Re-consolidated iTunes Library.

Okay, I'll try this again. Once I have consolidated my iTunes library to my external HD can I re-consolidate it back to my MBP's HD should I so choose? I only ask this because when you consolidate your library it says that you can't undo the action.

Once I have consolidated my iTunes library to my external HD can I re-consolidate it back to my MBP's HD should I so choose
Yes.
I only ask this because when you consolidate your library it says that you can't undo the action.
When you consolidate, it copies all files in iTunes to the iTunes music folder an uses those files. You will not be able to undo that action and have iTunes point to the music in the original location.

Similar Messages

HT1751 Consolidating ITunes Library Failed - message received: "Copying files failed. The file name was invalid or too long" . Please help - how to i fix this issue?

I consulted your website for details on how to back up my ITunes Library on my PC-found the article very helpful-I reached step 7 - clicked ok and the following message came up: "Copying files failed. The file name was invalid or too long." Please can you help and advise what I should do or how to fix this issue. My pc operating system is Windows 7 Home Basic

You can select a group of tracks and consolidate from the right-click context menu. You coud try consolidating in batches, say all songs by artists beginning with A, then B, etc, then the other media types, until you can isolate a problem track and then try moving that by hand and fixing the broken link.
I also have two scripts that could help you, Unconsolidated and ConsolidateByMoving. The first can make a playlist of all unconsolidated tracks, the second can consolidate a selection of tracks by moving them instead of copying.
tt2

Consolidated iTunes library to different drive, but some files left behind?

I had been storing my iTunes library on an external HD. Now I have a new laptop and enough memory to move the library back onto the laptop's hard drive. I attempted to do so by reversing how I moved it in the first place -- I consolidated the library (using Preferences->Advanced to set the iTunes Media Folder Location to the standard folder on the internal HD). It took a while and the files were duplicated one by one on the internal HD. Except not all of them. Roughly 100+ songs, scattered throughout the library, are still stored only on the external HD. They show up in the library with an exclamation point, and I can listen to them if the external HD is hooked up, but obviously I can't if it isn't.
Is there an easy fix, and failing that, what's the painstaking manual fix I could go through?

The files that didn't transfer don't have any obvious differences from the files that did (they all have the same extension, as far as I can tell: m4p). Out of an album of songs from a particular artist, say, 11 songs will have transferred and one will have been randomly(?) left behind.
These are the basic instructions I followed re moving the Media folder and then consolidating:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1449
Thanks for any ideas!

Having trouble consolidating iTunes library (to then copy to new computer)

The music on my iPod was compiled over time from various files on the computer. I am trying to consolidate all the music into a single iTunes library so I can move the entire library to my new computer. When I tried to do that, it said "copying files" and then I got an error message: "Copying music failed. The file name was invalid or too long." What can I do to consolidate my music? thanks

iTunes: How to move [or copy] your music to a new computer [or another drive] - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527
Quick answer if you let iTunes manage your music: Copy the entire iTunes folder (and in doing so all its subfolders and files) intact to the other drive. Start iTunes with the option (shift on Windows) key held down and guide it to the new location of the library.
To see your iTunes folder click on the Music folder icon in your Finder sidebar.

Error -1303 while consolidating iTunes library

I have files on 3 different hard disks and am trying to consolidate onto one of them. The process gets half-way through then stops with the message
Copying Music Failed. An unknown error occured (-1303).
One of the hard disks is the local C:
Another is a USB hard disk mapped as F:
The third is a network drive mapped as \\Hostname\\Sharename\MusicLibrary
Any ideas?
Simon

Maybe I found a workaround which worked on my mac:
Be sure to create a copy of the original files before and store it in a safe place before you begin!
- create a new folder local
- copy the iTunes library file to the new local folder
- open iTunes and press ALT (to choose the just copied library) and wait until that Genius thing finished screening the library
- exit iTunes
- create a new folder on NAS
- copy all the new files from the new local folder to the newly created folder on NAS
- repeat the opening procedure as mentioned above but now choose the library from the new NAS folder
- wait again for the genius...
- if everything went through --> overwrite the original files with the files which worked before.
I'm not responsible for any damage...

