Media location problem w/iTunes 11.01
I just dl'd to iTunes 11.01 for mac, and my media library has gone missing.
My music library is very large (500+GB) and is therefore on an external hard drive. Years ago, when I first installed iTunes, I changed the default media location (in Preferences) to this external hard drive, and all my tunes showed up on iTunes. Every previous update of iTunes has carrried this preference forward and found my music without a hitch.
Unfortunately, with this latest iteration of the program, something happened to disrupt this process, and when I opened iTunes after the update I noticed that the only music visible in the program was those tunes I've purchased from iTunes. In other words: those in the cloud. All files stored locally on the external hard drive were still there, and the drive connection was live, but for some reason, iTunes had reset the location for the file back to the default (in the "Music" folder).
I changed the location in Preferences, as I had done years ago, but the tunes aren't showing up in iTunes. When I check the media location in Preferences, the correct location (on the external hard drive) is there plain as day BUT THE TUNES AREN'T ACCESSIBLE FROM THE PROGRAM.
Does anybody have an explanation for this? I suspect it has something to do with the .itl and .xml files, but I'm a bit unsure about how to proceed.
Thanks in advance,
Andy
After looking at things further, something is really wrong with this 11.0.1 installation. iTunes only shows certain movies in my library (and no TV shows, when I have multiple series. I deleted my music, movie & TV files off of my drive to stram them in iCloud to save space -- and everything worked fine in the iTunes 11 debut before this most recent upgrade). The really weird thing is, all the movie files are still stored on my HD that my iTunes account is pointing to for storage. Add to that, when I view my purchases and check for items that iTunes says are NOT on my computer, there are items showing on that tab that ARE on the computer according to my library listing.
Similar Messages
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Change Default Media Location During Installation
Hello Everyone,
I'm currently working on installing iTunes using command lines to push it to multiple computers in the organization I work for. However, we would like to change the default media location to C:/iTunes (as an example) during installation, instead of it being created in \\server\user\music\iTunes (example). We'd like to change it so it's not storing files on the server and not taking up space on people's personal work shares.
I searched other discussions and Google'd it, but I couldn't find a definitive answer.
We use Windows 7 x64 operating system if that needs to be known.Hmm, no one here has any idea if this can be done?
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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 -
Problems transfering iTunes Media folder from one external HDD to another.
Hey Yinz.
I'm running a MBP 13" 2.7Ghz Intel Core i7...OS X 10.6.8. Recently the NAS that hosted my iTunes Media folder and library failed. I recovered the drive from the NAS...a WD Caviar (WD2500JS), which was originally written in XFS. After substantial effort, I found a process that would enable me to access this drive, and have my Mac read it. This involved a Newer Technologies Voyager Q, coupled with a recent version of (whatever they're calling) MacFuse. It did so sucessfully. Now what i want is to take my iTunes Media folder and library off of the WD, ex-NAS HDD (its original location), and transfer it to a new HDD.
I bought a Toshiba Canvio basics usb 3.0/2.0.
Most online tutorials describe dragging and dropping the folder in the new location. I can connect both HDDs to my MBP, and the transfer will begin...
But.
After the first few minutes...The Finder will not allow me to complete the transfer. I keep getting an error code -8084.
I'm almost certain that the new HDD (which i formatted as Mac OS X Journaled in Disk Utility) is not recognizing special characters in certain file names in my iTunes Library. I have some artists in my folder that require special characters to display their names properly. I realize these were originally written in a Linux format.
So, is there a way around this...other than changing the filenames? I really don't want to destroy the integrity of my library by changing a bunch of characters that accurately identify artists. I guess if all i had was Billy Joel and the Beatles in my library, i'd be Okay...but i don't.
I also read a thread somewhere that suggested that error code -8084 relates to inadequate power distribution of an attached HDD. This also complicates my problem...as the new external HDD (Toshiba) is bus powered, and lacks an option for a dedicated AC power supply.
While i am able to access and use my iTunes as normal...i'm tied to that WD HDD, which is like, over 5yrs old, and i'm really hoping to get my media off that old HDD, and onto a new HDD with the files intact and accurate.
Any help would be much appreciated and welcome.
