How to back up itunes

I have to restore my computer because it has a virus. And I have the DVD-roms to back my Itunes up to, but i am not sure if that is any longer necessary with ICloud, and all my stuff is on my IPad. But not all my music is bought through itunes, and I dont want to run the risk of loosing that music. What do i do? and what do I do after I restore my laptop to get my Itunes back to normal?

Use whatever backup method you'd like to create a backup/copy of the iTunes media folder.
Apple provides instructions on how to backup to an External drive, a simple search will reveal the instructions.
It is also possible to use DVD burner software like Nero or Roxio to create DVD backups of the iTunes Media folder.

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How to back up iTunes Library

How do I back up my iTunes library to an external hard drive (my backup drive)?

Copy the entire iTunes folder (and in doing so all its subfolders and files) intact to the other drive.

How to back up ITunes/Video Ipod with an external hard drive with Win XP?

How can I create a single file of my entire Itunes "library" so I can move it to an external drive for backup, using Windows XP?

restoring a formatted drive - not sure I'm following you there
but in the future the best way is to reformat the drive, hook up your external hard drive, and then drag and drop those music files back into your my music folder the exact opposite of when you drug them onto your external drive
worst case is you would have to point itunes to that music folder through options

Not sure how to back up itunes

help! in the instructions i keep finding to do this, they all say to select File >library >back up to disc but when i click on file, the library option isnt one of them so im not sure how to go about making the discs? any help is appreciated

- For iTunes purchases see:
Downloading past purchases from the App Store, iBookstore, and iTunes Store
- If the apps were taken by or saved to the iPod they should be in the backup. Restore from that backup. Otherwise the photos are lost.

How to back up iTunes Match music to external HDD

I have had an iTunes Match account for several years. Since I now use a retina MBP, I have deleted the matched music from my SSD to save space. Now I would like to make a complete backup of all my music to an external HDD. How can I do that without having to download all 60+ GB to my MBP SSD first and then copying it to the external HDD?

I backed everything up when I subscribed to Music Match. Since then, I have purchased additional music from iTunes and Amazon which was not backed up. However, most of the music was ripped at a lower bit rate and Music Match makes that music available at the higher bit rate with better sound quality. That is the primary reason for wanting to download the higher bit rate versions and replace the older backup versions.

How to back up iTunes properly?

Hi,
I need to reformat my macbook and reinstall the OS. Since I have had my laptop, i have downloaded numerous mp3's and videos. Once they were imported, I had updated the song and video names and created various playlists. How can I backup (and restore) iTunes so all of my changes are backed up and can be restored with all the changes i had made since i got this laptop? (i.e. song names, playlists...)?

The easiest way is to simply copy the entire iTunes folder to another drive.
Assuming you use the iTunes default settings where iTunes copied added items to your iTunes folder and organizes your library (meaning - everything is all self contained in the iTunes folder), then all you have to do is drag & drop your iTunes folder (not just the iTunes Music folder you find inside the iTunes folder) to the external drive and copy the entire thing.
If you want to test that it worked or would like to actually start using it from that location instead, use these instructions when you start iTunes to point it to the new location...
How to open an alternate iTunes Library file or create a new one
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1589
If you are just testing to make sure a backup copy works and still want to use the internal location, then close iTunes after you verify it works, and restart iTunes again with the same instructions and point it back to your internal drive (original) location. Otherwise you are all set to use the library from the external location.
Additional info...
Back up your iTunes library by copying to an external hard drive
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1751?viewlocale=en_US
Cheers,
Patrick

How to back up itunes to external drive

How do i back itunes from my PC to an external hard drive?

lets say i put music videos on my external hdd
How are you "putting" them onto the external?
If you move them yourself, iTunes will lose them.
You need to Consolidate library in iTunes to move it.
Also, the external needs to be on and mounted before opening iTunes.

How to back up iTunes music so it can be re-imported with Info intact?

After downlaoding latest i Tunes [how I hate to see that notification, "new version available"], lost a whole load of tracks and all Playlists. DOUBLE BAH!!
Took days to sort out problems with iTunes, but done now. [Not before I joined "iTunes *****" - does anybody who uses i Tunes not hate the awful software??]
However, this is not the first time apple software has lost tracks and data. ... [I know, everyone seems to have it happen!] so, ....
I back all my music up on seperate Hard Drive, but when i reimport, it has lost all track info, and, INFURIATINGLY, most tracks have a numeral before the name, which screws up the filing, as u get:
eg: 02 Beethoven, 02Bob Dylan, 03 Bach, 03 Adele... hope you get my drift!
Means I have to rename and re-enter Info for EACH individual bl**ding track.. aaaargh...!!
So is there any way one can back up I pod tunes files so they contain the necessary data to re-import cleanly, I wonder?
Be very keen to get feedback
best
13richjenn

You may get better response, if you post your iTunes issues in the iTunes community forum.

How to back up itunes to a external drive.

