Missing files after moving itunes music folder

i moved my itunes music folder to my external hard drive using the directions posted here: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301748 to the letter. a lot of things transfered but now when i look in my itunes music folder and compare to my itunes library, i see that a lot of things are missing. i really don't want to have to go through every single artist folder and check every song. shouldn't consolidating my library have taken care of this?

I just had a very similar issue, I moved my iTunes library from a 120Gb Drive to a 500Gb and the library was a bit corrupted because the main drive was full b/c of an error, but that's besides the fact.
SOLUTION To missing files, that aren't really missing because they exist and were all copied no problems.
go to the iTunes folder in your Home folder, and move the iTunes Music Library.xml file to your desktop (with itunes closed of course)
Then re-open itunes and the library file that's not an xml doc, will re-search your files and all should be well.
You should be able to safely delete the xml doc now, because iTunes made a new one.
Cheers
PowerMac G4 Dual 1Gz Mac OS X (10.4.9)

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Moved iTunes music folder to HDD, Now iTunes Can't Find it--Help :-)

I finally was able to get an HDD that actually mounted and now I have moved my iTunes music folder based on the instructions here: iTunes: Moving your iTunes Music folder. I printed them out and followed them step-by-step.
Before moving the folder iTunes Music from my internal HD (~/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music) to the trash, I played random tracks with no problem. So I moved the folder to the trashcan, then emptied the trash as instructed. Went back to iTunes to play some music, and now all of my tracks have the dreaded exclamation point in the first column. When I click on a track to play it, I get the message "The song 'blah blah blah' could not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it?"
Of course, I can select 'Yes' and go through the steps and locate the files on my HDD. This, however, is not an optimal process with over 2400 songs. Does anyone know what went wrong with my relocation?
Melissa
PowerBook G4 PowerPC Mac OS X (10.4.8) iPod 30G, MyBook 250GB HDD, iTunes 7.1.1

I've used that method to transfer music from one drive to another literally dozens of times and never seen it fail in the way you experienced. I'm at a loss to explain how you could have followed the instructions, successfully transfer the music to the new drive, and yet have the iTunes database still think the music should be on the original drive.
What I can suggest are two solutions: One for it you don't care about keeping your playlists, rankings, and playcounts intact. The other for if you do care.
Fast fix but loses the meta data: Quit iTunes. Open your home directory, find the music folder and open it. Trash everything you see in your music folder and restart iTunes. All your music and playlists will be gone. Open your new drive on the desktop, find the folder with your music, and drag it into your iTunes window. Your music will be imported into a new iTunes catalog and then you can create your playlists.
Keeping the metadata: After quitting iTunes, move the music back to its original location by dragging the music folder(s). Unmount the new drive and play some music. Remember the songs you clicked on and showed iTunes how to find? Do those songs all over again and once you've verified the iTunes library now points to all the songs properly, delete the songs from the new drive and repeat the steps to move them again.

Moved iTunes music folder to new HD and it won't play

I recently moved my iTunes music files to a larger external hard drive (for the third time) and now iTunes can't find any of the songs. It has worked in the past on 2 other HD's but not this time. I've selected the correct iTunes Music Folder location under <EDIT> <PREFERENCES> <ADVANCED>, have selected "Keep music folder organized", and have even "consolidated my music", but the files won't play. The files are in-tact; I can right-click on a song, click "get info", and manually locate the file to play it, but I don't want to do this for 70GB worth of music!!! Someone suggested dragging the music files into the iTunes library, but I have the library on my laptop and the actual music files on the external HD and I want to keep the library on my laptop so I don't think this will work for me. please help.
Message was edited by: brookap

I have a very similar problem. Hope I don't confuse people trying to help us since the solutions may be different.
I had my iTunes path directed to a 2nd internal hard drive. Everything was working fine - except I found that purchased Apps were still being downloaded to the Mobile Applications folder on my main hard drive instead of the 2nd internal drive. I decided to retry directing the iTunes path to my 2nd internal drive, hoping that might get iTunes to save my Apps there. Big Mistake. Suddenly, there were no Apps showing in my iTunes Library Apps window at all. I verified the downloaded apps are still in my main hard drive's Mobile Applications folder, but I cannot get iTunes to display them in my Apps Library window anymore.
I decided to try downloading a new app and, sure enough, iTunes once again downloaded it into the very same Mobile Applications folder on my main hard drive, where all my (now orphaned) original apps are, but the only one iTunes will only display in my Apps window is the new one. I read you can redownload purchased apps, but my apps are not missing. iTunes just won't display them in the Apps window anymore.

