Re-establish old itunes library on network drive

After an extended period of not using itunes, I installed it today on my current desktop (Win7-64). Immediately, I had all my prior purchases available which was nice to see. My old library (about 4gb) is on a secondary drive. What's the best way to re-establish access to the old library. I also want these files moved to a network drive which is connected to a different computer and which will not have itunes on it.
I do not wish to use home sharing, and I do not want to use icloud for the old music.
Thanks for any assistance.

You can press & hold down shift as you launch iTunes to open a library on any path, however performance may be poor with a large library that isn't located on a local drive. The library is easiest to move from one path or computer to another however if it is in a portable form, with the library folder containing the media folder. If needed once the library has been established on your chosen path the library files can be copied to a local (internal or external) drive for improved performance. They can be copied back to the network path and accessed there before moving the library again.
See make a split library portable for some more information.
tt2

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ITunes library on network drive problems

Library source folder (on my network drive) defaults to the original folder locaton on my iBook after an, as of yet, undetermined time. How do I define the library source folder for iTunes on my network drive and force it to keep that location?
Thanks.

On startup, iTunes checks the presence of the 'iTunes Music' folder as set in Preferences>Advanced>General.
If it doesn't find it, it will reset that location.
There is no way of forcing iTunes to keep the location.
iTunes must have a folder to store the next imports. That's the reason why it resets the location if it can't find the designated 'itunes Music' folder.
Always be sure your network drive is available before running iTunes.
Hope this helps.
M

ITunes library on network drive, no longer able to download from store

I have my iTunes library stored on a WD My Cloud drive. Suddenly today I have found that I cannot download anything from the iTunes store (movies or music).
I get an error saying "The required folder cannot be found. Please check that the connection to the network is active and try again."
I have the WD drive mapped to Drive M and my iTunes library points to the iTunes folder on that drive. I have confirmed the drive is up and the connection is good.
I can play music and movies in iTunes from that drive.
I have shut down iTunes and rebooted the computer multiple times.
I'm running Windows 8.1 x64
ITunes version 12.1.2.27
I'm looking for any help at all. I'm getting quite frustrated.
I do have iTunes set to Keep iTunes Media folder organized and also set to Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library

turingtest2 wrote:
Is the whole library on the network drive, or just the media folder? Is it a NAS or a shared folder on another Windows machine? A USB connected drive as your primary library with the network drive as backup may be a more robust solution. If you library files are on the system drive see Make a split library portable.
tt2
I had the entire library on the network drive. At one time I used it with just the movies on a drive that was plugged into my router but that was a hassle. So I bought the 4TB network drive hoping this would be an easier solution and I could store everything on it.
It had work fine for a while but I do not know what happened. Nothing I tried worked. I successfully moved my library to my USB 3.0 drive and it is working just fine. I am able to download from the iTunes store now.
Now, I did discover that some movies were missing but I can re-download them easily.
What I don't understand is that if I view my purchases in the iTunes store and tell it to show only movies that are not in my library it shows a whole lot of things that ARE in my library.

Best way to move iTunes library from network drive to NAS drive?

Hi all,
I need to move my iTunes library which currently lives on a Buffalo network drive to a new Synology NAS drive.
What is the best way to move the library?
Thanks,
Ed

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.
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), then guide it to the new location of the library.itl file in the moved iTunes folder.

ITunes library on network drive gives "!"

All of my music and videos are stored on dedicated shares on my home server. I created a folder on the server for iTunes to put it's files in when I create a new iTunes library. If I create the library on my mac the files all show up and play fine in iTunes. If I then point my PC to the same library files on the server iTunes sees all the files that I added to it from the Mac but I get the "!" for every file. Same thing happens if I initially create the library and add files to it from the PC. If I then go and open the library thats on the network on the Mac all the files show up but won't play because they show the "!". All I want to do is create one library and have it be stored on my server so all my computers can use the same library and any computer can add and update said library. Any ideas?

I did some more digging and it seems to be a problem with how Macs and PC's name the mounted drive. The Mac is calling the drive volume/music which is fine but the PC's can't find the file because it's looking at volume/music but the music drive for the PC is shown as servername/music. Any ideas how to change this so t hey both are the same? Can you change the Mac so it's mapped drive name is the same as on a PC?

No artwork when new Pc 'pointed' at itunes library on network drive

I've got my itunes library stored on a network drive. I'm now setting up a new PC (Windows 8.1). I've installed the latest itunes and pointed it at the network drive. I can see all the music and play it but I don't see any album artwork? Any ideas what I need to do?

turingtest2 wrote:
Is the whole library on the network drive, or just the media folder? Is it a NAS or a shared folder on another Windows machine? A USB connected drive as your primary library with the network drive as backup may be a more robust solution. If you library files are on the system drive see Make a split library portable.
tt2
I had the entire library on the network drive. At one time I used it with just the movies on a drive that was plugged into my router but that was a hassle. So I bought the 4TB network drive hoping this would be an easier solution and I could store everything on it.
It had work fine for a while but I do not know what happened. Nothing I tried worked. I successfully moved my library to my USB 3.0 drive and it is working just fine. I am able to download from the iTunes store now.
Now, I did discover that some movies were missing but I can re-download them easily.
What I don't understand is that if I view my purchases in the iTunes store and tell it to show only movies that are not in my library it shows a whole lot of things that ARE in my library.

