Itunes not reading cd in external drive

I am trying to copy CDs to my macbook air and I have done this quite a few times before. Suddenly though the attempts fail (on more than on disc). I insert the disc, iTunes reads and displays the tracks on the disc and starts spinning the disc (i.e. I can hear it). The iTunes window shows and initial progress on the first track and then gives me an error message saying it can't read or write to the disc ...
Any idea what is going on here?
thanks
Martin

Hello, Martin.
Thank you for visiting Apple Support Communities.
Here are the best steps to go through when experiencing issues with your SuperDrive.
Apple Computers: Troubleshooting the slot-loading SuperDrive
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2801
Cheers,
Jason H.

Similar Messages

How do I get iTunes to read from my external drive?

Ok, before you post this link http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301748 please read this. That link only seems to give advice if you have your music on your computer's hard drive and you want to transfer it all to another drive. My problem is that all of my music is currently on an external drive. There is nothing to transfer or consolidate from my computer. I've gone into the preferences and set the iTunes music folder to the location on my external drive. The part about consolidating doesn't seem applicable in my case. So now that I've set the location of my iTunes music folder why isn't anything showing up in my iTunes library? Why can't I play any music?

So have any of this "external" music ever been added to iTunes? If not, go to File>Add to Library. Then navigate to the external hard-drive folder that contains the music.

New iMac itunes not recognizing library on external drive

I'm trying to move my itunes media from my older powermac to my new imac. I kept my library on an external drive, so I thought it would be simple to just move that drive over to the new imac and create a path in the media folder location in itunes preferences to the library. I've done so, but the library is not registering in the new itunes. Obviously I'm doing something wrong here, and I haven't found anything that describes my exact scenario. All I'm doing is keeping the external drive on which the library and contents are stored and moving it from the old computer to the new.
Any ideas?
Thanks,
Peter

Thanks Jim. I have tried what you have suggested, but it hasn't worked. iTunes isn't populating (for lack of a better word at the moment) with my music. I'm able to select the library and seemingly iTunes accepts the library, but I'm not able to access the media. I tried reconnecting the drive back to the old computer to make sure iTunes worked on it, and it worked fine. I'm stumped.

Itunes not locating library on external drive

arrrggggh...
i have faced this before but forgot how to resolve it. i rarely use itune except to import more music and update ipod/appleTV. my library is all ripped cd's on an external drive. the correct drive and file is shown under edit>preferences>advances for the iTune Media Folder Location.
today i fired up the system and imported 'take 5 / dave brubeck'. it successfully was ripped to the external drive and appleTV sync'd.
however all of my other songs (>10k) show up in the playlist with the dreaded '!'. when i click on them iTunes says they cannot be located and would i like to search? searching attaches that song, but i do not want to do this 10k times.
how can i get iTunes to find all songs in the library?
tia

edit to add.. the library (.itl) file is located on the C drive correctly, it is just not associating with the actual MPEG files on the I drive...

Itunes not loading on my external drive 320GB LaCie Rugged HD FW800. How do i fix this problem?

I backed up my entire music library [and other important files] on a Lacie external drive. I can access all other files but iTunes is not loading. What could be the problem and how to fix it?
The entire exernal drive is also backed up on the time capsule.

Finder > Preferences > General

Macbook not reading internal or external drives?

I have a weird DVD issue with my Macbook Po 2.16
Firstly the DVD started to spit any disc you put in it as they sometimes do, so rather than fork out to replace the drive in an aging computer I opted for an external burner.
and here is the weird but, the external USB burner acts exactly the same - you put a disc in and it just spins - both drives are recognized by disc utility and the external works fine on my office machine just not my macbook.
This leads me to think it may be software / drivers related, anyone got any ideas?

Thanks
Already tried that, I probably should have said that it is happening with any disc that is put in - original DVD, data or RW.
My original thought was it was a duff drive but I get exactly the same prob on the external dvd drive, as this works fine when plugged into another mac I am assuming it may be software or driver related?
Tried repairing disc permissions, anyone got any advice?

