Lost consolidated iTunes Music folder; Recovered much of it, unconsolidated

How to re-consolidate without starting over?
I had about 60,000 songs consolidated into my iTunes Music folder on one external drive, with my Library in my User folder on my internal startup drive. I also had a backup of all this on another external drive. A power surge from overloading my home electrical system fried both external drives: they are dead. My computer, with its Library (and thoughtfully labored-on Playlists, but of course without the song data files), is intact. I have added new songs since then, about 3,000 of them, with the a new iTunes Music folder in the User folder on my internal startup drive. I have added the new songs to the original Library, in the hope that its playlists would some day be operable if I recover the lost songs. So, of course, I have 60,000 Library entries with exclamation points next to them (no links to the data files, since the data files are lost).
I recently recovered about 40,000 of the original 60,000 songs (data files), but they are scattered around several other drives, +not at all+ consolidated.
So my problem is: how to get all the pieces of the system back together again?
It is clearly not feasible to manually link all 40,000 files one by one.
I know I could delete my Library and start over and "Add to Library" all the 43,000 songs that are unconsolidated and scattered through various drives. But I fear this would render all my playlists inoperable--even if I were to save them, export them, and then re-import them into the new Library. Would it?
I know I could also keep my Library as is and "Add to Library" all the 40,000 songs that are scattered through other drives. But I fear this would give me twice as many song entries, half of them duplicates with exclamation points next to them (no link to the actual song). And I don't even know whether this would save the operability of my precious Playlists.
Over the years, I had carefully corrected errors in the spelling and naming of thousands of songs and albums through my Library. I fear that those corrections live only in the Library, and will be lost if I start over and just build a new Library from the 40,000 recovered songs. Or are such corrections, when made in the Library, applied to the actual data files as well, in which case many of the 40,000 recovered songs would have those changes in them, and would show up in the rebuilt Library?
Is there some strategy for bringing it all together (and keeping my Library and its Playlists intact and operable) that will save me?
Thank you,
Mark

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Recovering "iTunes Music" folder from Time Machine Backup (Permissions Err)

OK, long story, but stay with me.... could be an interesting one here.
So I move to a SSD hard drive in my 24" iMac. New Intel SSD drive is only 160GB, so I'm only using it for the OS, Applications, etc... all of my data is on an external FW800 disk (Western Digital MyBook). I've already relocated my Home Directory to the external drive and that seems to be working great for all my pictures, docs, movies, etc, except for iTunes.
My iTunes library comes up, but I can't locate any of the songs. I checked the preferences and it's pointed to the correct location on the external disk. So, I was trying to do the relocation, but it would appear that the MUSIC folder does not have all the data i copied into it. When I try to open the "iTunes Music" folder I get this error... "The folder "iTunes Music" can't be opened because you don't have permission to see it's content". I've checked my Time Machine drive which obviously has all the music files on it (the space is taken up), but I can't get to them to recover.
Any clue how I can get this permissions error resolved so I can get my music? I have (3) backups of the same directory... all the same story, no permissions. I even created the same user account name when I rebuilt Snow Leopard on the SSD.

I don't think you understand. I need to get my music from Time machine where it is backed up. How do i find it in time machine and how do i transfer it to a seperate HD?

ITunes music folder keeps reverting back to default

If anyone can help, I'd appreciate it: I just moved my music library to a new hard drive, following the Apple instructions on "moving the iTunes music folder" (i.e. changing the iTunes music folder location on the advanced tab in preferences, setting it up to copy files, and then consolidating the library). The move worked, but for some reason, whenever I exit iTunes and come back in, the iTunes music folder reverts back to the default (C:\Documents and Settings\default\My Documents\My Music). It doesn't announce it or anything, but when I go to add new music, it sends it there instead of the new drive. What am I missing on the transfer?
Windows XP SP2

"booting up"= turned on.
I have noticed that you have posted on a thread that is 2 months old. This is really a bad idea as your issue can be easily overlooked. It's always much better to "start your own topic" by click on this link on the forum main page.

