ITunes can't find missing files, though there right there?!
I switched from PC to Macbook air reacently. I have always keept an external HD for all my music. I managed to get my old iTunes Library copied over to the Mac no problem and the HD is running smoothly too. iTunes has found over 6000 files but is still struggling to locate over 1400 tracks...so here is my problem...I can literally see an entire album of missing tracks. Show iTunes where one is and then it asks if I want to find other missing tracks — AND THE REST OF THE MISSING TRACKS ARE RIGHT THERE IN THE SAME FOLDER and it says it cannot find any more of the 1,486 missing tracks. In the past it usually found at least those tracks in the same album. I have to manually click on every single tune to locate its file location now - no fun for over 1400 missing files!! How come that iTunes can read some files fine and others not at all though there are all listed in the external HD as before?
..any suddestions or ideas to find a solution?
Thanks a lot.
Mike - please reply to the post rather than message me direct. Others on here are far more qualified than I.
if it is saying all your photos are now missing then I would guess you have changed a folder/subfolder above where they are stored. So if you have the photos all in ...\Pictures\Mike\Adobe and then at some point you changed the Mike folder to be called Flano then all the links will break. If this is what may have happened rename the folder back to what it was and all the links should be OK again. I would still recommend trying to find at least 1 of the missing photos using a search in My Computer just to ensure they are still there somewhere.
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and all my music is at an external HD at
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In iTunes under Advanced I set it to the right music location, it says
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and it is a few months old, when the problem started. In any case, if I remember right the library file needs to be where iTunes is installed itself, and that is on C:. The library file on C: is current.
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Here aer directions on how to do that - don't create a new library, just hold down the shift key while starting iTunes and browse out to that old library file.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=iTunesWin/7.5/en/15502.html
Does it find the old songs with the old library?
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As mentioned in this article
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301895 -
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I did a search and could not find anything about my specific issue. I was hoping to get some help if possible.
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tt2 -
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Hopefully it's not been too long since you last upgraded iTunes, in fact if you get an empty/incomplete library immediately after upgrading then with the following steps you shouldn't lose a thing or need to do any further housekeeping. In the Previous iTunes Libraries folder should be a number of dated iTunes Library files. Take the most recent of these and copy it into the iTunes folder. Rename iTunes Library.itl as iTunes Library (Corrupt).itl and then rename the restored file as iTunes Library.itl. Start iTunes. Should all be good, bar any recent additions to or deletions from your library.
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tt2 -
When I want to edit, it starts looking for missing files. Then I can't edit. I reconnect and it keeps searching. Now there is nothing it can do until it finds those files. Where did they go? I can I just move on and continue editing photos?
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kenfromoshawa wrote:
I keep losing music from my library because "itunes cannot locate original file". Why does my computer lose this?
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All of a sudden I keep getting a pop up that says this song can't be played because I tunes cannot find the file...Over 11,000 songs can't be played ....I really don't want to transfer all the songs over again...Please help...Thanks
Someone please reply cuz I have the same problem. Help Thanks.
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Help with missing file ? beside photo ??
Migration Assistant creates a new user with the transferred files. Go to > Log Out and log in the new user
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I'm using iTunes 12 for Windows. I keep a huge iTunes library at home on a mapped NAS share and the same library at work on a local drive. Every week on Monday I sync my entire iTunes folder from home to an external drive and then bring that external drive to work and sync it to my local drive there. (Note: This is a one way sync; I never sync in the other direction.) This system has worked flawlessly for six years.
Within the last six weeks, I've started to get error messages on my work system saying that many (>1600) media files of various types cannot be located. I assumed corruption was the issue so I deleted my entire 500GB iTunes folder and re-copied everything back over. Not just the media files. Everything. The problem persists and I cannot figure out why.
I have confirmed that iTunes on the work computer is referencing the correct iTunes library file. I have confirmed that iTunes is pointing to the correct iTunes folder. I have confirmed that the "missing" iTunes files are right where they should be. (I have always had iTunes set to move imported media into the iTunes folder so there is no stray media floating around on either system. And I have iTunes set to organize the media.)
It is worth noting that I started seeing this around the time when I upgraded to iTunes 12. When I upgraded to iTunes 12 I had to change the path to my home library from "\\<NAS>\iTunes\iTunes Music" to "M:\iTunes\iTunes Music" due to a bug in iTunes that created iPhone syncing issues if the iTunes library is on a network drive. But I can't figure out why this would matter. The path on the work computer is correct and all media files are there.
Ideas? I just don't understand how deleting everything and starting over doesn't solve the issue since there is NO issue at home.Thanks again for your help with this, tt2. (I keep wanting to call you "Alan".)
I totally botched the repair process, including my library and media collection, four different times. If not for the fact that I had a complete, up-to-date copy of my library and all media files I would be completely scr3wed right now. I'm going to outline the mistakes I made for the benefit of those who might reference this thread in the future.
A big part of my struggle was the underlying assumptions I was making about how the iTunes database is maintained and tracked. It is not the same as the digital asset managers I use for work—Lightroom, for example. I really had to quit thinking for myself and pay attention to what tt2 wrote about the way the iTunes db works in the link he provides earlier in this thread about making split libraries portable.
The biggest mistake I made is failing to understand that after you move the iTunes library files (but not the media files) to a new iTunes drive or directory outside of the existing iTunes folder and then shift-click to open that relocated library in iTunes you have to set the iTunes Media folder location (in preferences>advanced) to the empty iTunes Media folder in the NEW iTunes folder. You do NOT set it (or leave it) pointed to the old iTunes Music/Media folder where your files [may] actually reside before consolidation. This mistake can make a bad situation much worse.
Finally, I did not have a split library in the sense that my media files were outside of my iTunes Media folder. Because of this, when I incorrectly pointed the new iTunes library to the old iTunes Media folder and then consolidated I created 9,936 duplicate files. I had a complete back up which made eliminating the duplicate files a simple process. Without the backup I would have been in trouble.
So...to fix my problem I followed tt2's instructions and did this:
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Created a new A:\iTunes folder plus an empty A:\iTunes\iTunes Media folder.
Moved everything from M:\iTunes to A:\iTunes EXCEPT for the iTunes Music* folder. (*It was the new iTunes 9 and later hierarchy but with the old name.)
Shift-Clicked to open iTunes and selected the iTunes library inside A:\iTunes.
Once iTunes was open I went to Edit>Preferences>Advanced and made the empty A:\iTunes\iTunes Media the location of my media.
Went to File>Library>Organize Library and choose "consolidate". After hours of file copying, my issue was resolved. A:\iTunes is portable.
Confirmed that the new A:\iTunes library correctly links to all media in the A:\iTunes\iTunes Media folder and then deleted the M:\iTunes directory with the old M:\iTunes\iTunes Music folder inside.
NOTE: It bears repeating that the problem solved was that I could not move my old M:\iTunes folder to a different workstation w/o breaking some of the links. However all the links worked fine in the M:\iTunes location. If this were not the case then this solution will not resolve anything.
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