ITunes keeps forgetting location of music on external drive

iTunes keeps forgetting the location of the music i have which are stored on an external drive. it remembers a handful of them but forgets the rest so i keep getting an exclamation when i want to play them. how can i make iTunes permanently remember these files????

ah sure that's what i have been doing. the drive is always on before iTunes but iTunes can never find my music without me actually finding them for it. the location in iTunes preferences is also pointing towards the drive so not sure why it can't find them!?

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HT201596 80 % of my itunes files are located on a 3tb external drives; the remainder on a 4TB drive. ALL my files are on the 4TB. How do i get iTunes just to use the files on the 4tb drive so I can use the 3tb for other purposes THX .

Hi, 80 % of my itunes files are located on a 3tb external drives; the remainder on a 4TB drive as I ran pout of space. ALL my files are on copied on to the 4TB drive . How do I get iTunes just to use the files on the 4tb drive so I can use the 3tb for other purposes THX .

Select the desired location in preferences, then consolidate the media files to it.
iTunes 12 for Mac: Change where your iTunes files are stored - http://support.apple.com/kb/PH19507 - Unfortunately this is misnamed. It should say "Change where your media files but not where your library files are stored" - more information at: https://discussions.apple.com/message/22026652#22026652 - and steps 5-8 in https://discussions.apple.com/message/24491967#24491967

Itunes can't locate songs stored in external drive

i had created playlists and added songs to the playlists in itunes 7.02. these songs are stored on an external drive. i did not sync my ipod immediately but tried it a few days later. despite the external drive being connected to my laptop, when i tried to sync the ipod with itunes, for 90% of the songs there was an exclamation mark next to the song & i had to manually double click on a song name in itunes, and locate it in the external drive, in order for itunes to be able to sync it.
i can't do that for 3000+ songs. why can't itunes recognise and locate these songs when they have been stored in the itunes library from the external drive? isn't there a way to tell itunes to locate songs in the external drive? especially when they had been added from there in the first place?

Hi there,
I'm having the same problem, I'll list it in case I'm somehow different from the other case but unfortunately directing iTunes to that folder doesn't seem to do the trick...?
Have bought a Seagate 320GB external drive, copied my iTunes library (that was located in my /Users/Shared folder) to a new location on my external drive and redirected iTunes to the new location. It said it was updating the folder which took a while and I assumed was a good sign due to my 8948 songs but alas the dreaded exclamation mark has appeared next to every track. If I redirect one to the new location it works fine but f*ed if I'm gonna do that for the other 8947. If I quit iTunes and reopen it, it's still directed to the same correct place and the previously located still works but the rest don't. Is there a) some reason this may not be working correctly; or b) a quick way to redirect every song to their location? Thanks so much for your help.

My Library has disappeared. iTunes doesn't see my music on external drive

I use a work computer so I have been using an external drive to store my iTunes Library. It's been working fine for the last couple of months, but for some reason this evening when I launched iTunes, my library was empty and an iTunes pop-up window appeared that said:
The iPod “my iPod” is synced with another iTunes library. An iPod can be
synced with only one iTunes library at a time. What would you like to do?
“Erase and Sync” replaces the contents of this iPod with the contents of
this iTunes library.
“Transfer Purchases” copies iTunes Store purchases this computer is
authorized to play from this iPod to this iTunes library.
The pop up window had three buttons that read: "Cancel", "Erase and Sync", and "Transfer Purchases."
There haven't been any changes to the configuration of my computer that I'm aware of, and when I search for my external drive using "My Computer" I don't have a problem locating my external drive and seeing the music files.
How can I fix this problem without making it worse? I don't want to "Transfer Purchases," because I'm pretty sure this will simply create a second Library and make matters worse. Can anyone help me?

Did you save a copy of the itunes database ITL file? that is what itunes uses to find the paths to your music.
Also, you don't need to move one folder at a time. You can drag the top-level folder into itunes, or use add > Folder.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1660

After reinstalling Leopard, iTunes can't find my music on external drive!

I reinstalled and updated Leopard and now would like to have my music back in iTunes. I know where the library is supposed to be, according to the advanced settings in itunes, but when I use this setting, iTunes doesn't import my music library. How can I fix this?

I may have figured it out. The library folder was right but the associations were not. I went to file and add to library and pointed that back to my library on my external and all the associations are being rebuilt. I hope this works. The files are being added to iTunes as I type.
Just an FYI if someone else runs into this issue.

Just upgraded to Leopard and iTunes won't find my music on external drive

I keep all my music, tv shows and movies on an external drobo that is connected to my airport extreme. I just opened iTunes and it is not seeing my music (at least not populating it) despite the location in preferences / advanced being the drobo. I have tried resetting it but nothing helps. I don't want to move the music onto the iMac I want to keep it on the drobo. What gives?

I may have figured it out. The library folder was right but the associations were not. I went to file and add to library and pointed that back to my library on my external and all the associations are being rebuilt. I hope this works. The files are being added to iTunes as I type.
Just an FYI if someone else runs into this issue.

I am using a T61 ThinkPad with an external hard drive and my itunes library keeps disapearing but remains on the external drive. Any idea how to fix this so my music doesn't disapear all the time? It's a real drag pulling music back into iTunes each week.

