Moved music folders to external hard drive - now library is empty ?

I moved 27gb of music to my xternal hard drive as was getting too big for my laptop. i followed the instructions here at support, and consolidated. I clicked on the itunes icon and the itunes front page(library is empty). What did I do wrong ? and how can I restore it. Any help, much appreciated. Thanks.

Thanks so much for taking the time to help me. I followed the instructions in the post, and was able to recover a substantial part of my library in iTunes. But now I'm worried that when I synch my iPod to iTunes, it will reduce the content on the iPod to match iTunes. I searched more in the discussions, and see that I might be able to use 3rd party software to copy from iPod to iTunes. any advice if I go that route? Thanks again!

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Moved iTunes to external hard drive, now library is empty

I moved my iTunes ver 7 from my full hard drive to an external hard drive. It worked fine, was able to synch iPod. Then I upgraded to ver 8.0.2 and when I open iTunes the library is empty. I changed the "path" in the Preferences/Advanced window but it didn't help. I know my music is still there- the folder shows 38.0 gb, but how do I get iTunes to find it? Thanks for any help.

Thanks so much for taking the time to help me. I followed the instructions in the post, and was able to recover a substantial part of my library in iTunes. But now I'm worried that when I synch my iPod to iTunes, it will reduce the content on the iPod to match iTunes. I searched more in the discussions, and see that I might be able to use 3rd party software to copy from iPod to iTunes. any advice if I go that route? Thanks again!

How to route iTunes to music folders on external hard drive?

Here's my story: Three years ago, I successfully rerouted iTunes so that the program would find my music library on external hard drive. Two days ago, my Apple MacBook computer was updated to the Lion operating system. iTunes was also updated.
Now I have to go back into iTunes and give the program new instruction to go find the music files on external hard drive.
Details:
My folder on external hard drive, called "iTunes Music," contains various music files and also, I notice, a folder called "iTunes."
Within that "iTunes" folder, the following folders or files are located:
FOLDER: Album Artwork
FOLDER: Automatically Add to iTunes
FILE: iTunes Library Extras.itdb
FILE: iTunes Library Genius.itdb
FILE: iTunes Library.itl
FILE: iTunes Linrary.xml
FOLDER: iTunes Media
None of this makes any sense to me!
Meanwhile, on the computer's hard drive, following this routing, in the folder called "iTunes," the following folders and files are located:
Users -- Hard Drive -- Music -- iTunes
FOLDER: Album Artwork
FOLDER: Album Artwork 6.29.26 PM
FOLDER: Automatically Add to iTunes
FILE: iTunes Library 6.29.26 PM
FILE: iTunes Library Extras.itdb
FILE: iTunes Library Extras.itdb 6.29.26 PM
FILE: iTunes Library Genius.itdb
FILE: iTunes Library Genius.itdb 6.29.26 PM
FILE: iTunes Library.itl
FOLDER: iTunes Media
FOLDER: iTunes Media 6.29.26 PM
FILE: iTunes Music Library 6.29.26 PM.xml
FILE: iTunes Music Library.xml
I do not understand any of this. I do not understand WHICH FILE OR FOLDER I should instruct iTunes to go to in order to find the desired music files.
Once the desired files are found, they should appear in the iTunes window on screen. This is not happening.
I have tried holding down the Option key while starting iTunes, which yields a window that asks for me to CHOOSE LIBRARY. I choose the iTunes library file ( iTunes Library.itl) that is located on external hard drive. However, NOTHING HAPPENS. iTunes does not do anything. When the program opens, nothing is visible in the iTunes window, where normally songs are listed. No playlists on the lefthand side. NOTHING.
Thanks for your attention and for any insight you might be able to share.

Just so people know, there's already been several posts on this in this forum: https://discussions.apple.com/message/18642460

Moving music files via external hard drive-- Can you keep ratings/playlists

I keep all my music on an external hard drive in order to prevent it getting lost. Anyways... what I'm wondering is if I go to move my music from one computer (comp. A) to another computer (comp. B), is it possible to keep all the ratings and my playlists? I've seen the stuff for transfering with your ipod, but the problem is my 30Gb doesn't hold all my music, and I would reeeeeaaally hate to go through and redo all the ratings. If anyone knows maybe a file involved with itunes that might contain the ratings or playlists that I could store with the files themselves to transfer that would be excellent. Thanks to anyone who can help out. If you need clarification on any of the details just lemme know.

