If I uncheck both options listed under the 'iTunes Media folder location' will that allow me to point my library to external hard drives

I have a lot of music and movies. I have two 1TB drives. I want to move all movie media to one drive. Can I control the path to movies in itunes by unchecking both boxes that are listed under, "iTunes Media folder location"?

This forum is for questions from those managing sites on iTunes U, Apple's service for colleges and universities to post educational material in the iTunes Store. You'll be most likely to get help with this issue if you ask in the general iTunes for Mac forums.
Regards.

Similar Messages

I joined iTunes Match on my MBP and added our MBA to the same Match account. What should the iTunes Media Folder Location be for iTunes on the MBA?

The iTunes libraries on both machines appear to be in sync, though I don't know if Home Sharing or iTunes Match is to thank for the consistency. But the iTunes Media Folder locations are different on the MBP and MBA, and I don't know if they should point to the same storage location (it's been on a drive connected to our Airport for years). I also don't know what options for Copying Files and Keeping iTunes Organized should be on the MBA. I certainly don't want the media files duplicated yet the devices sharing a cloud version.
I hoped the MBA would act like an iOS device using iTunes Match in that music would stream unless downloaded. Then downloaded music would have to be managed (deleted from the MBA's iTunes) for space reasons at some regular intervals-- just like we now do on the iPhones and iPad. The library entry for the song would remain... just the locally stored file would be deleted and the iCloud download would change back to the download symbol.
But if a purchase is made from the iTunes store on the MBA, the file is stored on the local MBA machine as well as the external drive because the MBP receives the song via Home Sharing and downloads the file.

Each iTunes client will expect a discrete iTunes library location. The iTunes Match service will allow the libraries to be automatically synchronised along with any IOS devices that are also registered for iTunes Match.
Following making a secure backup for any given library it is possible, once Songs have been 'matched' or 'uploaded' to remove the local copies and play the Songs from the Cloud. The behaviour on IOS devices is different, they will download each Song as it is played.
Note: Apple is very clear that the responsibility for maintaining music files remains with the user - so it remains essential to ensure that you have your own Songs secure backed up prior to relying on the Cloud. Should there be an issue with the Cloud resulting in loss of Songs you will need your own secure backup.

I just installed iTunes on my computer, where I already have all my music. I went to Edit Preferences Advanced, and changed the iTunes Media Folder Location to where I have all my music, in the "Local Disk." But iTunes wont import all my music. Help?

I just installed iTunes on my computer, where I already have all my music. I went to Edit > Preferences > Advanced, and changed the iTunes Media Folder Location to where I have all my music, in the "Local Disk." But iTunes wont import all my music. Help?

Have you looked in the Music App on your iPhone? On the iPhone music is played by the Music App not iTunes.

How do I change the iTunes media folder Location and save it?

I have a seagate drive where I store my music and have it shared as "M". Each time iTunes starts up, it defaults back to C:\...... and if there is a device connnected, it transfers the purchases from that device to this directory.
I need to manually go in and change the location each time iTunes starts. Is there a way to save this location as the default? I am on Version 10.
thanks in advance

If iTunes starts up and it can't get access to the location that you have declared as the media folder it will revert to the default subfolder of the library folder. Any downloads or rips will be put in that location until you correct the media folder location via Edit > Preferences > Advanced.
Either make absolutely certain the drive is active and available before starting iTunes or place the library folder on the other drive as well (see this post) so that iTunes either opens normally or warns that it cannot find the library. Note if this is a networked drive rather than locally connected USB/SATA there may be noticeable performance issues with the latter solution.
tt2

I have 100's of CDs that I have downloaded to my itunes library and they are in the library playable but they do not show up in the C drive under the iTunes Music folder under users. Why are they in the libary and not in the itunes music folder. Win 7 OS

I have 100's of CDs that I have downloaded to my itunes library and they are in the library playable but they do not show up in the C drive under the iTunes Music folder under users. Why are they in the libary and not in the itunes music folder. Win 7 OS. When I look in the library under the get info screen it says they are in the folder itunes music, under the c: drive but when I actually go to that folder to look for them they are not there....HELP!

