Problems pointing library to external HD iTunes....

First let me say I'm so sorry if this question has been asked and answered, I really don't have the time right now to search.
OK, I have two questions actually. The first is I have a 24" iMac that has two users, my husband and myself, on it. We had our entire iTunes library of songs in the Shared users folder. That way we could keep our own separate itunes music.xml and library database files in our own home/music folders. That way we can have our own playlists and own songs. The library has the complete total songs we have, which consists of about 30% of music either he or I have in our list (both not both) and 70% we both have listed. I had a MacBook which Apple just exchanged for a MacBook Pro for me. I'd like to get all of our music on to an external drive so that both the iMac and MacBook Pro (and AppleTV & Sonos) can all access the same library. I spent 8+ hours copying the 80+ GB library on to the external drive (named itunes) into a folder on the primary level called iTunes Music. I then went into my preferences/advanced/general and changed the folder location to reflect the new external location. I pressed ok, and the yes to organize, but the songs in my library do not point to the new location. I then tried to delete the original Shared/iTunes Music library to see if I could 'force' it to find, did it all again, and now all songs have exclamation points. What do I do? I cannot copy the iTunes Library.xml & ITunes Music database files onto the external also because then any differences in any one of the three separate iTunes (2 users on iMac, 1 on MacBook Pro) will not be reflected, they'll all just be exactly the same, which I don't want. I really do not want to click 80+ GBs of songs, one after another, to point each in the right place. Please help me!
The second question has to do with why I want all the music on an external to begin with. I had one library of music to start with, put it on both my iMac and my MacBook (the one that was returned), and after a year of use, I have a rat's nest of music. There could be the same song on both, but one copy now has lyrics added, the other cover art. So many adds and changes on one or the other and I'm lost. I'd like to merge the two (I used Carbon Copy Cloner to clone my MacBook before it left) libraries, one that WAS on my iMac and now on my external, and the other on another external that is a clone of my MacBook. I've tried using TuneRanger, which is suppose to work, but just got a TON of duplicates. Is there anything out there that can realize by artist name and song title that's it's the same song and merge the changes together to form one library??? It's making me crazy!!

I'm very sorry you took it that way. Of course I do not think my time is more valuable than anyone else's. I have asked questions and searched this, and others forums, exhaustively in the past before asking anything... I'm even a Global Mod on another forum.
I maybe should've added that I am in the middle of moving out of the country, so my internet is only intermittent and dependent upon when I can either find a hot spot or pay to connect. I thought all of that would be wasted words compared to my problem, and did not want to offend if the question had been asked a million times before and the answer was obvious.
But now I guess I'll go somewhere else to find the answer. Thanks so much for your help!

Similar Messages

How do you point to an external HD iTunes library?

My wife and I are using a 2012 iMac and we each have an account on the computer. I have moved my iTunes library to an external HDD. When I log into my wife's account, I am failing to point her iTunes to that same external HDD. I have tried the "option" click iTunes and choose new folder, but I get an error saying there is no iTunes folder. I guess it is looking for the .itl file and can't find it. So how is it that I am able to access this, and she is not? How can I fix it?

Yup. Right on. Color is doing nothing wrong, it's OS X that had you spoilt . Unlike Windows, Mac OS has no 'drives'. Everything is a file or a folder.
Anything you can a mount, a USB drive, a CD, a DVD, an external or an internal hard drive, will show up under /volumes. Exactly the way it works under *nix. Mac OS simply places an alias to those drives when you go into Finder. Which Color should really have recognized too, but Apple was in too much of a hurry to radically change FinalTouch's GUI. Oh well.

Problems with library on external HD

I recently moved my entire itunes library to an external HD. It worked very well for a few weeks but now my mac is not able to recognize the drive. I tried to repair the problem using disk utility but was not able to. I was then prompted to back up and erase the drive and start over. I have two questions. Is there a way for me to back up the drive without use of an additional external HD? (I don't really have the funds to go out and buy another.) If I'm not able to back up the drive before I erase it I would assume that my itunes library will be lost as itunes will not be able to locate the media files. I have my entire library on my ipod. If I were to uninstall itunes totally and then reinstall it is it possible for me to transfer all the media from my ipod back to the new itunes? Thanks in advance for any help.

