You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

User profile for user: DebCG
DebCG Author
User level: Level 1
9 points

Music on my External HD not found by macOS Big Sur

Hi. I moved my music folders from my hard drive to an external hard drive years ago (it was confusing but I received great help from turingtest2). At the time I had macOS El Capitan and the setup changed over the years as I upgraded finally to macOS Mojave. I now have a new iMac running Big Sur. I went to Music Preferences>Files and changed the path to my EHD "iTunes" folder hoping it would work, but no luck. (attached screenshot of music pathway on my EHD that system wouldn't recognize). I then made a new folder on the EHD called "Music" with an enclosed folder named "Media" and I copied all my Artist music files to that location. Thinking it might help, I also copied my "iTunes Library.itl" file there. I went back to Preferences>Files and changed to point to the new location. Still no luck. The only music files Apple will load are the ones I purchased from Apple over the years. The final thing I haven't yet tried is going to the Music toolbar>File>Library>Organize Library>Consolidate... &/or Reorganize.... The reason I didn't try that is that it stated it would put copies of all files in the Media folder and as far as I can tell the files are already in the Media folder and would be duplicated. I'm really at a loss about what to do next and now I'm sitting with all my music files in two different locations on my EHD taking up twice as much space. I've also attached a screenshot of the 2nd location pathway of "Music" on my EHD. I would really appreciate any help.

iMac 27″, macOS 11.5

Posted on Aug 31, 2021 8:16 PM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply
User profile for user: turingtest2
turingtest2
User level: Level 10
274,264 points

Posted on Sep 1, 2021 10:19 AM

Hi.


See Move your iTunes library to a new computer - Apple Community for general advice on moving your library from one system to another. Starting from a working iTunes library that is self contained on an external drive the main thing you need to do is use the option-start-Music mechanism to open and convert the iTunes Library.itl file into a Music Library.musiclibrary database. It should be possible to safely discard the artist folders that you already copied manually. Long term it might be best if you create the new library as <External>/Music when asked for a location to save it, and at some point, if you know that you're not going to need to use the library with iTunes any more, you could reset the media folder to <External>/Music/Media, consolidate the content to the new folder, then delete the originals in the old ../iTunes/iTunes Music/Music folder. Similar steps can be used to create a new TV library from the video content in the .itl file.


tt2

View in context

Similar questions

6 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply
User profile for user: turingtest2
turingtest2
User level: Level 10
274,264 points

Sep 1, 2021 10:19 AM in response to DebCG

Hi.


See Move your iTunes library to a new computer - Apple Community for general advice on moving your library from one system to another. Starting from a working iTunes library that is self contained on an external drive the main thing you need to do is use the option-start-Music mechanism to open and convert the iTunes Library.itl file into a Music Library.musiclibrary database. It should be possible to safely discard the artist folders that you already copied manually. Long term it might be best if you create the new library as <External>/Music when asked for a location to save it, and at some point, if you know that you're not going to need to use the library with iTunes any more, you could reset the media folder to <External>/Music/Media, consolidate the content to the new folder, then delete the originals in the old ../iTunes/iTunes Music/Music folder. Similar steps can be used to create a new TV library from the video content in the .itl file.


tt2

Reply
User profile for user: DebCG
DebCG Author
User level: Level 1
9 points

Sep 1, 2021 9:38 AM in response to worldisround

Thank you for your response. I probably didn't explain my problem well enough. I am able to see and access my EHD both on the desktop and in Finder. The problem I'm having is getting the Music app to locate my music files on my EHD, even after I pointed out the pathway for it to find the files in Music>Preference>Files. All of my Artist's music files are located on the EHD with the following path: Music>Media>(Artist files) but they do not show up when I open the App itself. I was hoping turingtest2 might notice my problem and give some advice since he's helped me a lot over the years. I don't know how to contact him, or someone else at that knowledge level, directly. Again, though, I certainly appreciate that you tried to help me.

Reply
User profile for user: Thunderclutch
Thunderclutch
User level: Level 1
75 points

Oct 3, 2021 4:44 AM in response to DebCG

In plain English:


If your iTunes music library is on an external HDD/SDD or non-standard location, then


1) Close Music app if it is open

2) Hold down Option Key and Click Music App

3) Click "Choose Library"

4) Navigate to and select your iTunes Library.itl file.

5) Choose the new name and location for your library file e.g. "My Music Library" on your external drive

6) The file My Music Library.musiclibrary will be created and the Music App will open

7) After a few minutes your new library will be built and artwork assigned etc.

8) Note that you music files and folders will not be moved.


Hope that helps.


Reply

Music on my External HD not found by macOS Big Sur

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.
Learn more Sign up