How to create a new Itunes Library file

Hi all, I stoe all my Itunes music / photos / vids etc on an external hard drive and recently decided to erase and reinstall Mac OS X (Mac was running slow). I still have all my music on the external drive but need to recreate my itunes library. I tried 'File Add to Library but this just copies all the music back to my HDD.
Anyone have any ideas?

Check your preferences and make sure that iTunes recognises that the music folder is on the external drive and doesn't try to use the one in the default location. Connect your drive, open iTunes and go to iTunes>Preferences>Advanced and where it says "iTunes Music folder location" use the Change button to choose the folder on your external.

Similar Messages

How to delete multiple old ITUNES LIBRARY files safely ?

I'd like to clean up my Itunes LIBRARY files, but don't know what's safe to do and not to do. (I have Itunes 8.1 / OSX10.4.11)
MY QUESTION IS TWOFOLD :
(1) how do I create a new Itunes library file now with today's date; and
(2) how do I delete multiple (old) Itunes library files, without risking the loss of what I've got ?
This all stems from exploring Itunes as a result of a problem I had today... when trying to import mp3's from my terrabyte drive, after about 150 successful mp3 track imports, Itunes froze and everything else on my MAC froze as well (constant spinning colored wheel). After many failed attempts to force quit Itunes, I turned off my MBPro. On restarting, Itunes tooks ages to "import" files. Eventually Itunes opened but with only half of my original tunes (1500+ songs 8.11GB) and had nothing from today's import.
I found a post suggesting to hold down OPTION while starting Itunes. Then I selected a file from my hard drive > me > music > Itunes > "Itune library" with the most recent date and shezam, Itunes once again has all my songs, as before. Nothing I imported from the terrabyte drive today appears however, but no matter.
In my "Itunes" file there appear MULTIPLE Itunes libraries ! such as Itunes library, Itunes Library (damaged), and as well a folder called "Previous Itunes Libraries" which itself contains multiple Itunes Library files and multiple "previous Itunes Library files" with dates back to 2007. These I want to clean up and delete .... should I ? ... Can I ?
I really could use some words of wisdom from the wise ! Thanks in advance

Whenever you install a new version of iTunes and run it teh first time, iTunes will create a backup of the current iTunes library file and copy it into \Music\iTunes\Previous iTunes libraries, then update the iTunes library file in \Music\iTunes\ for the current version of iTunes.

How can I locate my iTunes library files. When I click on my itunes icon the message appears, "The file iTunes Library.itl." cannot be found because it was created by a newer version of iTunes."

How can I locate my iTunes library files? When I click on my iTunes icon rather than my iTunes files I receive, " The file iTunes Library.itl." cannot be read because it was created by a newer version of iTunes." I have already tried to update my iTunes program.

Had same problem and solved it without having to reinstore any music or movies:
1. Delete old Library file
2. Go to the 'Previous iTunes Libraries' folder and copy one of the earlier files - note, they have a date extension, e.g. 'iTunes Library 2011-11-01'.
3. Paste this file in your iTuners folder and rename file by removing the date extension - 'iTunes Library'
You should have all your music and paylists in tact, unless it was a really old previous file.

I have all my music on a external HD. How can I run iTunes on my laptop with out my EHD connected? when I open iTunes I get: Afolder containing "iTunes Library" cannot be found, and is required. Please chose or create a new iTunes library.

It also tells me Choose iTunes Library
iTunes needs a library to continue, you may choose an existing library or create a new one.
I have all my music on an external hard drive (ehd) but would like to run itunes with out conecting my ehd. How can i do this? I'm

You need the entire libary on the external, not just media.
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
iTunes 9 [and later]: Understanding iTunes Media Organization - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3847
Image of folder structure and explanation of different iTunes versions (turingtest2 post) - https://discussions.apple.com/message/13025536 and https://discussions.apple.com/message/17457605
Once you get a complete iTunes folder on the external drive, start iTunes with the option/alt key held down and select the iTunes Library.itl file on the external drive. You will also need to do this with your main computer or the libraries will become unsynchronized.
Alternatively you can make a separate library using the same media on the second computer. Start as you have been doing, let iTunes create a new, blank library file which will be on hte internal drive, set the media folder location in preferences to be the one on the external drive, then add the files to the new iTunes library. Unless you are a super-organized individual, or you don't care if your libraries do not have the same content, you are better off using a single library file that is on the external, not setting up separate library files.

What is causing this? The file "iTunes Library.itl" does not appear to be a valid iTunes library file. iTunes has created a new iTunes library and renamed this file to "iTunes Library (Damaged) 4". This happens everytime I start iTunes lateley. Help!!!

