Can I move my itunes media folder to an external hard drive without having Itunes managing the media folder

Hi all....I have spent weeks tidying up my music collection. I moved it all to Itunes media folder. Since I don't like how Itunes manages this folder I manually organised it myself so that albums where together etc. I am wondering if there is a fool proof way to move my media folder to an external hard drive without letting itunes manage and consolidate files as this will reverse all the work I did in organising. Im not sure if Im posting to the right place but fingers crossed:)
Thanks in advance

Just one more thing puhlease:) This is the list of things that are in my iTunes folder. Album artwork, Automatically add to iTunes, iTunes media, Mobile apllications, podcasts, previous itunes libraries, voice memos. Then it has files itunes preferences, itunes libary extras, itunes libarry genius, itunes libraary, itunes music library......Is there stuff in there that doesnt need to be there as some are repeated in itunes media folder which contains....automatically add to itunes, books, downloads, home videos, mobile applications, music, podcasts, tones, voice memos and itunes preferences. Any thoughts on deleting some folders??? Thankyou so much for your time on this

Similar Messages

  • HT2292 After installing iTunes 11.1.5, my external hard drive holding my iTunes music cannot be acccessed

    After installing iTunes 11.1.5, my external hard drive holding my iTunes music cannot be acccessed.  Attempting to open the iTunes folder location locks up the computer and requires a cold reboot to restore.

    Hello, LoudenFam. 
    Thank you for the question.  Try the steps in the article below as they may help you resolve the issue that you are experiencing with iTunes becoming unresponsive.
    iTunes for Windows Vista, Windows 7, or Windows 8: Fix unexpected quits or launch issues
    http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1717
    Cheers,
    Jason H.

  • How do i transfer a single CD on to my back up hard drive without having to transfer the whole itunes library?

    How do I transfer a single CD recently loaded on to itunes to my hard drive without having to transfer the whole itunes library?

    Copy just those files. But that isn't ideal. You really want a differential system that efficiently updates the backup set with all new and updated files.  See Backup your iTunes for Windows library with SyncToy for a suggested strategy.
    tt2

  • ITunes Music Folder Missing on external hard drive after changing iTunes Media Folder Location from MacBook Hard Drive.  Not deleted...just missing?

    I store my iTunes media folder on my external hard drive and can no longer find it there.  It seemed to becomd lost after I re-designated the default iTunes media location.  I had downloaded some things from iTunes without my external hard drive plugged in and when they downloaded they downloaded to the default location on my Macbook Pro.  In recognizing that, I wanted to move those files from the hard drive on my MacBook Pro to the external hard drive.  When I re-selected the location as the external hard drive a copy process began.  I cancelled the copy process fearing the small number of files from my Macbook Pro would over-write all of the files on my external hard drive so I quit the copy process.  Now I do not see my "iTunes Music" folder on my external hard drive.  I fear that I have somehow lost the path but I believe the content is still on my external hard drive although I no longer see the "iTunes Music" folder on my external hard drive.  I know I didn't delete it, but it isn't there.  Is there a way to make it re-appear?  I would really appreciate any guideance anyone has.
    Thank you.
    Best,
    Matt

    When you change the location in preferences it tells iTunes to start, from this point on, storing new media files in the new location.  It then presents you with the option to move any old files in their current locations to the new location.  It doesn't move the library files which are not media files.  Read the links below to understand how iTunes works because you are the one with the computer in front of you and are in the better position to understand how it stands as regards to iTunes files.
    What are the iTunes library files? - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1660
    More on iTunes library files and what they do - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITunes#Media_management
    What are all those iTunes files? - http://www.macworld.com/article/139974/2009/04/itunes_files.html
    Where are my iTunes files located? - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1391
    Now, did you keep the whole library on the external drive, or did you keep just media?  From your description of the situation it sounds as if you kept the whole library there and when the external was not attached it returned to default location on the internal drive.  What you should have done then was plug in the external drive, hold down the option key, and guide iTunes to the library file on the external.  At this stage you could have dealt with the mislocated new files on an individual basis. 
    I guess the key question is, did your trying to move the couple of new media files to the external drive overwrite the iTunes folder there, which because you then canceled may have also just resulted in it being deleted.  I am not going to test the theory on my system.
    How big was your library on the external?  If it was 40GB do you now suddenly have 40 GB free?
    Look for any iTunes folders on the external drive.  In view options turn on "calculate all folders sizes" and see if there are any big ones.

