Moving iTunes

Posted by: bigfella on 21 February 2010

My current iTunes library lives on a NAS, controlled by iTunes on a MacBookPro.
I have upgraded to a Mac Mini and want to run this headless instead of my Apple TV into my SuperNait, allowing me to get rid of the noisy NAS.
I want to transfer my library to the Mini, what is the best way to do this without just reimporting from an external backup. I want to retain all my playlists, play counts and ratings.
Transferring the entire iTunes folder means the Mini still uses the NAS to store media.

John

Posted on: 21 February 2010 by winkyincanada

I don' know of a way of retaining the play counts and ratings. You can import the playlists separately, though.

Import the music using the standard "Add to Library". Select the highest level "iTunes" folder that contains all the playlists, artwork and the music files. Be sure to check the box in preferences/advanced so it copies the files to the local (default) iTunes folder.

Let it "organise" the library while it is at it, if you are brave. Import the playlists separately using that function if necessary. I can't help with ratings and play counts, though. Ratings might come across with the library, but I'm pretty sure play-counts don't.

An alternative, that might be more reliable is to copy the folders and files across to the local iTunes folder using finder before importing.

I would experiment with just a few albums first, to get it right before importing and copying the whole lot.

If you have a big library, ensure that your Mini power settings don't put it to sleep half way through. Turn off TimeMachine backups whilst you do it also. The importing and copying can take hours/days depending on the size of your library.

Posted on: 21 February 2010 by goldfish

I think this article should cover everything you need:

http://www.ilounge.com/index.p...to-a-new-hard-drive/

From memory, the last time I did this, I actually went the old skool hacking route, manually editing the filepaths listed in the 'iTunes Music Library.xml' file. It worked, but took a couple of attempts to get it right - also, not all files transferred smoothly (though only a small minority were a problem).

From reading the article (well… bits of it) there's a better way of doing this that doesn't involve hacking around at text files.

Whatever you do, back up your existing 'iTunes Library' files (stored in '/Users/*username*/Music/iTunes/') before doing anything. I'd probably also backup:

/Users/*username*/Library/iTunes/
/Users/*username*/Library/Preferences/com.apple.iTunes.plist
/Users/*username*/Library/Preferences/com.apple.iTunesHelper.plist
/Users/*username*/Library/Preferences/com.apple.iTunes.eq.plist

HTH
Simon

Posted on: 22 February 2010 by bigfella

Thanks for the tips.
I decided (after looking at the play counts and realising the most popular were tracks we have on a party loop!) just to reimport all the files from an external hard drive, which I will also now use as a Time Machine backup.
Start afresh . . . . !
Apart from one small glitch getting the Mac Mini to recognise my preferred network it now runs (and sounds) great. Next stage is to get the Apple TVs in other rooms to sync with it instead of the laptop . . .

John

Posted on: 22 February 2010 by bigfella

quote:
Originally posted by bigfella:
Apart from one small glitch getting the Mac Mini to recognise my preferred network it now runs (and sounds) great.

Well, not quite so straightforward. The 'Cannot connect with any Preferred Network' window has started reappearing, even though the WAN is strong and listed in the available networks.
I have to manually connect, which is obviously not going to be possible running as a headless server.
Anybody else come across this one and found a solution?

John

Posted on: 22 February 2010 by goldfish

Possibly a channel conflict? Are there any other wifi networks near you?

Simon

Posted on: 22 February 2010 by winkyincanada

quote:
Originally posted by bigfella:
quote:
Originally posted by bigfella:
Apart from one small glitch getting the Mac Mini to recognise my preferred network it now runs (and sounds) great.

Well, not quite so straightforward. The 'Cannot connect with any Preferred Network' window has started reappearing, even though the WAN is strong and listed in the available networks.
I have to manually connect, which is obviously not going to be possible running as a headless server.
Anybody else come across this one and found a solution?

John

Happened to me once. Not sure why, restarted the Mini to cure it. It has never happened again. Sorry I couldn't be of more help.

Posted on: 23 February 2010 by bigfella

Thanks for the advice so far . . . the good news is that the problem seems to have rectified by itself, moving the Mini into the listening room nearer the wireless base station. Must have been on the edge of the range, as Apple TV in the same room also drops out at times.
Although the laptop has no issues with signal strength - do they use different cards in laptops?
All not completely well though - my iTouch and iPhone, although connected to iTunes, don't connect until you start playing a track in iTunes, despite working seemlessly with two ATVs I have.
Any takers on that one . . . ?

John

Posted on: 23 February 2010 by bigfella

quote:
Originally posted by bigfella:
Thanks for the advice so far . . . the good news is that the problem seems to have rectified by itself, moving the Mini into the listening room nearer the wireless base station. Must have been on the edge of the range, as Apple TV in the same room also drops out at times.
Although the laptop has no issues with signal strength in the same place - do they use different cards in laptops? - is it worth upgrading my base station to 802.11n (only b and g at the moment)?
All not completely well though - my iTouch and iPhone, although connected to iTunes, don't connect until you start playing a track in iTunes, and keeps losing touch with the Mini, despite working seemlessly with two ATVs I have.
Any takers on that one . . . ?

John

Posted on: 24 February 2010 by winkyincanada

quote:
Originally posted by bigfella:
All not completely well though - my iTouch and iPhone, although connected to iTunes, don't connect until you start playing a track in iTunes, despite working seemlessly with two ATVs I have.
Any takers on that one . . . ?

John

Maybe check your energy management settings? Perhaps your Mini is going into a sleep mode that the iPod or iPhone can't wake it from.

I just tested my setup, and "remote" in the iPod touch found my library and started a song no problems. iTunes was running on the Mini but on pause. It won't start iTunes from scratch, though.

Posted on: 24 February 2010 by bigfella

Thanks Winky, I have the energy Mx settings switched off, along with hard disk sleep, auto software updates (OS and iTunes).
It's strange really, almost like the wireless connection is unstable. Connecting to my ATVs - evev one right at the far end of house - using the iTouch is almost instantaneous, and the connection very rarely drops. The mini seems to drop much more readily, and only seems to kick into life when I start playing songs via screen sharing.
I have set up to log in to itunes automatically on startup, but was hoping to leave it on all the time as with the ATV.
So the settings I have altered are -

Computer sleep - never
Display sleep - never (although none attached)
Unchecked Put hard disk to sleep
Unchecked Allow power button to put comp to sleep
Screen Saver disabled
Bluetooth OFF
Software Update Manual
Itunes updates Manual

Am I missing something?

John

Posted on: 27 February 2010 by bigfella

Solution worked out.
Reading around it becomes apparent that the airport card used in Mini's is not particularly good, so a simple network cable direct to the router seems to have solved all the issues I had.
I revised my setup slightly as per the instructions on www.macminicola.net (on their blog far away mac).

Simple in the end, all is well

John