After Drive Replacement, iTunes Points To Wrong Folder Even After Adjusting Settings

I moved my music to a new hard drive. I then adjusted settings within iTunes to "point" to the folder on the new drive. The folder name is identical as are all the files within it. I did this a few months back and had no issues once iTunes "located" my files. All files played, playlists remained intact. This time however only a small portion of my files successfully "located" and the remaining 75% are unplayable. When "shown in finder", the unplayable tracks point to a completely random folder within my mail folder of obviously non-music files. I've been searching for weeks how to fix this to no avail. I definitely do not want to lose my playlists, play counts, etc. so starting from scratch with iTunes is not an option for me. Please advise how to fix this very odd issue!
iMac 3.4 Ghz i7
OSX 10.8.5
iTunes 12.0.1.26 (just updated)

To resolve this we will need details.  I don't know exactly what is where.  Even though it "worked last time" I see people post with that and almost invariably there is something different in the scenario this time.
The iTunes application alone has no idea where media files are.  You could drag all the media folders you like to the Media folder and it won't know.  You could "point" iTunes to that folder in preferences and it still will never look there.  iTunes knows where files are because as you add them to iTunes it puts them in the Media folder and makes a note in that .itl file where the files are located.  When you try to play a track iTunes looks up in the .itl file which media file it should try to play when you request the track and goes to that location to play the file.  If there file isn't there you get !  You have to mend the links one by one, or iTunes might try, based on you repairing links. to repair other links, but it doesn't usually work that way and is only partly successful at times (as we have already discussed).  If you have ever walked into a store and see an empty shelf but their web site says they have 3 in stock and the sales person says all their stock is out on the shelf, iTunes is like that.
Here's a bunch of links on how iTunes works.  As you can see, an entire library is a whole bunch of files and support folders working in concert and when they get split up iTunes starts misbehaving.
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
iTunes 9 [and later]: Understanding iTunes Media Organization - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3847 - plus supplemental information about organizing to new structure https://discussions.apple.com/message/26404702#26404702
Image of folder structure and explanation of different iTunes versions (turingtest2 post) - https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-7392 and making an iTunes library portable.

Similar Messages

  • After hard drive replacement, iTunes points to wrong drive

    I have my iTunes media on an external drive, and the drive failed. Luckily I had a backup, and I also had a spare drive to replace the bad one with. So I set up the replacement drive on my Mac Mini, naming it the same as the old drive (iTunes Library). I then copied the data from the backup onto the replacement drive. I then connected the replacement drive to the Mac, and started up iTunes. From the looks of everything, it looked like all was good, all of my Music, Movies, etc. was there. So yesterday I happen to look at the path for one of my Music files, and I see that now iTunes is pointing to my iTunes Backup drive, named "iTunes Backup", instead of my regular iTunes drive, named "iTunes Library".
    I had thought that iTunes would still know that the replacement drive, named the same as the old one, would still point to it, but apparently I was wrong. I even went to "Preferences" and pointed the Media location to the replacement drive, not the backup.
    So, my question is: How can I get iTunes to point to the right drive? Do I have to open iTunes with the "Option" key and have it point to the replacement drive? Is there something else?
    At least I had a backup, and both replacement and backup drives seem ok...
    HELP!!

    Well, it is complicated in the way your public library does things is complicated.  iTunes keeps a catalog of media files and assumes from that catalog that the file exists where it was noted to exist when it was added to the library.  Just as with my public library, there can be off-site storage too, but they have to make sure somebody hasn't moved their books without telling them or they are in a mess.  As I said earlier, I have no idea how your catalog on the internal drive got into its head to use the files on the backup drive.  That goes completely contrary to how iTunes has ever operated from all the topics I have seen on this site for 10+ years, unless there was something else you did that I am not hearing. No matter, if this is truly the scenario.  What I am having you do is deliberately break all the links to the files on the backup drive and hopefully rebuild links to the files on the new library drive.  Then you will be using the other document to change the location of the rest of your non-media library files so it is all together on the library drive for easier moving in future.  I guess you could do it in either order.  The thing is, the library file (iTunes library.itl which ties all iTunes together) is telling you (according to what you report) that when you request track XYZ in iTunes it should be going to the backup drive and play file xyz, but you want it to go to the library drive and use the file there.  If you simply copy the library file to your library drive it will still be trying to find the music file on the backup drive.  The only ways to change the designation are to either breaks the links and take advantage of iTunes' re-linking tool, or to use the editable .xml version of the library file to hand-edit the file paths and use that file to rebuild the library file with come concurrent loss of data that is only in the .itl version.
    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