Everytime I open iTunes lately...I get all my music thrown out of the library and this annoying message come up...The file “iTunes Library.itl” does not appear to be a valid iTunes library file. iTunes has created a new iTunes library and renamed this file to “iTunes Library (Damaged) 4”. Is this how an apple works? It doesn't? Why all of a sudden is it doing this? Please help. Thank you.
David

Did you happen to bring this iTunes library over from a windows machine? You might read this kb article to see if it helps http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1451

Why has this occurred The file "iTunes Library.itl" does not appear to be a valid iTunes library file. iTunes has created a new iTunes library and renamed this file to "iTunes Library (Damaged)".

My itunes library suddenly that the file “iTunes Library.itl” does not appear to be a valid iTunes library file. iTunes has created a new iTunes library and renamed this file to “iTunes Library (Damaged)”. I use an external hard drive for my Itunes.

The library file appears to have been corrupted. You say you use your external drive but is the whole library on it or only your media? No matter, you will have to rebuild the library file:
iTunes: How to re-create your iTunes library and playlists - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1451

ITunes keeps creating a new iTunes Library instead of going to my actual iTunes Library on my external drive.

My old computer died.
Luckily, my iTunes library is stored on an external drive.
My new machine is Windows 8 and my old machine was Vista, but I don't think that should cause any problem.
When I run iTunes, it comes up like a fresh install on a new machine... every time. By default, it creates an iTunes folder in my local drive and as such, has no music in and is a 100% blank slate.
When I point it to my external drive, and then import the library, it does it. All my music shows up -- after a long time, but it all shows up.
If I shut down iTunes or reboot, everything goes back to zero again.
The most disturbing thing about this is that I can't back up properly, because -- although in Preferences it's pointed at my external drive -- it's backing up my iPhone 5 to the local drive in Windows.
Any idea what's going on here?
I've gone through this process 5 times already and it's always the same.

There are two main components to the iTunes library. The media folder which you can adjust via Edit > Preferences > Advanced, and the database file iTunes Library.itl which is normally found in <User's Music>\iTunes. You can choose or create a new iTunes library by holding down shift as you launch iTunes.
In some cases third party software can interfere with the way iTunes updates its files meaning that either iTunes forgets the previously chosen location, or that the active database is deleted. AVG anti-virus and Sony VIAO Entertainment Platform typically interfere with the database. McAfee has been implicated in the corruption of iTunesPrefs.plist.
See Empty/corrupt iTunes library after upgrade/crash for more details on how you might recover after the library vanishes.
You may get some improvment by hosting your entire library on the external drive not just the media. E.g. Create a library at X:\iTunes where X: is the drive letter, then move the media into X:\iTunes\iTunes Media before adding it to the library. This will make it easier to backup the library to a second drive and move it between computers when the time comes.
tt2

Should I create a new iTunes Library on my new iMac?

I have been using a MacPro with multiple hard drives. One such 2TB drive has been the location of my MacPro iTunes library and media files. It takes up about 1.5TB of space with all the music, video and books. I use EyeTV from Elgato to record TV shows/movies, then convert them and transfer to iTunes. I also backup my iPhone and iPad to this iTunes library. I don't use iCloud for this backup.
I then purchased a new iMac with a 3TB Fusion drive. I plan to hang on to the MacPro to use on my home network as a file server, running "headless" perhaps.I plan to continue to use it for recording TV shows/movies in EyeTV and converting the output to iTunes videos.
Now I don't know what I should do about an iTunes library on my new iMac. When I got my iMac I migrated my User over to it. However, when I open iTunes, it is asking for me to either create a new iTunes library or open an existing one.
In my mind I have these options:
1. Create a new library. Setup up iTunes Sharing. This could work for me to access my large library of music and videos. However if I start backing up my iPhone i will then have backups on both computers. I suppose I could dump or ignore the MacPro iPhone/iPad backups and just create new backups on the iMac iTunes? What about new content I want to add? EyeTV will still be adding new content to the MacPro library. My iMac has no optical drive so if I want to rip a CD/DVD I would still need to use the MacPro for this. So from that perspective, this option may work out the best. What am I missing?
2. Open the iTunes library on the MacPro and make it my iMac's iTunes library. This seems problematic. If I understand correctly, I can't open this library on both Macs at the same time as this would likley cause issues. So I'd have to make sure I close out of one Mac's iTunes before the other Mac can open iTunes. This would be a pain given that EyeTV opens it up automatically when it is converting video recordings to iTunes video. For iPhone/ipad backups, I'm not sure what would happen here. Would it still backup to the MacPro iTunes library? I suppose it would. Another concern is the the MacPro would always have to be mounted on the iMac before I could access and use the iTunes library. So this options seems potentially frought with issues? On the plus I think this would retain the star ratings and other meta data, right?
3. What about creating a new library on the iMac but then go into preferences > Advanced and selecting the iTunes media folder that is on the MacPro. This is similar to option 2 above but retains access to the existing library I have on the MacPro. However, I'd lose all my star ratings, and other meta data.
Is there another option? Which way should I go? I am guessing option 1 is the best option. If you agree, please list caveats and downsides of it. If you disagree, please let me know the best strategy I should use and why.
Thanks.

