"Incomplete Folder" contains Library folder

Hi everyone, hope you can give me a hand with this long standing error with my MacBook Pro?
My Mac (MBP 2GHz Intel Core Duo, 2GB RAM, 100GB HD (partition 60GB OSX 30GB Windows)) has been cleaned up a few times and I no longer store music, photo, video or docs (some) on my startup disk.
I can probably understand about 15GB being taken up but I cannot work out where the other 30GB+ have gone. I am using Disk Inventory X but it is very muddled and all over the place not giving me a clear indication. I have deleted Garageband and all loops but still loads taken up.
In my Home Folder (user) I have an Incomplete folder which I have never paid too much attention to. I'm currently trying to clear some space so I can install CS4 and leave CS3 just incase I have any errors. But in this 'Incomplete' folder I have a Library folder!!! I am pretty sure it cannot be doing anything and I still have a HD and User Library folder.
So my questions are.......
If this Incomplete folder contains a Library (1.5GB) is that Library doing anything or can I delete it?
What methods are out there for me to troubleshoot where the space is being taken up?
On a standard machine how much space should system/library files take up?
What is safe to delete and won't leave my mac useless?
I look forward to any responses thank you.
Rivers
p.s. Background info: couple of years ago my mac went crazy and I think it might of had something to do with a friend accidentally moving my library into that incomplete folder when playing with my Wacom. But I do not know this for certain and live in fear of deleting any library folder.

Hi Allan, thanks for speedy response!
I have used Limewire in the past, but not so much anymore (other means and waste of time in my opinion) so will probably delete it. I noticed as well that most Google hits link back to Limewire but wanted to check that it is an application directory and nothing to do with OSX?!?
I will try your solution and I think I have worked out the reason. Like I said at the end of the post my friend may have accidently moved the library into this Limewire incomplete folder which screwed up my permissions so I reinstalled MacOSX and recovered the data on the Hard Drive. So have a functioning mac with all the right data and a spare Library folder!
Now just need to work out where the rest of my space is being taken up??
Thanks for the reply!

Similar Messages

Music files are stored under device folder, not Library folder

In comparing my Itunes account with my co-worker, I've discovered that my music files are all stored under "my device" (in the music section) instead of under the "Library" section for music.
How do I move my music to the correct folder structure. In it's current location (under my device which is an Iphone), I'm unable to create playlists etc. it will not let me drag any of the music from my device/music library into the playlists.
On a "weirder note" - I have 4-5 recent songs that are shown in the correct location: library / music folder. These songs work for creating a playlist etc.
How do I get my 200 other songs into this correct location?
Now that I've purchased an Ipad, I'd like to create playlists to tether onto each device.

Recover media from iPod
See this post from forum regular Zevoneer for options on moving your iPod data back to your computer. Most of the tools rely on the iPod having a healthy database but as long as the media is there then the manual method mentioned towards the end should work regardless...
tt2

Question about "library" folder

Sorry if this is dumb question, just got the computer yesterday. Anyway, I was snooping around in the library folder and I deleted some things in an attempt to free up some space, however I think that the things I deleted may have been important. I deleted "LaunchAgents", "Perl", "Python", and "Ruby". Can someone please shed some insight as to what these folders were for, and if they were important, how can I get them back.
Thank you

Everything in the System and Library folders are important for the system - you should never delete anything from them. In fact, you're asked for an admin password before you can delete them, for a good reason. You should do an Archive and Install of your system (or a Time Machine restore, if you have one) to get back to a good working system, otherwise you're liable to experience crashes and system failures.
Likewise, you shouldn't delete anything in your home folder's Library folder unless you understand what it is and know what the consequences are.
Matt

Show Library Folder on non-TM backup

In Mac OS 10.9/10 you go to your home folder and select View > Show View Options (cmd-j) and there should be a check box marked "Show Library Folder" this is the easiest way to alow yourself access to your library folder.
In the case of a non-TimeMachine backup of the (non-bootable) Home Folder, the Library Folder is not shown and the above technique is not applicable -- how can the Library Folder be revealed in this instance?

