Itunes media on a shared drive causes freeze

I use a LaCie 3TB drive to hold my media connected by Firewire to my Mac Mini. I use home sharing to share the media and it works fine but every 12 hours or so Itunes will freeze on my mac mini. I have to force quit Itunes, but even then, I cannot restart the mac (it hangs on the shutdown screen). I have to do a hard reboot. I do not have to reboot the storage although I have tried it and it does not help.
I have the same symptoms when I try to backup my iMac to the MacMini's 3TB Seagate USB drive so I do not believe it is related to the LaCie drive. In both cases, when TimeMachine or Itunes hangs, when I click on the external drive in the finder, the finder hangs.
The disk utility reports no issues for any of the drives (mac mini system, 3TB Firewire, 3 TB USB).
I have disabled time machine and it has not helped.
Any ideas greatly appreciated

sceptomaniac wrote:
I have put the library on an external drive connected by usb to my wireless router.
what exactly have you put on the external ? the entire iTunes folder or just the iTunes music (or media) folder ?
On my iMac I can select the itunes folder on the drive in itunes advanced preferences and my music shows up in the itunes window an I can play it. But on my MacbookPro although I can select the folder, nothing shows up in the itunes window.
this leads me to believe that you consolidated the iMac's library to the external but kept the library files local. pointing iTunes media folder location to a new spot tells iTunes where to put new additions to your library, but not where the current content is.
what you need to do is to copy the entire iTunes folder to the external, then (on each Mac) launch iTunes while holding the option(⌥) key, click on choose library when prompted, and select the iTunes folder you copied to the external.
note only one Mac at a time can access the library !

Similar Messages

Can't access iTunes Library on a shared drive

Here is my problem: I want to access my iTunes library from a shared drive.
Here is my equipment:
1. Imac running iTunes 10.6
2. 1 week old Macbook Air running iTunes 10.6
3. 1 Timecapsule that is 1 day old, bought with the express purpose of putting my extensive iTunes library on it, and was assure I would be able to stream it.
4. An Airport express hooked to my stereo.
The concept was that the Air doesn't really have the capability to hold all my music, but I want to use it as a "remote" to select songs through iTunes and play them on my stereo.
I did NOT want to leave my iMac on at all times and do homes haring that way.
Therefore, I followed intructions fonund else where and moved my iTunes library from my iMac to the newly installed shared drive on the Time Capsule.
I went into iTunes on the Air selected preferences, advanced, and changed the location of the Air's iTunes library to that of the one on the Time Capsule. It sees all the music. I close preferences.
What happens? Nothing. None of the music is listed on the Air
I've gone over this again and again, and this SHOULD work. What am I missing here? Should I take the Air and the Timecapsule back to the store?

Uh, I fear you followed some wrong directions. This is what you should have done:
iTunes: How to move [or copy] your music to a new computer [or another drive] - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527
do not confuse moving your whole folder and library with moving just media files as in
iTunes for Mac: Moving your iTunes Media folder - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1449
It sounds as if in part at least this is what you did, at least when you say you are going to preferences and changing things.
Quick answer if you let iTunes manage your music: Copy the entire iTunes folder (and in doing so all its subfolders and files) intact to the other drive. Start iTunes with the option key held down and guide it to the new location of the library. Do this with both computers if the shared library file is on the external drive.
Note, the file can only be in use by one computer at a time. You will have to quit iTunes on one computer before opening it on another.

I am setting up a new Mac and I want my iTunes Media on a separate drive

I am upgrading from an iMac to a Mac Pro.
On the Mac Pro I have a 120gb SSD boot drive.
I want to put my iTunes media files on a second drive in the Mac Pro.
I have seen instructions on how to put iTunes media on an external drive.
However, I am switching computers and I want to move my iTunes media from the older iMac to a non-boot drive on the newer Mac Pro.
I do not really want to use Migration Assistant because I am making a clean install of all apps and documents on the new machine.
I would like to keep my playlists and podcast subscriptions.
The new machine is running 10.9 and the older machine is running 10.7.5.
I am looking forward to answers that will help this iTunes move work.
Thanks in advance.