How to find files in your iTunes Library & NOT in Your iTunes Music folder AND visa versa.

Finding Files in iTunes Music folder that are not Listed in iTunes
Make 2 Smart Play Lists and 1 Static Playlist as follows:
1. Make a smart playlist called “All Files” with this rule: “Artist” is not “123456789″ (or any nonsense name that won’t be in your library).
2. Make a static playlist called “All Live Files”.
3. Make a smart playlist called “Missing Files” with these rules: Match all of the following rules, Playlist is “All Files”, Playlist is not “All Live Files”
Preform the following operations:
4. Select all the files from “All Files” and drag them into “All Live Files”. The dead files marked ! will not copy over.
5. “Missing Files” will contain all of your dead files. Select all and delete (Option+Delete). Voila, a nice clean iTunes library.
I keep these three playlists in their own folder. Whenever I gather more than a couple dead tracks for whatever reason, I delete all the tracks in “All Live Files” and repeat steps 4 and 5.
Finding Files in iTunes Library Are Not Present in iTunes Music Folder
Search on ‘Net for an Applescript called “Music Folder Files Not Added.” This will be at a site called Doug’s Applescripts and costs a mere $1.99. Install and follow instructions. This script also happens of clean up gremlins such as Podcasts that won’t go away, etc.
<Edited by Host>

From the top of the page where the scripts live...
The general method of use is to download the script to a folder of your choice, e.g. your Desktop, Downloads folder or create a folder at ...\iTunes\Scripts. Select a playlist or highlight some tracks in iTunes and then double-click on the script to execute it. If no specific tracks are selected the script will try to work with all tracks in the current playlist. Some scripts offer a choice of track by track confirmation of changes or fully automatic processing of the selection. Many of the scripts can optionally display a progress bar while running.
You are strongly advised to backup your entire library, or at the very least the iTunes Library.itl file, before use. Test the behaviour of your chosen script on a small group of files first to make sure it does what you want before applying it to large numbers of files.
Most builds of Windows will execute *.vbs scripts when you double-click them. If that doesn't happen then you might need to visit the Add/Remove Programs or Programs & Features control panel to enable the Windows Scripting Host. I can track down details if you have issues.
Backing up and restoring data is an area that is often glossed over. Most people don't try to learn much about it until they've lost something important. (Me too )
If your iTunes library was in the usual layout then normally copying the whole iTunes folder from the User's Music folder in the old computer to the User's Music folder in the new one will usually work fine. Ideally this is done before iTunes is installed so that there is no empty library to replace, and all settings are picked up from the old library. This post contains more details.
tt2

ITunes Music Folder Organization Inproperly

After I imported music of the album "Wings Of Song", by James Galway, from my removable hard disk to "iTunes Music Folder" and had iTunes organized it, I discovered something that's a little bit wierd. All the music I just imported is put under the folder Compilation\Wings of Song. This means that when iTunes organizing the music folder, it unexpectedly "thought" all these music are by the artist Compilation. What is the reason? Could anyone tell me why? Thank you!

The Compilation directory is how iTunes organizes albums that Gracenote (CDDB) considers works of various artists or collections of songs from the same artist, but differing albums (like "Best Of's" or "Greatest Hits").
The CDDB is not always consistent, as some Greatest Hits are marked as compilations and others are not. This really irked me in the beginning as I was wondering why some of my albums went missing. At first I tried to manually reorganize and move the files, but it was cumbersome. I stumbled on the "Compilations" function and it made things much easier.
For instance, if you have a Greatest Hits album of U2 sitting in the Compilations directory and would rather have it under the U2 directory (where I feel it better belongs), you would perform the process outlined below and the album and songs would move to its "improved" location.
That's why you have folders in your Compilations directory. Some you may wish to keep there, some you may want to move to a more appropriate place. This is how. Try moving some of them to their Artist's folder (if you have any that would qualify).
First check your Preferences:
-- Advanced/General: Keep iTunes Music folder organized (on)
-- Advanced/General: Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library (off) - change it back to 'on' after the song switch, if you want
To move an Album from the Compilations folder after it was imported from a CD (or otherwheres):
-- Highlight the collection of songs on that CD within the main Library
-- Right-click, 'Get Info'
-- Remove the 'Part of Compilation' check-mark - turn it to 'no'
-- Click 'OK'
iTunes will reorganize your PC folder structure, moving the songs from the Compilation folder to their Artist folder.
To defeat a Compilation designation prior to ripping the tracks from a CD, go to 'Get Info' on the CD and make sure that the 'Part of Compilation' box is not checked. This will keep the album under its designated Artist folder.
This is how I keep my music organized. I only want 'true' compilations under the Compilations folder, not some of the Artist's 'Greatest Hits'. You may have other desires.

