Moving Library = Missing Songs

I recently got a new PC and moved the hard drive with my music on it to the new machine. I also copied over my old iTunes library to the new box so I wouldn't lose my ratings and playlists and whatnot.
However, when I opened iTunes, I found about a third of my music was 'missing'. Now seeing as I dropped the old HDD into the new machine and assigned it the same drive letter as it used to have, there is no way its anywhere besides where it is supposed to be. Is there any way to tell iTunes to 'double-check your results before bothering me with this it's not there nonsense'? I really don't want to do it all by hand as I have about 8,000 songs and 1/3 of 8,000 is like...a lot. Thanks!

If you go to the My Music section of your computer's iTunes library then do any of those tracks have an exclamation mark against them ? The 'were not found' message implies that they are listed in your iTunes library, but that the actual music files are no longer stored on your computer (or not where iTunes is expecting to find them) - so iTunes can't copy them to your iPod. Have you deleted, moved, or renamed any directories on your computer ? The 'not found' message can apply to iTunes purchases and/or music copied from CDs.
If they are iTunes purchases that you no longer have on your computer and they are still in the store then you could select/highlight them in the My Music section of your library and either redownload them (if they are still in the store) via the Purchased link under Quick Links on the right-hand side of the iTunes store homepage, copy them back from your phone (if they are on it) via File > Devices > Transfer Purchases, or add them back form your backup of your downloads/library via File > Add To Library

Similar Messages

I'VE HAD IT WITH iTUNES- Moved library, now "songs cannot be found"

I have HAD IT with itunes. Apple NEEDS TO FIX PROBLEMS RELATING TO ERRORS WHILST MOVING THE MUSIC LIBRARY. "the original file could not be found" seems to be an all too common error.
I'm using snow leopard, and have an external hard-drive, which has my music library stored on it. I plug in the drive whenever I listen to music. The drive had an error and I was forced to copy the entire music folder to a separate drive, format the drive, then move the music folder back.
I kept the path to the music folder the same, the files the same, and even the name of the drive the same. I opened itunes and in 'advanced' I selected the new itunes music folder location. I figured that it would be fine, as everything was the same as before.
WRONG.
Now, 2/3 of the songs cannot be found when I try and play them. This happens every time I move my library, even when following Apple's step-by-step instructions!!!
I have just clicked "consolidate library" but now I fear that I will have thousands of duplicates, or worse the songs still won't be recognised.
HELP, PLEASE
<Edited by Host>

That setting in Advanced doesn't tell iTunes where to find your library, that setting tells iTunes where to put files when you import them. I'm not well versed on the Consolidation function and what that they may have done. I can say that what you should have done was launch iTunes while holding down the option key and navigate to where the library is located is prompted. I suppose you could do that now...but I'm not sure if you might already have dupes from consolidating. If so, you could check for Corral Dupes, a script over at Doug's Scripts, get rid of the dupes, then follow the launch with option key step.

Moved Library - rated songs didn't update

I searched and didn't readily see this topic.
I recently had a drive failure and had to rebuild my library - I imported my library and did all my setup and some song ratings on an external firewire drive. Once it got it all together I moved the drive to my server.
After the move I changed my preferences to the new location and all was well until I tried to play a song that I had applied a rating to. Any of those songs were not updated in the music library - confirmed by checking the xml file to find that their locations still point to the old location via attached firewire drive, not via mounted server share.
Now, I should ask why the **** a song with a rating would have a full path applied to it in the library as opposed to unrated songs that dont, but that's probably for another discussion.
Is there any way to change the locations of these songs to reflect the new location? I'm currently forced to double click on each one and then locate it in its new location to get the song to update. I'd prefer not to do this with all the rated songs.
I've tried consolidating the libraries since I ripped more songs to my local drive - that didn't force the update. I tried to disable and then reapply "keep music folder organized" option and that was no good either.
Any suggestions?
MDD Dual 1ghz / 1.67Ghz Powerbook Mac OS X (10.4.8)

