Reverse itunes media folder reorganisation

hello and HELP!
i am a new mac user, and in wanting to import all my music into itunes and avoid copies being made in a separate itunes folder, in the advanced section of the preferences i changed the itunes media folder location to being my "my music" folder, un-checked "copy files to itunes media folder when adding to library", and checked "keep itunes media folder organised" thinking it would just organise my music in itunes.
however, to my great despair, itunes has re-arranged all my songs and re-named songs and folders in my "my music" folder, classing i don't know how many under "unknown", "various", etc...my great despair as i have 90GB of music which was perfectly organised by artist name and album and is now a big shambles.
please someone tell me this re-organisation can be reversed? i've tried un-checking the "keep itunes folder organised" and re-starting itunes, but to no avail. i would greatly appreciate any advice at all.
thanks so much
chantal

Welcome to AD!
It's the same answer for both Mac and Windows.
Sadly, that organization can't be undone. If only you had left the "copy files..." checked as well, you could go back to the originals.
Perfect time for an UNDO button, but there isn't one.

Similar Messages

Itunes media folder reorganisation

hello and HELP!
i am a new mac user, and in wanting to import all my music into itunes and avoid copies being made in a separate itunes folder, in the advanced section of the preferences i changed the itunes media folder location to being my "my music" folder, un-checked "copy files to itunes media folder when adding to library", and checked "keep itunes media folder organised" thinking it would just organise my music in itunes.
however, to my great despair, itunes has re-arranged all my songs and re-named songs and folders in my "my music" folder, classing i don't know how many under "unknown", "various", etc...my great despair as i have 90GB of music which was perfectly organised by artist name and album and is now a big shambles.
please someone tell me this re-organisation can be reversed? i've tried un-checking the "keep itunes folder organised" and re-starting itunes, but to no avail. i would greatly appreciate any advice at all.
thanks so much
chantal

Welcome to AD!
It's the same answer for both Mac and Windows.
Sadly, that organization can't be undone. If only you had left the "copy files..." checked as well, you could go back to the originals...

My old computer crashed and deleted my iTunes media file with all my playlist. However, my iPod has the playlist I lost on the computer. How can I replace (reverse synch?) my iPod media information back onto my (now reinstalled) virgin iTunes media folder

My old computer crashed and deleted my iTunes media file with all my playlist.However, my iPod has the playlist I lost on the computer. How can I replace (reverse synch?) my iPod media information back onto my (now reinstalled) virgin iTunes media folder?

Yes it's possible to sync music back from a iPod back into iTunes that (I assume) wasn't purchased on the iTunes Store.
Apple allows iTunes Store purchases on devices to be reversed back into iTunes, just not cd rips and stuff like that. For that it's a one way trip to the device from iTunes.
I likely can't suggest such software here, but if you visit iLounge you can ask what is the latest software that works for your platform.
Really it only takes a mere few minutes to backup your iTunes Library and stick in a few cd/dvd's or a external drive. iTunes even has a menu command for it to make it oh so simple. Please use it and backup all your data.
Hard drives fail, computers burn up, thieves steal, stuff gets forgotten. Plan for something happening because it will.
Good Luck

How can I move my iTunes media folder from users/shared back to one user account?

I shared my music with multiple users on one macbook pro.
Like on the Apple support discussions described I changed the iTunes media folder to users/shared. My question is how to reverse that action? Once I reset the media folder location it tells me /users/name/music/itunes/itunes media, that would be right but the files remain in users/shared?

Tell us what the underlying objective is in all this. You came here asking how to move a media folder but now we're getting into user libraries and moving things back and forth to their original locations. Why move it in the first place if you are just putting it back? Maybe you don't need to move things.
Read these to learn more about how iTunes works. If you move the wrong things you can end up breaking links. This goes double for moving things to other drives.
What are the iTunes library files? - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1660
More on iTunes library files and what they do - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITunes#Media_management
What are all those iTunes files? - http://www.macworld.com/article/139974/2009/04/itunes_files.html
Where are my iTunes files located? - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1391
It is almost certain that nothing you are doing will require removing the iTunes application itself. Asking that tells me you are doing something relatively complicated with insufficient background -- kind of like somebody asking me how to use a power saw. I can tell them, but when it sounds like their project is painting a room one begins to wonder if they are going about things correctly. That said, organizing/consolidating copies files. Open iTunes, get info on a track, look at summary and see where the file is now located iTunes uses to play the track. It should be in the moved location and it is okay to delete the others.