I am using a T61 ThinkPad with an external hard drive and my itunes library keeps disapearing but remains on the external drive. Any idea how to fix this so my music doesn't disapear all the time? It's a real drag pulling music back into iTunes each week

In iTunes 11 uncheck the preferences setting in in the iTunes Preferences panel "Advanced > Copy Files to iTunes Media folder when adding to Library"

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

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

How do l play music from external drive using itune.

Does anyone know how to use itune to play music from external drive without upload sounds to the itune libray.

You don't. Use the QuickTime Player instead.
(61573)

Finding music on external drive

We moved all the itunes music to an external drive and did the "shuft your itunes library" instruction set. Everything works fine until someone forgets to turn on the external drive, then this error message pops up when trying to access almost any song:
"The song "any song name here" could not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it?"
The songs can be found by manually locating each one. Is there some way to fix or automate this problem?

I believe changing in Preferences is only for where the music will go now when you download or rip. To get all your tunes from the external drive go to File > Add Folder to Library and choose the top level of your folder structure from your external location. Depending on how many files you have it could take a bit to get all loaded in.
Good luck!

How to merge Music in Cloud with Music on External Drive without Duplicating everything

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?

Changing the path to the media folder doesn't automatically import all of the content. In principle if you add the media folder to the library any items that iTunes currently sees as being in the cloud will be detected as being in the library. Before you proceed to use File > Add Folder to Library however you might want to look at my tip Make a split library portable. Since you are starting over it may be best to generate a new iTunes library at the root of your external drive, e.g. X:\iTunes where X: is the drive letter, then move the media folder to X:\iTunes\iTunes Media before adding it to the library.
tt2

How can i get to itunes to store all data on an external drive

how can i get to itunes to store all data on an external drive rather than the drive ITUnes run off. I can get photos and music off but my apps and movies seem to go to the drive where itunes is run from?

See if this helps:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1364

HT1766 I wish to move my iTunes library from my PC to an external drive to make room on my PC. How do I do this?

I wish to move my iTunes library from my PC to an external drive to make room on my PC. How do I do this?

The following may help: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1364
Note the following fine print therein:
Note: If you move your library to an external drive, you'll need to power up and connect the drive before starting iTunes. If you don't, iTunes will prompt you to either locate the library or to create a new library (which will result in an empty library). No matter what, it's always a good idea to have a backup of the media you have in iTunes.

PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!!! Transferring music Mac external drive- Windows

Hello my fellow community members. I have an external hard drive where I used to back up my MacBook's hard drive, and more importantly my iTunes music collection, a decade long culmination of my ever changing musical tastes. The MacBook finally gave out on me and now the only computer I have access to apart from my iPad is a PC running windows 7. So my question is, how can I transfer my iTunes folder off of my Macbook's external drive onto the Windows 7 PC? And also, would there possibly be some kind of USB extension I can get for the iPad that could possible allow me to access those files on the drive? but most importantly is transferring that entire folder onto the PC. If someone could please help me I would greatly appreciate it. I would be devastated if I lost my collection. About 90% of my collection wasn't purchased on iTunes so iCloud is no help for the majority of it. So please, help a brother out as they say!!!!!!!

There is no way to connect any iOS device via USB to an external drive.
What format is the external drive in? If it is not in NTFS format, the windows computer will not be able to read the data on it.

Keeping some files ONLY on the external drive

I'm ashamed to say this, but I've never used a back-up utility before.
But I just bought my first HUGE external drive, a WD 2TB My Book Essential, so I'm ready to start being a responsible computer user.
But I want to keep my Pictures & Movies on the external drive ONLY.
So, if I run Time Machine, and then clear the pics & flicks off my internal drive, is that gonna cause problems with subsequent back-ups?
Please forgive me if it's a stupid question. Thanks in advance.

Yes, at least 600 GBs. It's because TM adds new data to the backup each hour it backs up. Over time the backup uses more and more disk space. As the drive fills up TM prunes away files you may have deleted from the internal drive to allow space for new backups. See,
About TM "Backup Drive is Full" Alert
TM only deletes older files if they have been deleted from the source and when TM needs space on the backup drive for a new incremental backup. Time Machine "thins" it's backups; hourly backups over 24 hours old, except the first of the day; those "daily" backups over 30 days old, except the first of the week. The weeklies are kept as long as there's room.
So, how long a backup file remains depends on how long it was on your Mac before being deleted, assuming you do at least one backup per day. If it was there for at least 24 hours, it will be kept for at least a month. If it was there for at least a week, it will be kept as long as there's room.
Note, that on a Time Capsule the sparsebundle grows in size as needed, but doesn't shrink. Thus, from the user's view of the TC it appears that no space has been freed, although there may be space in the sparsebundle.
Once TM has found it cannot free up enough space for a new backup it reports the disk is full. You can either erase the backup drive and start your backups anew or replace the drive with a larger drive.
By making the backup drive large enough you should be able to avoid the disk full problem. Trial and error has shown that making it at least twice the capacity of the internal drive allows for adequate space over time, although eventually you may find that you will run out of space anyway. You can minimize the problem by not backing up system files (this is a TM option,) virtualization software pseudo-drives, Microsoft User Data folder, other connected drives or volumes, for example, help to avoid excessive and unnecessary backup data.
For more information see User Tips for Time Machine for help with TM problems. Also you can select Mac Help from the Finder's Help menu and search for "time machine" to locate articles on how to use TM. See also Mac 101- Time Machine.

ITunes keeps forgetting location of music on external drive

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