Consolidate itunes library and media

I have got several libraries and music in different locations (2 laptops and various hard drives)
How do I consolidate them altogether and store in one place (external drive to free up my SSD)?
I read through a couple of answers but didn't understand the difference between copying the library or the media and which one is best suited for my needs
Thanks!!!

I believe it has something to do with 9.1.1 and it's issues with having iTunes Library stored on an external hard drive. I have exclamation marks on half of my Music Library since updating. Only advise I have - don't update! Please fix apple!!

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Having trouble restoring iTunes library and media

I have a large audio library. I was storing the library itself in my home folder (as per default) but the media fies were on an external drive. As the drive was getting older, and I had recently had another drive fail, I started duplicating the drive holding the media to a newer one. All good so far.
Yesterday however, that older drive failed and it seems that I cannot resuscitate it. So I tried to redirect my library to the duplicate drive.
To do this I simply went into iTunes preferences and redirected the media files directory to the one on the newer drive.
The something a bit confusing happened. iTunes asked me if I would like to organize this new media folder. I figure it already was organized, but iTunes might only believe it was if I asked it to go ahead and organize it. I did. iTunes then buzzed through a lot of files over several minutes before completing this process. I have no idea if it actually moved anything or not.
I tried to play a music file. iTunes told me it didn't know where the file was - would I like to locate it? I said yes, and it was easy to locate because it was in fact organized by artist, then by album and the file name was the same as the song.
iTunes then asked me if it should use the location of this file to locate other files it could not find. I said yes. It then busied it selves for a long time again before coming back with the very discouraging message that it was about to locate 1973 of the 22350 lost files using this information.
I then selected the whole list of music files moved them a couple millimeters and dropped them again. This will make all those little exclamation points that indicate that a file has been misplaced excplicit. I played the next song. I repeated the above, said yes it shoud try to find other lost files with this information.
iTunes has been unresponsive since I did that - about 15 minutes before I started typing this post.
Have I done irreperable harm to my music library with any of the above steps?
Anybody else faced similar problems? I thought backing up was enough, but apparently not.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks in advance.
Will

Yes, that might have been a very good idea. Unfortunately, I have to deal with my current situation.
Seeing a possible simplificaion in your observations though, I used Time Machine to roll back the library to before I redirected the media file directory and then renamed the copy of the old drive with the same name as the old one.
Then I opened iTunes again, but this actually made things worse. It hung after relocating the first song (while trying to locate the other missing files based on me locating that file for it).
Does anyone have any idea of what I can do NOW to get my library and iTunes back in working order?

External drive format to be used as iTunes library and media folder

Hi everyone, I want to transffer my iTunes to an external drive, do I need to format my external drive to Extended Journal or will an Appleshare be alright? Thanks!

Thanks for the reply, good! I only asked because I read that if you transfer you iPhoto Library you need to have your external drive formatted to Extended Journal so I thought that it might be the same for iTunes. And I only read the post after I started to transfer the iTunes to an external drive. Thanks again!

ITunes install when old HD with library and media is installed as 2nd local HD on new computer

Hello support community:
My (Windows 7) laptop died unexpectedly. I didn't have a chance to consolidate my itunes library, and my files are not all in the itunes folder.
The replacement (Windows 7) laptop has space for a second hard drive, so I installed the hard drive from the dead laptop, with all my music files and itunes library. All my old data is now on my new Local Disc E. Windows is installed on C. I could copy all my music to C, but will probably leave E installed for the life of this laptop anyway.
Is it possible to move my itunes library data, such as playlists, play counts and star ratings, to the new itunes installation?
Will iTunes library search for the media files on the same drive where the library folder is located (E:folder\subfolder) or at the path where it was previosly located (C:\folder\subfolder)
Thanks for any advice!
-M

Lynda-
If you still have the old computer, you should be able to connect the iPad, run iTunes and restore from a backup from a previous sync. Now that you have it updated, you will not need to do that again.
Fred

HT1751 Followed instructions on how to consolidate iTunes library, move to external hard drive and restore library back up but my iTunes is still empty.

Recently bought a new macbook pro and obviously the first thing I want to do is move over my itunes library from my PC and keep my playcount.
The instructions I followed are here: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1751?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US
As I got down to Step 7 in 'Restoring your iTunes Library backup', I chose my iTunes library file and waited for everything to be restored but then nothing came up on my iTunes. My iTunes is still empty.
Is there perhaps another way for me to transfer my iTunes library and my playcount will still be retained? Help on this would be greatly appreciated.

Recently bought a new macbook pro and obviously the first thing I want to do is move over my itunes library from my PC and keep my playcount.
The instructions I followed are here: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1751?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US
As I got down to Step 7 in 'Restoring your iTunes Library backup', I chose my iTunes library file and waited for everything to be restored but then nothing came up on my iTunes. My iTunes is still empty.
Is there perhaps another way for me to transfer my iTunes library and my playcount will still be retained? Help on this would be greatly appreciated.