Yes. Just copy all your music to a folder on your external. Then delete the music on your computers hard drive.
It is not quite that simple. If you do that you will end up with many broken links and will have to re-create your library from scratch . iTunes does not like it when you move or rename files or folders and doing so between drives is guaranteed to result in exclamation marks indicating you have broken the links to all your media files.
If you are content with moving the whole library to an external drive (usually the best thing for most people), try:
iTunes: How to move [or copy] your music to a new computer [or another drive] - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527
Quick answer if you use iTunes' default preferences settings: Copy the entire iTunes folder (and in doing so all its subfolders and files) intact to the other drive. Open iTunes and immediately hold down the Option (alt) key (shift on Windows), then guide it to the new location of the library.

What happened to my new iTunes Library file?

Hello. I created a new iTunes Library about two years ago, but I can only seem to find the files for my old Library (iTunes Library files that were last updated in 2008). I have the .xml file for my current Library, but not the .itl, which I now need. How do I find it/ access it/ save it?
Thanks, fadingthunder.

What do you mean "it's saying that it can't "?
Did you authorize the computer?
Did you click File>Transfer Purchases?
What exactly does it say?
Can you not copy everything from the old library to the new one?

Can I create a "new" iTunes library on an external hard drive and transfer my iTune library to save space on my laptop

Can I create a "new" iTunes library on an external hard drive and transfer my iTune library to save space on my laptop hard drive

Yes. Just copy all your music to a folder on your external. Then delete the music on your computers hard drive.
It is not quite that simple. If you do that you will end up with many broken links and will have to re-create your library from scratch . iTunes does not like it when you move or rename files or folders and doing so between drives is guaranteed to result in exclamation marks indicating you have broken the links to all your media files.
If you are content with moving the whole library to an external drive (usually the best thing for most people), try:
iTunes: How to move [or copy] your music to a new computer [or another drive] - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527
Quick answer if you use iTunes' default preferences settings: Copy the entire iTunes folder (and in doing so all its subfolders and files) intact to the other drive. Open iTunes and immediately hold down the Option (alt) key (shift on Windows), then guide it to the new location of the library.

Creating a new iTunes library in Windows

I need to create a new iTunes library but holding down shift while opening iTunes does not seem to open the dialogue box to allow me to create a new library. Any idea how to solve this? Thanks!

Are you holding the Shift key before attempting to open iTunes and, for good measure, continue holding the key until iTunes has appeared?

Resync iPad 2 to a new iTunes "library" file

I got an iPad 2 as a gift to my mom over the weekend. Alas, as my mom isn't exactly tech savvy, I was going to just manage downloading apps and other things for the iPad on the same computer as my iPhone 4.
Unfortunately, while I was out of the house, my dad decided to charge the iPad on my computer. That synced the iPad 2 and the iPhone to same library and that caused me a few problems. For now, I am not auto syncing new apps on my iPad. However, I can see that managing both devices on one library might be problematic.
I saw that there is a way to have two library files using iTunes (using Option - Shift or something when I open iTunes).. It'll be a hassle but I think that might be the best way. However, I saw that iTunes said that I would "lose data" that I already had on the iPad if I synced to a new library file. Can anyone tell me what this means? Do i have redownload all the apps I purchased on my iPad?
I appreciate any thoughts on this.

