Moving iTunes Media folder

I have iTunes (and all my other programs) installed on an SSD drive and I am trying to make it store my media on my internal storage HDD where there is more room. However whenever I tell it to store my media in the new location, and move all my music there, once I restart iTunes it reverts back to the default my music folder in my directory on the SSD and shows no media. How can i solve this? I know this can be done as i managed to do it before on another computer which takes all its media from an external drive on my houses network. Ideally i would like to restore my previous library so i dont need to totally resync all of my devices.

Move the entire iTunes folder to the new location, then hold down shift as you start iTunes to choose the library at its new path.
Or, if you are going to import the previous library, you may need to do some preparatory work to make it easier to move. See make a split library portable.
tt2

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Since I moved ITunes media folder to an external bkp unit upload of my home shared videos on Apple TV is very slow. Is there anything I can do?

Since I moved ITunes media folder to an external bkp unit, Apple Tv uploads my shared videos very slowly. Is there anything I can do?

USB 3 should be more than enough for what you want.
I don't know anything about Pinnacle but iMovie (assuming you are going default) does produce movies with a datarate of around 10 Mbps, which is quite high in comparison to iTunes movies from the iTunes Store. I don't know if you might want to try custom exports.
Although saying that I have plenty of movies at around 10 Mbps on my eSATA external which doesn't have any problems.

HT1364 If I already moved Itunes media folder to external drive and now music is not matching up in iTunes?

Dear Itunes Community~
This is my first time using glad you are here, but all the passwords!!
Question/Quandry:
If I already moved Itunes media folder to my external drive and now my music is not matching up in iTunes, what should I do? I have tried my solution !?, and now I have 17,000 songs, instead of 9,000!
Should I just uninstall Itunes, and then reinstall Itunes, and let it do it's thing, and then figure out how to move to the external hard drive later?
Help, I screwed it up all on my own!
Any/all help and Itunes educated suggestions appreciated!
Thank you very much,
Doris =:o
PS ~~ Is there anyway to easily delete duplicates?? Seems not?

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.

Moved iTunes Media folder, now iMovie can't find it

I moved my iTunes media folder in order to share it between two users on the same iMac, following these instructions:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1203?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US
That worked fine, but now iMovie can't find the iTunes media library. I don't see a way to change this setting in iMovie, the way that you can in iTunes. There must be a simple solution to point iMovie to the new location, but if so I am missing it. Can anyone advise?
OSX 10.6.8, iMovie 09, iTunes 11.1

anyone?

Question about moving iTunes Media folder/library

Hello,
I'm responding to the article listed here: iTunes for Windows: Moving your iTunes Media folder - Apple Support that describes moving your iTunes media folder. I have a massive music library/playlists (over 350 gigs and growing). I'm planning to relocate my media folder to Dropbox because I have ample space there and it will allow me to run my library off of multiple computers (though not at the same time). My question is this: if I follow the steps and consolidate and relocate my library to the new Dropbox folder, will all my new uploads and downloads/purchases/imports also start automatically going to this newly specified location? I want to make sure that it would.
Thanks

Well the way that Dropbox works for me (just documents and data, not iTunes) is that I have a complete copy of the files in my Dropbox folder on my computer at home, and at work, and in the cloud on Dropbox's servers. Each time I update one of the files it is uploaded to Dropbox and then downloaded to the other client machine. When using another computer I can access my files from the Dropbox web interface, or use the Dropbox app on my iPad. It sounds like you are hoping that you can have all of your files in the cloud, and only in the cloud. I don't think it works that way.
For 350Gb and growing I think that realistically you need to stick with local storage. I clone my library to a 1Tb portable drive which I physically take to and from work, At each location I use SyncToy to synchronize the local and portable copies of the libraries effectively giving me three parallel clones of the library at all times.
tt2

HT1449 Moving iTunes media folder

I've copied my media folder from one NAS drive to another. I've moved my library file. I've set the new location of the media file in Preferences. I've consolidated the library. iTunes still insists in looking at the old location, though. Any ideas?

