Abnormal disk activity with large iTunes library
Hi guys,
I'm running the latest version of iTunes on Vista with a 90GB library of music.
I notice that while I'm listening to tracks while working, every so often (usually when a track changes which can be quite regularly !) my computer freezes.
Usually when I'm surfing in Firefox when this happens, I can't switch tabs, browse content in the current tab or even minimize the browser. All that happens is my cursor changes and the status of the app turns to - 'Not responding'.
I've definitely isolated it to iTunes as this has been irritating me for the last 3 months. I can find no references to this problem via Google or even in this forum.
I've experienced the same problems on my previous install of XP Professional and on my latest install of Vista Ultimate.
As for hardware my pc is pretty high end with a core duo processor and 2 gigs of ram.
I think it has something to do with the size of my library as I've just tried creating a new library (holding down shift on launch) with about 3 gigs of music and no problems at all.
If this is the problem shouldn't iTunes be able to handle larger libraries ? and if not, isn't it a bit useless ?
Any ideas would be greatly appreciated as I'm at my wits end.
Windows Vista
Sorry to butt-in, we have a 2.6TB iTunes library. Music and Photos are kept on the AppleTV all else is streamed. We use a Lacie 4Big Quadra attached to a iMac G5 streamed via Airport Extreme.
The only delays we get are for the Lacie coming out of sleep mode (takes about 45 seconds), which sometimes results in an on-screen message of File Format not compatible (which just means "not found"). Retrying the selection starts the streaming. I expect the iTunes library streams the Movie/TV programme to the AppleTV which buffers it for delivery. This could be the delay you're experiencing, maybe 15-20 seconds before it starts to play - is this what you mean?
As our library has grown we've noticed no significant performance drop-off.
Possibly it's a network issue, have you run the network diagnostics on Apple TV ?
Roger
Similar Messages
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Apple TV slow performance with large iTunes library
We have a rather large (movies + music) iTunes library and the appleTV is performing very poorly... Are there any suggestions how to improve wake-up time, menu response time or performance overall? Will it help to put our music on a separate HDD and turn that off when we want to use the appleTV? Anything else?
Sorry to butt-in, we have a 2.6TB iTunes library. Music and Photos are kept on the AppleTV all else is streamed. We use a Lacie 4Big Quadra attached to a iMac G5 streamed via Airport Extreme.
The only delays we get are for the Lacie coming out of sleep mode (takes about 45 seconds), which sometimes results in an on-screen message of File Format not compatible (which just means "not found"). Retrying the selection starts the streaming. I expect the iTunes library streams the Movie/TV programme to the AppleTV which buffers it for delivery. This could be the delay you're experiencing, maybe 15-20 seconds before it starts to play - is this what you mean?
As our library has grown we've noticed no significant performance drop-off.
Possibly it's a network issue, have you run the network diagnostics on Apple TV ?
Roger -
I have an older ipod with a large itunes library. I have a new ipad2. Both have the same email address but different passwords. Can I merge both itunes libraries?
Not sure if this helps:-
The music files, were they bought from your iTunes account or did someone gift them to you after buying from the iTunes account? If they are yours you can download them again if you clear or de-authorise the ipod, it has to be done by whoever gave you the ipod to do this (the registered owner). If they were bought for you on another itunes account I don't think Apple let you use them as they are copyrighted and they don't belong to you, they belong to the person who bought them. If the music files where ripped from music cd's then click and drag them to a new folder on your desktop and have the person who gave you the ipod to de-authorise and unregister it. Then you re register it and put your files back from your desktop folder in your iTunes folder and synch. Hopefully that would work. Any files which you did not buy, I would not know how get around this, best bet is to take it to you nearest Apple Store and explain that they were gifted to you and ask how you can use them. The best way to gift music files is to buy the gift tokens and give these. Hope above helps. -
I have a large external collection and would like to import a select folder to itunes to create a playlist. Is there a way to import the folder without mixing the contents with my large itunes library?
I'm trying to avoid having to fish through the thousands of songs already in my itunes library to create a playlist from the songs in the windows file that I've already selected.You're welcome.
tt2 -
How do I start iTunes with whichever iTunes library I want?
How do I start iTunes with whichever iTunes library I want?
I've created a 2nd iTunes library using the "press shift-key while opening iTunes from the start menu" method given in iTunes help. Now, when I try to start iTunes from the Quick Launch menu or from the system start menu, I get the new library--without choosing it.
