Problem Moving Library Location

I'm trying to move my iTunes library to a network drive.
I've changed the location in Preferences but when I try move the music files using Consolidate Library from the Advaced tab, I get the following error message; "Copy music failed. The disk could not be read from or written to". I can access both the old and new librarys with any other application.
Any thoughts?
Thanks.
Windows XP Pro

Consolidate simply copies everything in iTunes to the location shown in iTunes prefs -> Advanced.
It does not "find" all your music.
File -> Add to library and select the folder with the 5,000+ songs.

Similar Messages

Problems moving library from old external drive to new one

I keep all my music on an external hard drive connected to my laptop at home. I am now spending several months away from home, and couldn't take my external drive with me.
I planned to handle this by using iTunes backup feature to put my whole library on DVD, then buy a new external hard drive to take with me, and sse iTunes backup feature to rebuild the library on the new external HDD.
However, I can't get the library to restore/re-load/re-import from the backup DVDs. The iTunes backup/restore instructions tell you to open iTunes then insert the backup DVD. When I do that, I get the following error message:
"The Disc "Backup2007-07-09" cannot be read. An unknown error occurred (-69)."
However, I can read the DVD using just going through My Computer, so I really don't believe it's a problem with the disc.
So, if this backup method isn't working, how can I re-create my library on the new hard drive? I have dozens and dozens of playlists, a lot of them smart playlists that depend on such things as play count, rating, and date added, so i really need to keep all my tags.
I thought of two possible work-arounds.
Plan A: Copy all the music myself (ie, not using iTunes) onto the new external hard drive, using the same filename and path as they had on the old external hard drive, then import the Library.itl file that's on the backup DVD (manually copying over the default one created by iTunes).
Would that work? The big annoyance of this plan, I should add, is that, looking at the files on the backup DVD, i can see that iTunes added a number behind each folder name (ie, "01 Al Green") and behind each album title (ie, "01 Al Green - Greatest Hits"). It seems to me I would have to go through and manually delete all the numerals in both artist and album names in order for the .itl file to point to the right place. That would take hours...
Plan B: (Really not a great plan, but I'm grasping here...)
Give up on the backup altogether. Keep adding music and podcasts to my library as is. All my music that is sitting on my far, far away home HDD will get the exclamation point next to it in iTunes. Then, when i try to sync the ipod, if i'm thinking this through right, iTunes will go ahead and add the new stuff to my ipod, but all the old stuff will just not copy over, and then at the end of syncing i'll get the error message to the effect of "itunes didn't copy song x because the file could not be found." This option is far from ideal, as my playlists won't update, but at least i'll still have the playlists.
Do either of these sound like they would work?
Any other suggestions?
Any help would be very much appreciated.

If you can you connect both external drives to the computer at the same time, it would be easier to use the "Consolidate Library" utility in iTunes to move (actually copy) your media to the new drive.
1- Open iTunes preferences and select the Advanced tab. Change the location of your iTunes music folder to a location on your new drive. Also select the options "Keep iTunes music folder organized" and "Copy files to iTunes music folder when adding to library". Close the preferences dialog.
2- On the iTunes menu, select Advanced/Consolidate Library. This will gather all your media and copy it to the new location (the folder you designated in step 1).
3- After the consolidation is complete, verify that your music still plays, and check "Get Info" on some items to verify that iTunes is looking at the new location.
4- Optional. Delete the original files on your external drive. Do this only if you are certain that everything copied over to the new drive.
5- Optional. Close iTunes and locate your "iTunes Library.itl" file. This is typically in your iTunes folder, which may be on your computer's drive and not the external drive. Move this file to somewhere on your new external drive. Next, hold the Shift key as you launch iTunes and you'll be prompted to "Create Library" or "Choose Library". Select "Choose Library" and navigate to where you put the "iTunes Library.itl" file. This is a one-time step that tells iTunes where to boot the library from.