Open the AppleScript Editor in the /Applications/Utilities/ folder, paste the text below exactly as it's written into it, and run the script:
tell application "Finder" to quit
do shell script "chflags nohidden " & quoted form of POSIX path of (choose folder with invisibles)
delay 2
tell application "Finder" to run
(115904)

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?

The folder containing iTunes library cannot be found.

I recently cosolidated my iTunes library into a new folder. Then I dragged it to the desktop and deleted the messed up folder I was using before. Everything was working fine untill I started my computer this morning and clicked on iTiunes. The message "the folder containing iTunes library cannot be found" appeared

apparently I didnt ask a question so I went to edit post and made it into a question. There was no button to post edited version, just save it. So I saved it and guess what nothing. So now im posting to my origional post. How do I get my iTunes back?

IPhoto 08 exclamation points due to referenced photos. Have reverted back to Managed, trashed problem images, and want to rebuild library or create new library. However, Originals folder contains aliases of deleted images.

1. Will broken images in Originals folder hinder making a backup copy, rebuild, or other attempts at repair? I have Time Machine, never used it, and don't know when when iPhoto became referenced library (due to bad advice) 2. Is it OK to delete broken aliases from the Originals folder (white squares with arrows, jpeg tags, and a Quicktime logo)? 3. Would it make sense to select undamaged images in the Orginals folder for copying to a new library? I am cleaning up Events and exporting healthy photos from iPhoto before trying to copy the entire iphoto library folder. Thanks for your help.

What do you mean by "broken images"?
Never delete anything from the Originals folder, ever.
Try
Download iPhoto Library Manager and use its rebuild function. (In early versions of Library Manager it's the File -> Rebuild command. In later versions it's under the Library menu.)
This will create an entirely new library. It will then copy (or try to) your photos and all the associated metadata and versions to this new Library, and arrange it as close as it can to what you had in the damaged Library. It does this based on information it finds in the iPhoto sharing mechanism - but that means that things not shared won't be there, so no slideshows, books or calendars, for instance - but it should get all your events, albums and keywords, faces and places back.
Because this process creates an entirely new library and leaves your old one untouched, it is non-destructive, and if you're not happy with the results you can simply return to your old one.

Seem to have an "extra" Library folder...huh?!

Hi all,
Up until recently I've been trying to figure out why my home>Library folder had mysteriously moved inside my home>Documents folder. Finally having the time to do some detective work I used Time Machine to see when the change happened....right around when I went from Snow Leopard to Mountain Lion.
In searching the forums, I discovered that my home>Library folder is still there; it's just invisible. However, it's now even more a mystery as to where the home>Documents>Library folder came from or why it exists!
As it is now I have FOUR Library folders on my iMac: 1) Library at the top level of the hard drive, 2) System>Library, 3) home>Library (invisible), and 4) home>Documents>Library (which appeared the same time my home>Library folder became invisible).
This "rogue" Library folder is like the middle of a Venn diagram of the top level and System>library; it shares some, but not all of the top level Library folders, and some, but not all, of the System>Library folders.
Does this make sense to anyone? I started thinking that my file synchronization app had caused the problem (I was using Chronosync to sync my Document folders between my iMac and my late 2006 MacBook running Snow Leopard), but there's no reason synching should have picked up a folder that usually resides outside the Documents folder. Since then my MacBook's HD took a dive and I don't have a backup of it that goes back to the period in question when the folders did their disappearing/reappearing act.
Any thoughts?
TIA,
Kath

Hi there,
So I am able to see the Library in my home folder after reading the option open in the "Go" menu tip in another discussion, but thanks also for making sure I had it.
So then, on comparing all 4 Library folders again, it looks like everything in the "rogue" home>Documents>Library is contained in the top level Library (the one that resides at the same level as the System, Applications, Developer and Users folders).
The rogue Library folder looks like a very incomplete version of the top level System folder, containing only 25 duplicate folders of the main level Library's 67 folders (opening those folders showed the rogue Library had the same, or fewer, nested folders and files within).
So perhaps I can just delete it? I definitely don't think it belongs....but it does bother me not knowing how it got there, especially in its "incomplete" state, unless it's been partially building itself since it arrived in the Documents folder.
Strange....