Consolidating iTunes Library

I keep 95% of my music on an external HD. When I add music to my computer and my external HD is not connected it will place them on my mac's iTunes folder.
Now there is about 5GB of music on my computer that I want to put on to my external HD without manually adding them and then re-finding the file on iTunes.
So my question is, if I consolidate my iTunes library by using the "Consolidate Library" feature, will it just add those files on my computer's hard drive to my external HD? (Yes, my default music library is my on my external HD)
Will it mess with the files already on my external hd?
For example, will it rename/re-organize/duplicate any files already in that directory?
All I want to do is put that 5GB of music on my computer's HD to my external HD and not mess with anything else.
Thanks,
Brian

Hey Brian,
You first need to change the default location of your music library:
1) Open the iTunes Preferences dialog box, and go to the Advanced > General tab.
2) Change the music location to the iTunes Music folder located on your external drive.
3) Once the library has been updated it will ask whether you want to move & rename the files in your new music folder to match your preferences. Although this may consolidate your library, I suggest saying "No" as you don't want it to do any other reorganizing
4) Now you can perform the "Consolidate library...." function under Advanced functions. This will copy any music iTunes put on your computer over onto your external HD.
Once it is done, you will still have the original music in the iTunes music folder on your computer - you can delete this folder if you wish. Just make sure the music is on your external HD before doing so.
Bill

Even after consolidating, itunes library does not mirror music folder

i copied my itunes music folder from my old harddrive to my new computer. some of the songs in the library are not in the music folder. how could this be if i copied the folder? is there a way to make them exactly alike? is it even important for them to be the same if my library has all my songs? i tried consolidating to my music folder but that didn't help anything. i use only itunes for music and i am very confused as to why they don't match up even though i have itunes copy every import into the music folder.
HP Pavilion Windows XP MCE

This area is for G5 iMacs.
Suggest you repost your question in one of the iTunes for Windows Forums so that other users of Windows computers can see your question & help you.
Good Luck!

Consolidating iTunes library error

My PC seems to be infected with a virus that I just can't seem to get rid of, so I'm pretty much forced to reformat the hard drive. I need to back up my music and when I did this on my old PC, all I needed to do was use the Consolidate Library function.
The error I'm getting is: Copying Music failed. The file name was invalid or too long.
The problem is is that I do backup my music library all the time and have only recently been getting this error. My question is, is there any way to bypass this so it just back up the music anyway, or is there a way to figure out what song is causing the error, as I really don't know which one it could be?
Dell E510 Windows XP

Davide try Disk Warrior. The following links refer to very similar problems and Disk Warrior was the common thread.
A) http://forums.macosxhints.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=39498
B) http://www.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/comments9.html
C) http://forums.macosxhints.com/showthread.php?t=6989
Dick

Bizarre iTunes Library Consolidation Failure

This one's got me stumped.
I have my iTunes media files spread across two large hard drives, and I am rapidly running out of room on the second drive because of all of the video that I am adding.
I purchased a 2 terabyte MyBook external drive, and did what I've done many time before - I set up a new iTunes music folder on the big drive, and after the iTunes Library file updated, I selected the Consolidate function and let 'er rip.
Much to my astonishment, the consolidation only transferred the music files that were on one drive, less than half of my podcast files and almost no video files. Since this defeated the point, I recovered the pre-consolidation iTunes Library file via Time Machine, and trashed the new iTunes Music folder in the big drive.
Has this happened to anyone else? If so, what did you do to overcome the issue?

I never got an answer to this question, unfortunately. I ended up retrieving a version of my iTunes library from the Time Machine backup, erasing the consolidated drive and leaving my music where it was. I put my movies onto an external drive, and pointed that drive as my "iTunes Library". I still let iTunes organize my music, because I really can't stand doing it myself.
Here's to hoping that Apple will announce a major upgrade to iTunes at the coming MWE, one that allows users to select different locations for different types of media.

Moving an iTunes library from one computer to another that isn't consolidated

My iTunes library is made up of music from a variety of sources. This is due to the files being stored on a server and organised in folders in a particular way already.
I want to transfer my iTunes library to a brand new computer, but am aware it may have trouble remembering where the files are if they aren't consolidated. Any clues as the best way to do this?
The files are all stored on the server, but as said previously in various folders so the new computer will have access to all of them.
I have the 'copy files to itunes media folder when adding to library' setting switched OFF.
Thanks to anyone who can help.