Can I move my itunes media folder to an external hard drive without having Itunes managing the media folder

Hi all....I have spent weeks tidying up my music collection. I moved it all to Itunes media folder. Since I don't like how Itunes manages this folder I manually organised it myself so that albums where together etc. I am wondering if there is a fool proof way to move my media folder to an external hard drive without letting itunes manage and consolidate files as this will reverse all the work I did in organising. Im not sure if Im posting to the right place but fingers crossed:)
Thanks in advance

Just one more thing puhlease:) This is the list of things that are in my iTunes folder. Album artwork, Automatically add to iTunes, iTunes media, Mobile apllications, podcasts, previous itunes libraries, voice memos. Then it has files itunes preferences, itunes libary extras, itunes libarry genius, itunes libraary, itunes music library......Is there stuff in there that doesnt need to be there as some are repeated in itunes media folder which contains....automatically add to itunes, books, downloads, home videos, mobile applications, music, podcasts, tones, voice memos and itunes preferences. Any thoughts on deleting some folders??? Thankyou so much for your time on this

Grrr. Every time I play a track iTunes puts it in a folder in the root directory of my iTunes Media folder.r

I have a 13" Blackbook. I have my iTunes Media Folder on a 2TB External HD. The folder directory contains the proper sub-folders: "Automatically add to iTunes," "Downloads," "Music," "Movies" and "TV Shows." For some reason now, whenever I rip a CD with iTunes it doesn't put the new CD folder "Artist/Album" in the Music folder anymore but in the root directory! Whenever I play a track it takes the track out of it's folder in Music, makes a new Artist/Album" folder IN THE ROOT DIRECTORY and puts it in there. Everytime I play Itunes I have to spend half an hour reorganising my folders by hand! Can someone PLEASE tell me what is going on here?

Check your settings for the media folder location under iTunes > Preferences > Advanced. I think you'll find it has been set to the root of the drive.
tt2

ITunes 12 - "Keep iTunes Media Folder Organised" feature no longer works

Hi everyone, I was wondering if you could help me with an issue I've been having.
Since updating to iTunes 12, the 'Keep iTunes Media Folder Organised' feature no longer works. When I add media to the library, iTunes doesn't copy it to a destination within my media library. It only works if I turn the feature off, and then back on again.
Thanks in advance for any help.

I don't use the feature myself, but it works properly in a test library for me.
It could possibly be a permissions issue. Different processes in iTunes seem to make use of either the system or the user account for file actions and it is just possible that which has been used in that case has changed. See Repair security permissions for iTunes for Windows for details.
tt2

ITunes Media Folder Renameable on External Drive (mac)

I have a 1TB collection of music in a folder on an external drive within a folder that is NOT called iTunes Media, but which until now had behaved as if it were.
I just switched to a clone of my old 1TB drive on a 1.5TB drive. After 11 hours of locating my 157000 tracks, I was able to find and use every track. However, when I added a new track, apparently I lost the ability to add new music tracks within the Music folder. Instead, a new iTunes Media folder was created within the folder which SHOULD have been called iTunes Media.
In the (new) iTunes Media folder there are a few folders containing the music I added after the switch. In the Music folder (below, but higher hierarchy) there is 1TB of music, which means it cannot be copied into the (new) iTunes Media file on the 1.5TB drive (not enough space).
Even though it would entail 100+ hours of new clone-backup time, the most logical solution would be to discard the embedded iTunes Media folder, rename the top-level folder iTunes Media, then let iTunes relocate the tracks again (over another 11 hours) and reload the few tracks loaded since the switch.
However I do not know if iTunes will allow this to work, and if so, what needs to be done in order to make it work.
Can the top-level folder be renamed? Do I need to untick and tick the Keep iTunes Media Folder Organized button?
Thanks
Mac OSX 10.6.8, iTunes 11.4

