Re-linking Itunes music.

Hi,
I just did a fresh OS install on my computer and all my itunes music is on a separate hard drive.  I want to re-link my music.  I have gone into Preferences and set the media folder location to "/Volumes/Mac Drive 2/ITunes/Itunes Music/Music". 
How do I get the music to re-link WITHOUT making a copy?
Thanks,
Gary

Preferences settings do not affect iTunes links or get iTunes to scan for media already added.  The links are generated when the music is first added to iTunes.
It is not clear how you have things set up a regards to the location of your library files and your media files.  Assuming you have only media files on the external drive, when iTunes asks you to find the file you want it to play when you click on a track do just that.  It will then ask if you want it to find others.
It would be best to make your library portable.  Image of folder structure and explanation of different iTunes versions (turingtest2 post) - https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-7392 and making an iTunes library portable.
Now having said all that, there may be something else going on.  First, why did you do a "fresh" OS installation?  That's a very Windows-ish solution to a computer problem. I haven't installed a fresh OS on my Mac in 8 years.  Second, installing a fresh OS should not have affected your iTunes library.  If you are having to set up links again I am wondering if your main library file got deleted (and which you can restore from your backup you made before installing an OS).  If that is the case you will have to add all your files back to a fresh iTunes library.

Similar Messages

  • How do I "link" my music folders to the iTunes Library?

    I have recently upgraded my computer. I have formated my disk and installed a new XP, Office, iTunes etc.
    Now I have all my music files on a disk D: and my iTunes at C: but I can't manage to "add"/"link" my music folders to the iTunes Library. After iTunes installation, I have changed the path at Edit/Preferences/Advanced/iTunes Music Folder Location to D: ... but the iTunes Library keeps "empty".
    Help please !!!
    Thanks.

    Goncalo,
    Changing the location of the iTunes Music folder will only affect songs you add with iTunes in the future.
    To add the songs you already have, use the File menu > Add Folder to Library ... option and select the folder that contains your music in the navigation pop-up window that appears.

  • How to create a link to album in Itunes Music Store?

    How is this done? Would like to send someone a link to a specific album so they can purchase & download it.

    Easy. Find the album or track in iTunes Music Store, then control-click (or right-click if you have a two-button mouse). One of the options you'll see is "Copy iTunes Music Store URL". Then go to your email (or chat window, etc.) and hit Command-V to paste.

  • Link to iTunes music store from a web page created in iWeb

    Is there a way to create a link to the iTunes music store from a web page made in iWeb. I'd like to make a list of songs, and link each one to the song on the music store.
    G5 Dual 2.7 GHz   Mac OS X (10.4.7)  

    James, am I right in assuming, then, that one has to
    have purchased that iTune from the iTunes Store? So,
    logically then, if I have song that I copied from a
    CD in my iTunes, iWeb would not link to it?
    Sure, you can link your own music .mp3 files this way...but it doesn't go directly to your music library. What you would do is to have a copy of your music file saved to the desktop. Then make a link to file (one of the options in the Inspector Hyperlink tab) to this music file. When you publish your page, a copy of the music file will be uploaded to your site as well...so that people clicking on the link that you made can download the file.
    You can also drag in your music file to iWeb and use QT to play the music file on your webpage.

  • "The iPod "iPod" is linked to another iTunes music library."

    This message that my iPod is linked to another iTunes music library keeps showing up even after I allowed iTunes to erase my music on my iPod and replace it with the music in the iTunes library. Do I have to let it replace it all again?
    Dell   Windows XP Pro  

    ok i'll try that now. and there are actually no songs
    in my itunes since its been restored. so no, lol i
    dont wanna loose all my songs.
    ok, i guess AFTER you fill up your itunes wit all of your songs, i guess try it then.. maybe its doin this cuz the itunes music (in this case is none) is different then what is on the ipod, so it THINKS it is connected to another computer that has the songs on your ipod... so yea jus fill up your libary wit the same songs and then try it...cuz when you hook your ipod into another comp that has differnt songs then taht on your ipod, it says that message... soyea again jus fill up your itunes wit the music

  • My ipod is linked to another itunes music library?????