How can I put iTunes library on network drive?

I have my iTunes library on a network drive and it worked well with my laptop and Mountain Lion but I recently got an iMac with Yosemite and the same configuration that worked on the older system doesn't work on the new one.

In iTunes, are you able to select it in the Preferences/Advanced? Click the Change button.

ITunes library on network drive

I want to have all my mp3s reside on a network share, and have multiple computers manage the same library. I have set all iTunes to store their files in that location; however changes made on one computer don't show up in iTunes on the other computers.
Is there a way to do this well?

because iTunes is a Database manager that simply points to where the files are located. And only ONE computer can control that database. Each computer can only operate its own Database and as such cannot tell whats been added to the drive unless it did it itself.
Put all your music on one computer then use iTunes built-in SHaring to access the music on other computers.

2nd home computer can't see itunes library on network server drive

Ripped CD library and streaming Airplay successfully to home system. Moved itunes library to network drive which is a Seagate BackupPlus connected to ASUS ac-68u router with USB 3.0. Have Apple Media server turned on for the asus router. Used iTunes Edit/Preferences/Advanced to change library location, Checked both “keep itunes media folder organized” and “copy music to itunes media folder when adding to library”. Turned on home sharing, used same apple id on both computers. Original computer (Win8.1) I ripped to can see and use the library fine, but the other one (Win 7 hardwired to router) shows only the 4 sample songs. Probably not permissions because I can use Windows Explorer to look at the cd titles in the Music folder. Aloha, Mike

I may have misunderstood, but the iTunes folder will only be there if you have copied it from your old computer to the iPod first. If you no longer have the old computer see Recover your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device,
tt2

Upgraded C:drive and can't access old iTunes library

A couple of months ago I upgraded my C:drive. It took me a couple of days to do so. Well within that time period I lost my iTouch (4th gen.) I finally got a new iTouch. Here's my problem, when I re-established my iTunes account, it recognized my old iTouch serial number, so why can't I access my old library? I still have the old C:drive if that is relevant. So how do I retrieve my old iTunes library?

You don't say how you are accessing your old drive, but presumably you have it installed in your PC or you have put it in a usb drive enclosure.
Assuming that you have installed iTunes on the new system drive and you haven't added music yet, what you need to do is to drag the new iTunes folder out of Music onto your desk top. Then copy the iTunes folder from Music on the old drive into Music on the new drive so that it replaces the one you dragged out.
You might need to check the permissions on the iTunes fodler to ensure your account and SYSTEM have full control.
This method assumes you had a default installation of iTunes on the old drive, that is to say all your music files were in the iTunes Media folder. If you had something different, things are more complicated.

Viewing old itunes library via external hard drive

'ello,
I have an external hard drive that I had linked up to my old iMac, which has now died. I bought a new Macbook pro and want to plug in my old external into my wireless router and pick up my old itunes library. I have plugged in the external hard drive into the USB port on the router. If I look in Finder I can see the o2 router and I have tried to set Internet sharing to ON, but can't do it? I am not even sure that switching on Internet sharing will resolve the issue? Any help on this would be massive.
Thank you.

Hi Phil,
Why not just plug it directly into the computer over USB rather than going through the router? I'm also not sure what enabling Internet sharing would have to do with your ability to access the hard drive via the router. If anything there would be a setting on the router that you'd most likely need to enable to allow the USB content to be accessible as a network storage device.

How do I combine an old itune library thats on an external hardrive and a newer library thats on a newer computer into 1 library and keep them on the external hard drive so I won't use up all my memory on my newer laptop

I copied an old iTunes library off my old Toshiba laptop with windows xp and put it on an external hard drive. I have a newer Microsoft surface pro laptop with windows 8.1. I have a small iTunes library on my newer laptop. I want to combine the 2 libraries into 1, add newer podcasts to the combined library daily, but keep it all on my external hard drive, so I don't use all my memory on my surface pro. I have an older ipod classic that I have all my old library on. I love it and don't want to stop using it, but want to be able to add podcasts from my 1 library from time to time. What I usually do is download podcasts for a few weeks then, download them to my ipod. Haven't done any of this in about a year. But want to start getting regular with it again. PS I'm not very computer savy Thanks for any help or advice!

