Itunes won't play because can't find original file

On my itunes main page, there are now several "!" next to most of my songs. When I click on the song to play it, it says "the song can't play because original file can't be found. Would I like to locate it?" I go thru that step and click on the file that is stored on my external hard drive(which is connected) and then it plays. The problem is I don't have the patience or time to do that for 1000+ songs. It has worked fine up until the last couple of months. Any ideas? Thanks....

If your iTunes library is stored on an external drive, then that drive must have the same drive-letter every time and it must be "ready" before iTunes starts up. If not, iTunes will change the location it thinks the library should be to the default (C:/My Music/...) which will then mean that it cannot find your songs.
Phil

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