I have just changed my desktop and have my itunes library stored on an external hard drive. Historically, I have managed to get my desktop to point to the hard drive through Edit,
preferences, advanced and it has worked fine but just can't seem to get that to happen this time - can anybody help suggest what I may be doing wrong/what has changed?
Windows, Windows 10
See Move your iTunes library to a new computer - Apple Community. Changing the media folder location in preferences doesn't change which .itl file is accessed, nor make iTunes discover the content in that location. In general you would also copy the folder that contains the .itl file to the new computer. On your old computer that may have been <User's Music>\iTunes or it might also have been on the external drive. Holding down shift as you launch iTunes provides the way to chose which library database is opened.
tt2
Take a deeper look at Move your iTunes library to a new computer - Apple Community. There is quite a lot of detail packed in there. Without more to go on I suspect you've moved the physical drive from one machine to the other, but left behind the core iTunes folder on the internal drive of the other computer. As long as you have access to the other machine you can add this to your external drive, then copy it into the new computer, or I can walk you through integrating it with the media folder on the external drive so that everything is in one place which makes backing up and moving the library again in future much easier. I just a few details such as the location of the .itl and the media folder so that I can talk in specifics rather than general terms.
tt2
Double-clicking a .itl file open iTunes, not necessarily with the file that you've clicked on. If you've put it in the standard location of C:\Users\User\Music\iTunes\iTunes Library.itl immediately before or after installing iTunes for the first time on that machine you might expect that library to open, otherwise press and hold shift as you launch iTunes and use the choose library option to select the file you want it to open.
Selecting a media folder under Edit > Preferences > Advanced tells iTunes where you would like to keep new content added to the library in future. It does not make it discover content in that location. Again, use the shift-start-iTunes method to select the correct .itl. If it loads the content but then cannot play it for some reason then post back. Has the drive been assigned the same letter in both systems? That shouldn't be necessary if the iTunes Media folder is in the same folder as the .itl file but might be otherwise.
tt2
Thank you - fortunately I do still have access to the old computer - it will not support Windows 11 so I have taken the plunge and upgraded to a new desktop now. I have already been back into it and copied what I thought was on the hard drive of the old computer onto a usb flash drive but I think the issue is that I am not sure what I now need to copy onto the new computer - if I am honest, I moved the external drive across and then installed iTunes from the Microsoft store and went into the preferences to try to direct it to the external drive. On that flash drive I have numerous .tpm files dating back to 2020, 3 folders Album Artwork, ITunes Media, Previous iTunes Libraries and then 4 files iTunes Library Extras.itdb, iTunes Library Genius.itdb, iTunes Library.itl & iTunes Music Library.xml - is that the stuff that I now need to put onto my new computer &, if it is, where do I put it? If it is easier to uninstall everything and start afresh I will try anything you suggest - the only thing I do not want to do is to have to recreate the substantial library I have built up over the years! At the moment - the itl file is in C:\Users\melon\Music\iTunes\iTunes Media. Really appreciate any help you can give me!
Foxcub27 wrote:
Presumably, I can now delete the iTunes(empty) folder to free up that space on my hard drive?
Yes.
See Make a split library portable - Apple Community in case you want to link everything up properly on the external drive. An issue you might run into with the current arrangement is that if you ever launch iTunes will the external drive isn't ready iTunes will silently reset the media folder to C:\Users\melon\Music\iTunes\iTunes Media and you won't know that has happened. Reconnecting the drive won't change the media folder. If the .itl file is on the external drive you get a can't open the library warning, you cancel, connect the drive, then launch iTunes and all is well. Having everything on the external makes it easier to back everything up, and move to a bigger drive or a new computer when the time comes.
tt2
Apologies - thought I had replied but cannot see it now. My iTunes.itl file is on the hard disk of my new computer in the Users/Music file - it is just the content that i have previously stored on an external hard disk. My understanding was that this was the correct way and if I click on that .itl file it takes me to iTunes, I then went into Preferences Advanced and changed where I wanted the app to look for the music files to the external drive. But nothing happens?
Thank you - I have just loaded some new content &, as you said, that has been added to the library on my external drive. I have tried the holding down the shift key and choosing a library to point it to the existing content but it then comes up with an error message that the iTunes library.itl cannot be found - as I understand it, the itl file is on my C drive whereas I am asking it to look at the E drive for the existing content. The drive was a different letter on the old computer but, tbh, cannot remember which letter it was on. I know from using File Explorer that all of my content - 90gb of music and 800gb of movies - is definitely there & accessible on my E drive - just need to get them to work together - does that make sense - apologies if I am being a bit dense!
Hi. You should rename the current C:\Users\melon\Music\iTunes folder as iTunes (Empty) then copy the iTunes folder from your old computer into C:\Users\melon\Music. This will put the .itl file and other supporting files into the standard location for them, which should mean that you see you content and playlists. Whether they work correctly depends on whether your external drive is using the same drive letter as it had on the previous computer. We can cross that bridge once you have the right library in front of you.
tt2
I have done that but when I then try to open up iTunes to see that the library is there I get the error message 'The Folder containing iTunes library cannot be found & is required. Please choose or create a new iTunes library.' I tried to then point it to the library content on the external drive E:\iTunes\iTunes Media but it will not open - am I missing something? Thanks again for your help
Yes! That has taken me to my old library! Does that mean that my old library is now on the internal hard disc of my new computer? Interestingly, it does not show the 2 albums that I added as a test yesterday - which did get added to my external drive. I notice that my internal hard discs are now getting full so I guess that is the case - but I really need it to be held/routed to the external drive. Cannot tell you how grateful I am for the help you are giving me
Tried to update my response as realised that some of what I was asking was rubbish - this is the amended version! Yes! That has taken me to my old library! Interestingly, it does not show the 2 albums that I added as a test yesterday - which did get added to my external drive. I notice that my internal hard discs are now getting full but I am thinking that I will be able to delete the iTunes (empty) file once it is all sorted? When I look at the Preferences/Advanced - it points to the C\Users/iTunes path - do I now need to alter this to the external hard drive? Am anxious to do anything without checking! Cannot tell you how grateful I am for the help you are giving me
You can use Edit > Preferences > Advanced to set the media folder to your preferred location on the external drive. That said with some builds of iTunes (might also be user/OS/security dependent) iTunes may have trouble remembering your setting. See what happens after you close iTunes, then reopen it. If that is the case we can walk through that.
You've accessed a different database. That database doesn't know about the actions you took in another library. You'll need to add the new albums to this library, correct the media folder preference first to make sure iTunes doesn't try to copy the files to a different location.
Now that you're seeing the tracks and playlists that you expect to see have you checked to make sure that a random selection of things will play?
tt2
You are a star! That has worked - I have reloaded the 2 new discs and they have added to my library as I would expect. Have closed and reopened iTunes and it has remembered the location and, within that, have tried playing a few tracks and they all work! Can't thank you enough! Presumably, I can now delete the iTunes(empty) folder to free up that space on my hard drive?
OK, at this point press and hold down Shift as you launch iTunes, click the Choose Library option, then browse to and open the file C:\Users\melon\Music\iTunes\iTunes Library.itl.
tt2
Thank you - that makes sense & I will have a look at the linked article - certainly don't want this to happen again! Really appreciate your help
Linking itunes to library on external hard drive on new desktop
