Consolidating all iTunes libraries back to iTunes folder

Question

I need some advice/confirmation on what is the approach to consolidate all iTunes libraries / files back under the one default iTunes folder location. Some time ago I ran out of disk space on the c: drive so I used the iTunes option and started directing all the iTunes Music to my D: drive [ location being D:\iTunes\iTunes Music. It appears that the Album Covers folder also gets saved to this D: drive location - is that correct? Anyway I now have a bigger hard drive and would like to consolidate all libraries back to C: under the default iTunes folder location, as a precursor toward migrating to an Apple Mac environment. If I use the iTunes advanced/consolidate command will all this be brought back under the C:iTunes folder? Do I have to change the point back to C: iTunes or specify default location some how? Will the Album Covers folder also get merged back under c:iTunes? How do I confirm it is all sweet before I delete duplicate iTunes files off of d: drive? Apologies for being rather verbose, but I really want to get this right the first time! .. future Apple'r.

Answer 1

*If I use the iTunes advanced/consolidate command will all this be brought back under the C:iTunes folder?*
No it won't. When you consolidate, any songs in the iTunes Library that are not in the iTunes Music Folder are copied to the Music Folder and the Library is updated to point to those new files. Files already in the iTunes Music Folder have no changes made to them: Copying all your iTunes files to one location - Windows
However once you've consolidated everything in the current location you can then copy the iTunes Music folder back to the C Drive yourself and point iTunes to the new location. The album artwork folder should be in your iTunes folder (not the iTunes Music Folder). The default location for iTunes if you are using the C Drive is \Documents and Settings\Username\My Documents\My Music\iTunes. Inside the iTunes folder are the iTunes Music folder, the iTunes Library files and the artwork folder. You'll get more information including the Folder/File structure in this article: What are the iTunes library files?
If you are moving to a Mac sometime in the future these pages may be of some help:
How to move an iTunes library from a PC to Mac (and back)
Networking with a Windows PC
Don't forget by the way if you have purchased any tracks from the iTunes Music Store to deauthorise your old PC if you are disposing of it so you don't use up your 5 allowances: About iTunes Music Store Authorisation and Deauthorisation