Media folder location preference won't stick
I have my media folder pointed to an external hard drive (more specifically, a hard drive attached to my AirPort Extreme).
Every time I open iTunes, this folder location resets to the default \music\iTunes folder.
I have tried all possible combination of settings - checked/unchecked "Keep iTunes media folder organized", checked/unchecked "Copy files to iTunes media. . .", and even tried clicking ok/cancel on the dialog box that comes up after changing these preferences.
Is there something I should be aware of if I am using an external or network drive as the location for my media?
Reading through other posts, I think I may have found the answer. I'll put this question on hold for now.
You have to have that particular drive set to display on your desktop.
At least I think. It worked after a single restart. Hopefully it sticks.
Similar Messages
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Download location preference won't stick
Although all the other preferences work as you would expect after sleep/restart/log-out, the 'download location' preference always resets to Desktop. I change it to the Downloads folder on my desktop each time, but it never seems to survive sleep/restart/log-out. Does anyone have any ideas what might be going on here?
Hi, your original post said:
I change it to the Downloads folder on my desktop each time,
Am i understanding you correctly?
so it goes to the desktop but not into the folder,then is that the issue, i do not think it would go to the folder on its own, I think you would have to move it there. Or Pick other in Safari pref. & then pick the Down. folder.
Keep us posted~~Eme -
I just installed iTunes on my computer, where I already have all my music. I went to Edit > Preferences > Advanced, and changed the iTunes Media Folder Location to where I have all my music, in the "Local Disk." But iTunes wont import all my music. Help?
Have you looked in the Music App on your iPhone? On the iPhone music is played by the Music App not iTunes.
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I have moved my library to an external hard drive and changed the location of the iTunes media folder in Preferences, but every time I close and re-open iTunes, I have to do it all over again. How can I make the iTunes media folder change permanent? I have an older machine with Windows XP.
I don't believe mounting the hard drive should be necessary, unless you have several external drives and want your computer to recognise them as folders, rather than drives. I've never had to mount a hard drive, ever. If you don't know how to do it, then it shouldn't be necessary now.
Try this:
Prepare iTunes so that it can see the external drive.
Make a note of which drive-letter the external drive has been allocated. (Look in Windows Exploer)
Look at the file location for a song. Make sure it plays (and therefore that iTunes has found it). Highlight it and select File/Get Info/Summary>Where: and make a note of the drive letter for that song.
Close and shut down the computer.
The next time you turn the computer on again, connect the external drive
Before you start iTunes - check the external drive in Windows Explorer. Is it ready, does it have the same drive-letter that it had last time? Can you go into the drive and see the files on it?
Once you can, start iTunes. (If the drive lettter has changed, you need to work out why before going any further.)
If iTunes fails to find your external drive, you need to check where iTunes is looking for your Library.
Select the same song you checked before (presumably iTunes can no longer find it). Follow the procedure for locating it. You should be able to see where iTunes thinks the file is. It's the drive that counts. Which drive letter is iTunes looking at? Is it the same one that it was previously (which should also be the same one that the drive has now).
What happens, which step do you have problems with?
Message was edited by: the fiend -
How to stop iTunes from looking in old media folder location?
Several years ago, I moved my iTunes media onto an external drive attached to my Airport Extreme, because I was running out of room on the internal drive.
I had all the usual problems with iTunes looking on the internal drive, but it mostly worked okay, as long as I didn't mind only being able to access my music at home.
A few months ago, I got a 2TB internal drive, and told iTunes to use the default media folder location on the internal drive again. I also check to keep iTunes media folder organized, and to copy files to the iTunes media folder when adding them to the library. I had already manually copied the folder structure over from the external drive.
I noticed that when I would start iTunes, I would see the activity light on the external drive, and it would be mounted on my Desktop. I checked, and the location for the media folder was still correct in preferences. I checked a file or two and (this seems to be gone in iTunes 12.1) it was still showing the file location on the other drive.
I tried to manually "cut the cord" by renaming the folder on the external drive, but iTunes was cleverer than that.
What do I need to do to stop iTunes from looking for files in the old location? I'd like to reclaim that space, but I'm afraid to remove anything over there, in case iTunes has been putting things over there instead of the new, correct location.
This is a MacBook Pro 8,2 i7, with 10.10.3 and iTunes 12.1.x.
