ITunes Library to External Hard Drive...and iTunes Match???

So, my iTunes library is getting too large for my computer's storage capacity. I'm thinking of moving some of my library to an external, USB hard drive. However, I've never done iTunes through an external hard drive before and I have some questions.
Can I copy new discs (import) straight onto the external hard drive? Or do they need to go onto my computer first then get transferred to the hard drive?
Can I still use iTunes Match and pull songs from the library on my hard drive and from the main computer?
To partition a library between a computer and an external hard drive, do I need to activate sharing or anything special? Or will the computer/main iTunes library just consider the external drive to be a different location for some of the tracks?
How would I backup the external hard drive? Would Time Machine (running off a separate hard drive) back up another external hard drive if they were both plugged in?
Can you burn the entire library to data discs anymore? Or do you need to make a playlist of your entire library? If the latter, is there a way to turn off the message about iTunes in the Cloud playlists only accepting songs matched or uploaded? I have some songs that erroneously did not get matched or uploaded. If I try to put them in a playlist and burn it to a data disc for backup, iTunes won't do it.
Please help!

I recommend you keep everything inside the iTunes folder.
Quit iTunes.
Copy the entire /Music/iTunes/ folder from internal to external.
Hold Option and launch iTunes.
Select Choose library... and select the iTunes folder you copied to the external.
This is all you need to do. Everything will work normally.
You can delete now /Music/iTunes/ folder on the internal.

Similar Messages

Move PC iTunes library to external hard drive and consolidate with iMac

Hi, I have a PC that I'm not using much. I have a ton of iTunes music files on it so I went through the process of copying these files to my networked external hard drive. I have my iMac connected wirelessly to this same hard drive. I went into the System Preferences on the iMac to tell it where it could find the new library and I pointed it to the iTunes folder but there is not an iTunes Media folder like many of the articles state, like this one: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1449
Do I need to create an iTunes Media folder? Note this is an iTunes Library that was on a PC, moved to a networked external hard drive and will be used on my new iMac.
Thanks.

kneedragger101 wrote:
Note this is an iTunes Library that was on a PC
you might want to read these articles: one and two.
why not move your media files using _*Home Sharing*_ ?

Moving iTunes Library to external hard drive when iTunes can't consolidate.

Hi guys, hope you can help.
I want to move my whole iTunes library to an external hard drive and then delete it all from my laptop, and from reading around I realise I have to consolidate the library into the iTunes music folder. However, as my internal hard drive on my laptop is completely full, iTunes won't let me do this, saying I don't have enough space. Is getting the libary into the iTunes music folder the only way of getting it onto the external hard drive?
I can't really free up much space on the laptop as most of it (45 out of 60Gb) is the music I want to transfer!
Thanks very much!

Over half of my stuff isn't there.
Isn't where? In iTunes or not in the iTunes folder?\>Is it possible to copy the iTunes music folder from my laptop to the external, and consolidate from iTunes directly onto there?
Why not do as I posted above? Point iTunes prefs Advanced to the external then consolidate. Everything will be consolidated to the external.
You can then delete \Music\iTunes\Media\ folder and hunt around the internal and delete all the other songs that were not in the iTunes folder.

Copied Library to External Hard drive and iTunes cannot find

I copied my iTunes library to an external hard drive last night and went into preferences and changed location and then deleted the original folder...now iTunes is empty... If I go onto hard drive and select a song it tranfers it into iTunes (and back onto computers hard drive)...obviously did something wrong...anybody have any suggestions on how to fix?

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://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304447
If you are just testing, 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.
Additional info...
Back up your iTunes library by copying to an external hard drive
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=307074
Cheers,
Patrick

HT1449 Moving iTunes Library to External Hard Drive & Finding iTunes Media Location with iTunes 11.1.1

I tried this out till step 10,however i cannot manage to find organize Library or Consolidate Library when i choose Library in iTunes 11.1.1.
Any help would be much Appreciated.

I tried this out till step 10,however i cannot manage to find organize Library or Consolidate Library when i choose Library in iTunes 11.1.1.
Any help would be much Appreciated.

Backup and restoring itunes library from external hard drive?

is there a way to backup and restore my itunes library to external hard drive and not through the internal itunes backup utility cos i have over 20gbs of music and i want to keep my album art and renamed songs etc. because i will be reformating my pc and dont want to go through painful task of manually adding stuff again.