Problems moving library from pc to mac via external drive

Hi, I have searched hi&lo for an answer to my problem, and now I'm having another problem. I have just got a macbook and had all my music on an external drive in WMA format. I dragged my library into itunes on a pc to transfer it all to mp3 format so I could play it on my mac. That took some time (I have about 50GB worth of music) but it worked. Why can't I just save and replace the old wma library with the new mp3 library? Or do I have to save the new one and then delete the old one? I have just spent hours organizing all the files and artwork, etc. So in order to save the itunes music folder and copy it to the external drive I must consolidate, right? Now the new problem. When I click consolidate library I get an error "Coping Music failed: filename was invalid or too long." I have plenty of space on the pc cdrive and on the external drive. I have done export library and it just puts a small xml file there that obviously isn't 50gb of music! The itunes folder looks like it has most files in it, but no artwork, etc? I have read about the find&replace (can't figure that out either) and other articles, but nothing is working for me yet, any help would be greatly appreciated as I have been at this for days and am getting really frustrated. This is my first mac and use of itunes and I don't see why it's so difficult to transfer your music over! Please help!

This page may be of some help: How to move an iTunes library from a PC to Mac (and back)

Problems moving library from iTunes to iBooks

It's been a while since I messed with my library in iTunes, but I went there today to see a notice saying that my library had been moved to iBooks. So I open iBooks and there are 2-3 books in there, things I had opened with iBooks when it first came out, but not the ~300 things in my iTunes library.
So, I go dig up all the files from my iTunes library and drag them into iBooks. After this is done, I go into iTunes to pick what to sync to my iPad, and there are two copies of everything. I guess it still sees the ones in the iTunes library as well as the ones in iBooks.
I deleted everything out of iBooks. I see there's this menu item, File -> Move Books from iTunes. I pick this, and it tells me it's moving 332 books and grinds away for a while before saying that it's moved everything. When I look in the library, there is ONE book, not the 332 it said it was importing.
How can this be so broken? How on Earth do I get my books back in order?

See > iTunes for Mac: Moving your iTunes Media folder
Note: that it is also a very good idea to backup your iTunes Library to a second drive just to be safe.

Problems Moving iTunes Library To Another PC

Hi All -
I'm having problems moving my iTunes Library to another PC.
OBJECTIVE
I have a new PC, and I want to move my iTunes library off my old and onto the new. I want to be sure that I get all of the music and videos that I have both purchased and loaded. Total library size 132 GB.
MY CURRENT SETUP
o Old PC - Windows XP
o My current iTunes Library is not in the default location; my C: drive was too small, and I installed a separate data disk quite some time ago
o All of my files (music, videos, apps, etc.) are consolidated in the new library location.
WHAT I'VE DONE SO FAR
o Researched to find out how to copy my library to a new PC - from Apple's site
o Copied my iTunes library directory to an external disk.
o Installed iTunes on the new PC
o Opened iTunes on the new PC and changed the location of the library to a secondary data disk.
o Closed iTunes
o Copied my iTunes libaray from the external disk to the new PC library.
o Opened iTunes - where the heck is my stuff?!?
o Research ... i need the .itl file
o Apparently the itl file was not in the directory structure when I copied my library onto the external disk.
o Find the itl file ... copy the itl file ... open iTunes while holding down the <SHIFT> key
o Point to the new itl file which is now co-located w/ all of my content.
o iTunes shows my stuff, but when I click on one of the items, it tells me the file it not found.
Clearly I'm missing a step somewhere. I just want to move all my stuff, lock-stock-and-barrel, to a new installation of iTunes, on a new PC, into a library location other than the default.
Help!
Thanks.

