Moved iTunes Folder isn't Located

Ok, so I needed to free-up some space on my main drive, so I copied the 20GB iTunes Music folder to my external drive, then used iTunes/Preferences/Advanced to set that as "iTunes Music Folder" location. Deleted the original folder from my main drive. Now iTunes can't locate the moved folder ?? And yes, the external drive is switched on and plugged in. Any suggestions?

macblueduck wrote:
Ok, so I needed to free-up some space on my main drive, so I copied the 20GB iTunes Music folder to my external drive, then used iTunes/Preferences/Advanced to set that as "iTunes Music Folder" location. Deleted the original folder from my main drive. Now iTunes can't locate the moved folder ?? And yes, the external drive is switched on and plugged in. Any suggestions?
When you change your iTunes/Preferences/Advanced to change thes "iTunes Music Folder" location, you are only telling iTunes where to put any FUTURE additions to your library. All current iTunes items are still accessed from their current locations. Since you deleted those files and iTunes is still looking in the old spot, it can not find them.
Try this. Copy the iTunes folder to the external drive. Now stick the iTunes Music folder you already copied over there back into the iTunes folder. Now open iTunes using these instructions...
How to open an alternate iTunes Library file or create a new one
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1589
and open an alternative library and point iTunes to the database file on the external drive in the newly moved iTunes folder. Hopefully that will fix everything.
Patrick

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Put everything back the way it was.
Them move the folder correctly.
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1364

Can't locate songs after moving iTunes folder

After years of having all of my iTunes music on an external drive, I upgraded the Macbook's HD and decided to move the songs back. After doing so and pointing iTunes to the new location, it still asks me to click and find each file (which would take forever with 100GB of music).
-The ITL file and everything else has been on the Mac HD in Users/Music/iTunes with only the music on the external drive in a folder called "iTunes". All I did was cut and paste every file from the external folder into Users/Music/iTunes/iTunesMusic which was previously empty. I changed the location, it did its updating, but nothing is being located. Everything is the same as before.
-Every time I locate a song it creates a new folder called music and puts the identified tracks in there.
-Is there a script I can use to locate all of the songs since they're all right in that folder? The only thing that has changed is that they moved. For some reason iTunes isn't playing them even though I changed the location under preferences.

After years of having all of my iTunes music on an external drive, I upgraded the Macbook's HD and decided to move the songs back. After doing so and pointing iTunes to the new location, it still asks me to click and find each file (which would take forever with 100GB of music).
-The ITL file and everything else has been on the Mac HD in Users/Music/iTunes with only the music on the external drive in a folder called "iTunes". All I did was cut and paste every file from the external folder into Users/Music/iTunes/iTunesMusic which was previously empty. I changed the location, it did its updating, but nothing is being located. Everything is the same as before.
-Every time I locate a song it creates a new folder called music and puts the identified tracks in there.
-Is there a script I can use to locate all of the songs since they're all right in that folder? The only thing that has changed is that they moved. For some reason iTunes isn't playing them even though I changed the location under preferences.

Help needed with consolidating and moving itunes folder.

I have imported songs into itunes using with the Copy Files To iTunes Folder When Adding To The Library box unchecked and moved the location of my music folder to an external hard drive. I already had a folder full of music files on this hard drive so I now have 2 folders with music files, the iTunes folder with music recently imported from cd's and the old folder. The library points to references to both of these folders but not ALL of the files in the old folder as I don't need them in iTunes.
I now want to be able to listen to my iTunes library when not connected to the external drive. How do I do this? If I reset the location of my iTunes folder back to the macbook do I then need to consolidate, and if I do will only the files with reference pointers go into this folder? I don't want all the music files in the old folder to go onto the macbook, only the ones with reference pointers to them, plus the ones in the iTunes music folder.

I have imported songs into itunes using with the Copy Files To iTunes Folder When Adding To The Library box unchecked and moved the location of my music folder to an external hard drive. I already had a folder full of music files on this hard drive so I now have 2 folders with music files, the iTunes folder with music recently imported from cd's and the old folder. The library points to references to both of these folders but not ALL of the files in the old folder as I don't need them in iTunes.
I now want to be able to listen to my iTunes library when not connected to the external drive. How do I do this? If I reset the location of my iTunes folder back to the macbook do I then need to consolidate, and if I do will only the files with reference pointers go into this folder? I don't want all the music files in the old folder to go onto the macbook, only the ones with reference pointers to them, plus the ones in the iTunes music folder.

