How to Move iTunes Library FILE not the folder

The FileVault space recovery process mangled my email archives and iTunes library for the second time in two weeks. If it weren't company policy (to protect local copies of source code), I'd turn the **** thing off. As it is, I have to live with it, so I've created a non-encrypted mirror of Users named Files and have started moving all of the files that don't need encrypting there.
I've already moved my music and video files, but I'd like to move the .itl and .xml library files too. I don't want FileVault chewing them up again. All my searches online have turned up nothing, except for a brief mention on these forums that the file cannot be moved. I really hope that isn't true, because it's a really stupid design (just like FileVault has a really stupid design).
By the way, does anyone know how to get the Thunderbird and Firefox prefs.js files back??? I have my email archives organized across 100 folders, and I really don't want to add them manually.
**** you FileVault!!!

I've moved the iTunes Library and iTunes Music Library.xml files to a shared drive on the network and created an alias in my ~/Music/iTunes folder. This allows me to use the same libray on the iBook connected to my stereo upstairs.
Tom
Dual 1G MDD G4, 15" PB, Mini, iBook Mac OS X (10.4.7) I'm an Apple whore

Similar Messages

How to Move iTunes Library BACK to the Hard Drive

Almost every single support topic/YouTube video shows how to move the library to an external drive. I did that... about a year ago. I recall it being very easy. I just moved, changed the location and that was that. I want to give my external drive to my friend, though... and want to to move all the content back to the original location on my hard drive... but I'm not sure how/where. What I THINK I'm supposed to do is copy the music folder back to ITunes Media\Music.
Ideas?
Thanks

Hello TWBuddha,
You can use the directions listed in the following article, under "External drive." Just pick up at 'Part 5.'
iTunes: How to move your music to a new computer
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527
Cheers,
Allen

How to move iTunes Library/Media Files to external firewire Hard Drive and make it the master library, and then point iTunes to that when adding new content??

How to move iTunes Library/Media Files to external firewire Hard Drive and make it the master library, and then point iTunes to that when adding new content??

Copy your ENTIRE iTunes FOLDER to an External Drive...
Full Details Here > http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1751
To Operate iTunes from the External Drive...
Start iTunes with the Option key held down and guide it to the new location of the library.
Be Sure the drive is Formatted Mac OS Extended (journaled)
Also... have a look at these 2 Videos...
http://macmost.com/moving-your-itunes-library.html
http://macmost.com/moving-your-itunes-media-to-an-external-drive.html

My Mac is telling me that my disk is full. I have bought an external hard drive and have just listened to a youtube tutorial on how to move iTunes library to the external hard drive. If I do this can I still load new media on my Mac without the external?

my Mac is telling me that my disk is full. I have bought an external hard drive and watched a youtube tutorial on moving iTunes library to external hard drive. Will I still be able to use iTunes on my Mac for new media or will this now only work through my external hard drive?

To do this you need to learn the details of how iTunes works. For example, you just said, "leave my iTunes on my computer". iTunes is the application itself so of course it has to be on your computer. That said, I therefore don't know what you mean when you say leave iTunes on your computer. The phrasing of your question suggests to me, if I may be frank, you don't understand how iTunes works fully and we can't just give you a "do this" answer and have it work out. It would be too easy to make a mess of things.
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
Yes, you can download media and delete it again (but if it is from the iTunes Store there is the possibility you can't always download it again). Of course if you want to keep a copy you can archive it. I have done that with some files for which I have no room on my computer. I transfer them to an external hard drive and delete the reference to the file (but not the file itself) from my library. If I want a quick listen I go to the file on the drive and use Quicktime player or something else non-iTunes so I don't have to have it added to iTunes and delete again. I don't know if that is the solution you are looking for. I could leave the reference in iTunes but if the file can't be located by iTunes it will tell me there is a broken link = ! I guess I could live with that except I periodically scan my library for broken links and don't want it getting confused with ones I have done deliberately and ones suggesting I am really missing a file somewhere.
Another possibility is to make a second iTunes library for material you are archiving and only use that library when the computer is using the external drive. There are tricky aspects to dong that but it is a possibility too.
The simple solution for most people with computers with tiny drives (as most seem to be these days) is to put their whole iTunes library on an external drive and use it from there.

