ITunes Media folder moving from the default (I'm not using an external drive)

I tried for a long time to find the answer to this problem, but all the posts I saw from people asking similar questions were from those who were trying to relocate their iTunes Media folder to another hard drive. I'm just trying to change it to somewhere else on the same hard drive. Each time I move the folder and change the location though, as soon as I close iTunes and open it again, it resets the location.
I just won't want the iTunes folder to appear in my Music folder. It keeps recreating the folder there and changing it back to the default. How do I fix this?

Hi All, having ran out of space on my hard drive I read the above and decided to give it a go as it seemed so simple. Unfortunately having copied the entire iTunes folder to my external drive and then launching iTunes pressed the option key and nothing happened. My iTunes itself linked up with the cloud and showed me a tiny amount of my music. I went to preferences / advanced settings and changed the location manually, this still didn't work. It seems (from spending time looking at the new iTunes folder and looking at the one that i had placed in the trash various, that my computer in its inevitable wisdom hand left out various sub folders). So now i am trying to fix this. I still want my iTunes folder on my external but i want it to work which it is not. Help please. I would not describe myself as a computer or Apple whizz kid by any stretch of the imagination and so need answers to be relatively simple or just in non computer lingo!! cheers all, any help is much appreciated

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I need help transferring my itunes content from an old exteranl hard drive to a new one. The itunes media folder is on the external drive, the itunes library file (.itl) resides on my mac in the music folder.

I have already copied over from the old hard drive to the new hard drive the iTunes media folder (423 GB). But this does not contain the iTunes Library .itl file which for good or bad reason has been working from the mac itself from inside the user music folder. In iTunes Preferences, Adanced Preferences window the iTunes media fold location is currently set to the ITunes Media folder on the old hard drive. How and why i set it up like this all that time ago is forgotten! Do i simply browse for a new location for the newly created duplicaye file? My worry is that i will end up with every song listed twice in iTunes, or worse manage to wipe the content like a mate did!

Okay, solved. Simple really, just moved the media folder location and there was no duplication. Phew!

HT1751 All of my songs have exclamation points (!) next to them but when I go to my iTunes media folder to find the files, there is nothing in the folders. Any idea what happened and how I can get my music back?

All of my songs have exclamation points next to them but when I go to my iTunes media folder to find the files, there is nothing in the folders. Any idea what happened and how I can get my music back?

I wish I could help. There are numerous threads about missing music but last I looked, no solution. You might want to read through them anyway.

Is there a way to purchase an app from the App store but not use the money I currently have in my iTunes account from a gift card?

Is there a way to purchase an app from the App store but not use the money I currently have in my iTunes account from a gift card?

The only way I know is to purchase it as a gift.

ITunes Music Folder Missing on external hard drive after changing iTunes Media Folder Location from MacBook Hard Drive. Not deleted...just missing?

I store my iTunes media folder on my external hard drive and can no longer find it there. It seemed to becomd lost after I re-designated the default iTunes media location. I had downloaded some things from iTunes without my external hard drive plugged in and when they downloaded they downloaded to the default location on my Macbook Pro. In recognizing that, I wanted to move those files from the hard drive on my MacBook Pro to the external hard drive. When I re-selected the location as the external hard drive a copy process began. I cancelled the copy process fearing the small number of files from my Macbook Pro would over-write all of the files on my external hard drive so I quit the copy process. Now I do not see my "iTunes Music" folder on my external hard drive. I fear that I have somehow lost the path but I believe the content is still on my external hard drive although I no longer see the "iTunes Music" folder on my external hard drive. I know I didn't delete it, but it isn't there. Is there a way to make it re-appear? I would really appreciate any guideance anyone has.
Thank you.
Best,
Matt