With iTunes closed, copy the files iTunes Library.itl, iTunes Library Extras.itdb, iTunes Library Genius.itdb, sentinel and the folder Album Artwork from C:\Documents and Settings\Compaq_Owner\My Documents\My Music\iTunes into G:\ - Note that sentinel is a hidden file so use Tools > Folder Options > View > Show hidden files and folders in Windows Explorer to reveal it. The iTunes Music Library.xml file and Previous iTunes Libraries folder won't be needed.
Press & hold down shift as you click the icon to launch iTunes. Keep holding until prompted to choose or create a library, click choose and browse to G:\iTunes Library.itl
Check that you can play a file or two. Close iTunes
Rename G:\iTunesLibrary as G:\iTunes Media
Launch iTunes. Check under Edit > Preferences > Advanced that the media folder has been automatically updated to G:\iTunes Media. If not, use the Change... button to correct it. Don't consolidate files if prompted. Close iTunes, then reopen. Check that you can play media.
Close iTunes. Create a folder called G:\iTunes. Move the files iTunes Library.itl, iTunes Library.xml, iTunes Library Extras.itdb, iTunes Library Genius.itdb, sentinel and the folders Album Artwork & iTunes Media inside G:\iTunes.
Press & hold down shift as you click the icon to launch iTunes. Keep holding until prompted to choose or create a library, click choose and browse to G:\iTunes\iTunes Library.itl
Check under Edit > Preferences > Advanced that the media folder has been automatically updated to G:\iTunes\iTunes Media. If not, use the Change... button to correct it. Don't consolidate files if prompted. Close iTunes, then reopen.
Check that you can play media. You're done....This library can now be connected to any computer and you can use the shift-start-iTunes method to connect to it. whatever drive letter is provided.
If the media won't play at any stage stop, check that you've followed the steps properly or ask for help.
tt2

Moved media to TC. Now itunes keeps changing default library location

I realize this might be better suited in the iTunes discussion forum however...
I recently purchased a time capsule and moved all my media to the new drive. I changed the default library location in preferences. Problem is, every time I quit and relaunch iTunes, the default library location reverts back to my old location on my mac. Any ideas how I can get iTunes to remember my new default location? It's as if it's picking up a location file somewhere that is telling it to create a new library on my mac's hard drive.
Thanks for any input.

I don't have a TC but I also keep my iTunes library on an external Firewire drive and the following is the behaviour. Maybe it's so for you too:
• When the firewire drive is mounted on the desktop and I open iTunes, iTunes will link back to the library on the firewire drive.
• When the firewire drive is unmounted and I open iTunes, iTunes preferences will revert the library to default back to the internet drive.
• BUT, when I remount the firewire drive, and open iTunes again (after it's been closed), iTunes preferences will automatically go back to linking the library on the firewire drive.
So in short: when unmounted, iTunes links music library to the original default which is the internal drive. When mounted, iTunes will automatically relink music back to the firewire drive.
Does it work like so for iTunes on Time Capsule?

I am having a problem moving files from a iMac in location mac in another location. I have tried using Dropbox and the Public folder in the i disc. When I drag the files into dropbox they become alias' and I can't open them at the other end beca

I am having a problem moving files from an imac in one location to an imac inanother location. I have tried using Dropbox which is installed in both locations but when i drad a file ino yhe app it becomes an alias. When I get to the other location it says I can't open the file because the " original application that created it is not present". This is despite the fact that the app that created both files is installed in both computers. If I use the Public folder in the idisc, when I get to the other location the file isn't there. Am I forgetting to turn something on or off? Should I manually sync the Public folder and if so how? Thanks
Message was edited by: stephenfromdelray beach

So now that's two of us. Hopefully, someone has an answer.

Network drive library location failure and Syncing problems

I transferred my iTunes library to a wireless network drive. If iTunes opens without an established wireless network connection, it returns to the default library location. I can easily change it back to the network drive, but want to avoid restoring the default location. How can I do this?
A related problem is with syncing my iPod with the new network drive iTunes library location. In short, it won't sync with the new location and asks me to Restore the iPod continuously. The only way to get the iPod to sync is when the library goes back to the default iTunes location (which I don't want because I don't have music there anymore).
Would love some help.

+If iTunes opens without an established wireless network connection, it returns to the default library location+
That's how it works. There is no way to stop itunes from doing it. If you ever find you've opened itunes without that drive available, immediately close itunes. Use a shift-start to re-open it using the networked ITL file.
Have you tried assigning a different drive letter to the ipod? Maybe it's competing with the networked drive letter. Just go into windows device manager to change the ipod's drive letter.