Setting the preference in the Advanced preferences only sets where iTunes will put new content. That does not change where it looks for existing content. You should never manually move folders unless you intend to rebuild your library. Otherwise you break the connections iTunes has to the files. The way you should move tracks is to avoid moving things yourself, set the location for the iTunes Media/Music folder in the Advanced preferences, and then use the Consolidate command. iTunes will move the tracks to the new location itself and update the path names in its database file.
As it is now, you may be able to recover by moving the media folder back to its original location. If that restores the connections, then confirm that the location in the Advanced preferences is where you want it to be now, then use the Consolidate command again.
Regards.

Moving iTunes Media folder to second internal drive fails

The whole story is:
I never really used the iTunes media folder system. All my music is on extrenal drive and I was only importing it into iTunes manually to keep my own folder system, for example once a week Ive created a folder with a date of creating and there I had all the releases from that week (some in their own folder or separately but all in this one folder named by a dat eof creation). So on my ext. drive I have lots of these folders by date. And the names of folder always correspond with the date added to iTunes as well
My ext. drive is full now. so Ive decided to take a next step and put out the dvd-rom and put another internal drive (1TB) into my macbook pro which will be used for music and movie data only (the system stays on the old one).
What I want to do now is somehow move all these music folder to my new internal drive, so they can be accessed from iTunes without reseting all its features.
Ive read that one solution can be creating the new iTunes Media folder on that new drive and Consolidate all music from iTunes to this location. Problem is I cant even try it, because when go to iTunes Preferences to change the location of Media folder a hit Create after selectin the new location (new internal drive) after fee seconds the progress freezes and Activity Monitor says that iTunes are not responding. Ive tried to leave it for about half an hour and no changes, even tho theres not much to copy/move cause the Media folder has no music in it, only playlists etc.
So question number one is - why its freezing?
Question number two - any other way to trasfer all my collection and keep its organiation as it is without loosing the iTunes list and be able to use it after transfer?
Thanks in advance for your help and tips

Not sure about question 1...
What I think you should do is try to copy the existing iTunes library folder from <User's Music>/iTunes to <1Tb Drive>/iTunes then hold down option as you start iTunes. You should be asked to choose or create a library. Click choose and browse to the library file at <1Tb Drive>/iTunes/iTunes Library.itl (BTW if the the .itl extension is missing you should probably add it match the current format, but it will work either way).
The new copy of the library should work just as before, but check a few random things first, you can always revert to the previous library with option-start-iTunes if it doesn't work.
Under iTunes > Library > Orgainze Library if the option is available tick Reorganize files in the folder <Media Folder>. This will make sure the new version of your library is as portable as possible. Next under preferences > Advanced make sure that the media folder is given as <1Tb Drive>/iTunes/iTunes Media. If needed you can change this value. If you change the folder at this point iTunes should offer to copy your existing media into this new location. That ought to work, thought it will take some time. Alternatively you decline the offer and then selectively consolidate the library in batches, e.g. by selecting the tracks of all Artists beginning with A, and consolidating just those tracks, then repeasting with, B, C etc. followed by other types of media. If iTunes didn't prompt, or the folder was already correct, you can decide whether to try in batches or use iTunes > Library > Organize Library > Consolidate files.
tt2

Win-7 64bit: moving iTunes media folder from default location to D drive

Dear all,
I cannot move iTunes media folder from default location on C drive to D drive on win-7 64 bit.
What I did was:
- Under iTunes> Edit > Preferences > Advanced I choosed new location for iTunes media folder on D drive
- Under iTunes > Library > Organize library > I choose consolidate fiels and then ok ( this should create a new library on new location )
Next I delete iTunes media folder on C drive and hope that on re-start iTunes goes to new location on D drive and picks new file arrangement.
But it does not happen - no matter what I do iTunes goes to its default location on C drive ....
I called apple senior advisor - and she told me that it's kind of "my fault" I have windows7 installed on PC and because iTunes is Mac oriented they will not give me support... And referred me to Microsoft ... What a lousy support!. I paid for it $25!! What for?

