Can't access itunes

Principal

OK so I've installed and loaded a new hard drive (10,000 rpm) with Leopard, and set up itunes to find the music and stuff on the old drive (using the pref's advanced window) but itunes still shows no music in its window. I must be missing something but I'm not knowing what!
Any help would be welcomed greatly.

mguertin

If you didn't keep a copy of your old iTunes library then you'll have to add the material again (drop it into iTunes, it will take a while to reprocess/sort the songs). If you did keep a copy of your old user account copy over the iTunes library from your old ~/Music/ folder into your new one.

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i4detail

Did you migrate your identity over to Leopard, or did you create a new user? If you are using a new identity, you might not be able to access the old library, because you are no longer the you you once were, and don't have permission to access the files.

That's my first guess, but other supporting data is needed.

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Trent (trent) Ernst
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Principal

Thanks folks, I'll try to clarify. I've just added the faster drive to my stock Mac Pro, which has all the data and users on the stock (320 gig) drive. So I load Leopard and create a new user on the new drive (we'll call "Boot Disk") and want to use this as my boot drive. I want to keep this drive as clean as possible (after all its only 150 gig) and access all my other stuff from the original drive... basically its like moving all your itunes stuff to an external I guess. Anyway I've changed the file path on the new Boot drive, to go to the old drive location to access all the "tunes", but when I start iTunes, nothing shows up in the window.

chas_m

I agree with the others -- you misplaced, threw away, corrupted or moved the supporting files that tell iTunes what to do/where to look.

Just reimport the music files and reorganise.

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i4detail

Actually, I'm still of the opinion that he can't get at the library because it's under his old identity, and his new user doesn't have the permissions to access it.

Basically, anything in your user folder can't be accessed by anyone else, save for the public folder. While you are still you as a person, to the computer, you are a new user, and can't access the old user's files.

The reason why is this line:
If you can boot up as your old user, you may want to try to change where your iTunes library is stored, from HD/User/You/Music/iTunes to something that isn't in your user directory, say HD/iTunes.

Try this: navigate to your old iTunes folder in finder. Right click on it and choose get info. Check Sharing and Permissions to see who can access it. If there is limited access, you, as admin, should be able to click the lock icon at the bottom, then change access for everyone from "No Access" to "Read and Write". Or even just "read only" if all you are going to do is copy the files somewhere else.

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Trent (trent) Ernst
The Macanuck Blog: Apple news from a Canadian viewpoint
Eye For Detail Photography: Unique Wedding and Portrait Photography for unique people

Principal

Thanks for trying to help guys. I've given permission to all to read and write but still no luck!
Chas_M - When I reboot into my original disk I can use itunes without a hitch.
There must be a difference between moving your itunes library to another disk and changing the look-up path, and what I'm trying to do... although I don't know why... I think I'll call Apple for some hints

i4detail

What happens if you go into the old account, and change your library location to someplace user agnostic. Rather than dragging and dropping from the finder, change the location of the library from the Preferences panel, using consolidate library or keep music together or whatever it's called).

Once it is moved out of the user folder, go back into your new account. Then, holding down the option key, start iTunes from your new account. It will tell you to pick your library. Navigate to where you've got your iTunes folder and choose the old iTunes library.

If that didn't make sense, ask me to elucidate further.

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Trent (trent) Ernst
The Macanuck Blog: Apple news from a Canadian viewpoint
Eye For Detail Photography: Unique Wedding and Portrait Photography for unique people

mguertin

Principal: Check what I posted again. You need to copy the file called "iTunes Library" (that holds all the MP3 tag information, etc) from your old Music/iTunes folder to your new one.

We are crossing terms here ... what you changed is your "iTunes Music folder location" in the advanced preferences. What you need to do is to copy your "iTunes Library" file that is still in your old user's Music/iTunes folder into your current user's Music/iTunes folder. Then quit iTunes and start it again and you should have all your music files listed in your iTunes library again.

Hope this clears it up for you.

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Principal

Thanks again everyone. I spent some time (2hrs) on the phone with an Apple tech. and we got it working.
I couldn't remember how we did it (she talked me through it) so I asked her to email me the procedure.
Here's what it looks like.Hello from Apple!

Tom at Apple Service & Support thought that you might find this article useful. We hope that it helps resolve your technical issue.

Link: iTunes for Mac: Moving your iTunes Music folder


iTunes for Mac: Moving your iTunes Music folder
Learn how to move your iTunes Music folder to a different location on your Mac. To move the iTunes Music folder on a Windows PC, see this article.

If your hard drive is nearly full after loading all your music into iTunes, or if you just want to move all those music files to another hard drive on your system, here's a way to make the move while retaining all your playlists, ratings, and play history.

First make sure that the "Keep iTunes Music folder organized" option is checked in iTunes Preferences:

From the File menu, choose Preferences.
In the resulting dialog, click the Advanced tab and then click the General tab.
Select the "Keep iTunes Music folder organized" checkbox.
Click OK.


Once you've done that, follow the next set of steps to change your iTunes Music library location to the new drive and then consolidate your library to the new location. This not only copies your audio files over, it also retains your ratings and playlists. Note: If you move your music library to an external hard drive, you will need to have that drive connected to access your files. No matter what, it's always a good idea to have a backup of the media you have in iTunes.

Open iTunes.
From the File menu, choose Preferences.
Click the Advanced button in the Preferences window and then click the General tab.
Click the Change button in the iTunes Music folder location pane.
In the Change Music Folder Location window that appears, navigate to the location where you would like your new Music folder to be created. Note: By default, your iTunes Music folder is a folder named "iTunes Music" in ~/Music/iTunes/ where the tilde "~" represents your home directory.
Click the New Folder button in the Change Music Folder Location window.
In the New Folder window that appears, enter the name of the new iTunes Music folder.
Click Create.
Click Choose in the Change Music Folder Location window.
Click OK in the Advanced window.
From the Advanced menu, choose Consolidate Library. A message appears that says: "Consolidating your library will copy all of your music into the iTunes Music folder. This cannot be undone."
Click Consolidate. Important: This action copies all of your music files to the new location. There must be enough hard disk space available to copy all of your music files.
After the folder has been copied, locate your original iTunes Music folder, and drag it to the Trash or Recycle Bin. Note: Don't remove the iTunes library files that may be in the same location as the iTunes Music folder. For more information about the iTunes library files, see this article.
Empty the Trash or Recycle Bin.
Note: If you move your library to an external drive, you'll need to power up and connect the drive before starting iTunes. If you don't, iTunes will prompt you to either locate the library or to create a new library (which will result in an empty library).