This article explains how to open a different library: iTunes: How to open an alternate iTunes Library file or create a new one. The assumption is that the whole library was copied to the external drive from the old Toshiba laptop, not just the media. If that isn't the case make a new library on the external drive in a folder called \iTunes and move the media inside \iTunes\iTunes Media before adding it to the library.
Once iTunes is using the library on the external drive you can add any content stored on the internal drive to the library by drag & drop or by moving/copying the content into \iTunes\iTunes Media\Automatically Add to iTunes. Make sure the option under Edit > Preferences > Advanced to Copy files to the folder iTunes Media when adding to library is selected. Once complete you can delete the original copies on the internal drive.
Should your library contain duplicates after merging see this recent post on deduping.
If there are ratings, playlists, play counts, or content stored on the iPod classic and not located anywhere else then see Recover your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device.
Ideally you should backup your library to a second drive for security. See Backup your iTunes for Windows library with SyncToy for a suggested strategy.
tt2

TS2972 My computer crashed and the hard drive is no longer. I have purchased a new laptop but now have no access to my old itunes library. My laptop has created a new itunes account with NOTHING in it?? My Itouch has everything loaded but it wont sync

My computer crashed and the hard drive is no longer. I have purchased a new laptop but now have no access to my old itunes library. My laptop has created a new itunes account with NOTHING in it?? My Itouch has everything loaded but it wont sync with this itunes account....HELP

- Transfer iTunes purchases:
iTunes Store: Transferring purchases from your iOS device or iPod to a computer
- Transfer other music by using a third-party program like one of those discussed here:
newer copy
- Connect the iPod to the computer and make a backup by right clicking on the iPod under Devices in iTunes and select Back Up
- Restore the iPod from that backup
Note that the iPod backup that iTunes makes does not included synced media like apps and music.

Copying old iTunes library onto a new hard drive: special question:

How do i do this when the music in my old iTunes library was not all in the itunes media folder (some was in downloads, shared folder, etc). Should I put these folders in the places where they were on my old hard drive (for example the "shared" folder was on the desktop) or should i just put everything into the iTunes media folder. My main goal here is to recreate my old itunes library with the playlists intact while also having all the songs recognized (none of those exclamation points because it cant locate the file). Sorry to repeat myself but I just want to make it clear because i dont want this to mess up. Should i put all my music into the itunes media folder for it to show up in the old library, or should I keep it in the folders it always was in and just place those folders in the same locations on this hard drive? Thanks for any help

The solution you linked to looks good, but I'm a bit
confused about if it'll work for my situation - I'll
be putting Vista on a new drive (completely clean
install, not an upgrade), which means that iTunes
will be cleanly installed as well. The way I'm
reading it, it seems the solution there needs an
iTunes install that already interacts with the old
library.
Right, and the way you do this is to hold down the shift key while starting iTunes. (Note: this does not mean holding down the shift key while you click on the icon. It means holding it down immediately after that while the program is starting up.) This will bring up a dialog asking what iTunes library you want to use. Point to the old library, and you're in business.
Let me know if this will work: I drag and drop my
whole music folder to the new drive, then in iTunes I
go to File --> Import and import the itl or xml file.
I've heard this might not work because the xml file
has pathways that refer to a specific drive letter
which will be different.
That's correct. You can edit the XML to fix the pathnames, but I wouldn't recommend that unless editing XML is something you do regularly.

How to delete multiple old ITUNES LIBRARY files safely ?

I'd like to clean up my Itunes LIBRARY files, but don't know what's safe to do and not to do. (I have Itunes 8.1 / OSX10.4.11)
MY QUESTION IS TWOFOLD :
(1) how do I create a new Itunes library file now with today's date; and
(2) how do I delete multiple (old) Itunes library files, without risking the loss of what I've got ?
This all stems from exploring Itunes as a result of a problem I had today... when trying to import mp3's from my terrabyte drive, after about 150 successful mp3 track imports, Itunes froze and everything else on my MAC froze as well (constant spinning colored wheel). After many failed attempts to force quit Itunes, I turned off my MBPro. On restarting, Itunes tooks ages to "import" files. Eventually Itunes opened but with only half of my original tunes (1500+ songs 8.11GB) and had nothing from today's import.
I found a post suggesting to hold down OPTION while starting Itunes. Then I selected a file from my hard drive > me > music > Itunes > "Itune library" with the most recent date and shezam, Itunes once again has all my songs, as before. Nothing I imported from the terrabyte drive today appears however, but no matter.
In my "Itunes" file there appear MULTIPLE Itunes libraries ! such as Itunes library, Itunes Library (damaged), and as well a folder called "Previous Itunes Libraries" which itself contains multiple Itunes Library files and multiple "previous Itunes Library files" with dates back to 2007. These I want to clean up and delete .... should I ? ... Can I ?
I really could use some words of wisdom from the wise ! Thanks in advance

Whenever you install a new version of iTunes and run it teh first time, iTunes will create a backup of the current iTunes library file and copy it into \Music\iTunes\Previous iTunes libraries, then update the iTunes library file in \Music\iTunes\ for the current version of iTunes.

Re-establish old itunes library on network drive

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