How Do I: store my iTunes Movies on an external hard drive?

Since my iMac hard drive space (2 terabite) is almost half-full of the Movies I have in my iTunes, I would like to be able to set up my iTunes to store and play the movies from an external hard drive.  I just bought a 4 terabite G-Drive for doing this.  I would also like to be able to view the movies on my two differant Apple TV's.
If anyone has any information on this it would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
kalton

I have almost zero experience with Apple TVs. I saw one once in an Apple Store, across the room.
The easy way:
iTunes: How to move [or copy] your music to a new computer [or another drive] - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527
Quick answer if you let iTunes manage your music:  Copy the entire iTunes folder (and in doing so all its subfolders and files) intact to the other drive.  Start iTunes with the option (shift on Windows) key held down and guide it to the new location of the library.
The easier hard way:
You will need delete the movies from your iTunes collection.  Drag them to a folder on the other drive.  Hold down the option key and drag that folder back to an iTunes window. Opton will prevent the files from being copied back to the drive.  Drawbacks: 1) You must remember to do this each time you add an item or it will copy it to the drive. 2)  Deleting it will remove things( metadata) such as ratings, last played, date added.
The tougher hard way:
Re-assign your media folder to a folder on the external.  Consolidate just the movies to the external.  Re-assign media back to regular location.  Advantages: Will keep your metadata.  Note - I have never done this.
Whatever you do, back up first.

Similar Messages

  • How can I store my music files on an external hard drive and listen to them through iTunes that way?

    How can I store my music files on an external hard drive and listen to them through iTunes that way? At the moment they're both on the external hard drive and also stored on the computer but I'm quickly running out of memory on my iBook G4 so I'd like to only keep them on the external hard drive and, if possible, delete them from my computer's hard drive. At the moment, when the hard drive isn't plugged in a lot of the files won't play and I get the exclamation mark next to the particular song in iTunes, but everything plays fine when the hard drive is plugged in.
    Thank you.

    Sounds like your files are playing from the external drive already.  To check go to iTunes - Preferences - Advanced and check the Media Folder Location.  Change it to the external drive if you need to.

  • How do I combine an iTunes library on an external hard drive (laptop) with an iTunes library on an external hard drive on my PC?

    How can I combine the iTunes library on an external hard drive (hooked to laptop) with  the iTunes library on an external hard drive (hooked to PC) so that both external HD's and both laptop and PC have all the music on each one?

    no need to create a secondary library - too troublesome, IMHO. you can spread your library over as many drives you can connect to your Mac (wired or wirelessly):
    iTunes > preferences > advanced.
    point iTunes media folder location to the external
    on the same tab, ensure the copy files ... when adding option is checkmarked
    okay out of preferences
    highlight the content to be moved in iTunes and right-click
    select consolidate files from the pop-up menu
    wait for the process to finish
    when done, you may delete the original files from your boot drive.
    alternatively, you could move the whole shabang to the external HD:
    copy the entire iTunes folder (not just the iTunes music or media folder) from <MacintoshHD>/users/<yourname>/music to the external, launch iTunes while holding the option(⌥) key, click on choose library when prompted, and select the iTunes folder you copied to the external.
    when done, be sure to point iTunes media folder location to the external so that new additions to your library will be put there. also, you need to make sure the external is mounted on your desktop before you fire up iTunes.

  • How can I export my iTunes Library to an external hard drive?

    How can I export my iTunes Library to an external hard drive? and once i do that how can i play the library through the external drive? I basically want to be able to delete all my music on itunes once it is on my external hard drive so i can have more internal hard drive space.

    Follow this guide very carefully: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1364?viewlocale=en_US
    It's very easy to do....

  • HT1329 How do I transfer my iTunes Library to an external hard drive?

    How do I transfer my iTunes Library to an external hard drive?

    See this support article:
    http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=305451

  • How do I create an iTunes library on an external hard drive?

    I have a MacBook Pro running OS10.6.8 and iTunes 10.3.1.
    I have simply run out of hard drive space on my laptop.
    I want to create a secondary iTune library on an external hard drive.
    (I know how to create a new iTune Library - it ends up in my Music folder on my laptop hard drive).
    So how do I:
    a) create or move this folder to an external hard drive, and
    b) once done, how do I move my video files (television programs and movies) from my laptop iTune folder to the external hard drive?
    Thank you for any assistance.

    no need to create a secondary library - too troublesome, IMHO. you can spread your library over as many drives you can connect to your Mac (wired or wirelessly):
    iTunes > preferences > advanced.
    point iTunes media folder location to the external
    on the same tab, ensure the copy files ... when adding option is checkmarked
    okay out of preferences
    highlight the content to be moved in iTunes and right-click
    select consolidate files from the pop-up menu
    wait for the process to finish
    when done, you may delete the original files from your boot drive.
    alternatively, you could move the whole shabang to the external HD:
    copy the entire iTunes folder (not just the iTunes music or media folder) from <MacintoshHD>/users/<yourname>/music to the external, launch iTunes while holding the option(⌥) key, click on choose library when prompted, and select the iTunes folder you copied to the external.
    when done, be sure to point iTunes media folder location to the external so that new additions to your library will be put there. also, you need to make sure the external is mounted on your desktop before you fire up iTunes.

