HELP! iTunes library on external HD mysteriously lost!!

Help!
I have about 3 times as much music on my Lacie HD as I do on my computer, and when I just opened it up, the entire iTunes library was gone! This morning, everything was there, and now it's gone! Anyone know how this could have happened? The backup of my iPhoto library is there, as well as some documents, etc., but no iTunes! Where could it have gone? The thing that worries me, is I connected my iPod to my computer through the HD for the first time in months, and the iPod did not show up in the desktop or in iTunes...I'm really this didn't cause anything that can't be undone...Anyone ever have anything like this happen? I'm desperate...

Biene Maya wrote:
what i have to choose "create" or "choose" library?
neither !
i have a folder on an external HD with all my music inside
can you let us know how you moved the folder to your external HD ? did you just just the finder to copy the folder across or did you consolidate your library ?
JGG

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ITunes library on external drive and lost music

I wanted to store my iTunes library on an external drive that I would use with a new Acer One Aspire Netbook. I followed the directions I found in my research that said my library would be copied on to the external drive with the library on my bogged down Dell remaining in tact. Well, that didn't quite work out. When I look for the music on my Dell, I get the message that the original is missing, would I like to locate it. Neither the Acer or the Dell will recognize the library on the external drive, although it is there and the songs can be played through the iTunes music folder. Before I screw anything else up, is there any easy solution to finding my music and getting it back in the library without loading my 9000 files individually after they are located or deleting and starting all over again? I just got the new iPod Nano and would love to get some music on it. I used to know just enough to be dangerous, but now I don't even that much and I don't understand any of this!

To import music into your iTunes library on the computer go to iTunes>Help>iTunes Help>Add items to iTunes and follow the instructions
Delete the "songs" that do not play in your iTunes library and reimport them.

Possible to save itunes library to external HD, when partial is on HDD?

I moved my itunes library to HDD to save space on my macbook, but as i continue to add songs to itunes, it added onto the macbook copy of itunes. Is it possible for me to save this itunes library to overwrite the old copy i saved on the HDD? How?
I know its confusing. Say
I saved my entire itunes library on external drive yesterday
today, i added 5 new albums on itunes, but it's residing on my macbook.
I would like to add this new library (old plus 5 new albums) and permanently move my itunes library to external disk.
I use to not like to have the external drive always attached to macbook since i use macbook as my primary browsing thing, but now i mainly use ipad.

I have most of the iTunes Library backed up in an External HD
What exactly do you have backed up on the external?

Backup and restoring itunes library from external hard drive?

is there a way to backup and restore my itunes library to external hard drive and not through the internal itunes backup utility cos i have over 20gbs of music and i want to keep my album art and renamed songs etc. because i will be reformating my pc and dont want to go through painful task of manually adding stuff again.

Try this...
*Fast backup for iTunes library (Windows Only)*
Grab SyncToy 2.0, a free tool from MS. Use it to create a backup copy of your iTunes library & any other media folders onto another hard drive or network share. After making the initial backup copy use SyncToy to periodically synchronise the backup copy with your library and only the changed files will be copied saving lots of time.
When the time comes to reformat your PC, do a final sync, then open iTunes & deauthorise the PC, reformat & rebuild Windows, copy the backup folders back to the same location as they were previously, install iTunes and it should all work perfectly.
tt2

Help managing iTunes library on external hard drive

I moved my iTunes library to a WD Mybook Live in order to free up disk space on my main computer. But in the process of transferring the library to the external hard drive, I accidentally made duplicates of each song. I want to delete the extra songs, but the "Show Duplicate Items" command isn't working when I try to use it on the library on my external hard drive. (That command works fine for songs stored on the local hard drive of the computer, but the command is "dimmed" and not clickable when I try to use it for the library on the external hard hard drive.) Also, I notice that I cannot use iTunes to delete songs on the external hard drive. (However, I *can* delete songs on the external hard drive manually by using Windows Explorer.) So I'm puzzled. How can I use the "Show Duplicate Items" command to help me delete thousands of duplicate songs on my external hard drive? Does iTunes disallow certain kinds of access to shared libraries? Why would iTunes not let me delete these songs when I can go into Windows Explorer and delete them. Help! Thanks. (I'm running iTunes 11.1)

As long as you don't have an existing library that is synced with a device or holds oodles of carefully crafted playlists, ratings etc. then...
Hold down shift as you start iTunes. You should get an option to choose or create a library. Click create, browse to root of the external drive and click save so that your library is say X:\iTunes where X: is the letter of your external drive. All new content downloaded to the library will stay on the external drive.
See this user tip for a backup strategy.
tt2

Moved iTunes Library to External Hard Drive - having trouble - HELP!

