Can't access my mp3s from my external drive. help please!

Hey,
So I've read most of the articles in Support but can't find an answer. I read this too : http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1449.
I'm running itunes 10.5.3 on my imac. I transferred my itunes music folder to an external drive because it was taking up too much space on my internal drive. Then I went into itunes preferences and changed the location of the folder to the external drive.
But I can't access tons of my mp3s now. When I click on a song in my library that it can't access, I get that explanation mark, and a statement asking me if I would like to locate the file. I locate it, and then I can listen to it.
And after I find that missing file for itunes, a window pops up and asks "Would you like itunes to use the location of "-----" to find other missing files in your library"? I select 'yes'. But then itunes can't find the missing files, even if they're in the same exact folder as the last one I found! It seems to me like this function is broken? And I have like 2,000 missing files! I even re-imported my itunes music folder back into my library. But that didn't work and now I have a ton of duplicates.
Any suggestions?
J

I read this too : http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1449.
I'm running itunes 10.5.3 on my imac. I transferred my itunes music folder to an external drive because it was taking up too much space on my internal drive. Then I went into itunes preferences and changed the location of the folder to the external drive.
That's where you went wrong.
iTunes: How to move 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.

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