Hard Drive Failure - Music Files backed up to external hard drive ...

i reinstalled itunes and successfully copied over the music folders. i can play all of my music in itunes except the purchased music. an error comes up that says the original file is missing.
if i plug in the external drive i can search and play the file from there.
weird! b/c the external drive is a copy of what was on my old hard drive?
also it is the EXACT folder that i copied back to the new hard drive.
any advice? is there a way to 'unlock' the music? is there a 1 time copy allowance? anything?
thanks!

Set the iPod to manual to prevent any erasures (not sure this is essential, but I only ever use mine in manual mode). It's ages since I did mine - can't remember if it happened as soon as I connected the iPod to iTunes or if I had to do right mouse and choose a menu item but it was straightforward.
I also don't remember if I reimported my iTunes library from the back up hard drive before I connected the iPod to the PC, I suspect I had put most of the library back before connecting.
Don't forget you can look at the files on the iPod itself and copy them over, I'm not sure if I'm allowed to mention third party software on here so I won't but an internet search would give you the information you need.

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Is there a way to access my iTunes Library, which is stored on a (PC) External Hard Drive, on a MacBook Air (through an Apricorn Universal Hard Drive Adapter), without transferring the music files off of the external hard drive?

Is there a way to access my iTunes Library, which is stored on a (PC) External Hard Drive, on a MacBook Air (through an Apricorn Universal Hard Drive Adapter), without transferring the music files off of the external hard drive?
In other words, because the MacBook Air only has 120 gbs of hard drive space & my old hard drive, from a Lenovo, has 500 gbs of hard drive space (and I have over 120 gbs of music), I’m looking to manage my iTunes music from the external hard drive permanently. Upon attempting to access the iTunes library held on the external hard drive the following message comes up: “The iTunes Library.itl file is locked, on a locked disk, or you do not have write permission for this file”. Is there a way to get around this?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks so much!

You will have to engage a split library which means you will have to start answering questions on this forum because you will need to learn a lot about how iTunes works in order not that have a big mess at the end of it all. It also won't be easy when the time comes to relocate it all to different drives.
You can go to advanced preferences and turn off organize media and copy to items to media folder when adding items to library. Next read about how to selectively consolidate items to the external drive.
Sept. 2010, Consolidate selected content - https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2589812 and April 2014, https://discussions.apple.com/message/25414357
"...selected the new tracks directly in iTunes, Control-clicked on the selection, and saw that now you can consolidate selected items." - http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20090919000326840
Remember that when you start iTunes without the external drive turned on iTunes will present you with a bunch of broken links. If you have automatic downloads enabled with iCloud you may have to turn that off to prevent iTunes from repopulating your drive trying to deal with those "missing" tracks.
If you add tracks in bunches to iTunes and want them to go to different media folders you will need to either add them by holding down the option key while dragging if the desired media folder is not the one set in preferences, or by changing the media folder in preferences. Changing media folder preferences only applies to new files added, not old ones.
Okay, I am going to stop typing because you might just reply to me, "Oh, okay, forget it," and I don't need the exercise.
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

HT1661 My mid-2009 MacBook Pro has just died via a painful (for me) hard drive failure. I backed up a good percentage of files recently but not enough to keep me happy. I need to access the dead drive on the MBP via a 2008 iMac. Best options?

My mid-2009 MacBook Pro has just died via a painful (for me) hard drive failure. I backed up a good percentage of files recently but not enough to keep me happy. I need to access the dead drive on the MBP via a 2008 iMac. Best options?
I have ordered a 800 firewire to 800 firewire cable and am hoping to use the target mode option to copy files from the MBP.
Is this possible?
Hope so!
Any advice and or help would be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks,
Neil

Thanks Ogelthorpe.
Just bought an enclosure to try that also.
Hoping the MBP isn't really dead but just feigning death
Fingers crossed.

I backed up my I-tunes library (by dragging my "music" folder to my new external hard drive. Now 6,000 songs won't play stating, "original file cannot be found." What can I do to get these songs back???!!!

I backed up my I-tunes library (by dragging my "music" folder to my new external hard drive. Now 6,000 songs won't play stating, "original file cannot be found." What can I do to get these songs back???!!!

Try putting the files back where they were before you moved them, then follow the steps in this Apple document -> iTunes: Back up your iTunes library by copying to an external hard drive

My music is backed up on external drive when i disconnect the external drive itunes cannot locate the files on the PC harddrive and none of the music can be accessed how do i fix this?

My harddrive was wiped clean. I upgraded operating system to fr vista to win 7. All music was saved on an external hard drive and i have copied this to itunes on new operating system but itunes can not access any of the music without the external drive being connected. error msg says original files cannot be located. What to do?

