Consolidation in iTunes Library
I have a large number of classical pieces in my library and want to consolidate all sections of a selection so they play in order. Now they are scattered throughout the library. how can this be accomplished?
In general:
- The best way to check if files are in a library is to drag the whole media folder to the library. If something was missed it will be added. If it is in the library is won't be added a second time.
- If you have a second copy of a file and iTunes does not currently list that specific file in its database then even if it is identical to one already in the database it will add it a second time. So if you have file xyz on the internal drive and the external drive and add them to iTunes you will end up with two entries for the same thing in iTunes because you really do have to copies of the files. While this can happen with two copies on a single drive, it will almost definitely be the case when you have a copy of a file on two drives because iTunes really sees them as two different things.
-Unless you know how iTunes works, avoid moving files yourself. Let the consolidate feature do all the file moving. Manually moving files can really mess up iTunes unless you know what you are doing and have iTunes set to not try to do it itself.
- There's no clean and easy way to delete duplicates. The best thing is to change practice so you don't create them. Here are references:
How to find and remove duplicate items in your iTunes library - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2905
http://dougscripts.com/itunes/itinfo/dupin.php (commercial)
Posts by turingtest2 about different types of duplicates and techniques- https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3555601 and https://discussions.apple.com/message/16042406 (Note: The DeDuper script is for Windows)
http://www.hardcoded.net/dupeguru_me/
Similar Messages
-
I have a new external drive that I moved my iTunes Library into. Can I now delete that Library in my computer (Mac) drive? How do I do this. I need more space in my computer.
Yes, assuming you've confirmed that consolidation has been successful. Might be a good idea to rename the old iTunes Media or iTunes Music folder on your internal drive as Old Media and test a few things before finally deleting it.
Note that splitting up your library like this will make it harder to transfer to a new/restored system in future. Before you get to that point you might want to review my post on making a split library portable. You should also invest in a second external drive so that you can make a secondary backup copy of your library.
tt2 -
When I consolidated my itunes library some files are missing. How do I fix this?
I bought an external hard drive the other night and I wanted to transfer all my songs into it. I followed all the steps but when I go back in to check on the files, some of the files did not get transfered over to my external hard drive. I followed the steps that Apple posted on their website a few times in case I forgot a step, but I'm still missing a few music folders. How can I fix this?
Does iTunes still play the tracks that haven't been consolidated or do they now have broken links? If the links are broken are the tracks still, in fact, in their original locations?
tt2 -
Consolidating my iTunes library from 2 Mac's into one
Hi,
So here's my problem. I have an iMac G5 and a Macbook Air. Over the years I've built up a collection of music on both, some ripped from my CD collection and some purchased on iTunes. To add to the mess, there's a lot of duplication across the 2 machines.
I use the G5 to sync an old ipod of my daughters and the Air to sync my iphone and ipod Touch.
I'm getting an ipad this week and I want to consolidate all my music, apps, photos, etc onto the G4 so that I can get rid of the Air. Can someone please tell me how I do this? In addition to copying over the files I'll need to do some form of de-duplication to ensure I don't end up with hundreds of duplicate tracks.
Lastly, I have the same issue with my photos in iPhoto. There are some duplicates across the 2 machines and I want everything on the G5.
Thanks in advance,
Dom.I'm getting an ipad this week and I want to consolidate all my music, apps, photos, etc onto the G4
Do you mean the G5?
You do realize the iPad requires Leopard (10.5.8)? Your signature shows you have 10.4.8 (which you should be at 10.4.11 anyway). -
Re-consolidated iTunes Library.
Okay, I'll try this again. Once I have consolidated my iTunes library to my external HD can I re-consolidate it back to my MBP's HD should I so choose? I only ask this because when you consolidate your library it says that you can't undo the action.
Once I have consolidated my iTunes library to my external HD can I re-consolidate it back to my MBP's HD should I so choose
Yes.
I only ask this because when you consolidate your library it says that you can't undo the action.
