Moved iTunes library to external hard drive, but getting (!) by all files

i followed the steps to move library and advanced window. checked "keep iTunes Music folder organized", consolidated library, and the new file path is correct, but my library is all !'s.
when i click on a track, i get a message saying " The song __ could not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate the file?"
i can do this, but it would take hours to do this for every file.
any tips?

With iTunes 7.x you can transfer iTS purchases from the ipod back into iTunes.
To prevent your iPod from syncing - hold down the 'option' and  keys at the same time when plugging in your iPod. Keep the keys held down until the iPod show up in iTunes.
MJ

Similar Messages

No success moving iTunes library to external hard drive

I'm trying to move my iTunes library to an external hard drive to free up some space on my laptop. I'm working on a Macbook running OSX 10.8.2 and trying to transfer the library to a WD My Passport for Mac (which is optimized for Mac OS Extended). I followed all of the steps in this article from apple: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1449. When I reopen iTunes, as instructed in step 15, I get the message that "The folder containing "iTunes Library" cannot be found, and is required. Please choose or create a new iTunes library." In the article, it just says that if you get that message, then take your old library back out of the trash. It offers no real solution! I don't want to keep my iTunes library on my Macbook! I've tried holding down the option key when opening iTunes and choosing the folder on the external drive. When I do that I get this message: "An iTunes library file could not be found in the folder "iTunes 1" (which is what I called it). Please choose a different folder." What am I doing wrong? This should be a simple process!

I just want to clarify: Your library had been moved to an external, but your database files are still where they ought to be, right? In the home / music / iTunes folder?
If not, try putting these files back in the Music / iTunes folder in your user folder.
/Users/username/Music/iTunes/iTunes Library.itl
/Users/username/Music/iTunes/iTunes Library.xml
Keep the media on the external drive. If you get a message about missing content, go to preferences and make sure that the library location points to your external drive's itunes folder.

Moved iTunes Library to External Hard Drive - having trouble - HELP!

I have had quite the ordeal...upgraded my Mac iBook G4 from os 9 to os x 10 Tiger.
Bought an external hard drive to back up my 30 GB of music
Now...my computer won't function because it's out of hard disk space.
I moved my iTunes library to the external hard drive. Everything seems to be jim dandy...except that when I go to play a music file...the computer does not recognize the file.
I have to locate, and re-direct the path for each song to the new file location. SONG BY SONG!
Is there any way to do this globally for the entire library???
What else should I do to ensure I free up hard drive space, without jeopordizing my precious music files?
Thank you!!!

With iTunes 7.x you can transfer iTS purchases from the ipod back into iTunes.
To prevent your iPod from syncing - hold down the 'option' and  keys at the same time when plugging in your iPod. Keep the keys held down until the iPod show up in iTunes.
MJ

I am having trouble moving itunes library to external hard drive

It is a WD My book essential external hard drive (1 tb) that I just bought. I already have a ton of files I put on from my PC and I want to get my itunes library from my mac. When I try and drag the itunes folder into the hard drive folder it says somthing like "Can not move 'itunes' because 'music' can not be modified'" help please. Not sure about the oporating system I added below.

i'm guessing but could the WD be NTFS formatted ?
if so, your Mac can only read from, but not write to it. you may have to install the NTFS 3G driver for it to work.
to install the driver, you need to be on OS X 10.4.11 !

Moving iTunes library to external hard drive

I would like to free up some space on my internal hard drive and move my iTunes music, movies and videos to an external hard drive. Can this be done and iTunes still access the files to play or sync them to my iPad when needed?
If so, what do I need to do?

1. Yes.
2. Drag the entire library there, launch iTunes with the Option key held down, and choose that library. Keep a copy of it on a second external drive in case the first fails.
(120468)

Moving iTunes Library to external hard drive when iTunes can't consolidate.

Hi guys, hope you can help.
I want to move my whole iTunes library to an external hard drive and then delete it all from my laptop, and from reading around I realise I have to consolidate the library into the iTunes music folder. However, as my internal hard drive on my laptop is completely full, iTunes won't let me do this, saying I don't have enough space. Is getting the libary into the iTunes music folder the only way of getting it onto the external hard drive?
I can't really free up much space on the laptop as most of it (45 out of 60Gb) is the music I want to transfer!
Thanks very much!

Over half of my stuff isn't there.
Isn't where? In iTunes or not in the iTunes folder?\>Is it possible to copy the iTunes music folder from my laptop to the external, and consolidate from iTunes directly onto there?
Why not do as I posted above? Point iTunes prefs Advanced to the external then consolidate. Everything will be consolidated to the external.
You can then delete \Music\iTunes\Media\ folder and hunt around the internal and delete all the other songs that were not in the iTunes folder.

