[brassring]

Hi - I'm a new member and am grateful for the expertise on this site!

I downloaded iTunes on my Vista and would like to consolidate my libraries on an external drive. Currently, I have different iTunes libraries on two different drives on my laptop as well as other tunes on the intended external drive. I have not been able to consolidate the libraries although I did manage to move most of my music to the recycle bin - augghh!

I also wonder whether it's possible to completely remove the library from my internal hard drives - I'm running out of memory space, fast!

[Arthur1994]

i would believe if you downloaded them onto that computer, to just go into downloads then delete otherwise check the itunes folder

[brassring]

Thank you very much for responding so quickly! However, I don't want to delete my libraries just yet; first I'm hoping to consolidate them so that ALL of the music is located on my external drive. How can I move it all there (including the things I thought I had moved...and then put in the recycle bin)?

[welshblood]

If I'm reading this correctly, you want to make several music libraries (including files in recycle bin) into one?
Firstly, open Recycle Bin. Select the files you wish to retrieve. If the Recycle Bin contains only the file you wish to reclaim, go to EDIT & SELECT ALL. Then click RESTORE ALL ITEMS. If there are files you DON'T want delete them first & then perform the above.
This will have moved the files back to the location they were deleted from. Go to the music library you wish to move & open it. Go to EDIT & SELECT ALL Back to edit &choose Move To Folder. You will then be presented with options of where you wish to move these files. Choose the drive & folder & click Move.
In ITunes you will have to go into the EDIT tab & choose Preferences & then Advanced.
You will see iTunes Music folder location. Click Change at the side of this & choose the location you moved your music to.
When you next connect your IPod, you will have to re-sync it with the new folder location when it asks you. This will delete all content & replace it with the contents of the new folder.
Hope I understood your problem & that you find that this is the solution you need.
Regards,
STEVE

[brassring]

Oh my! First, I recovered the iTunes files from the recycle bin, so at least I can sleep tonight! Thanks!

The next step isn't going so smoothly! Looking at what's stored on my computer, the following locations seem to have iTunes information. I'm not even sure "files" is the proper word to use here:

C drive:
"downloads"
"iTunes music"
"previous iTunes libraries" (listed by update dates)
"iTunes library extras" and
"iTunes library" (although this file opens Internet Explorer and shows a text list)

D drive:
When I open the D drive, it shoes nothing but iTunes lists

When I select all, then go to edit, preferences, advanced, the location says D drive every time, even if I'm opening one of the locations listed above as being in the C drive. Are they all the same file in the same location, even 'though they are listed as being on two different drives?

If not, I'm afraid that what I've done is that I have 7 or 8 different locations which all contain the same (or nearly the same) data over and over - no wonder my C drive is full! Is there a way to consolidate the files and delete duplicates during this process?

Thank you for your time! I finally feel like I'm on the right track!!!

[welshblood]

I’m only an amateur, but I’ll try my best!
You need to find just the Music folders/ files.

Open each location (i.e. Drives C, D etc.). Look at each music folder & see if it has Artist / Album / Track details. If it has, click on a title & try to play it. If it plays, then this will be your music that you have ripped from C.D.s or downloaded to your computer.
Select all the items in the folder that you have verified as being Music, cut & then paste into the Music folder on the drive you want to save them to.
If you get a message telling you that a file with the same name already exists, it will ask you if you want to replace with the new one, or keep the original & merge. Choose the second option. Yes, you will end up with several copies of the same files, but this will ensure you don’t lose any.
When you have moved the music files, (leave any that are not actual music), open ITunes. If you moved them to the location you had set as the default in ITunes (see my previous post) then they should be loaded to your ITunes Library. Be patient, as if you have a lot of music, it may take some time!
To sort out the files which are duplicated, proceed as follows;
In ITunes, go to File & click Show Duplicates. You will now see any duplicated tracks that you have in your Library. There may be several copies of the same track, BUT they might be on different albums! Verify that the tracks are same song / artist / album continue as follows;
To ensure you’re deleting tracks from the same album & location, keep the first duplicated item & delete the remaining duplicates. Make your selections carefully. To delete the ones you don’t want, highlight the first & then hold down the Ctrl button while you select the others. When you have highlighted several (or all) of the duplicated tracks, go to Edit & select delete. When you get a message asking if you want to Move to Recycle bin, choose Yes.
Time-consuming, but the only way I know how.
After doing all this, you will have a lot of empty space on your hard drive, so you will need to de-fragment it.
If you have all of your music on C.D.s you may prefer to delete all your music & re-load them into iTunes instead!
Good luck.
STEVE

[brassring]

Hi Steve,
Thank you for your clear, easy-to-follow instructions! I'm on my way to getting my iTunes library in shape! I've moved most of the libraries and understand how to delete duplicates.

Unfortunately, I've still got some challenges, if you're game:
Some iTunes files are "XML documents that open the internet and appear as text. Can I delete those files?

When I click on the desktop iTunes icon, I am taken to iTunes on the external drive. (Hooray!) However, it says that it cannot locate some of the songs on the list.

When I open the file of the same name on the external drive by using Explorer, I see more folders instead of an alphabetical list, but if I open the folder to find a "missing" song, it will go into iTunes temporarily and will play. Any ideas how to move the missing songs into iTunes permanently?

Again, thanks so much for your clarity and your patience!!!
Sally