After the move I changed my preferences to the new location
If you thought that would have changed the song locations, you're misunderstanding the meaning of the 'iTunes Music folder location' (like many people do)
Changing that location will only tell iTunes where to store the next ripped CD and purchased music.
The song locations of your library at that moment stay unaltered, as you discovered yourself by examining the .xml file.
The correct way of moving your music is:
Organize.
Change location.
Consolidate.
This will let iTunes do the move and update the song locations in the 'iTunes Library' file.
All necessary steps are described in iTunes: Moving your iTunes Music folder.
If you can revert to the old situation (backups?) you can try again.
Hope this helps.
M
17' iMac 800 MHz, 768 MB RAM, 200 GB HD, DL burner Mac OS X (10.4.8) iTunes 7.0.1

Music Library Missing Songs

I'm using iTunes Match with automatic download of purchased items on my Mac. My daughter purchased a song using my account. It shows up in my "Purchased" list and my "Recently Added" list. It shows up on my iOS devices. But it doesn't show up in Library on my Mac. It is definitely downloaded on the Mac -- I see the file in Finder sitting exactly where it is supposed to be next to other songs by the same artist. I tried dragging the song into Library. I tried using "Add to Library" from the "File" menu. But when I search the Library by artist or song title it doesn't show up. This is a nuisance, because I count on the Library being a complete list of all songs I own, for building other playlists. I don't want to have to keep looking in different places to find songs. Any ideas?

Ok. So I checked today and they were there. I thought I had tried everything in terms of closing and restarting iTunes, updating Match, etc. But somehow it just required a lot of time to update itself. Still a mystery to me how that works.

HT3819 Bought new iMac & moved (or thought so) music from old PC to new Mac. Now several hundred songs are orphaned on old PC; , I can "see" them with both machines turned on & iTunes open. "Missing" songs show in iMac Shared folder. How do I move & retir

Bought new iMac & moved (or thought I had) all of my music from the old PC to the new iMac. Have discovered several hundred songs are orphaned on old PC; I can "see" them with both machines turned on & iTunes open. "Missing" songs show in iMac itunes Shared folder. How do I move them all so I can then & retire the old PC?

From things you are saying, such as "shared folder" and having both machines on, it doesn't sound to me like you truly moved the whole iTunes collection.
iTunes: How to move [or copy] your music to a new computer [or another drive] - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527
do not confuse moving your whole folder and library with moving just media files as in
iTunes for Mac: Moving your iTunes Media folder - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1449
Quick answer if you let iTunes manage your music: Copy the entire iTunes folder (and in doing so all its subfolders and files) intact to the other drive. Start iTunes with the option key held down and guide it to the new location of the library.
Macworld - How to transfer iTunes libraries between PC and Mac - http://www.macworld.com/article/46248/2005/08/shiftitunes.html

When syncing my iTunes to my iPad from the laptop, I get a list of missing songs; they are in the library, but not in the music folder on my HD. In particular, I uploaded 3 CDs at the same time, all are in my library - but two are missing from the folder.

When syncing my iTunes to my iPad from the laptop, I get a list of missing songs; they are in the library, but not in the music folder on my HD. In particular, I uploaded 3 CDs at the same time, all are in my library, and all synced to the iPad - but the music from two of them are missing from the music folder. Questions are (a) where might they have gone? and (b) is there a way of "reverse loading" them back to my hard drive from the iPad? Thanks in advance!

Hi dones49,
It sounds like your issue here is that iTunes can not find the files for some of the songs you have brought into it. This happens occasionally even if the songs have not been moved from the location that iTunes places them on import or purchase. When you try to use the song, iTunes prompts you to find the file, as you have seen.
To find the file, use the information in this article to navigate through the iTunes media folders -
Locate and organize your iTunes files
If you are still unable to locate the files, you may need to download them from the iTunes store again, or rip them from your CDs. See this article for assistance with downloading your past purchases -
Download past purchases
Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.
Best,
Brett L

HT1386 Switched from ipod to ipod touch. When trying to sync songs get lost. Show in the library and playlist but a message says cannot be found. An exclamation symbol with a circle aroung it shows on the missing songs. How can I sync the new ipod touch?

Switched from ipod to ipod touch. When trying to sync, songs get lost. Songs show in the library and playlist but get a message that says songs cannot be found. An exclamation symbol with a circle aroung it shows on the missing songs. How can I sync the new ipod touch?

