Merging two libraries (large but mostly similar)

I've seen a few posts on this, but no definitive answers.
I have a 20Gb iTunes library on my PowerBook.
We have a 30+Gb library on our home iMac.
I want to merge the two onto the iMac. At a guess, 80% of the files on my PowerBook already exist on the iMac.
Has anyone figured out a reliable way to merge the two libraries, (in a perfect world, preserving playcount and other info).

Since iPhoto is balking at some point in the rebuild check it's log if you can to see where it is breaking down.Then you can try to remove the problem photos and go again. If you can't access the log then force quit the process and try a new approach:
1 - create a new library.
2 - use iPLM to copy the Events from your current library into the new library. Only copy about 10 at a time. At some point iPLM may breakdown again and you can isolate the problem photo.
3 - open the new library every now and then to make sure it's working as expected before you import more events.

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Merge two libraries

Is there a way to merge two libraries ?
On my MBPro I have one iTunes library. On my MacPro another.
There's some cross over of music, but a lot of difference too between them.
Can I merge the two library files (on my external terabyte drive) and import the one large library file to iTunes on both mac's ?

Drag one of the two libraries to the external drive, launch iTunes on that computer with the Option key held down, and point it to that instance of the library. On the other computer, point iTunes to the library on the external drive and then drag the internal library into the open iTunes window.
(44576)

Merged two libraries. new one is smaller than the largest one!

I merged two iPhoto libraries using iPhoto Library Manager. One library had 6299 pics and the other had 178. The new one has 6474 pics (short of 3 photographs). The deal is that my library with 6299 is 33gb and my new library with 6474 pics is 31 gbs!
have i lost something crucial?
Neerav

You merged two libraries into a third, new one? Most likely there's no caches developed yet. Sync with a phone or iPod and see what happens then.

Merging two libraries?

When I first set up iTunes, I copied another family member's library and my library now has the same songs. Now that I have been using iTunes for a while, I have purchased my own music. This issue is that I have a new laptop (which is a Dell, not a Mac), and I wish to connect my iPod to the iTunes program that I downloaded for my laptop, but when I do connect it, it separates the two libraries. On my laptop it allows me to view both, albeit separately still, but on my recently synced iPod, it only shows my library. Is there a way for me to manage iTunes on my laptop and still have it sync both libraries properly onto my iPod?

See:
Syncing to a "New" Computer or replacing a "crashed" Hard Drive: Apple Support Communities

Can I merge two libraries

Can I merge two iTunes libraries?

Type "merge iTunes libraries" into Google for a variety of tutorials for both users of Macs or PCs.

Can you merge two libraries from 2 users on one mac to create 1 library?

I have an intel based Imac updated current. My wife and I have seperate user accounts both set with admin privelages.
The problem that I am having is that we both have seperate itunes libraries. I would like to merge both libraries into one, so we both can save to and access the same files in itunes when logged in as our individual users.
IMac Mac OS X (10.4.7)

The only way to merge tow iPhoto libraries is to use the paid version of iPhoto Library Manager - http://www.fatcatsoftware.com/iplm/ -
LN

How do I merge two libraries of Podcasts?

My library of podcasts has been split out on two computers, and now I would like to consolidate them into one?
How do I go about that?
The one library contains about three years' worth of daily podcasts and the other library contains about one month's worth, and it would be nice to have them together. This came about because my motherboard fried in an electric storm and getting everything up and running correctly took some time.

I once had a problem where iTunes "forgot" about all my podcasts. I managed to fix this by simply dragging the downloaded podcast files into iTunes. It seemed to recognise them as being podcast files, and added a new subscription with those files in them.

Possible to merge two image files, but keep separate channels?

I have Image A with seven selections saved as channels. I have Image B with eight selections saved as channels. I want to put A and B side by side in the same file. If I expand canvas in Image A and cut & paste B into it, the eight channels for B are lost. Is there a why to retain both sets of channels with my selections? I can't quite wrap my mind around how to make this work of even if it can work. Any suggestions? Thank you.

The best workaround I can think of is to make the Background Layer of the files a regular Layer and Group it (command-G), then add as many empty Groups in that Group as Channels are to be transported.
Afterwards load each Channel as a Selection (command-click the icon in the Channels Panel) and add it as a Mask to one of the empty Groups (click the Layer Mask-icon, third icon from the left at the bottom of the Layers Panel).
After that the Group containing the Layer and masked Groups can the moved together.

Will playlists be duplicated when two libraries are merged by iTunes Match?

