Lost files after exporting library to external HD

I recently exported my iTunes music folder to my external HD to free up space on my internal HD. Now when I try to play some songs a window pops up and says original file could not be found. I have lost alot of music and a great deal of it was purchased. Has this happened to anyone else?

iTunes' export option does not move any files - it just creates an XML copy of the library.
This Apple recommendation might help you: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301748

Similar Messages

Problems with iPhoto after exporting library to external hard disk

Hello all,
I am using iPhoto 8 on an iBook G4. I recently attempted to back up my iPhoto library to an external hard disk. I did this by dragging the iPhoto library to the external hard disk. I did not delete the library on my own computer. Since I've done this, iPhoto has not been problematic. For instance, when I attempt to open an event on my computer, I can not see the thumbnails of all the photo's in the event - iPhoto will display each individual photo in sequence. If I want to print a picture, I have to export the entire event - I can't just drag the thumbnail to my desktop. Also, when I attempt to upload new pictures from my camera it produces an error.
Does anyone know what might be going on? I need to be able to access my photo's, so can anyone give me some advice on how to fix whatever I've done?
Any help you can give me would be much appreciated.

Gina2008
iPhoto will display each individual photo in sequence.
There's a slider lower right of the iPhoto Window - drag it left.
Why are you exporting to Print?
when I attempt to upload new pictures from my camera it produces an error.
What does the error say?
As for accessing your pics:
There are many, many ways to access your files in iPhoto:
For 10.5 users: You can use any Open / Attach / Browse dialogue. On the left there's a Media heading, your pics can be accessed there. Apple-Click for selecting multiple pics.
Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!
To upload to a site that does not have an iPhoto Export Plug-in the recommended way is to Select the Pic in the iPhoto Window and go File -> Export and export the pic to the desktop, then upload from there. After the upload you can trash the pic on the desktop. It's only a copy and your original is safe in iPhoto.
This is also true for emailing with Web-based services. If you're using Gmail you can use THIS
If you use Apple's Mail, Entourage, AOL or Eudora you can email from within iPhoto. With 10.5 you can access the Library from the New Message Window in Mail:
Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!
If you use a Cocoa-based Browser such as Safari, you can drag the pics from the iPhoto Window to the Attach window in the browser.
Or, if you want to access the files with iPhoto not running, then create a Media Browser using Automator (takes about 10 seconds) or use THIS
Other options include:
1. *Drag and Drop*: Drag a photo from the iPhoto Window to the desktop, there iPhoto will make a full-sized copy of the pic.
2. *File -> Export*: Select the files in the iPhoto Window and go File -> Export. The dialogue will give you various options, including altering the format, naming the files and changing the size. Again, producing a copy.
3. *Show File*: Right- (or Control-) Click on a pic and in the resulting dialogue choose 'Show File'. A Finder window will pop open with the file already selected.
Regards
TD

Problems w/ iTunes locating files after moving library to external HDD

My iTunes collection of Music has outgrown my iBook hard unfortunately, so I finally decided to switch all my music to an external hard drive. I followed this tutorial given by iLounge (http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/moving-your-itunes-library-to -a-new-hard-drive/) step by step, and the hope was that it would be a clean transition so I could make space on my laptop, however I ran into a huge glitch. After going into my preferences and changing where the Library was located (from the laptop to Ext. HD), I went ahead and consolidated my library to the Ext HD. That went okay, or so I thought, but when I tried using some of the songs, I noticed the exclamation point meaning it could find the the song. So i went try and find the song on the external hard drive and for reason, when iTunes was consolidating(copying) the music some songs didn't transfer. I've reset location to the default on the laptop HD, but I'm having to go through and manually locate files that iTunes can't "find". Is there an easier way to get the library reload the original location of the files w/o deleting everything and reimporting the whole library? And how would I do a clean transition?

