How do I restore my itunes 11 library from my external hard drive to my Windows computer?

I cleaned my computer out and reinstalled Windows XP and ITunes 11 but I cannot figure out how to restore my entire library and playlists from my external hard drive. Which file am I looking to restore and how do I do it?

Hopefully you backed up the entirety of the folder iTunes in <User's Music>. If so copy it from the backup into <User's Music> and install iTunes.
tt2

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How do I move my iTunes library from my external hard drive back to my computer?

Just wondering how do I move my entire iTunes library from my external hard drive back to my computer? It was moved to an external hard drive a few years ago, and now I'm wondering how to move it back to my iMac to increase performance.
Where does it belong in the computer?
Any suggestions?

The library itself is the /Home/Music/iTunes/ folder in its entirety. Did you also change where preference files were stored? Normally, they would be in the /Home/Library/Preferences/ folder.

How do I move my old iPhoto library from my external hard drive to my new Mac?

Hi guys!
I recently bought a new MacBook Air as my MacBook Pro was on its last legs... I have my backup for my old MacBook Pro on an external hard drive and I'm trying to put a selection of albums from my old iPhoto onto my new MacBook Air iPhoto. I can't simply click and drag it over as I get an error message "The iPhoto library is a Time Machine backup, and so cannot be used as the main library...". I've tried to reopen iPhoto while holding option and selecting my old iPhoto library from my external hard drive to open... AND I get the same message.
If anyone could help me out that would be amazing!
FYI: The hard drive I am using is a G|Drive mobile with Thunderbolt 1 TB.
Thank you very much in advance!
Cheers,
Kendall

I may sound like a real rookie here, but on my new MacBook Air there isn't a "Pictures" folder under "Users/kendallwilson" like there used to be on my old MacBook Pro (Early 2011). I'm still working out the new software on my MB Air, so where exactly should I open this new window to start following the steps you just provided me.
Thanks again!

I recently had to back up itunes play lists to external hard drive, how do I restore the library from the external hard drive to the new computer

I recently had to back up itunes play lists to external hard drive whilst computer was fixed. reinstalled itunes but dont know how to reinstall my music from external hard drive. help?

The same way the library was copied/moved to the external drive.
Copy it from location A to location B.
Then point iTunes to the correct library.

Importing old Itunes Library from a external hard drive to a new computer

About 3 months ago I backed up the entire contents of my hard drive on an old laptop to an external hard drive. My goal was to eventually be able to recover all my purchased music from Itunes.
How do I do that. I am assuming there should be a folder in Itunes on the external hard drive I can drag and drop into the new itunes.
As a second question, is it possible or advisable to run itunes out of the external hard drive in the future?
IBM t60 Windows XP Extreme Rookie
IBM t60 Windows XP Rookie needs help

You could plug the WD drive straight into the TC but it will be much faster to do it with the WD drive plugged into the computer.. and just mount the TC hard disk in Finder.
To move itunes library you must follow the Apple instructions.. http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1449
You may need to reconnect itunes to the library before you try to move it.. !!

How can I back up an IPhoto library from one external hard drive to another?

Hey Folks, WIth your help I have consolidated my IPhoto libraries using IPhoto Library Manager. I'm storing it on an external hard drive because I have run out of space on my Macbook Pro. Now I'd like to back it up. I have another large external hard drive that is set to perform Time Machine backups on my Macbook. Is there a way to ALSO use it to perform occasional backups of my IPhoto library which, as I mentioned, is not kept on the Macbook itself? Thanks in advance, David

I do not understand your question
The basic answer is that TM backes up everything that is not excluded - it backsup to the TM backup - it can not backup any files that are on the TM backup volume - only those on other volumes
To remove an item form the excluded list select the item and click the "-" button
See te FAQs for many more details - http://pondini.org/TM/FAQ.html
Se the Apple article for basic set up and details - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1427?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US
LN

HT1351 I have just reformatted my hard drive and re-installed iTunes; how do I connect back to my library on an external hard drive?

I have just refromatted my hard drive and reinstalled itunes; how do tie it back to my library on an external hard drive?

If the whole library was on the external drive then press and hold down shift as you start iTunes, then use the Choose option to reconnect to it.
If it was only the media folder, but you backed up the library folder then restore that to <User's Music> in your rebuilt machine and you're good to go.
If you forgot to backup the library folder, but you don't care about ratings, play counts, playlists etc. then shift-start-iTunes, Create a new empty library at the root of the external drive, e.g. at X:\iTunes, move the media folder inside that as X:\iTunes\iTunes Media, then use File > Add Folder to Library to import the media.
Otherwise see Recover your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device.
tt2

I transferred my iTunes library from one external hard drive to another and added more music on the same day. How do I get rid of my duplicate files without going through them one by one which would take forever?

