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Music on external drive

We have our music imports from CDs stored on an external drive. I want to connect this to my Mac and import further music to it.


I've tried changing the location in Preferences but it's created a new 'Music' folder in the drive with just the new import in.


I could enter the location in preferences as a higher level but don't want the process to overwrite the existing 'Music' folder (and loose 1,000s of files). I also can't seem to access the existing folder to play through the Music App.


Any thoughts appreciated!

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 10.13

Posted on Nov 5, 2022 11:11 AM

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3 replies

Nov 7, 2022 11:42 AM in response to suzan124

Greetings suzan124,


Thanks for posting in the Apple Support Communities.


It sounds like you may have multiple libraries in Music on your Mac, so let's see if that's the case. Check out the steps below to see if you're able to locate another library, and you can locate more information on multiple libraries here: Use multiple libraries in Music on Mac - Apple Support


Create or choose a library

1. In the Music app  on your Mac, choose Music > Quit Music.

2. Hold down the Option key while you reopen Music.

3. In the window that appears, do one of the following:

• Create a new library: Click Create Library.

• Choose a different library: Click Choose Library.

You can name your new library (the folder containing your Music content) whatever you like. For best results, if you create additional music libraries, don’t name the new libraries “Music” or “New Music.” Make sure each library has a unique name so you’ll know which is which.


Let us know if that helps to access the library you're looking to use and manage your songs.


Have a great day!

Nov 11, 2022 4:57 PM in response to suzan124

suzan124,


Do you know if the files added to your library without being added to the Music folder? Check out the section "Add files to your library but not to your Music folder" from the article here: Change where your music files are stored on Mac


It's recommended to check both the "Locate your Music files" and "If a song doesn’t appear in Music anymore" sections in the same article to further assist.


Should the issue remain you may need to reimport the content. Import songs from CDs into Music on Mac


Best.







Nov 11, 2022 2:33 PM in response to Brandon_J_321

Thanks for replying. I followed these instructions. I have a library that was created when I tried importing a CD last week and one now in a file called 'Previous libraries' that is older. I've deleted the newly created one and and 'chosen' the older one - but having selected that I've still got nothing via the library (despite the drive having 100s of tracks).


Wondering now if I've ever set it up ...

Music on external drive

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