Broke all links in iTunes but did not delete music
So here is what happened: copied my iTunes Music folder to an external drive. From within the iTunes prefs, changed the location to the external drive. The iTunes library, did not seem to update because I got the exclamation point next to every song in my library. Changed the location back to the original, still have broken songs. Please note that I have not deleted a single song from the original location. How can I re associate all my music?
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So here is what happened: copied my iTunes Music folder to an external drive. From within the iTunes prefs, changed the location to the external drive. The iTunes library, did not seem to update because I got the exclamation point next to every song in my library. Changed the location back to the original, still have broken songs. Please note that I have not deleted a single song from the original location. How can I re associate all my music?
Once you have the new music folder location selected, try the "Consolidate Library" feature in the "Advanced" drop down menu of the iTunes main window.
If that doesn't work: Locate the folder with the music in it in the Finder or Windows Explorer, and drag and drop that folder into the iTunes main window to see all Music/Video files copied in. This is another way to do it IF the music folder location reselect feature for some reason isn't working. You do have "Keep Music Folder Organized" and "Copy Music files to Music folder" options selected?
Just a few ideas. . . . As always, back up first, right?
Once you have the new music folder location selected, try the "Consolidate Library" feature in the "Advanced" drop down menu of the iTunes main window.
If that doesn't work: Locate the folder with the music in it in the Finder or Windows Explorer, and drag and drop that folder into the iTunes main window to see all Music/Video files copied in. This is another way to do it IF the music folder location reselect feature for some reason isn't working. You do have "Keep Music Folder Organized" and "Copy Music files to Music folder" options selected?
Just a few ideas. . . . As always, back up first, right?
Thanks for the suggestions, but...
Keep music folder organized and copy music files were both selected. Consolidate library does not work because iTunes can't find the files to consolidate. Quitting iTunes and replacing the library files with last night's backup didn't solve the problem.
If I drag a song into the main window, it creates a new copy of the song right next to the original song file, both in the iTunes windows as well as at the location in the finder, but for the new entry, the previous data of playcount, rating, etc is lost. The "broken" links all have the right data, they just don't point to the song files. It's as if iTunes refuses to look for the files that are already there.
If I manually find the file for a song when iTunes prompts, there is no problem and everything works and plays fine. I am just trying to find a way to avoid having to do this for 4000+ songs!
Hold down SHIFT+OPTION keys as you open iTunes. A dialog should appear that asks what library you would like to open. Navigate to where iTunes library file is (is it still in the Music folder on your boot volume or the external hard drive where your music is?) and select it from the Open menu.