It all depends a bit on how & what you backed up, and how you restored it. Select an affected track. Press CTRL-I to Get Info. Click Cancel when asked to locate the file. Look at the location given on the summary tab. Now look through your computer for file in question. What are the two paths? iTunes could be using the wrong layout (pre or post iTunes 9) in error. Or your library could have been split on the previous system, and not restored to preciesly the same path. Posting back the two paths should make things clearer.
tt2

I have my iTunes media on an external drive but I would like to know if I keep the library file back to my internal hard drive so it gets backed up by Time Machine.

I have all my media on an external drive for space. Is there a way I move the library file back to my internal had drive so that Timemachine will keepa backup of the file. Recently my library file became damaged and I lost all my playlists and playcounts and all that good stuff. Thanks for your help.

I never lost any media mind you just the library file that tell iTunes where everything lives.
On this point, you can keep a copy of of the "Itunes Music Library.xml" file, which contains the itunes metadata for your music library (songs & playlists).
Obviously, you would still need the files themselves for this to be of any worth, but if you ever find yourself in the same situation you can use the .xml file to recreate iTunes as it was. Keep in mind that you must import the .xml file into iTunes for this to work, you cannot simply move it via the finder.

How to back up all my iTunes music and playlists on a external hard drive

How do you back up your iTunes music & playlists to an external hard-drive (in this case a W.D.Elements)
My Computer is an I Mac 27 inch, Late 2013 OSX Version 10.10 Upgraded to "Yosmite" on the 26th October 2014
Thanking you in anticipation of your help.
Vince Cygan

Thank you Niel,
My 21,574 music tracks are populating the external hard-drive as I reply. I'm assuming my playlists will accompany them. My playlists start with music from 1914 to the present, each year is divided into 4 month periods so I know almost exactly when each record was released or from 1952 onwards when it entered the charts.
According to the progress line the procedure should take 2 hrs 20 mins approx.
Thank you once again Niel

I normally do backups of my iTunes music files. After a recent hard disc failure I tried reloaded iTunes from these backups. This was ok but I lost all my ratings. How do I have to save the music library to include the rating information?

I normally do backups of my iTunes music files. After a recent hard disc failure I tried to reload iTunes from these backups. This was ok, i.e. the music was all there but I lost my ratings. How do I have to save the music library to include the rating information?

See this backup strategy.
tt2

Can Time Machine back on one external hard drive (work files) to another external hard drive (back up)?

Can Time Machine on a Mac Book Pro 10.5.8 back up an external hard drive (working files) to another external hard drive (WD dual backup)?

I have Mountain Lion here ready to upgrade, but I'm scared of what will happen - there's always something when you upgrade, but I guess that's for a different post!
Yes, it's a different post, but let's make a comment any way.
Your power pc apps will not work when you upgrade to Mountain Lion. You will have to replace all the apps you use.

I have all my music on my external hard drive when I try to add it to iTunes it is automatically added to my MacBook Pro's hard drive. How do I stop this from happening? I just want the music to stay on the external hard drive. Thanks!

I have all my music on my external hard drive when I try to add it to iTunes it is automatically added to my MacBook Pro's hard drive. How do I stop this from happening? I just want the music to stay on the external hard drive. Thanks!

This is true of course, but doesn't cover the situation where some files are in the iTunes Media folder and others are on an external drive. In my case I keep my music in the Media folder and all my films on an external drive (there are too many to have on the internal drive). In iTunes 11, and before, it was easy to add those external files by holding down the alt/opt key while dragging to the sidebar. In iTunes 12 this is no longer possible. There are several workarounds: use TuneSpan to move the file after it's been added; delete the file from the Media folder and empty the trash then use iTunes Get Info which will report the file is missing and allow you to locate it; constantly switch the Add to iTunes toggle on and off as required. All of these require a lot more work than just holding down the alt/opt key while adding.
It constantly gets harder.

How do I back up one External Hard Drive to another?

I have two identical partitioned WD External Drives. Drive 1, Partition 1 is a Macbook Pro Time Machine backup. Drive 1, Partition 2 is for photo & video storage uploaded directly from the camera or disk (so I don't overload my internal storage). How do I backup Drive 1, Partition 1 & Partition 2 onto the partitioned External Drive 2?

I should back up my Internal Hard Drive directly to each of the 2 external Hard Drives, right?
Yes.
Since the External HD's are typically not plugged into the computer, should I not use Time Machine?
When the drives are connected, the backups will take place. If you rarely connect the drives, then you should also back up over the network to a Time Capsule, a hard drive connected to a current-model AirPort base station, or another Mac via File Sharing.
See also:
Mac Basics: Time Machine backs up your Mac
iPhoto: How to move the Library folder to a new location
iTunes for Mac: Moving your iTunes Media folder

Will Time Capsule back-up an external hard drive that is connected to it directly via USB?

