iTunes can't seem to find files on disk.

[RadicalIsotope]

Hello all,

Macintosh Pro (older, but Intel based)
OS X

The system has 4 internal drives, and 2 external (via firewire) Drobos. The iTunes files live on one external Drobo. The other Drobo is for backup.

Anyway 1 internal drive had failed, (500 MB). iTunes was working even though the drive had failed. I decided it was time to swap out 3 of the 4 internal drives with new 1TB drives. This went swimingly.

Before initial shutdown I made sure to shutdown iTunes and close all apps.

Once internal drives were swapped and good-to-go, I shutdown, and reattached the drobos. Upon boot, the drobos show up on my desktop just fine.

iTunes starts up fine, and when I browse the library, the icons for the music, TV shows, and movies all seem to be there. But when I try to play a TV show (haven't tried movies or music yet). Nothing happens. I get a blank screen and the show itself never plays.

I can navigate the drobo disk, find the file structure and files within. So the files are there.

The only thing I can think of is I probably plugged the wires into different firewire ports, so maybe there's some wierd addressing difference.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks, Radical

 

[honestone]

First, what exact Mac OS are you running?

Secondly, what are "Drobos" drives? I have never heard of that brand.

Third, what happens when you switch Firewire ports for the connection?

Fourth, did one of the internal drives you replaced contain the Mac OS you are running? Or (hopefully) that was on the remaining (non-replaced) internal drive.

Fifth, what software are you using for your backups?

 

[RadicalIsotope]

1). Mac OS 10.6.8. iTunes Version 11.4
2). Drobos are hardware raid devices. I plug in up to 4 disk, and it raids them together and presents 1 disk to the OS. Drobo is the manufacturer.
3). I haven't tried switching firewire port yet. Between native and expansion ports I have 5 different ports I can use
4). I did not replace the OS drive. I only replaced the extra "data" drives.
5). I was only copying the "music folder" using finder... no software.

 

[honestone]

That is a rather "old" Mac OS, but that "should" not be the issue. However, no backup is bad. Surprised you don't back up, given all the external drive space you have. There is some excellent backup software available that is not expensive (in fact, some of them you can use in demo mode and/or free trial).

 

[RadicalIsotope]

My Mac Pro is old.. early 2000s, I will have to research what's the newest OS I can run. But in the meantime, I'll try moving the firewire connection, see if it makes a difference.

 

[honestone]

In actuality, OS 10.6.8, Snow Leopard, was one of the BEST versions of the Mac OS to ever be offered. Unfortunately, as things move forward, less and less software that can run under OS 10.6.8 remain useful and/or "compatible".

Heck, I had a 2006 Mac Pro. I really liked that machine, and it was always dependable. But, starting with a newer Mac OS (can't remember which one), I had to move on, and thus purchased a late 2012 Mac Mini (I was able to retain a lot of my peripherals (primarily the keyboard and my 19" Sony Monitor) for use with the Mini). But that 2006 Mac Pro was a darn good machine!

 

[RadicalIsotope]

I believe I have it working again. I switched what port the drobo was plugged into, and iTunes can find the files again.

Wierd.

 

[honestone]

That is strange. What happens if you plug another peripheral into that "problematic" port? Is the device recognized?