Hello RumDog,
I think this article will help you find the media in your library.
Where are my iTunes files located?
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1391
Discovering and changing the iTunes Media folder location
Note: You would usually only change the iTunes Media folder location to share music between accounts on the same computer. See this article for specific steps on how to accomplish this. Also, see this article if you want to know how to move your music to a new computer.
Mac OS X: Click the iTunes menu and choose Preferences.
Windows: Click the Edit menu and choose Preferences.
Click the Advanced pane. iTunes displays the location of your iTunes Media folder.
You can then:
Note where your media folder is, such as for backing up your media.
Use the Reset button to reset it's location to the default (which is the iTunes folder).
Click the Change button to select a folder for a new location. Once you change this location:
If you make a new or alternate iTunes library, the new location will be used by that library.
Existing files will not be moved unless you choose File > Library > Organize library and choose the option to "Consolidate files."
From: Where are my iTunes files located?
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1391
Cheers,
Sterling

I need help transferring my itunes content from an old exteranl hard drive to a new one. The itunes media folder is on the external drive, the itunes library file (.itl) resides on my mac in the music folder.

I have already copied over from the old hard drive to the new hard drive the iTunes media folder (423 GB). But this does not contain the iTunes Library .itl file which for good or bad reason has been working from the mac itself from inside the user music folder. In iTunes Preferences, Adanced Preferences window the iTunes media fold location is currently set to the ITunes Media folder on the old hard drive. How and why i set it up like this all that time ago is forgotten! Do i simply browse for a new location for the newly created duplicaye file? My worry is that i will end up with every song listed twice in iTunes, or worse manage to wipe the content like a mate did!

Okay, solved. Simple really, just moved the media folder location and there was no duplication. Phew!

How to navigate to the iTunes media folder ? I am running Lion 10.7.1

I am struggling trying to download the WIRED magazine App.
When I try, the message
"You don't have access to your iTunes Media Folder or a folder within it.
Chnage permissions (in the Finder) and then choose Store > Check for Available Downloads"
Where is the iTunes Media Folder located ?
TIA,
Alan
Oregon's South Coa

Bythesea_444 wrote:
There is an "iTunes Music" folder and
its alanxxx privilege is Read & Write
its fetching privilege is Read & Write
its everyone privilege is Read & Write
For Fetching and Everyone my Privlege says Read Only. You could try changing your to Read Ony.
Your original posts says "or a folder within it". All my Apps are outside of the iTunes Music folder in a folder called Mobile Applications. So I don't see any folder within the iTunes Music Folder that would contain any Apps. Do you have any folders within your iTunes Music Folder called Apps, Mobile Applications, Magazines or something to the effect.

Hello! I use the VSCO preset that was easy to download and use right away a few months ago. This morning I did the same thing and it downloaded successfully but none of the presets are listed under the new VSCO folder I bought. How can I fix this? Does Li

Hello! I use the VSCO preset that was easy to download and use right away a few months ago. This morning I did the same thing and it downloaded successfully but none of the presets are listed under the new VSCO folder I bought. How can I fix this? Does Lightroom have a limit on presets?

Hello! I use the VSCO preset that was easy to download and use right away a few months ago. This morning I did the same thing and it downloaded successfully but none of the presets are listed under the new VSCO folder I bought. How can I fix this? Does Lightroom have a limit on presets?

What's the difference between the music in the iTunes Media folder and music folder

I've noticed that the music in my iTunes folder has two copies -- one in the 'iTunes Media' directory and another copy in the 'iTUnes Music' directory. Can anyone tell me what the difference is between the two, or what they're used for? When I click on a music file in the Music folder, iTunes opens up and plays, but the same thing happens when I click on the file in the Media directory. I have noticed that the file in the Media directory has the icon for the album cover next to the file name, while the icon for the file in the Music folder just has a couple of eight notes next to the file name.
It seems to me that it's a waste of space two have copies of the same file. Or am I missing something?