Otherwise, the new library works as I'd hoped. By turning off "Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library," I'm able to use "Add Folder to Library" (where the folders are in the 1st iTunes library) without using more disk space for the 2nd library. So far, it works just fine for CDs and movies. I'm anticipating an iPad which can hold much less than my iPod Classic.
I have the latest iTunes (10.2.1.1)A solution found!
I found where Apple addresses the question. Actually, I had tried this before I found Apple's answer and before I asked the question here and I didn't get it to work. I finally have it working, but the Apple answer is missing a step--or so it seems.
Locating Apple's answer:
From the iTunes window,
Help > More resources > iTunes Support Website > iTunes Library and Backup > iTunes Library >
How to open an alternate iTunes Library file or create a new one.
Apple quote:
1.If iTunes is running, quit iTunes.
2.If you are using Windows, hold down the Shift key and from the Start menu and choose All Programs > iTunes > iTunes.
3.If you are using the Mac, open iTunes and immediately hold down the Option key.
4.You should see one of the following screens:
End quote.
As it says, you get a prompt to: Quit or Choose Library or Create Library.
I created my new library by choosing "Create Library" and expected to be able to use "Choose Library" later. So, when I clicked "Choose Library," I got a new window that's titled "Open iTunes Library" (it looks a lot like a Windows Explorer window). I selected (on the sidebar) the old library, clicked "Open" and nothing happened. The problem is likely my inexperience with this type of issue, but, still, the solution seems hokey.
After too much screwing around and a 24oz beer, this is what's working:
1. If iTunes is running, quit iTunes.
2. Hold down the Shift key and from the Start menu, choose All Programs > iTunes > iTunes. (You don't have to have the shift key down until just before you click the last "iTunes.") Don't release the shift key 'til the prompt comes up.
3. The prompt is: Quit or Choose Library or Create Library. Click "Choose Library."
4. When the "Open iTunes Library" window comes up, click the desired iTunes library on the sidebar. (Mine are named "iTunes" and "iTunesIPad.")
5. Then, you'll see a list of items in the right pane. Find the file named "iTunes Library.itl" and click it.
6. Now, with both the iTunes library name selected on the sidebar and the "iTunes Library.itl" file selected in the right pane, click the "Open" button.
7. iTunes will come up using the desired library.
8. Using iTunes from the Quick Launch menu or the desktop will bring up the same iTunes library again, even if you shut down your computer.
9. When you want to change the iTunes library in use, start at step 1.
Nice about this, is that I would only have to get into the "iTunesIPad" library if I need to add something to it from my regular "iTunes" library or I want to sync to the iPad. Most of the time, I'll use my regular 185GB "iTunes" library (even here, I deselect many movies so that I can sync the library to my iPod).
Caution:
I must add the warning that I'm doing this because the iPad (that I don't have yet), won't hold even half of what I have in my iTunes library. At this point, the "iTunesIPad" library will take up very minimal disk space since it's using pointers to the regular library rather than copies from the regular library AND it's easy to switch between libraries only when needed. I can't say that this will all work until I try more setup work and I actually use it with an iPad. If someone knows that this is going to cause problems or if they have a better idea, I'd sure welcome comment. BTW, before trying this, I restructured my iTunes library (File > Library > Organize Library > Reorganize files in the folder "iTunes Media.") to bring it up to date and then backed it up on an external drive. The website "iLounge" has an article about the old and new library structure. -
When trying to sync my iPad to my computer, I get the error "the iPad is synced with another iTunes library. An iPad can be synced with only one iTunes library at a time." I only have one iTunes account, so I am a little confused. If I select the option to "Transfer Purchases, I get an error message that says "Attempting to copy to the disk failed. You do not have enough access privileges for this operation."
Any suggestions is appreciated.Have you synced to this computer before?
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I'm having trouble with my iPad 2 iTunes Match loading all of the music from my very large iTunes library off my Pc to my iPad. I really only want a few playlists. Do I have to delete all of the music off my iPad that I don't want? Will it remove those songs from my main library if I'm connected to iCloud and music match? Help!
Move the itunes Library.itl file to your exHD.
Then to get itunes to start using it from that new location, press *and hold* the shift key while starting itunes. Choose "use existing library" and browse out to the ITL file that is now on the exHD.
Future app downloads will go to the Mobile Applications folder created there. It will also start downloading the itunes store artwork to the exHD.