Still wrote:
maybe this will help some of you. it worked for me.
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=5572959&#5572959
about the middle of the page they suggest starting iTunes while holding option. then choose "rebuild library"
This did not work for me. I still get icon for "dead tracks" on most of my music. And when holding the option key you just get to choose the library - not rebuild. I'll look to see if there is another way to rebuild. I did find this on Doug's Apple Scripts site: http://dougscripts.com/itunes/solutions01.php#003
+• Wait a sec! I didn't delete any files, but I still see "!" next to some tracks. What gives?+
+Some users report that their files are intact, yet on occasion, some files go AWOL...they still exist, but for some reason iTunes can't see them, and the tracks they represent show the dreaded "!". To discover the facts, you can use List MIA's, mentioned above, which will create a list of these tracks; then you can go hunting for them. To re-associate these tracks, you must click on them; iTunes will ask if you want to locate the missing file, and you weave through an Open/Save dialog for each one.+
+I have read reports of people having success with 1) Repairing Permissions (see your Mac Help) and 2) ensuring that your files are set to "Open with:" iTunes—you set this in a single respresentative file's Get Info box; be sure to click "Change all". This latter solution worked for me when, mysteriously, iTunes failed to recognize older files I had ripped with SoundJam and MACast in OS 9 back in the last century.+
+I have often been asked: "But my tracks are right there! Can't you write a script that just looks for the files in the Music folder?" It's not that easy. However I did put together iTunes Track CPR. It uses the existing data from a "dead track" to try and locate its file in the Music folder. It is not perfect (except for play counts, tag data will be rescued), but it does work well under most circumstances.+
I am going to try the iTunes Track CPR and see if that helps.

Cannot Open Excel File after exporting from Disco Plus

Hi there,
I got a question from one user having issue with opening Excel file after exporting from Disco Plus.
The report has been using for a while and he is using Excel 2003 version and Discoverer 10g(10.1.2.2), he never got this kind of error before, just recently got error.
After exporting from Disco Plus he saved file on his desktop and when he tries to open the excel it says "Cannot be Accessed, can be corrupted...." but this is not from network drive since he saved file on local desktop or C drive.
Also not for all reports, only this particular report and only specific parameter, for example for parameter 2008 Feb opened successfully, but for2009 Feb he gets this error when trying to open excel.
i tried in excel 2007 also , i dont think this is Excel version error, am not sure.
Also after go live last week (we upgraded database from 9i to 10g) but i am not sure this causes ,since for one parameter working, for other parameter not working.
Actually we should get one window for Macro when we try to open excel, but he is not getting it seems.
Any ideas/thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks for your help
--skat

Rod,
Thanks for your quick response on this.
Yes, we can export to other formats as well, but actually exporting is working, after saving the file on our local desktop/drive and when we try to open we get this kind messages or we cannot open the file, we should get message window for Macro to enable/disable but for this report we are not getting this either,
Also this happens only for specific parameters,like i mentioned above it works I mean excel file opens for one set of parameters but for some other set of parameters cannot open.
For example :- when we enter FEB 2008 it works, if we enter FEB 2009 it won't open the file.
This is weird
I am still working on this issue, may be better to recreate the report again might be helpful,
Any ideas/comments/thoughts would be great
Thanks
Skat

Lost CR files after exporting to jpg

I seem to have lost many original CR files after import > developing > export as jpg. I had made selects to develop and then output images as lower rez jpgs. When I went back to the original folders (on an external hd) those CR select files were missing / a gap in the photo sequence now exists and I cannot locate the originals regardless of searches. How is this possible?

Lightroom does not delete your photos unless you specifically tell Lightroom to do so, and this wouldn't happen in an Export operation anyway.
So I don't know how this is possible, but I'm pretty sure it can't be blamed on Lightroom
You need to:
1) check the Recycle bin; or if that doesn't work
2) restore the photos from backups, or if you don't have backups (why not?); or if that doesn't work
3) you can try to download something called an undelete utility and install it and see if it can find these photos (and if you are going to need this step, perform it immediately, do not do anything else on your computer)

Exported Library to External HD, error in attempt to link to files on HD

Hello,
I recently began using lightroom and stored the files on the local drive of my macbook pro (current os) until I ran out of space. Exported the catalogue to an external HD, then deleted the files from the local drive. As I tried to import the .lrcat file associated with the export to the external HD and received this error:
"Can not import from this catalog at this time. The catalog is either in use by another copy of Lightroom or was closed improperly. If it was closed improperly, please consider doing an integrity check when opening."
I am not running LR on any other computers so I figure Lightroom was "closed improperly". However I cannot figure out what to do and tech support will not help me without the serial number which I cannot get as I am travelling. Any advice would be sincerely appreciated.
Jordan

If you indeed exported the catalogue to the external drive, you don't need to import it. Simply double-click on the copy of the catalogue that's on your external drive.
By the way, your serial number is available in the Help/System info menu item.
Hal

Lost photos after iPhoto library rebuild - what happened?