  • Satellite M30-704 boot slow and 0203 failure IDE#2 message after drive replace

    Hi,
    two problems:
    firstly after replacing the cd/dvd drive my computer will not now boot automatically and shows an '0203 failure IDE#2' message. I can then boot it but this all takes time?
    second problem: before I can access any programme, a message reading: 'apdproxy.exe - Application Error - the application failed to initialize properly (0xc0000006)' appears twice before I can continue and the computer is then very slow.
    Can anyone offer any solutions? (ps - these two problems are not linked as they occurred months apart).
    Thanks, Gardiner

    1.) I would say the BIOS cannot handle the new drive properly because of the wrong master/slave/c-sel settings but its strange that the drive runs.
    I think you should check in the device manager the primary and secondary IDE channels.
    The transfer mode should be set to DMA if available and device type Auto detection
    2.) It seems the 'apdproxy.exe is a part of the Adobe Photoshop or similar application.
    This software could cause an error. So simply try to reinstall this program

  • I got a new Ipad 2 and I am trying to get it work in vain. I have downloaded the iTunes on my PC, but even after executing the program nothing happens to the IPAD. I still get the image of the USB cable and the iTunes logo. What am I doing wrong?

    I got a new Ipad 2 and I am trying to get it work in vain. I have downloaded the iTunes on my PC, but even after executing the program nothing happens to the IPAD. I still get the image of the USB cable and the iTunes logo. What am I doing wrong?

    You know that you have to connect the iPad to your PC with the cable that came with it -  and then iTunes should start automatically and it will guide you through the set up process?
    If you have already tried to connect the iPad - and you have launched iTunes - and you still have no luck - reboot your PC and then begin the process again.

  • My Ipad 2 was working fine, after  syncronizing with iTunes the contacts App froze completely, in the Settings everything works, but if you go to the mail settings they the settings freeze. I can't send Emails. I am using outlook, anybody has an answer?

    My Ipad 2 was working fine, after syncronizing with iTunes the contacts App froze completely, in the Settings everything works fine but if you go to the mail settings the entitre settings freezes. I am usng Outlook but can't send mails.  Any body has a solution?

    Update to above question:
    Hello All,
    To anyone with the same problem described above, on THEIR iPad (if it is running iOS 7.0.2):
    Go to Settings; Mail, Contacts, Calendars; DELETE your *******@btinternet.com e-mail account, that you originally set up either using 'Other', or the 'BT' option which I am sure was in the list previous to the iOS 7 update.
    Then ADD a NEW account choosing YAHOO from the list of options. DO NOT USE 'OTHER'.
    Enter the correct details just as you (almost certainly) had already done in your previous attempts using 'other'.
    When you see the 'verifying......' and 'the blue ticks' you should be able to exit settings and open your mail app and then receive all your 'old' e-mails again, AND be able to SEND as well.
    All my 'old' e-mails, were NOT found in the 'old e-mail' folder though. THEY are still in my inbox.
    So this fix worked for me.
    After I deleted my account from 'OTHER' and put it in Yahoo, I like other people also ended up with more folders.
    I hope this works for you on YOUR Apple devices.
    Bob

  • My itunes is not downloading correctly even after i uninstalled all software of apple keeps saying the registry is missing to import and burn cds??? it is not on a mac computer

    my itunes is not downloading correctly even after i uninstalled all software of apple keeps saying the registry is missing to import and burn cds??? it is not on a mac computer 

    I'd start with the following document, with one modification. At step 12 after typing GEARAspiWDM press the Enter/Return key once prior to clicking OK. (Pressing Return adds a carriage return in the field and is important.)
    iTunes for Windows: "Registry settings" warning when opening iTunes

  • Hard Drive Replaced - ITunes now skips?

    Hi everyone!
    I posted my saga regarding my iMac G5 and our hard drive problems here:
    http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=783309&start=0&tstart=0
    NOW - a week after having my hard drive replaced by Apple and finally getting all my settings and programs reloaded - all of a sudden my iTunes has starting to skip during playback like I'm stressing the processor when I do anything like follow an internet link, open/close Firefox or open any other program with iTunes playing.
    I never had any issues like this before I had a new hard drive installed...
    Ideas? Anyone?
    2.1GHz PowerPC 20-inch iMac G5 w/iSight, 1.5GB RAM, 250 GB   Mac OS X (10.4.8)   13" MacBook, 1.83GHz Intel Core Duo, 60GB

    You might want to check with "Activity Monitor" (in your utilities folder) to see if there is something either "hogging" processor time or making heavy use of the HD, melzieb.
    Once Activity Monitor has started open up the identically named "Activity Monitor" window, from the windows menu (if it is not opened automatically) , select "active processes" in the drop down box at the top of the window.
    Click on the "CPU%" button in the bottom of the window to see a graph CPU activity etc.
    One likely culprit is a process called "mdimport". This is directly associated with spotlight indexing proces, consumes both CPU and HD time, and is a common cause of slowdowns after HD replacement until Spotlight indexing has been completed etc.
    Another possibility may be a "hung up" printer - Look for printmonitor or "printjobmanager" processes, or the like.
    Cheers
    Rod

  • Air app pointing to wrong folder (how can I change it?)

