Moving my library of source mp3 to different drive

I have all my cd's ripped to mp3 files on my c: drive and have already imported them into my library, gotten all the album art, etc. Now I need to move all of them to my D: since my C: is getting full and I need all the space I can get. I just moved the folder to the new drive and now iTunes wants to locate each song. Is there a fast way or do I have to do each of the 2,000 songs one at a time?

The only good way to move an iTunes library is to first change the iTunes music folder location in preferences, and then run the command Library > Consolidate. That puts a copy of each file in the new designated Music folder.
Any other method causes iTunes to lose the files.

Similar Messages

Moved photo library to external, space on internal drive did not change.

At the end of each year I like to move the current iPhoto library to an external hard drive to save space. The library get retitled Library 2007, Library 2008, etc.
I do this to save space on my hard drive. My trusty iMac has only 80 gig hd (but that was a lot a few years ago). I was down to 11 plus gigs of free space.
So, I moved over 4000 photos to the external hard drive, using the directions posted on this forum about using the pictures folder and the library in it, then deleting old photos. OK, so all my pictures from 2008 are on the external. I kept only 72 pictures on the internal hd (had to reimport them after the big move). This only freed about 4G of hd space, and if I do “Get info” or use Whatsize, it shows my iPhoto as using 9.7G of space. 9G of space for 72 photos??? Can’t be. If I select my old Library 2008 with 4000 plus photos it also says the size is 9.7
I know I have the right Library chosen when I start iPhoto with option key held down.
What have I done or failed to do???
I tried shutting down and restarting. Have repaired permissions once, though not from original disk.
This has been hard to explain, I hope I made it understandable.
Thanks in advance for all help.
Jane

Hi Terence,
I feel like the world's biggest dummy right now. Remember when I told you that yes, I had emptied the trash? Well, the trash I emptied was on the desktop. I very wrongly assumed that when I selected and deleted photos, all trash was the same. But apparently not. The trash in the iPhoto program was filled with images. When I discovered this an emptied it, I freed up a lot of hd space.
So, your first suggestion was right, I was just too dumb to know which trash needed emptying.
Thank you so much for your help and your patience as well.
Jane

Moving Itunes library back to desktop from external drive-problems

I had moved my itunes library to an external HD becuase I did not have enough space on my desktop. I recently upgraded my desktop and tried moving my itunes library back. I did not go too well. After several tries I set itunes to keep the library on the external drive since I did not delete it. Now when I open itunes it can't find the location for 90% of my music. I hope the application did not delete the library on the external drive. I don't think it did since the file size has not changed. How can I set this up so my songs are on my desktop and can be accessed by itunes? Any help would be appreciated.

I had used that article and followed it exactly but I am still having problems. I moved my library back to the external drive, all of my songs are there but itunes has to be directed to the songs to find them.

Successfully moved iTunes library to a bigger external hard drive.......

Hi all,
Yesterday I successfully moved my iTunes media library over to a larger external hard drive for my profile. The problem I am having now is that my girlfriends profile is still pointing over to the old hard drive. I thought following the same steps would be the best way to get her pointed to the new location.
I updated the path in the iTunes preferences Advanced tab to the new location.
I started the "Consolidate" process and noticed that it was creating duplicates of everything that I copied (Consolidated) yesterday, so I stopped that before it got too far - last thing I want is to have to go through and find and delete all duplicates.
In addition to her profile on my Mac, there are 2 other profiles as well. How can I get all profiles to recognize that the iTunes library location has changed, with out creating multiple duplicates of each media item?
Thanks in advance!
Mike

Drag the entire library to the Mac's internal drive, launch iTunes with the Option key held down, and point it to that library. If the library only contains the music and not the iTunes database files, drag it into the open iTunes application window.
(80731)

Moving My i Tunes Folder To A Different Drive

I'm runnung Win XP Pro. I have installed my iTunes to an external drive, as my free space on my C drive is getting a bit scarce. I see that all my music is stored in the iTunes/ My Music/My Documents Folder located on my C drive. Is there any way to store all mu music files on the external drive, as it has lots of room? Also, can I install my iPod software on the same external drive without any problems? Thanks.