Can the path to the iTunes Music folder be locked?

I'm trying to simplify the results of my own occasional user error.
Can the path to the iTunes Music folder be locked?
I have my library stored on an external drive that I keep turned off when not in use. If I accidentally start iTunes with that drive off, it recreates the original iTunes Music folder and directs itself there.
Can that behavior be stopped? It seems like there should be a way for iTunes to send a pop up or something, rather than this automated over ride to manual settings.

Yeah, I know I don't have an end of the world scenario here.
But just remounting the drive doesn't do it. I have to go back into iTunes and reset the folder location. Then wait several minutes as it all reorganizes itself.
I know just leaving the drive on is the easiest answer. It causes too much of a domestic dispute about all the blinking boxes I have running all the time. I have convinced her that the green one on the AEBS has to be on if she wants internet.

How can I add songs to itunes music folder without them being duplicated within the folder (not on my hard drive)?

I have music files all over the place and want to put them all in itunes with no duplicates and get rid of all the rest. how can I do that? Some of my playlists are missing songs. I would like to move the playlist back to itunes from my ipod without having to put the songs in my media folder yet again! I have wasted so much time fooling with this. Really what I am trying to get at through all of this is to run the songs on the ipod through ivolume so they play equally.
Can anyone make sense of this for me?

It sounds like you have a few different problems.
To find all your music, try using a spotlight search. Type "kind:music" in the spotlight search (the magnifying glass in the far upper-right corner ) then choose "show all in finder". You'll end up with a window that shows all your music files, regardless of where they are on your hard drive. But don't move any files, because that may confuse iTunes (it won't be able to find files that you move, because - d'oh! - you moved them and now they're not where iTunes left them. That's usually how people end up in the kind of situation that you're in.)
If you want to let iTunes organize your music for you, make sure those options are turned on in the iTunes preferences (in the "advanced" section), then go to the "File" menu, choose "Library" and then choose "Organize library". That will put all your music in the iTunes Library folder (but leave copies of the originals wherever they were, all over your hard drive).
To find duplicates in your iTunes Library, choose "display duplicates" (or hold down the option key and it changes to "display exact duplicates" which might help in some cases). You'll still have to manually go through them to delete one of each duplicate.
Now you can start combining those three techniques - if you consolidate your music and let iTunes copy everything into the music folder, you'll know that iTunes safely has a copy of all your music in the iTunes Library folder. So you can do the spotlight search, and delete any duplicate files that are not in your iTunes library folder. Anything that's left over (that is, it's not a duplicate and it's not in the itunes music folder), you'll need to add to iTunes (try using the "automatically add to itunes" folder - spotlight search to find it - anything you drop in there will get added to iTunes without leaving a duplicate file). Then you can use the itunes "duplicates" feature to find the duplicates in iTunes and fix those.

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.

ITunes Music Folder Missing on external hard drive after changing iTunes Media Folder Location from MacBook Hard Drive. Not deleted...just missing?

