch and iPad devices but not the Classic. How do I transfer the music successfully

I am having trouble synching all 1700 songs that I just put into iTunes Music Match onto my iPod Classic device. It worked on my iTouch and iPad devices but not the Classic. How do I transfer the music successfully

It should sync the same if the songs are the same. You can try:
- Unsyncing all music and resysncing
- Restoring the iPod
BTW, yo posted in the iPod touch forum

In PC I have changed the default app location from default to other and copied the previous content to new location and changed the Default location in preference. Now in iTunes, my previous apps are not visible. Is there any solution to this?

In PC I have changed the default app location from (c:/users/username/My Music/iTunes) to other (d:iTunes) and copied the previous content to new location and changed the Default location in Edit preference. Now in iTunes, my previous apps are not visible. Is there any solution to this?

wjosten - thanks very much for the detailed instructions. I'll try this as soon as I get my replacement and it looks like you'll probably end up getting the green tick

I backup to an external hdd with Time Machine, when it ran out of space it did not delete old backups, now my internal hdd says its full when before it had heaps of space. I have searched for extra files but cant find any. Can anyone help, please.

I backup to an external hdd with Time Machine, when it ran out of space it did not delete old backups, now my internal hdd says its full when before it had heaps of space. I have searched for extra files but cant find any. Can anyone help, please.

First, empty the Trash if you haven't already done so. Then reboot. That will temporarily free up some space.
To locate large files, you can use Spotlight as described here. That method may not find large folders that contain a lot of small files.
You can also use a tool such as OmniDiskSweeper (ODS) to explore your volume and find out what's taking up the space. You can delete files with it, but don't do that unless you're sure that you know what you're deleting and that all data is safely backed up. That means you have multiple backups, not just one.
Proceed further only if the problem hasn't been solved.
ODS can't see the whole filesystem when you run it just by double-clicking; it only sees files that you have permission to read. To see everything, you have to run it as root.
Back up all data now.
Install ODS in the Applications folder as usual.
Triple-click the line of text below to select it, then copy the selected text to the Clipboard (command-C):sudo /Applications/OmniDiskSweeper.app/Contents/MacOS/OmniDiskSweeper
Launch the Terminal application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the icon grid.
Paste into the Terminal window (command-V). You'll be prompted for your login password, which won't be displayed when you type it. You may get a one-time warning not to screw up. If you see a message that your username "is not in the sudoers file," then you're not logged in as an administrator.
I don't recommend that you make a habit of doing this. Don't delete anything while running ODS as root. If something needs to be deleted, make sure you know what it is and how it got there, and then delete it by other, safer, means.
When you're done with ODS, quit it and also quit Terminal.

Itunes shows only 4.3.5 update even after downloading itunes 10.5 on mac..

itunes shows only 4.3.5 update even after downloading itunes 10.5 on mac..

Problem solved.
In iTunes, I selected Backup from my iPod's contextual menu under Devices. I then did a restore and all the music is back. It only took a few minutes.
These choices are only available via the device contextual menu, not the main iTunes pull-down menus.

My itunes opens after 2-3 hrs after doubleclicking it to open;it happened once or twice with itunes 11.x , but its a constant problem after updating itunes to 12.x ....my operating system win7;processor i5 intel haswell and 4gb ram...i hav no issue

My itunes opens 2-3 hrs after doubleclicking it to open;it happened once or twice with itunes 11.x , but its a constant problem after updating itunes to the latest 12.0.1....my operating system windows7;processor i5 intel haswell and 4gb ram...i have no issue with opening other big programs....i tried uninstalling completely the itunes and reinstalling it as i thought at first it is not opening (because it takes really long time) and i followed the following support pages
1)iTunes for Windows Vista, Windows 7, or Windows 8: Fix unexpected quits or launch issues
2)iTunes for Windows doesn't open after upgrading in Windows Vista, Windows 7, or Windows 8
but my problem doesnot get solved even after trying all the methods in the above pages...
now i realized,it opens after 2-3 hrs and at will...after opening it keeps hanging.finally it doesnot again open immediately after closing...kindly help me out as soon as possible

My itunes opens 2-3 hrs after doubleclicking it to open;it happened once or twice with itunes 11.x , but its a constant problem after updating itunes to the latest 12.0.1....my operating system windows7;processor i5 intel haswell and 4gb ram...i have no issue with opening other big programs....i tried uninstalling completely the itunes and reinstalling it as i thought at first it is not opening (because it takes really long time) and i followed the following support pages
1)iTunes for Windows Vista, Windows 7, or Windows 8: Fix unexpected quits or launch issues
2)iTunes for Windows doesn't open after upgrading in Windows Vista, Windows 7, or Windows 8
but my problem doesnot get solved even after trying all the methods in the above pages...
now i realized,it opens after 2-3 hrs and at will...after opening it keeps hanging.finally it doesnot again open immediately after closing...kindly help me out as soon as possible

I see by other posts we can not delete individual missed calls. can we delete all at once on 4s?

I see by other posts we can not delete individual missed calls from 4s. can we delete all at once just to clean up the screen etc?

mignonfromherveybay wrote:
thanks everyone ! i have only had the phone a week and am still trying to find all the bits and how it works.
Why not read the manual?

How to transfer iTunes Music stored in an External Drive that I use for my Windows PC and use it in iTunes on Mac?

Hi just bought my first Mac (a 2013 13' MacBook Air). Before I owned this computer I used (and still use) a Windows Desktop. My Windows Desktop (which runs Windows 8.1) has a 1TB Hard Drive that was getting pretty full so I moved all of my iTunes Music, Movies, and TV Shows onto a 2TB external hard drive. This meant that iTunes would open/work even if the external hdd was not plugged in, but only when the external HDD is plugged in do I see all of my downloaded/ripped music/movies/tv shows. Now that I own a Mac I would like to do the same thing - have all of my media on an external drive that is plugged in via USB. So my question is (A) how do I make my itunes media stored on this external HDD accesible to the iTunes on my MacBook, (B) do I need to partition the external HDD to do this, and (C) because I fully intend to keep using the drive with my Windows PC (it stores a complete backup as well as a ton of Steam videogames), will I need to totally erase the drive in order to create such a partition?

Before we can help you, you must tell us how you are backing up your data.
Allan

ITunes Music Folder Missing on external hard drive after changing iTunes Media Folder Location from MacBook Hard Drive. Not deleted...just missing?

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for