You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Itunes library?

Just changed external HDD. Can't see exactly where my library is located when I check iTunes preferences.

iMac 21.5″, macOS 10.13

Posted on Apr 10, 2022 8:45 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Apr 10, 2022 10:26 AM

Changing the path to the media folder in preferences won't normally help. See Move your iTunes library to a new computer - Apple Community. If the entire library was on your old external drive and you've copied it to a new one you would typically use the option-start-iTunes method to select the new copy of the iTunes Library.itl file on the new path. If the external drive only contained the media folder, then you would usually copy the media folder to the same relative path on the new drive, e.g. <Old Volume>/iTunes Media to <New Volume>/iTunes Media, then change the volume names such that the new drive takes on the old volume name, which means that your files are again on the paths where iTunes expects to find them.


tt2

5 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Apr 10, 2022 10:26 AM in response to Chamie7

Changing the path to the media folder in preferences won't normally help. See Move your iTunes library to a new computer - Apple Community. If the entire library was on your old external drive and you've copied it to a new one you would typically use the option-start-iTunes method to select the new copy of the iTunes Library.itl file on the new path. If the external drive only contained the media folder, then you would usually copy the media folder to the same relative path on the new drive, e.g. <Old Volume>/iTunes Media to <New Volume>/iTunes Media, then change the volume names such that the new drive takes on the old volume name, which means that your files are again on the paths where iTunes expects to find them.


tt2

Apr 24, 2022 1:44 PM in response to Chamie7

The active database for your iTunes library is typically ~/Music/iTunes/iTunes Library.itl, but it is possible you've moved yours elsewhere at some point. If you press and hold down option when you launch iTunes and click the choose library option it should show the location of the current library. You can check by looking at the last modified date. The library file tells iTunes what is in your library and where it is stored. The media folder location in preferences tells iTunes the location of the current media folder, but not which database to open. If you want to open a different database you need to use the option-start-iTunes method. If you want to change where the library stores its media you would normally set a new media folder and consolidate to that location, not copy the file manually and then try to change the media folder. A more effective method to move the library is to have everything in a portable layout (see Make a split library portable - Apple Community) when choosing a new library not old sets the location of the database, but also automatically updates the path to the media folder and all references within the library. If you can't/don't want to make the library portable right now, and you've already copied all of the media files to matching folders on the new drive, then another approach is to rename your drives so the new drive uses the old volume name, and thus all paths in the library will point to the new drive instead of the old one.


tt2

Itunes library?

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.