--j.m.
P.S. I'm running iTunes 10.7No solid data here but it just seems to me that when I see issues arise about copying data and strange error messages that it has to do when people are using non Mac-formatted drives. I think they kind of work but once you put them under real pressure you just get problems. Maybe I'm just thinking of all those vague error -50 "communications difficulties" messages from people trying to copy their libraries to FAT drives. I wonder if using Terminal to do the copying would help.
Now, there is a difference between placing your media on a drive and your library on a drive. Your library is your whole iTunes folder along with files such as the critical library.itl file and artwork files, etc. Media are just what's in your media folder - music, movies, etc. If you are moving your whole library you can drag and drop copy. If you are moving your media you can drag and drop but then the new drive has to have the identical drive name as the old one (the old and new pathnames have to remain unchanged). Usually the best way to move media is to use iTunes' preferences setting to consolidate your media to the new location. iTunes very easily loses track of files unless you let it do the moving (exception: moving the whole iTunes library folder).
iTunes 10 for Mac: Consolidate your iTunes library - http://support.apple.com/kb/PH990
iTunes for Mac: Moving your iTunes Media folder - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1449
vs.
iTunes: How to move [or copy] your music [library] to a new computer [or another drive] - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527 - a somewhat bewildering and not always easily understandable set of options.
Quick answer if you use iTunes' default preferences settings: Copy the entire iTunes folder (and in doing so all its subfolders and files) intact to the other drive. Open iTunes and immediately hold down the Option (alt) key (shift on Windows), then guide it to the new location of the library.itl file in the moved iTunes folder.
Windows users see tip at: https://discussions.apple.com/message/18879381 -
Songfile path not writing to .itl file when iTunes Media Location is changed.
Running iTunes 11.1.4 on an Intel NUC with Windows 8.1. My iTunes library contains about 65K songfiles. All media is on a NAS.
Frequently when I restart the PC the NAS is not immediately mounted. So if I don't check this before starting up iTunes, the iTunes media folder location changes to its default.
I don't know if this is the cause of the problem, but a few days ago I started seeing a vast number of exclamation points indicating lost songfiles. All music is nicely organized in a parent folder on the NAS and iTunes had, until recently, no problem recognizing all of it.
So the other day I changed the iTunes Media Folder Location in the program from the default (which it had switched to at bootup) to the songfiles' location on the NAS. I then let the software update the library.
Still the exclamation points remained, with no discernible pattern. Within albums, some songs were recognized, some not. I'd say about two-thirds were missing, according to iTunes.
I shut down iTunes, fired up Vim, and had a look at the library's .xml file. Sure enough, about two thirds of the songfiles pointed to the default media location, with another one-third pointing correctly.
I edited the .xml file to line everything up properly, but came to find that this has no effect because the .itl file rules the roost. As soon as I started iTunes back up, the paths returned to the locations according to the .itl file, and these incorrect paths were also written to the .xml.
Updating the media folder location seems to have no effect on iTunes's ability to find the files. I know I can rebuild my library using the .xml file (presumably best done after I have changed the paths to their proper file locations), but I don't want to lose playcounts, ratings, playlists, etc.
So. It *seems* as if my .itl file is corrupt even though iTunes starts and the program is able to locate a portion of my media.
Is there something I am missing? Some way to get iTunes to recognize the proper path for all media without a library rebuild?
TIA.The "missing file" error happens if the file is no longer where iTunes expects to find it. Possible causes are that you or some third party tool has moved, renamed or deleted the file, or that the drive it lives on has had a change of drive letter. It is also possible thatiTunes has changed from expecting the files to be in the pre-iTunes 9 layout to post-iTunes 9 layout, or vice-versa, and so is looking in slightly the wrong place.
Select a track with an exclamation mark, use Ctrl-I to get info, then cancel when asked to try to locate the track. Look on the summary tab for the location that iTunes thinks the file should be. Now take a look around your hard drive(s). Hopefully you can locate the track in question. If a section of your library has simply been moved, or a drive letter has changed, it should be possible to reverse the actions.
