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

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I moved iTunes folder location, now all my personal song ratings and playlists are gone. How can I get them back? All the iTunes files are intact, just in a new location. Running iTunes 11.1.5.5

I moved iTunes folder location, now all my personal song ratings and playlists are gone. How can I get them back? All the iTunes files are intact, just in a new location. Running iTunes 11.1.5.5 on Windows 7

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

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

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

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

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 drive now can't get Ipod to sync

I have moved my ITunes folder from laptop to external drive. Had to move each album folder individually to ITunes and when I went to Sync my Ipod, says its in Restore mode and can't get out of it as it stays in Restore mode over and over and over.

As a best practice, you should move your content to an external drive and import references to into iTunes rather than moving the whole database and app files. In iTunes > Preferences > Advanced, uncheck "Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library". This will keep all your music and movies on the external drive, but iTunes and all references to the content on your desktop.
I know that's not what you wanted to hear as a fix, but this is how I have my MacBook Air setup and it works fine with the iPad. My son tried to move the whole app and database to a hard drive and we had endless problems with it.

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,
- Ari

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!
Compaq Windows XP

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!
Compaq Windows XP

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!
laptop: Toshiba Satellite w/ Windows XP Home
desktop:
Compaq Presario 6000 Windows XP Home
Compaq Presario 6000 Windows XP Home

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

HT1449 Moving Itunes folder to External database

So I followed the instructions on moving my itunes folder, word for word from this page: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1449. However, itunes wouldn't open at the end. I moved back the itunes folders from trash and it still won't recognize the folder. Can anyone help? I can't get itunes to open at all now.
The error I'm getting is "The iTunes application could not be opened. An unknown error occurred (13014)." I've tried holding down the option button and redirecting itunes to either the original or the one on the external drive and its not fixing the problem.
Thanks.

Okay, so I tried something else and it has worked once but has to be repeated every time I open itunes...
When I moved the first set over, it didn't seem to move the library files over to the external drive... so I just moved those manually and then did the following following another piece of advice on this bulletin board.
Hold Option and restart iTunes.
Select *Choose library* them select the *iTunes Library.itl* file in the iTunes folder you moved.

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.

Moving itunes folder to external hard drive

I moved my itunes to an external hard drive for Windows 7 using itunes 10. something. I lost all playlists and they are gone. Ive read somewhere you can get them back from your xml list in system but I'm a noobie on computers. CAN ANYONE HELP?

I moved my library from itunes folder i believe
What do you mean by "library"?
Which files/folders did you move?
Quit iTunes.
Copy the entire /Music/itunes/ folder to the external.
Hold Shift and launch iTunes.
Select Choose library and select the iTunes folder you copied to the external.
That is all you need to do.

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?

Moved iTunes folder

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