Flummoxed moving iTunes library ...
December 29, 2008 7:40 PM Subscribe
Help a flummoxed Apple novice move iTunes ...
I'm trying to move my iTunes library to a portable hard drive. All goes well following these instructions from Apple, until I shut down: restarting, iTunes comes up empty - even though my MP3s, etc. are still on the portable drive.
What am I missing?
Help me, hive mind - I'm kind of at my wit's end on this.
If it matters at all, I'm using iTunes 8.
I'm trying to move my iTunes library to a portable hard drive. All goes well following these instructions from Apple, until I shut down: restarting, iTunes comes up empty - even though my MP3s, etc. are still on the portable drive.
What am I missing?
Help me, hive mind - I'm kind of at my wit's end on this.
If it matters at all, I'm using iTunes 8.
Response by poster: mhz: All files are where they should be (music files on portable drive, other files in parent folder), so I'm stumped - thanks for weighing in, though :)
posted by ryanshepard at 8:02 PM on December 29, 2008
posted by ryanshepard at 8:02 PM on December 29, 2008
Is there data in the xml file? Is the db file greater than a few kb?
posted by Pants! at 9:02 PM on December 29, 2008
posted by Pants! at 9:02 PM on December 29, 2008
Quit iTunes, hold down Option ("Alt") and run it again.
Click "Choose library" and point it at the new location.
Done.
posted by Mwongozi at 10:12 PM on December 29, 2008
Click "Choose library" and point it at the new location.
Done.
posted by Mwongozi at 10:12 PM on December 29, 2008
Best answer: Mwongozi, that would work if the library files were moved, not if they remained in the same place.
ryanshepard, can you run me through exactly what you're doing? And can it be reproduced?
You start with a fully functioning iTunes library (with all music) on your internal hard drive. When do you attach the external? Do you ever detach it? Are you dragging anything to the trash can? Are you emptying the trash? Is the hard drive attached next time you start up? Does everything work as advertised until you restart?
Also, do you have a way (a backup, etc) to start over?
posted by mhz at 4:54 AM on December 30, 2008
ryanshepard, can you run me through exactly what you're doing? And can it be reproduced?
You start with a fully functioning iTunes library (with all music) on your internal hard drive. When do you attach the external? Do you ever detach it? Are you dragging anything to the trash can? Are you emptying the trash? Is the hard drive attached next time you start up? Does everything work as advertised until you restart?
Also, do you have a way (a backup, etc) to start over?
posted by mhz at 4:54 AM on December 30, 2008
I am looking at moving all my music to a removable drive from my windows laptop so this question is very timely.
Could I just copy the contents of my iTunes music folder to the portable drive, delete iTunes completely and then just reinstall it on the portable drive and have it consolidate all the music from the new location? I know this would hose up playlists, ratings etc. but I rarely use these anyway.
posted by 543DoublePlay at 5:39 AM on December 30, 2008
Could I just copy the contents of my iTunes music folder to the portable drive, delete iTunes completely and then just reinstall it on the portable drive and have it consolidate all the music from the new location? I know this would hose up playlists, ratings etc. but I rarely use these anyway.
posted by 543DoublePlay at 5:39 AM on December 30, 2008
543, if you don't care about the playlists, ratings, etc, then you can do whatever you want with the music files, and delete the iTunes library files (in My Documents\My Music\iTunes.) When you start iTunes again, it'll create a new blank library, and you can drag the music from its new location into iTunes.
You can also use the method that ryanshepard is using. The link listed has a further link to the Windows method. I don't know why it isn't working, but it usually does.
posted by mhz at 6:32 AM on December 30, 2008
You can also use the method that ryanshepard is using. The link listed has a further link to the Windows method. I don't know why it isn't working, but it usually does.
posted by mhz at 6:32 AM on December 30, 2008
Response by poster: mhz: Apple's instructions (linked to above) indicate that only the music files should be moved to the portable drive, while the rest should remain in the parent folder (which is on my laptop's internal drive). This is what I did.
Everything worked as advertised until restart (which I did with the external drive on and attached). The external drive was attached when I turned the laptop on to start the move and was not detached or turned off at any point in the process. I do have a back up of my music files.
Thanks again for your help.
posted by ryanshepard at 6:32 AM on December 30, 2008
Everything worked as advertised until restart (which I did with the external drive on and attached). The external drive was attached when I turned the laptop on to start the move and was not detached or turned off at any point in the process. I do have a back up of my music files.
Thanks again for your help.
posted by ryanshepard at 6:32 AM on December 30, 2008
Best answer: ryanshepard - I also found this article on iLounge which goes into a lot more detail than the Apple page. Maybe it will help.
posted by 543DoublePlay at 6:37 AM on December 30, 2008
posted by 543DoublePlay at 6:37 AM on December 30, 2008
Response by poster: An update a few minutes later ;)
I think I may have found the source of the problem - among the files on the portable drive are copies of the files that are supposed to stay in the parent file (e.g. "iTunes Library.xml") I did not (at least not intentionally) copy the files to the portable from the parent drive, but they're there all the same.
If I delete these files from the portable, they reappear the next time I open it. The original copies of these files are still in the parent file on my internal drive, but I'm not sure iTunes is recognizing them as the ones it should be working with.
The issue here seems to be mapping the right parent file to the right library of music files, and keeping each where it should be ...
posted by ryanshepard at 6:42 AM on December 30, 2008
I think I may have found the source of the problem - among the files on the portable drive are copies of the files that are supposed to stay in the parent file (e.g. "iTunes Library.xml") I did not (at least not intentionally) copy the files to the portable from the parent drive, but they're there all the same.
