Migrating/recreating existing iTunes functionality on a new drive

I have an apparently-unusual and somewhat complicated problem. I have two drives on my PC, and iTunes is currently installed on my (now-too-small) C drive. I want to get rid of "everything iTunes" on my C drive to free up much-needed space there, and either create or re-create my existing iTunes functionality, but on my G drive. That is, I don't want to have to "re-teach" a new installation of iTunes where everything is and where everything goes, if possible.
A great deal of my media libraries are not located in iTunes' C-drive folders, and are housed on my G drive. I really really don't want to have to add all those songs back into my libraries and playlists manually. But a fair chunk of my podcasts, music, movies and so on are contained within iTunes' various folders on the C drive. So to preserve them, I copied the "iTunes" folder from "C:/Documents and Settings/Owner/My Documents/My Music/iTunes" to my G drive root directory, renaming it simply "iTunes". I then redirected my existing C-drive iTunes installation to recognize this folder, changing it via "Edit >Preferences >Advanced >iTunes Media Folder location >change". (However, as a test, I renamed my C-drive iTunes folder to make sure that iTunes really was looking to my G-drive copy of the folder, and iTunes promptly lost track of everything, all my libraries, DL'ed music and movies, etc. I undid the renaming, and everything showed up hunky-dory again. So even though I told iTunes to look to the G drive folder for this information, some part(s) of it are still using the C-drive folders for it.)
So. Is it possible to somehow transfer my C-drive iTunes' knowledge of where all my media files are on my computer, which songs are in which playlists and so on, to a new G-drive install of iTunes? The media files themselves aren't moving--iTunes would be. I would also need my idevices' backups to locate themselves on the G-drive, and my future purchases to download there as well. As a lesser issue, is there any trickiness about deleting the existing C-drive installation of iTunes without mucking up the G-drive install, once I get the G-drive install up and running properly? (I'm reluctant to create a new install of an existing program until I have some idea of whether the two would interact.)
I have searched this procedure a couple of different times using Google, but haven't been able to find a reliable set of instructions addressing this particular situation. I find it hard to believe that no-one else has experienced this problem before, but I can't seem to find any record of how to solve it.

Cool... Earlier in the thread you mentioned that you'd also got media scattered around the G: drive. In the long run you'll find the next transition will be much smoother if you consolidate this media into your *G:\iTunes\iTunes Media* folder. Consolidate makes copies of the files that are outside the iTunes folder inside the iTunes folder so you'll either need to have enough room to afford to temporarily double up these files or, if that's a problem, you can do it in batches. You can consolidate everything in one go using *Library > Organise Library > Consolidate files*, alternatively select group of files, right-click on them and click Consolidate to do it in stages.
I'm assuming at this stage that you're happy with letting iTunes organise the files. If you prefer to keep your own layout (perhaps you've put certain genres in their own folders or prefer longer file/folder names than iTunes uses) then it is possible to get things organised in a way that is both under your control but also portable, however it requires a script to relocate the files as moving by hand and relinking is tedious.
An advantage of getting everything organised inside the one set of folders is that your library can be easily reconnected if the drive letter changes. It is also possible to use a tool like SyncToy 2.1 to clone the library to another hard drive or network share for backup purposes, knowing that the backup will ready to use straight away should the need arise. A working backup is as important as knowing where your your towel is...
tt2

Similar Messages

  • TS3212 I'm trying to download my existing iTunes account onto my new computer. Whenever I push download nothing works. It thanks me for downloading and then nothing happens. There is no pop-up control in the tool bar. Help???

    I'm trying to download my existing iTunes account onto my new computer. For one, every time I try and download it it takes a second and then says "thank you for downloading iTunes!" and after that there's nothing, no results, no download. I read the instructions, and I looked on my toolbar. There appears to be no pop-up control and I can't find anything relating to it. I have Windows 8, in case that makes a difference. This shouldn't be a problem, but it is, so....HELP???!

    See this migrate iTunes library post.
    tt2

  • How do I transfer my existing iTunes account to my new iPhone 4?

    How do I transfer my existing iTunes account to my new iPhone 4?  Then when I am done reset my old iPod Touch so one of my kids can use it?