  • Can i store unused iTunes Library on an external Hard-drive?

    Hi There,
    I have 3 account on my Macbook each have an itunes library on them, the on is use all the time, but the other 2 never change and are never listed to becausethe only used of the laptop!
    is there any way I can move the library on to my hard-drive so i can free up space on my laptop, but still have accesses to them if i need to update the 2 of them to put new music on there iphone and ipods?
    Thanks and help would be greatly appreciated??
    Tom Green

    See this Apple note about moving an itunes library to an external hard drive.

  • How do I migrate my itunes library from an external hard drive to my mac mini's internal hard drive?

    I have my iTunes library on an external hard drive because my macbook pro's internal hard drive didn't have enough room.  I would like to migrate or transfer the itunes files while continuing to keep my playlists.  Is there a way to do that with the migration software?

    Thank you for your help.  My biggest concern is losing all of my sorted music into playlists. I have 124GB of music and resorting it will very difficult.  When I moved the itunes library with the help of a supervisor at apple tech to the external HD I had to resort it.
    Will it move the entire library and setting as they are now?

  • How do I copy my iTunes library to an external hard drive?

    I´d like to copy (note: copy NOT export) my iTunes library to an external hard drive but I just can´t figure out how! It says that the external hard drive can not be changed, therefor I can not drag and drop the iTunes files to it. The external hard drive is called iXternal (80GB). Please help, I´m on a tight dead line!

    Select the external drive on the desktop and Get Info (Command-I).
    At 'Ownership & Permissions:', click on the small triangle till it points down.
    Verify that 'You can Read & Write'.
    You should also see a checkbox 'Ignore ownership on this volume'.
    If it is not checked, check it.
    Hope this helps.
    M
    17' iMac 800 MHz, 768 MB RAM, 200 GB HD, DL burner   Mac OS X (10.4.8)   iTunes 7.0.1

  • How do I import my itunes library from an external hard drive to my MacBook

    I've bought a new MacBook today, my itunes is on my external hard drive which is hooked up to my Mac, I want to import the itunes onto my Mac but don't know how. Anyone know?
    Oh & I have no idea what operating system I have....

    Can you please explain what you mean by the 'option' button. I've dragged my itunes library to my desktop.
    Do not put it on the desktop. You should, in fact, avoid keeping files on the desktop because they use extra system resources there compared to being inside folders. I keep one folder on my desktop which I call "Desktop overflow) and anything I would want to put on the desktop I put in there.
    The best place is to put the iTunes folder and all its contents in your home directory (the one indicated by a house icon on a Finder window sidebar), then inside the Music (or it may be called Media since you use a newer version) folder there. This is where you may find one already exists because it is one of the basic folders put on computers when installing the system, I believe (it was on my computer when I got it). If you find one is already there, then as I said before, as long as you don't have any media in it you can just replace it with the one you are copying. You may find once you do that, when you start itunes it starts up with your library already because this is where it expects things to be. If not, hold the option key (may also be called alt, on my keyboard it is between the control key and the command key ( or ⌘ key). Doing this while starting iTunes will have it ask you to point it to the library files, so you need to go to the Music/Media folder, then the iTunes folder, then select one of the library files inside.
    Folder hierarchy is pretty much the same on a Mac as it is in Windows.

  • How do I get my iTunes to reference an external hard drive folder?

    I don't want to put all of my music on my laptop. I would like iTunes to reference my external hard drive iTunes folder for my music rather than the default folder on my computer. I have tried to change the iTunes Media folder to my "iTunes - External," but when I then re-open my iTunes, there is no music there. Help?

    The only work around I have ever figured out for this problem is to create a new library with a different name and then add the music folder on your external HD to iTunes, Depending on the size this may take a while but it has worked for me. Good luck!

  • How do you transfer your itunes library from an external hard drive?