When you consolidate, it copies all files in iTunes to the iTunes music folder an uses those files. You will not be able to undo that action and have iTunes point to the music in the original location. -
I consolidated my iTunes library and now I have duplicates of everything, podcasts, songs, play lists...everything. How can I delete the whole set of duplicates at once. It is thousands of items I can not do them indiviually.
ThanksI consolidated my iTunes library and now I have duplicates of everything, podcasts, songs, play lists...everything. How can I delete the whole set of duplicates at once. It is thousands of items I can not do them indiviually.
Thanks -
Quick way to remove duplicate files in iTunes Library folder?
I "consolidated my iTunes Library", which caused iTunes to place duplicate mp3/mp4 files in my iTunes library folder (I assume it copied them all over from my backup drive) which has doubled the size of my iTunes Library folder.
Keep in mind, that iTunes actually shows only one copy of each song/video within the app. It's only that the actual files have been doubled on my hard drive. iTunes is only using half of those files.
Is there a way to quickly identify and delete the duplicated files on my hard drive that aren't being used by iTunes?This information from Doug should help you decide what you can use.
http://dougscripts.com/itunes/itinfo/duplicates.php -
Itunes library consolodation didn't work
Hi There
Recently had to move my itunes library over to a larger external hard drive. I changed the itunes media folder location to a folder on the new drive and then consolidated the itunes library so that it would copy everything over to the new location. Unfortunately this didn't entirely work. Most of the files transferred over fine. However, some of the tracks in my library now have that exclamation mark next to them and won't play as itunes cannot find the original file. When I ordered my library by date added I noticed that it is all the older files, the very first ones I added to itunes.
I have noticed that with these affected files when I click on 'Get Info' to get the file location they all have a different format for the location than the working files, for example:
The filepath for a working file is displayed as such:
K:\Itunes library\music\Bob Dylan\etc etc
The file path for one of the files which are now not working is displayed as such:
file://localhost/K:/Itunes library/music/Bob Dylan/etc etc
I notice that for some reason the slashes are different in the filepaths, backslashes (\) for working files and now forward slashes (/) for non working files.
I should also mention that I have 'Keep Itunes Media Folder Organized' checked as is 'copy files to itunes media folder'
I have looked in the K:\Itunes library\music folder and for some reason it does appear that the affected files have not copied over to the new folder. (There is plenty of spare space left on the drive still) The files are still in the same location in the old itunes library folder on the old drive.
Can anyone help me with an easy fix for this as there are quite a few files affected and I don't think I can stand to go through each one locating the correct file.
Also, could anyone explain what I did wrong in moving the library over?
Thanks in advance for any help.I don't think you did anything wrong. Sounds like it might be a bug in the consolidation.
That path name
file://localhost/K:
usually shows up when either you disconnect the exHD, or windows gives it another drive letter.
I don't suppose you made a backup of the itunes database file before you did the consolidate? If so, you could just revert back to that and try the consolidate again.
Another thought would be to close itunes, and use SyncToy with the echo option to get everything copied to K: like it should be. SyncToy is free from Microsoft - great for backups. If everything gets put on the K: drive like it should, next time you open itunes it should find the files. -
My wife and I each have our own macbook computers. Plus our 3 kids share a computer, and our three preteens each have their own iPod Nano. I just bought an AppleTV which I plan to hookup to our HDTV. We have a wireless network using the Airport Extreme base station. I have a 500GB external drive via USB hooked into the Airport Extreme.
In dreamworld I want my family to be able to access frontrow content via the AppleTV without having to have my computer (with my iTunes account) or my wife's computer (with her iTunes account) turned on.
1) What is the best tool(s) to accomplish having central multimedia (i.e iTunes, iPhoto, movies etc..)
2) Should I return the AppleTV and buy a Mac Mini?
3) Instead of the Mac Mini should I get a lower end iMac?
4) Are there more advantages or disadvantages to consolidating my iTunes library/account with my wife's? Is this even possible?