    I recieved this notice last time I logged into my iTunes. "The iPod is linked to another iTunes music library. Do you want to change the link to this iTunes music library and replace all existing songs on this iPod with those form this library?
    The thing is that I'm still using the same computer and never used another one to try to load any songs onto my iPod Shuffle. The Shuffle still has approximately 55 songs on it and I can't find them in my iTunes library. Anyone have any ideas as to how to put them from my iPod to my iTunes? Or how to find them on my computer to reload to my iTunes library?
    Thanks for any assistance,
    Sincerely,
    Another Novice
    Shuffle   Windows 2000  
    Shuffle   Windows 2000  

    A couple different possiblities can lead to this...
    iPod's not only "attach" to a single computer, but also a single user account on that computer. Are you using the same Windows user account?
    If you are, then possibly the iTunes Music Library file was trashed from "My Documents\My Music\iTunes". The "iTunes Music Library" files found in this folder must stay here and must not be altered (except by iTunes, of course).

  • The iPod is linked to another iTunes music library

    My daughter just purchased an iTunes Shuffle with her birthday money. We imported several CDs into the iTunes Library and successfully loaded the iPod Shuffle with about 120 songs. We then turned off the computer. The next time we attached the iPod Shuffle to the USB port, iTunes opened up and gave the following message:
    The iPod is linked to another iTunes music library. Do you want to change the link to this iTunes music library and replace all existing songs on this iPod with those from this library?
    Wow, that's a confusing question. I answered "no" to it initially, and the message went away, leaving my library empty. I disconnected the iPod Shuffle and then reconnected it and got the same question. This time I answered "yes" and our library is still empty. I can see all the CDs we imported in the iTunes folder and the individual songs are there as well. But for some reason, the library is not displaying them. iTunes also doesn't show the icon for the iPod when it's connected. Any ideas on how to fix this situation?

    We are using this iPod on only 1 PC with 1 user with WinXP. I have been able to "file/add folder to library" to retrieve my daughter's songs. I also 'restored' the iPod to factory settings and updated it with the latest software and I did the same for the iTunes software. Everything is updated now. When I click on the button to "autofill" her iPod, I can get a few of the 118 songs in our library to download, but then I get an error messages that states, "Attempting to copy to the disk failed. An unknown error occurred. (-69)" Any ideas on what's happening here? Another I noticed that's strange is when I try to autofill the iPod, my 3.5" floppy light starts blinking. Perhaps this iPod software thinks the floppy is the iPod???

  • 7.2 upgrade breaks iTunes link to music source files

    after upgrading to 7.2, itunes lost connection with all my music source files.
    ya know, i got exlamation marks on ALL my tracks....
    tried "keeping it organized" on and off, tried changing "music folder location", new prefs, choosing a new library on startup [option] but nothing worked.
    i cannot play any of my songs [external drive].
    weirdly enough, just a few songs can play, out of thousands....
    so basically, i got all my music files, but itunes cannot play them.
    great.
    what other ways can i "link" the source files back to my iTunes library?

    had all iTunes folder copied to another drive (internal-not operating sys drv) to alleviate a space problem on my main drive. (operating sys drive)
    updated to 7.2.
    panicked at not being able to get iTunes to "see" new location of all stuff.
    read all horror stories of how apple dose not seem to give a tish any more about how bad its software works.
    realized that iTunes created an empty "replacement" folder on the one that I had just moved from.(operating sys drive)
    tried to import files to the "new" empty iTunes folder.
    iTunes only lets you "import" one song at a time. (really stupid move apple!)
    then tried the "add to library" function.
    this worked for 1 song.
    then I found that I could use "add to library" for multiple selected songs.
    then I tried a folder.
    this worked also.
    then I tried it with the entire iTunes Music folder. this brought everything in just fine.
    now I had to get back my playlists.
    I tried "import..." and selected the iTunes library document. it told me that it wasn't a validly exported document and would not work.
    then I tried "import..." for the iTunes Library.xml document.
    this succeeded in brining in all song folders as playlists and also contained all my previously created playlists and smart playlists.
    In an effort to solve my original problem (overcrowding my operating sys drive) I ran this procedure on the copy of the iTunes folder that I had made on the other drive (internal-not operating sys drv).
    it worked.
    I now had two identical iTunes collections on two different drives.
    BUT...
    on further inspection I found that the files I had originally moved to the other drive (internal-not operating sys drv) were the only ones that exist and the ones that show up in the "recreated" itunes folder (operating sys drive) were just referencing the "real" files.
    also I hooked up my "vid pod" and everything is working just fine with everything.
    recap.
    dont panic.
    find the folder with all your stuff.
    use "add to library" to make iTunes "see" all your stuff.
    check the iTunes Library.xml document and look for any evidence of your lists.
    use "import..." for the iTunes Library.xml document.
    cheers&aloha
    matt