I have moved my Itunes media folder to an external drive and Itunes does not find the items in the folder

Running Win7. I moved my entire Itunes library to an external drive to free up space on my laptop. Itunes recognized the change and all was well. That worked fine and I have synced several times from the laptop with the library on the external drive. Now the laptop is in the shop (sigh, not Itunes related a dead network card). I connected the external drive to my desktop, made sure my software was up to date. opened ITunes went to edit/preferences/advanced. Went to change Itunes media folder location and navigated to the proper folder on my external drive and clicked OK. None of the music, videos, etc, that are in that folder show up in iTunes on the desktop. Restarted ITunes, no help, reboot computer, no help. Have I done something wrong or left out a step. I could copy all the media onto the desktop individually and build new playlists but that seems like something that should not be needed? One of the reasons I moved my Itunes media folder to the external drive was so I could use the laptop for iTunes while travel and the desktop for iTunes while at home. Do I have to copy the entire folder to my desktop and take up space there? That would be counterproductive to using the external drive. I searched and saw a hint to hold down shift while starting ITunes but that did not change anything. Any help would be most appreciated!
Jim in WV

Thank you for your prompt response - I did as you said and did a drag and drop into the iTunes window - it imported and got my album art from the net. When I started Itunes with the shift key down I was prompted to choose a library but since I copied over the media folder and not the library folder I was unable to select that so I guess I will have to create a new library and add in all the music, videos, etc. unless I wait for my laptop and export the library or at least that seems to be the case? In short, all my data (iTunes media folder) is on my external drive and can be added to the blank iTunes screen but I can not choose a library folder. Is there anyway around completely making all those playlists again? I am not sure my laptop will survive the shop with data intact and really hate to start over on those.
In an unrelated question - I collect old TV shows from the 1950's. Can I make playlists within the home video folder somehow? In other words like one for Quiz shows, one for comedies, one for police and detective shows, etc. while I am remaking all my playlists for my music if I end up having to go that route?
Once again thank you for helping me out. I am not too Itunes savvy and really appreciate you taking the time to answer.

Itunes 10.4 will not recognize libraries on external drives!

I made the mistake of updating to itunes 10.4 and now itunes does not recognize itunes libraries that I have stored on external harddrives, most concerning is my master library of Apple Lossless files. Is there a way to get the new version of itunes to recognize libraries on external drives?
Thanks so much for your advice!

Found my answer by sifting through all itunes questions. (I tried earlier, but apparently chose the wrong key words. In my successful search I just searched through everything itunes related.) There was a posting where someone indicated they could not open alternative libraries using the option key method, precisely my situation. They stated that they solved the problem by appending a ".itl" at the end of the library file. I tried this myself and sure enough, it worked. Hopefully it will also work for all others who are suffering from this scenario.

TS3683 Not enough space on my Mac HD to back up my iPad. My iTunes library is on an external drive. Can I use this same drive to Back yup my iPad?

I don't have enough space on my Mac HD to back up my iPad. Actually, my iTunes library is on an external drive. Can I use this same drive to Back up my iPad?

1. First make sure iPhoto is not running. If it is, quit it. Use the Finder to copy your iPhoto Library file to your external drive. Unless you've changed it, its located inside your Pictures folder and is named "iPhoto Library".
2. After the copy is complete, start iPhoto while simultaneously holding down the option key. iPhoto will bring up a dialog box. The file in the list is your existing Library on your internal disk. Click the "Other Library" button and navigate to your external drive. Select your freshly copied iPhoto Library file and click "Open". iPhoto will from now on open and work with this library on the external drive.
3. After you've confirmed iPhoto is working properly with the newly copied library you may wish to delete the original library in your Pictures folder to recover the disk space.
Don't forget to keep a backup copy of your library on a separate disk. It's not a matter of "if" your external drive will fail but "when". You need to make regular backups or you'll be sorry someday.

How to reinstall iTunes and not lose everything from external drive.

I had to reformat my hard drive. All my iTunes files were (and still are) on an external drive.
When I download the latest version of iTunes, I installed and set up my preferences to change the location of iTunes Media File to External Drive J:\iTunes\iTunes Music.
When iTunes installs, it creates files and folders in C:\Users\Userxyz\Music\itunes
So....Because iTunes didn't show any of my music, playlists, apps, etc. and because I had changed where to keep media files,
I selected the "Add Folder to Library" option
iTunes successfully displays all the music from this external drive and left the music files where they were.
But....it also copied all of this music to a folder on my desktop called "Copy of Itunes". Now, I have 3 *itl and "xlm files. One on External Drive J, another in Music\iTunes on Drive C, and a 2nd in Copy of iTunes on the desktop.
Missing from iTunes are my purchases. All apps, purchased and free. Playlists.
I have a folder "Mobile Applications" on the external drive and in Copy of iTunes, but both are empty.
I wonder if I already lost my purchases.
I would also like to keep my files on an external drive because I don't have enough space to keep iTunes on my main drive.
I also use Vista.....
I hope someone can help. This is all very confusing
Jeri