I have had quite the ordeal...upgraded my Mac iBook G4 from os 9 to os x 10 Tiger.
Bought an external hard drive to back up my 30 GB of music
Now...my computer won't function because it's out of hard disk space.
I moved my iTunes library to the external hard drive. Everything seems to be jim dandy...except that when I go to play a music file...the computer does not recognize the file.
I have to locate, and re-direct the path for each song to the new file location. SONG BY SONG!
Is there any way to do this globally for the entire library???
What else should I do to ensure I free up hard drive space, without jeopordizing my precious music files?
Thank you!!!

With iTunes 7.x you can transfer iTS purchases from the ipod back into iTunes.
To prevent your iPod from syncing - hold down the 'option' and  keys at the same time when plugging in your iPod. Keep the keys held down until the iPod show up in iTunes.
MJ

Help with iTunes library on external hard drive

Hi!
I have a new computer and I don't want to put anything in it but the programs I need. When it comes to movies, music, etc. I have an external hard drive.
Now, I want my iTunes to read the music from that hard drive, and, when I download something (more music, podcasts, apps, etc.) I'd like them to go straight to the folder "iTunes" that I created in that hard drive.
I had a look at a few pages and people where only talking about creating back-ups, but I don't need that, because I have a second HD that I'll use for that.
Someone told me to do this:
Go to the File Menu, then choose Add Folder to Library. Then navigate to your external drive and folder where your music is to add it. Then all you have to do is download your new stuff to that folder.
I did that and the podcasts I had in the external HD showed up there, but when I downloaded a new one, it downloaded onto my computer. What I want to do is have my iTunes library on an external HD and when I download from iTunes I want it to go straight to that external HD so I don't clog up my computer.
I have iTunes 10.6. something =)
Thank youuuuu very much!!!! =)

As long as you don't have an existing library that is synced with a device or holds oodles of carefully crafted playlists, ratings etc. then...
Hold down shift as you start iTunes. You should get an option to choose or create a library. Click create, browse to root of the external drive and click save so that your library is say X:\iTunes where X: is the letter of your external drive. All new content downloaded to the library will stay on the external drive.
See this user tip for a backup strategy.
tt2

Help understanding shared iTunes library on external drive

Here is what I tried to accomplish:
merge two iTunes libraries (currently on two MacBooks) and store all music files on external drive, but keep each MacBook's custom playlists intact - the idea is to make space on each laptop.
I started comparing libraries on each laptop with the external iTunes library and copied missing media files/folders over to the external drive.
Question: is it save now to delete media folders from each laptop and just keep the library files in each laptops Music > iTunes folder?
Question 2: which folder do I select when changing to new iTunes Media folder in Preferences?
There is no iTunes Media folder on the external drive.
The folders Music, Movies, Podcast etc just reside in a folder called iTunes (which also holds some library files)

Launch iTunes with the Shift key held down, click on Choose Library, and navigate to that instance of the library.
(86658)

ITunes Library on External Drive - NO .xml file

i recently had some serious hard drive corruption on my old computer, and figuring it was time for an upgrade anyway I decided to buy a new MacBook.
i had been storing all of my iTunes music on an external hard drive. i'm trying to figure out how to get my new MacBook to be able to access the music. I've changed the location of my library to the external drive in iTunes preferences, but no luck.
I know that iTunes has an .xml file where it stores things like song titles, data, etc etc -- unfortunately, that .xml file is on my old, ruined hard drive -- all i have is my external drive with my MP3s.
what do i do at this point? how can i access all of these songs using iTunes on my new MacBook without that .xml file?