Thanks,
SeanManually moving files yourself and telling iTunes where to store media in preferences does not do what oh so many people who come here with issues think it does. Changing iTunes' media storage preferences only tells iTunes where to store new media. iTunes still looks for old media where it last saw it, namely on your external drive. You have to let iTunes do the relocating of the old media files by consolidating to the internal drive. It will cheerfully ignore any changes you do in Finder yourself.
iTunes 12 for Mac: Change where your iTunes files are stored - http://support.apple.com/kb/PH19507 - more information at: https://discussions.apple.com/message/22026652#22026652 - and steps 5-8 in https://discussions.apple.com/message/24491967#24491967 -
How do I change the iTunes media folder Location and save it?
I have a seagate drive where I store my music and have it shared as "M". Each time iTunes starts up, it defaults back to C:\...... and if there is a device connnected, it transfers the purchases from that device to this directory.
I need to manually go in and change the location each time iTunes starts. Is there a way to save this location as the default? I am on Version 10.
thanks in advanceIf iTunes starts up and it can't get access to the location that you have declared as the media folder it will revert to the default subfolder of the library folder. Any downloads or rips will be put in that location until you correct the media folder location via Edit > Preferences > Advanced.
Either make absolutely certain the drive is active and available before starting iTunes or place the library folder on the other drive as well (see this post) so that iTunes either opens normally or warns that it cannot find the library. Note if this is a networked drive rather than locally connected USB/SATA there may be noticeable performance issues with the latter solution.
tt2 -
Itunes media folder location on Mac Mini server
if i want to move my itunes library on my MacBook Pro to my MacMini server, do i create a new folder called Itunes Media on the server or do i install itunes on the server (MacMini) and use the iTunes folder
FrustratedAJM3 wrote:
Setting up a new Mac. I already have my iTunes media from my previous Mac on an external drive. Went to Preferences and selected the external drive and iTunes Media folder and the files are not showing up in iTunes. Any ideas?
That simply tells iTunes where to put new files.
It does not add anything to iTunes.
You should keep the entire iTunes library (iTunes media and all library files) in one location.
Do this...
Connect external to old computer.
Copy /Music/iTunes/ folder from internal drive to external drive.
On the external, move the iTunes media folder into the iTunes folder you just copied to the external.
Hold Option, launch iTunes, select Choose library... and select the iTunes folder on the external.
Everything should work fine.
Quit iTunes.
Connect drive to new computer.
Hold Option, launch iTunes, select Choose library... and select the iTunes folder on the external.
Everything should work fine.
This is all you need to do.
This will bring all your playlists, ratings, comments, everything from old computer.
You do not need to change the iTunes media folder location in iTunes prefs.. -
ITunes Media Folder Location on External Drive
Setting up a new Mac. I already have my iTunes media from my previous Mac on an external drive. Went to Preferences and selected the external drive and iTunes Media folder and the files are not showing up in iTunes. Any ideas?
FrustratedAJM3 wrote:
Setting up a new Mac. I already have my iTunes media from my previous Mac on an external drive. Went to Preferences and selected the external drive and iTunes Media folder and the files are not showing up in iTunes. Any ideas?
That simply tells iTunes where to put new files.
It does not add anything to iTunes.
You should keep the entire iTunes library (iTunes media and all library files) in one location.
Do this...
Connect external to old computer.
Copy /Music/iTunes/ folder from internal drive to external drive.
On the external, move the iTunes media folder into the iTunes folder you just copied to the external.
Hold Option, launch iTunes, select Choose library... and select the iTunes folder on the external.
Everything should work fine.
Quit iTunes.
Connect drive to new computer.
Hold Option, launch iTunes, select Choose library... and select the iTunes folder on the external.
Everything should work fine.
This is all you need to do.
This will bring all your playlists, ratings, comments, everything from old computer.
You do not need to change the iTunes media folder location in iTunes prefs.. -
ITunes not storing files in iTunes media folder location
A number of years ago I wanted to move my itunes media files to an external drive. At the time an article was posted that explained how to do such that. Additionally the article explained how to put the media files in one folder on the external file server and all the itunes definition files in another folder on the same external file server. It worked perfectly! All seemed well. Of course since making this change there have been many many updates to iTunes and the OS.
Recently, I was scanning through the folders of the external file server and noticed some media files that appeared in the iTunes application listing were missing in the physical iTunes media folder (folder A). After a little searching I found the media files were in the iTunes definitions folder (folder B). Initially I thought somehow I had changed the folder location under the iTunes advanced tab. I checked it stilled pointed to the ORIGINAL folder A location. Yet iTunes had for a while as it turns out had created a whole new media folder tree and was adding the media files to that media tree (folder B). This is the folder the original only contained the iTunes definitions.
Thinking I had made a mistake somewhere sometime ago, I copied all the media files to the proper folder (folder A) and reset the iTunes Media folder location to point to folder A. All was fine.
