All music on external hard drive - ITunes 'sees it' but can't find it
a while back i moved all of my music to an external hard drive - i was unaware of all the steps that had to be taken to preserve the ITunes library. Now I've gotten back on ITunes and there's an "!" next to every single song i burned from all of my CDs. Can somebody, please, please tell me 'simply' how to fix this and not refer me to articles. i thought i was computer literate - but I'm just getting fed up now! thanks for your help!
You have several options:
#1 Find all the files one-by-one by clicking on them and saying yes, you want to find the file, and browsing to it.
Plus: All metadata is retained.
Minus: Takes freaking forever and requires patience that can soon wear thin.
#2 Edit the iTunesLibrary.XML file using WordPad to point to the new paths, and then use the XML file to recreate the ITL.
Plus: Is a LOT faster than option #1.
Minus: Requires careful editing and loses the Date Added metadata.
#3 Something I tried and it worked, but you could seriously hork things up even worse if you answer hteitunes questions wrong, so I hesitate to mention it - change the itunes folder back to the original place and answer NO you don't want to move the library to the new settings. THen change it back to the exHD location and say yes,but don't have copy file turned on or you'll get duplicates.
Plus: On a 160GB library, it takes about 1 hour to fix all the links
Minus: Potential to mess things up even worse
#4 Start with a blank library and drag everything back in.
Plus: All your music can be played by itunes.
Minus: Lose all metatdata.
Best of luck, whatever you go with.
Similar Messages
-
Old laptop died, got latest itunes on new laptop and recovered all music from external hard drive but ipad2 not being recognised as a device when plugged in so can't sync? Do i reset my ipad2?!!!! Its only taken 7 months to get to this point.
My ipad is set to sync via wifi but it is still trying to look for my old laptop which has been trashed..but i have deauthorised it and removed it from my account and still not recognised.
Please help (an extreme novice to Apple products)Sync Your iOS Device with a New Computer Without Losing Data
http://www.howtogeek.com/104298/sync-your-ios-device-with-a-new-computer-without -losing-data/
iPad not appearing in iTunes
http://www.apple.com/support/ipad/assistant/itunes/
iOS: Device not recognized in iTunes for Mac OS X
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1591
iOS: Device not recognized in iTunes for Windows
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1538
IOS: Syncing with iTunes
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1386
Apple - Support - iPad - Syncing
http://www.apple.com/support/ipad/syncing/
Cheers, Tom -
Playing music from external hard drive, iTunes
Hello all,
After years of wanting to own a MacBook Pro, I finally have one. This is the first Mac computer that I have owned so I am still new to everything. One issue that I am having is an issue that I have had over the years on Windows, that always took me hours to get straight. I am going to explain how my iTunes has been setup on all of my previous computers so that hopefully you guys can make sense of what I am trying to accomplish as I could not find a solution on here.
The way iTunes is set up on my Windows PC's was that all of my music was on my external hard drive. Whenever I would want to use my music through iTunes, I would have to plug in my external hard drive and once it boots I can now play music. Without the hard drive plugged in I can only see all the information about my music on iTunes but I cannot play it since the hard drive is disconnected. I am trying to do this same setup with my macbook but I am having difficulty accomplishing that. I honestly do not remember how I did it on my Windows PC other than it took forever. I kept getting duplicates but after trying multiple times, I got it to where there were no duplicates and everything was fine.
What steps do I go about in order to be able to see all my music information on iTunes but having the actual music file on my external? I like it this way as it saves my internal hard drive storage and I don't mind having to plug in my external when needed. I have only attempted once so far to do this procedure on my new MacBook, I failed. It transferred all of the music and worked just how I wanted it to work. However, it created a duplicate of every song, which there is thousands of, so I deleted everything and now iTunes doesn't have anything. Any help is appreciated, sorry for the long post.So after messing around for awhile I finally figured it out and got everything working how I want it and had it on my Windows machine. It took me forever to find the iTunes library file as it was not in its default location on my Windows machine. I finally figured out what needs to be done and it is really easy like you explained. I discovered that my issue is: 1. The default location of these common iTunes files is not in its default location likely due to me moving it the last time I did this from my prior Windows machine and 2. My external hard drive needs to be cleaned up, at least my music section.
What I am going to do in the future is purchase a new external hard drive specifically for my Mac backups and music. I will have to take a day and transfer my huge library to the new drive so that I ensure everything is organized and kept clean and not make this process more difficult than it should in the future. I am however missing some of my tracks (noted with the !) I do believe that this is due to me accidentally changing the file paths on my external at some point in the past and left certain files on my Windows internal drive. This issue is solved though, hopefully. I appreciate your help.