You'll need to 'Consolidate' the music from the C: drive to the ExHD by using iTunes. This will keep all your music data intact.
I'm not sure I would have installed the iTunes program on the ExHD, but if that's what you did and it's working, then just leave it.
If you want to make another drive (direct or portable) on your PC the main music location for iTunes, move all song files there, as well as any future imported music from CDs, here is one method (see the links below):
You will maintain your playlists, ratings, comments, etc. This will only move your music folders location, NOT your iTunes program files. It is my opinion that programs (i.e. – iTunes) work better when installed on your main hard drive. At the very least, it makes it easier to manage all your programs if they are centrally located on one hard drive (the Windows default standard).
See these links for step-by-step info:
Moving your iTunes Library to a New Hard Drive
http://discussions.info.apple.com/webx?[email protected]@.689d6b09
iTunes: Moving your iTunes Music folder
If you are moving the music to an external hard drive, after the transfer and to work correctly, the ExHD must be running prior to your opening iTunes. If not, iTunes may reset the location of your music to the default.

Moving iTunes Library and Music to External Hard Drive...Possible?

I want to transfer my iTunes Library to an external hard drive. Is this possible and what are the pitfalls, if any?
Thanks
A.L.I

Yes it's quite possible, that's how I have mine set up, and Moving iTunes Music will tell you how to go about it.
Pitfalls? Can't really think of any.
Regards
TD

Moving iTunes library on to a portable hard drive and then my new laptop?

I am getting a new PC laptop and I want to move my entire iTunes library from my old PC to a portable hard drive and then eventually put it on my new laptop.
How do I do this without loosing all my play counts, play lists etc.?

Assuming you use the iTunes default settings where iTunes copied added items to your iTunes folder and organizes your library (meaning - everything is all self contained in the iTunes folder), then all you have to do is drag & drop your iTunes folder (not just the iTunes Music folder you find inside the iTunes folder) to the external drive and copy the entire thing.
If you want to test that it worked or would like to actually start using it from that location instead, use these instructions when you start iTunes to point it to the new location...
How to open an alternate iTunes Library file or create a new one
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304447
If you are just testing, then close iTunes after you verify it works, and restart iTunes again with the same instructions and point it back to your internal drive (original) location.
Additional info...
Back up your iTunes library by copying to an external hard drive
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=307074
Cheers,
Patrick

Moving iTunes library to new pc on Windows 8

I have moved my library across using an external hard drive and following these instructions http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT4527
It still doesn't work and I get an error message saying "The iTunes Library.itl file cannot be found or created. The default location for this file is in the "i Tunes" folder in the "music" folder
But the iTunes library IS in that folder - see screenprint
Help!