How do I move iTunes Library folder to another location?

Hi guys .. I have a question I can't seem to find a fully working answer to.
I have iTunes 11 installed, which has it's folder in the default location:
C:\Users\ahmadka\Music\iTunes\ ...
However I have all my music stored in one central folder located in my Dropbox:
C:\Users\ahmadka\Dropbox\ahmadka's Music Library\..............
I've recently made the switch from Dropbox to Google Drive, so I'm trying to move the above music containing folder to:
C:\Users\ahmadka\Google Drive\ahmadka's Music Library\..............
But before doing anything, I made a backup of my Music\iTunes folder.
Then I moved the folder as mentioned above (moved ahmadka's Music Library folder from Dropbox to Google Drive). However obviously after moving the folder, iTunes was unable to locate any songs (I see that ! sign next to any song I try to play). So then I tried going to File >> Add Folder to Library, and then I browsed for the new 'ahmadka's Music Library' folder. However now iTunes just re-added all the songs again, instead of realizing that they are the same songs which have just been moved.
Restored my iTunes backup and then tried this:
In another thread someone suggested running the FindTracks script to fix those incorrect links. I did this and it seemed to have fixed the links to 80% of the songs, but the remaining 20% still remain. Since they're a lot of songs, I can't manually fix each song's link.
One way would be to just delete everything in my library and re-add all songs from the new Google Drive folder, but I don't want to do this as I loose my ratings, playcount, etc .. I don't want to loose years worth of work.
Is there any other easier way that allows me to move the songs from one location to another ?

Okay, thanks for that explanation.
First let me tell you the paths for my specific scenario:
My library folder (i.e. A) (i.e. the one containing the ITL file) is: C:\Users\ahmadka\Music\iTunes
My media folder (i.e. B) (i.e. the one mentioned in Edit > Preferences > Advanced) is: C:\Users\ahmadka\Music\iTunes\iTunes Media
But do note that as I've said above, all my active music is currently in this Dropbox folder: C:\Users\ahmadka\Dropbox\ahmadka's Music Library
For example, here are some music folders/files I have here (just to tell you how it's organized):
C:\Users\ahmadka\Dropbox\ahmadka's Music Library\30 Seconds To Mars\A Beautiful Lie\01. Attack.mp3
C:\Users\ahmadka\Dropbox\ahmadka's Music Library\30 Seconds To Mars\A Beautiful Lie\02. A Beautiful Lie.mp3
C:\Users\ahmadka\Dropbox\ahmadka's Music Library\Game of Thrones (OST)\01 - Main Title.mp3
C:\Users\ahmadka\Dropbox\ahmadka's Music Library\Game of Thrones (OST)\02 - North of the Wall.mp3
etc...
Since the actual songs folder (i.e. C:\Users\ahmadka\Dropbox\ahmadka's Music Library) is not within either the media or library folder indicated above, how does this work with your solution ?
Remember that I'd just like to move the ahmadka's Music Library folder from Dropbox to Google Drive.
EDIT:
Also, you said this in your last post:
"A contains B as an immediate subfolder and the library is portable if all the content that is attached to the library is located somewhere inside this media folder."
While A does contain B in my case, do note that B does NOT contain all the media files. The actual media files are in that ahmadka's Music Library folder, which is currently located outside both A and B.
When I download a new song or album from iTunes, it gets downloaded inside B by default. But then I manually move it from there and place it inside my ahmadka's Music Library folder. This causes the link to the media file to break in iTunes, but I fix this by removing it from my iTunes library, and then re-adding the C:\Users\ahmadka\Dropbox\ahmadka's Music Library folder to iTunes. iTunes then scans the folder, realizes that 99% of the contents were already mapped, and just adds the new addition which I had just pasted into ahmadka's Music Library folder. Doing this everytime is a nuisance for me at times, but I'm now used to it.
Also, I like to keep my actual songs outside in a more 'public' location such as Dropbox, so that I can easily browse to that folder from other synced places (e.g. office, consoles, etc.) to listen to songs, etc.