When you change the location in preferences it tells iTunes to start, from this point on, storing new media files in the new location. It then presents you with the option to move any old files in their current locations to the new location. It doesn't move the library files which are not media files. Read the links below to understand how iTunes works because you are the one with the computer in front of you and are in the better position to understand how it stands as regards to iTunes files.
What are the iTunes library files? - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1660
More on iTunes library files and what they do - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITunes#Media_management
What are all those iTunes files? - http://www.macworld.com/article/139974/2009/04/itunes_files.html
Where are my iTunes files located? - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1391
Now, did you keep the whole library on the external drive, or did you keep just media? From your description of the situation it sounds as if you kept the whole library there and when the external was not attached it returned to default location on the internal drive. What you should have done then was plug in the external drive, hold down the option key, and guide iTunes to the library file on the external. At this stage you could have dealt with the mislocated new files on an individual basis.
I guess the key question is, did your trying to move the couple of new media files to the external drive overwrite the iTunes folder there, which because you then canceled may have also just resulted in it being deleted. I am not going to test the theory on my system.
How big was your library on the external? If it was 40GB do you now suddenly have 40 GB free?
Look for any iTunes folders on the external drive. In view options turn on "calculate all folders sizes" and see if there are any big ones.

ITunes Music Folder Missing on external hard drive after changing iTunes Media Folder Location from MacBook Hard Drive

The store my iTunes media folder on my external hard drive and can no longer find it there. It seemed to becomd lost after I re-designated the default iTunes media location. I had downloaded some things from iTunes without my external hard drive plugged in and when they downloaded they downloaded to the default location on my Macbook Pro. In recognizing that, I wanted to move those files from the hard drive on my MacBook Pro to the external hard drive. When I re-selected the location as the external hard drive a copy process began. I cancelled the copy process fearing the small number of files from my Macbook Pro would over-write all of the files on my external hard drive so I quit the copy process. Now I do not see my "iTunes Music" folder on my external hard drive. I fear that I have somehow lost the path but I believe the content is still on my external hard drive although I no longer see the "iTunes Music" folder on my external hard drive. I know I didn't delete it, but it isn't there. Is there a way to make it re-appear? I would really appreciate any guideance anyone has.
Thank you.
Best,
Matt

Any ideas? Anyone?

Hi.Have organized all my songs in itunes ,deleted unwanted songs and anupdated the album artwork but it has not changed them in my itunes media folder location in the C drive.How do i change this and back them up now i have everything the way i want it ?

Hi
-I have organized all my songs in iTunes ,deleted unwanted songs and updated the album artwork but it has not changed them in my iTunes media folder location in my C Drive.
How do I update it there so it is the same as my iTunes now so i can back it all up?
Thankyou.

I solved my problem. Here's how:
1. Right click iTunes and click properties from the "Windows 8 Desktop" (or if you want to call it the 7 desktop thats fine too)
2. Select the compatibility tab.
3. Set compatibility mode to Windows 7 and click apply.
4. Open iTunes, sign into iTunes store, Turn on iTunes Match, Add your computer.
5. Close Program
6. Restart Computer

In trying to share music with multiple user accounts on one comp, I quit itunes, located my itunes media folder, moved it to a publicly accessible location. Problem is it didn't work and now I can't get it all back to the way it was.

In trying to share music with multiple users on one computer, I followed the directions on "iTunes:How to share music between different accounts on a single computer" (http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1203). I did something wrong because i lost iTunes
Tried to put files back, but it is not the same. Plugged in my ipod and it is not recognizing my computer.
Can someone tell me where iTunes should be, and what sub files should be included with it. Thanks!

If you are seeing the "Connect to iTunes" logo, then your device is in Recovery Mode, and you will need to restore it:
If you can't update or restore your iOS device
iOS: Back up and restore your iOS device with iCloud or iTunes
Cheers,
GB

ITunes Media folder moving after time machine restore

Hi all.
Bit of a wierd one as I can't find a specific solution.
My current setup:
Mac Pro...
First HDD (internal) has OSX 10.8 installed on it (I have a time machine back up of this)
Second HDD (internal) holds my iTunes Media Files (music, movies, apps, books etc)
My New Set up:
Mac Mini
First HDD (internal) I will Time Machine my old OS install onto this.
Second HDD (external) I will copy all of my itunes media here.
So, my question is...
After I have used migration assistant to set up the OS. How do I make sure that my itunes app isn't full of broken links. Can I just select the media folder on the external and tell iTunes that that is my new media location and it will automatically fix broken links?
What is the best way for me to transition from my old set up to my new one.
Apologies if this isn't the correct forum, but it felt the closest to me.
Thanks in advance
Matt

You can set the library location in iTunes/Preferences/Advanced and it should work. If what is there isn't correct, try the Reset button and point it to the location. My iTunes is on network storeage and I have no problems, but I do have to have the drive mounted in Finder.