You can try downloading a free app to test it. -
Do you want to erase this iPhone and sync with this iTunes library?
Why ON EARTH would I want to do this?? Come on Apple, copy protection aside, this is the stupidest prompt in the history of prompts.
The basic problem (if you Google it) that many many many many legitimate purchaser's of music are running into is this prompt. And here is why:
1. We have an iPhone with a bunch of purchased songs on it and was at one point working with another iTunes library.
2. For whatever reason our computer crashes, the computer is gone/sold, not available, dead, pick your poison, it happens.
3. We setup a new computer and install iTunes and get a prompt to "Authorize" this computer (apparently we get 5 authorizations total).
4. We try to get all the songs from our iPhone back into iTunes and click the Sync button and ...
5. We get the following:
The iPhone "Your iPhone's name" is synced with another iTunes library. Do you want to erase this iPhone and sync with this iTunes library?
An iPhone can be synced with only one iTunes library at a time. Erasing and syncing replaces the contents of this iPhone with the contents of this iTunes library.
Really? This is what I have to do, wipe out all my purchased songs so that iTunes and sync with a new library? At what point did Apple think this idea was even remotely in the best interest of their customers? Seriously?
So now I'm stuck with an iPhone with songs on it, a computer with songs on it, but neither able transfer songs ... Happy Happy Joy Joy. This is NUTS!? Why punish people that you can verify they've purchased their songs with this bizarre scheme ... and further more, what if some of my songs on my iPhone were brought in from a valid CD purchase?
So my only way out of this craziness, is to use a 3rd party app that will hack the transfer for me? This is good how? I'm sorry, but at what point did Apple's $40 Billion (yes Billion) profit for 2012 instigated this sort of treatment to valid paying customers?
So ... here I am, anyone have a solution to this using "valid" means (without losing all my music) or is 3rd party hacks my only option?
RobRob A. wrote:
tt2,
So if I understand you correctly ... I can't move or sync content that was imported via my own CD's that is now on my iPhone back over to my computer?
Not with iTunes as your only tool, no.
The ONLY way I can proceed is with an iPhone backup and then restore that iPhone backup to my computer rather than my iPhone? I assume this will trigger yet another "used activation"?
No you need a third party tool that will copy your other non-iTunes purchased media and photos not in the cameral roll across to your computer. (Some are listed, you can search the web for others).
When you have recovered all the media you want you can then backup the iPhone to the computer (this backup ONLY includes application data and settings, and the cameral roll. After you have backed up this data to the computer you can then immediately restore the recently made backup to the iPhone. The data in the backup will obviously be copied back but all media must have been added to the library or it will be removed from the device.
Your lost computer will count as an "activation" as will the new one. Apple devices don't add to the count. You can reset all your activations (including those you can't physically access) every 12 months should the need arise.
Am I the only one that thinks this is the most crazy and bizarre process of simply moving a music file from one of my devices to another of my devices? Especially ones that were imported from CDs.
You still have the CDs? You can import them again. You sold, gave away, threw away the originals? Technically you no longer have the right to listen to the tracks you ripped. Is it inconvenient? Sure. One might argue that the very reason Apple & iTunes were able to drive the move to digital music to start with is that their system was designed to prevent the casual use of their devices as a means for "the kids" to simply "gift" their music libraries to each other without the tediously time-wasting efforts that the previous generation had to go through with home-taping. This no doubt helped get the content owners on board. Of course memory sticks and portable hard drives now make it trivially easy to copy content from one computer to another and indeed to simply backup your own content against a disaster but most people don't do either. Likewise they don't read instructions or terms and conditions until they are inconvenienced, and then complain. You and I might both wish iTunes made it easier, but it doesn't. And this isn't the place to complain about it. Use iTunes Feedback. You want help, it has been offered. Please read and inwardly digest it all properly this time. It does explain what you need to do to recover your data and safeguard it for the future.
tt2 -
Iphone4 synced with another itunes library
I have been issued with a new iphone 4 from my company which had been activated on a works pc/itunes library. I now wish to sync with my itunes account to download my books, music and films but get this warning message " this iphone is synced with another itunes library. do you want to erase this iphone and sync with this itunes library...erasing and syncing replaces the content of this iphone with the contents of this itunes library "
I have been able to sync my apps with no problem its just the other itunes stuff...