ITunes Library File Not Valid! What the Heck?

I have 11,500 songs in my music library and am running iTunes 7.0.2. My iTunes Library file from time-to-time becomes corrupted, on probably at least a weekly basis. I have no idea what's causing this.
Here's the typical scenario ... iTunes works fine, I quit it, and the next time I open it it shows the dialogue box that says, "Importing 'iTunes Libray.xml'..." Then it organizes the files and a dialogue box indicates "iTunes Library" does not appear to be a valid iTunes Library file ... Renamed damaged file ..."
When it's finally all done, I get my music library back minus all my playlists as well as EQ and volume settings.
This happened today and my most recent backup (done earlier in the day) was also corrupted. This is why I've learned to keep a set of four recent backups just to insure I have a reliable and useable one not more than a couple of days old. But it seems a very unnecessary hassle and I'm always losing adjustments made to my database!
Anyway ... would anyone among our distinquished and experienced iTunes geeks out there have a clue as to why this is happening OR any suggestions as to what I might do to help alleviate the problem?
Is anyone aware of a program that will search for corrupted files within your music library? I suspect this might be part of the problem.
Thanking you in advance for your help!
PowerBook G4 17" | 80GB Video iPod Mac OS X (10.4.5)

It seems like the ITL file is not being properly written after iTunes closes. Then when you re-open iTunes, it cannot load the ITL file and creates a new one. Forcing you to recreate your Library manually, again and again.
Several things to check:
-Double check to see that the ITL file or the folder it resides in is not read-only.
-Using Windows Explorer, right-click on the file (or folder) name, go to Properties.
-If it is, then close iTunes, change it, and reopen iTunes.
See this thread to reset the iTunes preferences: http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=1216090#1216090
And see this post to use TweakUI to check the location and validity of your My Music 'Special Folder': http://discussions.apple.com/click.jspa?searchID=487067&messageID=1197027
Once the main cause of the inability to save the ITL file is corrected, you'll need to recreate your Library one last time to finally save it. No way to resurrect the original one, unless you had backup copies of the ITL file.

How to Move iTunes Library on an External Drive to Another Computer

How do you move your iTunes library (including all your playlists) if your iTunes media files—movies, TV shows, music, etc.—are housed on an external drive, rather than the local drive on your computer?
The usual advice concerns copying media files from one computer to the next, e.g.:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527
But if your media is on an external device, you don’t want to copy it, just access it from a new device. You could plug the drive into your new computer and drag the media into iTunes, but then you would lose your playlists and other information.
Fortunately, you can transfer an entire iTunes Library using the Export/Import function. The essential information is found in an Apple support document, “iTunes: How to re-create your iTunes library and playlists”:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1451
Using this information, we can create a procedure for transferring both the media files that are on an external drive and the iTunes Library that goes with it.
Here is the procedure:
1. On the old computer, Export the playlist, using File > Library > Export Library. Transfer the resulting file to the new computer.
2. You might want to note the number of music files, TV shows, etc. you have on the old system. Select View > Show Status Bar, then choose the “List” view, and this information will be shown at the bottom of the iTunes window. Also disable sharing, etc.; you may want to deauthorize the computer as well.
3. Close iTunes on the old computer, dismount and disconnect the external drive(s). (Yes, this will work with media on multiple drives).
4. On the new computer, close iTunes and delete “iTunes Library.itl” in the iTunes folder.
5. On the new computer, Connect and mount the external drive(s).
6. Open iTunes on the new computer. Choose Preferences > Advanced. Deselect (uncheck) both “Keep iTunes Media Organized” (because it’s already organized on your external drive, right?) and “Copy files to iTunes Media folder” (because the files are on the external drive). Then set your iTunes Media folder location to your media folder on the external drive and click on “OK”. (Note: don’t close iTunes after this step, because it will automatically reset your media folder to your local machine rather than the external drive).
7. Choose File > Library > Import Playlist and choose the file you exported from the old computer. This will import all the media you had on the old system into iTunes (no need to manually move anything from the external drive). The import will probably take some time. (If you see that iTunes is copying files, you probably messed up Step 6; you can stop it and go back to Step 4 without harm).
8. After the import, you can check the numbers you noted in Step 2; if there is a discrepancy that bothers you, check out the scripts “Music Folder Files Not Added” “List MIAs” and at http://dougscripts.com/itunes/.
9. When everything is satisfactory, you can recheck “Keep iTunes Media Organized” and “Copy files to iTunes Media folder” in Preferences.
10. You may now want to enable sharing, sync iOS devices, etc. Also be sure to set up your backup strategies on the new machine (you *do* have backups of your external drive(s), right?). If you already had some media on your new computer and you want to incorporate it into the external drive, choose File > Library > Consolidate.
11. Oddities:
* iTunes Extras must be manually imported.
* Some of my movies & TV shows imported as “Home Video”.
* Mobile applications did not import (presumably because no iOS device was synced).
* Books that were once handled by iTunes are now handled by iBooks and will not import (to let iTunes see them again, you’ll need to add them manually to iBooks, then choose File > Move Books from iTunes). Audiobooks import okay, but you may have to authorize your Audible account.