Moving itunes folder and music to external drive

I moved my itunes folder and all my mp3's onto an external hard drive. As a result, all of the songs that appear in itunes has a ! and says they cannot find where the songs are. It seems that I have to re-import everything all over again including re-ripping all my CD's to itunes again. Is there a better way to go about retrieving my library? Is there a way to import what is on my ipod into itunes or is it only a 1 way thing? Please help.

Go to edit-->preferences Click the advanced tab
Change the location of the iTunes music library to the current location. I don't recall if it will then update the links. If they still show up with the ! after the change, post back for instructions on how to tell iTunes they are there all at once.
btabz

Moving iTunes folder to an external drive. How ?

My pBook 17" is bloated with iPhoto PICS and iTunes music store purchases. Moving the photo library, and running it off of the LACIE external FW 800 drive was easy. Not with iTunes. I moved the entire iTunes folder to the external, but every time I launch iTunes on the PBook it opens a blank library. How do I get iTunes to recognize the library on the external HD, without a lose of date added, etc. Apple Care was no help, and had no answer. BTW, after erasing the iTunes library from my PB HD, and moving the library back to the PB, everything works as normal. The iTunes library is 10 gB in size BTW.
thanks in advance, rick

It's not hard to overlook something obvious, happens to me too once in a while, so let's start from scratch.
Forget the KB article for know. I just performed all the steps in it on a 'test' account with a small (test) library, and could not detect any anomalies.
The article is OK, but might not be 100% clear (I second William's remark)
Steps to do:
• Quit iTunes (and other applications that use the EHD)
• Unmount and disconnect your external HD.
• Run iTunes and verify that you can play all music. If OK, then it has to be on the Powerbook. If you are presented with exclamation marks, it was already on the EHD.
• You've consolidated the Library a couple of times now, so it should be all together in ~Users/YourUsername/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music.
• Connect your EHD
• In iTunes, change the 'iTunes Music folder location' to the location on your EHD, where you want the music to be. To be sure, create a new folder.
• Now 'Consolidate Library...' again. iTunes will start copying the music. If it doesn't, I'll eat my hat (to be honest, I don't have a hat).
Let know what happens.
M
17' iMac fp 800 MHz 768 MB RAM Mac OS X (10.3.9) Several ext. HD (backup and data)

Moved iTunes folder to external hard drive, now what?

I spent a long time to download my CDs into my laptop's hardrive for use in iTunes.
Ran into trouble on laptop - To improve my old laptop's ability to function, I moved the entire iTunes folder to an external hardrive. I've changed the iTunes pathway to the new hardrive location, but iTunes is not reading the library.
What can I try?
I have checked blogs and haven't found a solution. Some recommend launching iTunes while holding down an Option key for the dialog box. I can't figure how to do that - maybe that's available key on an Apple laptop, but not on this ancient PC.
Any suggestions would be very helpful.
Thanks

Hi andrewfromwaunakee,
Thanks for using Apple Support Communities. If you would like to create a new iTunes library and add the media into it, follow this article:
iTunes: How to open an alternate iTunes Library file or create a new one
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1589
You might also try re-creating the library:
iTunes: How to re-create your iTunes library and playlists
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1451
Cheers,
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Moved itunes folder to external drive and now lost playlists

To free space on my hard drive, I moved the folder to my external drive. Now, I successfully can access my music library, but my playlists aren't listed and I can't figure out how to get them/point to them. Any ideas?
Thanks!
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polydorus, you are my hero. I launched itunes with the shift key down and was able to select the library on the external drive. I would not have thought of that. Thanks so much.
shockme, I found changed the folder name under the advanced tab wasn't enough. I used File>Import and imported the music from the external drive no problem.
mlevin, I was really scared deleted the original file too. I checked several times that the exact number of bytes were moved in case I wanted to go back. Change the music location, do the import, fix the playlists and get all going and then I assume you can delete the contents in the music folder like I did. Then I did a defrag to clean things up. Good luck!
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IPod won't sync anymore after moving itunes folder