Recover media from iPod
See this post from forum regular Zevoneer for options on moving your iPod data back to your computer.
Reformatting you external drive may fix the current issues, however I would be worried that it might fail again in the near term. You should look to replace it as soon as possible.
tt2

Moved library to external HD, iTunes still uses old iTunes Library.itl file

Howdy-
I'm running Windows 7 & iTunes XXX
I moved my library from my laptop internal hard drive (C:\Users\jasonbar\Music\iTunes) to my external hard drive (G:\iTunes).
I followed the recommended procedure:
1 - Edit/Preferences: check "Keep iTunes Media Folder Organized"
2 - Edit/Prefrences: click "Change" & input "G:\iTunes" into box to denote new library location
3 - File/Library/Organize Library & check "Consolidate Files"
Now, I've found that iTunes still uses the old "iTunes Library.itl" file in the old location (C:\Users\jasonbar\Music\iTunes). For the sake of convenience (and to make the library entirely self-contained on the external HD & to protect it from possible laptop loss/failure), it would be swell if I could migrate that file over to my external hard drive also. But, if I remove the "iTunes Library.itl" file from the old location & copy it to the new iTunes directory, iTunes just doesn't seem to be able to figure out that there's a nice "iTunes Library.itl" file on my external hard drive that it can use.
Is there any way to achieve what I want?
Thank you,
-Jason

I assume you have your iTunes folder located on your other drive (no Music folder enclosing it.) On your startup volume you have a /Home/Music/ folder but the iTunes folder has been removed. OK, so far?
Go to where the real iTunes folder is located. Select the folder then CTRL or RIGHT-click and select Make alias from the contextual menu. You should see a new icon appear named "iTunes alias" with a little curly arrow in the lower left corner of the icon. Now, copy the alias file to the /Home/Library/Music/ folder on your startup volume. Rename it to just "iTunes" (no quotes.) Delete the alias you created on the other drive.
Now when you double-click on the iTunes alias in your /Home/Music/ folder your real iTunes folder should open up. Now if you open iTunes application it should re-discover the iTunes folder.
Or you can do what the other posted suggested. Simply point iTunes to the new location of your iTunes folder. Open iTunes Preferences, click on the Advanced icon in the toolbar. Click on the Change button, locate the new library location, click on OK button of the Open dialog.

Problems with library on external harddrive

Hey!
I've got my entire iTunes library on an external harddrive, and that causes me some problems because the harddrive sometimes changes which drive letter it connects to (etc, suddently jumping from e: to g:).
When this happens of course, iTunes cannot find any of my songs, so I have to delete all songs from the library, change the library location again, and add the songs once more, destroying my playlists and sometimes even duplicating the songs so I got like 3 versions of each song.
Is there a quicker way to do this? The file location is the same exept that it's "e:\itunes folder" instead of "g:\itunes folder" etc. This kinda drives me crazy sometimes:p
Please help?
I'm using XP btw, and know enough to be able to quickly change the e:\ to g:\ if it is any way possible of having the "tracklist" in an external file, etc.

Awhile ago I read about a way to force external drives to use a designated drive letter. Something about a file on the drive that gets read when drive is plugged in?
Also, check drive letter after plugging in drive but before starting itunes, fix as necessary. I have to do similar due to using my network drive for iTunes. Must always check drive before starting iTunes. It is always same letter but if connection is not established before starting iTunes I get library problem. Simply close iTunes, get connection, restart iTunes has always worked for me.

Setup problem importing library from external hard drive

my old iMac died, and I am setting up iPhoto on my new iMac (10.7.2). I had backed up my iPhoto library to an external hard drive before the old iMac went kaput. However, when I try to import this library when setting up iPhoto, the Library file itself is inhibited / not selectable.
I also tried copying the Library to my Pictures folder on the new iMac, but that is failing (error code -36) about a third of the way through. That incomplete file, also, is inhibited.
appreciate any suggestions on how to confront this problem. thanks.

