Itunes disks & symbolic links

i have a rather large itunes now i use it for lots of tv shows and movies for appletv (and iphone) - up to 1.1TB's!!
so i now have a disk issue! i have tried a few solutions, i.e. concatenated raid volumes, unionfs, etc. all failed for varying reasons. the new solution is:
disk 1 --> symbolic link to ~/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music
disk 2 --> symbolic link to ~/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music/TV Shows
disk 3 --> symbolic link to ~/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music/Movies
disk 3 is actually a 2-disk concatenated raid volume, but this should not matter
itunes is auto-managed and copies files to itunes folder. everything works as expected when normally using this file strucure, e.g. adding new movie will put it onto disk 3.
but as this has only just been created, i would like to consolidate the library. when i do, i get a prompt saying disk 1 does not have enough space (note it doesnt mention that my local profile location)
what is occurring? does itunes attempt to evaluate the symlink? is my solution possible?
regards
jingo_man

Your solution will not work.
For reasons unknown iTunes does not follow symbolic links. In fact, it does all kinds of things to avoid them, avoid following them, and does link symbolic links, hard links, or aliases.
Every time there's a new OS X or iTunes release I give it a try and the results are always the same--if I try to make a TV Shows symbolic link iTunes ignores the link, and creates a TV Shows directory. Even inside the directory, if, for example, I try to make a symbolic link to a particular show or artist I know needs a large amount of space iTunes ignores the symbolic link and creates a directory entry under whatever the main library is set to be.
About the only thing you can do is create a large, empty raid using new drives and copy everything over to that raid. Of course you would have to recopy everything if you ever add a new drive.
I can't wait for ZFS to be added as a regular consumer option to OS X just to be able to finally create a unified, ever expandable iTunes library.

Similar Messages

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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Symbolic Links iTunes Media

I have just migrated to an iMac. I have a small SSD drive and a HDD drive. For iTunes, I have a symbolic link for the iTunes Media folder to the HDD drive. However, I am now wondering how this will work if I use Time Machine. For example, will Time Machine try to back those files up twice? Also, if I go to restore, will it also try to restore all the media files everytime. I am just a little confused by it now. The sym link seemed like a great idea to move stuff onto the HDD but still keep it organized through my OS X profile. But, I'm not sure now.

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Splitting the iTunes Library using aliases or symbolic links

I imagine—but have not tried it in fear of loosing valued metadata—that I can replace the ~/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music Library/TV Shows/ directory with an alias (or I would possibly need to use a symbolic link) that points to a /Volumes/ExternalDrive/TV Shows/. This way, I imagine that iTunes would copy new content to the external drive, and load content from that drive too. When the drive is not connected, I would just get an error message claiming the resource/file is not available.
Coming from a Linux background, the above scenario would most certainly work. I am—however—not very familiar with either iTunes nor the HFSP file system.
Can anyone who have tried implementing a similar scenario—or who is not afraid to experiment with their iTunes Library—please test and see whether this actually works? or explain why it does not work, and what would be required to make it work. Thanks in advance!

aliases will most certainly not work. symbolic links might although I had a bad experience using them with itunes. when I symlinked a folder for a particular album to an external itunes played those songs fine but when I bought a new song from that album iTunes created a new folder on the main drive instead of using the existing symlinked one. this doesn't happen with regular itunes album folders - I double checked. I don't know why that is.
I'm afraid you'll run into the same issue with the TV Shows folder but you can try and see if it works.

Can I Create A Symbolic Link to folders stored on an SMB Share folder?

Hello,
I am very new to Unix and was hoping that someone could point me in the right direction with regards to Symbolic links and an SMB share folder ....
Have purchased an ext. LAN Drive enclosure (http://www.macpower.com.tw/products/hdd3/pleiades/pd_usblan) which connects to my wireless router via ethernet like my G5 (main Mac) - our iBook connects via Airport. I have copied all my general documents/files to the SMB share folder on the ext. drive so that I can access them from the G5 and also the iBook.
However I'd also like to be able to store my actual Mail folder (/Users/Mark/Library/Mail/), , Safari folder (/Users/Mark/Library/Safari) + my Address Book and other folders sitting in the Application Support folder on my SMB share so all important docs/folders are in the one place. I've tried storing these folders on the SMB share and putting an Alias to these back in Users/Mark/Library/Mail etc but of course an Alias doesn't work.
Question 1: Can I create a symbolic link to these files if these are stored on an SMB share folder? If so, could you please tell me exactly what I'd need to type into Terminal? My SMB Share path is smb://STORAGE-XXXX/MARK
I have copied my iPhoto library and iTunes library to the SMB share and are working fine.
Question 2: Is it possible/worth attempting to move my whole home folder to the SMB share folder? Ideally, I'd like to be able to access my Mail from the iBook as well. If I could log into either the G5 or the iBook and access my latest Mail, Address Book and other Application Settings, that would be perfect. Would this be possible?
Thanks
Mark.
Dual 1.8GHz G5 (Rev.B), 2Gig RAM, 9600XT Mac OS X (10.4)