Thanks.
So your current library folder is C:\Users\Sam\Music\iTunes your media folder is D:\iTunes, and your media folder appears to be in the old school layout.
To fix up your library first use the menu option File > Library > Organize Library... Tick both of the boxes Rearrange files and Consolidate files. This should ensure that any stray files linked to the library from say your desktop, are copied into the media folder, and the media folder transformed into the modern layout.
The only file you should see in D:\iTunes at this point is called .iTunes Preferences.plist. Please remove any other files present into say D:\Temp and check the iTunes still works properly. I suspect that at some point you either copied some of the iTunes installer files to this path, or tried to install the application on this drive instead of the system drive. The file dates suggest an older version than the one currently in use so that should not be an issue. The following unwanted folders may also be present and should be removed:
CD Configuration
iTunes.Resources
iTunes.Helper.Resources
Mozilla Plugins
Now close iTunes and copy the following items from C:\Users\Sam\Music\iTunes into D:\
Album Artwork (folder)
iTunes Library.itl
iTunes Library Extras.itdb
iTunes Library Genius.itdb
sentinel (hidden file, you can use options in Windows Explorer to show this)
Ignore the .xml file at this stage iTunes is going to make a new one with a slightly different name.
When all of the files have been copied across press and hold down shift as you launch iTunes. Keep holding until asked to choose or create a library. Click choose and browse to D:\iTunes Library.itl. iTunes should open normally and your library should function as before but now using a database file on the external drive.
Assuming all has gone well close iTunes and rename the folder D:\Itunes as D:\iTunes Media. For the sake of my OCD please observe the lower case i, and the capitals T and M. Start iTunes. iTunes should automatically adjust the path to the media folder under Edit > Preferences > Advanced to D:\iTunes Media. If it has failed to do so please make that correction manually then close and reopen iTunes. Check that content still plays.
Close iTunes again. Create a new folder in D:\ called iTunes (again the lower case i and the capital T please). Now move the following items from D:\ down into D:\iTunes
Album Artwork (folder)
iTunes Media (folder)
iTunes Library.itl
iTunes Library.xml
iTunes Library Extras.itdb
iTunes Library Genius.itdb
sentinel
Launch iTunes. It will complain that the library is missing. Click choose, then browse to and open D\iTunes\iTunes Library.itl. Check that the media folder has automatically corrected itself to D:\iTunes\iTunes Media and that your media plays.
Congratulations. Your library is now fully portable. You can connect the drive to your new computer, delete the existing iTunes folder inside your user's music folder and copy in the one from this external drive.
I suggest you keep the two copies of the library in sync with the techniques in Backup your iTunes for Windows library with SyncToy.
Deauthorize the old computer if you no longer need to access protected media on it.
<Edit>
Ah, seems you've managed to get there without needing all of the steps, however if you have trouble getting content to play you may still need to do so, or you can adapt them to get your library fully portable and backed up for the future.
</Edit>
tt2

Moving iTunes library to an external drive converting to different format

I want to move entire iTunes library to an external drive. I've found several Mac 101's to help but those helps makes no sense. I should be able to move music to another drive and give iTunes the path to find it but that does not work.
All files are iTunes Plus including everything from Amazon but I want to convert everything to a mp3 or other format so all files are independent of iTunes. Lots of old music from CDs I imported and lots from iTunes as well as Amazon. I guess i could sit and burn everything to a physical cd but that would take months and hundreds and hundreds of cds. Can someone advise how I can convert these files and then move to an external drive?
I'm running mountain lion and version 10.7 of iTunes. Two external drives and 145 gigs of music. Any guidance will be most appreciated.
Thanks.

HI Limnos,
Thanks for the reply. Something I forgot (age) to mention, this quest to move the library is precipitated by the Mac drive is running out of space. While I still have about 50 gigs of room left, I was thinking I should just plan on opening up the space by moving the iTunes library.
The other reason is, I read an article about how upon ones death one can not bequeath ones digital music or book files to loved ones. IE; If all of the music was on LP's, tapes, cd's then this physical format can be left in ones final will. But according to what I read and trying to read the user policy by Apple, Amazon etc when one downloads music or a book or whatever that use policy says we don't own the material we only can read it or listen to it. When we die it dies with us. Several people in the article as well as myself believe this is crap. At one time I was purchasing content and then burning it. I stopped because I thought how silly to burn it, I have back ups on an external drive. Man was I wrong. If I have to I'll sit here in my last days and burn hundreds of cd's.
So realizing this, I want to take all my music files and save them to another drive as though this drive was hundreds of cd's. That way all those files in some other format can be played independent of iTunes or transfered to one of my kids PC's or a Mac if they get with the program. If the conversion process destroys the integrity of the file then I have no choice but to burn cd's.
In my estimation, I'm doing nothing wrong. I bought downloadable music just as if I'd bought cd's. I should be able to throw it away or give to my kids upon my death. The kids can decide what they want to do with it once I'm gone. I now no longer buy any music or books in a digital download. All content is purchased with a physical copy. That said, more content providers are moving towards downloads only or like Amazon and Apple towards the cloud and streaming. I realize all this gets into the fair use act but I think most people are unaware of this issue.