Hi All!
I am preparing to start up iTunes Match, and will be attempting to merge two libraries, one from my wife's machine and one from my own. Most of the contents of these libraies is, in fact, duplicative, but there are likely several hundreds tracks unique to each.
They also have duplicative playlists. Most of our playlists are not "mix tapes," but simply a particular CD by a particular artist, e.g., Back on Top by Van Morrison.
I've read many posts in this forum already, and plan to create a brand new Apple ID that we can both use for iTunes purchases. (We each have our own iCloud IDs. This seems like a reasonable way to go. I will be "matching" he library first and, then, once that is finished, adding my own.
Here's the question: Will that result in having two copies of all those duplicative playlists? It would be truly annoying to have to delete every other playlist, though I will man up to the task if that is what is required.
I would like to know, however, if that's what I am likely in for.
Any advice on that score (or on my other plans as stated above) would be most welcome.
Thanks,
Greg

Greg, I don't have any experience with multiple IDs and computers. However the "problems" I can see cropping up are:
1. The playlists in different iTunes libraries will be uploaded. If there are the same playlists in each library then there will be duplicates in iTunes Match. You'll probably want to weed out some of the duplicates.
2. You're probably going to get duplicate songs as well. At this time the only way to not get those dups from different iTunes libraries will be to actually remove them from one library.
3. As to the Apps, you won't lose access to any Apps, and you should be able to update them as long as you authorize each library for the original iTunes Store account ID. This can be done by pulling down Store > Authorize this Computer.
As long as you proceed slowly, and have backups of everything (just in case) I see no reason why your plan won't work. Just don't rush it. Let one library match before doing the other, and do both iTunes libraries before enabling iTM on any of your other iDevices.

How can I merge two iPhoto libraries stored on an external drive?

Today I was in a One-to-One at the Apple Store. I want to merge two i-Photo libraries into one. One library is on my Air, the other is on my iMac. Both libraries have been moved to an external drive. When I try to move one onto the other, they won't go. Yet I am certain that while at the store today, the person there started to merge them. He did not need the library manager software in order to do so. We stopped the merge in order to move on to another issue. Now that I am home, I can't get the libraries to merge. What am I failing to do? Thanks!

The only way to merge two libraryies is to use iPhoto Library Manager which will merge two libraries and keep keywords, titles, faces, places, and other metadata intact.
If one imports one library into another library every image file in the first library, originals, thumbnails, face files, etc, get imported as an original photo. You will end up with a total mess. DO NOT IMPORT ONE LIBRARY INTO ANOTHER LIBRARY!
If you have backup copies of your libraries get them back and use iPhoto Library Manager to merge them.
OT

Any freeware to merge two iPhoto Libraries?

I saw lots of discussions back in 2007-8 pointing to iPhoto Library Manager... Question is if any freeware came up that can merge two libraries...
Thanks for helping!

SilentSifter is not a way to merge to iPhoto Libraries. It's an alternative to apps like Bridge as it's a file browser. It has no processing, especially no lossless processing, no integration with the OS, no books, no slideshows, no emailing etc etc etc

Can't merge "duplicate" libraries on the same computer

MAC PRO
OSX 10.6.8, Aperture 3.2.4
I'm trying to merge two libraries on the same mac (different drives). The libraries were duplicates at one time but have since changed - I've added photos to both of these libraries (unintentionally) to the point where both are different sizes and not true duplicates any longer. Trying to merge the two libraries back into one isn't allowed as Aperture says it's a duplicate "of the library currently running."
I have been able to export an individual project as its own library then merge it into the same project in the other library but not everything all at once.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.

I discovered the fix for this issue. Supposedly the problem occurs when an Aperture library is moved or copied via Finder rather than using the Import/Export function with the Aperture itself. Since that is accurate for my situation, I'm assuming it's true.
In order to merge libraries that were once the same, first create a new library for each existing library. To do this go to File/Switch to Library/Other/New. Choose "Create New" in the dialog box, select a volume to place the new library, give it a name unique for that library, and hit "Create." In the new library, go to File/Import/Library/Project and select a library that you want to eventually want to merge. Import this library. You'll need to do this for every library you want to merge. Once all of the libraries have been imported into new libraries (think of this as just a laborious way of simply renaming the files), then you should be able to merge the libraries together. Be aware you that must create new libraries for all libraries you want to merge. Just creating one new library and attempting to merge the contents with another won't work. In my case, Aperture went through the "process" of merging, very quickly, but none of the files of the second library actually merged into the first - and no error message will appear.