Here are typical layouts for the iTunes folders:
If you have upgraded from version 8 (or earlier) to iTunes 9 (or later) at some point, then your media folder (everything inside the red outline) may still be called iTunes Music instead of iTunes Media. The extra Music folder inside the media folder is used if you have allowed iTunes to Upgrade to iTunes Media Organization (iTunes 9) or used File > Library > Organize Library > Reorganize files in the folder "<Media Folder>" (iTunes 10). Depending on your choices for Keep iTunes Media folder organized and Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library plus a little bug in which one build changed the name of the file storing the choice of layout it is quite easy for some of your files to be organized according to one layout and some the other.
In your case it seems you also have both media folders structures sitting side by side with music in each. It is probable that everything in iTunes Music has a duplicate in iTunes Media, but if you are not sure then you could add it all in, then remove duplicates. (Steps 6-12 below)
Assuming you're happy letting iTunes organize your files the following steps should tidy things up:
1. First make sure under Edit > Preferences > Advanced that the current media folder is given as .../iTunes/iTunes Media. If not then in the following steps you need to swap the words iTunes Music for iTunes Media and vice-versa
2. Select File > Library > Organize Library... > Tick Reorganize files in the folder "iTunes Media" and click OK. Ignore this step if the option is greyed out.
3. Select File > Library > Organize Library... > Tick Consolidate files and click OK. This will bring any files currently organised outside the designated media folder into it.
4. Select Edit > Preferences > Advanced tab, uncheck Keep iTunes Media folder organized and click OK.
5. Select Edit > Preferences > Advanced tab, check Keep iTunes Media folder organized and click OK. This triggers iTunes into reorganizing everything.
6. Select Edit > Preferences > Advanced tab, uncheck Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library and click OK.
7. Use File > Add Folder to Library. Add iTunes Music. This may take some time.
8. Hold down the option key and click File > Show Exact Duplicates.
9. Sort the library on Date Added, select everything added today and delete it.
10. Click Display All at the bottom of the screen to show all files again.
11. Select File > Library > Organize Library... > Tick Consolidate files and click OK.
12. You have now confirmed that everything inside iTunes Music must be a duplicate copy of something in the iTunes Media folder and made sure your library is connected to the copy in iTunes Media. Delete the iTunes Music folder...
tt2

My 5 year old iMac's hard drive is at the point of failing. I'm trying to save al files on it, but it wont allow backup via Time Machine to an external hard drive. How can I keep from losing all the files and programs if the hard drive fails?

I'm concerned that my iMac, purchased 5 years ago, is about the crash and I can't back up my files and programs to an external hard drive via Time Machine because the computer freezes after only a couple hundred MB and gets nowhere near the required amount.
How can I save these files and programs if the computer hard drive fails or has to be replaced without the backup being able to be done? I need to do something quickly, but I'm not sure what I can or should be doing.

Get an external hard drive, some good ones that I like are the OWC, http://www.macsales.com Mercury Elite Pro drives...they are very good and reasonably priced.
Get the drive, connect via USB or FireWire, then use Disk Utility to format the new drive as Mac OS X Extended (Journaled), and then use Disk Utility to Restore the current drive to the new drive. Restore actually clones the drive so you will have a bootable backup on the external drive.
After you have formatted and named the external drive, click Restore in the main Disk Utility window, drag the name of the old hard drive to the Source box, and drag the name of the new external drive to the Destination box. DU will make an exact clone of the internal drive on the external drive.
That clone will be a complete backup of the operating system and all of your data.
You can test it by restarting the iMac and hold the Option key. That will give you a grey screen showing all bootable drives. Just click the external drive, then click the upward pointing arrow under it and the iMac will boot from that drive.