How can I access my iPhoto library folder?

My hard drive recently had to be replaced, and when they replaced it, they updated to OSx 10.9. I had not backed up my photos before my hard drive crashed, but they backed up all my files for me. I went to open my iphoto library from the backup files and as a new (to me) version of iphoto 11 opened, I got a message saying that it had to update the photos in my library in order for them to be compatible with this version of iPhoto and that after updating them, I'd no longer be able to read them on an older version of iphoto. I clicked ok. It only imported 9 photos (out of several thousand). I went to finder and tried to open the iphoto library folder (which contains the library file and the cache, etc.), but the folder will not open. Instead, when I click to open the library folder, it brings up iphoto, as though to indicate that my library is there. Did I somehow unknowingly overwrite my library or something?? Any ideas why I can't access my iphoto library? Are my photos gone?
I'm stupid so I don't have copies of the photos anywhere else. I don't have Time Machine or anything. Did I irreversibly screw up??

I didn't think to check what photos were there or what the library size was before trying to import at first. How do I restore my backup of the iphoto library? (sorry if that's a stupid question). I checked in the Masters folder and only saw a few of my photos (the same ones that were imported to iphoto).
I definitely know it was a mistake not to have a backup of the photos. It'll be the first thing I do if I can get them back. The mistake I was referring to in my initial post was clicking "ok" when it asked to update---but from what you're saying it sounds like that wouldn't have deleted anything.
I'm thinking maybe the backup is not complete (even though I asked the tech people 5 times if it was!), because I checked the imovie events folder, and it's also empty (and it definitely shouldn't be)! If this turns out to be the case, I may have to go back to the repair place to see if they can still pull files off.

Itunes will not add folder to library - no error messages

I have an archive of about 4 thousand albums and have decided to use Itunes to manage them. Windows Media Player is terrible for large archives - it's database is poorly designed. Anyway, when I tell Itunes to add a folder (containing 1000 artists each in its folder)to its library it stops at around seventy every time. Also within the 70 artists folders it ingested I have several albums that didn't ingest.
what's going on?
on a related subject, Itunes does not seem to be smart enough to know that it already has a song in its library that you are trying to ingest.
thanks for any help!
Patrick
Windows XP Pro

iTUnes for windows has a limit, not sure exactly what number that limit is yet but if you goto file>add folder to library it only catches so many til it reaches a limit then it stops.
Also iTUnes is designed to add whats called "Duplicates" because it takes for granted your the smarter one. If you had to songs that are somewhat the same, one is the original, one is a remix, the tags might not note this. You may have .... Britney SPears - hit me one more time then another one thats a remix BUT the tags say the same thing "Britney SPears - hit me one more time" So instead of stoping the second song from coming in, it lets it in so later you can edit the tags to denote its a remix.
Now since you have such a large swath of music all in there own lil folders, Id think the easy thing to do is let iTUnes auto search your system and add them all. Theres no feature like this built into iTUnes UI but theres a feature like this when you delete a hidden pref file. When this file is deleted and you open itunes again, you get a set up wizard, it in this wizard you get the option to have iTUnes search the whole system for music and media files.
Go here to B noirs post about deleting this pref file http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=531850&tstart=0

Screen Saver "The selected folder contains no pictures"