Problem with missing files after moving folders around

Hi,
I keep my music files manually organized. This is mostly because I have a LOT of music and I don't want to take up all the space on my MBP HD. So my music is split up between 2 external drives and the MBP drive.
I was moving around some folders since I wanted to reorganize my music folders, and iTunes can't seem to find the files anymore, and in order to fix it I see I need to find each and every file I moved (which is really not practical).
I tried editing the "iTunes Music Library.xml" file, but it seems to get rebuilt from some other place where this information is stored.
I also tried putting aliases in the old folders' locations pointing to the new ones (iTunes kept saying the files are missing)
Is there any way to simplify the process of moving folders?? This is really strange that such a feature is missing.
Thanks
Yaron

If you have the 'keep' option enabled and let iTunes do the work - take a sound track album as an example - that has various artists and you didn't tell iTunes that the album was a compilation album - then iTunes will put all the tunes into into the iTunes Music folder as Artist>Album>Song - if you have the compilation option enabled for the tunes on that same album - iTunes will nest it as iTunes Music>Compilation>Album>Song. This helps reduce the clutter in the iTunes Music folder with a thousand artists and only one tune for that artist.
With the 'keep' option selected iTunes will move tunes automatically within the iTunes Music folder. Since iTunes moved the files it can keep track of the links.
To create a second library launch iTunes with the 'option' key down and follow the dialog box instructions. I have a 'Master iTunes Library' on my internal HD and several ext HD's with other libraries which I give unique names i.e.: Really Big Music. I give the library data base file its' own unique name so I don't accidentally erase the wrong file. I also keep all the files that you would normally see for an iTunes library on the ext HD (iTunes library. .xml, art work etc.,). If you are into lots of movies and TV Shows you could create a library on and ext HD with only video content and name it accordingly. You would keep all the files for that library including the library 'management' files on the ext HD in the same nesting as you would find on your internal HD.
This strategy works for me. I tried to manage the files by myself at one point and just had to many problems so I decided to not fight City Hall and go with the flow and it works for me.
MJ

How do I remove song files from my iTunes Music Folder that are deleted?

Hi,
When I deleted unwanted songs from my iTunes Library I selected the option to Keep Files instead of Moving Song to the Recycle Bin. As a result I've now got a load of unwanted music files clogging up my music folders.
So how can I identify music files that are in my iTunes Music Folders but have been deleted from the iTunes Library and then remove them from my hard drive?
Cheers,
Andy.
Sony laptop Windows XP Pro

Here's a thought, have you added any new items to your library recently?
If you add your iTunes music folder to your library, anything not already in your library will be added.
Now go to your library view and make sure you have the date added column visible. (Right click in the header row to get a list of columns that can be selcted).
Now sort by date added and everying you just added will be together and can be easily identified for deletion.
Note this only applies if files are in the iTunes Music folder, files in other places have to be deleted in Windows Explorer.
PS iT is usually a good idea to make a copy of iTunes Library.itl before experimenting. Copy it from your iTunes folder to somewhere else.

Error message when moving iTunes music folder to External Hard Drive

I have followed the instructions in Apple support to move my iTunes music folder to an external hard drive. During the consolidate library step, only half of my music is transferred before I get the error message "Copying music failed. The disk could not be read from or written to."
Has anyone gotten the same message, and what was your experience correcting the issue?
15" Powerbook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.8)

In Windows, you go through File >> Library >> Organize Library. here you can choose to consolidate your library. this should do the job.. alternatively you could take a look at this blog..
http://www.tuaw.com/2006/09/19/how-to-keep-your-itunes-library-on-an-external-ha rd-drive/
Even though its step by step on mac you should be able to figure it out from there.
Message was edited by: MuldVarp3N

Ooops...I manually moved iTunes music folder to my new external hard drive

So I thought I was smart and manually moved my iTunes music folder to my new external hard drive. I've changed the location in Preferences but can't locate my music through iTunes. What do I do now? My library is on my external hard drive, but I read I should have done this through iTunes. Any advice?

Is it still possible for you to temporarily return the iTunes Music folder to its original location?
If so you should be able to see your music in iTunes again and then follow the instructions in this article in the Apple Knowledge Base.

Problem in moving iTunes Music Folder

I feel sooo stupid! I am using the document "iTunes: Moving your iTunes Music folder." I was going along OK until I came to number 5 in the second part:
"In the Change Music Folder Location window that appears, navigate to the location where you would like your new Music folder to be created. Note: By default, your iTunes Music folder is a folder named "iTunes Music" in ~/Music/iTunes/where the tilde "~" represents your home directory.
What does it mean, "....navigate to the location where you would like your new Music folder to be created." ???
I'm trying to free up internal hard drive space by moving my iTunes Music folder to my external hard drive.
Will it also take the movies, podcasts, etc??
Thanks in advance for any help. I'm dead in the water until I get this solved.