Try this...
*Fast backup for iTunes library (Windows Only)*
Grab SyncToy 2.0, a free tool from MS. Use it to create a backup copy of your iTunes library & any other media folders onto another hard drive or network share. After making the initial backup copy use SyncToy to periodically synchronise the backup copy with your library and only the changed files will be copied saving lots of time.
When the time comes to reformat your PC, do a final sync, then open iTunes & deauthorise the PC, reformat & rebuild Windows, copy the backup folders back to the same location as they were previously, install iTunes and it should all work perfectly.
tt2

How do I back up my itunes to an external hard drive and restore from same if necessary

How do I back up my entire itunes to an external hard drive and restore from same if necessary.
Thanks

This is where iTunes stores backups for different operating systems: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4946
I do not use a Windows machine, have a Windows Vista Dell I rarely startup now. But, from what I remember with Win boxes is, you will have to create on the external hard drive a file system like that one iTunes normally uses, and then in the iTunes preferences or control panel edit the location for the storage to specify the name of the external hard drive, or its letter code, with the name of that file system you created on the exernal drive.
I would also move all of the files from the internal file system to the external since you have now told iTunes that is where they are...before deleting from the internal drive, test iTunes to see that it goes where you want it to go.

How to use external hard drive and iTunes together?

how to use external hard drive and iTunes together?

Yes I did get to that part.... I went trough external to retrive itunes folder... When I selected the folder, it said that it was locked, choose another folder... I then went to my external again to my itunes folder and and used command I to see if folder was locked and it wasn't.... it was suggested on another forum to reboot.. which I did and still same problem... All I want to do is link my external hard drive that has my itunes playlist from another Mac to my new one.. and to also use the external as the main source for adding new songs to my playlist...

I moved itunes file to external hard drive and want to move the file on my pc to recycle bin. When I move i get an error message that it cannot delete ituneshelper.dll access is denied. Can I move that file to the recycle bin?

I am trying to free up space on my pc and moving itunes files to external hard drive. I have followed instructions and believe I have file copied to new drive, but I am having trouble moving file to recycle bin as the instructions say. I am getting the following error message: cannot delete ituneshelper.dll:access denied, make sure disk is not full or write protected and file not in use. I know the file is not in use when trying to move. Any help would be most appreciated. I am on Windows XP.

Yes. And you should not have moved that folder. Put it back. To move your iTunes library move the folder from User's Music.
tt2

Can't import entire iTunes library from external hard drive

I recently had to reset my IBM ThinkPad T40 (Windows XP) to factory settings. Of course, I backuped up my iTunes library on an external hard drive, and there didn't seem to be any problems doing so. (I've had to do the same thing before) But I can't re-import the entire library now! It only imports about a thousand songs (I had about 5,000), and I get an error message saying "The file iTunes Library.itl~ cannot be imported becuase it does not appear to be a valid exported file.") I also tried to import a previous back-up (stored in a different folder, and it wouldn't import all of those files, either -- no more than in the more recent backup files) either. I've tried re-downloading the iTunes software several times. Help!!!!
Thanks!!!
PS: Is there a way to sync my iPod to import songs from that BACK into itunes?
IBM ThinkPad T40 Windows XP

This seems to have deleted ALL of my iTunes. The folder (and all iTunes files) is still there on my backup, but now the newly-installed iTunes won't import ANYTHING (It at least imported about 1,000 (out of 5,000) songs before. But now it says all files are invalid, regardless of where I attempt to import them from. (although the names of some playlists import -- but they're empty files) It appears that SOME of the music files are located on the backup copy, but simply won't import. Perhaps they're corrupted?

External Hard Drives and iTunes, on Mac Book Pro and PC?

If you transfer your iTunes library from PC to an external hard drive, can you use itunes, from the external hard drive when you plug it into Mac Book Pro?
I'm very confused about this!
All my music is on PC and I want to save it to my external hard drive. But I will no longer be using that PC afterwards.
I would like to use itunes on my Mac but it only has 128 Gb, not enough storage for my iTunes library.
So, can you use your transfered itunes library from the PC to external drive on your Mac?
Another question I have is, when your itunes is on your external hardrive can you still sync, make playlists and add new songs?
I don't know very much about external hard drives, but I need the space.

No. Likely the drive is presently formatted NTFS which is no good on a Mac unless you want to buy spcial software to enable it (given your scenario it is not worth it). The best format for Mac use is MacExtended, but your PC cannot write files to that. The intermediate solution is to reformat the drive to DOS FAT, but as I already said this isn't ideal.
If it were me I would:
1) With the PC copy the entire iTunes folder to the current external, presumably formatted as NTFS.
2) Buy the new second drive I know I will need for backing up both my computer and my old external drive. Format it as Mac extended. In the long run you want to configure this for use with Time Machine but I can't help you with that because I can't run TM. For the time being you are using it to temporarily store files.
3) Using the Mac make sure the new drive is formatted to Mac extended.
4) On the Mac copy the entire iTunes folder from the old drive to the new.
5) With the Mac reformat the old drive to Mac extended.
6) With the Mac copy the entire iTunes folder from the new drive to the old one which is now in the Mac friendly format. Start iTunes with the option key held down as described earlier.
Others may be able to help with some details on formatting drives because I use an older system. I know with my system version when you reformat or partition you lose all files on a drive which is why you have to have somewhere to temporarily store your library. I think they did some changes but I am not sure of the details.

