[dillmurray]

My problem is (maybe) a little complicated. I want to move my iTunes library to an external hard drive. Unfortunately I tried to move it without following the proper instructions from Mac. I moved the music files (iTunes Music folder) to the external hard drive and deleted the folder (and music files) from my computer after the move. Then I went to iTunes preferences to change the location of iTunes Media (to the external). Then I checked it and iTunes couldn't play (couldn't find) any of the files (of course). I moved everything back, changed the preferences, still couldn't find the songs so I re-created my library and playlists following the instructions from Apple support. Now most of my music is back in iTunes but not all. Some of it it said it couldn't find. I'm not sure of all of the music it can't find (I know some of it from memory). All of the files are in the iTunes Music folder (I assume) and I so want to added the files it couldn't find but not duplicate everything I have in my library already. Then move my files to the external properly. How do I do this?

Bonus question.

None of my I iphone applications are in my iTunes. I'm afraid to connect my phone now as I fear I will lose the applications and the info in those apps. How should I handle this?

Sorry for the long explanation. Thanks for your patience.

[dillmurray]

Okay, I re-read one of the other threads here and I see that I can delete all files from iTunes (but not from the computer) then add the library all over again. The only thing is, I loose all of my playlists. Is this a price I have to pay, or is there a way to save my playlists or just add only the songs that are missing?

[Sethalos]

You can save your playlists, Just export them to your desktop, and then import them when you're ready to. You can find the Export command under File.

Here: http://reviews.cnet.com/2300-3669_7-10001021.html


If you want some advice though, I'd switch your Media Player all together...Itunes Rots.

Try Songbird or MediaMonkey...both are excellent. Good luck.

[dillmurray]

Whoa. After a bit of work I've gotten back most of what I lost. I figured out how to retain my playlists too.

What I did was delete the iTunes Library (from iTunes, not the computer). Next I closed iTunes and removed the iTunes Library file (I'm on a Mac). Then I opened iTunes. It was empty of everything so I added the iTunes music folder which had all of my music in it. I still had no playlists so I imported (File>Library>Import Playlist) the original playlist .xml I had from before I started all of this.It still gave me the couldn't find some files dialog but when I checked, I had all of the music I knew was missing from memory (anything beyond that we'll have to see).

Still haven't figured out getting my iPhone applications back but I'm going to try something and see if it works.

Thanks for the help Sethalos. I'm going to check out that software you suggested (though I'm pretty certain I will still need iTunes for my phone ...)

Thanks again.

[dillmurray]

So I got the iPhone issue solved. There's a folder in the iTunes folder labeled "Mobile Applications" in it were all of my iPhone applications. Opened them and they were in my iTunes. Synced the phone and now everything is back to normal.

Thanks.