When you say all of your iTunes files were on the external drive, do you mean all, or only the stuff that's inside the red outline below. The most important part of your library is the database file iTunes Library.itl which holds the records of your playlists, ratings and all other data that doesn't get stored in tags.
Typical layout of iTunes folders:
When the media folder is inside the main iTunes folder as shown above then the library is portable, and if the library is relocated to an external drive it will survive a wipe of the internal drive. However most users typically split their library when they find they are running out of room on the internal drive by choosing a new locaton for the media folder and then consolidating.
If this is what you have done, and you don't have a backup of the library files, the iTunes Library.itl file in particicular, then your old library is lost forever. If you do have the files then it may be possible to get the right library file reconnected to the media provided you haven't been moving things around randomly.
You can check each of the .itl files that you have on your computer in turn using the hold-down-shift-when-starting-iTunes method. If one of these has the correct playlists, and the drive letter of the external drive is the same as before, then it should all work.
tt2

Error Code -36 When Copying iTunes Music folder to an External Drive

_*"The finder cannot complete the operation because some data in "NAME.mp3" could not be read or written. (Error code -36)_"*
This is the error message I get when trying to copy my iTunes music folder to an external drive. I am following Apple's knowledge base article, so yes, I have consolidated my library, have closed iTunes and there is plenty of room on the external drive. For what it's worth, I am also getting this error when trying to do the same thing with my iPhoto library.
Would be grateful for some insight,
With oodles of appreciation in advance,
Joe

I was getting the same "-36" error while trying to backup to a Lacie firewire external drive.
I had a lot of people telling me to re-format, erase, reinstall, run utility programs ... yada, yada, yada.
First off, test to see if it is the connection type (firewire). I reconnected the offending external drive via USB, restarted the drive and ... BINGO! ... all transfers went perfectly.
Once i knew it was the firewire connection and not the drive itself i simply unplugged my iSight camera (the only other firewire device connected to my machine), reconnected my external drive via firewire and the problem is now corrected.
Firewire buses seem to be very finicky things ... i would suggest eliminating all firewire devices from the machine (except, of course, the external drive you're trying to transfer to) and see if the problem goes away.
Like i said, i simply unplugged my iSight camera and the transfer to my external drive went perfect and my transfer rates went from an average of 4MB/sec to over 19MB/sec.
P.S. BTW - prior to the error and after i corrected the error by unplugging the iSight camera, my internal and external drives all checked out 100% on Disk Utility, Disk Warrior and TechTool Pro.

I moved my itunes media library to an external drive to free up 40gigs. How do I recoup my 40gigs?

I moved my iTunes media library to an external drive to free up 40gigs on my hard drive. When I checked in about this Mac to see if the space was gained it now seems to be replaced by a category "backups". How do I recoup my 40gigs?

When you moved the iTunes data to the external HDD, I assume you deleted it from your MBP. Backup are not to worry about. Read this:
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH14329
They will be deleted when disk space is required.
Ciao.
In addition, read this Apple support article:
http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT4878

Consolidating in iTunes once iTunes has been moved to external drive

Hi there,
I am hoping somebody will be able to advise me. I followed the instructions on this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbGmDJtQTGQ
to move my iTunes folder to an external hard drive so that I can free up space on my internal hard drive. I have also told iTunes in Preferences to look for the iTunes Media Folder location on my external hard drive:
Volumes/MacBook Air Backup Drive/iTunes/iTunes Media
iTunes now works when my external drive is connected to my laptop (and doesn't work if my external drive is *not* connected); all that is fine. I have now saved space on my internal drive by deleting the iTunes folder that was on my internal hard drive.
However, my Q is:
When I consolidate files in "Organise Library"-does this get saved onto my *internal* hard drive, and if yes, does it take up space? Does it matter that my iTunes library is now located on my *external* hard drive?
I'm not sure how consolidating will work now that my library is on my external drive, or does this not matter? Can I consolidate on my external hard drive or am I missing the point as to what consolidating means/does?
Many thanks!