    Let me google that for you

  • I lost my ipod. Bought a used one to replace it. When I plug it into the computer, the computer doesn't even seem to realize it's plugged in. How do I put my existing itunes library onto the new (used) ipod?

    How do I clear out a used ipod classic and put my existing itunes library on it? I lost my previous ipod and bought a used one to replace it.

    Do one or more of the following
    > Restart your computer
    > Uninstall & Reinstall iTunes
    > Reset iDevice (won't erase everything)
    > Go to My Computer (windows xp) or Computer (windows vista & 7) and see if iDevice shows
    > Restore the iDevice completely (will erase everything)
    > Make sure the iTunes and/or iOS firmware is up-to-date.
    The ones I cross over is the ones you don't have to do. This should help

  • How do i link my existing itunes library to my new ipad

    how do ilink my old itunes library to my new ipad air

    If you're moving from PC to PC then perhaps Windows Easy Transfer is the tool for you, although I'd still recommend you look at method 1 from my earlier link. If you don't have a backup strategy now then it is time you got one. Hard drives can and do fail without warning. All your personal data should be on at least two if not three separate disks to avoid disappointment.
    tt2

  • ITunes installed on a new drive with music on an old drive: how to keep the music data?

    I had iTunes installed on my old HDD with all my music on it. It was the drive C:\
    I just installed a new SSD (now the C:\ drive) in my computer. I also installed iTunes on it. I want to leave my music on my old HDD (now the G:\ drive). I can scan with iTunes for my music on my old G:\ drive, but that means I won't have the star ratings nor the play count...
    I tried to copy and paste the iTunes Library.xml from my old G:\ to my new C:\. When I opened iTunes, it had all my music and the data, but I had to locate manually every single song (in a 7000+ songs library, this is a bit of a problem).
    Is there a way to edit the iTunes_library.xml file to change the path of every song in it (from C:\ to G:\) since this seems to be the issue? Or how could I keep my music on my G:\ drive and itunes on my C:\ drive while keeping my music data?
    Thank you!
    Specs:
    Windows 7 sp1
    SSD: Plextor M5P 256G

    Hello papapavvv,
    Thank you for providing so much information about what is going on.  It sounds like you have your iTunes Library on your G:\ drive, but it sounds like iTunes is not opening iTunes Library.itl file on the external drive.  Follow these steps to point iTunes to your G:\ drive:
    Steps to create or choose a different iTunes Library file
    If iTunes is running, quit iTunes.
    If you are using Windows, hold down the Shift key and from the Start menu and choose All Programs > iTunes > iTunes.
    You should see the following screen:
    Additional information
    If you do not see the screen above, then you did not hold the correct key at the correct time. You may want to try again. Note that if you pinned iTunes to the Start menu programs, and open it that way, it may not work.
    Once you select "Choose Library," you will need to navigate to the iTunes Library.itl file on your new external drive.
    You can find the full article here:
    iTunes: How to open an alternate iTunes Library file or create a new one
    http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1589
    Thank you for using Apple Support Communities.
    Best,
    Sheila M.

  • Can't perform any functions on my new drive from Raid admin?

    I had a drive go bad in my Raid, (amber light) raid admin stated that the array was degraded and the drive was unknown.
    I ordered a new drive (same type of drive) inserted new drive and a red light was above disk slot and the data would not rebuild automatically. In Raid admin it stated that the drive was not installed but that the disk was online in the events log. (that seemed conflicting to me)
    I placed the old disk back in just for giggles to see if I could do anything with rebuilding parity data and none of the functions in the utility will let me do anything, Raid admin only shows that I have 3 disks in my array. It will not include the 4disk as part of the array. It says alredy belongs to ma raid set but will not let it be included with raid 1
    If I have another disk go bad I am sunk.
    I am fairly new at messing with raid set ups. I know we are set up with a RAID 5 with 4 disks.
    I am just nervous to do anything with the data I already have thinking I am gonna wipe something out.
    Any suggestions would be great.