  • ITunes Music Folder Missing on external hard drive after changing iTunes Media Folder Location from MacBook Hard Drive

    The store my iTunes media folder on my external hard drive and can no longer find it there.  It seemed to becomd lost after I re-designated the default iTunes media location.  I had downloaded some things from iTunes without my external hard drive plugged in and when they downloaded they downloaded to the default location on my Macbook Pro.  In recognizing that, I wanted to move those files from the hard drive on my MacBook Pro to the external hard drive.  When I re-selected the location as the external hard drive a copy process began.  I cancelled the copy process fearing the small number of files from my Macbook Pro would over-write all of the files on my external hard drive so I quit the copy process.  Now I do not see my "iTunes Music" folder on my external hard drive.  I fear that I have somehow lost the path but I believe the content is still on my external hard drive although I no longer see the "iTunes Music" folder on my external hard drive.  I know I didn't delete it, but it isn't there.  Is there a way to make it re-appear?  I would really appreciate any guideance anyone has.
    Thank you.
    Best,
    Matt

    Any ideas?  Anyone?

  • Help! I can't move files from my MacBook to my external hard drive!

    Hey all..
    I can't move files from my MacBook to my 40GB hard drive! Whenever i try to do that the com will reply that i can't move the files because the hard drive cannot be modified. This never happened before and how can it be solved?
    Appreciate all answers thanks..

    What filesystem is your external hard drive formatted as?
    You can check this with the program called Disk Utility.
    My guess is that it is formatted as NTFS, the default filesystem for windows XP. Mac OS X only supports read-only access to NTFS-formatted drives.
    Reformatting, and with it erasing everything on your drive, to another filesystem would be a solution if this is the case.
    Google recently released MacFUSE which should allow read-write support to ntfs-drives. Not recommended for the un*x-unexperienced, though.
    Martin

  • How can I move photos from pictures to my Iomega external hard drive?  I have copied all photos, however it won't allow me to paste them.  The paste button is grayed out.

    How can I move photos from pictures to my external hard drive? I have copied all photos, however it won't allow me to paste the photos.  The paste button is grayed out.

    Do you want to copy some pictures to the external drive, or do you want to move your whole iPhoto library? The latter will free up hard drive space on your start up disk; the procedure is explained here:
    http://support.apple.com/kb/PH2506
    Note this is not the same as a Time Machine backup.
    If on the other hand you want to copy some photos from one drive to another, you can just drag and drop them from one location to another. This is a true copy, the originals will remain intact.

  • HT5096 How can I move my Time Capsule Backup to an External Hard Drive?

    Hi
    I have run out of space on my Time Capsule so have decided to change my backup drive to an external hard drive of 4TB. I moved the Sparse Disk Image Bundle from the Time Capsule to the new drive and then changed Time Machine preferences to use the new drive as my Time Machine location. Backups work fine but I am still getting Disk Full messages as it seems that the backups are limited to the original 494Gb disk image size.
    When I double click on the sparsebundle it mounts the Time Machine Backups Disk Image revealing the Backups.backudb folder but if try to drag that to the External Hard Drive I get the error message "The volume has the wrong case sensitivity for a backup."
    Any clues how I get this sorted
    Cheers
    Steve

    See Pondini's TM FAQs, for starters.

  • How can I use 300 GB of music on my external hard drive with my itunes on ipad?

    I have 300 GB of music on my external hard drive. I use an ipod touch and want to to use an ipad to manage and make playlists and transfer to my touch. What is the best way for me to do this?? Thanks in advance.

    It doesn't appear so.  I am shopping around now and the latest review I read says that there is an interface built into the product to manage media.
    http://www.laptopmag.com/reviews/storage/seagate-goflex-satellite.aspx

  • External hard drive, laptop, having to re-add library folder every startup

    Hi,
    I have my music library on an external hard drive that is attached to my laptop. Each time I disconnect and reconnect the drive, although iTunes shows all my music I am unable to play anything. I get the message that the original file could not be found.
    I believe the hard drive was set to (F) but it could have been (E) and iTunes doesn't seem to be able to show me which folder I had added before.
    Can anyone help me with this?
    Also, I am unable to add songs to my iPhone, even when iTunes was able to play the music.
    Thanks for the help,
    Dean

    You might also find my scripts Unconsolidated and ConsolidateByMoving useful. The first can make a playlist of all unconsolidated tracks, the second can consolidate a selection of tracks by moving them instead of copying which saves you manually cleaning up the source folders.
    See also: Make a split library portable.
    tt2

  • How can I copy files from an external hard drive without creating copies on the disk?

    I recently purchased a MacBook Air as part of a requirement for schoolwork. I decided to use it to sync music to my iPod and iPhone, and it worked perfectly well, however, i keep most of my music files on an external hard drive. Recently, it started sending me messages about the hard drive being almost full. I checked on the about this Mac screen, and it said that up to 95 gigabytes on the disk drive had been taken up by music. This was not my intention, as i had previously assumed the music was kept on my external hard drive as it had been on windows. I attempted to delete the folder, but it now said that my disk drive was taken up by "other" files. I want to still use my iTunes without these files copying. How?