I have 100's of CDs that I have downloaded to my itunes library and they are in the library playable but they do not show up in the C drive under the iTunes Music folder under users. Why are they in the libary and not in the itunes music folder. Win 7 OS

I have 100's of CDs that I have downloaded to my itunes library and they are in the library playable but they do not show up in the C drive under the iTunes Music folder under users. Why are they in the libary and not in the itunes music folder. Win 7 OS. When I look in the library under the get info screen it says they are in the folder itunes music, under the c: drive but when I actually go to that folder to look for them they are not there....HELP!

Hello RumDog,
I think this article will help you find the media in your library.
Where are my iTunes files located?
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1391
Discovering and changing the iTunes Media folder location
Note: You would usually only change the iTunes Media folder location to share music between accounts on the same computer. See this article for specific steps on how to accomplish this. Also, see this article if you want to know how to move your music to a new computer.
Mac OS X: Click the iTunes menu and choose Preferences.
Windows: Click the Edit menu and choose Preferences.
Click the Advanced pane. iTunes displays the location of your iTunes Media folder.
You can then:
Note where your media folder is, such as for backing up your media.
Use the Reset button to reset it's location to the default (which is the iTunes folder).
Click the Change button to select a folder for a new location. Once you change this location:
If you make a new or alternate iTunes library, the new location will be used by that library.
Existing files will not be moved unless you choose File > Library > Organize library and choose the option to "Consolidate files."
From: Where are my iTunes files located?
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1391
Cheers,
Sterling

Had to rebuild iTunes library and it won't accept most of the videos it previously had? Why?

I'm having a strange problem with iTunes -
My boot hard drive recently crashed and took iTunes and my library with it. Fortunately I had all of the music and video files themselves backed up on another drive. When I reinstalled the OS and iTunes and then attempted to add all of the music and video files back into the new, blank iTunes, it accepted all of my music files but it kept crashing when I tried to add the video files back in.
The details: using a 24" iMac 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with OS X version 10.9.4 both before and after the hard drive crash, and iTunes version 11.2.2 was my working copy of iTunes with all of my media files happily loaded in it's library, but the newly installed iTunes was at first 11.3.0 and now 11.3.1. Neither with version 11.3.0 nor 11.3.1 will it load all the video files into the library (haven't tried downgrading to 11.2.2, maybe I should? but we'll get to that in a minute).
I have about 300 video files of several different file types (.mpg, .mp4, .m4v, .mov) which over the years I had added to iTunes as I acquired them, and at the time of the hard drive failing, they were ALL in my iTunes library and I'd never had iTunes reject any file types. They all played fine as well as being a part of the library. And since I had added them over the years, they were added during quite a few different versions of iTunes as it was upgraded over time.
So, after I added all the music back into iTunes on the new drive, I attempted to add the videos all at one go, but it crashed after only 5 or so files being incorporated. Thinking it may have been too many at once, I tried adding them in smaller batches, but had the same problem. I took a look at what it had added before crashing each time, and found that every time it would load only mpeg 4 files, either .mp4 or .m4v, and would crash as soon as it encountered an .mpg or .mov. So I added all 50 or so of the mpeg 4's, and then tried adding the .mov and .mpg files individually and found that no matter which one it was, it was apparently the file type it didn't like, not the individual files themselves. Randomly trying about 75 led me to that conclusion, but I didn't try all 250, so I guess it's possible there might be some .mpg's it would take, however I only had about 10 .mov files and it won't take ANY of them. Considering all of these files regardless of their type were part of my old iTunes library for years and worked just fine, I don't understand why it won't take them again. I tried adding them by dragging them to the open iTunes pane, and by using the import command, and neither way works, all that happens is it crashes. Every time.
I tried converting these files to mpeg 4 types, and when I do that, it will take the converted version. However, a lot of them don't come out right when converting them, either the audio is messed up or the dimensions of the movie are incorrect and stretched or squished. It seems I could fix this problem by making sure every video file I add is an mpeg 4, but since I'm having so much trouble converting them properly and it's terribly time consuming, I was hoping someone would have insight into this strange, strange problem. I tried to see if this was a known issue with iTunes, that it only takes mpeg 4 files now, but I can't find anything about that. Anyone know if that's the case? And therefore hopefully an upcoming patch will fix it? Or is it just a weird, weird problem with me only?
Very frustrating, hopefully someone can help me out. Even if there's no apparent fix, maybe someone can recommend a good application for converting movie files that is easy enough to use for someone who's not familiar with the process, i.e. maybe it can auto-detect things like the audio quality and dimensions so it comes out right without me having to be a real whiz at it? Thank you all very much in advance for your help!

