Library consolidation

I followed the instructions from the support site to move/change my library to new larger drive. when i do a file count in windows it appears that 500+ files and 140 folders did not transfer. how can i correct this? i am using the latest version of iTunes for windows.
Thanks for your help.
Mike Garoutte

When you download song, sometimes the Artist name is not the same (could have a space of letter different).
Highlite the songs from your library, right click and select Get Info. if the Artist name appears in the box then all songs are listed under the same name. if it is blank, one is spelled different. type in the correct spelling and click OK.
Hope that helps.

Similar Messages

ITunes Library Consolidation Help

Hello there, I am new to the forum. I've been researching a little bit with little luck so I thought I'd try here.
I am about to finish building a new quad core computer and would like to move my 72 gb library over to my new computer. The only thing is I also want to keep all the song information (especially the date added and such)..but I don't know if it's possible...I just wish I could somehow replicate my library because my library is organized by the dates in which each song was added...
I've read about Library Consolidation...but I'm not sure if what I have in mind of doing is correct...
So basically..this is what I have in mind...
I'm going to buy a small (150 gb) internal hard drive and put it in my old computer. I will press the button that says "keep everything organized" and will change the itunes folder to be assigned within the new internal hard drive. I will then consolidate everything into the new drive.
Right there I have a question. Is it still okay to consolidate even though the music is all in different places? Barely any of the music is in my iTunes folder (most is in different partitioned drives), and so I am afraid if I try consolidating the files iTunes will freeze or not know what to do.
Back to what I would do...so then I would take the new hard drive which hopefully has all the music and install it in the new computer. I would then install iTunes on the new computer, and simply insert all the songs from the hard drive? In doing that, wouldn't all the files' information be gone? (Most importantly date added, because the date would now be different?) The only reason I really need date added is because I initially add all of the songs backwards so that they play in order when the songs are sorted by date added. Otherwise, all the songs would be out of order...
So yeah...I basically was wondering if the process I have in mind is correct, and also if theres any way to keep the file information.
Lastly, what does export library mean?
I'm very sorry for the long post, but I have been trying to find out how I would go about doing this with no luck from anywhere...I hope you guys can help me out. I appreciate any help.
Thanks.

+Is it still okay to consolidate even though the music is all in different places?+
Yes, that's exactly what the Consolidate Library command is for.
+In doing that, wouldn't all the files' information be gone?+
The ratings, Date Added, etc are store in the itunes library.itl file. That is another important file to copy over.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1660
The XML file can recreate a library but the Date Added will go missing. The ITL is the important one.
+Lastly, what does export library mean?+
It exports a list of your library into an XML file, so other application that read XML could use it.

Library consolidation does not work

In itunes/edit/preferences/ advanced, I changed the location of the itunes media folder location. I then followed the instruction File/Library/consolidate library. I get an error message that a duplicate file exists. I have eliminated all duplicate files(tracks?) in itunes via the file/display duplicates such that no duplicates show up. Yet I still get the duplicate message. Any suggestions would be appreciate as I have abut 40Gb of music.
My operationg system for this computer is windows XP

Generally I'd advise against using the consolidate method to move your whole media folder. If your library is exceeding the capacity of the drive it is usually better to copy the entire iTunes folder out to another drive, connect to the new copy of the library and test all is well, then delete the original.
Given that some of the content has most likely been copied over already it is probably too late to take the easy route. You could try consolidating batches of files, e.g. Artists beginning with A, then B etc., or you could use my script ConsolidateByMoving.
See also normalize the iTunes library and make a split library portable for background.
tt2

Library consolidation error

How do I consolidate my music? Half of my music is in the music library and half in an unnamed playlist. I tried consolidating it all but it says that there is a file missing. Please help me.

Darcimpitt, The iTunes Consolidate process only works on files that are already in the library. Make sure that all songs have a library entry and are playable, and then run Consolidate.