    Hi,
    I couldnt find a proper answer in all internet, but it should be something easy.
    Everything works fine with php connections in my mac.
    However when I compile the release version, and install on my windows, I get this error:
    Send failed
    Channel.Connect.Failed error NetConnection.Call.Failed: HTTP: Status 404: url: 'http://localhost/client_folder/app_name-debug/gateway.php'
    I have already configured the services-config.xml to point to my gateway.php and the amf_config.ini to point to my framework.
    (I hope end users won't have to set it manually)
    Still, I'm getting this error pointing to an absolute path to reach the gateway.php
    Is it something I should declare in action script to make it a relative path? I have checked the $variables to replace in the Server Output Folder path, but maybe this is not related to my issue.
    Thanks in advance,
    Btp~

    Tap on the blue arrow for the network in the lst, and it should take you to the details page.
    There a button there labeled Forget this network. Tap it. go back to the network list and choose the network again.

  • ITunes installer installs wrong folder.

    Installer installs iTunes.msi in folder IXP729.TMP in Local Settings/Temp on XP SP3 English, then complains it can't find Local Settings/IXP694.TMP/iTunes.msi, which doesn't exist.  I navigate to iTunes.msi in the folder it just created, IXP729.TMP but it comes up with some sort of error, then when the installer cancels it deletes that folder.  I tried copying the folder while it did exist, then running iTunes.msi directly from it, but it still stops with the same error, that it can't find the non-existant folder.  This is a continuing problem--I tried updating to the previous version a couple of months ago and the same thing happened.  Plus, the installer and errors are in Japanese, although my OS is English and I selected to install the program in English in a stage of installation before the problem. 
    Any suggestions?

    Thanks, turingtest2.  That didn't work, but it helped.  You made me realize I had the problem backwards--the new installer wasn't looking for something it had just created and misplaced, it was looking for the previous installer, which had been deleted (if the error message had been in English I'd have been able to read it).  MS Program Install and Uninstall Utility also didn't work--gave the exact same error message, that it couldn't find the previous iTunes.msi installer, so it couldn't uninstall the previous version.  Once I knew the problem, I found the solution online--Microsoft's old Windows Installer CleanUp Utility, which they discontinued but is still available at Major Geeks.  Used that to uninstall the old (along with all the obvious ancillary files, plus bonjour and quicktime), deleted the program folders from Program Files, rebooted, then the iTunes installer worked (oddly, it even kept my old settings and playlists somehow). 
    If anyone at Apple is reading this, PLEASE give us the option to choose the language of the installer we download.  I went to the English apple.com site and entered my country as USA, but because I'm in Japan at the moment the installer was in Japanese. 

  • Podcasts Still in Folder Even After Deleting

    Hi, I'm having a problem with itunes retaining podcasts, even after I delete them. I always click the option "Move to Recycle Bin," but a recent cruise through my itunes folder under My Music revealed that many of the supposedly deleted podcasts are still there. This has happened several times, and it gets to the point where I run out of hard drive space if I don't go to the folder and delete the old podcasts. I understand that this should only happen if I click on "Keep Files," so why is this happening even though I tell it to delete the episodes? It seems to be just random ones, too, with no rhyme or reason to whether it decides to keep an episode I told it to delete or not. Any ideas or suggestions? Thanks.

    "Move to Recycle Bin" doesn't work if the file is active; that is, if you have just finished listening to it and it is still the active track in iTunes with the little speaker icon next to it. Start to play something else, then go back and delete it. That's probably what's happening.
    A less likely reason is that you had moved the podcast file from where iTunes deposited it. ITunes can only erase files that are in the +iTunes Music+ folder to begin with. So if you downloaded the file in iTunes the moved it, or (this just occured to me) got the file from some other means and imported it to iTunes without saving it to the +iTunes Music+ folder, iTunes won't move it to the RB.

  • CAN NO LONGER DOWN LOAD MUSIC TO MY SEPERATE HARD DRIVE AS ITUNES CLOSES WHEN I TRY TO CHANGE THE SETTINGS

    i am unable to down load my itunes music onto a sperate hard drive as itunes closes when i try to change the settings

    i dont know much about computers but I think this happened to me before.
    as I said i hardly know computers. i think I unplugged the hard drive all cables and i turned the computer off too. plug it all again and see if it grabs it again. i did it and it worked. some how the extHD gets stuck on on. so thats why I unplugged it all. I dont know if you want to try that.