Don't move ony the iTunes media folder. Too many issues can occur. Keep everything in the iTunes folder.
Copy the entire /Music/iTunes/ folder from old computer to the secondary drive on the Mac Pro.
On the Mac Pro, hold Option, launch iTunes, select Choose library... and select the iTunes folder on the secondary drive.
That's all you need to do.

I wish to move my itunes media to an external drive.

i wish to move my itunes media to an external drive.
currently i am managing my own folder structure, but have decided to bite the bullet and let itunes organize my media.
i moved the media library location in advanced options to the external drive i would like iTunes to us, checked 'keep iTunes media folder organised' and copy files to iTunes media folder when adding to library'.
approx a third of my music transferred. the remaining music is now greyed out. when i click on information on the greyed out tracks, the location is given as iCloud. how do i download these songs?

benefit: To move the library in the future you drag the whole iTunes folder to the new drive, hold down the option key while starting iTunes, point to new location, iTunes starts as if nothing happened. You can also use the library with a different computer. It's easy to back up when it's all together.
You cannot simply move a media-only folder to a new drive by dragging unless you maintain the folder structure exactly, and the new drive has the same name as the old one. Yes, there's fixes but it's not as fast.
The main disadvantage to having the whole library on an external is if for some reason you keep some media on the external and some on the internal. You can use iTunes with a bunch of broken links for media on an unattached external if you only want to play the files on the internal. Then, of course, you need the library file (library.itl) on the internal drive.
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

How to split up a large iTunes Media folder onto different drives?

Hi everyone. Not too long ago I committed to digital-only media, which i am very happy with. The problem i am running into now is that my iTunes media folder is now only 100GB or so shy of the 2TB mark, so it will soon outgrow the largest of hard drives available. I have considered getting a RAID card for my Mac Pro to setup a RAID 0 with two 2TB drives, but I don't think i should have to drop $700 just to get my iTunes media organized onto any of the four 2TB drives i already have.
Ideally i would like to move my Movies folder (650GB) to one drive, TV shows(850GB) to another, and everything else to yet another folder. The problem i foresee with this strategy is that iTunes will no longer "Keep iTunes media Folder organized" or "Copy files to iTunes media folder when adding to library". It would be a huge pain to have to manually manage the file structure of such a huge library.
I have also tried leaving an alias ("Movies" for example) that points to my movies folder on a separate drive, but iTunes doesn't seem to want to follow the alias.
Anyway, i figured this scenario has to have come up before, and there may be some other solutions out there. Any help would be most appreciated.
Message was edited by: acosmichippo54

acosmichippo54 wrote:
ok, after reviewing those tips, these problems still bug me:
Macyourself: +"Any time you want to add a new movie or TV show to your library, move it over to the appropriate folder on your external hard drive, hold Option, and drag it to iTunes.+
i agree this involves a little more +user interaction+ but once you get into a routine, it is really quite simple to manage. for example, i keep all my *Apple Lossless* tunes on an external USB drive. i add newly ripped CD's to that external, then option drag the folder into iTunes and have iTunes convert those tunes to AAC 256 (which are thus kept in the main library).
machintsandtips: +"This does involve a couple of extra steps for movies and TV shows I automatically download from the iTunes store, since I have to move that media to the external drive, and then move it back into iTunes."+
again, splitting your library across various drives does involve more user interaction. your only alternative would be e.g. a 4 gig (or more) Drobo or similar. however, in order to have a backup, you would need another, equally sized, Drobo which you would need to keep +in sync+ with the primary one.
Everything you linked to will definitely resolve the problem for my current library, but as soon as i start adding media, it seems like it will get quickly disorganized.
i humbly disagree. it all depends on what you want: dish out $$$ for bigger sized drives or split your lib across various (already available) drives - whichever path you decide on, you'll be more involved in maintaining your library - i consider that a plus coz it let's me manage things as i want.
however, there are tools that could help you manage your split-lib, one of which being TuneSpan.
best of luck !
JGG

Help! Just copied iTunes media to second external drive and now have broken links in the original drive??