Library consolidation and disc space

Dear Mac community
When the latest iPhoto 6 update (6.06) was installed, it didn't contain my active iPhoto library. I realized that it was probably because that library a) wasn't named iPhoto Library, and b)wasn't in the "my pictures" folder. The larger problem was that there are multiple libraries in different locations in my HD, some with imported (copied) photos, others originals.
Solution was to consolidate all libraries into a new one. Bought and tried to use iPhoto library manager, and started merging 2 libraries. After some time, I got a "startup disc nearing capacity" notice, and realized it was copying all my photos to the new library, not moving them. I cancelled the migration with 165mb left on my HD.
Questions:
1) What is the best way to consolidate several photo libraries, with a mix of good and probably corrupted files?
2) When doing that consolidation, how can I keep within the capacity of my HD
3) What libraries/folders can I then delete without risk of losing my original images?
Many thanks!

Welcome to the Apple Discussions.
Let’s get the really important stuff out of the way first:
OS X needs about 10 gigs of hard drive space for normal OS operations - things like virtual memory, temporary files and so on. Without this space your Mac will slow down as the OS hunts for space on the disk, files will be fragmented, also slowing things down, apps will crash and the risk of data corruption - that is damage to your files, photos, music - increases exponentially. Your first priority is to make more space on that HD. Nothing else can be done until you do. Purchase an external HD and move your Photos and Music to it. Both iPhoto and iTunes can run perfectly well with the Library on an external disk.
When the latest iPhoto 6 update (6.06) was installed, it didn't contain my active iPhoto library
Hold down the option (or alt) key key and launch iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Choose Library'
1) What is the best way to consolidate several photo libraries, with a mix of good and probably corrupted files?
As you’ve tried, using iPhoto Library Manager.
2) When doing that consolidation, how can I keep within the capacity of my HD
The only way to do this is to make space on the HD.
3) What libraries/folders can I then delete without risk of losing my original images?
Once you’ve merged two libraries, it depends: dis you merge Library A into Library B? Then you can trash Library A. Did you merge A and B and into a new Library C? Then trash A and B.
Regards
TD

Library consolidation halfway through

Hey out there
I just tried to consolidate my iTunes library, which started fine, but when i was nearly halfway through it stopped and showed the following error message:
"Copying files failed. The file name was invalid og too long".
I got MPEG files and AAC sound files, and both of them have been copied, so i don't think that's the problem.
Anyone experienced the same and got a solution?
The reason i wanted to consolidate, was to get option, to delete my music files directly from iTunes.

kraller1992 wrote:
How do I open Consolidation fix?
I had a look and it should just be a matter of downloading the zip file from that site, extracting ConsolidationFix.js to any location of you choice, then double clicking the script to run it.
The script lists all files that have filenames in excess of 130 characters. I don't let iTunes manage my file & folder names but I'd be surprised if that in itself causes a problem. I can certainly consolidate such a file under both Windows XP and Windows 7 so that can't be an accurate method of determining which files won't consolidate.
There could be problems with permissions or if your target media folder is nested really deeply then path the file would move to, if consolidated, could exceed 255 chars which would cause problems. Since iTunes for Windows uses a maximum of 40 characters for file and folder names I'd expect to see occasional problems if the path to your media folder were in the order of 125 characters.
It might be the "invalid" reason has more to do with things, but again I'm not certain what iTunes would generate that would also be "invalid" since all the usual problem characters are translated to underscores.
tt2

Library Consolidation Errors

I have iTunes 8.2.0.23 on Windows XP Pro. I have a lot of songs in my iTunes library, and they're spread out all over my computer, across multiple drives. I would like to move them all to one place. So, I updated my iTunes Music folder location under Edit > Preferences > Advanced. Then, I went to File > Library > Consolidate Library. It asked me if I'm sure, and I said yes. Then, it went ahead and started moving all my stuff over. Then it errored. It said
iTunes
*Copying files failed. An unknown error occured (-1450).*
[OK]
So I went and started the consolidation again, and it started where it left off. It tried copying a certain file for 2 seconds or so, then gave the error again. I found the file in my iTunes library, and I saw that iTunes nor any other media player could play it; it was corrupt. So I removed it from my iTunes library and started the consolidation again, and it went on merrily.
I got the error 2 more times, and I got by it the same way both times. But now I'm getting the error again, and I do not know what file it is. It does not display the file it is trying to copy before throwing the error, or it displays it so fast that I can not see it.
Is there a way to get iTunes to skip over these problem files? Or is there a log that will actually tell me which file it's failing at? I saw no pattern in the order that it was copying the files, so I can't figure out how far it got. If I export a playlist to an XML file, I can see that most songs are where I want them, but some have yet to be copied.