If you have music playing when you start moving your library to a different

...HD, then you're stuck listening to that music until the consolidation is done.
just a heads-up, I guess. I'm listening to stuff I'd rather not be listening to now because it's got maybe a half-hour to go before it's done moving my library.

Yeah, I'm sure you're right. That's probably why it's like that.
I just wish I'd picked different music to play or stopped playing before I started moving the library.
Well, it just hit Canned Heat. So I can deal with that for a while.

Moving iTunes library from one external hard drive to another, playlists

Here's my question. I keep my iTunes library on an external drive. My 250GB extrernal drive is full, so I'm moving my entire library to a new 500GB hard drive.
What do I have to do so my hundreds of playlists (most mixes with dozens of songs) still function once I've moved the music over?
Do I delete everything from my old drive, then use the 'add to library' function on the entire new drive? If I do that, will iTunes be able to find the tunes in each playlist?
Thanks!

I DON'T MIND DRAGGING THINGS OVER; TH PROBLEM IS, WHEN I TRY TO PLAY PLAYLISTS AFTER MOVING STUFF TO THE NEW DRIVE, EVERY SONG WILL ASK "FILE NOT FOUND--WOULD YOU LIKE TO LOCATE IT?" WITH 50,000 mp3s, it will take forever to rebuild all my playlists. Is there a way to have iTunes search a new drive and recognize the songs as being the same as the ones on the old drive, so you don't have to do this manually?
Also, if I do use the 'consolidate library' approach-- what happens if I drag all my other music folders into my itunes folder manually on the old drive, then try consolidate--will it copy EVERYTHING over to the new drive, or only the stuff that was in the iTunes music folder on the old drive from the beginning (since everything else I used "add to library' but not 'copy to itunes music folder'.
iTunes should have some more built in utility options to allow it to find everything in the library when it moves to a new drive, even if one chooses to keep music in a different format than the 'itunes music folder' approach. .

Moved iTunes library, but iTunes can't find it

I followed the online instructions and moved my iTunes library from one external hard drive to another. The music is all there on the new drive, but iTunes is looking in the wrong folder and the music doesn't show up in iTunes.
I tried changing to the correct folder in Preferences/Advanced, but that doesn't change anything.
Everything I find online is about how to make iTunes COPY all your files to a different drive and then access it there. How can I make iTunes recognize files that already exist in a different location?

If you see a file called library.itl in the folder on the other drive that means it is likely your whole library is there. Copy that entire folder (do not import, do not export, do not change preferences, do not...) to the other drive. Start iTunes with the option key held down and guide it to the library file on the new drive.
If you do not see a library file there then the library file is in the iTunes folder on your computer and just media were on that first drive. Dealing with that is a whole different set of instructions.
Yes, many, many, many sites confuse a library with media files. It is not the same. It's like confusing a pile of random books in a vacant lot with an organized library building.
This is the one you probably needed to follow, except it is confusing:
iTunes: How to move [or copy] your music [library] to a new computer [or another drive] - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527 - a somewhat bewildering and not always easily understandable set of options.
Do not confuse moving your whole folder and library with moving just media files as in
iTunes for Mac: Moving your iTunes Media folder - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1449

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.

How do i move my itunes library to a different drive

i underestimated the space i needed for my itunes library. at the time, i thought 75gb is more than enought for my 60gb ipod, then the videos and movies came along. although i cannot put them on my 4th gen ipod, but i did downloaded a bunch of free tv shows and video podcasts.
i thought i was simply gonna delete some already-viewed files as i push the limit, but then the recycle bin on my ipod specific drive screwed up. i can no longer delete anything off that drive. since the partition i had earlier was kind small for my ipod drive, i think i want to reformat the drive to a different partition.
of course, i need to move my itunes library first. can someone please teach me how to move my itunes library to a different drive? thank you very much.

When I added a second drive internal drive I used this guide: Moving your iTunes Music Folder

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.)

Moving my library of source mp3 to different drive

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for