Assuming that all of mom's content and all of your iPhone content is in the same iTunes library now .... and If you are purchasing all of the apps for mom's iPad with your Apple ID and iTunes account - and you are doing the all of the syncing - there is absolutely no reason why you can't do it all from one iTunes library.
coach41 wrote:
I got an iPad 2 as a gift to my mom over the weekend. Alas, as my mom isn't exactly tech savvy, I was going to just manage downloading apps and other things for the iPad on the same computer as my iPhone 4.
That is probably a good idea. Mom is lucky to have a fine and caring "coach".
Unfortunately, while I was out of the house, my dad decided to charge the iPad on my computer. That synced the iPad 2 and the iPhone to same library and that caused me a few problems. For now, I am not auto syncing new apps on my iPad. However, I can see that managing both devices on one library might be problematic.
Tell dad - thanks but don't touch. Geez ... parents today what are we gonna do with them! If you have set iTunes to not sync when the iPad or iPhone is connected you will be fine. You can sync multiple iDevices to the same iTunes library without problems.
I saw that there is a way to have two library files using iTunes (using Option - Shift or something when I open iTunes).. It'll be a hassle but I think that might be the best way. However, I saw that iTunes said that I would "lose data" that I already had on the iPad if I synced to a new library file. Can anyone tell me what this means?
It means exactly what it says. If you create a new iTunes library - and sync to that - it would be the same thing as syncing to a new or different computer - you will lose all content - and app data - but you can transfer the app purchases first - before you sync. Connect the iPad to the computer and launch iTunes, right click on the device name on the left side and select transfer purchases. You can also do this from the iTunes menu. Go to File>Transfer Purchases from Mom's iPad. That will transfer the apps into the new iTunes library. But you must do this before you sync, so if you are not syncing automatically you should be fine doing this.
Do i have redownload all the apps I purchased on my iPad?
If you create a new library, you can transfer the purchases from the iPad into the new library like I described above. Remember - it must be done prior to syncing.
I sync my wife's iPod Touch, my iPod Touch and my iPad to the same iTunes library. You can select exactly what you want to put on each device and do it all from the same iTunes library. When you sync mom's iPad, just remember to select only the apps, music, videos, photos, TV shows, books etc. in iTunes that she wants to put on her device and you do the same when you sync your iPhone.
This is what I do and have done from day one.
Launch iTunes on the computer
From the menu at the top Go to iTunes>Preferences>Devices
Check the box at the bottom of the devices pane to prevent the devices from automatically syncing.
Quit iTunes.
Connect either device to the computer and launch iTunes (if it doesn't start on it's own)
Click on the device name on the left side under Devices.
In the summary tab - in the main iTunes window on the right - select Sync Only checked songs and videos.
I also uncheck - Open iTunes when iPad (or iPhone) is selected. (optional step)
If you do all of this, iTunes will not start on its own when you plug in your iDevices and it will not sync automatically - you said you aren't auto syncing anyway. Now you control everything. You just select the apps and so - all of the content by choice - that mom wants on her iPad and then you sync. iTunes will remember mom's iPad set up the next time you sync. You do the same thing for your iPhone and all is good. iTunes will remember what you have on your phone and what mom has on her iPad.

I created a new iTunes library and now cannot find the original one, which has a thousand albums on it! What happened?

I created a new iTunes library to put speciald songs into, using the instructions on the Help section of iTunes. NOW - I cannot locate my original iTunes library, which has a zillion tunes on it! When I open iTunes to "select a library" the only choise I am given is th one I just created, which only has one album on it. What happened to the original iTunes that I just got the way I wanted it, with millions of tunes on it??????

Hello b dean jones,
Thank you for posting in the Apple Support Communities. I found an article that lists the default locations for iTunes files:
Where are my iTunes files located?
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1391
If you looked in the default locations and are still having trouble finding the files, I recommend following the steps in this article:
iTunes: Finding lost media and downloads
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1408
I hope this helps get you back on track!
Best,
Sheila M.

Why is apple this stubborn about not creating a new iTunes library in my Mac without telling or asking me? Does it think i'm that ignorant?

Why is apple this stubborn about not creating a new iTunes library in my Mac without telling or asking me? Does it think i'm that ignorant?
After consulting all the forums, I see that Apple is not answering this simple question: so disrespectful!
Please do something about it! All it takes is to write a little code: in the "Advanced Preferences (advanced????) give us an option that just asks you IF you want to create a replacement iTunes library before doing it! is this hard for you Mac guys????? To me, and to others, many, this arrogant attitude is just disrespect. Do you know the difference between making love and rape?

OK, OK,
I read a little. I just tried the "Music alias" thing. It seems to work!!!
Thanks to whoomever wrote this.

HT1449 This was somewhat informative, but what happens after you receive the "The folder containing "iTunes Library" cannot be found, and is required. Please choose or create a new iTunes library,"? I ran through all the steps, received this message. Now

tried to move my itunes library to an external to free up space and run itunes off of an external. Went through all the steps. Received the message "The folder containing "iTunes Library" cannot be found, and is required. Please choose or create a new iTunes library," like it mentioned I might, and here is where the instructions end. Now what?

tried to move my itunes library to an external to free up space and run itunes off of an external. Went through all the steps. Received the message "The folder containing "iTunes Library" cannot be found, and is required. Please choose or create a new iTunes library," like it mentioned I might, and here is where the instructions end. Now what?

How to create a new Itunes Library file

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