After noticing that there were albums entitled Recovered photos in my iPhoto library, I deleted those albums. As expected, i got a message that i was not really deleting the originals, just getting rid of such albums. There were about 5 of those "recovered albums": one contained about 30 photos; three had zero and another had over 1000 photos. Subsequent to that, thinking of making this library totally clean, I decided to do a "libraty rebuild" using the option-command rebuild procedure of iphoto. I checked all the options presented for that procedure. To my surprise, when the process was finished I had less events, and less photos. A careful visual check of the display pane of events and photos confirmed that i had lost actual photos. I tried to reclaim those lost photos with another rebuild -- this time using iphoto library manager, but without success. What happened? Is there any way to reclaim those lost photos?
I do have a backup, but would prefer to correct the problem in the original library to avoid having to assemble and clean up duplicates that i had before.
I'm using the newest version of iPhoto: 8.1 and OS X 10.5.8 on a MacBook 2.4 Ghz - 2Gb Ram - 250 GB HD, 42 GB available. My iPhoto library has over 12000 photos

Why these things happen is always difficult to answer. My experience with iPhoto is using it since v1 on with a single library that's upgraded each new versions and migrated from G4 iMac to G5 iMac to Intel iMac and then a second Intel iMac. I load photos in, my wife does and my 12 year old does too.
And never had a problem.
The database gets corrupted when the app is interrupted when writing to it. The usual causes of this include a crash, a force quit or a lost connection to the Library on an external disk. More rarely minor disk or directory damage might be a cause.
I wondered when I read your report
Subsequent to that, thinking of making this library totally clean, I decided to do a "libraty rebuild" using the option-command rebuild procedure of iphoto. I checked all the options presented for that procedure.
The options presented for that procedure include various items that require the app to read the database file plus this one
Rebuild iPhoto Library Database from automatic backup.
+I Wonder+ - I stress, I wonder, no more - if reading to rebuild various thumbnails from a file that is being vacuumed +while at the same time+ is being replaced by a backup is what caused the issue.
If it is, then the Rebuild from Back Up option should be sandboxed and not possible while the other events are going on.
But that's just a guess.
Regards
TD

Problem viewing Quicktime files after export

So a few months ago, I finished a number of projects in Final Cut Express. I exported them as self-contained .mov files and kept those files in their own folder. Today, I try to open/play those Quicktime files, Quicktime opens and says "loading video", and only audio plays. No video. Weird.
What I want to do is upload these videos to YouTube, so I opened MPEG Streamclip in an attempt to transfer these apparently corrupt files into a .mp4 format. When I drag and drop the Quicktime files into MPEG Streamclip (the title of the first .mov file I tried is "1 Naitram On the Road to Syndicate"), I get this: "The movie file "1 Naitram On- FIN - 00000002 cannot be found. Without this file, the movie cannot play properly".
When I first exported these projects into .mov files a few months back, I was able to watch them in Quicktime. Now, I cannot. Why would this be? Can a file just corrupt like that over time? Are these files beyond saving? Thanks..

Thanks Al..
The files originally used were imported from my Canon Vixia HF G10; I guess you would call them AVCHD files? Anyways, when the files were imported, a scratch disc folder as well as a Render Files folder was created. I arranged the imported clips in my sequence to make a two minute long videos, then exported as self-contained movie files. Would having tampered with or deleted these Render Files even AFTER exporting have corrupted the QuickTime file? ....because I may have done that..

