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.. !!

Similar Messages

  • 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!
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  • 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?
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    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 fully import my itunes music from my external hard drive to my new HP computer so that I don't need the external HD attached to listen to my music? It won't promt me to fully import songs when I import the folder from the EHD.

    When I select File> Add folder to library and then press "select folder" after finding the iTunes music folder I wish to import from my external hard drive, it does not promt me whether to fully import it or not. After the importing is complete, the external hard drive must be attached in order for me to listen to my music. I do not wnat this; I wnat my music fully imported so that I don't need my EHD. What can I do? Thanks!

    To import music into your iTunes library on the computer go to iTunes>Help>iTunes Help>Add items to iTunes and follow the instructions

  • 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.

  • How to migrate iTunes Library from an external hard drive to a new Mac Book Pro?

    How to migrate iTunes and iPhoto librarys from an external hard drive to a MacBook Pro?

    With iTunes:
    iTunes: How to move your music to a new computer [or another drive] - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527
    do not confuse moving your whole folder and library with moving just media files as in
    iTunes for Mac: Moving your iTunes Media folder - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1449
    Quick answer if you let iTunes manage your music:  Copy the whole iTunes folder and all its subfolders and files intact to Home > Music on your computer. It will replace the one that may already be there and anything you have in it will be lost -- you could give the folder a different name just in case, and delete it yourself later.  Unplug the external and start iTunes.

  • How do I move my iTunes library from an external hard drive to my new Time Capsule?

    I stored my 77GB of iTunes library on my six year old 1TB Time Capsule. I just bought a 2TB Time Capsule and moved the iTunes associated folders onto a WD My Passport HD. Now, I can't figure out how to get them onto my new Time Capsule. Can someone please help me?
    I have a MBP that doesn't have enough hard drive space to move them from the WD hard drive onto the MBP and then onto the Time Capsule.
    Isn't there a way to move the files directly from the external HD to the Time Capsule?
    Thanks.

    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 do I move my iTunes library from an external hard drive to my new Mac Mini?

    My MacBook Pro couldn't handle my iTunes library so it was moved to an external hard drive.  I want to move the content without losing the settings and playlists. Can anyone help?

    Hi, see if these help...
    http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1449
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527

  • 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 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

  • If I've downloaded my music to an itunes library from an external hard drive and I have several duplicate songs, is there an easy way to delete the duplicate songs? Or, do I have to go through my entire library song by song to delete duplicates?

    If I've downloaded my music to an itunes library from an external hard drive and I have several duplicate songs, is there an easy way to delete the duplicate songs? Or, do I have to go through my entire library song by song to delete duplicates?

    In iTunes, File>Display Duplicates

  • 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 itunes library from my external hard-drive back to my MacBook Pro?

    A couple of years ago I moved our itunes library to an external hard-drive to free up some space. I got a new MacBook Pro and would like to move the itunes library to it.  I don't remeber how I moved it from my old laptop to the external hard-drive and have no idea how to move it to my MacBook.

    See Restoring your iTunes Backup here...
    Backup iTunes to an External Drive
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1751

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