    Have you read this post?  may help you
    https://discussions.apple.com/message/18149044#18149044

  • Replaced Hard Drive, iTunes Won't Recognize New Drive

    I had my 60+G of music files stored on an external drive, and it died. Someone more tech savvy than I copied the files from my iPod to a new drive, and they are all there. However, after I changed the iTunes folder location in Prefernces to look to the new drive I still get the *!%!! exclamation points!!!
    I can look for individual tracks and pull them up easily enough, but I don't want to do this 16,577 times!
    Did I miss a step? I left "Keep iTunes Music folder organized" checked.
    Any help would be tremendously appreciated on Thanksgiving Day.....

    Hi Chris
    Thank you for your help sorry it has taken me so long to reply to you.
    I solved my problem with Itunes gift card after many frustrating hours. I went to purchase another song it did the same thing as before (went straight to the billing page) but this time I hit a credit card icon it asked me to bring up details; I deliberately entered wrong numbers so forth and so on. I deleted all the credit card details and hit NONE and I found I could then exit the page. That action seemed to trigger a correction for purchase; and I could then download without too much trouble.
    Cheers
    Susanne A

  • I've moved my iTunes media to a new drive, how do I get iTunes to find it. I'm using Windows 7

    Hi,
    I've moved my iTunes media to my 'spare' internal D Drive, following the instructions on this link:(I'm using Windows 7).
    Move your iTunes Media folder on a Windows PC - Apple Support
    I hit a problem at stage 11 when I had to move my original media file to the recycle bin. The process started then it stopped, saying that the file was too big for the recycle bin (54 GB or thereabouts). It then asked if I wanted to permanently delete the files instead. I said yes. (I have them backed up externally).
    The iTunes media file is in my D Drive, but I can't get iTunes to locate it. I've tried going through preferences/advanced and browsing to it but that does't seem to work.
    My media is all listed in iTunes, but on the cloud rather than on my hard drive (C). Downloading it all from the cloud would defeat the object of freeing space on my primary hard drive (C).
    Any ideas on how I could get iTunes to find the files on D Drive ?
    many thanks,
    Matt

    See Make a split library portable. With luck you should be able to move the iTunes folder to the D: drive, place the iTunes Media folder inside it, and shift-start iTunes to connect to D:\iTunes\iTunes Library.itl. If all goes well it should be as if you'd moved the entire iTunes folder as a unit in the first place.
    tt2

  • Can I migrate/copy my iTunes configuration to a new Mac Pro?

    I have been able to copy over the sparse-bundle backups and restore.   But what I need to know is if I can copy over the entire configuration of iTunes (not just the music) such that my sync settings are retained (ie: sync only checked songs).  I have a considerably large collection of music and there's no way I want to go through selection again.   I just had my iPhone replaced, have a new cylinder Mac Pro to which I want to migrate this data.
    I did perform an rsync of the Music directory structure to my new Mac Pro, but it appears to be missing settings (as I mention above).   I imagine that's stored elsewhere.
    Could someone elaborate?
    Thanks!

    Found out how to address plist conversion from this page:
    http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20050430105126392
    But I think iTunes has sorted this out.  As my $HOME is actually /Users/username and not /Volumes/Home/username on the new Mac.  We'll see... I'm sync'ing now

  • Migration Assistant - from non functioning imac to new imac?

    My daughter's G5 imac has a bad graphics card (per apple store genius). Logic board is apparently OK but computer can't be used. She has decided to buy new a imac. Her concern is all of the data on her old imac's hard drive which she wants to transfer to the new imac. Normally, migration assitant would do this. However, as stated above, her old imac is not functioning in a normal way. My question: can she use migration assistant even though she can't do anything with her old imac except look at the garbled screen?
    She also has an external hard drive that is supposedly up to date with backed up info.
    What are her options?

    I read and printed "How to use and troubleshoot Firewire target disk mode". Thanks for that link.
    The procedure in that article was for someone who wanted to transfer files between two computers. In my daughter's case the procedure is a little unclear. That is because, if I remember correctly, when you start up a new computer for the first time I'm not sure you see the desktop before the setup assistant starts. I guess one could connect the two computers and start up the new computer and a few seconds later start up the old computer and hold down the T key. That should put the hard drive of the target computer on the desktop of the host (new) computer. But when during the setup process would the setup assistant access the hard drive that would be appearing on the new computer's desktop?
    When the setup process was finished, if the old computer's hard drive was not accessed you could then manually select what you wanted to copy. But for some info this can be a tedious process.
    It has been a few years but I remember the process as being pretty much automatic starting with the setup assistant and having everything (personnel info, email, bookmarks, etc as well as files) transfered from my old to my new computer. I don't recall putting my old computer into Target Disk Mode to have everything transfered to my new computer. When you are going through the initial setup of a new computer, do you actually have to put the old computer into Target Disk Mode for the setup process to access your old info?