Welcome to AD!
I had the same problem last year when I consolidated. It took me HOURS to find out that itunes does the consolidate based on Date Added to your library. It copies the oldest files first, and progresses to the newer files last. This is the pattern you need to know about.
For my case, I looked in WinExplorer and the last file successfully copied over was from a Carole King album. I went back into iTunes, sorted by Date Added, and saw what the next file was after Carole King. Moved it out of the Compilations folder, and the consolidate finally finished.

Library Consolidation help

Hi all.
So, I'm a little confused about the 'Consolidation' feature for iTunes. I'm not sure exactly what it does from reading the forum posts.
Here's my situation:
I'm quickly running out of space on my computer, so I have been shifting around my music to different hard drives to free up space both for more iTunes downloads and for my C drive on my comp to not be full.
I understand how the 'iTunes Music Folder Location' function works in the Advanced tab, and I have since changed that to my D drive, which has more space.
I have manually moved my entire iTunes folder (including Album Artwork, Music, Applications, Libraries, etc) onto the D drive and I was planning on deleting the copies on the C drive so I can free up that space.
My question is: what exactly does Consolidate Library do? Do I still need to Consolidate if I've already manually moved the files? Will Consolidating be an easy one-step method to have iTunes look for those files in the D drive instead of the C drive (without manually 'searching' for each file as I try to play them? And, does Consolidating also make iTunes read the ITL file from the new location as well?
I know those are a lot of questions, and I appreciate any feedback I can get.
Thanks in advance.

I have manually moved my entire iTunes folder (including Album Artwork, Music, Applications, Libraries, etc) onto the D drive and I was planning on deleting the copies on the C drive so I can free up that space.
Press and hold SHift and launch iTunes.
Select *Choose library* and select the _iTunes library.itl_ file in the iTunes folder on the external.
That is all you need to do.
Yes, you can delete the iTunes folder in \My Documents\My Music\.
what exactly does Consolidate Library do?
It copies everything in iTunes to the iTunes music folder location shown in iTunes prefs -> Advanced.
Do I still need to Consolidate if I've already manually moved the files?
Not if you move the entire iTunes folder.
You consolidate before you move the iTunes folder.
If you wantot move th eiTUne smusic folder, point iTunes prefs to a new location/drive, then use Consolidate. If you move the iTunes music folder (or if you move/rename ant music files) yourself, iTunes will lose everything.
Will Consolidating be an easy one-step method to have iTunes look for those files in the D drive instead of the C drive (without manually 'searching' for each file as I try to play them?
No.
And, does Consolidating also make iTunes read the ITL file from the new location as well?
No.

Large Library Consolidation - What happens if I need to "Stop?"

Hi - I have a large (in my opinion) music library of 23k songs and just set up a home server. Here is the problem, I have all of my music on one drive on the server (don't ask how long that took), I want to consolidate my current library on the same drive to a singe location so I can delete the multiple copies of the songs and have a nice clean library in one folder going forward.
My issue is the time it's taking to do consolidate the library (about 45% after 35 hours) - I am going to take my computer to work with me Monday morning and I know it won't be done consolidating. What will happen if I stop my consolidation and come back and restart a consolidation Monday evening? Will all the progress that was made over the weekend be lost or will it resume where it left off?
Any suggestions on how I could possibly speed up the process?
Thanks.