OK, so I have now found that this is apparently normal for iTunes, to only accept mpeg 4 movie files, all the searching I did before I must have worded it wrong because I couldn't find anything about this, incredibly. Had been looking for why iTunes won't take all the files it previously did, like if it had been changed, and it hasn't, it's allegedly always taken only mpeg 4 files. Also I had been searching for why iTunes crashes every time I try and add/import anything but mpeg 4 files, and even sometimes with mpeg 4 files. That isn't normal, it's supposed to just do nothing apparently as I've just found out. So for these reasons I didn't find the answer despite my searching all over the web.
So I guess that answers my own question now, but I'm still perplexed as to why I absolutely, definitely, without any doubt, had several hundred movies of a few different video file types loaded, accessible and playable in my iTunes library that everything here claims iTunes never accepted. It apparently shouldn't have been possible for me to have done this, but for probably 10 years it's been this way.
Perhaps since I don't remember adding these files to iTunes anymore recently than maybe 6 or 7 years ago, the iTunes back then did accept all kinds of file types? Or could I have somehow had some video codecs or software that expanded the capability of my movie players like Quicktime Player that unwittingly also allowed iTunes to take those files as well? All I know is somehow it worked! So now my question is how did I have it working before, so that maybe I can make it work again.

I have tried and failed to copy my iTunes library and playlists from my Windows 8 desktop to my Windows 7 laptop using an external hard drive. Can it be done? Help would be appreciated.

I have tried and failed to copy my iTunes library and playlists from my Windows 8 desktop to my Windows 7 laptop using an external hard drive. Can it be done? Help would be appreciated. I have followed instructions found online but the library of music doesn't pull in. Thanks!
Nate

Migrate an iTunes library from one computer to another
These are two possible approaches that will normally work to move an existing library to a new computer.
Method 1
Backup the library with this User Tip.
Deauthorize the old computer if you no longer want to access protected content on it.
Restore the backup to your new computer using the same tool used to back it up.
Keep your backup up-to-date in future.
Method 2
Connect the two computers to the same network. Share your <User's Music> folder from the old computer and copy the entireiTunes library folder into the <User's Music> folder on the new one. Again, deauthorize the old computer if no longer required.
Both methods should give the new computer a working clone of the library that was on the old one, with ratings, play counts, playlists etc. preserved. As far as iTunes is concerned this is still the "home" library for your devices so you shouldn't have any issues with iTunes wanting to erase and reload.
I'd normally recommend method 1 since it establishes an ongoing backup for your library and unlike copying with Windows Explorer the process can be resumed if it is interrupted and it will continue to the next item if there are any read/access errors.
Note if you have iOS devices and haven't moved your contacts and calendar items across then you should create one dummy entry of each in your new profile and iTunes should merge the existing data from the device.
If your media folder has been split out from the main iTunes folder you may need to do some preparatory work to make it easier to move. See Make a split library portable.
Should you be in the unfortunate position where you are no longer able to access your original library or a backup then then seeRecover your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device for advice on how to set up your devices with a new library with the maximum preservation of data.
tt2

How do i get my TC to house my main itunes library and access it?

How do i get my TC to house my main itunes library and access it as if it was on my hardrive?

Have you considered that if you move your iTunes Library / Media Folder to the Time Capsule drive......you will have your "master" or "original" library on the Time Capsule drive?
When....not if.....you have an issue with the Time Capsule drive, you have no backup for iTunes Library / Media Folder.....and you lose everything in the library.
So, before you consider moving the Library to the Time Capsule disk, it would be a good idea to develop a backup plan for the library / media folder first.
To develop your backup plan.....(Time Machine will not work for this).....you will need to use another commercially available application that can copy data from a network drive.....like Carbon Copy Cloner or Chronosync....then you can move the iTunes Library / Media Folder from your Mac.
The following Apple Support Document provides the details on how to do this:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1449

When trying to manually manage my music and videos on itunes its telling me that im already signed up to one itunes library and if i apply these setings it will replace my current itunes library. is this safe and would i be able too retrieve my deleted mu

when trying to manually manage my music and videos on itunes its telling me i am already connected to another itunes library and that if i apply these settings it will delete all of my data and replace it with the current itunes library. will this just delete from the i tunes library or from my i tunes account all together?