  • How to link itunes library to music files on another drive

    this thing seems to be very easy at first but I have been trying to find a fix for this for quite some time now. It started when my stupid SSDrive just stopped working after one year (they say that is not unusual). I lost my windows install and my itunes library file.
    Since my music is on another drive it sure was annoying but I found a not too old backup of itunes.itl. However after I reinstalled windows and Itunes I found out that the old itunes.itl was was looking for my music files on drive D:\ - so the easiest thing would be to change the drive where my .mp3s are (currently F:\) to drive D:. However D:\ drive is now the Win7 System drive and I read I am not allowed to change anything and leave it as it is or it would mess up my win7 install.
    The itunes.itl is not plaintext so I can't change anything in it. I could go through my thousands of songs and relocate each and everyone by hand but that is not really an option.
    I googled my problem quite a bit and found some step by step guides but they often start with "activate keep Itunes Music Folder organized" or "consolidate". But I don't want itunes to change anything to the way my mp3s are stored. I have been using the same file structure for years and don't want itunes to manage it for me.
    Is it really so difficult to relocate all files at once?
    Any ideas anyone?
    PS: I still have the iphone that I always synchronized with the library before I lost the library. Is there a way to get a .itl out of the iphone and use it on the computer? That library would be up to date.

    My script FindTracks can probably sort you out. To keep things simple in future I'd suggest you move the library folder to F:\iTunes and put the media folder inside it as F:\iTunes\iTunes Media, that way when the library is repaired it will be easy to move it to any other location as and when required.
    tt2

  • How can I move iTunes music folder to another drive?

    I have iTunes version 7.1 running on a notebook with Windows Vista. My iTunes music folder is becoming too large for the C; drive and I am having problems successfully moving it to the D: drive.
    I know the folder is in the D: drive because I can see it there. I have followed guidance on how to link it to iTunes: Edit / Preferences / Advanced / General / Change (choosing iTunes music folder on the D: drive) / OK. I have also ticked the "Keep iTunes Music folder organised" box, as well as the "Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library" box. Nevertheless, when I open iTunes my music does not appear in the library.
    What am I doing wrong?

    Firstly there is more than one kind of iTunes Library file:
    http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93732
    Secondly you should consolidate your library:
    http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=iTunesMac/7.3/en/670x.html
    The following link will give you the instructions to move iTunes to an EHD. These instructions need to be followed EXACTLY.
    The 2 metadata files within the main iTunes folder must stay on the main drive of your system as that is their "home", they can't be moved.
    Now read this:
    http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301748

  • Problem with move of iTunes music to external hard drive

    My hard drive was getting full and I bought a new external drive and moved iTunes to it carefully following directions on ilounge and Apple support.
    1. I first hit consolidate library and only moved the iTunes music file (as per the iLounge directions), then went to Preferences and changed the location of the music file to the external drive.
    2. Itunes did not find the paths on the external drive.
    3. I then tried to follow the Apple directions and here is when this went wrong. By hitting create new folder and consolidate music again, the whole music folder copied again to the eHD resulting in 10k duplicates.
    4. However, this time the songs all worked, so now I had a duplicate problem. By checking these discussions I found an easy way to get rid of the duplicates by sorting by Date (meaning move date- the second time I copied the music file the move dates in all the songs was yesterday, and this was the link where all the songs worked.
    5. I thought all was well after checking the music played and even testing remote on my phone, turning off the computer, restarting and confirming iTunes launched fine. Instead of following excellent advice many of you have posted on waiting a few days to check everything works before deleting the old music folder, as my internal HD was completely full I deleted it opening up 100GB of space.
    6. Of course, I did not check everything- my playlists were all gone. The iTunes Library files are now both on the EHD and on the iHD but I cannot recreate the playlists. I suspect the playlists were all linked to the original music files copied the first time with the broken paths.
    7. At this point is there any advice to recovering the playlists- I have them on an ipod and iphone. Worst case I will need to manually the Playlists.
    8. Learning from my mistakes, NEVER, delete the original music folder till you are sure everythng works and even then wait a few days so you will have an opportunity to properly check everything.
    9. Finally, I am at a loss to understand why the iLounge instructions did not work for me- only copying the music files to the eHD, leaving the Library files on the iHD, and changing Preferences to the new music file location.
    thanks

