Missing music on a hard drive.

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Level 1

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Missing music on a hard drive.

I have an iMac. I have some music stored in the Apple iTunes Library, but all of my CD's are stored on two external hard drives, each with the same CD's. When I get a new CD, it is downloaded into my Music Library. I then take the new CD, open up my hard drive #1, look for the artist, and then drag the new CD over to a new folder under the artist. I do the same thing with external hard drive #2. Lately, when I import a new CD to the hard drives, on HD #1, all of the info is imported except the actual music itself. All of the info, including the music, is perfectly imported into HD#2. What do I need to do to correct the issue with HD #1? Thank you

iMac 24″, macOS 26.1

Posted on Dec 15, 2025 1:42 PM

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Answer 1

turingtest2

Level 10

278,097 points

Dec 15, 2025 1:55 PM in response to Sfoklnd

I don't know, but your workflow sounds confused. Ideally you would not move any files manually once they have been added to your Apple Music library, whether these are CD rips or digital downloads. Apple Music will normally arrange files by artist and then album. You can copy what has been downloaded to a second location as a backup, or better yet arrange for some automated system such as Time Machine to routinely backup all new additions and changes automatically.

Check HD #1 for errors using Disk Utility.

tt2

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