I store my iTunes media folder on my external hard drive and can no longer find it there. It seemed to becomd lost after I re-designated the default iTunes media location. I had downloaded some things from iTunes without my external hard drive plugged in and when they downloaded they downloaded to the default location on my Macbook Pro. In recognizing that, I wanted to move those files from the hard drive on my MacBook Pro to the external hard drive. When I re-selected the location as the external hard drive a copy process began. I cancelled the copy process fearing the small number of files from my Macbook Pro would over-write all of the files on my external hard drive so I quit the copy process. Now I do not see my "iTunes Music" folder on my external hard drive. I fear that I have somehow lost the path but I believe the content is still on my external hard drive although I no longer see the "iTunes Music" folder on my external hard drive. I know I didn't delete it, but it isn't there. Is there a way to make it re-appear? I would really appreciate any guideance anyone has.
Thank you.
Best,
Matt

When you change the location in preferences it tells iTunes to start, from this point on, storing new media files in the new location. It then presents you with the option to move any old files in their current locations to the new location. It doesn't move the library files which are not media files. Read the links below to understand how iTunes works because you are the one with the computer in front of you and are in the better position to understand how it stands as regards to iTunes files.
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
Now, did you keep the whole library on the external drive, or did you keep just media? From your description of the situation it sounds as if you kept the whole library there and when the external was not attached it returned to default location on the internal drive. What you should have done then was plug in the external drive, hold down the option key, and guide iTunes to the library file on the external. At this stage you could have dealt with the mislocated new files on an individual basis.
I guess the key question is, did your trying to move the couple of new media files to the external drive overwrite the iTunes folder there, which because you then canceled may have also just resulted in it being deleted. I am not going to test the theory on my system.
How big was your library on the external? If it was 40GB do you now suddenly have 40 GB free?
Look for any iTunes folders on the external drive. In view options turn on "calculate all folders sizes" and see if there are any big ones.

ITunes Music Folder Missing on external hard drive after changing iTunes Media Folder Location from MacBook Hard Drive

The store my iTunes media folder on my external hard drive and can no longer find it there. It seemed to becomd lost after I re-designated the default iTunes media location. I had downloaded some things from iTunes without my external hard drive plugged in and when they downloaded they downloaded to the default location on my Macbook Pro. In recognizing that, I wanted to move those files from the hard drive on my MacBook Pro to the external hard drive. When I re-selected the location as the external hard drive a copy process began. I cancelled the copy process fearing the small number of files from my Macbook Pro would over-write all of the files on my external hard drive so I quit the copy process. Now I do not see my "iTunes Music" folder on my external hard drive. I fear that I have somehow lost the path but I believe the content is still on my external hard drive although I no longer see the "iTunes Music" folder on my external hard drive. I know I didn't delete it, but it isn't there. Is there a way to make it re-appear? I would really appreciate any guideance anyone has.
Thank you.
Best,
Matt

Any ideas? Anyone?

Duplicates in iTunes Music Folder but not in iTunes

If this has been addressed already, please forgive me, but in my User>Music>iTunes Music Folder each of over 6000 songs has a duplicate.
They don't show up as duplicates in iTunes or under Show Duplicates.
Is there anyway I can get rid of the 6000+ extra tunes other than clicking on each duplicate and dragging it to the trash?
tia,
Bob

Steve,
I started over by trashing everything in my User > iTunes file and relaunched iTunes.
Then I went to iTunes Menu > File > Add to Library where I re-imported all of my tunes into iTunes from by backup file on my external hard drive.
I then Consolidated the library (whatever that means); now, I'm back in business.
Here is a link that might help indirectly: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1329
hth, Bob
p.s. If you don't have your music backed up externally, you can get the tunes into iTunes directly from you iPod using this: http://www.fadingred.com/senuti/

My iTunes music folder is almost 1.5x the size on disc as my iTunes library. How can I get rid of this extra data?

When I look at the iTunes music folder in Windows Explorer, it shows as 28.0 GB. In the iTunes library, it says my music is 18.3 GB. I would like to get my 10 gigs back.
I've tried to add the media folder to my library - it just duplicated maybe 10 songs, didn't add any new ones. This suggests that there isn't any extra music in the folder. So why is it 10 GB larger? How can I get rid of the extra non-music data?