Thanks for your reply. I don't keep all of my music in the iTunes' designated music folder. I don't like the way iTunes reorganizes my songs and I keep all my music in my own self organized music folders as I don't use iTunes as my primary media application. Not to mention allot of my files come from all different corners of my computer's hard drive. It would literally take months to go through over 20 gigs of media files to pick out the songs I have in my iPhone library to rebuild an iTunes library. Like i said, I don't even use iTunes other than to transfer files to my iPhone. I thought the purpose of manually managing the files was so you don't have to sync it with the iTunes library but now it won't give my that option without requiring me to delete everything on my phone I worked so hard on.
What I don't understand is logically or technically why iTunes HAS to delete all the content off of my iphone. Who's decision in the Apple's software engineering department was to require the one's iPhone to be erased if someone loses their iTunes library? Its frustrating because it makes no sense and I feel as if the software is punishing me for reasons I don't understand by threatening to delete all my content off my phone. Is there absolutely no way to transfer my music to my iPhone without deleting everything currently on and completely rebuilding my music library from scratch?

ITunes, library and iPhone after PC restore

Hi there.
I had to format and restore my PC from scratch. I backed up everything, including my iTunes library and my iPhones backup (backup of a backup).
Now I have installed the latest version of iTunes afresh on my restored PC and authorised my iTunes account.
I have connected my iPhone and after installing the drivers I could back up the data from my iPhone.
Also, I imported the iTunes library file (xml) and I could see the list of playlists but there were no songs in any of them! So I copied the all the music folders/files to the new iTunes folder (now the name is "iTunes Media", before it was "iTunes Music" even if the version of iTunes was exactly the same!). The main issue is that now I have lost almost all files artwork and there is nothing in the "iPhone Selection" playlist that I used to sync music from iTunes to my iPhone!
First problem now... if I want to sync the iPhone with my Yahoo account iTunes tells me that my iPhone was synced with another account (but in reality is the same Yahoo account) and wants to know if I want to merge the info on my iPhone with the info on "this" account (not sure if it means the "new" Yahoo account or the "old" one) or replace the data on my iPhone withe the info from "this" account (they should also get better in explaining things in English!).
Also if I want to sync my iPhone apps iTunes tells me that syncing apps will remove all my apps on my iPhone! Why?! In my old iTunes folder I had several sub-folders, including a folder called "Mobile applications", now in the newly installed iTunes I don't see it. Should I just copy the whole folder from my backup to the new iTunes folder? If I choose to "Transfer purchases" this is what I get!!!
Any ideas why this all happens? Any suggestion to make this restore simple would be much appreciated!
Thanks!

Select the ones you want again via the apps tab when your phone is plugged in.

How do I backup my Itune Library and Playlists to my Backup drive?

How do I backup my Itune Library and Playlists to my Backup drive? Where are they stored on my computer?

For iPhoto, see > iPhoto: How to move the Library folder to a new location
For iTunes, see > iTunes for Mac: Moving your iTunes Media folder

HT1364 I am trying to change the location of my itunes library and the library doesn't copy to the new location.

I am trying to change the location of my itunes library and the library doesn't copy to the new location. I followed the steps in the help message (HT1364) exactly but I am not prompted to consolidate in the new location. Any suggestions?

Hi ed2345 and diesel vdub, when I consolidate, the files start copying to the new location and part way through I get a message that the copying failed (-50) even though all of the files are already in place in the new location. Should I just delete the itunes in the new location and manually copy the files again? But in itunes, I have indicated that the new location is on the external hard drive but itunes seems to ignore that and still looks for itunes in the original location on my internal hard drive. I disabled the location of itunes in the old location (by labelling itunes as "itunes old") and it tried to create a new itunes at the old location and prompted me to import music and videos from a CD or other source. I hope I am making sense.

IMAC deleted all photos, itunes library, and other files! need help on how to recover lost files. everything else is working fine.

After installing the current update for the Mac I noticed that all my pictures, Itunes library and some apps and other files disapeared from the computer. Anyone know any voodoo to bring them back?

rccharles on file recovery...
"Stellar Phoenix Macintosh - Mac data recovery software, recovers data from damaged, deleted, or corrupted volumes and even from initialized disks."
They have a trial version, so I guess you can see if your data can be recovered...
http://www.stellarinfo.com/mac-data-recovery.htm
FileSalvage is an extremely powerful Macintosh application for exploring and recovering deleted files from a drive or volume. FileSalvage is designed to restore files that have:
    * been accidentally deleted.
    * become unreadable due to media faults.
    * been stored on a drive before it was re-initialized/formatted.
http://subrosasoft.com/OSXSoftware/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id= 1
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=11073082#11073082
Your best bet for repairing you HD is DiskWarrior from Alsoft...
http://www.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/
If that shouldn't work, your best bet for recovering your data is Data Rescue II...
http://www.prosofteng.com/products/data_rescue.php

How do I delete everything in my iTunes Library and Start Over?

How do I delete everything in my iTunes Library and Start Over?

Do you mean delete the entries in the library and delete the media, or just the library entries?
Why? What problem are you trying to solve. We may have better approaches to offer.
tt2

Consolidate itunes library and media

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