If another application like Windows Media Player has moved/renamed the files then the chances are that subtle differences in naming strategies will make it hard to restore the media to the precise path that iTunes is expecting. In such cases, as long as the missing files can be found somewhere, you should be able to use my FindTracks script to reconnect them to iTunes. See this post for an explanation of how it works.
I've seen a suggestion that iTunes' own repair mechanism may work better when "Keep iTunes Media folder organized" is turned off.
See also make a split library portable. Keeping the whole library on the drive removes the problem of the media folder being reset.
tt2 -
Unable to set Media location in iTunes
Hi All, I have just finished the Yosemite upgrade and want to set my media folder in iTunes. In iTunes>Preferences>Advanced I select my music folder, (held on a separate internal drive), and then press Scan For Media, nothing happens, no media located. What am I doing wrong
I have the exact same problem. If I disconnect my video iPod and the try to alter settings - then I'm told that No iPod is connected....
What is wrong? -
I have problem with Itunes losing where podcasts and some purchased music is located. Don't know how Itunes losing the locations of the files and I can't find the files on my hard drive. What can I do to stop Itunes losing location and restore my files?
Try assigning Queen as the Album Artist on the compilations in iTunes on your computer.
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how do i stop my itunes from changing the location of my itunes media. i have it saved on a external HD and it keeps changing back to my local drive with out being told
No, an external drive will not always be mounted. If the drive goes to sleep, it can unmount, or it may unmount for other reasons. As Chris said, confim that the drive is mounted and active before launching iTunes.
Regards. -
Hi,
A very helpful postee got to the end of his knowledge level, so I am posting this for you tech guys to sort out. Bit long because I've tried to set it out step by step. Briefly I'm new to iTunes and my laptop has a very small hard drive and is virtually full and due to be replaced. So I want to use an external hard drive.
Now I know that iTunes installs itself to two locations: 1. Programs Files 2. Music. And its the Music location that bothers me.
I asked about using an external hard disk to store the actual AAC files. I was advised that in order to change the loaction of the iTunes media folder I was should employ preferences/advanced/ and this is what i saw (as you would expect):
Then I hooked up my hard drive, hit 'change', and this is what I saw:
I was a bit worried by the lack of pathway details, but assumed it must have done something on the external drive, so I looked on it and this is what i saw (highlighted):
But compare this with what was in the directory I attempted to reproduce, viz in the iTunes folder in /laptop/Music/iTunes:
A ton of stuff. The only stuff that corresponded with what iTunes had created on my external hard drive was in Music/iTunes/iTunes Media folder:
Now this suggests that there are TWO locations for my preferences. The advanced tab only allowed me to ADD an extra location, not REPLACE the original.
So:
1. Which of the two locations will iTunes choose when I add music? Surely it will go with the original pathway laid down in the directory when iTunes was installed, and ignore my external Hard Drive? I mean, how can there be two automatic locations?!!!
2.. I don't mind itunes library being on my laptop as this is just a list, but it obvoiusly has to have a pathway to the site where the actual AAC files are stored.
so surely it won't work unless the whole lot is on the external hard drive: library, extras, genius, the lot?
4. How then do I get it all on the external since merely changing "preferences" doesn't do the job?
5. Is this perhaps the reason why so many people report that iTunes does not recognize their external hard disk:
http://www.ehow.com/info_12199596_external-hard-drive-not-recognized-itun es.html
I just don't want this to happen to me. Any answers?
Philip Joy
UNITED KINGDOMAs I've replied to your other threads...
Easy method 1:
Move or Copy entire working library from current location to the root of your external drive. Press & hold down shift (option on a Mac) as you click the icon to start iTunes. Click Choose when prompted, then browse to ..\iTunes\iTunes Library.itl on the external. If you copied the library across then test your new library works properly after renaming the original folder, before deleting the original folder to recover space.
Easy method 2:
If you haven't really started to build your library. Press & hold down shift as you click the icon to start iTunes. Click Create. Browse to the root of the external drive. Create the library as ITunes. Drag your media into ..\iTunes\iTunes Media\Automatically Add to iTunes.
Complex method:
Required if you've already tried other things and now have media & library scattered around. See the post make a split library portable.
in addition...