Hi everyone
I wonder if anyone can offer me some advice to rectify the problems I'm experiencing in my itunes?
I have been saving my media to an external hard drive since rebuilding my itunes collection, while keeping the library on the hard drive of my MBP. This was working well with no problems but as my media reached 300GB on my external I thought I would copy it to another external hard drive as back up, and after that I decided to also make a copy of my library data to the same second external drive so I would have a full back up of itunes in case of failure of my main hard drive...
So after copying my media from my first external drive to the second, and then copying the library data from my MBP hard drive it seems the copy of my media and the copied library are working fine on my second external hard drive, but now when I open the first external drive where I originally was saving my media files I am suffering quite a lot of broken links???...I followed the copy process as I have done in the past although I did not tick the check box for renaming and moving my media as it was about to be copied,and I thought that was correct as I used the consolidate function to copy it..
Been trying to figure out how to rectify the problem tonight and am getting nowhere fast. Can anyone offer suggestions as to how I can sort the issue on my original external hard drive as it's the one I prefer to store my media on and it was functioning perfectly before?? from having a tidy and clearly functioning itunes I now have a mass of problems....
I hope this is clear to someone.....as I was hoping to have it fixed in readiness for a new MBP...am I missing something obvious?

OK, this should sort you out...
Move the following files and folders from /Volumes/Backup/iTunes up to /Volumes/Backup/
Album Artwork (folder)
iTunes Library.itl
iTunes Library Extras.itdb
iTunes Library Genius.itdb
iTunes Library.xml
sentinel (hidden)
Launch iTunes. It should warn that the library is missing. Browse to the file /Volumes/Backup/iTunes Library.itl and open it.
Go to iTunes > Preferences > Advanced and change the media folder location to /Volumes/Backup/Music. Let iTunes consolidate files if it asks, if not use File > Library > Organize Library... Tick Consolidate files and click OK.
Close iTunes. Rename /Volumes/Backup/Music as /Volumes/Backup/iTunes Media. Start iTunes.
Go to iTunes > Preferences > Advanced, check that the media folder location now reads /Volumes/Backup/iTunes Media. If necessary, change and then close and reopen iTunes.
Go to File > Library Organize Library... and, if not greyed out, tick Rearrange files in the folder iTunes Media, then click OK.
Delete /Volumes/Backup/iTunes/iTunes Media which now contains redundant copies.
Move the following files and folders from /Volumes/Backup/ into /Volumes/Backup/iTunes
Album Artwork (folder)
iTunes Media (folder)
iTunes Library.itl
iTunes Library Extras.itdb
iTunes Library Genius.itdb
iTunes Library.xml
sentinel (hidden)
Launch iTunes. It should warn that the library is missing. Browse to the file /Volumes/Backup/iTunes/iTunes Library.itl and open it.
Go to iTunes > Preferences > Advanced, check that the media folder location now reads /Volumes/Backup/iTunes/iTunes Media. If necessary, change and then close and reopen iTunes.
Each time you change something and start iTunes just check that a track will play. If not, close iTunes and undo your last action.
That should be it. You can clone this iTunes folder to any other drive and the clone is a functioning copy of your library.
tt2

I have my iTunes media on an external drive but I would like to know if I keep the library file back to my internal hard drive so it gets backed up by Time Machine.

I have all my media on an external drive for space. Is there a way I move the library file back to my internal had drive so that Timemachine will keepa backup of the file. Recently my library file became damaged and I lost all my playlists and playcounts and all that good stuff. Thanks for your help.

I never lost any media mind you just the library file that tell iTunes where everything lives.
On this point, you can keep a copy of of the "Itunes Music Library.xml" file, which contains the itunes metadata for your music library (songs & playlists).
Obviously, you would still need the files themselves for this to be of any worth, but if you ever find yourself in the same situation you can use the .xml file to recreate iTunes as it was. Keep in mind that you must import the .xml file into iTunes for this to work, you cannot simply move it via the finder.

Error when trying to move iTunes Media to external hard drive

I want to free up space on my laptop so I read this support file:
iTunes for Mac: Moving your iTunes Media folder: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1449
I am following the directions for "Moving your iTunes Media folder" set-by-step. When I get to the step "choose Library and then Organize Library" I get an error that there is not enough room on the hard drive to copy the media files. I purchased a new Iomega eGo 250 GB for this. (My media files are only 20 GB and I only have 100 GB hard drive.) I also tried my Time Machine 500 GB drive with 300 GB free on it and got the same error. (I can copy the iTunes folders over to both drives manually but then iTunes does not see the files.)
Any thoughts? Thanks!