    kneedragger101 wrote:
    Note this is an iTunes Library that was on a PC
    you might want to read these articles: one and two.
    why not move your media files using _*Home Sharing*_ ?

  • How do i use an external hard drive for all my itunes music?

    how do i use an external hard drive for all my itunes music?

    Hi valleydave,
    Here are two good links for you to check out:
    http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1751
    http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1449
    The first one goes over, in-depth, what you're looking for in regards to "off site" iTunes.

  • I got a new iPhone 5 and my itunes music will not sync properly. it will show up on the phone but it is light gray wording and they are not selected only a few songs work. The grayed out music just takes up space. Someone please help.

    My itunes music is grayed out and unplayable on my new iphone 5. only a few songs work and the rest just take up space. They will play correctly in my itunes on the computer but not the phone. Please help.

    I am so relieved to hear that I am not the only one experiencing this! However, I am sorry to hear you are going through this as well. Lucky for me I am upgrading to a 5s which will be sent to me on Wednesday. I did stumble upon an article with tips on how to downgrade back to iOS 7, but I am EXTREMELY apprehensive about doing that myself. Here's the article link if you want to give it a go:
    http://osxdaily.com/2014/09/21/downgrade-ios-8-back-to-ios-7-1-2/

  • Old FileVault crashed my MacBook Pro, had to delete, reinstall and Time Machine restore failed. Trying to manually rebuild. No iPhoto pics, no iTunes music and NO DOCUMENTS found! Any thoughts?

    Here's the ordeal. I'm running a 2007 MacBook Pro 17 inch with Lion OS. When I converted to Lion, I didn't have enough room on my harddrive to convert to the new FileVault, so I remained on the old system. Less than a week ago I reboot my computer because iPhoto seems to be stuck on "cataloging" my photos, though after days of letting it run, it doesn't do anything. After the reboot, my computer appears as if it had been reset to factory settings with all my programs gone, etc. I'm like, hey, I've got Time Machine, I'll restore it. After the restore is run, when I go to login, I get the dreadful error message, "You are unable to log into the FileVault user "John" at this time. Logging into the account failed because an error occurred". I searched the internet via my iPhone for suggestions and followed everyone of them, all the way down to erasing my harddrive and reinstalling Lion. So I get back into my computer and think I'm golden. I go to restore my computer via Time Machine and wham....I'm right back to that error message. I think, ok, I'll do it again. This time it messes us even more, giving me two login screens, one for the new Lion like before I restored the computer and then a second, as if it were restored, but unable to login. On top of that, I couldn't get back to the Command-R page! I thought I was really screwed! Well, I finally figured a way back, or maybe it was just that it finally decided to cooperate, I don't know, but I erased my harddrive again, and reinstalled again and thought, well, I'll rebuild manually by selecting what I want to restore from the Time Machine drive. I was able to get all my applications back and running, but to my dismay, I seemingly have lost all my iTunes music (except that which Apple has graciously setup to redownload now "thank you!) plus all my iPhoto's and even worse, all my DOCUMENTS!!!! Here I thought Time Machine from backing all this stuff up, but with over a years worth of back-ups I cannot locate any photos, music, or my documents on my drive to extract! Needless to say, I will never be using Time Machine again to back up my computer, I'll find another program or at least do it all manually. But my question is: am I looking in the wrong places for this files? Are they hidden under some unknowning folder that doesn't list it as music, photos or files? I can manage with the music, I can live with the photos because my wife has many of them on her computer and I have many uploaded to Facebook, but my files! My documents, thousands of them, many with information I won't be able to compile again, seemingly gone unless someone out there has any ideas?!!!
    I even had iPhoto search the drive for photos and after hours of the barber shop pole spinning I cancelled the command for I figured it wasn't going to find anything.
    If anyone has any suggestions, or if Apple, you are reading this and can provide some direction, I would greatly appreciate it.