Actually I would rather use my iPod, because this shouldn't be that hard. We'll just say, I have everything on my iPod from my former itunes library on my other computer...but every time it tells me to drag out the itunes folder from this computer and put it on the desktop, it just goes right back into the My Music folder before I can put the itunes folder from my ipod into the music folder. And even when I do, it asks if i would like to merge the folders...so what does that entail if i do?
This is between my new computer with vista and my old computer which has xp...so yeah.

ITunes Consolidation: Will it create duplicates of media files if they already exist in the new itunes destination folder but arent being referenced by the itunes library?

I have a macbook pro from fall 2010. I have been using my external HD as my primary itunes folder for the past 7 yrs ( i.e it is organized by itunes default categorization, etc). However, there is some overlap between my external HD itunes folder and my comps original itunes folder (probably 20-30% of my current library's media files were already duplicated there from when i first bought the HD and transferred files to the external, however they are mostly referenced from the external now). Also there are files in the comp's itunes folder that are not on my external (probably due to organizational mishaps and podcast downloads when not connected to the external, etc). I do not know how many files this is the case for.
Recently, i decided that i wanted to consolidate all of my itunes music into one concise folder on my macbook's HD to avoid these issues going forward. I also just bought a new external which i will use to back up my comp's itunes folder once i consolidate everything to the comp. But i plan on using the itunes folder on the comp going forward or at least using the consolidate fcn to avoid these issues.
Here is my dilemma. Prior to learning of the consolidate feature today, I changed the default itunes folder in settings to the original itunes folder on the macbook and then manually dragged all of the media files from my external itunes folder to the macbook's itunes folder. There were a ton of duplicates or overlapping folders with similar artist names, so i opted to have them merge all folders where possible. After doing this, i realized the itunes library still references these files that i dragged and dropped from the external since that is where my default itunes folder used to be. At that point i then read and learned of the consolidate itunes feature which seems like the best way to do this. But i am afraid that if i consolidate my library to my macbook's itunes folder now, will it create duplicates of the 4000 + media files i just dragged to the macbook's itunes folder which are already in the itunes library but being referenced from the old external??
Question: Is there a way that i can make these files i just dragged to the macbook's itunes folder become the ones referenced by the itunes library through the consolidate feature without creating duplicates of these 4000+ files? I want to avoid having three copies of these files (two duplicates in the itunes and the originals on the external). Furthermore, is there a best way to find out which files in the macbook's itunes folder are not being included in the library after consolidating everything to the computer's HD? Then after that, what is the best way to start backing this all up to my new external, so that this overlapping issue doesnt happen again? Im assuming i just need to make sure to consolidate first when changing itunes folders going forward. Thank you. I know that was a lot to read but hopefully someone can help with this issue.

In general:
- The best way to check if files are in a library is to drag the whole media folder to the library. If something was missed it will be added. If it is in the library is won't be added a second time.
- If you have a second copy of a file and iTunes does not currently list that specific file in its database then even if it is identical to one already in the database it will add it a second time. So if you have file xyz on the internal drive and the external drive and add them to iTunes you will end up with two entries for the same thing in iTunes because you really do have to copies of the files. While this can happen with two copies on a single drive, it will almost definitely be the case when you have a copy of a file on two drives because iTunes really sees them as two different things.
-Unless you know how iTunes works, avoid moving files yourself. Let the consolidate feature do all the file moving. Manually moving files can really mess up iTunes unless you know what you are doing and have iTunes set to not try to do it itself.
- There's no clean and easy way to delete duplicates. The best thing is to change practice so you don't create them. Here are references:
How to find and remove duplicate items in your iTunes library - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2905
http://dougscripts.com/itunes/itinfo/dupin.php (commercial)
Posts by turingtest2 about different types of duplicates and techniques- https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3555601 and https://discussions.apple.com/message/16042406 (Note: The DeDuper script is for Windows)
http://www.hardcoded.net/dupeguru_me/