Hey guys,
Yes, there is the portable library as well. I worked with Kirk at Kirkville (Mac expert dude), and I basicallly had a portable setup, but he said the portable library left you open to functionality problems over time and I notiece that I didnt't get the "Script," dropdown menu in iTunes wihen it wasnt' set up like I suggested. Also, from time to time you'd possibly lose files, run into sync issues. He's a pretty knowledgable guy about iTunes, IMO he' the best but it's debatable, and he recommeneded highly leaving the library files on the local HD.
Initially I didn't have it set up this way, all my library files were in my external. But I was starting to run into functionality, and like once a week I was having to locate a file or two and it was just a pain. I"d try to delete or move the library file to the local, but they'd show back up on the external. Finally, he had me delete iTunes, download it fresh and then all the library files were forced into the local drive. As I understand it, most of the "right way," "wrong way," descriptions of how to move your files to extternal follow this method. I suppose it's personal preference though, if you're not having any problems.
I like this way, because it functions just like it would on an HD. Since my media is on an external anyway, if I ever need to move it, I can connect the new client or drive to the extternal wirelessly or cabled, and simply transfer them. As long as the media is on an external, moving should be the easy part.
Psych, I'm going to suggest if you like, message me and I can help you via email. Then I can forward my correspondence with Kirk, and you can see exactly what he suggested and walked me through. You may have already done much of it, but it's a good failsafe, as after I was done with his help....man the files now work just like they would if all on local.
Those plist files should be on the local. Did you look in your library? Click on "Go," whle holding option. You'll see library added in as an option (other ways to access, but i use this one). Then go down to your ituens foflder and rummage around in there, see wha'ts all around.
I just double checked my external, and the only library file I have there is the iTunes Music Library.xml.
Psych, did you perhaps drag or copy your library initially, before realizing there was a "proper," way to move the library? I ask this, because I did.....and it was the root of a ot of my problems. I moved it all back, then used the prooper way, but it never fully worked properly until I uninstalled iTunes and reinstalled. And hte big issue was teh library fiiles kept going to the external. What happens, is that iTunes is built to work with iMovies, preview, and many, many other applications that may use music or othher media. Those apps don't know to look on the external, but will look in the user file, where their taught to find iTunes. Having all the library files in the local, creates liek a "mirror," that tricks these apps into thinking they're accessing the media files, and functioning as if it was located llocally and not on external. If library files aren't on local drive, then you're going to have problems.
To be honest, what I thnk consoldiate does, is just organizing the files. For example if you had a media file of all your music, but it was created manually, and eadch file was in the file loose. "Consolidate," creates an "artist," file and then puts the songs in subfiles. I think under artist is album befor song. If your external is doing this....then it's consoldiating.. That's the best thing I can suggest to verify it andput your mind at east.

Mac Mini i7 (Mavericks) will not boot from the external drive

Mac Mini i7 (Mavericks) will not boot from the external drive with Disk Warroir 4.4. or Drive Genius or Lion.
Not even from the external Firewire hard drive with Mavericks

Does the external HD have a GUID partition table?
Is the external drive formatted Mac OS X Extended (journaled)?
Is this a 2011 or late 2012 Mac?
How was Mavericks installed on the external drive?
Who is the builder of the drive mechanism in the external drive?
Who is the builder of the external enclosure?
What type of interface does the external drive have USB2, USB3, Firewire 400, Firewire 800, thunderbolt?
Is the external enclosure directly connected to the mini?
Have youtried a different interface cable?

ITunes Settings for Media on External Drive via Airport Extreme...

iTunes Settings for Media on External Drive via Airport Extreme base station versus plugging directly into laptop.
My current configuration is that my iTunes Media (700gb) are all stored in an External Drive that's plugged into my Airport Extreme Base Station. This works great for me having wireless access to my iTunes external drive.
Whenever I need to back up that hard drive with Time Machine, I just plug it directly to my laptop...
But how do I let iTunes (or iTunes library) know that this is the same hard drive where all my media is stored when it's plugged directly into the laptop as opposed to trying to access it from my Airport Extreme network?

No there isnt any files call library in the folder i created I am now in the process of copying them back but I guess I will loose all my playlists and playcounts. I do have a Copy of my drive that i made with carbon copy cloner. So maybe it will be best to boot from there, restore and start again.
Chris it was just the media folder. I was following the instructions on the apple support page. Got to point 14 didn't get the warning but did seen to have a brand new itunes, so emptied the trash as they said expecting everything to be fine but it wasnt.

Itunes not reading cd in external drive

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for