  • How can I use an existing iTunes library with a new iTunes account

    My daughter is going to college, and wants to untangle herself from the family iTunes account. Right now, we have three iPods with libraries on three computers, all using my iTunes account - and have had no problems.
    She has signed up for a new account, but her previously purchased songs (on my account) won't play on her computer (new computer, iTunes is currently almost empty library), because it is authorized to HER iTunes account.
    What is the best way to import her iTunes library that was created using my account onto her new computer? (Old library is on a PC, she now has an iBook, purchased used on eBay.) Is there any way to get these songs to play using her new account info? Can I maybe copy them somewhere without the metadata and then move them into her library? I realize that would lose ratings and other info, but would it get rid of the block? I'm not trying to do anything dishonest - these are personal iPods, personal computers, all within one family, we've paid for all music on them.
    Any advice is greatly appreciated!
    (I posted this in the iTouch discussion, and then thought it wuold be better answered over here.)

    Then can her computer be authorized to both accounts?
    Absolutely. You can authorize any given computer to up to five iTunes Store accounts.
    If purchases are made on her account, to a computer authorized to my account, can I put those songs on my iPod?
    If you connect your iPod to her computer, yes. Tracks download only to the computer from which they're purchased, regardless of which iTunes Store account is used for the purchase. Or you could copy the tracks from her computer to yours and then authorize your computer to her iTunes Store account. But that's sort of defeating the original purpose, it would seem to me.
    is it better to buy music through Amazon downloads and/or actually purchasing CDs to avoid the security features iTunes puts on its music?
    That's certainly an option. If it's an entire album I want, I buy CDs. That way I can import them at the quality I want and to whichever of my systems I want. Amazon or one of the other download stores that offer tracks as MP3 are also an option, though for me download stores are best when you just want a couple of tracks off a given CD.

  • Can I transfer my existing iTunes library to my new iPod?

    Not sure if this is right location for this question, but here goes;
    I am thinking of buying a new ipod and was wondering if I'd be able to load my current iTunes library of music (imported from CD's and purchased from iTunes) onto my new iPod?
    Since I've purchased a considerable amount of my library from iTunes, I'd hate to lose all that music because I upgraded my iPod.
    Your help is much appreciated.

    I am thinking of buying a new ipod and was wondering if I'd be able to load my current iTunes library of music (imported from CD's and purchased from iTunes) onto my new iPod?
    Yes. Transfer it the same way you transferred it to your current iPod.
    (35984)

  • Ssd died with wife's data on it only able to salvage ,mdf file - Save a man's life ... how do I restore / attach / recreate log file - no permissions on new drive

             My wife asked me if I could create a VB program for her - load her data onto SQL Server to test her for some medical exams. Since I have been "playing" with both Visual Studio and SQL for over 10
    years, I said sure. Copied her Excel file, transferred the data to SQL and started "playing".
           Play time ended abruptly the other day when my Solid State Drive died. I was only able to salvage the .MDF off the disk. Lost the log file and lost the Excel file. Yes, for all of my databases I had regularly scheduled
    backups to another disk. I hadn't set that up for hers yet, thinking that the data was available on another computer altogether.
           No big deal, right? Just get the original Excel file back from the wife("Offsite backup") and reload the data from Excel. Problem ... she deleted the file 2 months ago thinking I had the data, and there is no
    recovery as the sectors where that data was located on her hard disk have since been overwritten.
          As to my situation: I told here that things were "going fine" and that I just had a couple more things to recover and we would be back up in business. Thinking that Dangling from a bar over a tank of great whites
    with a freshly cut hand might be preferable to telling her that I just fried over 300 hours of her hard to come by, time, by assuming the data was safe.
           From what I can tell, the .MDF file is intact. I have nothing else, and that was attached to a database on what was essentially another computer. Yes, I "Assumed" I had good backups. Yes, I have learned my lesson.
    Please save a man's life and help me out.