Moving Itunes library using external Hard Drive

I am just about to acquire a new PC with Vista and am wondering how best to transfer my iTunes music library from my lap top (xp) using an external hard drive rather than CD's?
Can anyone kindy provide a step by step 'idiots' guide to enable me to do this!?
Many thanks,

EDIT: If you want the tracks to remain on the external drive (you may not; I may have misread), you can just drag the entire iTunes folder (the entire folder, not just the iTunes Music folder) to your desired location. Then hold down the Shift 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.
Don't delete the tracks from the old location until you've confirmed that they're working correctly from the external drive.
Otherwise, follow Chris' steps.
Message was edited by: Dave Sawyer

IPod won't sync since I moved iTunes library to external hard drive

Hi,
To clear room on the hard drive of my Mac I followed forum instructions on how to export my iTunes library to an external hard drive. Worked a treat!
Except now my iPod Nano won't seem to sync with the latest podcasts I have downloaded.
Not even sure where to start troubleshooting this - any tips?
Many thanks
Scott
Message was edited by: Scott Douglas

Problem resolved itself - delays must simply have been something to do with mapping to new drive.

HT1449 Moving iTunes Library to External Hard Drive & Finding iTunes Media Location with iTunes 11.1.1

I tried this out till step 10,however i cannot manage to find organize Library or Consolidate Library when i choose Library in iTunes 11.1.1.
Any help would be much Appreciated.

I tried this out till step 10,however i cannot manage to find organize Library or Consolidate Library when i choose Library in iTunes 11.1.1.
Any help would be much Appreciated.

I have a macbook air. I was unable to fit all my music onto it so i moved iTunes onto an external hard drive. How do I transfer my music (80GB) onto my iPod classic?

I recently bought a Macbook air. I had 80gb so I moved iTunes onto an external hard drive. How do i move that music onto my iPod classic?

You can only sysc with one iTunes library. The new computer is a new library. You have to restore your iPod on the new conputer and then sync.

Backup and restoring itunes library from external hard drive?

is there a way to backup and restore my itunes library to external hard drive and not through the internal itunes backup utility cos i have over 20gbs of music and i want to keep my album art and renamed songs etc. because i will be reformating my pc and dont want to go through painful task of manually adding stuff again.

Try this...
*Fast backup for iTunes library (Windows Only)*
Grab SyncToy 2.0, a free tool from MS. Use it to create a backup copy of your iTunes library & any other media folders onto another hard drive or network share. After making the initial backup copy use SyncToy to periodically synchronise the backup copy with your library and only the changed files will be copied saving lots of time.
When the time comes to reformat your PC, do a final sync, then open iTunes & deauthorise the PC, reformat & rebuild Windows, copy the backup folders back to the same location as they were previously, install iTunes and it should all work perfectly.
tt2

Bought new Mac Retina; how do I get CS 5 on it; bought external hard drive but get error msg 15?

Bought new Mac Retina; how do I get CS 5 on it; bought external hard drive but get error msg 15?

Hi there,
I was able to format the Toshiba hard drive on my old Mac and copy the Adobe Suite onto it. I followed instructions to format the hard drive to the Retina Mac through Disk Utility, but I still can see the external drive on the new Mac.
Any suggestions…?
Susan Babin

Move PC iTunes library to external hard drive and consolidate with iMac

Hi, I have a PC that I'm not using much. I have a ton of iTunes music files on it so I went through the process of copying these files to my networked external hard drive. I have my iMac connected wirelessly to this same hard drive. I went into the System Preferences on the iMac to tell it where it could find the new library and I pointed it to the iTunes folder but there is not an iTunes Media folder like many of the articles state, like this one: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1449
Do I need to create an iTunes Media folder? Note this is an iTunes Library that was on a PC, moved to a networked external hard drive and will be used on my new iMac.
Thanks.

kneedragger101 wrote:
Note this is an iTunes Library that was on a PC
you might want to read these articles: one and two.
why not move your media files using _*Home Sharing*_ ?

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.

ITunes Library to External Hard Drive...and iTunes Match???

So, my iTunes library is getting too large for my computer's storage capacity. I'm thinking of moving some of my library to an external, USB hard drive. However, I've never done iTunes through an external hard drive before and I have some questions.
Can I copy new discs (import) straight onto the external hard drive? Or do they need to go onto my computer first then get transferred to the hard drive?
Can I still use iTunes Match and pull songs from the library on my hard drive and from the main computer?
To partition a library between a computer and an external hard drive, do I need to activate sharing or anything special? Or will the computer/main iTunes library just consider the external drive to be a different location for some of the tracks?
How would I backup the external hard drive? Would Time Machine (running off a separate hard drive) back up another external hard drive if they were both plugged in?
Can you burn the entire library to data discs anymore? Or do you need to make a playlist of your entire library? If the latter, is there a way to turn off the message about iTunes in the Cloud playlists only accepting songs matched or uploaded? I have some songs that erroneously did not get matched or uploaded. If I try to put them in a playlist and burn it to a data disc for backup, iTunes won't do it.
Please help!

I recommend you keep everything inside the iTunes folder.
Quit iTunes.
Copy the entire /Music/iTunes/ folder from internal to external.
Hold Option and launch iTunes.
Select Choose library... and select the iTunes folder you copied to the external.
This is all you need to do. Everything will work normally.
You can delete now /Music/iTunes/ folder on the internal.

Moved iTunes library to external hard drive, but getting (!) by all files

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for