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Moved music library not current on internal drive but fine on external drive.

I moved the music library from my old Catalina iMac to a new Ventura MacBookPro.


When I launch the Music app with the music.library and all the files on an external drive - it opens in the most recent and up to date state. Everything is cool as expected :)


However when I copy the same files and music.library to my internal drive the music.app opens in the state it was back in 2021 - with no files or playlists added since then appearing.

Not cool :(


Works perfectly on an external drive

  • Copy the correct Music iTunes folders and the music.library file to an external drive.
  • Open Music app while holding Option key and select the music library file that is still on the external drive.
  • Music app opens and contains all the music and playlists in the correct and up to date state.


Not good when copied to internal drive

  • Copy everything on the external drive over to the internal drive.
  • Launch the Music app while holding the Option key.
  • Select the exact same music.library file that was previously on the external drive.
  • When the app launches the music library is in an old state with nothing I have added since 2021 appearing.


In the screenshots you can see the same file in two different places:

INTERNAL DRIVE


EXTERNAL DRIVE


What to do?



Posted on Sep 20, 2023 3:49 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Sep 21, 2023 4:00 PM

The "Library" is a database of information (metadata) and links to the media files. Moving the Library won't update the references to the files.

I can't explain the particular date it seems to be current for, but it may be the references it for files added prior to that resolve correctly.

I don't know if there is a way to "rebuild" the library.

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1 reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Sep 21, 2023 4:00 PM in response to nueve_leon

The "Library" is a database of information (metadata) and links to the media files. Moving the Library won't update the references to the files.

I can't explain the particular date it seems to be current for, but it may be the references it for files added prior to that resolve correctly.

I don't know if there is a way to "rebuild" the library.

Moved music library not current on internal drive but fine on external drive.

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