Moving iTunes library to different drive
I'm running Windows XP on a PC and have my iTunes library on my external drive: G. Everything has been working fine. But, this drive was starting to get filled up with photos so I decided it was time to upgrade to a bigger external drive. That became H. So I followed the iTunes instruction for moving your library. It all seemed to go correctly, moving all the files to H. But then when I disconnected the old drive, G, iTunes says:
"The folder"iTunes" cannot be found or created and is required. The default location for this folder is inside the "My Music folder."
And iTunes will not start. Only if I reconnect the old external will iTunes work. Even though it is playing, all the tracks off the new drive.
I would really like to retire the old external drive. Appreciate any help you can give me.
Thanks,
Dean
"The folder"iTunes" cannot be found or created and is required. The default location for this folder is inside the "My Music folder."
And iTunes will not start. Only if I reconnect the old external will iTunes work. Even though it is playing, all the tracks off the new drive.
I would really like to retire the old external drive. Appreciate any help you can give me.
Thanks,
Dean
Comments
Did you change the itunes preference for the location of new folder? All you should have to do is copy the itunes folder onto the new drive and then go to preferences > advanced and set the location in the general tab. You can also choose the library by launching itunes while holding the alt-key. It will ask where your library is.
Yup, did that. It does appear to be playing all the files off the new location. I checked the "Get Info" on a bunch of songs and they all path to the new drive location. But if I disconnect the old external drive, iTunes give me the error message and will not start.
What if I backup my iTunes, then completely uninstall iTunes, then reinstall iTunes fresh, then re-import everything back into iTunes? I don't even know if that is do-able. What would I lose in the process? What would happen to the tracks I purchased off iTunes?
Yup, did that. It does appear to be playing all the files off the new location. I checked the "Get Info" on a bunch of songs and they all path to the new drive location. But if I disconnect the old external drive, iTunes give me the error message and will not start.
Do you have an itunes folder inside the folder specified in the preferences? For example, if you have a folder called music on the external drive and this is selected in the preferences, the hierarchy should look like this:
music > iTunes > Album art, iTunes Library, iTunes Music etc
What if I backup my iTunes, then completely uninstall iTunes, then reinstall iTunes fresh, then re-import everything back into iTunes? I don't even know if that is do-able. What would I lose in the process? What would happen to the tracks I purchased off iTunes?
If the folder hierarchy is ok, you can uninstall and reinstall iTunes just fine. The purchased tracks are linked to your iTunes account and your machine authorization is linked to that. You only need to worry about purchased content when you change your computer.
Put the iTunes Library file in My Music/iTunes. As long as that is there you will have no problems. Best thing to do would be to delete all your music from your iTunes library and drag the music from your new drive into iTunes.
You have to keep your iTunes Library on your machine (the database file, XML blah blah). You can keep your music on the external drive (even if it's disconnected), and iTunes will open as long as it can read from the iTunes Library database.
Put the iTunes Library file in My Music/iTunes. As long as that is there you will have no problems. Best thing to do would be to delete all your music from your iTunes library and drag the music from your new drive into iTunes.
Aha! Now I think I get it. The iTunes files (the database file, XML blah blah) need to be on my local drive but the library with all the actual music files can sit anywhere on my system, ie: the external drive. OK, I'll try that tonight and see what happens. I was trying to move the whole package to the external.
Thanks for the info!