Importing music on external drive

Since my PC did not have enough memory to fill iTunes with all my CD's (I am using a 160 GB iPod Classic), I bought an external hard disk. If I now transfer my music files onto this external hard disk, they are all copied twice. This means I then have to go back to iTunes and delete all the double tracks. Any ideas, anyone, how to solve this?

And your question is?
Here are the typical layouts for the iTunes folders:
In the layout above, with the media folder (everything in the red box) inside the library folder, the library is considered to be portable. A portable library can be moved from one path to another without breaking the links between the library and the media and being self-contained is much easier to backup (You do backup, don't you?).
If you want to add media to a library without creating copies either move it inside the iTunes Media folder before adding or just place it inside the Automatically Add to iTunes folder.
tt2

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    I moved all my music from c: drive(because it was full) to an external harddrive and now itunes can't find any of my music. Is there a way to get Itunes to find music on external drive without having to place all the music back onto the c: drive? Thanks

    Hopefully you moved the entire iTunes Media (or iTunes Music) folder to a new path on your external drive. Copy your iTunes library folder out to the root of the external drive, e.g. X:\iTunes (where X: is your external drive), then move the media folder inside it. Hold down shift as you start iTUnes and keep holding untila asked to choose or create a library. Choose the library at X:\iTunes\iTunes Library.itl. Should all be good.
    Failing that, download and run my FindTracks script and point it at the new location of your media folder.
    tt2

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  • Itunes music on external drive help

    WHY? When I set the Adv prefs in iTunes and point it to my music which resides on an external drive (Time Capsule) ~ that (upon launch) if it can't see the drive on the network it decides to create the default "mac hd/users/itunes" folder!!!
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    This is a nuisance. It has caused my wife to import CDs multiple times. Redundantcy?! Bah!!!
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    iTunes: "Oh no! I've lost the song (that is currently PLAYING)!!! What do I do??? I know! Make the DEFAULT User folder!!!
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    Thanks for your post! I used my wife's iMac to post the above rant...
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    Friends dont let friends post drumnk...
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  • Moving music from external drive to new computer, not showing music

    Hello,
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    If everything on the external drive is in WMA format then that method would work, otherwise you are likely to get duplicates, which is why I suggested you work with the Not Added folder.
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  • Hard drive crash, music on external drive but no library or playlist backup

    I'm guessing this question has been asked many times but I've searched all over the internet and these forums and am exhausted. So I beg for your help.
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    2) What information is contained in that library file, what does it do? If I can't get it from my old hard drive what will happen if I have Itunes create a new one?
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    Message was edited by: overthetide

    +"1) If I can access the files on the old hard drive, is there anything there that contains information on the playlists if I haven't backed them up individally? From my reading it seems like playlists are not contained in the library file itself, is that right or wrong?"+
    See: What are the iTunes Library files? Both the ITL and XML files keep your Library data. The ITL file is used by iTunes. The XML file is created by iTunes and can bu used in other programs or Imported back into iTunes to re-create your Library. hey are only as good as your last archived backup file (should you corrupt the current Library database file).
    +"2) What information is contained in that library file, what does it do? If I can't get it from my old hard drive what will happen if I have Itunes create a new one?"+
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    Playlists
    Ratings
    Play Count
    Last Played
    Date Added
    Date Modified
    Equalizer
    Volume Adjustment
    These are stored in the music file itself:
    Artist
    Album
    Song Title
    Year
    Comments
    Compilation tag
    Lyrics
    Genre
    Grouping
    Volume Adjustment (a special iTunes-only tag in the file - non-standard)
    Composer
    Bit Rate (not a tag - inherent to the file itself)
    BPM
    Kind (not a tag - inherent to the file itself)
    Album Art (only stored in the file - not copied to the iTunes Library ITL or XML files)
    +"3) I've read that I may be able to get playlist information from my Ipod, but it seemed really confusing and I was uncertain if that was correct. Is that a possiblity? Can I do it by accesing the Ipod as an external drive?"+
    These links will give you several methods of recovering whatever songs remain on your iPod; some free, some third-party software, some more comprehensive for restoring Playlists, Ratings, Play Counts, etc. Read them and their associated links before deciding on a strategy that works for you. There are many various third-party software programs that will offer a more robust process, or an easier GUI. Do a Google search for them if the links below leave you wanting…
    Don King Resurrected: Deleted files from hard drive (free user steps – music recovery only)
    MacMuse: Computer Crashed (free user steps – music recovery only)
    Copying music from iPod to computer (a primer on various methods and software)
    Copying Songs from Your iPod to a Mac or PC (resource for 3rd party software)
    iPodRip Software (Free trial: Mac & Windows)
    PodUtil Software (Mac & Windows)
    YamiPod Software (Free: Mac & Windows)
    PodPlus Software (Windows)
    TuneJack Software (Windows)
    XPlay (Windows software For Music Recovery &/or Cross-Platform Functionality)
    XPlay Photo Browser (For recovering Photos)
    +"4) Would I also be able to get the libary file from the Ipod if I can't get it from my old hard drive? If the Ipod contains most but not all of my songs, would it be bad to use this file with the complete list of songs on my external drive?"+
    Not directly. You'll need to use the recovery software mentioned in #3 above.
    Best of Luck

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    My PC (Windows 8.1) computer hard drive crashed.  My old computer was using an iTunes media file on an external hard drive so I still have that, but I also subscribe to iTunes Match.  After replacing my old internal hard drive, I went to set up iTunes, and I changed the iTunes media folder location so it would use the one on my external hard drive.  However, once I turned on iTunes Match, all of the music still shows up as being in the Cloud.   I can't figure out how to have it recognize that my music is already on that external hard drive.  It just wants me to download everything from the Cloud.   I have tons of music, and it would take days to download everything.  Is there a way to associate it with my previous library on the external  hard drive?

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    Message was edited by: johnnybgood

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