Today I added some new media to the iTunes library and once again, iTunes created a new media folder tree in folder B were only the iTunes definitions are supposed to be stored. So once again I moved the media files to the proper folder.
There is no question THIS IS A SOFTWARE BUG. It does NOT matter what folder location is specified in the Preferences->Advanced->itunes media location is specified, iTunes will either CHANGE the folder location to wherever the definitions files are located or begin putting the media files where the definitions files are located even though the iTunes media location is setting to a different folder.
when this started I do not know. I have been using itunes for a number of years and once I had my external file server set up never had reason to check it.
One might ask why put the media files in one location and the definition files in another location. That is because there was a time when iTunes for some reason would think it definition files were corrupted and start to do nasty things to the media library. Once I lost a number of songs it is then when I found a note in this forum that suggested putting the definitions in one folder and the media in another folder. It was great idea. Is there a work around of a fix for this bug?Some additional information.
When I click the apps tab in iTunes, some of the applications listed are actually songs (the songs are also shown in the music list and point to the proper location), when I click Get Info on some of the apps, it points to a song, and some apps that actually exist in the Mobile Apps folder are shown to located in a song folder. Bottom line the apps database is corrupted.
When I consolidated the music files I did not touch the mobile applications folder. As best I can tell all the movies and songs are fine (about 3000 items in total).
When I export the library it does not include the apps in the xml file. So deleting the iTunes DB and re-importing the .xml will not work.
To recap. All the songs and movies are in one folder (folder A). This is the folder listed in the Preferences->Advanced->Itunes media location. The apps folder is located in a different folder (folder B) where the iTunes definition files are located. How they got there I do not know.
How do I fix the apps tab and have the app icons (and physical applications) to point to the proper location? Also to remove the songs listed in the apps list without removing the song from the iTunes library. -
Multiple iTunes Libraries - Each with a separate Media folder location
I have searched and learned that I can create more than one iTunes library file. I can do this so I can start to separate out my large music collection into more manageable chunks. I have learned that I can switch libraries by holding down the "shift" key while starting iTunes (I'm on Windows, so for me it's the shift key) and selecting or creating a new library. Life is good.
However, it seems that the "Media folder location" is the same for all libraries that I create. I want to have certain files and their associated library files on an external drive, and the rest of my library on my local drive. It doesn't let me do that. When I create a new library, and set it up on my "I" drive, and I change the "Media folder location" to also point to the "I" external drive, it works fine. I rip some music, and it's all good.
However, when I close iTunes and switch back to my original library which stores music on the "C" drive, the media folder location for that library has also been switched to the "I" drive. This is not good. The point of having separate libraries is to be able to manage my music. All of "these songs" go on the external drive, and the library files are also there, but all of "those songs" go on my internal drive, and the library should also be on the internal drive.
Am I missing something obvious, or does it just not work properly? Thanks.I came across this thread and wanted to add my observations. I'm not experiencing the problem noted here. It works fine. Note that I've just updated to iTunes 10.5 today, but I haven't used my multiple libraries in a few months, so I don't know if my lack of a problem is because of this (or a prior) update to iTunes.
I use two libraries. One media folder is on my D:\ drive, and the other, for storing music in a lossless format, is on my external H:\ drive. The library files, however, are both on my C:\ drive. (C and D are partitions of the hard drive in my desktop PC.) The first library file is under My Documents\My Music\iTunes\ and the second one for my lossless music is at My Documents\My Music\iTunes Lossless Library\. (This works great because when I hold shift and open iTunes, the Open iTunes Library window appears, and I just navigate up one level, pick either the \iTunes or the \iTunes Lossless Library folder, and choose the library file therein.)
Tonight I copied the lossless media folder to a new, larger external drive. I then relabeled the old external drive as P: and labeled the new external drive as H:. I then deleted the lossless files from the old drive (now labeled P:). When I first opened my lossless library in iTunes, I could see all of my lossless files which are stored on the new drive (, i.e., the new H:). But when I went to Edit>Preferences>Advanced, the iTunes media folder location showed the D: drive media folder. Uh oh. Looking for help, I came and read this thread. Althought it left me expecting the worst, I just went ahead and changed the media folder location for my lossless music to the H: drive folder, closed iTunes, went back in, and the change stuck. I opened the other library, went back and forth a few times, and each shows its correct media folder location. So maybe this problem was fixed by Apple with an iTunes update, or maybe it's because I keep both libraries on my C: drive instead of on the separate drives where the files are located. I have no idea, but I just wanted to share my observations in case it helps someone else. -
I have recently decided to upgrade to windows 8 and with it clean out all the music in my itunes media collection and start fresh.
