How can I fix my iTunes Media Layout?

I've been using iTunes for several years, and all the time I've let iTunes manage my library layout.
I outgrew my primary disk a long time ago so I have my iTunes Media folder location on an external drive, but I have both 'Keep iTunes Media folder organized" and "Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library". In addition, I will occarionally run "Library -> Organize Library" just for fun.
Recently, though, iTunes has been putting my media files in strange locations. Really, really strange locations ... like ...
/Media/Movies/<* name of random music album *>/<* name of random movie *>
or
/Media/TV Shows/<* name of random movie *>/<* name of random TV show *>
Now I'm noticing that it is getting worse, and now I'm starting to find that files are missing or corrupt. So far, my backups have saved me, but I've stopped buying from iTunes because I'm worried that I might end up losing media that I buy from iTunes before I get a chance to back it up.
I've checked my disk drive and there is no filesystem corruption.
What the heck is going wrong? and How do I fix it?
~ thornton

I just tried the instructions here:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4882558
And I lost all my media and preferences.
iTunes now only sees my iTunes purchases, and they all have "cloud" icons (meaning they are in ICloud and not on my local disk).
All the movies and songs and books that I added from other sources are gone.

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HT1364 I have moved my library to an external hard drive and changed the location of the iTunes media folder in Preferences, but every time I close and re-open iTunes, I have to do it all over again. How can I make the iTunes media folder change permanen

I have moved my library to an external hard drive and changed the location of the iTunes media folder in Preferences, but every time I close and re-open iTunes, I have to do it all over again. How can I make the iTunes media folder change permanent? I have an older machine with Windows XP.

I don't believe mounting the hard drive should be necessary, unless you have several external drives and want your computer to recognise them as folders, rather than drives. I've never had to mount a hard drive, ever. If you don't know how to do it, then it shouldn't be necessary now.
Try this:
Prepare iTunes so that it can see the external drive.
Make a note of which drive-letter the external drive has been allocated. (Look in Windows Exploer)
Look at the file location for a song. Make sure it plays (and therefore that iTunes has found it). Highlight it and select File/Get Info/Summary>Where: and make a note of the drive letter for that song.
Close and shut down the computer.
The next time you turn the computer on again, connect the external drive
Before you start iTunes - check the external drive in Windows Explorer. Is it ready, does it have the same drive-letter that it had last time? Can you go into the drive and see the files on it?
Once you can, start iTunes. (If the drive lettter has changed, you need to work out why before going any further.)
If iTunes fails to find your external drive, you need to check where iTunes is looking for your Library.
Select the same song you checked before (presumably iTunes can no longer find it). Follow the procedure for locating it. You should be able to see where iTunes thinks the file is. It's the drive that counts. Which drive letter is iTunes looking at? Is it the same one that it was previously (which should also be the same one that the drive has now).
What happens, which step do you have problems with?
Message was edited by: the fiend

TS3694 how can i fix the itunes error 1638,3194 when i am restoring my ipad 2 wifi?

how can i fix the itunes error 1638.i changed my hosts file but i recive this error again.what can i do?

See Apple support Article
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3694?viewlocale=en_US#error1638

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I shared my music with multiple users on one macbook pro.
Like on the Apple support discussions described I changed the iTunes media folder to users/shared. My question is how to reverse that action? Once I reset the media folder location it tells me /users/name/music/itunes/itunes media, that would be right but the files remain in users/shared?

Tell us what the underlying objective is in all this. You came here asking how to move a media folder but now we're getting into user libraries and moving things back and forth to their original locations. Why move it in the first place if you are just putting it back? Maybe you don't need to move things.
Read these to learn more about how iTunes works. If you move the wrong things you can end up breaking links. This goes double for moving things to other drives.
What are the iTunes library files? - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1660
More on iTunes library files and what they do - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITunes#Media_management
What are all those iTunes files? - http://www.macworld.com/article/139974/2009/04/itunes_files.html
Where are my iTunes files located? - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1391
It is almost certain that nothing you are doing will require removing the iTunes application itself. Asking that tells me you are doing something relatively complicated with insufficient background -- kind of like somebody asking me how to use a power saw. I can tell them, but when it sounds like their project is painting a room one begins to wonder if they are going about things correctly. That said, organizing/consolidating copies files. Open iTunes, get info on a track, look at summary and see where the file is now located iTunes uses to play the track. It should be in the moved location and it is okay to delete the others.

How can I transfer my iTunes Media Library from one PC to another without losing files and making a mess of the file and album structure?

