iTunes on Dell wont load permanently

I'm sorry if my reply wasn't clear. Personally, I thought it was as clear as a glass of drinkable water.

But let's move on.

It has always (repeat - always) been the case that every time iTunes is asked to play a song, or copy that song to an iPod, iPhone or iPad, it (iTunes) needs access to the file for that piece of music. The location for that file will be wherever it was when you added the song to your library. The only thing I can think of is that in the past you had the option to Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library selected (checked). This would mean that whenever you add a song to your iTunes Library that is located on an external drive, iTunes will make a copy of that file and put it in the Media folder on your computer. That way, the song would play even when the external drive not disconnected. Perhaps now, that option is no longer selected.

Check for yourself by looking in Edit/Preferences/Advanced>Copy files to iTunes Media

folder when adding to library. However, note that if this is what was happening, then you were creating a second copy of each file; one on the external drive and one in the iTunes Media folder. This is something you said you wish to avoid, possibly because the drive in the computer isn't large enough.

Regardless of what was happening in the past, perhaps you should now decide how you wish to proceed. One option is simply to ensure that the external drive is on, has the same drive letter as before and is ready to read whenever you start iTunes. Alternatively, turn on the option to copy files to your media folder, which will of course, use up space on your internal drive but at least you will not have to have the external drive connected.

But as previously stated, the best advice is to have a backup of all your music as well. If some of your library is on your computer and some of it on an external drive, you have no backup. The backup (of all your music) needs to be on a physically different drive, preferably an external one. That way, if the computer is wrecked beyond rescue, you can use the backup (on the external drive) to rebuild your library on a replacement computer.

Hi patrickfromtehchapi,

Thank you for posting on Apple Support Communities.

From what you described it may seem like the files on your external drive are being directly linked to iTunes. Our suggestion would be to first move them out of the external drive and put them somewhere in your computer, then link those files to iTunes so that the link is located internally.

Take a look at this resource, it should be useful.

Import media from a computer to iTunes on PC

Regards.

patrickfromtehachapi wrote:

I usually keep about 7K in my iTunes... so now you are telling me I have to keep those 7K in a folder and the same 7K in iTunes? That makes little sense at all.

No, that's not correct or necessary* (although you need to understand a point I'll make later on).

When you add a song to your iTunes Library, what you're doing is telling iTunes where to find the file that is that piece of music (the music file). The file is not - and has never been, "in iTunes". All iTunes does is list the song; it's a database.

That was not how it used to be with iTunes.

It is.

You do not need to keep the files in two places*. Instead, you need to ensure that the drive where the file is located is switched on and available to read before you start iTunes. Not only that, but the external drive will need to have the same drive letter as it did when you added the file to your iTunes Library.

To reiterate; when you add a song file to your iTunes Library, what you're doing is telling iTunes where the source file is located, so that every time iTunes wants to play the song or copy it to an iDevice, iTunes goes to that location to find and use that file. So if the location isn't available (because it's on an external drive that is not connected, on and ready to read) then iTunes will be unable to find and use the song.

So to sort out your current issue, make sure that your external drive is on, connected to your computer with the same drive letter and ready to read. Simple.

* Keeping the source file in two places: as stated above, you do not need to keep the file on both the computer and the external drive in order to play the songs. However - the best and wisest practice is to keep and maintain a backup of all your music. iTunes doesn't do that, despite what anyone might tell you. Also, an iPod, iPhone or iPad is not a backup. iTunes cannot move music from a device back into iTunes and the only way involves third-party software (at a cost) and is somewhat complicated.

Hard drives fail. This community is littered with posts from people who had hard drives fail and they had no backup. They then struggle to re-build their library and frequently blame iTunes (Apple). The only thing to hold Apple responsible for is that they do not make it clear that you need to maintain a backup of your files. But then, which company does do so?

So - copy the files (from the external drive) onto your computer and tell iTunes to use those files instead. (Assistance can be provided if required.) If you don't have enough room on your computer, use an external drive, as you already do, but keep copies of all of the files from both locations, on a further, separate drive. The all-encompasing method is to keep a copy of the iTunes Music (or Media) folder, which contains the iTunes itl file and the music files, on a separate drive. That way, if the source drive is lost, you have a complete backup to use for recovery.

The itl file tells iTunes where stuff is located, as well as storing Play Counts, star ratings and what is in your Playlists.

In your case, you could copy (not move) the files stored in the iTunes Media folder and the files located on the external drive onto another drive and avoid the task of moving files from the external drive to your computer. There is software available (for free) that can help with that.

the fiend wrote:

That way, the song would play even when the external drive not disconnected.

That way, the song would play even if the external drive was disconnected.