    Hi flyingroastchicken,
    If the songs are being stored on your Mac, then make sure that the location of where the iTunes media is being store. Take a look at the article below to verify that you have it set up the way you want. 
    iTunes for Mac: Moving your iTunes Media folder
    http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201562
    Take it easy,
    -Norm G. 

  • Is it possible to rename an external hard drive without losing links to my media?

    Hello all. I am new to Apple and FCP, so I may be going about this all wrong. I have a new Mac Pro, OS X version 10.9.5, running FCPX version 10.1.3. I have copied all of my data from a 1T external hard drive to a new 4T external hard drive, but FCPX doesn't recognize my media files unless I rename the new drive to that of the old one. The problem is I want to continue using the old one. Is there an easy way to relink my files and keep the original name of the new drive?
    Thanks.

    douglas57 wrote:
    I just spent 4 months editing a feature length documentary and I only understand about 10% of FCP. Only thing we can do is keep plugging away.
    Good luck...
    I've been using Final Cut Pro (pre-X) since v1.0 and I only ever used about 29% of the capabilities. However, most of the lesser functions slapped onto Ye Olde FCP were lame, unfinished, niche-focused or broken.

  • How can I move my media files from USB-HD to NAS without having to copy the media files to iTunes Media folder?

    I have iTunes on a Mac with the iTunes Media folder stored locally and the music on an external USB-HD. The music files are Not copied to iTunes Media folder when added to the library.
    Now I want to move my files from USB-HD to a NAS without losing any information or settings. I want to do the similar to my iPhoto library. I do not want to consolidate my files to iTunes Media folder. The articles I’ve read only discuss how to do if the files are copied to iTunes Media folder when added to the library. Any tips or trix?

    I have iTunes on a Mac with the iTunes Media folder stored locally and the music on an external USB-HD. The music files are Not copied to iTunes Media folder when added to the library.
    How are you achieving the above? What are your copy setting in preferences? If you are manually overriding the copy-to by holding down the option key while adding media then that won't apply when you import a playlist (as in importing the .xml).  When you import a playlist like that you are essentially adding the files to the library again and it will obey the  preferences setting since you can't option add them that way.
    Correct on the .itl.  Only iTunes itself can edit that file.
    I think you need to review your basic wants/needs in doing all this.  If your reason for not wanting to use the Media Folder settiing is because you do not want it to go on the internal drive, but you don't actually mind if it organizes it as long as it is on the NAS, change the Media Folder preferences setting to the NAS and let it consolidate to there.  If you want to move the stuff but keep it organized in your own folder structure you may need to do it as I suggested initially.  Once it is on the NAS and iTunes recognize the file locations you can do what you can only do if you manually manage music which is move it around in Finder afterward once it is on the drive and recognized to tweak location to your final wishes.

  • Can I move my downloaded iOS apps to an external hard-drive?

    I have a huge music library which happily sits on an external drive that I back up religiously.  My iTunes preferences points to that external drive and it all works perfectly.
    I'm trying to free up disk space on my main hard-drive and I notice that I have almost thirty gigs of iOS apps.  I'd love to free up that space.  Is there a way I can sit that on an external drive too and have iTunes point to that and not mess up the updating process?  I can't find a place in preferences to do that.
    Any help would be appreciated.
    Thanks,
    Paul.

    This Apple doc should be able to help you out -> iTunes for Mac: Moving your iTunes Media folder

  • My itunes library was linked to external hard drive that has died. The only source of music I have left is on my iphone. How do I repopulate itunes now?

    My music was stored on a NAS storage device which was the source of my music in itunes. The device suddenly died. I do have back up of the music on another external drive but it isn't up-do-date. The latest music is on my Iphone 5.  I have two questions:
    1. How do I transfer music from my Iphone 5 to the back up drive or itunes?
    2. How do I link the itunes to a new external drive with music from my iphone and the back up drive?

    Hey there Natasha1608,
    It sounds like you need to transfer your library that is on your phone to your computer, and point iTunes to your other iTunes library. For the first, you can transfer your iTunes Store purchases to your library with the following article:
    iTunes Store: Transfer purchases from your iOS device or iPod to a computer
    http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1848
    Keep this in mind from the above article:
    This feature works only for audio, video, and apps that you purchased from the iTunes Store. Any items that you imported from audio CDs or acquired from other sources won't copy from your device to the iTunes library. However, copies of all PDFs and books from your device's iBooks app will transfer to the computer, regardless of whether they were purchased from the iBooks Store. Learn more about transferring media to your iTunes library.
    To point iTunes to another library, use this article:
    iTunes: How to open an alternate iTunes Library file or create a new one
    http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1589
    Thank you for using Apple Support Communities.
    Cheers,
    Sterling

Maybe you are looking for