Dear Mark,
Yes you can. The command to create a link will look something like this:
$ ln -s thisFolder /Users/mark/thatFolder
I did this while I was hosting a microsoft based game. This put all of the players into a common directory.
SMB just resolved the link and everything worked fine.
However, as I understand it, some other applications do NOT work very well with links. As I have NOT tried it with other applications, I fear I can be of NO help to you in this matter.
The only way to find out which applications work with links is to try them and see what happens.
Best of luck,
Kurt

"the feature you are trying to use is on a RD-ROM or ohter removable disk that is not available insert the 'itunes' disk and click OK

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yet when i try to updat to itunes 11 or uninstall itunes from my computer i keep on getting a message stating "the feature you are trying to use is on a RD-ROM or ohter removable disk that is not available insert the 'itunes' disk and click OK"
(1) Download the Windows Installer CleanUp utility installer file (msicuu2.exe) from the following Major Geeks page (use one of the links under the "DOWNLOAD LOCATIONS" thingy on the Major Geeks page):
http://majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=4459
(2) Doubleclick the msicuu2.exe file and follow the prompts to install the Windows Installer CleanUp utility. (If you're on a Windows Vista or Windows 7 system and you get a Code 800A0046 error message when doubleclicking the msicuu2.exe file, try instead right-clicking on the msicuu2.exe file and selecting "Run as administrator".)
(3) In your Start menu click All Programs and then click Windows Install Clean Up. The Windows Installer CleanUp utility window appears, listing software that is currently installed on your computer.
(4) In the list of programs that appears in CleanUp, select any iTunes entries and click "Remove", as per the following screenshot:
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Symbolic linker ssd and hdd

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Welcome to the HP Forums, I hope you enjoy your experience! To help you get the most out of the HP Forums I would like to direct your attention to the HP Forums Guide First Time Here? Learn How to Post and More.
I understand you are trying to install a new SSD or HDD in your HP Touchsmart 300-1025 Desktop PC.
First, I am going to do is provide you with the HP Support document: HP Touchsmart 300-1025 Desktop PC, which will walk you through the process of replacing the Hard Drive you currently have. If you require the Hard disk drive mounting cage assembly the part number is 575664-001 and can be obtained from The HP Parts Store. I have not seen anything that limits the type of drive you can install, but I have only seen documentation on HDDs. I am also going to provide you with the HP Support document: Partitioning and Naming Hard Drives (Windows 7) as it is relevant to your computer and since you are replacing the Hard Drive is a great opportunity for you to review a document of this type.
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I hope I have answered your questions to your satisfaction. Thank you for posting on the HP Forums. Have a great day!
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Also be sure to mark my post as “Accept as Solution" if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others who face the same challenge find the same solution.
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Can I use Unix symbolic links between Mountain Lion and Snow Leopard Mail folders?

After upgrading to Mountain Lion, I partitioned my iMac HD to have two partitions: Macintosh HD has Mountain Lion; I reinstalled Snow Leopard on Macintosh HD 2. Best part: you can access your user-created files from EITHER disk partition. But not so OS X Mail. I wanted to revert to Snow Leopard, since I don't like the iOS-like Mountain Lion (swipe THIS!), but Mail is a problem since all my Snow Leopard Mail was successfully migrated over to Mountain Lion during upgrade.
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I know it all uncoventionally — just wanted to see what my $20 new OS will cost me in software upgrades, in particular my $1800 Adobe Design Suite CS4 and a few others.

How can i create absolute symbolic links

The question is simply the Thread Topic,
I want to create an Absolute Symlink, I have found some Apple Scripts that i think create relative Symlinks.
I am not that familiar with Terminal, so any recomendations to go that route nned to be fully explained please?
Thanks
John

I have a couple of Partitioned disks on my system and i need to make symbolic links for a number of folders that are on those Partitions.
I could not get to te partitions via terminal, i now understand i have to use the /Volumes/Folder name in my ln command.
thx
John

SMB Symbolic Links disabled after update to 10.6.4

I just found out how to fix Access Denied messages for any WIndows share that includes a symbolic link directory. Due to a security issue the default was changed to:
\[global\]
wide links = no
This disables access to symbolic links.
See http://www.samba.org/samba/news/symlink_attack.html
I changed it back to yes for now to get it working. Will look into this more when the network is not in use. This should have been noted in the smb.conf file.

