Clean install of Catalina - how do I copy movies and music

[fergusor]

Hi all,

I've done a clean install of Catalina but I have 900gb of music, movies and TV shows to import into the relevant apps.

I understand I can rename the .itl file for music and it should sort that but how do I do this for the movies and TV shows? Or do I have to reimport them again into the relevant app?

Thanks,
Richard.

 

[mikzn]

First make a back up!

When I installed ( clean version / empty drive) I copied the complete iTunes folder info the Music folder.

Then I opened music "holding down the option" key while clicking the Music App and it asked to "Choose Library" then choose the iTunes Librabry

If your library is a on a separate drive then you can "Choose Library" on the separate drive (make sure you have a back up first)

Music will import the iTunes library including the playlists, playcounts etc. - it will create a new library "Music Library.musiclibrary"

 

[fergusor]

Thanks for that. I understand how to sort the music out, what about the movies and TV shows?

They were all in the .itl file originally but as movies and music has been separated I'm wondering how to deal with them as I won't have a .itl file for them.

 

[mikzn]

Sorry I can't help on the movies and TV shows - I don't download movies to my drive ( had this turned off even in Mojave/ iTunes) since I watch them on Apple TV or IPP usually via "streaming"

Podcasts did all appear in the new App even video podcasts and older Podcasts that are no longer available on the internet - Not sure how it happened since Podcasts are now stored in a "Hidden" file in the user Library - must have imported them and moved them to the new location when importing

Maybe another member with "Movies Downloaded" can chime in on how that works for transferring / re-download of movies ?

FWIW - The media is not stored in the .itl file it is just a data base to reference the locations of the media - the new data file for music in Catalina is "Music Library.musiclibrary"

 

[Super Spartan]

Hi all,

I've done a clean install of Catalina but I have 900gb of music, movies and TV shows to import into the relevant apps.

I understand I can rename the .itl file for music and it should sort that but how do I do this for the movies and TV shows? Or do I have to reimport them again into the relevant app?

Thanks,
Richard.

I use an app (it' paid though) called iMazing, makes this a breeze, just drag and drop to the relative folders.

 

[fergusor]

Hi all,

In case anyone's following this thread I've resolved my own issue.

IN the first instance I copied my complete iTunes Library (music, movies, TV shows etc) in the file structure it was in.

I took a back-up of 'Library.itl' then renamed the original to 'music library'.

Firstly I open the Music app, with the Option key pressed, and selected the location of the 'music library' file. This then opened Music with all my content, including playlists and play counts, intact.

I then did the same with the TV app, opened it with the Option key pressed. Again I selected the location of the 'music library' file and TV then opened with my content and playlists etc intact.

Whenever I add music or movies to the relevant apps it saves it all in the same location as the current content so I don't have to worry about my content being saved in different locations for the new OS.

So it was much easier than I thought

Thanks,
Richard.