Lost files after turning on/off file vault option.....

it seems that i lost my files after test file vault option..i first enable it then turn off .then i realized i lost my files even the password is okay.any help fellows
thanks in advance
musallam

i actually not all...some of these files exist but can't be readable! even i turn off the vault file option.the files size cleared they still there but can't read or operate like itune files.
most of the pdf file gone ...any particular reasons for that..
appreciate derek....

How to delete the doubled file after exporting through iTunes?

When I exported an iMovie project from the iPad to Mac via iTunes, it created another file about the size of the movie project (about 5GB in my case).
Now that I exported the project, I want to keep the movie on the iPad but free that extra 5GB used to prepare the file for export. How do I do that?
Thanks for any hint.

Just delete the project in the iTunes/Apps/Sharing pane.
Once you have saved the file off, you can delete it from the Sharing Pane.
IMovie uses an internal area to save the project it edits, so the project in the sharing pane is a duplicate as you say.
You can only delete this file in iTunes though.

Saving PSD files after exporting from Lightroom saves incorrectly

I've only recently moved to Lightroom from using Photoshop/Bridge together, so I'm not 100% sure how saving files exported from Lightroom should go. But here's what I experience:
Base edit of file within Lightroom
In library view, right click on image -> Edit in -> Open as Smart Object in Photoshop
Perform all my necessary edits and such
File -> Save As, and save it to another location as a PSD file (totally different HDD)
Perform more edits....
Shortcut CTRL+S to save, and it saves it as the TIFF file under the location it was originally in within Lightroom
Eh...? Am I missing something. It should just save as the original PSD I created when I went "Save As". I have seen on a few occasions, immediately after "Save As", the file name resorts back to TIFF and not as PSD.
My settings for External Editing in Lightroom are as follows:
File Format: TIFF
Color Space: ProPhoto RGB
Bit Depth: 16 bits/component
Resolution: 300
Compression: None
Does anyone have any ideas what I'm doing wrong? Also, to note, that sometimes I double click on the Smart Object within Photoshop to load Camera Raw and perform some edits, but not often.

Modesto Vega wrote:
Replying to your last 3 posts.
Re Camera Raw being used to pass an image to Photoshop
a) I am assuming this is independent of the Compatibility level in Preferences\File Handling DNG creation.
b) Does the same apply to other photo editing software made by Adobe like Elements?.
Reply: Yes, the principle is the same. Photoshop Elements cannot read raw data either. That's why it has to be converted before it's opened.
c) Assume that I have LR 5.7.1 and CS5. Is Camera Raw is still used to pass an image to Photoshop? If so, why is there a need to get LR to behave differently?
Reply: Camera Raw is used IF you choose the option to open anyway. Then Camera Raw will be used to convert the image that's opened in Photoshop. But since it is older than Lightroom some of the new adjustments might not be transferred to Photoshop. That's why there is a need to let the user make the choice.
d) Sometimes it does seem as if Adobe might be using Camera Raw updates and process version updates to get consumers to change their habits, this includes having to buy subscriptions or having to change workflow to some ideal that somebody at Adobe or working with Adobe might have in mind.
Reply: The fact is that in the past, when a new version of Photoshop is released then all support and updates cease for the previous version. Since the introduction of the creative cloud, at least users of Photoshop CS6 get support for new cameras. They just don't get the new features. Yes, there's motivation to upgrade. Adobe is a business. What do you really expect?
Re stacks
I find impossible to see collapsed stacks on the film strip. Stacks are only visible on the Library module and using a grid view; I don't say clearly visible because they are only recognisable by the label at the top left corner with the image count; I don't even think it is possible to change the colour of that label or the grey colour surrounding an image. Also I cannot name stacks. If I could name stacks, see them as virtual folders underneath a library folder and make them glaringly visible I would use them extensively.
Reply: The only reason I can think of that you are unable to see collapsed stacks on the filmstrip is if you have the filmstrip reduced in size to the point that Lightroom can't display all the icons. I'm able to see the collapsed stacks in the library grid view and on my filmstrip
Re storing your Raw files and processed files in separate locations
Assuming Raw files are negatives and Photoshop files are transparencies or prints, would you want negatives being handled/read on a regular basis? If anything happens to your negatives, you would never be able to produce another print or another transparency again.
Reply: The raw files or the negatives, as you put it, are never modified by Lightroom. They always remain in their pristine state they were in when they were imported. If I have a backup of that raw file then I can do whatever I want to the one in my working folder. Resetting that raw file so that it looks unaltered is just a click away.
I have worked extensively with databases and database systems, it is a standard feature of database systems to be able to choose where to store different database objects. I don't see why LR cannot do the same, it is a database after all. I do agree with both the OP and photo.
Reply: Well, I won't argue that point. If that's what you really want than lobby for it. It just won't get my vote because I don't see any real advantage.
If you read back through this quoted message you'll find that my replies are included. I don't know how to separate them out so they are highlighted properly. Read through it and think about it. But personally, I don't want to waste anymore time on this discussion because it isn't accomplishing anything in my opinion.

