Ext HD and internal iTunes Libraries mirroring each other?

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My itunes library was getting too big between all the music I write and record and my very broad taste in music in general, so I decided to move it to an external HD. My tech said to just drag the itunes folder into my ext HD. On the way there I couldn't hold it for long enough and it landed on my desktop. I then brought it the rest of the way, but instead of going in the ext HD it copied there. I then moved the original folder back to where it was in the music folder in my macbook. Now it seems I have 2 itunes, one in the external HD and one in the macbook. I can open either independently, but oddly if I add anything to one, it shows up in the other, and if I delete anything from one, it is gone from the other. The whole point was to move it off of my macbook to create some space, and so I could add a lot more tracks. Not sure what to do. As an aside, it seems having the folder on the desktop made it so my CCC backup decided the 100 gb of music in two places on the macbook both needed backing up which bit off a lot of room on my backup HD. I can fix that later. I do intend to create a second backup using CCC for itunes on the external HD once I sort all this out.
 

Slydude

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@Macintaj Launch iTunes and open Preferences. Check the Advanced tab and see where iTunnes is set to store the files. If you want the library stored on the external drive make sure that is where iTunes is set to look for the music. There is also a checkbox that says something like "copy files to the media folder when adding to the library. If that box is checked iTunens is goinng to leave a copy of any new files to their original locations and a copy in the media folder.

If iTunes has the media folder designated where you want it and everything appears to9 be there it is safe to delete the extra copy.

I'm not dead certain but I think that copy setting is causing the duplication, BTW when you add new files how are you usually adding them?
 
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Wow how silly can you be! I somehow got confused and was looking at the same library twice and thinking I was looking at 2 separate libraries. Too many clones form CCC! I had 4 libraries total. I figured it out and all is good. Thanks for your help!~
 

Slydude

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Congrats on figuring that one out. I was having trouble figuring out how the two libraries would be in sync. The idea I posted earlier usually results in a situation where the two libraries get farther and farther out of sync.

There are many things I like about iTunes but it's easy for things to get out of hand quickly.
 

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