Hi Alan,
Before I start, a disclaimer - I am still running El Capitan (OSX 10.11) so some things may have changed in High Sierra - up to you to see if my comments remain valid ;o) In the past I have had my iTunes library on a separate disk without problems. My current setup also has it on a separate drive to the OS - but it is on the same drive as my user folder and still in my user folder's Music folder. In your case, I am assuming that you have only moved your iTunes library to the external drive - not your entire user folder. In my El Capitan setup, the Music folder contains an iTunes folder which contains various iTunes created files/folders including the iTunes media folder and Album Artwork folder. As you have already noted the actual Music folder is managed by the system and is not owned by the user. The next level down iTunes folder is owned by you (the user) and so this is the level that I would be "customising" My approach would be: Do not try and move, duplicate or alias the "Music" folder Have the "iTunes" folder on the external drive Make sure that iTunes is using this external folder (check iTunes preferences) Create an alias of this external "iTunes" folder and move the alias to your Home/Music folder Check whether your Home/Music folder contains an automatically created "iTunes" folder - if so check that you have not inadvertently got any media content in there and then delete it. Rename the alias of the external "iTunes" folder from "iTunes alias" to "iTunes" Double check that iTunes is still using the external folder (it should be but check iTunes preferences and “reselect” it if it has got confused!) Now iTunes should be successfully using the iTunes folder on the external drive and browsing in Finder will take you from your Home/Music folder to the "iTunes" (alias) folder to all your content. Double check everything is working as expected (add some new media and confirm it all goes where it should. HTH Cheers Neil -- Neil R. Houghton Albany, Western Australia Tel: +61 8 9841 6063 Email: [email protected] -----Original Message----- From: <[email protected]> on behalf of Alan Smith <[email protected]> Reply-To: WAMUG <[email protected]> Date: Wednesday, 15 May 2019 at 10:11 To: WAMUG <[email protected]> Subject: Trouble with Music Alias I moved my entire iTunes library to an external drive, from the ~/Music level. It works but - - -. I want to use finder at the Home/Music folder to examine the content of the lower level music folders on the external drive. I created an alias of Music at the top of the external tree and copied it to the original Home folder. But the new alias points to the old internal Music folder! >From ‘Get Info’ of the alias I can select a new original and change this to the external drive. Finder is happy with this and I can access the external files from this level downwards. I now have the original Home/Music folder which I cannot modify, similar to other standard Apple folders such and Movies and Pictures. I assume macOS needs this locked reference for its own navigation. But for my direct Finder access I need to keep the alias which cannot be named ‘Music’. Or I need to find another way. What can I do and how would I do it? Three possibilities come to mind. 1. Replace the Music folder in the Home directory with its alias. 2. Hide the Home/Music folder and continue using the alias. 3. Use a symbolic link rather than an alias. I have no experience with any of these for implementation or impact on normal macOS. Comments and help please! Computer is a late 2014 Mac mini with 256GB SSD and os High Sierra. I usually access it using Share Screen from a 27 inch iMac. Regards Alan -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml> Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> Settings & Unsubscribe - <http://lists.wamug.org.au/listinfo/wamug.org.au-wamug>
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