Before I start to download my purcharsed iCloud music or import my cds I set my media folder location to be "c:\users\username\my music\"
and the below images show the outcome, which seems like its a bug and it annoys me.
so now i have a folder called music inside the my music folder in my users profile, this seems really stupid i hope its a bug that gets fixed
if i set it as the below then all the music artists folder names appear straight under c:\users\username\
Why does the extra \music\ folder get added ?!?!!??? it just makes it messy.Here are typical layouts for the iTunes folders:
Essentially iTunes wants to put its content into <Media Folder>\<Media Kind>\<Subfolders>. See make a split library portable for reasons why you should stick to the default layout for the iTunes folders (media folder inside main iTunes folder), and Getting iTunes & Windows Media Player to play nicely for suggestions on how to set out the library for use by both applications.
tt2 -
The iTunes libraries on both machines appear to be in sync, though I don't know if Home Sharing or iTunes Match is to thank for the consistency. But the iTunes Media Folder locations are different on the MBP and MBA, and I don't know if they should point to the same storage location (it's been on a drive connected to our Airport for years). I also don't know what options for Copying Files and Keeping iTunes Organized should be on the MBA. I certainly don't want the media files duplicated yet the devices sharing a cloud version.
I hoped the MBA would act like an iOS device using iTunes Match in that music would stream unless downloaded. Then downloaded music would have to be managed (deleted from the MBA's iTunes) for space reasons at some regular intervals-- just like we now do on the iPhones and iPad. The library entry for the song would remain... just the locally stored file would be deleted and the iCloud download would change back to the download symbol.
But if a purchase is made from the iTunes store on the MBA, the file is stored on the local MBA machine as well as the external drive because the MBP receives the song via Home Sharing and downloads the file.Each iTunes client will expect a discrete iTunes library location. The iTunes Match service will allow the libraries to be automatically synchronised along with any IOS devices that are also registered for iTunes Match.
Following making a secure backup for any given library it is possible, once Songs have been 'matched' or 'uploaded' to remove the local copies and play the Songs from the Cloud. The behaviour on IOS devices is different, they will download each Song as it is played.
Note: Apple is very clear that the responsibility for maintaining music files remains with the user - so it remains essential to ensure that you have your own Songs secure backed up prior to relying on the Cloud. Should there be an issue with the Cloud resulting in loss of Songs you will need your own secure backup. -
I need to free up space on my macbook pro as hard drive is full!! So with 20 000 photos/video clips and itunes I would like to move this to a external hard drive!
I have followed steps on apple support but when i get to the Change itunes media folder location and chosen external hard drive it will not let me access the new folder option ?? help?errrrrrrm!
Yes external drive shows up in finder on desk top and can change to in the media folder location thing!
My external hard drive is a WD Elements. I have no idea about permissions to the external? Do i Have to format external hard drive to a mac?
I am trying to follow the steps on the apple support page to transfer files (consolidate library etc) just cant get further down steps as the new folder option is greyed out!
Thanks for you help -
Itunes Media Folder location on external hd but computer hd still losing space
Hi, im importing all my old CDs to my itunes, however as my computer's hard drive was getting too full, i've changed my itunes media folder location to an external hard drive. but now, even though the music is being saved to an external hard drive, im still losing space on my computer's hard drive. Why is this happening? and how do i prevent it? Thanks
By organizing it should both relocate all current media as well as start using the new location from that point on. You're mostly okay there. Where you are not okay is iTunes doesn't look at your files directly. It only really looks at one single file, the iTunes Library.itl file which tells it where everything is located. You need to get both copies of iTunes using the same complete library (media + library file). The way you do that is using the option start method. You should only need to do that once unless for some reason the library storage drive is disconnected when starting iTunes, in which case iTunes will use the default location and you will need to option start again.
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
iTunes 9 [and later]: Understanding iTunes Media Organization - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3847
By the way, both copies of iTunes will have to be the same version or the library will become unreadable to the older iTunes.
There are variants to the above but I am not going to type in all the possibilities unless you say something that tells me you need a different structure. -
Hi
-I have organized all my songs in iTunes ,deleted unwanted songs and updated the album artwork but it has not changed them in my iTunes media folder location in my C Drive.
How do I update it there so it is the same as my iTunes now so i can back it all up?
Thankyou.I solved my problem. Here's how:
1. Right click iTunes and click properties from the "Windows 8 Desktop" (or if you want to call it the 7 desktop thats fine too)
2. Select the compatibility tab.
3. Set compatibility mode to Windows 7 and click apply.
4. Open iTunes, sign into iTunes store, Turn on iTunes Match, Add your computer.
5. Close Program
6. Restart Computer
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