I am getting a bit lost on what was done and exactly why you did it that way. It looks to me like you use iTunes with standard preferences settings and you didn't so much move your media folder to the external drive as your whole iTunes library (everything in the top level folder including all the media files). This should have been done simply by copying the iTunes folder from the old drive to the new one, renaming the AllMyiTunesMusic folder if you so desire, then starting iTunes while holding down the option/alt key and selecting that folder as the iTunes library to now start using. Apart from the copy time when you could go away and drink a pot of coffee the actual labor time would be about 2 minutes. I think you must have done something different which has kind of messed up your library and resulted in duplication of files. Some of those folders such as Movies and the neighboring Music folder should be in the media folder, but don't move things about in Finder or iTunes may lose track of them and things will get worse. If you can go back and do things properly then I recommend you do so, otherwise we can see what we can work with here.
What are the iTunes library files? - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1660
More on iTunes library files and what they do - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITunes#Media_management
What are all those iTunes files? - http://www.macworld.com/article/139974/2009/04/itunes_files.html
Where are my iTunes files located? - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1391
iTunes 9 [and later]: Understanding iTunes Media Organization - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3847 - plus supplemental information about organizing to new structure https://discussions.apple.com/message/26404702#26404702
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.

Laptop died. Had backup of ITunes Media Folder but now cant restore music to Ipod after ios5 upgrade!

Hi guys. My laptop died a week ago and I managed to get the Itunes Media Folder copied off hard drive before it completely died. Since then, loaded Itunes on my main PC for first time (ios5), authorised it and then pointed iTunes at the Itunes Media Folder. Since trying to sync my Ipod Touch (which effectively had to be overwritten) I've noticed that most of my music on the iPod Touch is Greyed out. Majority of the music was from Amazon and purchased CD's imported to Itunes. All plays OK on iTunes but Ipod wont play 'em.
Any ideas guys? Tried syncing about 8 times now. Real pain in the bum!

I am getting a bit lost on what was done and exactly why you did it that way. It looks to me like you use iTunes with standard preferences settings and you didn't so much move your media folder to the external drive as your whole iTunes library (everything in the top level folder including all the media files). This should have been done simply by copying the iTunes folder from the old drive to the new one, renaming the AllMyiTunesMusic folder if you so desire, then starting iTunes while holding down the option/alt key and selecting that folder as the iTunes library to now start using. Apart from the copy time when you could go away and drink a pot of coffee the actual labor time would be about 2 minutes. I think you must have done something different which has kind of messed up your library and resulted in duplication of files. Some of those folders such as Movies and the neighboring Music folder should be in the media folder, but don't move things about in Finder or iTunes may lose track of them and things will get worse. If you can go back and do things properly then I recommend you do so, otherwise we can see what we can work with here.
What are the iTunes library files? - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1660
More on iTunes library files and what they do - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITunes#Media_management
What are all those iTunes files? - http://www.macworld.com/article/139974/2009/04/itunes_files.html
Where are my iTunes files located? - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1391
iTunes 9 [and later]: Understanding iTunes Media Organization - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3847 - plus supplemental information about organizing to new structure https://discussions.apple.com/message/26404702#26404702
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.

My itunes doesn't save new music files to the itunes media folder, even though I have ticked the box in the preferences telling it do so...???

Ok so, my itunes version is up to date, and I've located my itunes media folder... However, newly purchsed songs are not being backed up to the media folder, despite all the right options being ticked in the preferences box. This is immensly frustrating as I cannot back up my itunes library to a separate hard drive. Why is this happening and how can I fix it?

iTunes stores media in the location set in preferences. If you have changed things then this won't necessarily be the same place it puts the library file and other files that also need to be backed up.
If you are content to have everything in one location then I suggest you consolidate it all into one place. Note this copies files, it doesn't move them, so you need ot make sure you have sufficient hard drive space wherever you select.
iTunes for Mac: Moving your iTunes Media folder - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1449
How to Consolidate Your iTunes Library and Keep It Organized - http://www.switched.com/2010/11/02/itunes-consolidate-library-keep-organized/
Technically you don't have to have it all in one location to back up. You just need to make sure you have gotten everything. I used to have iTunes on two separate drives but I would just make sure each drive was backed up 100% and I would know it was all backed up.

Moved iTunes Media folder, now iMovie can't find it

I moved my iTunes media folder in order to share it between two users on the same iMac, following these instructions:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1203?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US
That worked fine, but now iMovie can't find the iTunes media library. I don't see a way to change this setting in iMovie, the way that you can in iTunes. There must be a simple solution to point iMovie to the new location, but if so I am missing it. Can anyone advise?
OSX 10.6.8, iMovie 09, iTunes 11.1

anyone?