There are 2 files that give iTunes and other apps the info the need to perform. The files are iTunes Library and iTunes Music Library.xml.
The default location of the 2 files is HD>Users>User Account>Music>iTunes - do not move regardless where your actual tunes are located. If the files are not present in the default location then iTunes will create new files with no info in them until you add the tunes back to the library.
This is from the iTunes Help Menu with a search for "files":
What are the iTunes library files?
The iTunes library is a database iTunes uses to organize your music. Two iTunes library files are created and maintained by iTunes for different purposes. They're both in the iTunes folder.
Mac OS X
/Users/username/Music/iTunes/iTunes Library
/Users/username/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music Library.xml
Microsoft Windows
\Documents and Settings\username\My Documents\My Music\iTunes\iTunes Library.itl
\Documents and Settings\username\My Documents\My Music\iTunes\iTunes Music Library.xml
The two different iTunes library files serve different purposes.
iTunes Library (iTunes Library.itl in Windows)
This file is a database of the songs in your library and the playlists you've created. Some song-specific data is saved in this file. If you delete the file, iTunes creates a new, empty copy when you open the application, but any playlists, song ratings, comments, or other information you created is lost. The iTunes Library file is only used by iTunes.
Note: The library file name for versions of iTunes prior to 4.9 was "iTunes 4 Music Library" for Mac OS X and "iTunes 4 Music Library.itl" for Windows. After upgrading to iTunes 4.9 or later, the older library files are moved to a "Previous iTunes Libraries" folder.
Tip: New versions of iTunes sometimes include enhancements to the iTunes library. When you open the new version of iTunes, iTunes upgrades your existing library to the new format and places a copy of the old library in the Previous Libraries folder. If everything goes fine during your upgrade to the latest version of iTunes, you can delete the older iTunes Library files.
iTunes Music Library.xml
This file contains some (but not all) of the same information stored in the iTunes 4 Music Library file. The purpose of the iTunes Music Library.xml file is to make your music and playlists available to other applications on your computer. In Mac OS X other iLife applications (like iPhoto, iDVD, and iMovie) use this file to make it easier for you to add music from your iTunes library to your projects.
MJ

Backing Up iTunes Library On External Hard Drive

Iv'e just bought and installed a LaCie Hard Drive for my mac.
As I have a library of 62gig I want to make a back-up just in case something went wrong and I lost the lot!
Does anyone know if there is an easy way to transfer the files to the hard drive, I have tried to highlight and drag the files to the hard drive folder but this will take forever, if you highlight too many items the computer just freezes.
Any help would be great, Brian.

The link William provided is about Windows computers. It will tell you the principles and the importance of backing up specific files.
If all your music is on your internal HD in the 'iTunes Music' folder (default setting), just drag the iTunes folder (in ~/Users/YourUsername/Music to the external HD.
This way, also your 'iTunes Library' file is copied.
If your ext. HD has a Firewire connection, it will copy about 1GB/min.
To make regular incremental backups, you have to use a 3rd party backup application.
M

Using MacPro and PC Laptop -- sharing same itunes library on External Drive

Hi guys, my main computer is a Early 2008 MacPro with Lion installed on it. I have iTunes 10.5 and all my music is classified witht that version of iTunes. But all my music is actually stored in an external 1GB WD Passeport HD.
Thing is I have a dj gig and have to bring my pc laptop to play music. This laptop has Windows 7 installed on it with iTunes 10.5.
What I want to achieve here is to be able to connect the external HD (with all my music on it and run iTunes and see the same thing I would see if I was on my mac : my playlist, comments, id3 tags, etc…
I actually did this :
On the PC --> in itunes, went to Preferences/Advanced, set the itunes library to the folder itunes on my external HD (my itunes library and my itunes music folder is setted there).
I exported my library from itunes MAC (Files-->Library-->Export Library) (it's a XML file) and imported it in my itunes windows installation (Import Playlist).
Thing is I see some files like my podcasts and audiobooks, but I dont see any of my other songs or apps, even if they are in my external HD. I see the playlist but they are empty.
Any ideas?