If I delete these files from the portable, they reappear the next time I open it. The original copies of these files are still in the parent file on my internal drive, but I'm not sure iTunes is recognizing them as the ones it should be working with.
The issue here seems to be mapping the right parent file to the right library of music files, and keeping each where it should be ...
posted by ryanshepard at 6:42 AM on December 30, 2008
Response by poster: Final update (I hope) - the problem seems to have worked itself out: restarting now, iTunes is finding the library of music files on the portable drive and working w/the .xml etc. files in the parent drive. I'm not sure why, exactly, but I'm hoping for the best.
543DoublePlay - thanks for the link, it should be helpful for future troubleshooting.
posted by ryanshepard at 7:02 AM on December 30, 2008
543DoublePlay - thanks for the link, it should be helpful for future troubleshooting.
posted by ryanshepard at 7:02 AM on December 30, 2008
Happy it's working. To (hopefully) clarify:
If you use the option method (as mentioned above) then everything (including the DB files, i.e. *.itl + *.xml) should be on the external.
If you use the method that Apple gives you (consolidate, move the music folder), you're only changing the path that the iTunes database looks for, not iTunes itself. So the database files need to be in the original place.
To recap:
iTunes opens, and looks for its default database files, located in ~/Music/iTunes.
The iTunes database files will put all music (as per settings) into ~/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music.
The former is only changeable using the 'option' method, which will ask you where to find the 'library,' meaning the database.
The latter is changeable with less of an issue. On Mac, because of the way HFS handles files, you can usually rename, move, edit, etc the music files, and iTunes will still find them. Also, because it's a setting, you can have kept the files on an external in the first place. Apple's directions are only to consolidate them to one place, rename them based on their tags, and, optionally, to choose a new place for this folder. The new location will now also be the place where new music is dumped as it is imported.
posted by mhz at 7:44 AM on December 30, 2008
If you use the option method (as mentioned above) then everything (including the DB files, i.e. *.itl + *.xml) should be on the external.
If you use the method that Apple gives you (consolidate, move the music folder), you're only changing the path that the iTunes database looks for, not iTunes itself. So the database files need to be in the original place.
To recap:
iTunes opens, and looks for its default database files, located in ~/Music/iTunes.
The iTunes database files will put all music (as per settings) into ~/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music.
The former is only changeable using the 'option' method, which will ask you where to find the 'library,' meaning the database.
The latter is changeable with less of an issue. On Mac, because of the way HFS handles files, you can usually rename, move, edit, etc the music files, and iTunes will still find them. Also, because it's a setting, you can have kept the files on an external in the first place. Apple's directions are only to consolidate them to one place, rename them based on their tags, and, optionally, to choose a new place for this folder. The new location will now also be the place where new music is dumped as it is imported.
posted by mhz at 7:44 AM on December 30, 2008
(this assumes a Windows OS...I've got nothing for you on Mac)
You'd probably have to start from scratch anyway. But here is how I'd do it:
1.) Move the music to the portable drive.
2.) Delete all library files (they remember the music in the old location).
3.) Open iTunes
4.) set it up so that iTunes organizes your music (I'm at work now w/o iTunes, so I can't remember where this setting is).
5.) Point iTunes to the external music folder...let it start importing.
- Once the importing is complete, your new library file should be up to date.
6.) Now, we can actually copy the library to the external drive (shut down iTunes before doing so).
7.) The next time you launch iTunes, hold [Shift] while clicking the shortcut. iTunes will then ask you what library file you want to open. You can then navigate to the external drive.
8.) Voila
Now, if you take your drive with you to another computer with iTunes installed, you can do the [Shift]-launch trick to open your library from there (add files, play music, etc...)
I keep my music on a network share, and multiple PCs can share the same library file (also on the network share). This has revolutionized my iTunes experience.
posted by nmabry at 8:16 AM on December 30, 2008
You'd probably have to start from scratch anyway. But here is how I'd do it:
1.) Move the music to the portable drive.
2.) Delete all library files (they remember the music in the old location).
3.) Open iTunes
4.) set it up so that iTunes organizes your music (I'm at work now w/o iTunes, so I can't remember where this setting is).
5.) Point iTunes to the external music folder...let it start importing.
- Once the importing is complete, your new library file should be up to date.
6.) Now, we can actually copy the library to the external drive (shut down iTunes before doing so).
7.) The next time you launch iTunes, hold [Shift] while clicking the shortcut. iTunes will then ask you what library file you want to open. You can then navigate to the external drive.
8.) Voila
Now, if you take your drive with you to another computer with iTunes installed, you can do the [Shift]-launch trick to open your library from there (add files, play music, etc...)
I keep my music on a network share, and multiple PCs can share the same library file (also on the network share). This has revolutionized my iTunes experience.
posted by nmabry at 8:16 AM on December 30, 2008
This thread is closed to new comments.
After the folder has been copied, locate your original iTunes Music folder, and drag it to the Trash or Recycle Bin. Note: Don't remove the iTunes library files that may be in the same location as the iTunes Music folder. For more information about the iTunes library files, see this article.
In your user/music folder, there's an iTunes folder. This folder in turn contains an iTunes Music folder. If you delete the parent folder, then iTunes will create a new database, which will be empty. If you delete the inner folder, the iTunes library file (with an .itl extension) will still be there, and will point (correctly) to the external.
That's the only bit of ambiguous info I see there, if you're already doing this correctly, I'd tell you to start over using different directions.
posted by mhz at 7:48 PM on December 29, 2008