I need some help I just bought a Western Digital Elite Portable external drive and I want to back up my itunes in it. The problem is that I've never done it
before so basically I do not know how to do it. I been backing up to discs but I want to do it with the external drive now. I have itunes 7.7.1.11, and a second generation 8GB ipod nano.

lets say i put music videos on my external hdd
How are you "putting" them onto the external?
If you move them yourself, iTunes will lose them.
You need to Consolidate library in iTunes to move it.
Also, the external needs to be on and mounted before opening iTunes.

How to back up iTunes to a CD-RW

Hi, I am trying to back up my entire itunes library.. by burning it onto a CD-RW. How can I do this?
Thanks!

How big is your library... Mine won't fit onto a CDRW for sure as it is pretty huge... that might be the first issue.
If you library is small just create a "playlist" (File>NewPlaylist) and drag the stuff you want to burn into the playlist folder... and then click on "Burn" from the iTunes control panel in the upper left corner. If your lib is huge you will need a bunch of CDRWs or a DVDR if yu have a DVD burner

Installing Tiger....How to back up Itunes Library?

I'm installing tiger today and I want to do a clean install so I'm backing up everything onto an ext hd. What is the best way to back up my itunes library so that when I put it back on my computer after tiger, the new itunes on my new os will recognize it?

If you are using an external firewire drive, I'd install Tiger on your external drive, use the Migration Assistant to copy your files from your mac to the external drive, verify everything transferred correctly.(You could boot from the external drive to see how everything looks/data is there)
Do a clean install on your Powerbook, and use the Migration assistant to copy all of your data from your firewire drive to your Mac.
Just a thought.... (I just did it recently!)
Or, if you have an iPod, this may help: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=300173

How To Back Up iTunes Library In 10.4?

The Back Up to Disc option is gone in iTunes 10.4. So how do I Back Up my music now?

Yep it looks like backup to disc has been removed to make way for using iCloud as the backup for your library. Given that opting to use iCloud for your non-store purchases will produce revenue for Apple I wouldn't expect the backup to disc feature to be restored any time soon.
Fortunately there is a better way. I use SyncToy to clone the changes in my library to a portable drive. Carbon Copy Cloner would seem to be the Mac equivalent (assuming you don't already have Time Machine sorting it out for you). Much easier than swapping out piles of discs.
tt2

How to back up itunes library to Icloud

How do I back up my Itunes library to Icloud?

- Only your iTunes purchases are automatically backed up to iCloud.
- You can "backup" your non-Tunes purchased music only by subscribing to iTunes match
- Photos and videos in your iPod's Camera Roll album are included in your iCloud backup as wall as app data.

How to back up itunes from disk one to disk two on drobo...

I have my whole itunes library on external drobo first as I call the first disk in my drobo system.
Nothing on my computer.
Now I use superduper to make a daily backup from computer to drobo, but since my itunes folder on computer is empty, it does not make a backup of my itunes folder.
I have tried to manually copy folder from Drobo to Drobo 3, but that is extremely time consuming, it's a 200 gb folder. Is there a way to backup from Drobo one to Drobo 3 without having to think about it...
I also would like an incremental backup, only the newest or changed files. Don't want to wipe and re-backup a 200 gig folder on a daily base. Backing up cloggs up computer, and even if I do it at night, it's not finished in the morning, so it cloggs up for a couple of hours...
Any insight in this would be very much appreciated

Catherine, although Jolly is correct that SuperDuper can backup your library from Drobo to Drobo 3, I would recommend against that. I think a better option would be to use SuperDuper to back up your library from Drobo to an external Hard Drive (there are many FW or USB options - I use one called the FreeAgent drive).
The problem I see in backing up from Drobo to Drobo 3 is that if something should go wrong with your Drobo system, then you may lose both the library and the backup. You have too much in your library to take that risk. Of course, if you have all the originals on CD's or DVD's then perhaps you would not lose everyting, you would only have to re-rip everything. But if your library includes photos or videos that you cannot replace, or any other non-replaceable content, I would suggest at least one backup external to the Drobo system.
Good luck,
Santiago

How to back up iTunes library from TC disk?

Since I have now moved my 120GB iTunes music and movie library to my TC hard drive, I need a backup solution. Does anyone know a good, easy way of making incremental back-ups of iTunes from the TC drive (or any network drive) to another HD attached to the TC's USB port?
For the last 24 hours I have been copying the library across from the TC HD to the other HD as an initial back-up, but it's a complete pain in the you-know-what, not least of all because the TC drops the network connection when it feels like it, leaving the copying stuck somewhere along the space/time continuum.
So I need an efficient way of doing the initial huge back-up, then I need a way of doing the future incremental back-ups.
Any suggestions?
Thanks!

I'm looking for the same solution, I need to backup my TC which will host my iTunes and iPhoto libraries to multiple computers. If the TC drive fails, I'm not worried about my backups, but more worries about my libraries.
One solution I have thought of is getting a Drobo, or mirrored RAID device and hooking it up to the USB port. Then I would simply use that drive as the library drive. It would back itself up that way. The problem is that now I would have to mount two different disks onto my desktop every time I wanted to connect to my TC, rather than the sleek looking one disk.

How to back up itunes

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