How do I move my library from a mac to a PC using an external drive?

I have a Mac and have a large library of music (+120GB) which is stored on an external hard drive. I have a windows PC in my basement and I have purchased a 2nd external drive (200GB drive) and copied my music library (music files and iTunes Library.itl file) onto it. I want to attach the 2nd drive to the windows PC and use it to run my music library on that machine.
I recognize that I could use the the sharing feature in iTunes to share the music over a network w/o the 2nd drive but for a number of reasons assume that this will not work for the sake of this question.
What is the best way to add this drive/library to the PC? (the PC has iTunes installed, but no music in the library)
Can I just hold the shift key down while launching iTunes and then select the library on the external drive? Will this be a problem given that the iTunes Library.itl file was created in OS X (file location format differences, etc)?
If the above is a problem, should I just add the music folder (and all sub folders) to the library on the windows machine using File-> Add Folder to Library ...butI do not want to make a duplicate copy of the music given that the library is so large (it is larger than the HD on the PC machine)..so I would have to make sure that the "Copy files to iTunes music folder when adding to library" is unchecked, but then after the initial import I would want iTunes to keep any subsequent new additions to the library in the same place as the rest of the music and also keep the files/folders organized, etc. Can this be accomplished by changing the itunes music folder location? If I go the "add music folder" route, what are the steps and the right sequencing to add the music properly (w/o copying ) and then leaving iTunes set up to store/organize new music additions properly?
Way too many words I know...any help very much appreciated.

It sounds like you mostly have everything down on how to do it. The one thing I don't know about is how to transfer the database file from Mac to Windows (or the other way around). I have not tried it nor seen reports from anyone who has tried it, so I am not sure if it will work or not.
As to your last question, plug the external into the Windows machine, open iTunes. Change preferences to use the iTunes Music folder on the external drive. Now add your files. Since they are already in that location and in the order iTunes would put them in, they should be added and not moved or copied again. Since you changes the storage location preference to that location, future additions will go into the same folder on the external.
If you can, please let us know how the Mac to Windows database transfer worked out. Most people either are going from Mac to Mac or Windows to Windows or simply don't care about ratings, play counts, play lists, etc. so starting over with a new database file is no big deal. So I am curious about getting the database file to translate across systems. You might try the XML file first since that should be universal. The other one may be in a Mac specific format.
Patrick

Moving my itunes media folder back to my computer from external hard drive

Hope someone can help me here as I've gotten myself confused.
A couple years ago I moved my Media Folder to an external hard drive. I now want to move it back but I'm doing something wrong.
Here's what I did.
Copied the Media Folder from external to computer desktop.
Moved Media Folder into the Computer's iTunes Media folder.
Changed the folder location in Preferences of iTunes to the computer's Media Folder.
It didn't work. It is still looking for songs on the external hard drive.
Thoughts?
Do I need to follow the same tutorial for moving the media folder backwards?
Why can't I just move the media files to where I want them on the computer and then change the media folder location in itunes?
Do i need to create a new folder for it to work?

Jason R. McCarty wrote:
So I don't need to follow this tutorial and create a new folder? http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1449
Correct, you don't need to create anew folder.
You may want to do that if you are putting the media elsewhere and don't want to simply have a folder named iTunes media floating around.
If there is already a Media folder in Music/iTunes will it make another or use that one?
It will use the one already there.
Also, what if there are duplicate files in the computer location?
After you consolidate, you will need to delete them from iTunes (if they actually show up in iTunes).
If they don't show up in Tunes, either add them to iTunes (if they are not duplicates) or delete them from the iTunes media folder.
I suggest first dumping them into a folder on your desktop before you actually trash them (in case they are not duplicates).