Hello,
I recently had my HD replaced on my IBook after thermal damage took out the old one, and the good Apple Store folks recovered and replaces the date from the old fwinky drive.
However, tweaking the configuration back into place, I noticed that most of the "Slideshow" style screensavers are now broken, with the following as patt of the error message:
"The selected folder contains no pictures"
Where the HECK are the insalled screensaver images stored? I would bring them over from the G4 tower, if I knew where to find them... Is there a way to reconnect the screensavers to the images if they are still on the drive?
I was able to find the screensaver files in:
System/Library/Screen Savers ...
But no sign of any images. Clicking or opening the file just launches the "Desktop & Screen Saver" preferences panel.
Mildly Baffled.
Kurt

That appears to work. The pictures are indeed actually there. It seems the slide show screensaver functionality is somehow damaged.
Testing the screensaver on a new folder with some of my one images in it only shows a black screen. The problem apparently lies elsewhere.

Photos in iPhoto cannot be found in the Library Folder on the desktop

I have a perplexing problem with iPhoto 6. A couple of months ago, I started a new Library and renamed it Current iPhoto Library placing it on the Desktop (rather than in the Pictures Folder).
I did this because my laptop became too full and I ran out of hard disk space. The original Library resides on an external hard disk.
I added many new photos to the new Library, inside of new albums.
My problem is that all the new photos seem detached from the Library Folder on the desktop.
They do take up memory, and now my laptop hard disk is full again.
But I cannot free up space because the Library folder does not recognize the existence of the new photos—even though while in iPhoto, with the program is running, I have no trouble accessing all the photos.
I tried DiskWarrior, assuming that there was a Directory malfunction. That did not help.
I tried rebuilding the Library using iPhoto's built-in capability, by starting the program while pressing the Command and Option keys. No help.
How can I make the Library Folder recognize all the photos that iPhoto can see fine within the program?

First, thank you for keeping up with me.
Second, where do look for Folder? On the desktop? iPhoto?
Third, in replaying what must have happened, I think I have an idea of what went wrong. Originally, I moved my first Library to an external HD to free up space on my laptop, and I started a new Library. Some time ago, iPhoto must have spontaneously created a new third Library. It left what I am calling the second Library as the only visible folder containing an iPhoto Library. I was able to mount the small second Library when I restarted iPhoto by pressing Option and selecting the only Library that was visible to me. When I did that, unfortunately iPhoto disengaged from the huge third Library it had created. All along the third Library was invisible on the desktop as a folder--which is why I got into trouble. I ran out of space again and wanted to move the contents of what I now realize was a third Library to another external HD. But I couln't find that Library anywhere. Strangely, for the last three months, I did not know there were three Libraries, only two. The one iPhoto created as the third one worked perfectly when I would start up iPhoto. But now it is gone. Not even DiskWarrior can find it.

When I try to upload the lates version of iTunes, it tells me to enter an alternate path to a folder containing the installation package iTunes.msi. What does this mean as I can't seem to find any such folder and now I cannot uninstall Itunes either

when I try to upload the latest version of iTunes, it tells me to enter an alternate path to a folder containing the installation package iTunes.msi. What does this mean as I can't seem to find any such folder and now I cannot uninstall Itunes either

For general advice see Troubleshooting issues with iTunes for Windows updates.
The steps in the second box are a guide to removing everything related to iTunes and then rebuilding it, which is often a good starting point unless the symptoms indicate a more specific approach. Review the other boxes and the list of support documents further down page in case one of them applies.
Your library should be unaffected by these steps but there is backup and recovery advice elsewhere in the user tip.
tt2

Library Folder Question

I recently received a .zip file via email and when I double clicked to open it, the file showed on my desktop and then disappeared. I found the file in /Users/name/Library/Containers/com.apple.mail/Data/Library/Mail Downloads In this folder I was able to open the Word docs and other files. I also noticed that this folder contains almost every file I've downloaded over the years from Mail. Is it safe for me to delete these files? I'm running ML but don't see the option to show in products below.
Thanks much.

The attachments you open place itself in that folder. You can test one attachment with the folder open. No implications for the actual attachment in Mail.
You have more control on attachments if you save them to wherever you want them by right-clicking (or ctrl-click) the files inside Mail.

"Incomplete Folder" contains Library folder

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for