Moved library - how to correct file locations in playlists

I copied my library off my HD to an external HD because the library is pretty large, about 120gb. I have all my music in playlists, and I back up my playlist library regularly just to be safe. I have not deleted my original library off my HD just yet to be safe that everything made it over.
My question is: My playlists still show all my songs as located on my internal HD. How do I get them all updated to show that the files are located on the external HD instead? I want to delete the original library off the internal HD to make more space. I changed the library location in the Settings -> Advanced tab under Preferences and iTunes now recognizes that that is where the library is.
I tested all of this by deleting a song from a playlist in its folder on the internal HD to see if iTunes would relocate it on the external HD. It did not. It prompted me to locate it instead.
I tried importing my library again, thinking that might fix it. Instead, all my playlists are now duplicated. And the songs in both versions of any playlists both still show the songs as being on the original internal HD, not the external.
Thanks.

Traditionally, if you want your download to go to a different folder than the default folder you would control-click on the link in Safari and select something like "Download Linked File As..."
Some websites are written in such a way as to disable that functionality.
charlie

How To: Change iTunes media library location/folder

*PLEASE READ THIS ENTIRE POST BEFORE ATTEMPTING THIS PROCESS. IT’S NOT ROCKET SCIENCE, BUT IT IS FAIRLY INVOLVED AND ENTAILS SOME RISK. THERE ARE SOME WARNINGS AT THE END.*
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REQUIREMENT
Move iTunes media (music, videos, podcasts) to another folder and update the iTunes library to reference all the media from that new folder.
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Example cases: Move iTunes media from C:\ drive to D:\ drive; Change iTunes folder name from Music to Media.
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Note:
Special action is only necessary if the +Keep iTunes Media folder organized+ option is not selected. If this option is selected, iTunes will move media to the new location when the +iTunes Media folder location+ is changed. More info can be found here: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1449
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PROBLEM
When the location of iTunes media files changes (files are moved, folder name/drive letter changes), iTunes cannot automatically locate these files. iTunes entries can be updated to point to the new location one at a time or by deleting all entries and re-adding all files. Updating one at a time is time consuming, and deleting and re-adding causes a large amount of metadata (play count, date added, rating, etc) to be lost.
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SOLUTION
The iTunes library can be exported to an XML file, modified, and re-imported.
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Process:
- *Backup the iTunes library data:* Make sure iTunes is closed, and then backup the folder containing all the iTunes library data. This can normally be found in +<user-folder>\My Music\iTunes+ for Windows, or in /Users/<username>/Music/iTunes for Mac. The +iTunes Media+ and +Mobile Applications+ folders can be excluded from the backup since they will not be affected by this process. If this process does not work for some reason and you need to restore the previous state of your iTunes library, you’ll need to use this backup as the source for restoring.
- *Move iTunes media files to new location:* This may be changing which drive is used to store iTunes media files, renaming a folder, or whatever. This can be done for the whole library or for only part of it.
- *Export the iTunes library:* In iTunes, select File -> Library -> Export Library... and save the file somewhere for editing (Desktop is a good location).
- *Open Library.xml in a decent text editor:* Notepad is not recommended, since Library.xml can be very large. Some free options include PSPad, Notepad++, Smultron, and Text Wrangler.
- *Update Library.xml:* Locate the files that have changed location and update their path accordingly. The XML file has the metadata for each file labeled with XML tags. The file location is denoted by <key>Location</key>. If the whole library is being moved, a find/replace on the whole file is recommended. Once a file is located in Library.xml that needs to be updated, copy the part of the string that has changed starting with <key>Location</key>. Use that as the find parameter, and enter the replace parameter in the same format. Include as much of the string as possible to prevent unintentional replaces. Save and close the file when done.
- - - Example: Find: <key>Location</key><string>file://localhost/C:/Data/iTunes/
Replace: <key>Location</key><string>file://localhost/D:/Data/iTunes/
- - - Note 1: This step may require adjustment to match your situation. You may want to count how many files need to be updated and make sure that the find/replace only changes that many or edit them by hand if the location of all files have not been changed. It shouldn’t be difficult, but it may require some thought.
- - - Note 2: Music, TV Shows, Movies, and Podcasts are stored in this file, so make sure to account for all media types. If the location of all types didn’t change, the find/replace strings will need to take that into account.
- *Remove all modified media entries from iTunes:* For any of the files that are being moved, the associated metadata must be removed from iTunes to avoid having duplicates in iTunes. This can be done by selecting all entries in iTunes that will be modified, right-clicking the entries, and choosing “Delete”. After confirming that you want to remove the selected item from your iTunes library, make sure to choose to keep the file in the iTunes Media folder if prompted.
- *Import Library.xml:* Import the modified Library.xml by selecting File -> Library -> Import Playlist... and selecting the modified Library.xml in the file open dialog that appears. Depending on the size of the iTunes Library, this could take a while (10 minutes or more).
- *Test results:* Locate a file in iTunes that has been moved, right-click on the file, and choose “Get Info”. The “Location:” field should indicate the new location of the file. Close the Info dialog and try to play the file. If the file plays, the process was successful.
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_*DISCLAIMERS/ADDITIONAL NOTES*_
- I tried this out a couple of times, and it worked fine for me. I can’t guarantee it will work for everyone, but I thought I’d share since I couldn’t find instructions for this situation anywhere else.
- If the process fails, you SHOULD be able move the iTunes media files back to their old location and restore the backed up iTunes library data to the iTunes folder to restore your previous configuration.
- I wouldn’t recommend attempting this if you don’t feel comfortable with backing up your iTunes library data and editing the XML file.
- I don’t know if this process will preserve whether videos and podcasts have been played or if it will preserve the play position where items were last paused.
- If you are moving all of your iTunes media files, you’ll want to update the “iTunes Media folder location” under the “Advanced” tab in preferences. This appears to be the folder that iTunes will use for some of its basic operations, such as storing synced audio notes, Podcasts, and the “Automatically Add to iTunes” folder.
- This process duplicates playlists, probably because you are importing your entire library again. I just deleted the duplicates when I was done.