Well unless you get the "blue flue" Monday morning, it doesn't sound like you have much choice!
If you have to stop Consolidate in the middle, the files already consolidated will stay consolidated. When you restart Consolidate, it will find the rest of the files that it didn't get the first time. So, nothing lost.
One thing to be careful of, however, is that since Consolidate does not have a graceful way to stop, the one file it is working on at the moment you stop it may get messed up; I can't say for sure.
For future reference: It is not necessary to consolidate the whole library at once. You can highlight a range of tracks, right click, and choose "Consolidate Files..." It will only operate on the selected files and will then stop.

ITunes library consolidation

hello,
i have consolidated my library hundreds of times. i do it after everytime i add a song. today, however, after i added a bunch more, i clicked <consolidate library>, and the response was "there is not enough room on "C:\" to copy all of the requested files." this made no sence, i checked my C drive properties to confirm my suspisions, and as i though i have 25 gigs left of free space.
if anyone knows how to fix or get around this i would really appreciate it.
thanks, gnomegnugz

I am new but when I consolidated, everything now is not recognised.I deleted I-tunes& reloaded, reset i-pod nano 2 gen, now i have a new useless hunk of frustrating crap on my desk !!!!! I have wasted more time tyring to figure this out that I am going to attempt to return it.

Library Consolidating Crashes during large move

I have 200gb of music on iTunes. When I attempt to move files to a new iTunes Media folder on an external drive by using the advanced preferences to point to the new location and then using the Organize Library > Consolidate Files feature, iTunes crashes, always about 149gb into the move.
In my current iTunes set up, at least 20gb of files are not stored in the main iTunes Music folder.
I have tried just copying the folders over manually which causes the files not in the main folder to go missing. When I do a "locate file" I can successfully point to the right mp3, but when it tries to automatically find other missing files in the same folder it fails to do so, even though I know they're there.
I have tried consolidating without copying to another drive and get the same results.
I have repaired permissions, safe booted and zapped pram.
Thoughts? Ideas? Magic?
Thanks

You've probably got a file that is either bad, or, iTunes does not like for some reason. The trick is to figure out which file this is, then either replace it, or figure out what iTunes does not like about it (sometimes simply removing the song from iTunes, then adding it back will fix things).
So here is what I'd do. I assume you have all the music its original places still, and hopefully have a backup of everything. I'd erase the external disk, and start the consolidation over again. When it crashes, look at the last file written (I think it consolidates alphabetically by artist name). Then look at that file, and, at the one that would have been written next - likely one of them is the problem song.
Or you could divide and concur. Select half your library, right click (or control click) and choose consolidate files from the drop down menu. If it works with out crashing, select half the remaining songs, and so on until you get a crash. Then you know what group of songs is the problem - divide and concur again until you isolate the problem song. This might actually be the best way to procede if you already have a bunch done, and can not start over. If you consolidate songs that are already in the right place iTunes will not do anything, so there is no harm.
Good luck.

Bizarre iTunes Library Consolidation Failure

This one's got me stumped.
I have my iTunes media files spread across two large hard drives, and I am rapidly running out of room on the second drive because of all of the video that I am adding.
I purchased a 2 terabyte MyBook external drive, and did what I've done many time before - I set up a new iTunes music folder on the big drive, and after the iTunes Library file updated, I selected the Consolidate function and let 'er rip.
Much to my astonishment, the consolidation only transferred the music files that were on one drive, less than half of my podcast files and almost no video files. Since this defeated the point, I recovered the pre-consolidation iTunes Library file via Time Machine, and trashed the new iTunes Music folder in the big drive.
Has this happened to anyone else? If so, what did you do to overcome the issue?

I never got an answer to this question, unfortunately. I ended up retrieving a version of my iTunes library from the Time Machine backup, erasing the consolidated drive and leaving my music where it was. I put my movies onto an external drive, and pointed that drive as my "iTunes Library". I still let iTunes organize my music, because I really can't stand doing it myself.
Here's to hoping that Apple will announce a major upgrade to iTunes at the coming MWE, one that allows users to select different locations for different types of media.