Apparently there are some mp3 files that aren't adding despite importing the folder...
That is actually a very common problem, due to iTunes being strict/finicky/incompetent (pick your own interpretation) about slight variations in MP3 formats. The problem can usually be corrected by treating the files with a 3rd party tag cleanup program, such as MP3 Validator.
i don't know how much of the missing 9.7 GB this will apply to, but definitely worth a try.

Moved iTunes music folder to new HD and it won't play

I recently moved my iTunes music files to a larger external hard drive (for the third time) and now iTunes can't find any of the songs. It has worked in the past on 2 other HD's but not this time. I've selected the correct iTunes Music Folder location under <EDIT> <PREFERENCES> <ADVANCED>, have selected "Keep music folder organized", and have even "consolidated my music", but the files won't play. The files are in-tact; I can right-click on a song, click "get info", and manually locate the file to play it, but I don't want to do this for 70GB worth of music!!! Someone suggested dragging the music files into the iTunes library, but I have the library on my laptop and the actual music files on the external HD and I want to keep the library on my laptop so I don't think this will work for me. please help.
Message was edited by: brookap

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.

ITunes Library Does Not See Music in iTunes Music Folder

I'm sure this has been posted before, but I can't seem to search the right combination of terms to find the answer.
The issue: I just bought a Macbook Pro, an upgrade from my Powermac G5. On the old setup, iTunes was accessing its library from a second internal harddrive. I've removed that drive and put it in an external enclosure for use on the MBP.
When setting up my MBP, I used migration assistant to import my settings (probably the source of my problem). Once set up, I copied my entire iTunes Music folder to the harddrive of the MBP and pointed iTunes to it.
iTunes lists all of the music but can't find any of it. I've tried changing the iTunes Music folder location in the preferences to something else and then back to where the music is, just to force iTunes to reread it and nothing seems to work.
How can I get iTunes to recognize this music? Again, iTunes is pointed to the correct folder and all the music is in there. It's very important that I don't lost my comments and playlists if at all possible.
Thanks!

Not sure why this worked, but I dragged my old iTunes Library file and iTunes Music Library.xml from the old computer into the new one, and it automatically worked. Weird fix, but I'm happy nonetheless.

Copying iTunes music folder but keepin' MY music organized MY way!!

The questions been asked a hundred times: how do I move my iTunes library to an external hard drive?
Yeah, I have the same question, but with a few differences. Basically, I keep my music folder organized as I like it. Consolidating the Library screws it all up. If "James Brown" is on the soundtrack to "Rocky IV," I want to have a "Rocky IV" folder with James Brown in there-- not a "James Brown" folder with another folder called "Rocky IV!" Why should I have to search the entire hard drive for all the separate tracks that make up "Rocky IV?!"
All I'd like to be able to do is copy my current music folder (and its hierarchy) to my new drive and link the library to it without screwing up playlists, etc.. Again, the key for me is keeping my music folder organized the way I've organized it.
C'mon, there's gotta be a simple way to do this!

I think you can do it this way: drag and drop the "iTunes" folder (under the 'Macintosh HD'/'Users'/-username-/'Music' folder) onto the external harddrive.
That works if the music is in the iTunes folder.
If it's not, it will still work but all the music will still be in the original location.
Are you saying that holding down the Option/Alt key will then automatically ask for the location of the new music folder?
No, it won't. It will ask you Create a new library or Choose existing library. it is asking for a iTunes library file, not a music folder.
If an artist appears on a soundtrack, I want to keep that file in the soundtrack's folder, not the artists' folder.
Set the album as a compilation. It will be stored in iTunes music folder -> Compilations -> {Album name}.
All I'd like to be able to do is copy my current music folder (and its hierarchy) to my new drive and link the library to it without screwing up playlists, etc..
Since you are managing the music yourself, not any easy way to do it.
You could export your playlists, delete the music from iTunes, move the music folder, re-add the music and import the playlists.
Just curious. Why do you care what folders iTunes uses? Just use iTunes to do everything instead of going into the Finder.

Lost consolidated iTunes Music folder; Recovered much of it, unconsolidated

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