It looks like it should, thanks. One other bit that I'm wondering about is how do I load that Library list once I've installed itunes on comp B? Is it just a matter of going file>import or file>add new file to library? Thanks again

I've moved iTunes to an external hard drive now have massive duplication of albums

Recently moved my iTunes folder to an external hard drive. Used the Itunes preferences to transfer the itunes folder to a new location. Didn't transfer it manually or by drag and drop! Followed this - I hope correctly - by using the iTunes/File/Library/Organise Library tool. May have got this bit wrong....
Result?.........
Here we see, in the second column, that I have both an 'iTunes Music' folder and a folder simply called 'Music' (Highlighted in red). You'll have to take my word for it but these folders have different amounts of music in them. Some is duplicated, some albums are split across the two folders. Howwever, most empty folders are in the 'iTunes Music' folder, whereasost complete folders are in the 'Music' folder! In addition, There's a 'Compilations' folder within the 'iTunes Music' folder (highlighted in blue with a red arrow) which has a small number of compilations most of which I've never selected as compilations.
Note the repetition of folders called 'Automatically add to iTunes' in both the 'iTunes' folder and the 'iTunes Music' folder. There's another one of these in the 'iTunes Media' folder.
Going further in.....
Here we have the 'Music' folder in the 'iTunes' folder. It has its own 'Compilations' folder which is even larger and more irrelevent than the previous one. It also has way more album folders than the 'iTunes Music' folder itself.
If I use the iTunes/File/Library/Organise Library procedure the splash screen that comes up allows me to choose the first optiuon but the second one is greyed out.
One of the results of this is duplicated albums on my iPhone, another is randomly missing tracks in my collection. In addition, my iTunes screen saver now has duplicate album covers and many album covers that I know I've downloaded at high resolution have just gone missing making my iPhone look like its been populated by a chimp! (no offence to our cousins) Where I've discovered a missing track I've used the 'File/ Add to library' procedure. In one case it copied an album folder from the 'iTunes Music' folder where I found it into the 'Music' folder on another occasion exactly the same procedure left the album precisely where it was.
BTW, I have another iTunes folder on my Mac with all the normal stuff in it but only music that I had to add whilst nopt connected to my hard drive.
How can I remove this massive duplication safely?
How can I consolidate my files efficiently without having to go through each folder separately?
How can I remove all these albums from 'Compilations' and prtevent other albums being added?
How can I get all my album artwork back in sync?
Phew!
Thanks!

The folders and files are all normal to a basic iTunes library. They would be there even if you didn't have a single media file. Until you start up with the option key held down, iTunes will keep on looking for your library on the internal drive and will repopulate that folder with those basics if you delete them. You should have a similar folder with contents on your external and that is the one you want iTunes to use. As long as you keep it all intact while copying from one drive to the other, iTunes will be internally consistent and you won't even have to change preferences.
Preferences window
iTunes Media folder location: Just that; where iTunes keeps media. This is not necessarily where the library files (which are what ties the whole thing together) are to be found.
Keep Media Folder Organized - put all your files in folders according to type and name and album etc.
Copy Files to iTunes Media Folder - put it this way, if you didn't have that checked itunes would leave the files wherever you had them when you added them to the library. this one makes sure there is a copy (though not necessarily the only one, but the only on iTunes uses) in your media folder.
What actions take place when itunes "consolidate library" is used?
When you consolidate iTunes looks at all the files you have listed in iTunes and puts them in the location indicated by your media file preference. I don't think it hunts around your drive looking for things that aren't in the library, it just places a copy of those that are innto your media folders. If you want a searching tool you'll have to use a script that does that kind of job.
Your original images are not showing for me so I can't tell what exactly you are seeing.
Again, what I would do given what you have told me is I would make sure iTunes is using the library on the external by holding down the option key while starting iTunes (you only neeed to do that once). If you find there are files on your internal drive that are not in the library on the external then add those and iTunes will place a copy on hte external if you have that "copy files..." preference checked. You'll lose a few things such as playcounts, ratings, on those. If you absolutely must keep those there are a few tricks that can be performed but that's another very long post.