The ! Next to a song:
The song can’t be located; it may have been moved or deleted
To find them try:
iTunes: Finding lost media and downloads
You can redownload iTunes purchases by:
Downloading past purchases from the App Store, iBookstore, and iTunes Store

Missing songs from playlists after moving to a new mac

Bought a new imac 5k. On my old Mac (Pro) I saved the library.xml file in order to save all my playlists (about 70), rather than save each individual playlist file (which would have taken too long.)
Moved the library.xml file to my imac, "added to playlist", and it brought over all my old playlists. Cool, right?
Nope. Many of them are missing songs now. I wrote down how many songs wee in each playlist on the Mac Pro before cleaning it out, and the same new playlist on my imac has a wrong/smaller song count.
Now, I have to try and figure out which ones I'm missing? Ugh. Why didn't ALL of the the sings on each playlist transfer over? Any idea how to fix this? Running Yosemite 10.10.1.

You can't install Adobe applications by copying from a backup.
Start by cleaning out all the CS apps using Adobe Cleaner Tool:
Use the CC Cleaner Tool to solve installation problems | CC, CS3-CS6
Then download a new installer from here:
Other downloads

My ipod 4th gen gets wiped clean of music anytime I sync. it then only redownloads some of the music in the library and wont upload missing songs. They show on the ipod grayed out. How do I get this to stop? re-uploading takes 4 hours.

my ipod 4th gen gets wiped clean of music anytime I sync. it then only redownloads some of the music in the library and wont upload missing songs. They show on the ipod grayed out. How do I get this to stop? re-uploading takes 4 hours and is never completed. I only get some of the 6000+ songs I have. This started when I updated to IOS5 i think.

Try:
- Reset the iOS device. Nothing will be lost
Reset iOS device: Hold down the On/Off button and the Home button at the same time for at
least ten seconds, until the Apple logo appears.
- Unsync all music and resync
- Reset all settings
Go to Settings > General > Reset and tap Reset All Settings.
All your preferences and settings are reset. Information (such as contacts and calendars) and media (such as songs and videos) aren’t affected.
- Restore from backup. See:
iOS: How to back up
- Restore to factory settings/new iOS device.

When trying to locate songs in my iTunes library, often when I find the song it asks me if I would like it to find other missing files. Sometimes it can't find other missing songs. How do I make sure that it is looking at all of my hard dirves?

Locating missing songs in my iTunes library. How do you make sure that all drives are being looked at for the missing songs?

To import music into your iTunes library on the computer go to iTunes>Help>iTunes Help>Add items to iTunes and follow the instructions
Delete the "songs" that do not play in your iTunes library and reimport them.

Anyway to automatically relink random missing song files in iTunes library? Random songs have "!" while other songs in same album folder are fine.

I can manually relink a missing song by navigating to the album folder in my iTunes media folder where all of my music is stored, but there are hundreds of "missing" songs in my 100+ GB Library. Any way to get iTunes to reconcile the library in a more automated fashion? I am fearful of solutions that may introduce a ton of duplicates.
Would also like to know why this has happened so I can prevent it in future. Why are some songs in an album coming up missing and others in the same root folder playing fine?? It's not like my library is missing, 80% of my music is fine.
My MAC iTunes library is organized by iTunes and all new media is copied into the iTunes folder (which I have "living" on an external USB 500GB hard drive, which I sometimes use with my PC Laptop when I travel - I don't do this often and it has never caused a problem before.)

UPDATE: I contact the developer fo the iTunes Track CPR script just to give him some feedback. His reply, "
Thanks for letting me know. CPR needs a good looking at. But have you tried "Music Folder Files Not Added"?
http://dougscripts.com/466"
I used that script and it found all of the MIA "missing" songs and then added them back to my iTunes library (took about 7 hours to auto add about 2000+ songs.) This process also created duplicates, but I was able to use the "Manage Duplicates" feature of iTunes under the File menu to see a list of all duplicates; then I deleted all of the songs with the"!" next to their names (took about 45 minutes.)
So I think in the end this did save me a lot of time and aggrevation.
Thanks for pointing me in the right direction Chris!

Missing song or songs from my library

Missing song/ songs from my library

I had a similar problem. Enabling the icloud brought the songs back, then I noticed when adding them to a playlist that they were being downloaded from the icloud. This is despite that the songs were already on the local drive, and icloud was not enabled when I had previously added them to the library.

