Hi all,
I recently noticed that my iTunes library was spread over two folders - some files were in User/Music/Itunes Media/Music and others were in User/Music/Itunes/Itunes Music. I'm not sure how/when this happened, but whatever, I decide I'll fix it.
The best way I think I can find is to 'consolidate library' which should move all my 'itunes/itunes music' files into the 'itunes/itunes media/music' directory whilst leaving a copy of my 'itunes/itunes music' intact. I do this and at first glance all appears fine. However, looking at the size of my 'itunes media/music' directory shows that it is now substantially larger than the sum of the two original directories. Odd, so I start looking through it.
Turns out that some (not all) of the files were already in both original directories (god knows why). So the consolidation has actually resulted in thousands of duplicated files inside the 'itunes media/music' directory. EG: So that there is a Led Zeppelin folder with files called 'Stairway to Heaven' and Stairway to Heaven 1' etc.
I can't be bothered to go through and delete all these bloody duplicates manually and then also manually tell iTunes where the path to the file actually is (some files iTunes is pointing to the original file without the '1' and some it is pointing to the file with the '1' - so I can't just delete all the files with or without a '1' without having to re-path a LOT of tracks) - so I do a restore from Time Machine to the original arrangement with the library spread across the folders. Phew.
So now, I still want to consolidate my library - but without that happening! Is there anyway I can do this without a lot of fiddly manual labour?
Eternally grateful for any help!
Bump just in case someone knows something.
I recently noticed that my iTunes library was spread over two folders - some files were in User/Music/Itunes Media/Music and others were in User/Music/Itunes/Itunes Music. I'm not sure how/when this happened, but whatever, I decide I'll fix it.
The best way I think I can find is to 'consolidate library' which should move all my 'itunes/itunes music' files into the 'itunes/itunes media/music' directory whilst leaving a copy of my 'itunes/itunes music' intact. I do this and at first glance all appears fine. However, looking at the size of my 'itunes media/music' directory shows that it is now substantially larger than the sum of the two original directories. Odd, so I start looking through it.
Turns out that some (not all) of the files were already in both original directories (god knows why). So the consolidation has actually resulted in thousands of duplicated files inside the 'itunes media/music' directory. EG: So that there is a Led Zeppelin folder with files called 'Stairway to Heaven' and Stairway to Heaven 1' etc.
I can't be bothered to go through and delete all these bloody duplicates manually and then also manually tell iTunes where the path to the file actually is (some files iTunes is pointing to the original file without the '1' and some it is pointing to the file with the '1' - so I can't just delete all the files with or without a '1' without having to re-path a LOT of tracks) - so I do a restore from Time Machine to the original arrangement with the library spread across the folders. Phew.
So now, I still want to consolidate my library - but without that happening! Is there anyway I can do this without a lot of fiddly manual labour?
Eternally grateful for any help!