Moving music files to external hard drive

I bought an external hard drive and want to free up my main C drive by moving my music, pictures and videos to it. One of the folders in My Music is "iTunes" which has the folder "iTunes Music" which holds all of the music that iTunes communicates with. The new external drive is the "H" drive. How do I tell iTunes that all of my music is now located elsewhere, without actually having to go down the list song by song, which would be impossible, time wise. Some sort of single bulk change from one drive to another. Thank you

Well, you never said that's what you wanted to do, so why don't you calm down and stop yelling at the people who are trying desperately to help you.
"How do I tell iTunes that all of my music is now located elsewhere, without actually having to go down the list song by song, which would be impossible, time wise. Some sort of single bulk change from one drive to another. Thank you."
All you asked for was assistance with moving your iTunes music. We provided instructions, which you chose to ignore.
Moving your entire My Documents folder is a completely different procedure and you could have saved everyone a lot of frustration if you just made it clear that you wanted to do that in the first place.
At the risk of complicating this thread any further, I am going to remove myself from it. Moving your My Documents folder is not something I feel comfortable helping with, as I am not a Windows user and I don't want to provide the wrong info for you and end up screwing up your entire machine.

Moved my files to external hard drive, now files not found. Help?

My Itunes folder having outgrown my memory, I moved all the files to my external hard drive, following the directions in Itunes. I was able to play the songs as long as the hard drive was connected. However, I opened Itunes mistakenly without the E: Drive connected, and it opened blank, with no files in place. I closed, hooked up the hard drive, and opened Itunes again, holding down the shift key and choosing the library on E: (the xmp file). The files now show up, but when I try to play them, I get a message indicating that the file isn't found, do I want to find it? I can, but I don't want to go through 5000 files and add each one individually. If I try adding or importing the folder again, the file is simply in itunes twice. I can always import everything again, but I don't want to lose all my ratings, last-played, etc. It took a lot of time to listen to and rate all those songs. Any help would certainly be appreciated. Thanks.

I am having the same problem. I moved my itunes library to an external drive to free up the space on my notebook and now I "get files not found do you want to search" If I search I can find the song in Windows but have to find each song individually, I have 2600 songs I burned from my CD collection, it would take way too long. I have tried copying the file to the same drive, I have reintalled itunes multiple times. I have checked Apple and my computer is "authorized". Is there any way out of this? Otherwise I will be limited to just having the music I already have on my ipod and being unable to add any more, and if that ever bocomes compromised I would be unable to restore it. None of my music is purchased from itunes, it is all burned from my CD's.

Moved itunes to external hard drive now library not showing up

I tried to move itunes to an external hard drive to free up space but now I can't get my library to come up. What do I do?

Hi, BreezerSB2.
It sounds like you may not have followed the instructions described in this article in the Apple Knowledge Base.
If that's not possible - or you don't want to do so - and the music files are in fact on your external drive, you can add them to your iTunes Library by referring to this article 's Add to Library section.

Need help moving music collection from external hard drive to Macbook Pro

     I just bought a Macbook Pro today after my Windows desktop was bricked a few weeks ago. Luckily, I didn't lose the most important files on my pc, my music, because it was all on my Zune, as well. So, I borrowed an external hard drive, copied all of the music from my zune onto a friend's pc, and then copied it again from their pc to the external. Finally, I just plugged the external into my new mac, copied the folder within it holding my music, and hit "paste item" in the "Automatically Add to iTunes" folder. Initially, everything seemed to work perfectly, however, after transferring a little over 7 of my 54gb of music, an error message appeared saying that the operation was ending because it could not transfer all files.
     I then tried playing a file off of the hard drive, a wma, and received a prompt that the file was incompatible with Quicktime player, the default for no apparent reason. I tried then opening it with iTunes, and nothing happened, as far as I could see. Naturally, my next step was to google how one would transfer wma files to a mac, and, to make matters even more confusing, all of the results seemed to tell me that iTunes should automatically convert wma files to mp3, which does not seem to be happening in my case.
     I'm still not sure why this isn't working, as I'm sure more than 7gb of my music collection is non-wma, so that doesn't even seem to be the sole issue. Any help with importing my collection would be hugely appreciated, as I'm enjoying my mac so far, but will have to return it if I can't get music on here.
     Thanks.

One problem is that iTunes for Mac can't handle WMA files, iTunes for Windows will convert them, but not iTunes for Mac. When you add unprotected WMA files to your iTunes library (Windows only), iTunes converts them to new files that iTunes can play, based on your import settings. See if you can use your friend's PC to do this. If the borrowed PC has iTunes, create an alternate iTunes library so you don't mess up your friend's library. This explains how: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1589
This support document might be helpful: iTunes: About the Add to Library, Import, and Convert functions, http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1347

Moving Album Folders to External Hard Drive

I organize my photos in iPhoto in Albums. I want to move Albums to an external hard drive, but it will not allow me to move the Titled Album, only its contents.
Is there a way to move the Album in its entirety to keep it organized in the new hard drive?