Please help. I have transferred my iTunes library from one external hard drive to another plus added additional music now I have duplicates of the same music in many albums. How do I delete the duplicates without going through them one by one which would take forever? I understand how to get the "show exact duplicate" feature up on iTunes but, because they were added to the library on the exact day I can't seperate them I'm that manner. So each duplicate is right next to eachother in the exact duplicate screen.

My DeDuper script is designed to help clean up. See this thread for background.
tt2

How to move mt itunes library from one external hard drive to another

I would like to move my itun4es library from my external hard drive H to external hard drive M; how do I go about this? without losing items

Short version: use the itunes consolidate command
Long version: read this
http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/moving-your-itunes-library-to -a-new-hard-drive/

How do I transfer/copy my itunes library from 1 external hard drive to another one?

How can i transfer/copy my itunes library from 1 external hard drive to another one?

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1449

HT1386 I have a new computer. I have copied Itunes library from an external hard drive. Itunes now tells me I cannot sync with my Ipod as it thinks the 20gb on the computer are different to the 20gb on my Ipod touch! What have I done wrong? How can I fix

I have a new computer. I have copied Itunes library from an external hard drive. Itunes now tells me I cannot sync with my Ipod as it thinks the 20gb on the computer are different to the 20gb on my Ipod touch! What have I done wrong? How can I fix it? Alan

See:
Syncing to a "New" Computer or replacing a "crashed" Hard Drive: Apple Support Communities
Sync Your iOS Device with a New Computer Without Losing Data - How-To Geek

How do i import my library from an external hard drive. Exported it as had to wipe pc and reinstal windows but when i try to import nothing happens

How do i import my library from an external hard drive. Had to export it as had to reinstal windows due to a conflict between windows and i-tunes. Wen i try to import nothing happens despite selecting the file. Can you import from an i-phone to i-tunes?

What do you mean bye exported the library?
There is nothing to export or import.
The correct process to backup the iTunes library would be to copy the ENTIRE iTunes folder from the computer to the external drive.

Any suggestions for running an iTunes library from an external hard drive on two computers?

I have two Mac computers: an iMac and a MacBook Air. My iMac has 1TB of storage space (plenty enough for my 200+gigs of music) but my MacBook Air only has 250gigs of storage space. I know I can access all of the music from my iMac on my MBA with HomeSharing. But that doesn't work when I take my MBA out of the house for work. I was going to switch over my iTunes library to an external HD but I don't know if I can access the library on the hard drive from my MBA, when the main library is on my iMac.
Any suggestions as to how to get two different computers to access an iTunes library from an external hard drive?
Thanks.

I am confused as to what you had or have where and when. The bottom line is, your library (for the standard user) is everything in the iTunes folder. As far as iTunes' organization and display is concerned, your library is a file called "iTunes Library.itl" which points to all the other host of files and folders normally in the iTunes folder which all work together.
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
iTunes 9 [and later]: Understanding iTunes Media Organization - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3847 - plus supplemental information about organizing to new structure https://discussions.apple.com/message/26404702#26404702
Image of folder structure and explanation of different iTunes versions (turingtest2 post) - https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-7392 and making an iTunes library portable.
If you kept everything together in one place then you need to put the whole iTunes folder on the drive where you want it, start iTunes while holding down the option key and guide it to that .itl file. If things were split up and you had media on the external and the rest of the library on the internal you need to get them back to exactly where they were before. If you can't find that iTunes folder holding the critical .itl file anywhere then you have a bunch of media tracks and no organization and will need to rebuild the organization from ground level.

How do I move my iphoto library from one external hard drive to another?

how do I move my iphoto library from one external hard drive to another?

Drag it there in the Finder and then launch iPhoto with the Option key held down. Point it to the new instance of the library.
(58012)

Opening iTunes 10 Library on an External Hard Drive from iTunes 9.2.1

Hi All,
I backed up my iTunes library on an external Hard Drive using;
'Machine A'- Powerbook, PowerPC, 1.25 GHz
OS - Leopard
iTunes - 10.1
This Aluminum G4 is undergoing repairs so I am now using an older Powerbook which works fine.
Configuration on this is
'Machine B'- Powerbook, PowerPC, 400 GHz
OS - Tiger / 10.4.11
iTunes - 9.2.1
My question is,
'Is there any way for me to run iTunes 9.2.1 using the 'Music Library' from the external Hard Drive'
and not loose any metadata (all the Tags/Ratings/Comments/Art Work)
that I have painstakingly undertaken for the last 8 to 9 years.
Tried opening iTunes with the <option> key & pointing to the library but got the error:
"The file iTunes Library cannot be read because it was created by a newer version of iTunes"
It is likely that I will be using Machine B for a few months,
so I really hope you experts out there can help me with a nice and easy solution.
Cheers,
Matt.

The iTunes application should be installed on the system drive. You may need to repair iTunes to fix that error regarding a missing .exe.
To organize your library properly see Make a split library portable.
If you don't have a working version of the library that can be transformed into a portable shape I have tools and techniques that can repair the broken links.
tt2

How do I restore my itunes 11 library from my external hard drive to my Windows computer?

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