Or:
Copy the iTunes folder from the old computer to the same location in your user area on the new one. Attach the external drive and start iTunes. If you have put it in your Home > Music folder the application will automatically know to look for it there and becausse you are using the same library it will be configured to look for media on the external drive.

How to move iTunes library from C-drive to D-drive

I'm a Mac guy, but my wife has a PC running XP Home & iTunes 7.1.1.5. At this point, everything works fine. I thought I'd better ask this question BEFORE I did something stupid.
I've noticed that the C-drive has most (not all) of the apps on it and is only partitioned to give 14GB, whereas the D-drive has ten times that much. The system shows me that most of the C-drive space is used (only 15% free space remaining), so I thought it'd be a good idea to move iTunes to the D-drive before she goes crazy ripping her whole CD collection. Seems silly to not use the space!
I've seen enough horror stories about people's mishaps with their iTunes Library to not take this idea lightly.
How do I keep everything on the same computer, but move the app & the Lbrary to the D-drive?? BTW, I have not yet used the "Consolidate Library" feature... is that good or bad?
Thanks in advance!
Windows XP

First of all I still don't know how to post a question. There is nothing in here that asks me to do so. Therefore I can only reply to one already asked. My problem is that I followed the instructions in iTunes which tell me how to move the files from the C Drive to another location (which happens to be my D Drive). After doing that it then tells me to drag the old files into the recycle bin, however, it won't comply and tells me that the procedure can't be performed because of copywrite protections. Where do I go from here? Or at the very least, how do I post a question in this forum the normal way?

How to move iTunes library from my iBook to my new Mac??

What's the best way to move my current iTunes library from my iBook to my new Mac?
I am sure there's a simple answer I just don't know it yet.
Thanks for your help.

Probably the most straightforward way to get iTunes onto your new computer is to network the two computers and copy your iTunes folder across. This works fine if you have been using iTunes to completely manage your music and all your songs are in iTunes Music not in different folders. Connecting two Mac computers using Ethernet
Copying the whole folder brings with it the iTunes Music folder and also the iTunes Library (iTunes Library.itl in Windows) database file which holds all the information about your songs (Playlists, Ratings, Play Counts, Last Played, Date Added, etc). You'll get more information including the Folder/File structure in this article: What are the iTunes library files?
When you copy the iTunes folder make sure you put it into the same location on the new computer. This has to be the exact same place, on a Mac this would be in Username/Music/. When you open iTunes on the new computer it will be the same as on the original one Songs, Playlists, Play Counts, Ratings etc. When I moved iTunes a while ago for my daughter I was also using the same version of iTunes, not sure how important that is but it's probably worth keeping them the same.
Another way to connect two Macs is to connect them over Firewire and put the one with the iTunes library on it into target mode: How to use FireWire target disk mode

I have 2 itunes libraries on my macbook, but can only access one. The itunes library file for the inaccessible library is subdued and won't open. Help?