How to set up iTunes with an external hard drive so that there is not a double location for the iTunes Media folder

Hi,
A very helpful postee got to the end of his knowledge level, so I am posting this for you tech guys to sort out. Bit long because I've tried to set it out step by step. Briefly I'm new to iTunes and my laptop has a very small hard drive and is virtually full and due to be replaced. So I want to use an external hard drive.
Now I know that iTunes installs itself to two locations: 1. Programs Files 2. Music. And its the Music location that bothers me.
I asked about using an external hard disk to store the actual AAC files. I was advised that in order to change the loaction of the iTunes media folder I was should employ preferences/advanced/ and this is what i saw (as you would expect):
Then I hooked up my hard drive, hit 'change', and this is what I saw:
I was a bit worried by the lack of pathway details, but assumed it must have done something on the external drive, so I looked on it and this is what i saw (highlighted):
But compare this with what was in the directory I attempted to reproduce, viz in the iTunes folder in /laptop/Music/iTunes:
A ton of stuff. The only stuff that corresponded with what iTunes had created on my external hard drive was in Music/iTunes/iTunes Media folder:
Now this suggests that there are TWO locations for my preferences. The advanced tab only allowed me to ADD an extra location, not REPLACE the original.
So:
1. Which of the two locations will iTunes choose when I add music? Surely it will go with the original pathway laid down in the directory when iTunes was installed, and ignore my external Hard Drive? I mean, how can there be two automatic locations?!!!
2.. I don't mind itunes library being on my laptop as this is just a list, but it obvoiusly has to have a pathway to the site where the actual AAC files are stored.
so surely it won't work unless the whole lot is on the external hard drive: library, extras, genius, the lot?
4. How then do I get it all on the external since merely changing "preferences" doesn't do the job?
5. Is this perhaps the reason why so many people report that iTunes does not recognize their external hard disk:
http://www.ehow.com/info_12199596_external-hard-drive-not-recognized-itun es.html
I just don't want this to happen to me. Any answers?
Philip Joy
UNITED KINGDOM

As I've replied to your other threads...
Easy method 1:
Move or Copy entire working library from current location to the root of your external drive. Press & hold down shift (option on a Mac) as you click the icon to start iTunes. Click Choose when prompted, then browse to ..\iTunes\iTunes Library.itl on the external. If you copied the library across then test your new library works properly after renaming the original folder, before deleting the original folder to recover space.
Easy method 2:
If you haven't really started to build your library. Press & hold down shift as you click the icon to start iTunes. Click Create. Browse to the root of the external drive. Create the library as ITunes. Drag your media into ..\iTunes\iTunes Media\Automatically Add to iTunes.
Complex method:
Required if you've already tried other things and now have media & library scattered around. See the post make a split library portable.
in addition...
In all cases the idea is to get a library folder called iTunes containing a media folder called iTunes Media with all media inside this media folder. Once you have the library in this shape it is easy to reconnect to the library with the shift-start-iTunes method if the drive letter changes, move the library to another computer, and backup the library by cloning the folder to another drive.
tt2

Trying to copy iPhoto Library to external hard drive for backup. Error message: The Finder can't complete the operation because some data in "iPhoto Library" can't be read or written (Error code -36).

Trying to copy iPhoto Library to external hard drive for backup. Error message: The Finder can't complete the operation because some data in "iPhoto Library" can't be read or written (Error code -36).

That code is
-36
ioErr
I/O error (bummers)
Make sure the EHD is formatted OS X Extended (journaled) and run Disk Utilty on the EHD and repair the disk. If that fails to help I'd try the following:
Using iPhoto Library Manager to Rebuild Your iPhoto Library
Download iPhoto Library Manager and launch.
Click on the Add Library button,
navigate to your Home/Pictures folder and select your iPhoto Library folder.
Now that the library is listed in the left hand pane of iPLM, click on your library and go to the Library ➙ Rebuild Library menu option
In the next window name the new library and select the external HD as the location of the newly rebild library.
Click on the Create button.
Note 1: This creates a new library based on the LIbraryData.xml file in the library and will recover Events, Albums, keywords, titles and comments. However, books, calendars, cards and slideshows will be lost.
Note 2: Your current library will be left untouched for further attempts at a fix if so desired.
OT

Iphoto library on external hard drive now does not show all the photos when i access it from macbook

i backed up iphoto library to an external hard drive. Deleted photo library on the macbook. After transferring some new photos to macbook from a camera, when i access the iphoto library on external hard drive only the new photos show up. Originals are still in files, but don't appear when opening iphoto library on external hard drive.