5) Should I invest in a NAS server?It sounds like one of your issues is that the AppleTV is only able to find photos shared from a running instance of iPhoto (probably not Aperture?), but you can't run iPhoto on your Airport Extreme-attached USB disk - some MacOS needs to be running to host iPhoto. Ditto for a NAS server.
You could always push photos from your MacBooks out to a MobileMe gallery (for $99/yr, ka-ching), which AppleTV would happily access, but it seems excessively burdensome to send all your photo libraries out to "the cloud" just to get them back into the living room.
It sounds like replacing the AppleTV with a MacMini, and attaching that 500G disk to it would be your best bet. You could keep a "background instance" of iPhoto running which uses folder actions to automatically import any photos you push from your MacBooks to a designated shared folder, some scripting magic to generate slideshows from them, and FrontRow to run it all. If you want tunes on the TV you'd probably have to do something similar with your music libraries (if you don't want your MacBooks running.)
I don't think you want an iMac propped up next to the TV, do you?
The only advantages I see of the AppleTV are that 1) it's cheaper, 2) digital audio travels to the HDTV through the AppleTV's single HDMI connection (for the MacMini you'll have to use a $5 DVI->HDMI connector for video and digital optical or analog RCA cables to get audio into the TV) and 3) you'll have to add a 3rd party IR/USB receiver if you want to duplicate the full AppleTV livingroom experience (I just use a wireless keyboard w/trackball from across the room.) -
Moving an iTunes library from one computer to another that isn't consolidated
My iTunes library is made up of music from a variety of sources. This is due to the files being stored on a server and organised in folders in a particular way already.
I want to transfer my iTunes library to a brand new computer, but am aware it may have trouble remembering where the files are if they aren't consolidated. Any clues as the best way to do this?
The files are all stored on the server, but as said previously in various folders so the new computer will have access to all of them.
I have the 'copy files to itunes media folder when adding to library' setting switched OFF.
Thanks to anyone who can help.Actually I would rather use my iPod, because this shouldn't be that hard. We'll just say, I have everything on my iPod from my former itunes library on my other computer...but every time it tells me to drag out the itunes folder from this computer and put it on the desktop, it just goes right back into the My Music folder before I can put the itunes folder from my ipod into the music folder. And even when I do, it asks if i would like to merge the folders...so what does that entail if i do?
This is between my new computer with vista and my old computer which has xp...so yeah. -
I have a macbook pro from fall 2010. I have been using my external HD as my primary itunes folder for the past 7 yrs ( i.e it is organized by itunes default categorization, etc). However, there is some overlap between my external HD itunes folder and my comps original itunes folder (probably 20-30% of my current library's media files were already duplicated there from when i first bought the HD and transferred files to the external, however they are mostly referenced from the external now). Also there are files in the comp's itunes folder that are not on my external (probably due to organizational mishaps and podcast downloads when not connected to the external, etc). I do not know how many files this is the case for.
Recently, i decided that i wanted to consolidate all of my itunes music into one concise folder on my macbook's HD to avoid these issues going forward. I also just bought a new external which i will use to back up my comp's itunes folder once i consolidate everything to the comp. But i plan on using the itunes folder on the comp going forward or at least using the consolidate fcn to avoid these issues.
Here is my dilemma. Prior to learning of the consolidate feature today, I changed the default itunes folder in settings to the original itunes folder on the macbook and then manually dragged all of the media files from my external itunes folder to the macbook's itunes folder. There were a ton of duplicates or overlapping folders with similar artist names, so i opted to have them merge all folders where possible. After doing this, i realized the itunes library still references these files that i dragged and dropped from the external since that is where my default itunes folder used to be. At that point i then read and learned of the consolidate itunes feature which seems like the best way to do this. But i am afraid that if i consolidate my library to my macbook's itunes folder now, will it create duplicates of the 4000 + media files i just dragged to the macbook's itunes folder which are already in the itunes library but being referenced from the old external??