By the way, I followed instructions as per link http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1364 - it did not work either. Can anyone share their success stories ? My C drive is not big and my music library ~ 100gB - I really need to keep iTunes media files in another location ... not a default place under User Login

HT1364 after moving itunes media folder to different disk drive i think i have lost most of my library how can i get it back?

due to lack of memory space i moved my itunes media library,only now i think i have lost most of my library as the i tunes page comes up empty,no playlists,no music, no music videos,no tv shows. can anyone help?

Hong Kong,
I don't think it is lost. I think it is on the other hard drive where you put it.
There are better and worse ways to move a library. If possible, put it back the way it was, and then move it by following this guide: iTunes for Windows: Moving your iTunes Media folder

Hi, i am trying to consolidate my songs into an itunes media folder because i am getting a new computer and want to put it on my external hard drive.

In the middle of the songs copying over i got an error message that copying files failed, the name is invalid or too long, How can i figure out which song is causing the problem so that i can change the file name and continue copying my songs? Please help!!!

One way is to Drag and Drop the Entire iTunes Folder from your Old Computer to an External Hard Drive...
Then Drag and Drop the Entire iTunes Folder to the location of your Music on the New Computer...
These Links may Help...
Backup iTunes to an External Drive
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1751
Moving iTunes Media Folder
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1364
Cheers

HT1364 I have moved my library to an external hard drive and changed the location of the iTunes media folder in Preferences, but every time I close and re-open iTunes, I have to do it all over again. How can I make the iTunes media folder change permanen

I have moved my library to an external hard drive and changed the location of the iTunes media folder in Preferences, but every time I close and re-open iTunes, I have to do it all over again. How can I make the iTunes media folder change permanent? I have an older machine with Windows XP.

I don't believe mounting the hard drive should be necessary, unless you have several external drives and want your computer to recognise them as folders, rather than drives. I've never had to mount a hard drive, ever. If you don't know how to do it, then it shouldn't be necessary now.
Try this:
Prepare iTunes so that it can see the external drive.
Make a note of which drive-letter the external drive has been allocated. (Look in Windows Exploer)
Look at the file location for a song. Make sure it plays (and therefore that iTunes has found it). Highlight it and select File/Get Info/Summary>Where: and make a note of the drive letter for that song.
Close and shut down the computer.
The next time you turn the computer on again, connect the external drive
Before you start iTunes - check the external drive in Windows Explorer. Is it ready, does it have the same drive-letter that it had last time? Can you go into the drive and see the files on it?
Once you can, start iTunes. (If the drive lettter has changed, you need to work out why before going any further.)
If iTunes fails to find your external drive, you need to check where iTunes is looking for your Library.
Select the same song you checked before (presumably iTunes can no longer find it). Follow the procedure for locating it. You should be able to see where iTunes thinks the file is. It's the drive that counts. Which drive letter is iTunes looking at? Is it the same one that it was previously (which should also be the same one that the drive has now).
What happens, which step do you have problems with?
Message was edited by: the fiend

We have 6 ipods and 1 iphone in our house. We have different itunes accounts. We use one computer. How can we share each others music? I moved everybodies itunes media folder to the public folder but when I open itunes I only see that accounts music.

We have 6 ipods and 1 iphone in our house. We have different itunes accounts. We use one computer. How can we share each others music? I moved everybodies itunes media folder to the public music folder but when I open itunes I only see that accounts music. We need different itunes accounts. We share 1 computer but we have different user accounts on the computer.

Adding media directly to the media folder does not make it appear in the library. iTunes doesn't really 'look' at that folder except to go to specific files when you call upon them from a library. You have to drag new content to each user's library, that is assuming each user has their own library.

Whilst moving location of iTunes to external hard drive, I lost my iTunes Media folder and now it can't find my media files

Whist moving my iTunes folder to an external hard drive, (I was following this post: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1364) I seem to have accidentally deleted the itunes Media folder - I misread the last action point!
All the files transferred to the external hard drive as I can see them and I am able to copy them into itunes, but only links, and they're still organised.
Can anyone help me restore the folder structure so itunes can see the music?
I added a new cd to itunes so I could see where it is now saving music and it created a new folder where the music now resides (I guess as a deleted the file structure from previous it needed to create a new one). I thought I would be able to copy and paste the old music into this newly created fold but it doesn't seem to have worked.
Any advice on what I should do would be greatly received
(I'm using windows vista)

Stop with the whining.
Download past purchases from iTunes

HT1449 When moving your iTunes Media folder to an external drive should the itl file be moved during the organise library process too?