ITunes Library Consolidation Help

Hello there, I am new to the forum. I've been researching a little bit with little luck so I thought I'd try here.
I am about to finish building a new quad core computer and would like to move my 72 gb library over to my new computer. The only thing is I also want to keep all the song information (especially the date added and such)..but I don't know if it's possible...I just wish I could somehow replicate my library because my library is organized by the dates in which each song was added...
I've read about Library Consolidation...but I'm not sure if what I have in mind of doing is correct...
So basically..this is what I have in mind...
I'm going to buy a small (150 gb) internal hard drive and put it in my old computer. I will press the button that says "keep everything organized" and will change the itunes folder to be assigned within the new internal hard drive. I will then consolidate everything into the new drive.
Right there I have a question. Is it still okay to consolidate even though the music is all in different places? Barely any of the music is in my iTunes folder (most is in different partitioned drives), and so I am afraid if I try consolidating the files iTunes will freeze or not know what to do.
Back to what I would do...so then I would take the new hard drive which hopefully has all the music and install it in the new computer. I would then install iTunes on the new computer, and simply insert all the songs from the hard drive? In doing that, wouldn't all the files' information be gone? (Most importantly date added, because the date would now be different?) The only reason I really need date added is because I initially add all of the songs backwards so that they play in order when the songs are sorted by date added. Otherwise, all the songs would be out of order...
So yeah...I basically was wondering if the process I have in mind is correct, and also if theres any way to keep the file information.
Lastly, what does export library mean?
I'm very sorry for the long post, but I have been trying to find out how I would go about doing this with no luck from anywhere...I hope you guys can help me out. I appreciate any help.
Thanks.

+Is it still okay to consolidate even though the music is all in different places?+
Yes, that's exactly what the Consolidate Library command is for.
+In doing that, wouldn't all the files' information be gone?+
The ratings, Date Added, etc are store in the itunes library.itl file. That is another important file to copy over.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1660
The XML file can recreate a library but the Date Added will go missing. The ITL is the important one.
+Lastly, what does export library mean?+
It exports a list of your library into an XML file, so other application that read XML could use it.

HT1589 I have moved (consolidated) my iTunes Library to my external drive. Can I now erase the Library that resides in my Mac hardrive? It is occupying valuable space.

I have a new external drive that I moved my iTunes Library into. Can I now delete that Library in my computer (Mac) drive? How do I do this. I need more space in my computer.

Yes, assuming you've confirmed that consolidation has been successful. Might be a good idea to rename the old iTunes Media or iTunes Music folder on your internal drive as Old Media and test a few things before finally deleting it.
Note that splitting up your library like this will make it harder to transfer to a new/restored system in future. Before you get to that point you might want to review my post on making a split library portable. You should also invest in a second external drive so that you can make a secondary backup copy of your library.
tt2

Consolidating itunes media library-how to shorten file names or how to find the file that is creating the problem?

Hi I've switched to Mac for six months now, so is still new to mac and I am using my old 1TB windows PC side by side for my music collection. Now I have seen the posts already in apple community about consolidating itunes music library but could not get the proper way of doing it. My system and itunes is also saying 'file name is too long' and it stops but the questin is how do I know which file is creating the problem and how do I shorten it?
If anybody can answer I'll be obliged to him/her, because its my 6/7 years of music collection stuck in an old pc. Thanks in advance.
- Javed

By 'it stops' I meant the consolidation process in itunes stops.

ITunes library consolidation

hello,
i have consolidated my library hundreds of times. i do it after everytime i add a song. today, however, after i added a bunch more, i clicked <consolidate library>, and the response was "there is not enough room on "C:\" to copy all of the requested files." this made no sence, i checked my C drive properties to confirm my suspisions, and as i though i have 25 gigs left of free space.
if anyone knows how to fix or get around this i would really appreciate it.
thanks, gnomegnugz

I am new but when I consolidated, everything now is not recognised.I deleted I-tunes& reloaded, reset i-pod nano 2 gen, now i have a new useless hunk of frustrating crap on my desk !!!!! I have wasted more time tyring to figure this out that I am going to attempt to return it.

Re-consolidated iTunes Library.

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