When I select "Choose Library" the itunes library file is subdued. I copied the library file off of Time Machine and put it back in itunes, but it remains subdued. I'm running OS X 10.6.8 and iTunes 10.4.1. Help?

I too had this problem and have solved it. After upgrading to iTunes 10.4.1 (Running OS X 10.6.8) I could no longer select library files. Previously, I would launch iTunes with the option key down to trigger the "Choose Library" dialog box. I have three libraries, each of them stored in separate iTunes folder within my user:music folder. I would then double-click on a given folder to open it and then double-click on the library file. After the 10.4.1 upgrade the library files were grayed out (not selectable). The problem was resolved by changing what and how I selected. When the three iTunes folders were displayed I clicked once on a folder to select it (instead of double-clicking to open it) and then clicked the "open" button in the dialog box. This resulted was iTunes launched with the library file contained in that folder.

How to move iTunes library to new user account?

My primary user account on my Mac (I'm the only user but I have an admin account just incase my 1 account ever gets corrupt or something) was operating very slowly and messed up an external hard drive among other problems so I made a new user account which seems to be operating more smoothly. I've tried to trouble shoot the problems with the old user account but it took a lot less time to just make a new user account. Anyway, I tried copying over my entire iTunes from older user account to new user account. When I open iTunes in the new user account, I changed the iTunes folder location in preferences and then restarted iTunes. None of my playlists or media were showing up in iTunes. I tried importing the XML file by doing FILE > ADD TO LIBRARY. I also tried draging the .it file to iTunes. No luck. Any ideas?! I was able to copy my library back to the old account and have everything there but the new account doesn't import all my media/metdata/playlists. I don't want to re-import my whole library again because I will lose some of the meta-data like play count, ratings, etc. I've looked at a lot of guides online with no luck.
Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!

If you put the entire iTunes folder in the exact same location as it was in your other account it should have opened up intact. There should be no need to change the media file location preferences since this has nothing to do with iTunes looking for your library file which is what it uses to locate everything else. iTunes will automatically look for the library file in the default location in whatever account is used to invoke iTunes.
An issue that might arise would be permissions not being set correctly on the files, but then I would have expected iTunes to complain clearly about that.

How to move your library files from one internal hard drive to another

I have two internal hard drives on my computer, one 500GB SSD for games and other programs that require fast access, and one 2TB for more bulky items, like videos, music and back ups.
The problem is that my SSD is pretty much full because my iTunes library location defaults to the "my music" folder which is located on the SSD, I would like to move the location of the iTunes library files to my 2TB hard drive in order to free up some space on my SSD (about 100GB).
I have tried to set the destination of the library via the preferences in the extras tab but that just seems to copy the files rather than move them, so it still needs them on my solid state in order to play them.
Please if there is a solution to this problem could you tell me
Cheers

Close iTunes.
Move the ENTIRE iTunes folder from the current drive to it's new location.
While holding SHIFT launch iTunes.
Continue holding until iTunes prompts to create a new library or locate an existing library.
Select the option to locate and point iTunes to the new location of the iTunes folder.

How to move iTune Library from Old Computer to New Computer

I am not computer savy and would like to transfer my iTunes library of music and audiobooks to my new computer. Old computer Gateway: Windows XP, my new computer is HP: Windows Vista. What steps to I take?

Choose Consolidate Library from the Advanced menu in iTunes, find the iTunes library location from the iTunes preferences, and move it to the new computer.
(35590)

Is there any way to recover the iTunes Library file from the iPod Touch to preserve metadata like Date Added?

Topic.
I used software (SharePod) to retrieve music from my iPod Touch after my original harddrive failed, but the program does not retrieve the iTunes Library file needed to import the metadata into iTunes (though it shows in the program itself). The music backed up with no issue, but I don't have what I need to preserve things like Date Added, Play Count, etc. Any solution if I have only the physical iPod Touch?

