Quote:
Originally Posted by Josieb1
Everything that's happened has been done by iTunes. I didn't move anything without using iTunes. I have no idea what happened, or why.
If i get iTunes back up straight and wanted to keep it on a external hard drive going forwards how do I
a) make sure that anything add to it is loaded in the hard drive
b) ensure that every time I connect the hard drive iTunes shows the library
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if the "Copy files to iTunes Media Folder...." box is checked then a copy of new stuff will go in that folder on the hard drive if the hard drive is connected and the file on the hard drive is identified in preferences. The copy on the hard drive is what iTunes will use. The letter of the hard drive has to remain constant. If you consolidate your library on "D:\josiesstuff" then the next time you connect the hard drive it must be assigned letter "D". I think HarryT described how to do that. iTunes will not treat "E:\josiesstuff" as equal to "D:josiesstuff".
It is important to have the hard drive connected before you launch iTunes if you have the moved the XML file to the hard drive. Otherwise iTunes will create a new library on the PC and ignore the hard drive. If all you did was consolidate using iTunes then you did not move the XML...but connecting the had drive first is still best.
When connecting the hard drive to another PC you will want to be sure a permanent letter is assigned to the drive on that PC so that iTunes can find it. When you launch iTunes it will create an XML file on that PC. You then go to preferences ...Advanced and designate the hard drive file say..."D:josiesstuff"...as the library. You then have to do an import so that this new version of iTunes can see what is already in the folder.
NOTE: You have to be careful when accessing the media from different PCs because changes made by one can screw up the other. Putting the XML file on the hard drive is another approach that would avoid this.