Pls can somebody tell me - if I choose the option to erase and sync, what do I erase? is it just the itunes content ie music, photos, film, apps etc or will I lose all or some other information stored in my phone?
thanks in advance MarkYou will get this warning if you change between manually manage and sync.
You can manually manage OR sync. You cannot do both. If you switch between the two, it will erase the current content. -
Frustrated with importing iTunes library to a second PC
Hello,
I have a very large iTunes library on my home PC, which contains extensive playlists and ratings. I have always had a second copy of my library on an external hard drive which I use at work, and have always been able to copy the iTunes library.itl and iTunes Music Library.xml files over to the work PC every time I updated my external hard drive.
I have today upgraded my work PC to a Windows 7 workstation, and have installed the latest version of iTunes. I made a fresh copy of my iTunes library onto my external hard drive (I spent a lot of time this past week digitizing about 20 record albums). I copied over the iTunes library itl and xml files.
I've had absolutely no luck with this. I've tried setting up iTunes to point to the external drive as the place where the music is located, and I've tried copying everything to the workstation's C drive where iTunes would expect it to be by default. Nothing seems to be working - every song on my playlist has the exclamation point next to it saying iTunes cannot find the file. I've noticed that the file location that iTunes gives for each song is usually incorrect in some way - most of the time, iTunes thinks the file path to each song starts with File:\\LocalHost before going to the actual file path.
I have tried editing the xml file to make sure the path is correct, and then importing the xml file - and when it does that, it appears to have the correct location for each file, and the exclamation points are gone - but when I try to play a song, I get a status bar saying "opening URL" and then nothing happens. And, instead of the exclamation mark next to each song, I now have the symbol you see next to a Podcast (sorry, don't know what it is called.)
I have also tried just letting iTunes rebuild the library based on the files I copied to the C drive, but this is not an acceptable solution because none of the playlists or ratings carry over. And, as the library has well over 15,000 items in it, (all of my CD collection and about half of my vinyl collection), I cannot sit there and manually point to each song, either.
Does anyone have any hints about where I can go from here?Hi there...
The file://localhost bit it telling you where iTunes "thinks" the file should be and that it doesn't appear to be there. Depending on how you messed around with things you could have created the situation where iTunes had two links to the same physical file. Cleaning one "duplicate" breaks the remaining entry. There is also a situation where a setting gets changed causing iTunes to "think" that files are in the pre-iTunes 9 layout, when they are in the new one, or vice-versa. Comparing the expected location with the true one may reveal if that is the problem, or if some other manual folder move needs to be undone.
If the tracks can be found somewhere, and they are in a reasonably sensible structure, my script FindTracks can often reconnect them to iTunes.
As for deduping...
Apple's official advice is here... HT2905 - How to find and remove duplicate items in your iTunes library. It is a manual process and the article fails to explain some of the potential pitfalls.
Use Shift > View > Show Exact Duplicate Items to display duplicates as this is normally a more useful selection. You need to manually select all but one of each group to remove. Sorting the list by Date Added may make it easier to select the appropriate tracks, however this works best when performed immediately after the dupes have been created. If you have multiple entries in iTunes connected to the same file on the hard drive then don't send to the recycle bin.
Use my DeDuper script if you're not sure, don't want to do it by hand, or want to preserve ratings, play counts and playlist membership. See this thread for background and please take note of the warning to backup your library before deduping.
(If you don't see the menu bar press ALT to show it temporarily or CTRL+B to keep it displayed)
BTW the links to my older posts are working for me.
tt2 -
Trying to relocate a LARGE iTunes library to external HD - it's NOT working
I have a large iTunes library (160+ GB ... about 30,000 songs) that I store on an external USB 2.0 hard drive. I'm trying to move/copy/relocate the entire library to another USB 2.0 external hard drive. I have tried copying the entire iTunes library ... only to return hours later to find "not everything was copied to your folder" message - after a decent 24 GB had been transferred. I also tried making a playlist of my entire library and transferring it to another user on my computer - to no avail - that stopped, too.
What is THE BEST way to copy a huge iTunes library? One external hard drive is filling up and I need to transfer everything. So far, I have been hooking up both external hard drives to my MacBook Pro - should I invest in one of those USB-USB connectors to connect the hard drives to each other directly? Should I try it without allowing my computer sleep?
I want to transfer my HUGE library without running into snafus - everyone just says "copy the music folder" - but it's so big, the thing inevitably crashes!
Any advice?Warren Willows wrote:
When you ask about the "entire" library what are you referring to?
