How Do I Point iTunes to use my backup ext drive?

The library file has pointers to each song that includes the exact path to it.

It finds the song Cafe 1930 from Al Di Meola plays Piazzolla on my external drive named Music 1 by following this pointer to the song in Music 1/Al Di Meola/Di Meola plays Piazzolla/Cafe 1930

key>Location file://localhost/Volumes/Music%201/Al%20Di%20Meola/Di%20Meola%20Plays%20Piazzolla/02%20Cafe%201930.m4a

....so if any of that info changes iTunes can't find it.

If you change the name of the backup drive to the exact name of the original drive and the folder structure is the same it may be able to find them. I have never tried it so can't say for sure.

You can always delete the original library and just drag and drop the backup drive into iTunes and it will rebuild it, but you will lose play lists and ratings and other stuff that isn't tagged to the songs.

Rel, I don't think that will work.

Choosing the library file on the backup as the new library will not let iTunes find the music. The library file that is backed up is exactly like the one it is replacing and therefore still pointing to the old drive that crashed. It will look for the music files on the crashed disc and won't know they are on the backup disc.

This is also incorrect.

What this does is point iTunes to the location of the "iTunes Music" folder. This folder is where the actual music files reside.

The music files may or may not be in that folder. It only tells iTunes where you want to put any new files that are imported or ripped. You can have music files scattered about on any attached drive and iTunes can find them as long as they have not been moved since first loaded into the current library

Your concept of redirecting iTunes and aliases is also incorrect. A given library has pointers that point to specific locations like drive/artist folder/album folder/song file so unless the song you are looking for is in that exact folder iTunes can't find it. The only way to "redirect" is to use the function where iTunes allows you to search for a lost song but as the original poster said this is very tedious for a big library. I do think once it finds one song on an album it will know where they all are for that album but still tedious.

Other than that I think you pretty much nailed it :>)

Yes, I do have multiple libraries and it works quite well. However, I believe you are still a bit confused about how iTunes works. Think about it for a second and let me know if my logic is incorrect......

The reason he can't use his old library is that it is pointing to a crashed drive that is no longer accessible.

The old library expects to find the files on the crashed disc and when it can't it displays a !

The library file on his backup disc is not a different library that points to a different disc; it is a backup copy of the one he can't use i.e. it is exactly the same.

The backup library expects to find the files on the same crashed disc as the original.

If the original won't work there is no way an exact copy of it will work.

For it to work as you described iTunes would have to somehow change all of its pointers as it was being copied to the backup disc. That doesn't happen.

I agree that an update would be nice.

Take care

Rel, I don't mind being flogged, actually enjoy it.

I'm trying to wrap my head around this. Please clarify if it's not too much trouble.

What were the names of the drives connected including the internal and 2 external?

Where did you originally store the files from the one disc you ripped? In other words what drive/folder was designated as the "iTunes Music Folder Location" in the advanced-importing preferences when you ripped it.

When you say you "copied the library" what did you copy? Just the iTunes library file?

Thanks, I find this fascinating (how sad is that) so would really like to figure out what is happening.

Thanks for the detailed response, but if I understand what you did the reason iTunes found the songs is not the reason you describe.

I think we agree on this but just to be clear; iTunes stores all new songs in the "music folder" that is established in preferences-advanced-general. By new music I mean music that is ripped by iTunes at the time that folder is in use or a song already ripped and added by dragging and dropping or importing when you have this checked "Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library." If you don't have it checked it will point to to the song location but not copy it into the music folder.

Since you have it checked your songs went into this music folder.

You said "Launching iTunes with the option key depressed allowed me to create a new "iTunes LIBRARY" on Drive A."

Doing so puts the library files on Drive A but does not put the music folder on Drive A unless you go into preferences and change the location to a folder on Drive A. I did not see where you did this.

It does not automatically create a new music folder when you create a new library. The music folder never changes unless you change it in preferences, and if you do it changes it for every library on your computer. That goes for all preferences. They do not apply to just the library in use at the time you change them because there is only one set of preferences and they apply to any library launched by that copy of iTunes.

If I go to preferences in my main library my music folder is currently MusicFour/aug2/

If I launch iTunes with the option key down and create a new library on the drive MusicOne and look at preferences the itunes music folder is still Music4/Aug2. Any new song will be stored in MusicFour/Aug2 and the data stored in the library points to that song on MusicFour/Aug2. Therefore I can move the library files wherever I want because if I launch that library from any location it still points to the song on MusicFour/Aug2

It sounds like this is what you did. To find out do a "get info" on a song in your new library copy on drive B. I bet the song isn't actually stored on Drive B and that is why you can move the library around without losing track of the songs.

BTW your warning to always leave the copy box checked is fine if you have a small library but will not work if your library is too big to hold on a single drive.

Your concept of "relative names" is also off base.

The reason I did NOT run into the problems you predicted is that although the absolute names of the files on Drive B were different (they were, after all, on Drive B), the relative names were not: everything other than "Drive B" was identical, so iTunes didn't really care.

Computers aren't clever enough to go out and find files unless you tell them the exact path. If you move the file from A to B and the pointer says it is in A there is no way it will find it in B.

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There's no way in the world to follow what you wrote, but here's the deal.

I tried it again and it does exactly what I said. I tried it your way and it does not find the song.

Preferences I changed in one library were latched and came up that way in any other library I launched or created.

Creating a new library did not create a new music folder, it stayed the same as what was last set in preferences.

I created a new library with music folder on the same drive
I loaded one song into that library in that music folder
I copied the whole thing to another drive
I deleted the first one
I launched itunes holding the option key and selected the second library
It could not find the song

Why? becuase it was looking on the drive where I deleted it. If I look at the .xml file I see it is pointing at the file I deleted.

The only reason it found your file (I say again) is because you never changed the location on the music folder.

Your description of how iTunes handles music folders on 7-31 is completely wrong as well as just about everything else you have stated,

That is as simple as I can put it. If you still hold on to your other ideas then I can't help you. I don't know what else to tell you other than you are either wrong or you are just screwing with me.