[badtz]

Greetings!

I have a daily back-up routine that backups all of my music files.

What I forgot to realize is that since I have iTunes "organize" my music for me, every time I modify the ID3 tags, the file/directory structure of the music library changes, and when my backup routine runs, it creates new backups on the backup drive.

I now have duplicate files of the same songs on my backup drive, but I don't know of a good way to find out where they all are, so I can delete them and save space. (I have a lot of music, and I would guess about 300 files changed in the process).


QUESTION:

Any one with any ideas on how to find these duplicate files so I can delete them? or maybe a way to find out what files are in my iTunes music library that does not have a direct link to a song in my iTunes library playlist?


thanks for any help

[Randman]

Click on your library, go to Edit > Show Duplicate Songs. Delete the ones you don't like.

Then go into Preferences and set iTunes not to duplicate songs but to replace them.

[badtz]

the duplicate songs are only in the folder structure, they actually don't show up as duplicates INSIDE of iTunes.......

the only reason there are duplicates in the folder structure is because of hte backup routine ...... ?

[chabig]

Delete ALL of your music files from the backup drive-it should be easy (a single folder perhaps). The next time the backup runs, everything will be made fine.

Chris

[bmedina]

Your daily backup routine needs to be able to synchronize rather than just blindly copying. Look into rsync from the command line if you want a free and well-tested solution.

[badtz]

my backup copy isn't the problem at the moment, it's that after I upgraded to Tiger, I used the backup copy to put back in place my copy on my laptop [so now I have the backup copy with all the duplicates] .... ???


also, from now on my backup routine [for that folder] will be mirrored and not just "copying" files .... I will make the change after I can find a way to get rid of the duplicate files .......

[chabig]

Under the iTunes File menu, choose "Add to library..." and select the folder containing all of your music. When iTunes finishes you'll have all of the duplicates inside the iTunes library. Then let iTunes find the duplicates for you (Edit > Show duplicate songs). You ought to be able to clean it up then from inside iTunes. Edit > Clear gives you the choice of removing songs for your library as well as moving the actual files to the trash.

Chris

[badtz]

When I choose "add to library" I'm able to add an entire folder of music without the .xml file?

Should I reset iTunes to have no playlists when I do this?

[interesting idea]

[chabig]

I would guess that you should be able to do this without deleting your playlists. But if you don't care, then it might be simpler to clear your library before adding the music folder.