I have imported a number of Café del Mar CD's to iTunes, and iTunes keeps scattering the tunes into several different folders in iTunes Media. It also has trouble finding album information, unless it has been downloaded from iTunes Store. Previous versions of iTunes I have tried didn't have this problem.
I've tried to tidy the files manually in iTunes Media, but that usually results in duplicates, so I stopped messing with it. I actually wouldn't mind iTunes blowing up my albums into a nightmare file structure of hyper categorization in iTunes Media (Album, Album Artist, Artist, etc.) if only it recognised its own mess when I transfer the library from one iTunes library into another.
An example: I downloaded Cafe del Mar - Essential Elements featuring 13 tunes, two of these can be found in the files Cafe del Mar/Cafe del Mar Essential Elements, iTunes also created the folder Cafe del Mar/Cafe del_Mar Essential Elements containing 0 tunes!?! and the rest of the tunes are found under Rue de Soleil in the root folder, indicating ONE of the artists as the criteria for creating a folder of tunes!?!
I am trying with every fiber NOT to hate this program, and would appreciate it if someone could explain to me how I can move an iTunes Media library of aprox 54 gb from my desktop via an external harddisk onto my laptop. I have tried 4 times, and everytime the result varies. Sometime I transfer 3000 files, other times 4000. Which files follow and don't is random. I lose files tranferring to the external harddisk and lose even more files from the external disk to the new library on my Lap. Do I have to transfer song for song or can this genius program actually transfer a larger amount of files without losing half the files and duplicating the rest?
Is there a limit of size or amount of files?

Backup with this User Tip, restore the library to the new computer using the same tool, keep the backup up-to-date in future. Deauthorize the old computer if you no longer need to access protected content on it.
As to your issues with compilations albums select all the tracks, set the Album Artist to Various Artists and on the options tab set Part of a compilation to Yes. See Grouping tracks into albums for details.
tt2

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I have two media folders. One on an external drive that I used on an old PC before migrating to a new one, and my internal HDD on the new PC. My internal drive became nearly full so I had to start using my external drive and iTunes media folder again. So, right now iTunes looks to my internal drive for most of the media and my external drive for some of it. Now, I need to move all the media files back to the external drive and, hopefully, in one place. The primary challenge is that I don't know how to move the media files (and metadata) efficiently. I just don't know which folders have been affected and so a standard copy -> paste won't work because the PC will try to overwrite the folders and I have no idea which ones can be overwritten and which can't. Ugh...does this make sense? Thank you!!!

Hi there theskyisblue,
You can indeed switch between two different iTunes libraries, and this article outlines how:
iTunes: How to open an alternate iTunes Library file or create a new one
If iTunes is running, quit iTunes.
If you're using Windows, hold down the Shift key and from the Start menu, choose All Programs > iTunes > iTunes.
If you're using a Mac, open iTunes and immediately hold down the Option key.
You should see one of these screens:
Thank you for using Apple Support Communities.
All the best,
Sterling

How can i share my itunes media with another account user on my macbook pro

im looking to share my itunes media with a different log on user for my macbook pro. what iss the best/ easiest way to do this?? i.e. public share point or external network storage

Fingers crossed, the following document may be of some help with that:
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How can I fix my iTunes library? It doesn't have the right music on it like my iPod.

My problem began when my laptop had to be restored to it's original settings (factory) so it whipped out everything. I went to install iTunes (newest version) which I did not have prirror to the restoration. I went to my Library to listen to music and add music and it was my old library from when I first got my iTunes account. My iPod has the right library that I want and I need to know how I can fix this ASAP. My iPod has the same account on it as what my account on my laptop is logged on as. Need to know how to fix this! Thank you!

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1766
That's the right one lol

How can i fix mi itunes?

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Disabled
Place the iOS device in Recovery Mode and then connect to your computer and restore via iTunes. The iPod will be erased.
iOS: Wrong passcode results in red disabled screen
If recovery mode does not work try DFU mode.
How to put iPod touch / iPhone into DFU mode « Karthik's scribblings
For how to restore:
iTunes: Restoring iOS software
To restore from backup see:
iOS: How to back up
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You can redownload most iTunes purchases by:
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I saw that Apple's site was recommending adding the "sticky bit" to the solution (iTunes: Missing folder or incorrect permissions may prevent authorization - Apple Support).
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How can I fix these itunes problems?

Windows Vista
AMD Phenom(tm) 9650 Quad Core Processor
4.00GB RAM
NVIDIA Geforce 7025 / NVIDEA nForce 630a
I've recently decided that I am soon going to buy an Ipod Touch.
So I thought I'd better download Itunes and have a surf around the different apps, I downloaded the most recent version and all seemed fine; I thought I would open iTunes (as I would since I just downloaded it) and it didn't seem to open, So I went and did something else for around 5-10mins and then FINALLY it had opened.
So then I signed into my account etc, and I got some of my music on there, looked a bit at 'genious' and what that was all about, then looked at the radio (note the last two use the internet). Next I thought I would have a look around the iTunes store so I click on the little thing and it seemed to be loading fine; However it got to around 50% loading and then just stopped, the application completely froze. I couldnt go back to my music or anything like that it just completely froze.
So I closed it with 'end now' and then after it finally closed I thought I would double check if it was working; So I relaunched it and it didn't seem to open atall.. I then opened it yet again and in round 7mins it opened up; However when it opened the store still did exactly the same thing and froze.
I tried re-installing iTunes (and quicktime), trying the 'repair' feature; I've tried everything I could think of.
Please help with the two issues (not opening or opening slowly, and itunes store problem).
Thanks In Advance,
Joe

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How can I fix my iTunes Media Layout?

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