How to get batch recognition of (!) on some tracks after moving library from external hard drive to new iMac (with terabyte hard drive)?

I'm using Lion 10.7.2 and iTunes 10.5.2
I have moved my iTunes music from an external hard drive onto my new iMac (with a terabyte hard drive) with music folder organized - when I try to play some tracks I get the iTunes can't locate warning and so I follow through and show iTunes the track - they are all in the music folder on my iMac hard drive - they all copied over and they all appear in the iTunes library list - so far as I can tell out of a 500 gigabyte music collection - but there are so many giving me the error - many other tracks function as they should too, some work others don't - So I'm looking for a way to get all the error tracks fixed in a batch correction way. Doing this individually with each track just isn't realistic.
Can anyone suggest how I might fix this issue?
Also, after I show iTunes the song location and it plays, I get a find files prompt that looks like it wants to find other files, but that just causes the process to jam and I have to force quit iTunes and then it doesn't remember what I last showed it next time I open iTunes.
Also I'm trying to avoid the use of the consolidate function because that would copy a whole other set of music - not in iTunes - that is in the process of being edited (audio hijack pro and fission tools being used to put vinyl and tapes to mp3) But all that other music just means the consolodate function across my whole computer would be too much.

Some details seem to be coming into focus - I have started scrolling through the main library list A to Z repairing tracks individually (there are thousands, but it's what works so far) - as I work through, it appears the problem occurred on tracks where album artist metadata was different than song artist metadata, predominantly. I'm not sure that is 100% the case in every instance, but that is what it's looking like. I don't why that happened, must be some technical glich I guess.
Also, I tried running Doug's Scripts - the one titled, iTunes Track CPR v1.3 - it is supposed to fix exactly the kind of issue I'm having - I bet it would work for some people with a similar issue - but for my case it only identifies the 'de-linked' tracks and doesn't repair them - that is at least helpful as I scroll though to fix them - I can see exactly which tracks have the issue quickly after running that script - but iTunes doesn't remember that warning symbol after a log-out, so it's only worth running the script on a set of tracks I intend to review and fix in any given session at a time.
If you are interested, Doug's free scripts can be found at
http://dougscripts.com/itunes/scripts/ss.php?sp=itunestrackcpr
there are other interesting and useful iTunes scripts there too...
also, unrelated to the issue I'm having, I found a lot of really useful and time saving metadata fixing free scripts at - hubi's iTunes scripts - the page isn't English, but the script download is easy to find -
hubi's scripts work for batch selections of tracks - so if you import an album and find the metadata screwed up somehow, you can select the whole set of screwed up tags at once (even across a series of albums), run the easy to use script, and watch it all be fixed automatically while you sit back and relax...
http://hubionmac.com/wordpress/category/softwareschmiede/applescripting/itunes/
just for reference, here is a sampling of what hubi's scripts can do...
there are other useful scripts out there - the tough part can be finding the one that helps you...
01-(un)capitalizes
01-(un)capitalizes
This script changes.... THIS TEXT into This Text... or this text
01-Delete spaces
Sometimes invisible blanks are behind an artist name or album name...this script deletes these blanks behind or infront of the strings
01-Delete x first-last chars. of Title
A Name like "01--Ray Of Light" will be changed to "Ray Of Light" and the01 will be entered in the tracks tracknumber id3 field =)
01-fix combined Artist-Title
Sometimes Tracknames look like:
"Madonna---Ray of Light" and in the artist field you see something like"Ripped by Me"... this script puts Madonna back to the right field... all youhave to do is to enter the right delimiter ("---" in this case)
01-switch Artist<->Title...
Switch ID3 field a with ID3 field b (not only Artist with Title any more =)!
01-z_filename ->Title
Sets the ID3 field Title to the track's filename)
01-z_trackNr-Filename->ID3
When a track's filename look like "01-Madonna-Ray of Light.mp3" andyou don't have the track's tracknumber stored in the ID3 Tag... this Scriptcan do this for your =)