If all the media is on one drive and you're not letting iTunes manage it then you can achieve the "portable" status simply by moving the library files high enough up the tree, i.e. the root of the drive if necessary, letting iTunes know where the nominal iTunes media folder is and then moving the library to the new drive keeping the relative paths from the library files to each distinct set of media folders unchanged. Personally I don't like iTunes cutting my file & folder names short, but the advantages of a portable library mean that I'm quite happy to organise my media inside the iTunes Media folder, albeit largly on my own terms. Indeed all my non-iTunes multimedia is now also organised in the same folders. The only media files iTunes organises, temporarlily, are rips & downloads apart from active Podcasts whose folder names I leave unchanged. Everything else gets sorted just the way I want it - full length filenames, different character replacements, folder art etc. I used to do it by hand, deleting, tweaking & reimporting, but these days I use a custom script which does it all automatically - renaming files just as I want and reconnecting iTunes to the newly moved file so that no iTunes-only metadata is lost.
There are similar XML-editing how-tos elsewhere on the web, I just wanted to make the point that there may still sometimes be a way to achieve the desired result which isn't quite as complicated but nevertheless leaves the user fully in control of their file structure.
Anyway, at least you took the trouble to find a method that works for you first. There are sadly too many tales of woe on these boards from people who've moved all their files around first only to discover that they've broken their libraries and can't work out how to undo the damage.
tt2

Moving library to external hard drive and get the error "Copying files failed. The disk could not be read from or written to"

Hello,
I'm moving my library to an external hard drive.
I've made sure to use the 'Keep iTunes Media Folder Organized' option when pointing to the new library location.
I select 'File'->'Library'->'Organize Library', I select to 'Consolidate Files', click 'OK' and get ther error message "Copying files failed. The disk could not be read from or written to".
I've read elsewhere that there may be a corrupted file that I need to sequester somehow and perhaps add it back however I'm not certain how I can locate that file because the status window doesn't indicate which file it's attempting to transfer when the error appears.
Any tips?
Thank you,
Greg H
iTunes 10.6.3

OK I figured it out!
It was a dodgy file....I sorted the file folders by date, and as it turned out within the "compilations" folder there was a CD where only about half the tracks seemed to have been copied over. Could not have identified this simply from the time indicated on the finder folder sort, because there were several CDs copied over in the that same minute.
I went back to the original itunes folder, deleted all the files from that CD in itunes, then also deleted all those files from the original disk and the target disk.
Tried the "consolidate library" again, and it completed nicely. 200megs of music and videos.
Very happy to solve this problem after 3 weeks.