BTW: I am loving my 15" rMBP, I wish the price didn't hold me back as long as it did. -
Putting library and all music on external hard drive
This may be obvious, but I want to put all my music on an external hard drive to free up space on my laptop. I want to be able to plug in my ipod and have it update the full music library. I tried changing the library in advanced preferences and it just made a folder that didn't have anything in it on the external hard drive. Do I have to drag and drop Itunes Library from my internal harddrive user folder to the external? Thanks, and sorry for the slightly dunderheaded question.
In the iTunes preferences, under the "Advanced" tab, you have to make sure to uncheck the option to "Copy files to the iTunes Media folder when adding to library". Make sure to keep the option above it checked, that reads "Keep iTunes Media folder organized". Then, when you want to add music to your library, put the new music file in the external drive's folder with the rest of your music files, then drag it to the iTunes icon. iTunes will keep it on the external drive and organize it in there.
This is at least what I do. Perhaps others have a different way to do it but that has worked pretty well for me.
Message was edited by: gojirasan -
Lost my external hard drive and now Snow Leopard can't find it
I was doing some maintenance with Onyx (repair permissions, clean caches) and something happened to my external hard drive that I use for Time Machine. Snow Leopard no longer recognizes that the drive exists. It is not listed as a drive in the Mac HD window and is not listed in the Time Machine preference window as a choice for use by Time Machine.
I have already tried the following: (1) unplugged the external drive and replugged it into the back of my iMac (2) restarted the iMac both with and without the external drive plugged in (3) shut down the iMac and restarted both ways (4) pulled the plug on the iMac and restarted. Nothing works and the drive remains unrecognized. In all the attempts, I can feel that the external drive is spinning and it is still warm to the touch. It appears to be working.
Can anyone help?I am also having similar issues with my Mac Pro (OSX 10.6.3). I have been using a WD external HD for months now with my Time Machine, and I just today realized the drive is not showing anywhere on my Mac and the last backup was on 4/4/2010 (connected via firewire 400 port). Additionally, my old Maxtor drive I previously (not currently) used for Time Machine was also not shown anywhere. I then connected the Maxtor via a USB port instead of firewire, and it will now show in my Disk Utility but will not mount. I ran a "verify disk" on the Maxtor drive and no errors were found. The WD disk cannot be found even in Disk Utility. Getting nervous about my backups.
-
Laptop dropped - trying to run hard drive test in bios, but can't find
CAn someone tell me how to run a hard drive test in bios - I am not seeing it in the menu at the initial screen after hitting F2. Is there a disk I need to insert?
The BIOS doesn't provide a HD diagnostic. The BIOS is firmware and is limited to providing
basic functions like recognizing devices on the buss or providing the user the ability to
load software to the HD. -
ITunes can not find my music on external hard drive
Had to redo my hard drive; had all music on external hard drive; copied iTunes folder onto external hard drive. Now that my desktop hard drive is clean, and new iTunes downloaded, it can not find my music on the external drive which I have always used. Is there some setting I am missing, do I have to copy music onto CPU?
Hold the SHIFT key while launching iTunes. You will get the option to navigate to the iTunes folder on your external drive. In the iTunes folder point it to the iTunes Library.itl file.
-
I am having a very hard time. First I finally got all of my music back into iTunes and then moved them all to my external hard drive. I set up iTunes to automatically put and get music from the external hard drive and whenever I open the drive al of the music is there. Now, I bought a new computer and went ahead and got iTunes all set up then tried to add folder to import from the external hard drive but all the music folders are empty! They show the names of the artists and the albums but there is nothing inside. Please help!!
If you've just moved the drive between systems then see Repair security permissions for iTunes for Windows just in case that reveals the missing files. Apply to a single album folder first as a test. Otherwise, if you've not done too much with the drive since things went missing, an undelete tool might recover the lost media. FreeRecover looks promising... Select the drive, use the options to get file paths and check file integrity, then, presumably, you can restore anything that has been deleted that looks recoverable. Backup to another drive when you're done.
tt2 -
I have just bought an iMac, and when I had my PC I had all my mp3 music on external hard drive and used to stream using software called ps3 server and tveristy which used to pick up on my Roberts radio via network wi fii and on my iPad via AirPlay. How can I do the same with iMac as this software isn't compatible
To install apps from developers Apple doesn't recognize go to Security and Privacy in the System Preferences and change Allow apps downloaded from anywhere
-
How to combine external hard drive iTunes account to my MacBook Pro's iTunes account?
Hey All,
I have external hard drive that contains my Macbook Air's iTunes account, and I want to combine it to my 'main' MacBook Pro's iTunes account.
I have spent endless hours organizing the music on my external hard drive (ie: genres, groupings, comments, etc) and am hoping to retain all of this precious information.
I am a newbie and obviously not very tech savy.
Any and all help is appreciated.
Ask me anything to assist in the process and I will get back to your promptly.