thanks for the help tt2, really usefull!
Just to be sure i'm doing things right, let me explain more in detail what is my actual setup to know how your explainations applies to it.
Ok. First, my main goal here is to consolidated all my music in one place on one external HD. Let's call it ExHD1.
Actually, my setup involved that all my dj music (1600 tracks in wav format) and my iTunes music are on another external HD, we will call it ExHD2.
Thing is, if I move the wav tracks to another computer, all the tag informations (covert art, title, artist, comments, album, etc) are lost. It's because WAV format do not keep that info. I've recently knew that AIFF format can keep all that info. So I manage to convert (with iTunes built-in utility) all my wav files to AIFF. I've tested it and yes, it keeps everything so far.
But I tried before to make the cross-plateform to work so I have copied all the converted AIFF to my ExHD1 in a specific Beatport folder. Like this.
I had an intense way of manage them in itunes where I made 150+ playlists. I have, before reading your comments, replace all the wav files, to their equivalent in aiff. I just replace the files in the playlist. If you go in the main music window, you can see that for each songs, there is a wav, a aiff, and mp3 format of the song.
Sometimes I have 2x mp3 versions of the song, i don't remember why. I've created these versions long ago. So the thing here is that I have the wav + mp3 version of my tunes on my ExHD2, the aiff version in ExHD1 (the main HD i want to use) and a duplicate mp3s of these tunes ALSO on my internal MAC HD.
++ note that I don't have music on my PC internal HD and not planning to keep ones. ++
So, this is my actual setting of my iTunes, where I have copied my iTunes folder on my new ExHD1 and set iTunes to point his library to there.
Also, this is my settings in Preferences/Advanced
Note that before yesterday, the Keep itunes Media... and Copy files were unchecked.
I prefer that way because I like to manually manage my songs. But I think for what i want to achieve, we need to check this again?
So the main goal here is I want to keep the wav format in the ExHD2 for backup, get rid of the mp3s that I've done before (the mp3 copys of the wav), consolidate everything at one place only: ExHD1.
Also, will my Windows installation (on my pc), when i will set the itunes library to be on the ExHD1, recognize all the playlist I did, and recognize the path of the songs?
Thanks for the help tt2, i know there's a lot, hope I have well explained it. Hope you can answer shorly because my gig is tommorow
regards

Can't import entire iTunes library from external hard drive

I recently had to reset my IBM ThinkPad T40 (Windows XP) to factory settings. Of course, I backuped up my iTunes library on an external hard drive, and there didn't seem to be any problems doing so. (I've had to do the same thing before) But I can't re-import the entire library now! It only imports about a thousand songs (I had about 5,000), and I get an error message saying "The file iTunes Library.itl~ cannot be imported becuase it does not appear to be a valid exported file.") I also tried to import a previous back-up (stored in a different folder, and it wouldn't import all of those files, either -- no more than in the more recent backup files) either. I've tried re-downloading the iTunes software several times. Help!!!!
Thanks!!!
PS: Is there a way to sync my iPod to import songs from that BACK into itunes?
IBM ThinkPad T40 Windows XP

This seems to have deleted ALL of my iTunes. The folder (and all iTunes files) is still there on my backup, but now the newly-installed iTunes won't import ANYTHING (It at least imported about 1,000 (out of 5,000) songs before. But now it says all files are invalid, regardless of where I attempt to import them from. (although the names of some playlists import -- but they're empty files) It appears that SOME of the music files are located on the backup copy, but simply won't import. Perhaps they're corrupted?