Please help me to merge two places.sqlite to get my old and New history at the same time, every time i rename my two places.sqlite to see my old and new history

every time i rename my new places.sqlite to see my old history and come back rename old places.sqlite to see my new history, i tired and i found No Way to merge two places.sqlite :( but it's must be found this way for The PPL to see their old and new history :(
Thank You all in Advance

You can't merge history otherwise then using Sync to store the history and bookmarks of one places.sqlite on the Sync server and then disconnect.<br />
Copy the second places.sqlite file to your Firefox profile folder with Firefox closed.
Then setup Sync once again using that account and merge the content on the Sync server with your computer.
* Merge this device's data with my Sync data

ITunes for Windows freezes when importing a library. I have a large but not huge library of mostly iTunes purchased music on two authorized computers and would like to sync the files, export the library as a playlist, and import it on the other computer.

I am running iTunes for Windows 10.2.2 on Windows 7 Home. I have my iTunes library on both this computer and another authorized machine running Windows 7 Professional. I have a large but not enormous library, as I'm one of those people who doesn't pirate, use torrents, borrow from a dozen friends, or whatever other shades of gray you might imagine. It's mostly iTunes purchases with my old CD collection imported. I have started using the following technique to sync my libraries between my two authorized computers, an ability which you can probably all agree should one day be added to iTunes -- that would be different from Home Sharing, because the music would be stored locally and thus available on the road. With the added benefit of the entire library being backed up on the other machine in real-time. Anyway, when I switch from my desktop to laptop and vice versa, I use the following technique:
Connect both machines to the home network. One machine is the "Active" machine, which has most recently been used for iTunes media, purchases, ratings, etc.
On the "Active" machine, File-->Library-->Export. Save the file as "Library.xml" on the shared drive of the other machine.
Right-click "Library.xml" where it's been saved, and open another file that has two lines in it: The root path of the iTunes library on one machine and the root path of the iTunes library on the other machine.
Do a find/replace all in Notepad to make the library XML file point to where the files will be saved on the "Inactive" machine.
Run Microsoft SyncToy to synchronize the files between both music libraries; the most recent files win. This avoids copying the entire multi-gigabyte library over the network.
Open iTunes on the "Inactive" machine.
Go to Music, Select All, Delete. Keep files.
Do the same for Movies, Music Videos.
Go down to Playlists, select the top one, hold down the delete button until they're all gone.
File-->Library-->Import Playlist. Choose the "Library.xml" file you saved.
First a status bar comes up that says, "Importing library." It has the continually-scrolling progress bar, not the one that starts on the left and steadily creeps right. Then after about 30 seconds, that clears out. Wait. Typically a few minutes. Eventually a status bar will pop up saying something like, "Evaluating gapless playback information," or something like that.
The "Inactive" computer is now the "Active" computer. I can now play my library, it has all my playlists and metadata from the other machine.
Delete all the duplicate playlists named "Music," "Genius," "Purchased," and "iTunes DJ."
Well, I just upgraded to iTunes 10.2.2 a few days ago and tried to do this again like I've done it dozens of times before. Now, iTunes just goes unresponsive after the library import. It got through the "Importing library" bar to the long wait and stopped. I can still multiprocess and use other programs, but iTunes is hovering back there not responding to clicks. Task Manager doesn't seem to think iTunes is using my CPU, and I don't see my hard drive rattling. Any thoughts on why iTunes might hang up when importing a large library?
... Also, please help lobby Apple to come up with a network sync tool built into iTunes for a user with multiple authorized computers. Something different than Home Sharing so I can pull my laptop off the network and still have the synced library with me. And all my metadata changes will sync. The technique I use seems a little kludgey, don't you think?

iTunes isn't an editor. You need an app that's intended for editing audio files, like Adobe Audition (http://www.adobe.com/products/audition.html) or Audacity (free in the App Store).

I cannot find a photo I did a lot of work to create. I have several library files that look similar but I found that at least one photo is not in both. Can I somehow merge these libraries. Can someone tell me how.

I cannot find a photo I did a lot of work to create. I have several libraries that look similar but I found at least one photo that was in one and not the others. Can someone tell me if I can merge these libraries, and how, and what to watch for that might cause problems.

the paid version of iPhoto library manager can merge libraries safely
Why do you have several libraries? Why are you not just using the one that has what you want?
LN

Merging two libraries (large but mostly similar)

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