                       I had my disk die with the only copy of my wife’s medical “Question and Answer”
    (Q_And_A)  database on it. She thought it was safe and sound on my computer, and I thought we had an “Off site” backup of the data on hers and hadn’t set up backup for it.
    1.)  
    The bad things are, only the .mdf file was intact.
    2.)  
    All of the permissions based on the old copy of Windows 7 and SQL 2005 or 2008 ( I am not sure which the .mdf was created in.) have gone the way of the dodo.
           Bought a new disk. Reloaded windows 7 64 bit. Loaded SQL 2014 (Thought now was a good time to upgrade.) Problem
    … so far I have not been able to attach and recreate the log file …
              Just to finish up the data I have, the database was closed properly and is NOT in a read
    only state according to file properties. That said, I still don’t have a solution.
     So far I tried these three sets of commands:
    CREATE DATABASE
    Q_And_A
    ON
    (FILENAME
    =
    N'E:\Mikes 128GB\SQL2014\MSSQL12.SQL2014\MSSQL\DATA\Q_And_A.mdf')
    FOR
    ATTACH_REBUILD_LOG
    GO
    And this set of commands:
    CREATE DATABASE
    Q_And_A
    ON
    FILENAME
    =
    N'E:\Mikes 128GB\SQL2014\MSSQL12.SQL2014\MSSQL\DATA\Q_And_A.mdf')
    FOR
    ATTACH
    GO
    EXEC
    sp_attach_single_file_db
    @dbname='Q_And_A', @physname=N'E:\Mikes 128GB\SQL2014\MSSQL12.SQL2014\MSSQL\DATA\Q_And_A.mdf'
    GO
             So far this is the computer’s reply to everything I have thrown at it. I haven’t told my wife that 600 hours
    of her work is inaccessible, and I would really rather not do so. Anything anyone can offer would be great.
    File activation failure. The physical file name "E:\Mikes 128GB\SQL2014\MSSQL12.SQL2014\MSSQL\DATA\Q_And_A_log.ldf" may be incorrect.
    The log cannot be rebuilt because there were open transactions/users when the database was shutdown, no checkpoint occurred to the database, or the database
    was read-only. This error could occur if the transaction log file was manually deleted or lost due to a hardware or environment failure.
    Msg 1813, Level 16, State 2, Line 1
    Could not open new database 'Q_And_A'. CREATE DATABASE is aborted.
              Is there anything else anyone out there can offer as help? My wife has often said that
    she doesn’t believe in divorce. But murder she will consider. If she loses 600 hours of her data this could be my last post. I am joking … I think … That said, any help is extremely welcome. Thanks in advance.

  • The external hard drive with my iTunes library on it died, but I have it backed up on another drive. What's the best way to make iTunes switch to the new drive for reference?

    I've been through similar problems before and used the .xml file to restore the library, but is a better way of just changing the drive pathways in iTunes so it doesn't have to rebuild everything from scratch? I'm using a PC with Windows Vista.

    Change the drive letter of the backup drive so it matches the one that died. If necessary move/rename the backup folder so that it matches the old path of the media folder.
    tt2

Maybe you are looking for

  • Remote Control and Windows 2000 Server

    Does anyone know if it is possible to use Zenworks for Desktops to remote Contol on a Windows 2000/2003 server ? Regards Johann Folkestad

  • Sending file using sockets (difficult)

    Hi, i have the following section of code (of which i am not claiming ownership) which implements a DCC Send command from irc. It accomplishes this using sockets, and while i understand how the code accomplishes what it does, i need help with a possib

  • Need help please. Flash player 5 with itunes

    i have an old disc that runs on flash player 5 how do i import it into itunes.. thank you

  • Possible to use both Front Row AND Media Central with same Apple Remote?

    Dear Fellow Mac Users, I have just got a copy of Media Central as i want to use it to view movie files with due to its great codec support. however due to its slightly sluggish and cumbersome design i'd like to continue to use front row for my itunes

  • Addition of Username in FB03 Document Header

    Hi, In fb03 t code , Under Document Header, i need to add one more field "username". the user name should come from user id which is already present in fb03 header document. Please tell where to use that logic.