Migrating iTunes library from external hard drive to new laptop

Hi there, I am wondering if anyone can help me please? I am a complete newbie to this forum thing, I am just getting into this cosmic sharing world but find myself utterly frustrated with iTunes and my new laptop - with little help on the Support pages, so i am venturing into the unkown and seeking help from anyone out there.........slightly scary for me, this really is my first post on a forum - so be gentle with me :0)
On my old steam driven laptop I had to move my iTunes library to an external hard drive, my 250MB hard drive just wasn't enough (I know pathetic wasn't it). All ok there and I have been using it no problem. I have now upgraded (finally!!) to a new wonderful laptop (with webcam and all sorts!)but I am at the end of my tether trying to get my iTunes library from my external hard drive to appear in the Library on the laptop. boo hoo.
I have tried changing the file location in the Advance section of preferences, i have tried choosing the library after holding down the shift key on start up (you see not a complete numpty). They all appear to work as i don't get any error messages, but the songs just don't appear in the library. Am i being a complete numb nuts here? what am i missing?
If anyone can help i would be really grateful as this is spoiling the euphoric feeling i have of my lovely new laptop!
cheers Latte

tonybassplayer wrote:
Thank Chris I have just done that. How do I now get them in to Itunes ?
If you simply copy the iTUnes folder to /Music/ and launch iTUnes, everythign will be there. No need to import anything.
This will work the same with iPhoto.
Simply copy the Photo library to /Pictures/ folder and launch iPhoto.

One Itunes Library, 2 external drives in different locations...

Here's my problem... I go everywhere with my laptop... iphone and ipod... My laptop contains my itunes library.. I connect at work to an external 1tb drive which houses my entire music collection..
My goal is to be able to copy that drive (64,000 songs) to another external that I can leave at home.. I want to be able to plug in both places without having to carry the external with me..
Is is possible to have one library and 2 externals with identical music folders? Any help would be appreciated.

How to use multiple iPods with one computer , describes two methods.
If you both use the same account (and one iTunes library), the easiest way is to create separate (Smart) Playlists for each iPod.
Hope this helps.
M
17' iMac fp 800 MHz 768 MB RAM Mac OS X (10.4.7) Several ext. HD (backup and data)

How can I listen to the music/songs or watch the movies in my iTunes library if I've damaged/lost my iPod and use a system-reovered/new computer?

I accidentally dropped my iPod Classic 160 GB into the toilet
bowl of my home sometime ago, and unfortunately enough,
as misfortunes seldom come singly, I got a serious problem
with my computer ( an HP Desktop) and had to do the system
recovery which, as you know, removes everything in the system
drive. After having reinstalled iTunes, I thought I should be able
to listen to the music I kept in the Library of iTunes, but I don't
see any of my music/songs or movies there. Thus come my
three questions below:
1) How can I locate and enjoy the music or movies I saved in
the iTunes Library with a computer after its system recovery
or even a new computer?
2) Like the current situation I'm in, when my iPod is damaged
or lost, can I still enjoy the music or movies saved in the
iTunes Library from my computer ( meaning without an iPod)
if I have the iTunes application installed in it? How? Do I have
to sign in my account? Sign in with my e-mail address saved
in my account? Where can I find the sign-in webpage of iTunes?
(Please provide me with the related link of the webpage.)
3) The above issue brings up another question, are the music/songs
and movies as well as other programs in the iTunes Library saved
in my computer or in Apple's server?
Please, with your kind patience, let me know as detailed as possible.
And also let me know what Apple's e-mail address I can use to ask
for support on such issues as described above? Although I always
prefer asking for support or help by e-mail, I would also appreciate
if you could let me know the phone number I can use to ask for
such help.
Best regards,
Lawrence Wood

System Recovery generally assumes you have backed up your data somewhere first. If not, you're in trouble.
Depending on your region you can recover most of your previous iTunes purchases. Install iTunes. Use Store > Authorize This Computer... and Store > Sign In... then select iTunes Store in the left-hand column and click Purchased in the Quick Links section on the right. You should now be looking at a list of past purchases that you can download to your computer.
See also: HT2519 - Downloading past purchases from the App Store, iBookstore, and iTunes Store
Your purchase history is preserved on Apple's servers. Anything you ripped from CD or downloaded from elsewhere was stored on your computer and should have been backed up.
There is no live telephone support for iTunes issues. For problems with a particular purchase contact the iTunes Store support staff through the report a problem links in your account history, or via Contact Support. For general issues with usage this is the place to get help.
tt2

HELP! iTunes library on external HD mysteriously lost!!

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