I have moved all of the iTunes data to the drive, but can't seem to find the .itl folder when trying to make external drive the location for my music for a new computer.
Can anyone please assist on letting me know where the .itl file would have been copied to or whether, if I copy the .itl folder separately, would it keep play counts and ratings?
Thanks

Many people confuse moving their media folder with moving their library. A library is everything inside the iTunes folder. Unless you have a specific reason for not wanting to move the entire library it is best to do that rather than just media.
What are the iTunes library files? - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1660
More on iTunes library files and what they do - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITunes#Media_management
What are all those iTunes files? - http://www.macworld.com/article/139974/2009/04/itunes_files.html
Where are my iTunes files located? - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1391
iTunes 9 [and later]: Understanding iTunes Media Organization - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3847 - plus supplemental information about organizing to new structure https://discussions.apple.com/message/26404702#26404702
Image of folder structure and explanation of different iTunes versions (turingtest2 post) - https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-7392 and making an iTunes library portable.
If you move only media then the main library files remain on the computer. If you want to move the whole library:
Quick answer if you use iTunes' default preferences settings: Copy the entire iTunes folder (and in doing so all its subfolders and files) intact to the other drive. Open iTunes and immediately hold down the option (alt) key (shift on Windows) so you get a prompt to choose a library, then select the copied iTunes folder.
If this is to a new computer and you put the copied iTunes folder in the default location of Macintosh HD > Users > *User Name* > Music then you don't even need to start with the option key held down, iTunes will automatically look for it there. (Make sure there isn't anything already in the iTunes folder there that you want to keep since you will be replacing it with the one you are moving.)

I have moved my Itunes media folder to an external drive and Itunes does not find the items in the folder

Running Win7. I moved my entire Itunes library to an external drive to free up space on my laptop. Itunes recognized the change and all was well. That worked fine and I have synced several times from the laptop with the library on the external drive. Now the laptop is in the shop (sigh, not Itunes related a dead network card). I connected the external drive to my desktop, made sure my software was up to date. opened ITunes went to edit/preferences/advanced. Went to change Itunes media folder location and navigated to the proper folder on my external drive and clicked OK. None of the music, videos, etc, that are in that folder show up in iTunes on the desktop. Restarted ITunes, no help, reboot computer, no help. Have I done something wrong or left out a step. I could copy all the media onto the desktop individually and build new playlists but that seems like something that should not be needed? One of the reasons I moved my Itunes media folder to the external drive was so I could use the laptop for iTunes while travel and the desktop for iTunes while at home. Do I have to copy the entire folder to my desktop and take up space there? That would be counterproductive to using the external drive. I searched and saw a hint to hold down shift while starting ITunes but that did not change anything. Any help would be most appreciated!
Jim in WV

Thank you for your prompt response - I did as you said and did a drag and drop into the iTunes window - it imported and got my album art from the net. When I started Itunes with the shift key down I was prompted to choose a library but since I copied over the media folder and not the library folder I was unable to select that so I guess I will have to create a new library and add in all the music, videos, etc. unless I wait for my laptop and export the library or at least that seems to be the case? In short, all my data (iTunes media folder) is on my external drive and can be added to the blank iTunes screen but I can not choose a library folder. Is there anyway around completely making all those playlists again? I am not sure my laptop will survive the shop with data intact and really hate to start over on those.
In an unrelated question - I collect old TV shows from the 1950's. Can I make playlists within the home video folder somehow? In other words like one for Quiz shows, one for comedies, one for police and detective shows, etc. while I am remaking all my playlists for my music if I end up having to go that route?
Once again thank you for helping me out. I am not too Itunes savvy and really appreciate you taking the time to answer.

Moving iTunes Media folder

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