Export to a folder with the same name as the album - Exporting From iPhoto
You also can move your entire library to an external drive keeping everything organized as it is -
Moving the iPhoto library is safe and simple - quit iPhoto and drag the iPhoto library intact as a single entity to the external drive - depress the option key and launch iPhoto using the "select library" option to point to the new location on the external drive - fully test it and then trash the old library on the internal drive (test one more time prior to emptying the trash)
And be sure that the External drive is formatted Mac OS extended (journaled) (iPhoto does not work with drives with other formats) and that it is always available prior to launching iPhoto
And backup soon and often - having your iPhoto library on an external drive is not a backup and if you are using Time Machine you need to check and be sure that TM is backing up your external drive
LN

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

Files moved to external hard drive - now nothing playing in iTunes...help!

*Hi guys,*
*Just wondering if someone can give me some advice really. I think / know I've made a bit of a botch up of my files :-(*
*Here's the story - I'll try to be brief...I have done a number of different things to try and sort this mess out and this is the latest...*
*- Laptop storage full, with over 5000 music files saved on it. Laptop unhappy - says needs more space. I try to accommodate.*
*- Already have all music files backed up on external storage drive. Nice. Delete music files in C:/Program Files/iTunes file. Laptop happy - has enough space.*
*- Delete current iTunes music files. Drag and drop music files from external hard drive into iTunes window. Transfers music. No problem.*
*- Add new files to external hard drive - try to update in iTunes. iTunes not happy - shows exclamation marks by most songs, which then won't play.*
*- iTunes only opened with external hard drive connected and working.*
*- Me now not happy.*
*- Try changing path where library is saved. Does nothing useful.*
*- Only available option is to click on each track and manually locate it. Not fun when there are 600+ files.*
*- Decide to drag and drop files into iTunes window again.*
*- Now ended up with 12000 tracks in my iTunes, half of which are duplicates with exclamation marks that won't play.*
*- Now at end of my tether. Takes hours to move tracks and now using up unecessary room with unplayable tracks.*
*Does anyone know a. where I went wrong (given I've faffed around with it so much...I just want it organised once and for all...) and more importantly, b. what I can do to sort this mess out.*
*Is it actually possible to have all your music stored externally but to have them play through iTunes to transfer onto my iPod???*
*Also, if I used my iPod as a disk drive, and copied the files straight onto there from my hard drive, would they actually play, thus ruling out iTunes altogether?*
*Many thanks in advance.*
*Frustrated MP3 wrangler*

*Also...is there any way I can filter out all the tracks with the ! so I can delete the unplaying copies as they're taking up room in my iTunes? I know how to find duplicates, but then I have to go and delete each one individually...*
*Thank you!*

I perviously transfered all my iTunes music to an external hard drive. But now when I connect the external hard drive and try to play a song, I get an error message saying that I need to "locate" my music. I don't how to find it on my external hard drive.

I perviously transfered all my iTunes music to an external hard drive. But now when I connect the external hard drive and try to play a song, I get an error message saying that I need to "locate" my music. I don't how to find it on my external hard drive. Please help for I am not that computer savy and don't want to mess anything up.
Thanks!

I called Apple Support and they walked me through it. They told me to basically copy and paste my music to the external hard drive. (I think.) Or maybe it was they had me transfer a folder to the EHD. I don't exactally remember it was a few years back. But I tried to plug in the EHD before starting and...nothing. Still says same thing, "locate file."

HT1391 I had all of my music on an external hard drive that failed. I have iTunes Match so all of my music was synced with the "cloud". How do I now download and save all of my music back down on a new external hard drive?

I had all of my music on an external hard drive that crashed. I have iTunes Match so all of my music was synced in the cloud. How do I now re-load my music back down onto a new external hard drive?

Hey Rbe58!
I believe this question can be answered by the information in the following article:
iTunes 11 for Windows: Access all your music anytime, anywhere with iTunes Match
http://support.apple.com/kb/ph12492
Play or download songs from iCloud
You can play songs directly from iCloud, or you can download songs so you can play them when you’re not connected to the Internet.
If a song is available in iCloud, it has a Download button next to it.
To play the song, double-click it.
To download the song, click the Download button.
After you download a song to a computer, it remains in the computer’s iTunes library, even if you turn off iTunes Match.
To only display downloaded songs in your iTunes library, choose View > Hide Music in the Cloud. This also hides any previous iTunes Store purchases you haven’t downloaded.
For information about downloading and playing songs on an iOS device, see the documentation for the device.
Thanks for using the Apple Support Communities!
Cheers,
Braden

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.

Moved music folders to external hard drive - now library is empty ?

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