Warren,
i asked about the entire iTunes folder
your iTunes library consists of your media files (music, movies, apps, etc.) and the, shall we call them, +support files+ (iTunes library file, iTunes library.xml file etc.)
a typical iTunes folder looks like this
if you keep your library files locally and just have the media files on the external, you should follow the steps provided by Chris.
if your entire iTunes folder is on the external, you can do what i suggested.
btw, a 160 gig library is not LARGE
mine weighs in @ 1.6 TB and lives on a 2 TB firewire 800 external. i recently cloned this drive to an identical 2 TB drive for backup purposes using CCC. it took in excess of 20 hours to finish the cloning process !
so, you need to approach the moving operation with patience ...
good luck !
JGG -
Large Itunes Library Crashes Apple TV
So, loading up my large itunes library (~150 MB) as a source causes the Apple TV to crash. It just sits at the "Loading so-and-so's Library" screen for a few minutes with the spinning wheel and then reboots itself. It goes all the way back to where you have to choose the language and resolution. The host computer's itunes continues to work fine. I've tried every fix under the sun, including restarting to factory settings. Apple, get this fixed please!
actually, no it hasn't been solved. It worked for about a day, but now it's back to the same issue. I suppose if i recreated the library it might work again, but with the size of my library, that's an overnight process. I ended up just creating a separate library for the movies, and that works fine. I don't have any definite proof, but I'm almost positive it's a library size issue. There isn't any reason other macs can read the shared library but not the Apple TV.
And to respond to an earlier post, No, the files are stored on 3 local 1tb drives in a macpro. As for returning, I would, but I'm almost positive this is a software issue. Here's to the youtube update fixing it, as itunes 7.2 didn't. -
IPohne constantly having to sync with my iTunes library
I have sync my iPhone with my iTunes library a while back, and was able to manually manager my music (i.e. drag and drop the songs I wanted from my library to my iPhone). NOW, iTunes is saying that I need to sync my iPhone with my iTunes library again, which it says, will erase my iPhone and replace it with music from my library. I only have a 16GB iPhone and over 30GB of music in my library. I don't want to have to go through the hassle of wiping out my phone's music and reloading everything again from the library. Why am I having to RE-sync in the first place?? Anyone else having this issue, or suggestions for a solution?
Anytime you switch between manually managing music or syncing music your phone will first be erased of all iTunes content, regardless of whether this is the same iTunes library or not. That's just the way it works with the iPhone. There is no real advantage to manually managing music with an iPhone, since the iPhone does not support disk mode as the some iPods do. The advantage of manually managing is the ability to add content from multiple computers, something you can't do with an iPhone. Since you have to sync apps anyway, you're better off creating various playlists for your phone in iTunes, then checking the box to sync "Only checked songs/playlists". That way, you can add/subtract as you wish to these various playlists.
-
New computer has been loaded with old Itunes library but a number of purchases prior to 9/18/08 are not "authorized" when I try to play them.
They are all items I purchased from Itunes but they won't play any longer even though they show in my Itunes library.
Doesn't work when I enter account info and password either.
This is only about 5% of my library and many purchased items play no problem.
Any help would be appreciated.Two words, Migration Assistant. It will transfer files between two Macs using a firewire cable automagically.
http://www.apple.com/pro/tips/migration.html
Three words, Target Disk Mode. Use a firewire cable to connect two Macs and then hold down the T key when you boot the Mac you want to transfer files from, G4 Tower. It will appear as a hard drive on the desktop of your Macbook Pro. Then you can just drag and drop the whole folder.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58583
Message was edited by: Jon Thornburg -
I have my large iTunes library on an external hard drive. Can I set up ITunes on my new Macbook Pro and transfer/copy this library to the internal hard drive or are there any problems I should be aware of?
ITs an old Iomega 100gb external HD that has about 90gb of music on it. The Macbook has a 500gb HD. I would like to put the iTunes library on the internal HD so I have room to expand.
Phil0124 wrote:
You can copy it to the internal hard drive as long as it fits on it. How big is your library, and how big is your internal HD?
The only thing you do not want to do is over-stuff the internal hard drive. The OS needs some space to operate correctly, so if your iTunes library uses up more than say 80 to 85% of the internal HD's available space it may not be a good idea to transfer it over.
With that said, the internal HD will provide slightly faster access to the library than the external would, but other than that, you can point iTunes to the external drive just fine.
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