Open iTunes and at the bottom of the main window it will tell you how large in Gigs your library is - if that is larger than the space available on your ext HD then you will need a bigger ext HD - or remove some stuff from the ext HD to make space.
MJ

Using external hard drive for music files NOT in iTunes music folder

Hi there. Due to lacking disk space on my computer I have all my music files (that I had before using iTunes) on an external HD. I can easily import these drives to iTunes (v.8) without copying them to the iTunes music folder. But when I want to synchronize my iPod the next time, iTunes cannot find the files on my external HD and I have to import them all again, delete all the duplicates and - worst of all - do all the playlist sorting again! Is there a solution to this without putting all my music into the iTunes music folder (I would like to keep it separated)? Thanks in advance!

I use an external firewire drive to store my iTunes library on. One thing to be aware of...
You need to go into your iTunes preferences, then to "Advanced", then select the location where you want to store your iTunes Music folder. In my case it is in a folder titled "Music" on my external firewire drive. The iTunes "Library" file is stored on your internal hard drive.
The thing that can cause you problems it that....if you forget to turn on the external drive before you boot up your Mac, the iTunes library file will look for your music folder and won't be able to find it. So a new iTunes Music folder will be created on your internal hard drive, with nothing in it. You'll see all of your songs listed in your iTunes program...but if you try to double click on any of the songs to play them, you'll get an exclamation mark saying "cannot find file".
If this happens, you need to delete the new iTunes Music folder on your internal drive (but not the iTunes Library file!), then quit iTunes, turn on the external drive, then relaunch iTunes....and it will find the original music folder.
It's a hassle that I have had to go though many times, I keep forgetting to turn on that drive before launching iTunes.
Oh, one other thing....about the way you worded your post. You aren't running short on "memory", you are running short on "storage"....they are two different things. Hard drives are storage, RAM chips are "memory" that run your programs.

Moving iTunes music folder/library to external HD

Hi all, and happy new year: Yeah, I know I should know how to do this, but ... I want to move all my music to an external HD and delete it from my MBP HD. I would like someone to steer me to the best resource for a primer on how to do this. Thanks in advance!

Just drag the entire iTunes folder (the entire folder, not just the iTunes Music folder) to your desired location. Then hold down the Option key while launching iTunes. You'll be given a dialog box where you can select the iTunes library you want to use. Navigate to and select the iTunes folder in it's new location.
Once you've confirmed that it's working, then you can delete the tracks from the internal drive.

I can't get iTunes to Start after moving my Music Folder anyone know what to do ? yes I have tried reinstalling iTunes..

I Moved the iTunes folder in My Music to my D:\ Drive to get some extra room on my computer, then when I tried to open iTunes it wouldnt open so I moved the folder back and nothing happened again after I tried to open iTunes... so I deleted all the iTunes files on the D:\ Drive and then reinstalled iTunes... Still the same problem.. can anyone help ?

demeastro wrote:
I Moved the iTunes folder in My Music to my D:\ Drive to get some extra room on my computer, then when I tried to open iTunes it wouldnt open
Moving the /My Music/ folder will not prevent iTunes from opening. That only contains the iTunes library, not the application files. Moving that folder would only get you an empty library when you open iTunes.
I suggest you reinstall iTunes.

Moving iTunes music folder from hard drive to external drive

I see a couple of topics related to iTunes folder locations and losing track of where the file are. What's the right way to migrate from having the iTunes music files on my hard drive (C:) to using an external drive...without having to re-map everything manually? I'm running out of space on the C: drive!

There's actually hundreds of those topics. It gets asked daily.
Did you still have a specific question after reading several of them?
Here is a very thorough and wordy article on it
http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/moving-your-itunes-library-to -a-new-hard-drive

Messeed up files after moving Itunes file

ahhhh, someone help me please!!!!
I wanted to move the C:\Muziek\Itunes to D:\Muziek\Itunes when I did, the question came if I wanted to move all files that where on C:\Muziek\Itunes to the "D\muziek drive.
I chose YES. but now all my files that where allready on this D\muziek are messed up.
Alle the complete albums that where on it are gone and all tracks are separated from each other!!!
Can some one telle me how to undo this??? I tried with systemrecovery but no luck...
please help!!!
Rutger

- get all your music into one folder.
- in iTunes preferences set the folder you want to store your music or whatever.
- then . . .
- in iTunes select "add to library"

Moving iTunes music folder on another hard drive

My hard drive is getting full but I want to download more music. Is there any way to move the folder to another hard drive?

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1449
http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/moving-your-itunes-library-to -a-new-hard-drive/
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1449
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1751

Cannot delete files from the itunes music folder

I am running mac 10.6.7 and itunes 10.4. When i delete music or podcast from the library in itunes, I get a warning whether i would like to keep or move the file to trash. I respond i want to move the file to trash, however this does not happen, no file is going to trash. I have tried updating the software, operating system, repairing disk permissions, none of these work, any help would be appreciated

I am running mac 10.6.7
I have tried updating the software, operating system,
Then you should have Mac OS X 10.6.8

Missing files after moving itunes music folder

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