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itunes created 3 COPIES of every song in my library
- Thread starter dan7592
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If you want help with this, it would be useful if you posted more about the circumstances and actions you were taking that lead to this. Not much to go on from what you posted......
Sure. I deleted all of my songs off of itunes without deleting the files themselves. Then I changed the target folder for itunes to the one on my external harddrive. I then dragged the itunes folder from the external harddrive to my itunes window. Now there are 3 of each song. I don't think I deleted the original folder that is on my internal harddrive. Could that be the problem?
So it sounds like what you were trying to accomplish was to move your library to an external HD, and something went wrong with the process. Did you first move your iTunes folder to your external HD before doing the other things you listed? I'm inferring that from when you said: "I then dragged the itunes folder from the external harddrive to my itunes window. "
If that is the case, then you should have an entire copy of your un-altered iTunes library on your external? If that is the case, then I would restore things back to the original state, and start over, as there are simpler ways to move an iTunes library. To restore things back to normal, erase the original iTunes folder (which now as a database that is blank, because you removed all the songs), and replace it with the back-up on your external. Launch iTunes and confirm everything is back to normal. Then follow these instruction to move the library.
Happy to help troubleshoot if that was not the issue, or if you need more help.
Good luck!
So it sounds like what you were trying to accomplish was to move your library to an external HD, and something went wrong with the process. Did you first move your iTunes folder to your external HD before doing the other things you listed? I'm inferring that from when you said: "I then dragged the itunes folder from the external harddrive to my itunes window. "
If that is the case, then you should have an entire copy of your un-altered iTunes library on your external? If so, then I would restore things back to the original state, and start over, as there are simpler ways to move an iTunes library. First, make sure that all your music files are indeed backed up and on your external. To restore things back to normal, erase the original iTunes folder from your internal HD (which now has a database that is blank, because you removed all the songs), and replace it with the back-up on your external. Launch iTunes and confirm everything is back to normal. Then follow these instruction to move the library.
If that doesn't seem like the right solution, and you want to troubleshoot a little more, then right-click on each of the three versions of one of the songs, and post back here what it says for location, type, file size, etc. That will help us understand what we are dealing with and how to correct it.
Happy to help troubleshoot if that was not the issue, or if you need more help.
Good luck!