Miss songs in my library but not on ipod

hello there, i have a little problem but before solv it i prefer to hear some advice : my problem is i had a netbook and my ipod synchronise perfectly with but now i have a new netbook and my new itunes library miss like a 100 songs but my ipod has 577 songs in it...so the solution is : delete all library and synchronise me ipod again????? or is there another solution?
cause for xmas i'll have the new nano, the red one so......i dont want miss others songs in it....plz help me fast
thanks

My question was simply, "Are you saying that you have songs on your iPod that are not in your current iTunes library on your new computer?" If you are saying YES to that question...
You cannot use iTunes to transfer song files from iPod to computer, except for songs purchased from the iTunes Store. However, there are third-party methods and utilities that can transfer from iPod to computer. If you do a Google search on something like "ipod transfer," you should get some links. (The CNET article seems to be popular.)
Once the song files are on your computer's drive, you can add them to your iTunes library so that all of your songs are in one place.

How to get iTunes to find all missing songs which are in the library

iTunes keeps telling me it can't find around 150 songs and I have to manually point it to each folder - it offers to use location to find other missing tracks but that only works for songs in the same album folder, not other artists/albums. Is there something I can do to find all songs at once?

Hi,
Try Doug's Applescripts for iTunes, he has one for finding missing songs.
http://dougscripts.com/itunes/scripts/ss.php?sp=listmias
You can browse his site to find where to put the downloaded script.
Good luck.

(!) How to locate the original file for missing songs?

song could not be used because original file could not be found. Would you like to locate?
I got this message when I last tried to synch my ipod. The message said there were 100 files which could not be found.   Actually more than 100 songs show the exclamation mark that says the file can not be found.
Previous posts on this issue suggest the underlying file has been changed or moved out from the ITunes organisation. Well the last time I synched my ipod on Lion a few days ago it was fine. On Sunday I wiped my hard drive, carried out the upgrade to Mountain Lion as a clean install, and used Migration Assistant to bring my user data over. After that I ran cclean and disk utility permissions and disk verification. Then this happened.
I migrated my iTunes Library to an external hard drive six months ago. That was disconnected during the upgrade so I am not sure why the files can’t be found now.    Anyway, I want to recover the missing files . I could not find them by name, album or artist on the external drive. So I thought I would find them in Time Machine backup #1. I couldn’t!. Nor could I find missing songs on my alternate Time Machine backup #2. Both Time Machine backups are set to include the external drive. Songs recognised in iTunes are visible in the backups, but not the ones that are missing.
I have a third backup volume which was a clone of the Lion setup before I did the upgrade, but I can’t access this or Mac for a few days.
I did have some permissions failures after the 10.7.4 upgrade which resulted in creating 2 new standard user accounts. Maybe I’v e got some files across these users? But in that case I’d have seen problems before the upgrade?   I notice a fair number of these are compilations imported from CD about 4 years ago. Bu tnot all.
(1). Is there a smart way to list all the files that are missing?
I can scroll through all of ITunes Music to see where there are exclamation marks. I’d like to only list these missing songs.
(2). How can I locate the missing media files?
- a search on Name / Album / Artist hasn’t found them in live drives or on TM backups. I’ve still got the missing songs on my iPod, however.
Once I can answer these questions with your help I’ll know what would be the best way to try to recover, and to work out what went wrong. I’m shocked that I can’t find them in backup.   Eventually I can restore audio from original source. If they were photos that went missing from library and backups then I would have no way to get back!
(3) could this happen in iPhoto? (shiver)

Thanks for taking the time to look at my problem. Shared is empty and I didn't back it up - I only transferred the standard and Admin users to the clean install of Mountain Lion.
But I got some valuable insight into how the iTunes library is set up from your article on split Libraries. I'd like to see it in the Tips for iTunes for Mac.   My Itunes library was set up in pre-Itunes 8 structure, and as I'd moved it to an external drive it didn't get migrated to the new structure in recent upgrades, perhaps?
I found your article extremely useful : https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3991. That gave me the means to restore the missing files more quickly than getting the original CDs out and re-importing them to iTunes.
So I've now restored the missing files and started the backups rolling ....
I still don't understand how they went missing. However the best backup was the Ipod itself.

Moving Library = Missing Songs

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for