ITunes won't recognize media on external hard drive

Hello Everyone....
So I have a 17" Macbook Pro, that was recently repaired under Future Shop's PSP that I purchased. They wiped it completely clean, so I essentially have a brand new computer again.
Luckily, I put almost all of my data and media onto my external hard drive before it went in. I have been operating with my iTunes media stored on an external drive for some time now with success.
Now that my computer is completely new, I did all the available updates, and then went to link my library to my iTunes, as it's "new again". It doesn't have my library attached anymore. I think I forgot to save the actual library files that I'm now reading about, and instead just saved the actual mp4 files. To be honest I didn't know there were library files and actual media files, seems weird...
I've changed my preferences back to the external drive folder where my media is located, and I've clicked "consolidate files" and nothing happens.
I've tried to hit the "scan for media" button that pops up when you have a wiped or new computer and nothing has happened.
I tried to physically click and drag everything from my external drive into my iTunes, and the little "processing xyz..." popped up with the blue and white striped progress bar, however when I woke up this morning nothing had happened. I'm not sure how that developed.
I can't seem to find anything on the internet to assist with this particular issue. I have all my media stored properly in the iTunes media folder but no actual "library" file. I guess I didn't realize they existed!
Any ideas? I am losing my mind. This mac is my second and has been in for repairs twice, and has given me nothing but problems. I am aware this "problem" is my own dumb fault but I feel like it should be much easier to recognize your existing media when it's right there in front of you.

Preferences does not scan for media, it only changes the storage location for new additions. The files have to be added to the library. It sounds like you tried this in one of your attempts but it did not work (I don't know why it didn't unless there is some detail I missed).
Where do you want your library? On the external or internal?
If the internal, start iTunes. Drag your media files to the "Automatically Add To iTunes folder. iTunes 9: Understanding the "Automatically Add to iTunes" folder. - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3832 Or use the "Add" menu item to add files to iTunes, or drag them to the iTuens library in the sidepanel.
If somewhere else, start iTunes while holding down the option/alt key, select a library location. Add as above.
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

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ITunes won't recognize folders on external hard drive

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This is relevant portion of the support document with a bit of editing for clarity.
If iTunes is running, quit iTunes.
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Why won't itunes find my library on my external hard drive? All it shows are my purchased songs in the cloud.

See also this migrate iTunes library post or Recover your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device.
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Hello,
I tried moving all my media to an external hard drive to make room on my MacBook Pro and just be able to run the media (ie music movies etc) from the external hard drive when it was connected.
Well this backfired big time probably because I did not follow any sort of instructions.
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2012EVOL wrote:
Hello,
I tried moving all my media to an external hard drive to make room on my MacBook Pro and just be able to run the media (ie music movies etc) from the external hard drive when it was connected.
Quit iTunes.
Copy the entire /Music/iTunes/ folder to the external. Don't only copy the iTunes media folder.
Hold Option, launch iTunes, select Choose library... and select the iTunes folder on the external.
This is all you need to do.
Everything for iTunes (except the application) is on the external.
2nd I think (this was back in March 2013) I decided to cut/delete the folder Automatically Add to iTunes and moved it to one of my external hard drives (this folder for some reason contained mostly everythiing that was in the iTunes Media folder).
Make a shortcut to this folder on your desktop.
Nothing should be in this folder. When you put a file here, it will get moved by iTunes and added to the library.
The reason it had files in it is because you moved it.

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natgray17 wrote:
I don't know about your first question... I went to finder, preferences, then general but I didn't see anything for the hard drive.
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If DU cannot see it then the preferences is just an academic exercise.
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It sometimes has that funny switch symbol on it too.
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If i previously had my iTunes library set up on an external hard drive, how do I get my iTunes on my new mac pro to operate off of the same hard drive?

I recently bought a mac pro. I previously had a macbook that I had set up for iTunes to run off of an external hard drive. How do I set up my mac pro to run off of this hard drive? I have been trying to figure it out for the last hour and have had no luck.
I have tried to move my itunes folder on my mac pro to my external hard drive but am having no luck. Any help will be appreciated. Thanks.

If you had the entire library running from the external drive it should be a matter of holding down option as you start iTunes and browsing to the library on the external drive.
If you'd followed the advice to move the media folder only then ideally you need to recover the library folder from your Macbook with a view to making the library portable on the external drive.
Otherwise you're going to have to simply import the content into a new library, losing rating, playlists, play counts. etc.
If you have any devices that sync to your library see Recover your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device.
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Itunes will not store in an external hard drive

I use an external hard drive to store my music.
The last few CDs we have put onto itunes do not appear in the external hard drive, why?

Hello compsec1951,
It sounds like the content may have been saved in the default iTunes folder location in the Music folder.
Use this article to determine how iTunes is setup and where it is saving the new content. While it may be accessing the library on the external drive, it may be saving new media to a different location.
Where are my iTunes files located?
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1391
Mac OS X: Click the iTunes menu and choose Preferences.
Windows: Click the Edit menu and choose Preferences.
Click the Advanced pane. iTunes displays the location of your iTunes Media folder.
You can then:
Note where your media folder is, such as for backing up your media.
Use the Reset button to reset it's location to the default (which is the iTunes folder).
Click the Change button to select a folder for a new location. Once you change this location:
If you make a new or alternate iTunes library, the new location will be used by that library.
Existing files will not be moved unless you choose File > Library > Organize library and choose the option to "Consolidate files."
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Saving iTunes Movies/TV Shows to an external hard drive

I need to free up space on my dell laptop so I would like to move my iTunes movies/tv shows to an external hard drive while keeping my music on my internal hard drive. So I would like to have two different libraries, one for music on my internal and one for movies/tv shows on my external. What is the simplest way to do this without wiping out my movie collection?

You can create multiple libraries with a shift-start of itunes.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=iTunesWin/8.0/en/15502.html
Press AND HOLD the shift key while starting itunes, and create a new library on your exHD.
Name it something like Movies - don't take the default itunes1 name which will not make sense later.
The new library will be blank. Before you do anything, change the itunes preferences > Advanced tab.
The "Copy to itunes Media Folder" and options needs to be turned ON.
You need to change the itunes media folder location to your exHD.
Now, go to your internal HD to the Movies folder using Win Explorer. Drag that Movie folder and drop it onto iTunes (the source list over on the left, onto the word LIBRARY).
Another way to do it is itunes menu > File > Add folder to library
Repeat for the TV shows folder.
This will copy the files to your exHD, since you already changed the preference to "Copy to itunes Media Folder"
Make sure you can play a few seconds of several movies/TV show to satisfy yourself that it all went well.
Double-check the file locations in iTunes by doing a right-click > show in Windows Explorer.
They should be on your exHD.
The files will still be on your internal drive. You can either delete them using itunes or Win Explorer.
If you use Win Explorer, you'll get ! file not found marks in your original music library.
Things to remember about using multiple libraries:
1) iTunes always uses the last library it opened. You have to remember to shift-start between libraries.
2) Every time you do a shift-start, double-check the iTunes preferences advanced to make sure the "itunes media location" and "copy to itunes" is set how you want.
3) It is easy to forget which library you last had opened, so train yourself to always use a shift-start.

ITunes won't recognize media on external hard drive

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