For the non-geeks in the audience. 10.6.4 broke access to smb folders being shared by a 10.6.4 machine. My popcorn hour media stremer would no longer use symbolic links as a means to find all my movies spread out on 2 disks. It could see the links as files and clicking on them gave an error message. In my case these links a symbolic links of the folders on my 2 movie drives, labeled sci-fi, westerns, etc. All the links are in my Movies folder in my main user folder. This is setup to be a shared folder and is accessed as an SMB share with my media streamers.
Apple was apparently fixing a security issue related to symbolic links but killed the ability to set up and use symbolic links like I need them for my home network media streamers.
To fix do the following:
Fixing the symbolic link issue with Samba/SMB access problem in 10.6.4
 * Open smb.conf on the samba server in your favorite text editor
put the following in a terminal window:
sudo nano /etc/smb.conf
 * Find the global samba settings section under [global] and edit the following line:
wide links = no
change to:
wide links = yes
This enables access to symbolic links.
nano is a text editor for the terminal. Use the arrow keys to get to the word no in the above string delete no and type yes.
The control-x to exit and you will be asked to save the file.
Hit return to save the modified file, do not choose any of the save options.
For the terminal editor nano, control is the modifier key in dialogs that looks like a upside-down-superscript v.

Mac OS X loses its symbol link/hard link ability.

I assume people see this thread understand the differences between symbol link(symlink)/alias and hard link, so I don't explain them.
This is the situation:
1. I create a alias of "1.jpg" sized in 2MB, the alias' size is 4KB, no problem.
2. I create a hard link of the same file, the hard link file sized in 2MB, that's correct, but when I check the disk usage, additional 2MB is consumed. Since it consumes disk capacity as much as the original file, then why wouldn't we just copy the original file?
3. I create a symbolic link too, the soft link file sized in 4KB and appears like an alias in finder with arrow, and it works like an alias, that makes no sense.
Why I say it works like an alias? Because applications treat it like an alias but symbolic link, they don't recognize symbolic link, they can't write data into it.

Hello,
I don't know what is the cause of your problem, but I have some knowledge on the @ attribute that may help you to solve this problem.
@ symbol is about attributes on a file.
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+ls -l@ filename+
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+xattr -l filename+
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+xattr -d attr_name filename+
Beware, to get the help on xattr you must use :
+xattr -help+
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Regards.

Replace symbolic links with actual file

Hello everybody,
I have recently decided to move my seven iPhoto collections from an old external drive with insufficient capacity to a new bigger one. We talk some 50.000+ photos. Up to a couple of years ago, I had decided NOT to let iPhoto import the photos into its internal library, but I left the originals in a distinct directory external to the iPhoto package.
Moving the iPhoto packages from the old to the new disk, I ran into a problem with the links to this external directory once I had retired the old external drive … because all links to the external originals broke.
Here an example:
- The old drive is called MOBIL
- The new drive is called Photos
In the directory /Volumes/Photos/iPhoto Library 1999 - 2002/Masters/2000/ESRIN, I find a symbolic link named:
/Volumes/Photos/iPhoto Library 1999 - 2002/Masters/2000/ESRIN/DCP_0211.JPG
In a terminal session this file is: -rw-rw-rw-@ 1 js 0 29 Okt 2006 DCP_0211.JPG
The original is correctly reported as /Volumes/MOBIL/Eigene Bilder - Jurgen/Fotos/2000/09 September/ESRIN/DCP_0211.JPG
Of course, iPhoto does not find the original once I remove the volume MOBIL.
I see two possible solutions to this issue:
1. Replace the broken symbolic link /Volumes/MOBIL/... with the new one /Volumes/Photos
2. Replace the symbolic link with the actual file, i.e., copy each file from MOBIL to Photos (I don't care about the additional disk space used by this)
I'd prefer solution 2 but my UNIX knowledge is not sufficient to automate this task - we are talking hundreds of directories and thousands of files …
Any idea ho to achieve the above ? Any utility around ? Any other idea ?
Many thanks in advance - Jurgen

I believe that /Volumes normally contains a single symbolic link to the boot volume, and that all the other items there are not true symbolic links but are rather "mount points" which are managed dynamically by the system. Try running
ls -l /Volumes
in Terminal and you will see that all the items except for the boot volume show up as directories, and that only the boot volume item is a symbolic link. When you look at /Volumes in Finder (via Go To Folder) , the mount point icons have curved "alias" arrows and are labeled "alias", similar to symbolic links, but they are different entities.
With respect to the iPhoto paths, if you still have the old drive I think I would try cloning it to the new one so that the contents of the new drive are identical, disconnecting the old drive, and then renaming the new drive to match the name of the old drive. Then launch iPhoto and see if it finds everything.