Experts: library consolidation, duplicates, and missing originals

iPhoto Jedi's: here the challenge. I've got 3 iPhoto libraries on 3 machines. They all need to be consolidated into one master library. One of the libraries now has missing originals, but some of them were backed up, some not. I attempted to import one of the missing originals from a backup, it came in, but the old preview stayed, and it didn't pop the duplicate image warning.
So... what's the best way to merge libraries, and not end up with a zillion duplicates?
Thanks in advance.

The only way to merge libraries, including all versions and metadata is with iPhoto Library Manager ($20) and its Merge command. This can be set to avoid duplicates.
Regards
TD

Photo Stream import directly into Library (consolidated)?

I have just started using Photo Stream with Aperture and it's a wonderful feature, however something prompted me to look for the original photo and I couldn't see the usual "Open in Finder" option, which said to me it was Consolodated. Now, I don't mind, because I Consolidate my Library anyway, but was wondering if this actually happened.
It seems that the guide here is a little out of date now as Adjustments can be performed on the streamed photos without "importing" them, however that's achieved?
ref: http://www.tuaw.com/2011/11/06/deep-dive-aperture-and-photo-stream-how-do-they-w ork/
I was able to export the photo, as one normally would with a Consolidated Library, but I am wondering if that was from an online supposerty or not?
Anyway, if the Photos are Consolidated then that is yet another step taken care of and I am certainly greatful for that, not least because all iOS devices capture GPS info too, things just get better!
If someone can clear this up for me that would be great, thanks.

The confusion is due to your use of Photo Stream image : When you (auto)-import from the Photo Stream you have two different image versions - the Photo Stream copy of the image and the imported image, that is no longer in the stream. And as Frank Caggiano says, you can only edit the imported image version in your Aperture library, not the Photo Stream image. Trying to edit a Photo Stream image will result in this message - at least, that is what I see in my library:
"This photo is in Photo Stream and cannot be edited. You may edit the last imported version in your library."
A photo Stream image is not part of the Aperture library - it can only be browsed using Aperture.
To convince yourself, that the imported image is truely managed and not referenced, select the monthly imported project and set a filter in the search field with the rule: "File status is managed".
All images in the project should still be showing and not be removed by the filter.
Frank Caggiano I think you're confused. The images are in the Stream, they are always there, but they appear (as in William Lloyd's photo example) in Aperture, yes I do have them set to be imported, but they very well couldn't be seen within Aperture unless I did so.
It is still not clear from your post, where you are trying to view the Photo images:
In the "Web > Photo Stream" section of the library inspector, where the Photo Stream can be viewed,
Or in the "Projects" section, where you can browse the images that have been imported to Aperture.
Are you saying, that the "Web > Photo Stream" section of the Library Inspector did not show your Photo Stream images, until you enabled automatic import?
Regards
Léonie

Library consolidation question

does it move the music from its old location to the itunes folder or copy?

When you consolidate, any songs in the iTunes Library that are not in the iTunes Music Folder are "copied" to the Music Folder and the Library is updated to point to those new files. Files already in the iTunes Music Folder have no changes made to them: Copying all your iTunes files to one location - Mac

Library consolidation issue

I notice scrolling througf my new iPod that some artists are listed twice. What I find is under one heading all of the albums are listed with associated tracks. When I look at the duplicate artist heading, I find one or more songs listed from an album. When I go back and look under the other heading (the one that has all the albums/songs listed) for the associated album and those specific songs, I find they are missing.
When I look at my library on iTunes, the songs I mentioned are under the artist heading and listed in the correct album with correct information. However, they are listed separate from all the other tracks in the album.
Anyone else have this problem or have suggestions on how to determine the origin of this problem? Thanks, Mike

When you download song, sometimes the Artist name is not the same (could have a space of letter different).
Highlite the songs from your library, right click and select Get Info. if the Artist name appears in the box then all songs are listed under the same name. if it is blank, one is spelled different. type in the correct spelling and click OK.
Hope that helps.

Library consolidation

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