    I've just bought a new internal hard drive for my macbook because I've run out of space. I'm planning on putting my itunes library on an external hard drive then putting it on the new internal hard drive... but i have no idea what the best way to do that is, since it isn't just the files that are important, my playlists and all the changes to song names need to stay intact. and also i'm gonna put snow leopard on the new hard drive if that makes any difference?
    Hope some one can help me find the best way!
    peacexx

    I have much the same problem. I have my iTunes files on an 80GB external drive along with my iPhoto files. Currently, my MacBook Air sees and operates from the iTunes setup on the 80GB drive. To provide more space to handle these files I got a 500GB portable external drive. Now I want to bring the iTunes files back into my MBA and, when complete,put them out on the 500GB drive from which I'll operate my iTunes. This might be simpler if the MBA had two USB2 ports instead of one. I've tried the method noted in "Transferring Your iTunes Library" (http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/moving-your-itunes-library-to -a-new-hard-drive/), but couldn't seem to get the 80GB files back to the MBA such that iTunes would see them there. (I copied the files over, but the link's broken.) Ideas?
    Thanks in advance

  • How do i migrate my iTunes library to an external hard drive

    I have burned a lot of movies and have a lot of music and it's maxed out my computer hard drive.  How do I migrate it to an external hard drive and not lose it all?  And what steps do I need to take to access my iTunes?  Just have it connected all the time?  Or should I just wipe a computer and use it only for iTunes?

    1. Drag the entire iTunes library.
    2. Yes.
    3. Check that the library works and is backed up, and then delete it from the internal drive.
    (109152)

  • How do I access my iTunes media from an external hard drive?

    I have a new MacBook Air and want to access my media files from an external drive. I previously had a MacBook Pro and had to move all media to an external drive because I ran out of space. I've tried launching iTunes, going to Preferences, going to the Advanced Tab and then moving the location to the external drive and got this question: Would you like iTunes to move and rename the files in your new iTunes Media folder to match the “Keep iTunes Media folder organized” preference? Should I say yes? If I say yes, will iTunes be able to automatically find my files on the external drive?

    hey, basically i had the same problem as you. i had all of my itunes on an external hard drive and just bought a macbook pro, so here is what i was told to do....plug in the external hard drive to your MBA and then when you open itunes hold down the option button while you click and hold it down till you see a pop up window, it will ask you what library you want to use, click choose library and choose the itunes file that is on your external hard drive. and then all of your stuff will be in the itunes.
    what i have seemed to run into though is, when the external hard drive isn't plugged in itunes won't open unless you choose another library or plug in the external hard drive. - my question is this, should i open another library on my macbook pro's internal hard drive so i can at least look at itunes when i don't have my external hard drive connected. my old macbook did this, it would point to another library on my macbook and i would still be able to see all of my media but couldn't play it without the external hooked up, is there a way to do this on lion?
    i hope i was able to answer your question sam and hopefully can have my question answered too.
    thanks!
    - sorry sam, don't mean to hijack your thread but hopefully it will help us both - i don't want to store any media )movies, music, podcasts, apps, any of that stuff on my macbook pro's hard drive, so say there is a way to get itunes to open without my external hooked up and i can still see my media, or not see my media and i want to download a song or a app that i see when i am not near my external....what is the easiest way to get that file onto the external and not have it taking up space on my macbook pro's hard drive? sorry for all the long questions
    Message was edited by: thenumbersarebad - thought of one more thing - sorry

  • How do i access my itunes library from an external hard drive?

    How do I use itunes with my music on an external hard drive?

    You might find this article useful: iLounge - Managing your iTunes Library on an External Hard Drive

Maybe you are looking for

  • Syncing apps FROM IPHONE TO ITUNES!!!

    The Iphone allows you to download apps onto the phone __from the phone__ but I can't find how to sync those apps I bought via the phone with apps in my Itunes library...???!~!!! It appears as though I will loose those apps if I upgrade my software ve

  • How do I print a list of installed applications?

    System profiler used to do it but I can't figure out how to do it in Lion.

  • Reservation Relevance/Generation of Purchase Requisition inproduction order

    hi, i want know in prodution order ,component overview "Reservation Relevance/Generation of Purchase Requisition"that is 1=never.2=from releas.3=immediately,where is these setting occures that is refelect, in ordertype depened paramete if if i set"Re

  • Checking /Viewing Unix file permissions

    Is there a way for me to check file permissions (In Java) under unix, without having to call a system dependent function. (ie Runtime.getRuntime(); run.exec(....)) Any help would be greatly appreicated. Curtney

  • Migration from Prometric to PearsonVue

    Hi, I received an email to create a new account on PearsonVue with a new Oracle Testing ID, even though I have an existing pearson vue account as it seems I cannot add two Oracle Testing Programs under the same pearson account. The new account still