I can copy the iTunes folders over to both drives manually but then iTunes does not see the files.) Hold Option, launch iTunes, select *Choose library* then select the iTunes library folder you coped to the external.

I've moved my iTunes media to a new drive, how do I get iTunes to find it. I'm using Windows 7

Hi,
I've moved my iTunes media to my 'spare' internal D Drive, following the instructions on this link:(I'm using Windows 7).
Move your iTunes Media folder on a Windows PC - Apple Support
I hit a problem at stage 11 when I had to move my original media file to the recycle bin. The process started then it stopped, saying that the file was too big for the recycle bin (54 GB or thereabouts). It then asked if I wanted to permanently delete the files instead. I said yes. (I have them backed up externally).
The iTunes media file is in my D Drive, but I can't get iTunes to locate it. I've tried going through preferences/advanced and browsing to it but that does't seem to work.
My media is all listed in iTunes, but on the cloud rather than on my hard drive (C). Downloading it all from the cloud would defeat the object of freeing space on my primary hard drive (C).
Any ideas on how I could get iTunes to find the files on D Drive ?
many thanks,
Matt

See Make a split library portable. With luck you should be able to move the iTunes folder to the D: drive, place the iTunes Media folder inside it, and shift-start iTunes to connect to D:\iTunes\iTunes Library.itl. If all goes well it should be as if you'd moved the entire iTunes folder as a unit in the first place.
tt2

Problems accessing iTunes media folder on external drive via Mac

I have recently got a Mac Book Pro and assumed it would be easy to access my iTunes library - which I store on a Buffalo external drive and normally access via my Asus vivobook laptop running windows 8 - by simplying plugging the external drive into the Mac Book Pro, opening iTunes while pressing on the Option key (as I understand it is called) and then selecting the iTunes library .itl file when invited to choose a library. However, when I do this, I get a message saying that "the .tl file is locked, on a locked disc or I do not have write permission for this file".
If I click on the .itl file in the external drive via my Mac, it takes me straight into iTunes but, of course, without any of the content of my iTunes media folder.
I can access the media on the external drive when it is plugged into my Mac and am not aware of ever having introduced any restrictions on the library .itl file (I normally switch the external hard drive between my Dell desktop and my Asus laptop).
I have restarted my Mac Book Pro and quite iTunes etc. I also have the media folder correctly identified on the external hard drive in my iTunes preferences, Advanced Settings.
I would be most grateful for any ideas as to what could be the problem here.
Thank you (in anticipation).
Best,
Michael

Get info on the drive. Check the format. If it says NTFS it is a format that Macs cannot write to, only read, unless you install special software. It is a common issue with using Windows drives on Macs. "Locked" may mean iTunes cannot open it for full use since it needs to write to the library file as well as read it.
Your solution may be to reformat the drive to something a Mac can use fully too, such as FAT (beware file size limits with large video files). or trying to work with a NTFS driver for Mac.
NTFS drivers for Macs (there may be others):
Paragon NTFS - http://www.paragon-software.com/home/ntfs-mac/ - recommendation: https://discussions.apple.com/message/18708633
Tuxera NTFS 2012.3.2 - http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/33122/tuxera-ntfs
NTFS for Mac OS X 9.5.3 - http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/26288/ntfs-for-mac-os-x
http://macntfs-3g.blogspot.com/ and http://i.vishalagarwal.com/post/30387627819/ntfs-write-on-lion-or-mountain-lion

HT1364 If I already moved Itunes media folder to external drive and now music is not matching up in iTunes?

Dear Itunes Community~
This is my first time using glad you are here, but all the passwords!!
Question/Quandry:
If I already moved Itunes media folder to my external drive and now my music is not matching up in iTunes, what should I do? I have tried my solution !?, and now I have 17,000 songs, instead of 9,000!
Should I just uninstall Itunes, and then reinstall Itunes, and let it do it's thing, and then figure out how to move to the external hard drive later?
Help, I screwed it up all on my own!
Any/all help and Itunes educated suggestions appreciated!
Thank you very much,
Doris =:o
PS ~~ Is there anyway to easily delete duplicates?? Seems not?