I just got a laptop and want to be able to transfer all my music from iTunes and iPod from the desktop to the new computer. I wasn't ready to do it completely but read that I needed to move the iTunes folder to a shared folder so that I could access it with my laptop via my network. I did not realize what the results would be however! When I docked my iPod to the desktop this morning, I noticed that my iPod was empty after it had updated. All 4000+ songs/podcasts gone! Ack! I noticed that iTunes seems to be ok, all the songs are there, except they all have an exclamation point next to them. Re-docking and trying to sync does not work. The music won't transfer. I put the folder back into the my documents folder but nothing changed. Even system restore didn't help. I am desperate. I am even willing to forget the idea of putting everything on the laptop if I can just get things to how they were. When I clicked on the exclamation point in iTunes it said the original file could not be found. I would hate to have to load each cd in again. Any suggestions?? Thanks in advance!
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desktop:
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First I'll explain whats happened. when you moved the folder to a shared folder, then tried to update the iPod it wiped it out because iTUnes had no songs in it. All music shared over a network will not update to iPod, the songs have to be on the PCs harddrive.
What you need to do first is place the folder on the "Old" PC back to its default location in the "My MUisc" folder. It gets confusing because theres 2 iTUnes folders, one is named "iTUnes" the other is inside this one named "iTunes Music". So the "iTUnes" folder needs to be in the "My Music FOlder and the "iTUnes Music" one needs to be in the "Itunes" folder.
Once you have placed it back open iTUnes and make sure all the ! marks beside the songs are gone. DON'T UPDATE YOUR IPOD!!!! Since its already blank, you can use the whole iPOd harddrive to transfer the songs over. Hold down the shift and Ctrl keys. While holding them down connect the iPod let iTUnes open, and when it list the ipod, let go of the keys. this will stop an auto update from happening.
Now rightclick ipod in iTUnes, hit options, select "Manual Update". Now your iPod will be set to transfer. go here and follow the directions for moving the whole iTUnes library and songs to your new laptop. http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=300173
Once everything is transfered over you can rightclick the ipod and set it back to auto update or whatever you had it on and uncheck "Enable Disk Use"
I also see you have a toshiba laptop, iPOd has issues with some toshibas so this artical may also be of help if you have troble getting the laptop to see your iPod http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=300836

Moving iTunes Folder

I moved all of the iTunes folder from one disk (that was full) to another thinking that I would just repoint iTunes to the new disk through the iTunes - Preferences - Advanced - iTunes Music Location option. That does not work. My iTunes does not show any of the music I previously had - the music is there, iTunes just does not recognize it.
I have since read that I should have used the Consolidate Library option.
How do I get iTunes to recognize the folder I have moved it to?
Thanks - Todd

Just as a start, try rebuilding your .pref files for iTunes. This may help.
- Shut down iTunes
- Double check to see that the iTunes.pref files (see below) or the folders they reside in are not read-only.
- Using Windows Explorer, right-click on the file (or folder) name, go to Properties.
- If one or both are Read-Only, change them, and reopen iTunes.
- Try changing the Preferences, close iTunes & re-open iTunes – check Preferences
- If the above does not work then continue to Resetting the .pref files:
Resetting the iTunes Preference Files:
-- Quit iTunes
-- Delete C:\Documents and Settings\<your username>\Application Data\Apple Computer\iTunes\iTunes.pref
-- Delete C:\Documents and Settings\<your username>\Local Settings\Application Data\Apple Computer Inc\iTunes.pref
You may need to enable 'Show Hidden Files/Folders' in Windows Explorer==>Tools menu==>Folder Options==>’View’ tab before you can see the Application Data & Local Settings folders.
When you restart iTunes, it will act like its initial startup. Do not let iTunes search for your music files. The old library is still there and iTunes will see it after it gets past the initial dialog screens.

Moved iTunes folder

I moved my itunes folder to a different folder and itunes didn't like that. Most of my movies and tv shows are now gone and my music files are messed up. What happened and how do I get it back to where it was? Thanks!

Move the content back to the original location, reset the path to the iTunes media folder. Once you've fixed the library try again, move the whole iTunes folder to the new location you want for it, then hold down Option as you start iTunes to connect to the library on the new path.
tt2

Moved iTunes folder from C: to D: now it wont recognize my library

Can anyone help me fix what I've messed up?
I moved my itunes folder from my loaded C: drive to D: drive (i'm partitioned with C: and D:) with a simple "move" command. Then I tried to use the ipod and itunes as normal ....wrong...it tells me that my ipod is linked to a different library and my option is to sync and lose my music on the ipod or not sync.
Well when I open itunes none of my music shows up in the itunes library that comes up, no custom play lists etc...it's like it's back to default.
So I moved it back to C: thinking that there was something there that was keeping C: as "the working itune drive" and it's still telling me the same thing.
In my itunes folder I have sub-folders that show
(album artwork)
(ipod games)
(ipod games library.itl)
(itunes music) ...shows all of my music, but does not link with the library
(itunes library.itl)
(itunes music library.xml)
I had no problems until I moved the itunes folder over to D: inorder to open space on my C:
I'm a basic "search the web, word processing, load my songs on to my ipod" computer user I figured itunes on my computer was good anywhere...guess not.
Thanks for your help.