Thanks, Terence.
When I held down the command/option keys, it prompted me to select a Library. This time, I chose the Library resident on the EHD. iPhoto then indicated it needed to run an upgrade in order to render the library (paraphrasing - I should've written down what it said). That took about 20 minutes, and then it proceeded to import. I could see all of my Events, and everything appeared to be good to go. My plan was going to be to then figure out a way to get the photos individually backed up and then monkey with it some more until I could have the Library resident on the Mac HD and backed up on the EHD.
However, before I got that far, I noted that many of my Events were empty. I would see a thumbnail image for it, but clicking in it would indicate that there were zero photos in that Event. I'm flummoxed.
Right now, I am individually exporting the files to newly created sub-folder within Pictures so that I at least have a copy of everything on the new iMac, but that is failing about a third of the way through and yielding an error indicating that the files cannot be copied to users/.... Further, I'm not exactly sure what to make of the empty Events issue. I read another thread on this that says to close and re-launch iPhoto with Command/Option held down and run the repairs, but someone had written that their empty events vanished when they closed the application. Should I proceed?
Thanks again to you both.

Transfered iTunes Library to external HD - iTunes doesn't recognise it.

I'm not very Mac-literate so apologies in advance.
I followed the instructions to transfer my iTunes library to my Lacie HD. I changed the path in iTunes>Preferences>Advanced to a new folder snappily called "iTunes Library" on the Lacie. I then consolidated the library and after checking the path of some of the songs on iTunes I deleted the original off my internal drive.
After restarting iTunes I got the option to "Choose library" which I did but then a message box appeared saying "An iTunes library file cannot be found in the folder "iTunes Library". Please choose a different folder."
The library folder and files is on the Lacie so I don't understand why it doesn't recognize it. Does anybody have any ideas for me? I'd be happy to put it all back on my internal drive it saves me from losing stuff.

ok when i go to prefs----Advanced--General-- it states the location for import is F:/Backed up Music [which is a folder on the external HD that has the rest of my music on it]
For some reason the folder[or itunes] on the HD is not creating new folders for artists and albums imported.
does this help anyone troubleshoot the issue?

IBooks & pointing library to external hd

Hello,
is there way to tell iBooks that the library is located on external Hard drive?
Thanks
Vic

I haven't tried iBooks yet on my NAS, but I did try it with a seperate HD. It moved all the Books into that new location in ~/Library
But if you add a PDF to iTunes AFTER the first time you run iBooks, it will add the PDF like it used to. So you can have PDFs in playlists (which I need to have).
As for telling iBooks about the library path. You could make a Symbolic Link from your NAS to ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.BKAgentService/Data/Documents/iBooks/Books
Except it looks like iBooks just puts them all in there, no folders or anything. It doesn't rename the PDFs, but epubs it renames.
Unless Apple fixes this, I think I might need to come up with a script that will go through my existing structure of PDFs in folders, and makes Symbolic Links in the ~/Library folder for them so iBooks can think they are there.
For ePubs though, I think I'd just have to have iBooks rename them, then maybe move them to a directory on my NAS and then do the same symbolic link thing.

Backed up library onto external hd - want to get music bk into itunes lib - moved 2 files library.itl and library.xml but reverts bk to 5kb and 11kb (ie. no music)

I backed up library onto external drive. (itunes directory - with Album artwork, itunes music directory, and xml/itl files)
Now I am trying to upload music back to a new Windows XP computer - I have new itunes version.
First I moved/copied the itunes directory whole to the new computer - then opened itunes and the library.itl and library.xml reverted to 5 and 11kb
Then tried just moving those two files - still nothing
Help - as I have over 28MB of music I am trying to recover.
Thanks,