Whilst moving location of iTunes to external hard drive, I lost my iTunes Media folder and now it can't find my media files

Whist moving my iTunes folder to an external hard drive, (I was following this post: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1364) I seem to have accidentally deleted the itunes Media folder - I misread the last action point!
All the files transferred to the external hard drive as I can see them and I am able to copy them into itunes, but only links, and they're still organised.
Can anyone help me restore the folder structure so itunes can see the music?
I added a new cd to itunes so I could see where it is now saving music and it created a new folder where the music now resides (I guess as a deleted the file structure from previous it needed to create a new one). I thought I would be able to copy and paste the old music into this newly created fold but it doesn't seem to have worked.
Any advice on what I should do would be greatly received
(I'm using windows vista)

Stop with the whining.
Download past purchases from iTunes

I moved my itunes media folder to an external drive

Now i'm not sure how to delete the old media folder to free up space on my internal drive?

i have all the computers pointing to:
Multimedia>iTunes>iTunes Media
in the iTunes Media folder there are the following folders:
Automatically Add to iTunes
Books
Movies
Music
TV Shows
i do NOT have the "Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library" box checked. i read on another site that this box should remain UNchecked when storing your iTunes library centrally. what is it exactly checking that box does? does anyone know of a good article explaining how to get multiple users to be able to access a centrally located iTunes Media folder?
by that i am not talking about Home Sharing or whatever it is called. i want to be able to access the central iTunes Media Library and have my kids be able to sync their iPads and iPhones and any other A4 devices they have from their own computers. all family members are setup with Network Home Folders being handled by an Intel xServe.
all help is appreciated....

ITunes Media Folder won't switch location from external hard drive

So for the last few years I've had my iTunes library stored on an external hard drive (a LaCie Quadra), but I'm out of space, so I got a new one (a Lacie Rugged). However, when I go to change the iTunes Media folder location to the new iTunes folder in my Rugged, it's not switching over, and in fact what's even weirder is I've just discovered no matter where I set the iTunes Media folder location to, my iTunes library will only play from the iTunes folder in my old Quadra. I've Reset it numerous times, and even set the location to the Desktop (on which I have no music), yet it still is playing from my Quadra. It's as if it's locked onto it.
Does anyone know what's going on here and how to fix it? I should note I think I did get it to switch to my Rugged for a bit, as the first time I switched the iTunes Media to my Rugged (which at the same time my Quadra was still connected) I bought a song, which is no where to be found on my Quadra. But ever since I disconnected the Quadra, this problem started. Also, to transfer my files from my Quadra to the Rugged, I connected the Quadra via Firewire 800 and the Rugged via USB, and I intend to use Firewire with my Rugged from now on. Could that affect what's going wrong here? And FYI, every time I've connected to the Rugged, it does go through the Consolidate Files process, but that hasn't done anything.
Thanks

Do you only have media on the external (which by the way is not a "library" because it is lacking many parts of a complete library), or do you have a complete iTunes folder with library files and support folders (a true library)?
If only media and you have both drives connected you need consolidate/organize media from one drive to the other. iTunes 12 for Mac: Change where your iTunes files are stored - http://support.apple.com/kb/PH19507 - more information at: https://discussions.apple.com/message/22026652#22026652 - and steps 5-8 in https://discussions.apple.com/message/24491967#24491967
If you have your entire library on the external drive, copy the iTunes folder from one drive to the other. Start iTunes while holding down the option/alt key and select the relocated iTunes folder on the new drive.

I have files in my iTunes media folder that somehow are not in my library. How do I get iTunes to scan my media folder and add missing files to my library without making a copy of each file in the same location?

I have files in my iTunes media folder that somehow are not in my library. How do I get iTunes to scan my media folder and add missing files to my library without making a copy of each file in the same location? If I use add file / folder to library, it scans the folder and then makes a copy of any file that is not in my library in the exact same location; I recal in older versions of iTunes being able to just drag my media folder into my library and it would update missing links.

Only the songs that are connected to iTunes will be copied when you consolidate to a new folder.
Splitting the media folder away from the usual location makes it harder to move iTunes in the future.
Are you go move everything back once you've tidied up or are you going to leave it that way? Either way I'd recommend you create an iTunes folder at the new location, an iTunes Media folder inside that, and consolidate to this new iTunes Media folder. You should also use the option File > LIbrary > Organize Library > Rearrange files in the folder "<Media Folder"> if you have not already done so.
tt2

ITunes Media folder moving from the default (I'm not using an external drive)

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