Moving Library causing Deletions?

I've been reading through posts here and it looks like maybe there is a problem with the new iTunes upgrade. But I don't know if it is the same problem I just had.
I have an intel Mac Mini with 10.5.4 connected by firewire to a non-intel Mac Mini with 10.4.11. My iTunes library is on the non-intel Mini, but I play it through the intel Mini having chosen the library on the old machine as my default for my intel Mini installation of iTunes.
After having gotten the logic board replaced on the intel Mini, I went to move a smaller iTunes library off the intel Mini onto the main library on the old Mini (about 600 songs). I did this as follows: I accessed the library on the intel-Mini, selected the folders in the iTunes library and dragged and dropped them to the user library on the old Mini -- it puttered along and then the finder (on the intel Mini) froze. I restarted and now about 1200 songs are missing off the old Mini (both "purchased" and not and I can't find them).
1) The songs deleted weren't the songs I was moving.
2) I have iTunes 8.0.2 on both the intel mini and the old mini
3) There are also some odd problems when I am accessing my library (located on the old Mini) through the intel Mini:
i) it says it's not authorized to play any purchased music (which it never had a problem before the logic board was replaced)
ii) it won't let me pick "Album" as a list category -- it always defaults to "Album by Artist"
iii) some songs it says are gone from the intel Mini view of the library are there if I am accessing my library directly on the old Mini (but not all of them)
I don't even know where to start looking. I tried "spotlight" and it's not finding the songs. Where could they have gone? Anyone have an idea what may have happened here and why?

Thanks for the reply.
I'm on my computer (Windows machine) at work so I can't look up exact directory names/paths on my Macs. But what I mean by "library" is the directory in my user directory which I think is called "iTunes Library" which has inside of it a bunch of subdirectories with music files. I realize changing this doesn't change the library .xml file which I assume is what the computer accesses to display the listing of songs when you have the iTunes window open.
Previously, I had "imported" the smaller library (the one I was trying to copy over) from the intel-Mini to the main library on the old-Mini from within iTunes. Except when the intel-Mini was in getting its logic board replaced, it became apparent that all that was "imported" were some sort of indexes to those files because they had not actually been moved/copied to that other hard drive. When I got the intel-Mini back, I thought I could get around this by just copying the subdirectories directly instead of "importing" them. I'm not sure why I thought this wouldn't be a problem for the .xml file.
I will try that "click through" option for the "Album by Artist" thing. I've only tried selecting the view option (for the columns that display in the iTunes window) for it to display "Album" but I always get "Album by Artist" -- I haven't specifically tried repeatedly clicking that column to see if it changes into just plain old "Album"
I suspected that the new logic board might make this a "new" computer. Because I set the "library" in the "Advanced" setting in iTunes to the library on the networked computer, I didn't think it would need authorization (I don't remember having to do that the first time I set up this connection) because, I thought, technically, the library is still located on the drive where everything is authorized.
But I guess, the real questions are: 1) is it NEVER safe to just copy those subdirectories? and 2) is there any way all that music isn't really gone?
I can probably restore most of it from my CDs and my last "Purchased Music" back up (which isn't entirely up to date), but the bigger problem for me is identifying just which files are gone without having to scroll and select through several thousands songs from the library list.
I'd take any advice . . .

Moving library when files and library are on different volumes

Hi all,
I know there are many posts here on moving libraries, but my situation is where I unclicked the "copy files to iphoto library" in preferences, so my files are on one drive while my "iphoto library" is on my main mac drive. Any way I can move my files and "point" my present library file to look in the new direction for these files? It would save me having to do a new library and all the time re-organizing. Using iphoto '09
THanks
Scott

In other words, where would iphoto prefer these files be?
In the iPhoto library
If your library is still intact and the path to your referenced photos is still the same then Alias Herder - http://www.rorohiko.com/wordpress/downloads/aliasherder/ - has proven successful to converting to a managed library - make a backup of your library and run Alias Herder to bring your photos into the library - check the preference to copy imported items to the iPhoto library and now you can move the iPhoto library where ever you want and point to it by launching iPhoto while depressing the option key and selecting the iPhoto library location
This will eliminate many future problems
LN

Why does my library location keep changing?