  • ITunes cannot properly detect iPod even after uninstall and re-install

    Recently I tried to sync my iPod nano (NOT touch) to my windows computer, but even after i completely uninstalled and reinstalled it says that it cannot properly detect it. I am running the most recent version of iTunes on Windows Technical Preview.

    Did you uninstall iTunes and all other Apple related software using the instructions in this Apple support document?
    Removing and reinstalling iTunes, QuickTime, and other software components for Windows Vista or Windows 7
    B-rock

  • TS1292 my itunes card will not activate even after returning to place of purchase.

    I have tried to redeem my itunes voucher card several times it keeps saying this card was not properly activated even after i took it back to place of purchase.
    what can i do to get it to activate.

    UPDATE:
    Make sure that in 'mail, contacts & calendars' that under 'contacts' you have valid information in put for who you are (save your number in your phone and select it from your contacts menu to ensure that your iPhone has your details).
    After days of not knowing, also exhausting all the possible steps, I decided to go as far as 'waiting for activation' and just leave my phone. It happened to be overnight.
    I had 'no addresses' in the 'send and receive' category selected (I deselected my email address) and after about 8-9 hours, basically by morning - iMessage activated itself, checking my phone number and sending and receiving iMessages as per usual!
    Yes, that's right - what I'm saying is if you've tried EVERYTHING like I honestly had, try the waiting game. It worked for me, I really hope it works for all of you too!
    Martha.

  • Blinking folder even after replacing hard drive

    I Was skyping with a friend went to do something came back i was sighnd out of skype and my computer froze i restarted then it gave me a blinking file witch means failing hard drive so i put in my old hard drive that i knew works and still gives me a blinking file macbook pro 08 running on mavricks osx and somthing been running down ram for awhile to where it was not usable i had to keep running memory clean

    a blinking file witch means failing hard drive
    A blinking folder, possibly alternating with a question mark, says your Mac could not find the drive in the last-specified location. Although this COULD be caused by a failed drive, it could also be caused by your Mac simply forgetting the drive you specified in System preferences > Startup Disk.
    If unsure what drives are available, hold down Alt/Option at startup, and a ROM routine will slowly draw an Icon for each potentially-bootable Volume it can find. Select the one you want and proceed, but be sure to quickly re-specify the Startup Disk.

  • Itunes points to wrong files - points to random system files instead of mp3

    I noticed this about a year and a half ago when my ipod would have an error that some of the files couldnt be transfrered. Upon further inspection, it seems itunes occasionally gets confused about where files are located. The files will look fine in itunes but wont play. If I right click on them and chose "show in finder" the file that should be an mp3 in my library, is actually pointed at ical/contents/resources/italian.Ipoj/iCal Help/gfx/priority.gif
    Which is totally bonkers. It's a totally random operating file.
    Now I could go in and delete and re-import these files. Eventually that is what I have ended up doing in the past. But now it's happened to about 700 files (out of about 18,000) and it would take a century for me to go through each track and find out which ones that has happened to.
    I know there are some applescripts out there for missing and dead tracks, but I can't seem to find one that just checks that we're pointing to the CORRECT file. keep in mind, these correct files actually are where they are supposed to be. Itunes is just linking to the wrong files.
    Message was edited by: James Campbell

    I am experiencing the same problem and after restoring from backup I either still have some wrong pointers or the problem is returning.
    One way to find out which tracks are pointing to random files is to sync your whole music library either in one go if it's small enough or in parts to an iphone or ipod. You will then get a dialog with all the files that won't play on the device.
    How do I relink them manually? Can't work it out.

Maybe you are looking for

  • Sharing songs between different iTunes accounts on the same Mac

    Hello I am a newbie to Mac. My wife and I both have seperate iTunes accounts set up on our seperate user accounts on our MacBook. Can we share songs between our accounts?

  • Why does Finder think a file or folder is modified when it has only been opened (not re-saved)?

    I try to use the Finder to sort my folders and files by Date Modified so I can quickly access my current projects/files/folders and keep them on the top of the list.  Whenever I open an older file to just see what's in it Finder thinks that the file

  • Just a Few Recording Questions

    Hey everyone, I have a few questions about how garageband works... Do you have the ability to record multiple tracks at the same time using firewire and keep them as separate tracks? Can you then play back those tracks all at once and simultaneously

  • Gnome 3.2 Crash

    I updated Arch today and there were many updates. I believe I was updating to Gnome 3.2. When I rebooted, I get the "Oh No" gnome error message telling me to logout. I can boot into kde (I use kdm, gdm has not worked for a few weeks) and it works fin

  • PHP5 package compiled with LDAP support?

    When I check phpinfo() it appears the PHP5 package was compiled with LDAP support but for some reason when I try a ldap_connect function in php it errors with 'Fatal error: Call to undefined function ldap_connect() in ...' Anybody have any idea what