Make a temporary, backup copy of your library if you don't already have one (Control-click on the library and select Duplicate from the contextual menu) and apply the two fixes below in order as needed:
Fix #1
Launch iPhoto with the Command+Option keys held down and rebuild the library.
Select the options identified in the screenshot.
Fix #2
Using iPhoto Library Manager to Rebuild Your iPhoto Library
Download iPhoto Library Manager and launch.
Click on the Add Library button, navigate to your Home/Pictures folder and select your iPhoto Library folder.
Now that the library is listed in the left hand pane of iPLM, click on your library and go to the File ➙ Rebuild Library menu option
In the next window name the new library and select the location you want it to be placed.
Click on the Create button.
Note: This creates a new library based on the LIbraryData.xml file in the library and will recover Events, Albums, keywords, titles and comments but not books, calendars or slideshows. The original library will be left untouched for further attempts at fixing the problem or in case the rebuilt library is not satisfactory.
OT

I deleted music in the iTunes app but the files are still in the iTunes Media folder

Hi everyone,
I am doing my best to free up some HD space and decided to get rid of some of my music library in iTunes. For the record, my iTunes content is accessed from an external HD. My goal is to move the library back to my Mac's HD instead of the external because I don't want to use the external for anything by backups. (I have to get rid of some content in order for the library to fit on my Mac's smaller HD)
I went into the iTunes app and deleted everything I was no longer interested and managed to get my library down to about 50GBs. I moved the files to the trash and did not choose "keep files". Unfortunately, when I looked at the iTunes Media folder on my external HD, the albums I've deleted in the app are still there. That folder is about 80GBs.
Ultimately, I want what's in my iTunes Media folder to reflect what I've narrowed down in the App's library. Im trying to avoid deleted everything again manually in the media folder on my external as it is a pain.
Any help/suggestions?

Exact same problem even though I selected 'move to thrash option'. Maybe it was because I was using screen sharing to another mac on a LAN but can't see how this would make a difference.

Support symbolic links (symlinks or Unix's 'ln -s') in the iTunes Media folder hierarchy

As of iTunes version 12.0.1.26, iTunes has partial support for symbolic links in the iTunes Media folder hierarchy. I'd like Apple to enhance iTunes to treat any symlink or folder alias within the hierarchy the same as folders. With the Unix core under OS X, there is no clear reason to not support this feature.
Why is this important? As more of us try to use iTunes as the single repository of all media, the library size becomes larger than is possible to hold on a single partition. The simplest and most convenient solution is to allow users to move large folders (e.g. Music, or Movies) to a different drive or partition, then put an alias or symlink in the original location within the iTunes hierarchy. Users with large collections or small partitions may need to split multiple times. Other users may want to put the bulk of their media on their home/work NAS and only keep a portion on their laptop for mobile access (think long overseas flights), but not have to constantly fiddle with iTunes.
The point is not whether any one of these scenarios may be supported today though a crude hack or third-party tool. Support for symlinks would be relatively easy for Apple to implement and extremely flexible for advanced users.
This is partially supported today. For example, if you do what I described above, iTunes will play all of your existing media. The part that is definitely broken is when you try to use the "Automatically Add to iTunes" folder, iTunes will not copy the file to a location under a symlink or alias. The new file will sit in the "Automatically Add to iTunes" folder and iTunes will generate multiple instances/tracks inside iTunes (e.g. movies appear in the "Unwatched" tab). While there are ways to work around this limitation, they are tedious and ultimately unnecessary if full symlink/alias support is provided.
Best,
Pete

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If I uncheck both options listed under the 'iTunes Media folder location' will that allow me to point my library to external hard drives

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