I kep my iTunes library on a separate internal HD. It's the ONLY thing on that drive.
TUNES: iTunes/iTunesMusic
But a few months ago, iTunes started "magically" making folders, and importing songs one level PREVIOUS on that drive:
TUNES: iTunes
Weird. But not the biggest deal in the world.
So today I noticed that my StartUp HD was gaining weight, and after some investigation I realized iTunes has "secretly" switched my library location again!
MacintoshHD/Users/MacPro/Music/iTunes/iTunesMusic
And, the weird thing is, ALL my songs play! They're all distributed in these 3 locations, and I had ZERO grey "!"s.
Why is iTunes doing this!?
And since iTunes doesn't like the library being moved around very much, I'm reluctant to change anything.
GRrrrrrrr...
Any ideas?

I'm on here too looking for a solution to this problem, as after months of sourcing my library from it's new location on an external hard drive, my itunes now looks in the default location.
One thing that might have happened is that on one occasion, you may have accessed itunes whilst your external drive was off. If this has happened, then itunes will automatically revert to the default library location.
If this hasn't happened, try the following link:
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-10329738-263.html

Moved library to external drive ... now can't reconnect files HELP

Hi all. I've searched this forum for answers to my problem but to no avail.
In effort to free-up hard-drive space on my iMac, I decided to move my entire Aperture library folder to my external g-drive. Then, when I started Aperture up again, I opened preferences and pointed to the new library location on the external. I thought it would be that easy...
At first, it seemed to have worked--the files were all showing up in Aperture. However, when I tried to edit or export any of the images, I got a warning message:
"Versions with unavailable master images cannot be exported. The selected master image is either offline or not found. Please reconnect it and try again."
Also, there's a little yellow yeild icon with an arrow above on the images... I guess this indicates that there's a connection problem?
What should I do? I tried right-clicking the main "Library" icon in Aperture and clicking "Relocate Masters for Library..." but that resulted in another error message:
"Unavailable master images cannot be relocated. One or more of the selected master images are unavailable. You can relocate all available masters, or cancel, connect the required drives, and try again."
I have no idea what to do next? How do I fix this? I have a shoot today and I will need this resolved.... If anyone has any idea, please take me thru this. Oh, one more thing--I have over 11,000 photos so forget manually connecting each one.
One more thing: I am downloading Aperture 3 and will definitely migrate. Will it be easier to connect these files to Aperture 3?

OK, I couldn't figure it out so I set everything back to how it was before the move. Everything is working now and all the files are still in the original location.
Now, I want to move the entire library to the external drive. I've looked into this...please correct me if I'm wrong with the steps to move entire library from my computer to a external drive (note: I don't want to use the computer HD to store/process the photos--I want it all done from my external HD)/. Here's what I found in Aperture help...this is the closest thing I could find for directions on moving the entire Aperture contents from one location to another permanently. Will this work?:
"Transferring Projects from Another System
If you work with several computers, or work on projects with other people, you may find it necessary to transfer projects from one Aperture system to another. Transferring projects is a simple import process.
To transfer a project from one computer to another:
1 Select the project you want to transfer, then choose File > Export > Project.
2 Enter a name and choose a location for the exported project.
3 If your project contains referenced images, select the “Consolidate images into exported project” checkbox to transfer the original masters as well as the previews and metadata as a self-contained project that another Aperture system can use.
If you are transferring projects with referenced images to another computer and want to transfer just the referenced image previews and not the masters, don’t select the “Consolidate images into exported project” checkbox.
4 Click Save. The project file is exported to the location you chose.
5 Connect or network the two computers together. For more information, see the documentation that came with the computers.
6 Open Aperture on the computer to which you want to transfer the project.
7 In the Projects inspector, select Library.
8 Choose File > Import > Projects.
9 In the Import dialog, navigate to the location on the other computer where the project you want to transfer is stored, select the project, then click Open.
The selected project appears in the Projects inspector."

Problem Moving Library Location

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