Symbolic Links supported?

Hello --
I have a folder that is a symbolic link to the repo for my mp3 -- I generaly build my music list on one computer and copy copy the
itunes folder to the system that I use the symbolic link to point to where the mp3 repo resides.
I just tried to add a folder by selecting the symbolic link and itunes would not let me add the folder -- are symbolic links not supported?

As Chris says they're not supported and don't generally work on media content. They may work if iTunes only ever reads data but as soon as it wants to write to the path to add or modify content it will break the link.
Mapped drives work however, but better still see one of my posts on making a split library portable.
Symbolic links do work when used to relocate the ..\MobileSync\Backup folder, which is handy if you have iOS devices and a computer with an SSD system drive.
tt2

Windows 2008 symbolic links and SAP

Dear Gurus.
Is it supported to use windows 2008 symbolic links for sap directories?
For examle disk E: is small local disk and "sap" folder is symbolic
link to network share ?
Regards
Vladimir Kogan

Hi,
As far as I know it is not possible in Win 2008. Check below link & see if you get any important information.
SAP on Microsoft Windows
Hope it helps
Thanks
Sushil

Repeated problem with symbolic link ./tmp- private/tmp

Hello,
I'm running 10.4.11 on an iMac G5. In the last few days, I have a series of weird problems -- inability to sync my iPod Touch, error message from the SuperDuper backup program, Cocktail rejecting my system password -- that seem to be related to permissions and temp files. Each time I encounter one of these problems, I repair permissions, and each time it reports the same thing:
Symbolic link ./tmp->private/tmp repaired
This seems to solve the problem temporarily, but then it happens again.
I've tried repairing the disk (no problems found). Any other suggestions, short of an archive and re-install?
Thanks
Ben

Thanks. I downloaded Applejack and ran it on AUTO as you suggested. As far as I can tell the only problem it found was the same -- or a related -- issue with the private/tmp folder, but it's not clear to me whether it has been solved in a more permanent way. Can you learn anything useful from the log below?
If it was a hardware problem, what time of problem would it be?
best
Ben
**************** Sat Oct 10 14:50:15 EDT 2009: NEW LOG STARTED ****************
******************************************************************** * AppleJack 1.5, Revision: 1.123 * * Copyright (c) 2002-8 Kristofer Widholm, The Apotek * Sat Oct 10 14:50:15 EDT 2009. Gathering information... Running in automatic mode, deep clean on, with manual exit - User ID: 0, NAME: root || - OS Version: 10.4.11 - Looking for virtual memory directory in /etc/rc - Virtual memory directory appears to be /private/var/vm. - Local root filesystem is journaled AppleJack will repair disks in 10 seconds. Disk repair Success! Either your disk had no errors, or it was repaired successfully. Done with disk repairs -0- AppleJack will repair permissions in 10 seconds. Permissions repair Let's mount the startup file system for write access...
Done.
Checking for /tmp directory:
/tmp directory does not exist!
Creating symbolic link from /tmp to /private/tmp:
/tmp -> /private/tmp
All set.
Done.
Configuring minimal Tiger services...
Done. -0-
Started verify/repair permissions on disk disk0s3 Macintosh HD
Determining correct file permissions.
The privileges have been verified or repaired on the selected volume
Verify/repair finished permissions on disk disk0s3 Macintosh HD
Permissions have been repaired. -0-
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Cache file cleanup
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Done removing system cache files.
Done with cache file clean up task.
AppleJack will validate preference files in 10 seconds.
Validating preference files
Root file system already mounted. Continue.
Checking mach init preference files (/etc/mach_init.d)):
Done. -0-
Checking root preference files (/var/root/Library/Preferences)):
Done. -0-
Checking system preference files (/Library/Preferences)):
Done. -0-
AppleJack will clean up virtual memory in 10 seconds.
Virtual memory cleanup
Removing swap files:
/private/var/vm/swapfile0
/private/var/vm/swapfile1
Done.
Removing VM working sets:
Done.
Exiting the script.
Restarting Ben.local
********************* GOODBYE FROM APPLEJACK *********************

Itunes disks & symbolic links

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