Lost albums after iPhoto Library move

I recently moved my iPhoto library to an external harddrive and lost all of my albums that I had organized my photos into. iPhoto had trouble finding the library after I moved it, and the albums seemed to dissapear after that.
It's all backed up with TimeMachine, is there any way to retrieve the organized albums??
Thanks!

First off tell us exactly waht you did
the correct way to move the library to an EHD
Moving the iPhoto library is safe and simple - quit iPhoto and drag the iPhoto library intact as a single entity to the external drive - depress the option key and launch iPhoto using the "select library" option to point to the new location on the external drive - fully test it and then trash the old library on the internal drive (test one more time prior to emptying the trash)
And be sure that the External drive is formatted Mac OS extended (journaled) (iPhoto does not work with drives with other formats) and that it is always available prior to launching iPhoto
And backup soon and often - having your iPhoto library on an external drive is not a backup and if you are using Time Machine you need to check and be sure that TM is backing up your external drive
LN

Issues with sound quality after moving library to external HD

after i moved my itunes library to an external HD, the sound quality of the music files (both imported from CDs and itunes purchases) developed significant hissing and crackling and slight pitch shifts.
even after i switched back to using the internal itunes library, the low sound quality persisted.
is there some sort of an audio setting that needs to be changed? is this an itunes issue or something related to the HD? please help.
here's some info on my set up:
new HD: fantom g-force 500gb usb 2.0
mac mini: 1.42 ghz powerpc g4/1gb memory/80 gig internal HD
itunes: 7.6.2
quicktime: 7.5

go what I needed from a fellow mac user

IPhoto crashes on opening after moving library to external HDD

Hi
After filling my ibook up with phots to the point of bursting, I decided to buy an external harddrive and store the iPhoto library on it. This all seemed to work fine until I opened iPhoto (for the second time) and started importing photos from my camera. It kicked me out of iPhoto and now it will not reopen.
I have read all the advice on here and have followed the guidance. I have run the permissions programme, downloaded the library manager and run a rebuild. Everything.
I have put a copy of the backup onto the extrenal HDD and this opened fine the first time but not the second. I can get it to open by taking the library.photo from the backup and putting it in the library folders in the external HDD and this allows iPhoto to open for about 5 seconds before kicking me out. Next time I try and open it, I get kicked out immediately.
I had thought that the HDD might be read only but I changing that has made no difference, although I have my suspicions.
Any help would be much appreciated.
Thanks
Lauchlan

Well first off, don't import an old library into a new one. You'll get massive duplication of photos as all the versions are treated a new photos. It's a mess.
What you need to do is recover your Original pics from the old library and put them into the new one.
Note this will give you a working library with the same Events and pictures as before, however, you will lose your albums, keywords, modified versions, books, calendars etc.
So, find the old library on the HD and right-click on it. From the resulting menu choose 'Show Package Contents' and a finder window will open with the library exposed. You'll see the Originals folder. Drag it out and the from it drag the individual Event Folders to the iPhoto Window and it will recreate them in the new library.
In the future, in addition to your usual back up routine, you might like to make a copy of the library6.iPhoto file whenever you have made changes to the library as protection against database corruption.
I think it unlikely that a permissions issue is the cause of the crashing, but it might be some damaged jpeg files. See how you get on with the above.
Regards
TD

Lost files after exporting library to external HD

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for