[JMT]

I just moved all of my music files to my external hard drive (drive F), but after reimporting all of the folders into iTunes, it still says it cannot find the files. Is there a way that I can direct iTunes to all of the files on my F drive rather than each of them individually?

I did make the change in my preferences/advanced/general tab where it asks where the iTunes music folder is located:

F:\My Documents\My Music

Still, each time I try to play a song it get a message that says:

Quote:

The song "xxxxx" could not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it?

I can then locate it and it plays fine. But with over 1600 songs I don't want to have to do this with each one.

 

[neddamttocs]

remove them all from itune then re-add them from the new location.

this has worked for me in the past

 

[_j_]

If you are interested in keeping all of your playcounts, ratings and stats in iTunes the method for re-importing will not work.

I would suggest the following:
1. Move your files back to where they were.
2. All songs that you had repointed to after moving the files, re-click and refind the file. This should get your library back to how it was.
3. Now that your Library is as it was, in iTunes, go to: Preferences -> Advanced -> General.
4. Change the location of your music folder to the external drive you had set up.
5. Ensure that the 'Keep iTunes Music Folder organized' is checked.
6. Click 'OK'
7. once this is done, in iTunes go to: Advanced -> Consolidate Library...
8. This function will copy all items in your library to your new disk and maintain your iTunes music database. This process will take a while depending on the size of your library.
9. Once iTunes has completed the process ensure that the files are where they should be (external drive) ('Get Info -> Summary' on tracks to spot check the file location) your files should now be on the new drive.
10. back up everything.
11. I forget this part, but you may need to actually go and delete the original library (not the one on the external drive) as I think that iTunes makes a copy during the consolidate process but I am not sure.

 

[xenithon]

I opened the library XML file and substituted all occurences of the old location for the new location, and it worked. YMMV

 

[pcf]

Quote:

Originally Posted by _j_ /img/forum/go_quote.gif If you are interested in keeping all of your playcounts, ratings and stats in iTunes the method for re-importing will not work. I would suggest the following: 1. Move your files back to where they were. 2. All songs that you had repointed to after moving the files, re-click and refind the file. This should get your library back to how it was. 3. Now that your Library is as it was, in iTunes, go to: Preferences -> Advanced -> General. 4. Change the location of your music folder to the external drive you had set up. 5. Ensure that the 'Keep iTunes Music Folder organized' is checked. 6. Click 'OK' 7. once this is done, in iTunes go to: Advanced -> Consolidate Library... 8. This function will copy all items in your library to your new disk and maintain your iTunes music database. This process will take a while depending on the size of your library. 9. Once iTunes has completed the process ensure that the files are where they should be (external drive) ('Get Info -> Summary' on tracks to spot check the file location) your files should now be on the new drive. 10. back up everything. 11. I forget this part, but you may need to actually go and delete the original library (not the one on the external drive) as I think that iTunes makes a copy during the consolidate process but I am not sure.

This method won't work if you do not have enough space in your internal drive for all your music files- that is the reason a lot people move their music to external drives anyway.
This problem happened to me a few times for no obvious reasons at all. This is how I deal with it (There must be better ways but I'm not smart enough to know them yet!)

I have all my music files in an external hard drive and they are also backed up in a second hard drive. I feel this is really important 'cause iTunes comes up with some nasty surprises from time to time. If I know my music is backed up, I am free to try all these different solutions that I may find on the web.

First thing I do would be to copy all the playlists and album art to my external hard drive. You can do it by going through file-export and make sure you save them as .xml files.

Than I would select all the songs in my iTunes library and delete all of them- make sure You click on " keep files' instead of " moving them to the recycle bin"!

When the library is emptied. Go to file- add folders (not files) and navigate to
where your music files are stored. Choose the whole folder and enter. All the songs should be moved back to your library in no time.

You can than import your playlists and everthing else back to your itunes library.

It works for me everytime.

-Paul

 

[Keithpgdrb]

my girlfriend did the exact same thing, had the same problem. the best thing to do is follow any instructions on the apple site as to how to do this correctly. but one thing that helps is to choose the "consolidate library" command under the advanced tab (on a mac).. its there somewhere on a pc. it is supposed to put everything in your itunes music folder. you just have to make sure you choose the one on "F" I believe. good luck.

^ pauls method sounds pretty solid as well.

 

[pcf]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Keithpgdrb /img/forum/go_quote.gif my girlfriend did the exact same thing, had the same problem. the best thing to do is follow any instructions on the apple site as to how to do this correctly. but one thing that helps is to choose the "consolidate library" command under the advanced tab (on a mac).. its there somewhere on a pc. it is supposed to put everything in your itunes music folder. you just have to make sure you choose the one on "F" I believe. good luck. ^ pauls method sounds pretty solid as well.

Hi Keith,

"Consolidate library' will copy all files into your iTunes music folder. If the files are already there-in JMT's case, it might duplicate them and you'll end up with two copies of everything.

Not sure if unchecking "copy files to iTunes music folder when adding to library" will prevent that. I always have that unchecked anyway.

iTunes can be such a pain sometimes. It's good to hear how we all cope with it!

Cheers!

-Paul

 

[Keithpgdrb]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pcf /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hi Keith, "Consolidate library' will copy all files into your iTunes music folder. If the files are already there-in JMT's case, it might duplicate them and you'll end up with two copies of everything. Not sure if unchecking "copy files to iTunes music folder when adding to library" will prevent that. I always have that unchecked anyway. iTunes can be such a pain sometimes. It's good to hear how we all cope with it! Cheers! -Paul

now that you say that, I actually think that happened to my lady. damn I'm sorry. aint no worse advice then the stupid kind. I'll have to ask her what she did again. although paul seems to have it covered. thanks dude.

 

[JMT]

Someone on the Steve Hoffman forum directed me to this:

Managing your iTunes Library on an External Hard Drive

I printed it and will attempt it this weekend. I didn't realize that this was going to be such an event. All I wanted to do was move my music.

 

[_j_]

Moving the music is pretty easy...

Just plug in the drive, change the location of your library, then hit consolidate library... 1, 2 & 3.

This works great as long as your library is as it was, meaning that the files that iTunes points to are still in their original (internal drive) location.

The thing to remember with iTunes is to never manually remove or move files from the iTunes Music folder. Moving a library is easy to do if you don't touch the actual files...

Cheers and good luck!

 

[jonathanjong]

If the OPs problems have not been solved, maybe dougscripts.com might provide an automated solution with AppleScripts.

 

[edart]

Ditch Itunes and install Rockbox then you can just drag and drop what you want on your player (no good if you have a iphone/touch "yet")

 

[Zanth]

No good if you have a Classic either...the 160 is a no go with Rockbox

 

[pcf]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zanth /img/forum/go_quote.gif No good if you have a Classic either...the 160 is a no go with Rockbox

No good also if you're using AppleTV.

 

[JMT]

Quote:

Originally Posted by _j_ /img/forum/go_quote.gif Moving the music is pretty easy... Just plug in the drive, change the location of your library, then hit consolidate library... 1, 2 & 3. This works great as long as your library is as it was, meaning that the files that iTunes points to are still in their original (internal drive) location. The thing to remember with iTunes is to never manually remove or move files from the iTunes Music folder. Moving a library is easy to do if you don't touch the actual files... Cheers and good luck!

Wow, you were right. That actually was a breeze.