Cheers,
DannyI just answered a question like this about an hour ago so I won't type it all in again. No, there isn't an easy way to merge libraries. You can copy the entire iTunes library to the internal drive and then try to export playlists and import them into the other library, Haven't done it myself but it may work. Fortunately most of the things you mention are contained inside the files themselves (unless you use WAV format) so even if you end up having to add the files to the main library as new files they will still have your data (but not ratings, or date added, or playlists).
-
Like I said. . .
I recently migrated from an old MacBook to a new MacBook Air. I decided that since I have many tens of thousands of photos, I would keep them all on an external hard drive in the dedicated "iPhoto Library" (which I was very careful to migrate intact then move to the EHD). Now, when I go to the "Photos" tab in iTunes, all I get is a thinking wheel and no interface with which to choose which photos I want to sync to my iPhone (5s).
Any thoughts or advice would be greatly welcome.
Thanks!Hello Sandra,
The article linked below details how to go about restoring items from Time Machine in Snow Leopard.
Mac OS X 10.6: Recovering items using Time Machine and Spotlight
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH6379
Sincerely,
Allen -
itunes cannot locate my files on the external hard drive - I changed preferences but still not locating songs?
This work for the most part:
https://discussions.apple.com/message/20361846#20361846 -
I have an IMAC and I'm running OSX 10.9.2. I'd like to store my Aperture /IMovie Libraries on an external hard drive. In addition, I'd like to partition the external hard drive so that Time Machine can use it to both back up my IMac and the external library drives. Is this possible? Can I set up a RAID 5 format for redundancy?
I'd like to store my Aperture /IMovie Libraries on an external hard drive.
That is fine and recommended.. use the fastest disk you can afford.. ie Thunderbolt>USB3>FW800>USB2.
In addition, I'd like to partition the external hard drive so that Time Machine can use it to both back up my IMac and the external library drives.
Let me be clear.. you want to partition the one disk.. use it for TM and move your files to the external disk.. and then backup to the same disk.. You can do it.. but that is not a backup.. that is an experiment in how long you can get away with running files and backups on the same disk before you lose everything.. like Russian Roulette.. pull the trigger enough times and laws of probability will do you in.
You must have backups on a different disk .. otherwise it is pointless.
Can I set up a RAID 5 format for redundancy?
No.. you can buy special USB and Thunderbolt external drives that support RAID..
BUT that is still not a backup.. let me show why.. you make a silly move and corrupt your file in aperture.. it is not that rare.
Raid will corrupt all copies of the files.. it is replicated across all disks.
Delete a photo it is deleted across all disks.. you have no recovery.
Alway, always consider RAID system one disk.. backup onto another disk.. and if the photos or movies are at all important to you.. ie your family .. make another copy and store in a relatives house.. There is no such thing as too much redundancy. -
My external hard drive works on PC but won't even show up on my mac?
My external hard drive works on pc but won't even show up on my mac? What can I do?
If it is in the wrong format it must probably still show up though, if your mac does detect it, go to disk utilities> choose the device from the left hand side > go to the "erase" tab and change format to "Mac OS extended (Journaled) then hit "erase".
IMPRTANT! : this will erase ALL of the files on your external hard drive
If this dosent work, make sure your external hard drive's USB port is compatibe with both USB 2.0 and 3.0 and also make sure your mac USB socket isnt damaged either.
Hope this helped -
Got a new Macbook Pro today and I plugged in my WD external hard drive to backup with but it didn't allow me to backup. The problem is that now my computer won't show the drive in finder. I can see it in Disk Utility and cannot access it. Help?
First
Finder>Preferences>Sidebar>Devices>External disk
but it didn't allow me to backup
did you get an error code or error dialog box?
Maybe you are looking for
-
Why does my entire computer freeze while opening or using After Effects or Premiere Pro CS5?
Just built a computer to meet all requirements for Adobe, Autodesk 3ds Max, and UDK, for school. Specs; Motherboard - ASRock X79 Extreme 4-M, Socket 2011 - Micro ATX - 4 DDR3 1600/1333/1066/800 - 3 PCI-E 3.0 x 16 - 7.1 CH HD Audio - PCIE GLAN - 3 SAT
-
Multiple iphones sharing one account
I am setting up two iphone 4 & 1 iphone 5 and would like to share some music and have one account. But I don't want to share contacts. How do I do this and should I use icloud?
-
How to edit and save a document in Pages
How do I edit and save a document in Pages with MacBook Air
-
Have just updated to the latest system for the Ipad2. Cannot restore. Error message (50). What do I do please?
-
Hi, The following query is showing error An INSERT EXEC statement cannot be nested CREATE PROCEDURE [dbo].[Procedur3] @para1 int AS BEGIN CREATE TABLE #tem select * from detialpar where did=@para1 --this code is quite big and is called from many