How to Solve Duplicate File Problem on iTunes


I find that I have three or four copies show up in my itunes folder for just about every album I have. Itransferred all my CDs to itunes (Apple Lossless format) a couple of years ago. The only exceptions are recent files I added (new CDs). Is there a way to remove these duplicate references? I'm not sure why they're showing up. I have had one or two harddrive fails, and I created a backup directory for music at one point, which have have had something to do with it - but it should be a backup, not a duplicate.

Any help would be apprecaited in knowing how to remove these dupes, and on keeping proper backup going forwrd.

Am using a PC, iTunes, all Apple Lossless files. Am also open to changing to another interface as long as it's convenient. I do like the itunes remote access via iphone though..
128x128outlier

Showing 2 responses by waltersalas


I am having the same issue. When I click on "display duplicates," it shows both the original and duplicate file--the duplicates are directly after the original. Is there a way to get it to delete all the duplicates without deleting the original as well? I am brand new to iTunes, but I am not finding it to be very intuitive so far.

Outlier,

I may have found a way out of this mess. I used Mackeeper (which I downloaded) to scan my external hard drive for duplicates, and then simply removed the duplicates there. Then I wiped out everything from iTunes and started over from scratch. Finally, I pointed iTunes to the external hard drive through Preferences, and when the playlist repopulated, it showed only one file per song, as it should. So far, so good...

I hope you get it worked out soon.