I'm considering a macbook air, but I have ~200GB of music and photos that currently lives on another laptop (and is manually backed up to a 500GB ext. hard drive). Ideal set-up would be as follows:
1. MBA (128GB) with just the OS, applications and ~ 5GB of .doc, .xls, .pdf, etc.
2. The 500GB hard drive (loaded w/ music and jpegs' and permanently connected to Time Capsule so that I don't have to plug it into the MBA everytime I want to use music/jpegs)
3. Time capsule (constantly backing up the MBA and hard drive via time machine).
Does anybody know if this is possible (i.e. will the TC back up an external hard drive that is permanently attached to it, rather than attached to a Mac?)
Does anybody have other suggestions (without having to buy any more gear) for storage/back-up that don't require that I plug that external HD to a computer every time I want to access the data?

sixschlitzes wrote:
Does anybody know if this is possible (i.e. will the TC back up an external hard drive that is permanently attached to it,
No, sorry, Time Machine cannot back up from a network location.
Does anybody have other suggestions (without having to buy any more gear) for storage/back-up that don't require that I plug that external HD to a computer every time I want to access the data?
The 3rd-party apps CarbonCopyCloner and ChronoSync (and probably others) can back up from a network location.

Managing music and iTunes from an external hard drive

I have a large quantity of music that I have downloaded to an external hard drive. I used Windows Media to download the music to the hard drive. What I want to do is keep my music and photos on the hard drive but be able to access the files from my laptop (Mac Book Pro). I don't want to take up the hard disc space on the laptop, so how do I make sure that all future cd's imported go the the hard drive (and not necessarily to the "iTunes" folder), are stored as the individual cd/artist name, and are then easily retrieved by iTunes for burning?
Scott

Niel,
You've got me most of the way there! I redirected the iTunes Music Folder location to the external hard drive, and specified the folder on the hard drive that includes all the previously ripped/downloaded music. Then I did the "consolidate library" command, which was successful in putting the minimal music already in my iTunes library onto the external hard drive. Finally, to get all the music from my external hard drive into the Library, I deselected the "copy files to the iTunes music folder when adding to the library" and then "add to library" the folder that is on the hard drive containing all the music I want to be able to browse and select to put on my iPod. Unfortunately, only some of the music came across. It copied about 20 gigs of the music, of which there is 135 gigs of music to copy...???
All I'm trying to do here is maintain a large volume of music (and eventually photos) on an external hard drive, and be able to use iTunes to access the music for placement on my iPod. What have I missed in my implementation here?
Many thanks for you kind advice and help! Scott

Is it possible to back up an external hard drive to Time Machine from two different computers without creating two different records?

I have an external hard drive that I do my work on. I use it on my office MacPro and on my MacBook Pro. I have Time Machine setup on both computers to back up the external hard drive to a remote backup drive, but when it backs it up, the backup goes into either the MacPro record of it, or the MacBook Pro record. The effect of this is that if I'm at my laptop and I need to access an earlier version of a file that existed when I was working on my MacPro, I can't access it.
Is it at all possible to create a universal record (or Sparse Disk Image Bundle to use Apple lingo) for my external hard drive?

Hi BDAqua,
Thanks for your help as always, sorry I never thanked you earlier, finally got some time to attend this.
I'm in the mail folder in the library of my user name. Just to make sure I get all my mail boxes I'm going to archive simply the whole 'Mail' folder after going in to the library of my unsername.
I notice you mentioned about importing there .... I've seen the .emix files you mention .... i have 30,000+ of them.
What I find helpful in mail is that if I type a client's second name, in this case 'Lopez' I can pull up all the mails relating to him in an instant, around 450. Obviously it would be impossible to pick through 30K .emix files to find the right ones .... so could I easily import them in to my Mail on my new computer?
Could I select the whole lot of them, then drag and drop them in to my new Mail on the new computer, and then use the search function on Mail? ... the normal desktop search function doesn't seem to look through the emix files, or emails for that matter.
Also, just as an extra precaution, could I make a smart folder in Mail with the name of said client for example for, then archive that folder separately?
TY
Message was edited by: Scottishengineer

Can you use time machine to back up an external hard drive?

I haven't used Time Machine so far and setting it up now.
Because my retina MBP has the limited hard drive size of 500GB, I'll be using a 2TB G-Tech hard drive as external hard drive.
I'll be partitioning it, 500 GB for the MBP as a time machine back-up, the rest as a hard drive for photography RAW files.
Can I set up time machine to back up the larger partition (the one with the RAW files) to a second external hard drive? Or does Time Machine only handle back-up from the main computer hard drive?
thanks!

Try reviewing this information.
Time Machine FAQ
You will definitely need more than 500 GB to use Time Machine - see question 1.
Time Machine works with the main hard drive and any locally attached storage, but I don't know of any way to make it backup the second partition without resetting the Time Machine Preferences. You can do that with a cloning program.
Clone - Carbon Copy Cloner
Clone – Data Backup
Clone – Deja Vu
Clone - SuperDuper
Clone Software – 6 Applications Tested
Two backups are better than one. Drives do fail.

Hard Drive Failure - Music Files backed up to external hard drive ...

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