Question: Is there a way that i can make these files i just dragged to the macbook's itunes folder become the ones referenced by the itunes library through the consolidate feature without creating duplicates of these 4000+ files? I want to avoid having three copies of these files (two duplicates in the itunes and the originals on the external). Furthermore, is there a best way to find out which files in the macbook's itunes folder are not being included in the library after consolidating everything to the computer's HD? Then after that, what is the best way to start backing this all up to my new external, so that this overlapping issue doesnt happen again? Im assuming i just need to make sure to consolidate first when changing itunes folders going forward. Thank you. I know that was a lot to read but hopefully someone can help with this issue.In general:
- The best way to check if files are in a library is to drag the whole media folder to the library. If something was missed it will be added. If it is in the library is won't be added a second time.
- If you have a second copy of a file and iTunes does not currently list that specific file in its database then even if it is identical to one already in the database it will add it a second time. So if you have file xyz on the internal drive and the external drive and add them to iTunes you will end up with two entries for the same thing in iTunes because you really do have to copies of the files. While this can happen with two copies on a single drive, it will almost definitely be the case when you have a copy of a file on two drives because iTunes really sees them as two different things.
-Unless you know how iTunes works, avoid moving files yourself. Let the consolidate feature do all the file moving. Manually moving files can really mess up iTunes unless you know what you are doing and have iTunes set to not try to do it itself.
- There's no clean and easy way to delete duplicates. The best thing is to change practice so you don't create them. Here are references:
How to find and remove duplicate items in your iTunes library - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2905
http://dougscripts.com/itunes/itinfo/dupin.php (commercial)
Posts by turingtest2 about different types of duplicates and techniques- https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3555601 and https://discussions.apple.com/message/16042406 (Note: The DeDuper script is for Windows)
http://www.hardcoded.net/dupeguru_me/ -
I consulted your website for details on how to back up my ITunes Library on my PC-found the article very helpful-I reached step 7 - clicked ok and the following message came up: "Copying files failed. The file name was invalid or too long." Please can you help and advise what I should do or how to fix this issue. My pc operating system is Windows 7 Home Basic
You can select a group of tracks and consolidate from the right-click context menu. You coud try consolidating in batches, say all songs by artists beginning with A, then B, etc, then the other media types, until you can isolate a problem track and then try moving that by hand and fixing the broken link.
I also have two scripts that could help you, Unconsolidated and ConsolidateByMoving. The first can make a playlist of all unconsolidated tracks, the second can consolidate a selection of tracks by moving them instead of copying.
tt2 -
ITunes Library Consolidation Help
Hello there, I am new to the forum. I've been researching a little bit with little luck so I thought I'd try here.
I am about to finish building a new quad core computer and would like to move my 72 gb library over to my new computer. The only thing is I also want to keep all the song information (especially the date added and such)..but I don't know if it's possible...I just wish I could somehow replicate my library because my library is organized by the dates in which each song was added...
I've read about Library Consolidation...but I'm not sure if what I have in mind of doing is correct...
So basically..this is what I have in mind...
I'm going to buy a small (150 gb) internal hard drive and put it in my old computer. I will press the button that says "keep everything organized" and will change the itunes folder to be assigned within the new internal hard drive. I will then consolidate everything into the new drive.
Right there I have a question. Is it still okay to consolidate even though the music is all in different places? Barely any of the music is in my iTunes folder (most is in different partitioned drives), and so I am afraid if I try consolidating the files iTunes will freeze or not know what to do.
Back to what I would do...so then I would take the new hard drive which hopefully has all the music and install it in the new computer. I would then install iTunes on the new computer, and simply insert all the songs from the hard drive? In doing that, wouldn't all the files' information be gone? (Most importantly date added, because the date would now be different?) The only reason I really need date added is because I initially add all of the songs backwards so that they play in order when the songs are sorted by date added. Otherwise, all the songs would be out of order...
So yeah...I basically was wondering if the process I have in mind is correct, and also if theres any way to keep the file information.
Lastly, what does export library mean?
I'm very sorry for the long post, but I have been trying to find out how I would go about doing this with no luck from anywhere...I hope you guys can help me out. I appreciate any help.