The "missing file" thing happens if the file is no longer where iTunes expects to find it. Possible causes are that you or some third party tool has moved, renamed or deleted the file, or that the drive it lives on has had a change of drive letter. It is also possible that iTunes has changed from expecting the files to be in the pre-iTunes 9 layout to post-iTunes 9 layout,or vice-versa, and so is looking in slightly the wrong place.
Select a track with an exclamation mark, use Ctrl-I to get info, then cancel when asked to try to locate the track. Look on the summary tab for the location that iTunes thinks the file should be. Now take a look around your hard drive(s). Hopefully you can locate the track in question. If a section of your library has simply been moved, or a drive letter has changed, it should be possible to reverse the actions. I can provide a step by step guide if you give me the two paths.
Alternatively, as long as you can find a location holding the missing files, then you should be able to use my FindTracks script to reconnect them to iTunes.
tt2

I have multiple libraries on an external drive. Somehow all the iTunes library files i.e. iTunes Library.itl, xml, itdb, Media folder, etc disappeared! Only the music files remain. Now when I start iTunes w/option it can't find any of the old libraries!

Help! I 'm using an old G4 powerbook, Mac OSX 10.5.8, iTunes ver 10. I have multiple iTunes libraries on an external drive. Everything was fine for a while, then all of the iTunes library files, i.e. iTunes Library.itl, xml, itdb, artwork folder, Media folder, etc mysteriously disappeared! Only the music files remain (thank god) So now when I start iTunes w/option key to choose a library, I can't choose any of them because iTunes won't recognize them. Because all the library stuff is missing. So can I re-create the library files? (I don't care if I lose my ratings)
Or should I create a new empty library on the external drive, then manually move all the music files to the Media folder in the new library?
I tried some stupid ideas like creating a new library just to start iTunes, then going into prefs and advanced, then under iTunes Media folder location, selecting the location of the old library on the external, to see if iTunes would then find all the music which is still there, but no workee.
I'm out of ideas, and I searched the archives.
Help! anyone?
Scott

I don't know if this is me adding files to iTunes when the external wasn't connected
it is.
is it OK to just keep deleting that library on the Air?
i wouldn't - at least not until i
mount the external
point iTunes media folder location back to the external via preferences > advanced
consolidate my library via file > library > organize library
The ntfs hasn't seem to be causing any problems, but I've always wanted to know.
in order for your Mac to write to NTFS drives, it needs some help by installing e.g. the NTFS 3G driver. apparently that or something similar is installed on your Mac already. preferably, it would be formatted for Mac but then windows machines would need to have e.g. MacDrive installed to recognize the drive.

How to move my external HD iTunes library to my new Mac?

Hi, sorry for a noob question.
I have an older Mac and it's iTunes library location is point to an external HD, now I got a new Mac and I would like to use the same external HD for my iTunes library, so basically the contents in the external HD doesn't need to be move, is there an easy way to have my new Mac recognize my old library? I did temporary try to move my external HD to my new Mac and use the "Choose Library" option on iTunes but it show me an error message "The iTunes library file could not be found in the folder".
Thanks in advance!

I was able to figure this out. I just copied the iTunes folder from the old mac to the new one and problem solved.

Reinstall of OS: iTunes Library on external drive not recognized

I've always had my iTunes library on my external drive. Now that I reinstalled my OS iTunes will not open the library. I've navigated to the correct library using the advanced preferences but that's not doing it. I've tried discarding the existing library in the music folder. Can't seem to find the answer.
Thanks