I just installed iTunes on my computer, where I already have all my music. I went to Edit Preferences Advanced, and changed the iTunes Media Folder Location to where I have all my music, in the "Local Disk." But iTunes wont import all my music. Help?

I just installed iTunes on my computer, where I already have all my music. I went to Edit > Preferences > Advanced, and changed the iTunes Media Folder Location to where I have all my music, in the "Local Disk." But iTunes wont import all my music. Help?

Have you looked in the Music App on your iPhone? On the iPhone music is played by the Music App not iTunes.

HT4527 I want to move my music onto my computer, I have music stored on my laptop not in itunes, how do i put it into an itunes media folder and consolidate it without itunes?

Basically I didnt have enough room to consolidate my itunes libary on my C drive, I moved them to my D, they then were no longer in my itunes libary, I moved them back but the songs are still no longer in my libary. This is not a major issue, the problem is getting all my music into a itunes media folder and then consolidating it without the use of iTunes.

Copy the entire /Music/iTunes/ folder from old computer to /Music/ on new computer.
Launch iTunes.
That is all you need to do.

ITunes doesn't play files stored in iTunes media Folder

Hi, have this problem:
I had deleted my files from iTunes media folder, but as luckily I had the same files located in other place I just copied them to the iTunes Media but iTunes rejects to play them (in my iTunes Library). I'm only able to play them if I go through the procedure as followings: Play - "iTunes unable to open this file because the original file not found. Do you want to find it?" (or smith like that) - Find - Open and then it plays, but I have to perform these actions with every file separately and I have quite a lot of them. Oh, and after that first popping-up window the next one appears "Would you like iTunes to find other missing files from the same location as [the file's name]?" But when I click on "Find" it says "iTunes were unable to find other missing files". Why? How do I accomplish the same task but with all my albums at once without necessity to add them one by one? Does there some way exists to tie the tracks from my albums with original files without importing them to my iTunes library?
Thank you

Understand how iTunes works. iTunes does not actively look for files. When you add a file to iTunes the location of that file is saved in the iTunes database (library file). When you try to play a track iTunes looks in its database for where the linked file is to be found and tries to play the specific file it has listed in that location. If you deleted the file then it no longer exists. I think even if you replace it with one that is identical, iTunes is still looking for that specific file. You can link the track listing to a new file using the process you have done. In theory iTunes should be able to find others but the files have to have been organized by iTunes in the past because it will be working on the basis of how it thinks they should be arranged. Additionally the files you replaced have to have exactly the same name as the ones you deleted because iTunes will expect them to be named how it would name them when they were first entered into your library

How to Share One iTunes Media Folder on a Windows Laptop and Mac Laptop

I have an HP EX490 Home Server setup. I want to use the Music Share volume to act as the home for all of our music. I am using a MacBook Pro and my wife is using a Dell Windows Vista Laptop. I have my iTunes pointing to the iTunes Media Folder on the Music Share. The iTunes Library resides on my laptop in Music/iTunes/Library. I used the consolidate library feature and it moved all the music to the appropriate iTunes folder on the Share. Now I want to do that with the Windows Vista Laptop. I have the Vista laptop pointing to the Share for the iTunes Media folder location. The question is how do I add the files to her library? Do I "consolidate library" again or just "add folder to library"? Also do I keep the boxes checked "Keep iTunes Media folder organized" and "Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library" under the Advanced Tab in Preferences? Would greatly appreciate the help. Lots of music/videos and only want to do this once.
Thanks in Advance
Tom

Tom DePrenda wrote:
I used the consolidate library feature and it moved all the music to the appropriate iTunes folder on the Share.
Good!
I have the Vista laptop pointing to the Share for the iTunes Media folder location.
Good!
The question is how do I add the files to her library?
Go to your File menu and use the command Add Folder to Library. When the dialog comes up, point it to the Music folder in the Share area. But read on first...
Also do I keep the boxes checked "Keep iTunes Media folder organized"
You must turn off the "Keep..." option. Otherwise, when one of you changes a tag, iTunes will re-"organize" and the other person's iTunes will lose the link.
The "Copy..." option should also be turned off. As you add new music, put it where you want it. Then you must "Add File to Library" from each iTunes.

Reverse itunes media folder reorganisation

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