When you moved your iTunes folder to a new drive, you need to do a shift key start to tell iTunes to use the library in the new location.
If you don't it will create a blank library in the delfault loaction on the c: drive.
Hold down the shift key, start iTunes, keep holding down the shift key until you are prompted to choose a library. Navigate to you iTunes folder on the d: drive and choose iTunes Library.itl.
Did you do that?

Make iTunes more selective and moved iTunes folder

Hi
I would like to stop iTunes seeing some media on my computer system. (stored videos, sound clips etc)
Currently it finds and adds all media, even the smallest old video clip to its library and to the consolidated media folder.
This means it uses lots of space.
Is there a way to exclude files or folders from the scan to prevent this?
2)
I moved my iTunes folder following instructions found here. (hence consolidated media folder, still required?)
This worked but I would be happier if the associated library files can be moved to the same location.
Currently they must stay in the original location.
Is there a way to do this please.

1. There is no fine control over what gets added if you let iTunes scan your computer for media. My personal recomendation for this is to avoid the inital scan, change the default settings so that iTunes doesn't copy files to the iTunes Media folder, move existing content that wants to be in the library into the iTunes Media folder, then add the iTunes Media folder to the library. I prefer to organise my files & folders manually but usually recommend others to let iTunes do it as it is less effort.
2. By using the recommended method to move the media content you have created a split library. The library files are on one path and the media is at another. It is usually possible to move the library files to a new location provided the media stays put. Exact instructions depend on where you have moved the media folder to and what name you gave it. This post has further details but if you want to let me know where your media and library folders are now I can write something more specific.
N.b. if you don't get a response to a new topic within a day or two then it has probably been buried under new messages before being noticed by someone who might have a solution to offer. Once it is no longer within the first pew pages of topics it is unlikely to get spotted by anyone so your best option is to bump the thread.
tt2

Moved Itunes folder and everything is now gone - how can I recover it?

My C drive was low on disk space - so tonight I sent alot of the files that were on the C drive (only 14 gigs total) to my D drive (140+ gigs w/ tons of room)because I was down to something like 200 MBs.
One of those folders happened to be the Itunes folder w/ the files Itunes music library (xml doccument), Itunes library (Itunes music database file), and Itunes music
I didn't delete anything - and all the files seem to be intact just as they were before - only on my D drive now. Unfortunatly this caused 8 gigs of music to be deleted from my itunes which took me hours to organize
Is there any way to restore my Itunes back to what it was?
Thanks in advance for any help or advice you can offer
Dan

You will not have lost any of the orgainsiation (Playlists/Ratings etc) as long as you don't lose the iTunes library file.
You can re-import the songs from your D: drive, but it would create a different library file (since the library file tells iTunes where all the songs are kept - and this has changed).
If you did it this way, you would keep all the song info (Artist/Name/Genre/CD Cover etc.) but lose your ratings and Playlists.
Just thought of a better way to do this.
Copy your iTunes library file (its v small) back to your C: drive in its previous location.
Go to itunes Preferences (possibly called 'options' on Windows version) and go to the 'Advanced' tab. In the General tab within this, there is an option to change your iTunes music folder location. Hit change and browse to where your music is now stored. This way, your music should appear back in your iTunes library, all playlists intact and all ratings/tags as they were before

Moved iTunes folder to a shared folder and lost all of my playlists

Any way to recover, I just moved the iTunes folder to the Shared Music folder so that my wife's account on the PC could use the musica as well...any way to find/recover the playlists? If i sync, will it remove them from my ipod?

One cannot move the music folders, rename song files or anything similar outside of the iTunes environment and expect the program to understand what has taken place. You just lose the reference pointers and other music metadata within iTunes.
Move all the music files back where they were, recover your Library and then move the Library within iTunes using the process explained in the link below:
http://discussions.apple.com/click.jspa?searchID=-1&messageID=1728552

Moved iTunes Folder isn't Located

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