In all cases the idea is to get a library folder called iTunes containing a media folder called iTunes Media with all media inside this media folder. Once you have the library in this shape it is easy to reconnect to the library with the shift-start-iTunes method if the drive letter changes, move the library to another computer, and backup the library by cloning the folder to another drive.
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. -
ITunes can't locate any music/iTunes Media folder cleared
I ran a few cleaning programs to clear up unceassary files/cashes to get some extra space on my HD. Later, I went onto iTunes to play some music, and it asked me to locate the file. Turns out this is siutation for every file, and after further inspection, my the 'Music' folder in the 'iTunes Media' foler is empty. For over half the music in my library, the only copy of the .mp3 was in this folder. I am not 100% certain that it was removed from using these cleaning programs, but it is the only reason I can think of.
Is there anyway to efficently locate the missing files which I do have in another location? (I have tried the method were you locate one and iTunes does the rest. This was ineffective). Is there any way to recover the files which were lost/could they be anywhere else? Finally, am I able to utilise my iPhone/iPad (which has substancial music on it) to help locate .mp3 files and/or re-add songs which have totally been wiped.
A horrible situation. If there is nothing i will have to restore my computer to its last back up which was 4 months ago .
Thanks for any help!Hey, make sure that your extnal hard drive is connected. Start
iTunes. No need to connect your iPod at this stage.Go into
Edit - Prefs, select the advanced tab at the top and
ensure that the path to iTunes music folder location is
set to your ext. hard drive. e.g. E:\exthd\iTunes\music. Always
ensure that your external hard disk is connected before
you start iTunes otherwise iTunes will get confused.
The 4500 songs should now be seen by iTunes.
The odd few albums/songs that are located on your c:\drive
will now have a circle next to them, indicating that the
original files cannot be found. Simply move these to the
external hard disk and re-import the individual
songs/Albums again. -
I'm having problems with itunes after updating. I've lost all my playlists,,finally played around with it and got the songs back but some have an exclamation point beside them and can't be located. they are songs i've purchased. I'm not very computer literate so this is a major problem. I have spent hours with this. I just want all my songs to play even though I'm not happy that I have to recreate my playlists. It would be so much easier if I knew and understood how to correct this. Has anyone else had this problem and if so..is there an easy way to correct it?
Not sure how this is an ipod touch question.
Perhaps you should post in the itunes forum. -
I want to move the location of my iTunes Library db files to a new location without moving the whole lot, including my Media file [Music, Films etc etc files]... in this case I want to move the Library db files to my iCloud Folder so I have a backup of the Library db File [ good idea huh :-) ] and I should be able to open iTunes whether the media can be seen at that point or not. is it possible to just move the Library files and then tell iTunes where they are so it can launch iTunes?
Is this just a case of cut and paste the Library files to the new location, then updating config in iTunes?
This may be a silly question but in my book, no question is silly if it needs to be asked.
Any ideas, advise welcomed.m1g1c1 wrote:
Thanks Chris but I think I have not explained it well enough.
This...
I am using an iCloud Folder on my local Mac hard drive. iCloud Folder syncs with iCloud and works like a backup. It is a subscription service that Apple offer.
You should be adding them to iCloud, not your local drive.
Yes I understand how it works.
The iCloud folder on the local drive is (and should be) managed by the iCloud drive/OS, not you.
You are simply trying to work around iCloud drive.
I just want to know if I can move the iTunes Library cb files to a new folder/location on my macs local hard drive
... and tell iTunes where to look for the Library so that it can launch / startup
The iTunes library.itl file is part of the iTunes library.
I already back up my actual media files (music etch) by other methods.
You should back up the entire iTunes folder, not just the media.
If you wna to backup the iTune slibrary.itl, just copy it to the iCloud drive on the left side of aFinder window.
You don't need to go (and shouldn't) into the iCloud folder in your user library.
This is what the "guru" will tell you. -
Like an idiot I changed the location of my iTunes Media File in the Advanced section of my Preferences - now half my songs won't play as they can't be found....I know they are there as I played these songs yesterday.....help !!!....
.....what folder do I need to reset it to so I can play my entire library??
Frankie CYou can also reset the location fo the media folder in the advanced tab.
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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�
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.
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