I have a very similar problem. Hope I don't confuse people trying to help us since the solutions may be different.
I had my iTunes path directed to a 2nd internal hard drive. Everything was working fine - except I found that purchased Apps were still being downloaded to the Mobile Applications folder on my main hard drive instead of the 2nd internal drive. I decided to retry directing the iTunes path to my 2nd internal drive, hoping that might get iTunes to save my Apps there. Big Mistake. Suddenly, there were no Apps showing in my iTunes Library Apps window at all. I verified the downloaded apps are still in my main hard drive's Mobile Applications folder, but I cannot get iTunes to display them in my Apps Library window anymore.
I decided to try downloading a new app and, sure enough, iTunes once again downloaded it into the very same Mobile Applications folder on my main hard drive, where all my (now orphaned) original apps are, but the only one iTunes will only display in my Apps window is the new one. I read you can redownload purchased apps, but my apps are not missing. iTunes just won't display them in the Apps window anymore.

Moving iTunes media files to external drive broke connection

I recently moved my iTunes media files to an external drive. All other iTunes related files were left in my home folder. Everything worked great for about a month. Then, mysteriously, I went to access a movie and it said that it could not be found. I performed the search to my external and the movie played just fine. Somehow, my connection to iTunes has been broken. Incidentally, all media files in my external drive show up in the respective folders in iTunes. They just have exclamation points associated with most of them. Strangely, some of the files play just fine without having to search. Very confused. Can anyone provide a solution to re-establishing my link to iTunes? Thank you very much.
Bill

You had the drive plugged in and mounted before starting iTunes?
Sometimes a link will get broken, but then re-established, such as doing the aforementioned forgetting to start the drive first. When you double click the track it will try again and suddenly find it works again. It can be a nuisance having to test each track this way. You may find that Dougscript "List MIA" will help do this.
http://dougscripts.com/itunes/
I have not seen any successful automated way to re-form truly broken links. You have to either do it by hand or just add the media again. If you add the media again some things will be re-set such as date added (obviously), playcount, etc. I don't use any of those so it doesn't matter to me if I have to do this (and there are tricks to storing them in places where they will be kept).
Why they got broken? One reason mentioned before. Have you re-named anything or moved it? Have you ever had multiple drives with the same name plugged in?

How to save itunes media to an external drive

I want to use an external drive for my primary storage of itunes media (Western Digital My Passport). How do i set up itunes to move my files to the external drive?

Launch iTunes with the Shift key held down and create a new library on that drive.
(84013)

Itunes library on a shared drive

I would like to share an itunes library wirelessly between the Macs in my house. I have put the library on an external drive connected by usb to my wireless router.
On my iMac I can select the itunes folder on the drive in itunes advanced preferences and my music shows up in the itunes window an I can play it. But on my MacbookPro although I can select the folder, nothing shows up in the itunes window.
There maybe a setting I have to change somewhere, or an order in which I have to connect or open things....
Any suggestions?

sceptomaniac wrote:
I have put the library on an external drive connected by usb to my wireless router.
what exactly have you put on the external ? the entire iTunes folder or just the iTunes music (or media) folder ?
On my iMac I can select the itunes folder on the drive in itunes advanced preferences and my music shows up in the itunes window an I can play it. But on my MacbookPro although I can select the folder, nothing shows up in the itunes window.
this leads me to believe that you consolidated the iMac's library to the external but kept the library files local. pointing iTunes media folder location to a new spot tells iTunes where to put new additions to your library, but not where the current content is.
what you need to do is to copy the entire iTunes folder to the external, then (on each Mac) launch iTunes while holding the option(⌥) key, click on choose library when prompted, and select the iTunes folder you copied to the external.
note only one Mac at a time can access the library !

HT1751 How to transfer iTunes media files from external drive to another external drive and bring in the library from the main drive.

I have my iTunes media on an external hard drive while the library is on the main computer drive. I want to move both to a larger external drive. How do I get both together? When I consolidate, it only transfers the media files. Help.

Since I already consolidated, can I just move the library to the root level of the external drive then option click to point to that library? But using that method, all the media files are at the root level along with the iTunes folder. So nothing will be in the iTunes media folder itself. WIll that work?

Itunes media on a shared drive causes freeze

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for