Thanks.+Is it still okay to consolidate even though the music is all in different places?+
Yes, that's exactly what the Consolidate Library command is for.
+In doing that, wouldn't all the files' information be gone?+
The ratings, Date Added, etc are store in the itunes library.itl file. That is another important file to copy over.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1660
The XML file can recreate a library but the Date Added will go missing. The ITL is the important one.
+Lastly, what does export library mean?+
It exports a list of your library into an XML file, so other application that read XML could use it. -
Bizarre iTunes Library Consolidation Failure
This one's got me stumped.
I have my iTunes media files spread across two large hard drives, and I am rapidly running out of room on the second drive because of all of the video that I am adding.
I purchased a 2 terabyte MyBook external drive, and did what I've done many time before - I set up a new iTunes music folder on the big drive, and after the iTunes Library file updated, I selected the Consolidate function and let 'er rip.
Much to my astonishment, the consolidation only transferred the music files that were on one drive, less than half of my podcast files and almost no video files. Since this defeated the point, I recovered the pre-consolidation iTunes Library file via Time Machine, and trashed the new iTunes Music folder in the big drive.
Has this happened to anyone else? If so, what did you do to overcome the issue?I never got an answer to this question, unfortunately. I ended up retrieving a version of my iTunes library from the Time Machine backup, erasing the consolidated drive and leaving my music where it was. I put my movies onto an external drive, and pointed that drive as my "iTunes Library". I still let iTunes organize my music, because I really can't stand doing it myself.
Here's to hoping that Apple will announce a major upgrade to iTunes at the coming MWE, one that allows users to select different locations for different types of media. -
Consolidated iTunes library to different drive, but some files left behind?
I had been storing my iTunes library on an external HD. Now I have a new laptop and enough memory to move the library back onto the laptop's hard drive. I attempted to do so by reversing how I moved it in the first place -- I consolidated the library (using Preferences->Advanced to set the iTunes Media Folder Location to the standard folder on the internal HD). It took a while and the files were duplicated one by one on the internal HD. Except not all of them. Roughly 100+ songs, scattered throughout the library, are still stored only on the external HD. They show up in the library with an exclamation point, and I can listen to them if the external HD is hooked up, but obviously I can't if it isn't.
Is there an easy fix, and failing that, what's the painstaking manual fix I could go through?The files that didn't transfer don't have any obvious differences from the files that did (they all have the same extension, as far as I can tell: m4p). Out of an album of songs from a particular artist, say, 11 songs will have transferred and one will have been randomly(?) left behind.
These are the basic instructions I followed re moving the Media folder and then consolidating:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1449
Thanks for any ideas!
Maybe you are looking for
-
How do you PRINT a Finder window list view?
Hello all. I think a long time ago in OS9, we can open a new (Finder) Window, switch to 'List' view and print the window, so that we can see all the nested folders, etc. Can we/How do we do this in OS X? Can't seem to find a Print command... Thanks a
-
Touch screen doesn't work after resetting the phone. Could the screen be locked?
After following the previous touch screen not working message, I reset the phone but still doesn't work. Could there be a screen lock? Or any other way for the touch screen to work?
-
How do i copy all files from my macbook pro to an external lacie hard drive?
Hi, I need to sell my macbook pro 17" 2007 but want to save all files to an external lacie hard drive. What the best way to do this please?
-
I just purchased Compressor for Final Cut Pro X. Won't complete
Hi there Help please. I was so looking forward to Compressor working simply and effectively. I have an hour video in HD edited in Final Cut Pro x. Pulled down Compressor which I just bought. Every time I try to render it in a smaller compressed file
-
Desktop wont Recognize Bluetooth Blackberry
Just bought New Toshiba P770 laptop that has Bluetooth. Just installed Blackberry Desktop Manager 6.1 and updated my Curve 8530 to 5.0. When I connect my Curve to the laptop, it shows connected, but Desktop doesn't recognize it and wont give me the