    Also - my battery has been telling me "service battery" for a LONG time and then it switched to "replace soon" som time ago. Can't really see what this has to do with anything but whatever.
    That could conceivably explain all the problems you're describing. Replacing a Mac's battery should not be postponed since a failed battery will cause other problems to occur. It is also possible that its hard disk has failed, which means the information on it may soon become unrecoverable.
    ... my latest TM back up was from April 2014, can I just run this when I have rescued everthing and then it might not be as slow?
    If that Time Machine backup remains intact, it may be the only viable means of recovering that Mac's information. I suggest you do not attempt to restore its contents to your ailing Mac.
    Given that you are having trouble creating a newer Time Machine backup you should stop using that Mac immediately and have it serviced as soon as you are able. Do not take it to anyone other than Apple or a service facility authorized by Apple, for the very reasons you explained. If there are no Apple Stores in your vicinity search for an Authorized Apple Service Provider using the Contact Us link below. Use one of the options that appear under Contact Apple Support. The language on that page will be different for your location.

  • How can I encrypt/protect some of my iTunes music?

    Hi!
    Specifically, I would love it if someone could help me work out the solution that I assumed would (and should?) work.
    First, a little background. I have been overhauling my encryption/backup method in an attempt to have my sensitive computer data less likely to be compromised if my computer were to be stolen. A part of this streamlining process has included the placing of certain files and project data into encrypted disc images that I can mount when I need access (note: I do not want to use Apple's FileVault option to encrypt ALL of my computer's contents together).
    I have a fair amount of audio/music pieces of mine that are works-in-progress, and I use iTunes as a way to easily access these works in the various playlists that I create from within the app. I names all of these works as "me" in iTunes, under the "Artist" label, so that I could replace the artist folder "me" (in the iTunes Music folder) with a folder alias directing the iTunes Music directory to the real "me" Artist folder placed in an encrypted disk image that I would mount when I needed access. I would rather not have these works of mine compromised in some worst-case-scenario, and it would be worth it for me to simply mount an encrypted image every time I need to listen/arrange them.
    After doing all this, iTunes knew just where to find the songs until after the first time that I unmounted the disc image containing the Artist folder that the alias directed iTunes to. Of course, I knew that iTunes would not be able to locate the tracks once the image was unmounted (that was the whole idea behind my doing this). What is so frustrating is that even after I mount the encrypted image, iTunes STILL cannot find the songs automatically. Why wouldn't iTunes' same directory instructions not be able to find the songs when they are right back where they should be (mounted in the same location that I created the alias folder)?
    I was really hoping that iTunes would play these songs whenever (and only) when I have that particular encrypted disc image mounted on the desktop.
    Very frustrating! I thought I had a good idea with all of this, and am pretty disappointed that it is not working for me like I wanted. Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions about how I might beat or work around this?
    With Apple being such an advocate of the creative audible arts (Logic and such), it is frustrating that there are not any added iTunes tools for auditioning (and safeguarding) music in iTunes. I wish it were a little less of a music store, and more of a personalized experience.
    Thanks so much!
    =D

    Mike! Thanks! I did not not about this feature! What else do you know that I dont??
    =D
    In a perfect world, I could launch this alternate version of iTunes, with the new library I create, by dragging the "iTunes Library" file from it, into the dock for my one-click-away pleasure. Instead, double clicking it only brings up the last library version of iTunes that I last selected.
    Any way around that? I would love to be able to bring it up, with as few clicks/steps as possible. Ideally, I would click on a dock representation, type my decryption password in, and have the new iTunes library launch--having my regular iTunes library launch only when I click on the typical app link.
    Thanks, again!

Maybe you are looking for