Itunes Does Not Recognize Folder Location for Files

I'm using Windows 7 and Itunes 10.

My downloaded moves etc. were overloading my C: drive so I followed the procedures to move the files onto my external drive. Everything went well and I've been accessing everything just fine.

I wanted to clean up my C: drive as the original files were still there. Before deleting the itunes media folder I decided to simply change the name to be sure Itunes wasn't still trying to access it for who knows what.

The next time I started Itunes it showed NONE of the music, moves, TV shows, etc. that were on my external drive. Itunes had created a NEW Itunes Media folder on my C: drive, which had nothing in it.

I changed the files location in Advanced Preferences (which had been reset to the C: drive address) to point to the external drive but, although it shows the correct file address, it still doesn't show any of the files from that address.

I renamed the original Itunes folder (on the C: drive) and in doing so merged the old Itunes files with the new files that Itunes had created.

I then deleted the Itunes folder completly off my C: drive. When I started up Itunes it created a new set of folders and was pointing to them again!

How can I convince Itunes to access the files that are on my external drive?