JS,
I had some trouble following macmenno's instructions, but have had almost complete success. If you DO have your original itunes library file, this should work for you too.
Background, my situation:
My harddisk was failing but warned me, so i copied the ENTIRE itunes folder to an external drive. The iTunes folder includes the "itunes library" file, the music folder, and the xml file. This was suggested in a book i have on iLife as the best way to backup itunes to an external HD to preserve playlists, et al. But the book failed to say how to copy the folder back if needed.
So the first time i naively just copied the entire folder back to the imac (new HD) but itunes failed to "find" it, even though it was exactly where i had deleted the equivalent default (empty) files/folder. Playing around i managed to get itunes to find the music but not the playlists and ratings...i.e., it was not finding the library file.
Macmenno's instructions:
I started all over: With Itunes closed, I deleted all three items from the itunes folder: the library file, music folder, xml file. to be safe, i also emptied the trash since itunes seemed to be following the files. But i left the itunes folder in place, albiet empty. Per macmenno's instructions, i then copied ONLY the itunes library file and the xml file from my external HD to the imac itunes folder. I then opened itunes, checked the preferences to be sure it was pointing in the right direction. I then dragged the Music Folder from the ext-HD and dropped it on the library icon in the itunes program window.
That worked. i have my playlists, ratings, comments, et all.
Only problem is i now have duplicate listings of all music songs -- one with an exclamation point that doesn't play (apparently came from my itunes library file before i dropped in the songs), one that does play.
So macmenna, if you are still with us, how can i delete the 3,000 song titles with exclamation points? I tried to click on the column head to sort them all together, then block-mark and delete... but apparently we can not sort on that column head.
Or did i miss something in your instructions?
Thanks. and good luck to you JS.
SB
imac G5 Mac OS X (10.4.7) itunes 6.0.5

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.

How to get itunes library from external drive to new computer

i recently purchased a new computer w/the windows vista platform. there were posts regarding how to transfer the library w/playlists on this board, which i followed to the point of hitting shift while opening itunes, and choosing a library. however, when selecting such from my external drive, which has the itl and xml on it as well as the itunes music folder, it gives me an error noting it is locked or that i dont have write permission to use it. my external drive on my old computer was the G drive, now it is the F drive on new one. can anyone please advise what to do other than copy all music over and have to completely recreate all playlists?

polydorus, this was the response/post that i found and it was posted by sweepea on 9/4/2007. and all my music is now from the external drive to the itunes music folder on my laptop and it let me keep all my playlists. thank you again for your help!
I had that problem too. I tried to remove iTunes from my computer and then download it again, but that did not make any difference. Then I tried polydorus' answer ("starting iTunes with the shift key held down, when asked to choose a library, navigate to your iTunes folder and choose iTunes Library.itl"), but that did not work either and that same message about the library being locked appeared again.
Then I had a brainwave. I deleted that iTunes library.itl file. (To find it, go to My documents, then My Music, then iTunes, and there is the itunes library file). I now tried to open iTunes by clicking on the iTunes icon on my desktop, nothing happened, as if I had not clicked on it at all. I restored the file from the recycling bin to where it was before. But that also returned me to where I had been before, i.e. I got that locked-library message again. So I deleted that file again. Then I tried right-clicking on the iTunes icon. On the little menu that appeared, I clicked 'Open' and hey presto, suddenly the iTunes set-up assistant appeared and everything went smooth from then on. When I checked, there was a file called iTunes library.itl again and this one worked OK.
By the way, I did not lose any of my music downloads or podcasts when I deleted that file, so it's definitely worth a try.
custom built Windows 2000

Old Library on External Harddrive not recognised on new PC for iTunes

Hi, I've just bought a new pc after my old one gave up one me. I have my iTunes library saved to an external harddrive and I've changed the Library name to that of my harddrive location in Prefences>General>Library Name. I also changed The Preferences Advanced tab>iTunes Music folder location to point to the external harddrive location where my music files are and no music appears in my library. All I want is my library off my ipod to be replicated back into the itunes library as i've a lot of history here. Can it be done?

MACROSTATE wrote:
I have all of my iTunes media on an external HD that I access wirelessly. Been running it like this for a long time off my MacBook Pro without a problem.
Yesterday I got a new iMac and followed the steps to connect my new iMac's iTunes to the remote library. When I go to Prefs > Advanced > Change iTunes Media Folder Location, I can see the folder with my iTunes content, but the content does not show up in iTunes after I select the folder.
on the iMac, launch iTunes with the options key pressed. this window will appear
select choose and navigate to the iTunes library file on your external HD.
any joy ?

Problems pointing library to external HD iTunes....

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