Yo may be able to extract some info from the backup of the iPod:
iPhone Backup Extractor for Windows and Mac
and Wondershare Dr.Fone for iOS: iPhone Data Recovery - Wondershare Official

Library file not the same when inserted.

Hello all.
In Dreamweaver 8.0, I have a library item. When I insert it
into a page, I thought Dreamweaver kept inserting an older version.
I open the library file from the Assets panel, make sure it is
correct, save it, hit the refresh button in the Assets panel, and
I'm still getting an older version on my page.
I've also tried recreating the site cache.
However, I'm wondering if I'm getting a different problem.
My library item is a set of navigation links, and the whole
site is a subdomain. Not so unusual in itself. But because this
file is in the folder 'library', all of the links are pointing to
the library folder instead of the (sub) root folder. So I added the
folder name to the links. Would Dreamweaver be automatically
stripping the information, thinking it's redundant?
This is my library item, a drop-down menu.

Use a server-side include instead....
Murray --- ICQ 71997575
Adobe Community Expert
(If you *MUST* email me, don't LAUGH when you do so!)
==================
http://www.projectseven.com/go
- DW FAQs, Tutorials & Resources
http://www.dwfaq.com - DW FAQs,
Tutorials & Resources
==================
"Murray *ACE*" <[email protected]> wrote
in message
news:[email protected]...
> This isn't going to work in a subdomain.
>
> --
> Murray --- ICQ 71997575
> Adobe Community Expert
> (If you *MUST* email me, don't LAUGH when you do so!)
> ==================
>
http://www.projectseven.com/go
- DW FAQs, Tutorials & Resources
>
http://www.dwfaq.com - DW FAQs,
Tutorials & Resources
> ==================
>
>
> "Virginia Oh My" <[email protected]>
wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>> Hello all.
>> In Dreamweaver 8.0, I have a library item. When I
insert it into a page,
>> I
>> thought Dreamweaver kept inserting an older version.
I open the library
>> file
>> from the Assets panel, make sure it is correct, save
it, hit the refresh
>> button
>> in the Assets panel, and I'm still getting an older
version on my page.
>> I've also tried recreating the site cache.
>>
>> However, I'm wondering if I'm getting a different
problem.
>> My library item is a set of navigation links, and
the whole site is a
>> subdomain. Not so unusual in itself. But because
this file is in the
>> folder
>> 'library', all of the links are pointing to the
library folder instead of
>> the
>> (sub) root folder. So I added the folder name to the
links. Would
>> Dreamweaver
>> be automatically stripping the information, thinking
it's redundant?
>> This is my library item, a drop-down menu.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> <div style="position:absolute; width:288px;
height:23px; z-index:11;
>> left:
>> 607px; top: 238px;">
>> <div align="right">
>> <select name="name"
onchange="MM_jumpMenu('parent',this,0)">
>> <option selected="selected">Quick pick
Menu</option>
>> <option value="../subdomain/page1.htm">Page
1</option>
>> <option value="../subdomain/page2.htm">Page
2</option>
>> <input type="button" name="Button1" value="Go"
>> onclick="MM_jumpMenuGo('name','parent',0)" />
>> </div>
>> </div>
>>
>>
>> When I insert it into my page, it is all the same
except for the links,
>> which
>> are changed to this:
>>
>> <option value="../page1.htm">Page
1</option>
>>
>> This is telling the link it's in the Library folder,
which it's not.
>>
>> Thanks for your help.
>>
>> Virginia
>>
>

ITunes Library file not saving

Hi,
Has anybody else been having trouble since installing the latest update to iTunes?
I have iTunes version 7.3.0.54
And I keep getting the below message:
The iTunes Library file cannot be saved. An unknown error occurred (-50).
Anybody got any ideas?
Thank you

Hi,
Has anybody else been having trouble since installing
the latest update to iTunes?
I have iTunes version 7.3.0.54
And I keep getting the below message:
The iTunes Library file cannot be saved. An unknown
error occurred (-50).
Anybody got any ideas?
Thank you
Hi, I am having the exact same problem. Did you ever find out what to do? I haven't found an answer anywhere. Thanks.

How to Move iTunes Library FILE not the folder

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