Two very mobile laptops, one external hard drive, and iTunes?

I'm very sorry if this has been answered, but I've searched a lot and haven't quite found the precise question I'm asking...
My household has two iBooks (G3 and G4) wirelessly networked through an original Airport. Our music is completely digital, and we have no stereo. Each iBook has a different iTunes library. When we want to play the G3's music, we connect the G3 to a good set of speakers (pretending to be a stereo) through the mini jack. Same for the G4. This would be fine, except we're both running out of internal hard drive space.
So, what we want to do is buy one external hard drive, both store our music files on it, and play music. A new drive in the mid-range should tide us both over till we can afford new computers.
But this has raised a whole host of questions:
1. How do we share a hard drive when we both have laptops that move about the house all the time? Sometimes the G3 sits on the desk playing music while the G4 sits on the couch checking email, and vice versa.
2. Can we set up just one iTunes library on the hard drive that is fully accessible to whichever computer is connected to it, both in terms of playing and in terms of updating?
3. But wouldn't that be terrible, anyway, because I couldn't sit on the couch and download new music into my iTunes folder automatically?
4. And this leads to what I really, really, want, which is an external hard drive that is independently wirelessly accessible by both computers.
5. Which in turn leads to the true wishlist, which is to be able to use AirTunes too. Then I could sit anywhere, access a shared library on either computer, and then stream it to my stereo.
Is any of this possible? Am I missing the forest for the trees? Is there some big picture that I am just not seeing? I just want both computers to be mobile, to each have more space to store music, and each still be able to play that music without the other one having to be involved.
Thanks a bunch -- Discussions is one of my favorite places to lurk for hours.
- Kendra
(BTW, I'd upgrade my Airport if it helped, or buy an Express. And I've seen a lot on Sharepoints, but am not sure if that's what I'm looking for.)

Well to answer several questions at once, there are Ethernet (aka Network) Hard drives you can buy that hook up via ethernet. you could plug it in near your router and then plug the ethernet cable into one of the Router's ethernet ports and set up a network drive. It doesn't have to be connected directly to a computer. Here are two examples (shop around for price, size and features)...
http://shop3.outpost.com/product/5031245?site=sr:SEARCH:MAINRSLTPG
http://shop3.outpost.com/product/3945658?site=sr:SEARCH:MAINRSLTPG
Patrick

DJ with an external hard drive and itunes

Hi,
I have been asked to play music at a venue on Saturday and I have over 800 albums on my external hard drive (mp3 format).
The venue uses a PC hooked up to a mixing desk and they have itunes as the preferred MP3 player.
The owner of the venue uses his own music (stored internally and through an external) all set up as an itunes library.
My question is this – is it possible for me to take along my external hard drive and plug it in, create a playlist and just drag the mp3’s from the external as and when required onto the playlist without problems?
I hope this makes sense!
Cheers,
Al

gusaphit wrote:
so because you have kept your itunes folder and library on an EHD, I take it you have also deleted the actual Itunes program folder from your computer's C drive?
Not the program folder, iTunes folder where your music library and ancillary files are kept. I haven't had my iTunes music on any internal hard drive on any computer for years.
I am trying to delete the music/movies off of this PC as it is my work station as well.
What steps do I need to take in order to successfully ensure that my Itunes will be secured on my EHD and fully operable should I want to add more music, purchase more music, or delete/re-arrange music as I am doing now.
Check in Preferences>Advanced to make sure that iTunes is pointed to your EHD. If it is, you should be fine. Then, just to make sure that everything is where it should be consolidate your library: File>Library>Organize Library.
Follow-up: If I move the program over to my EHD does that mean I can use any PC to download music into the Itunes library from my EHD?
I don't think you want to move the iTunes.exe file to your EHD. As I understand it, iTunes isn't really happy there and it takes some work to get it there. Just move the library.
I'm asking because you responded and you're cute.
Very happy to help but really, I'm not that cute.

I transfered my itunes to an external hard drive and seemed to have lost my apps. Any ideas?

I thought I could just drag and drop my iTunes library to an external hard drive. After doing this and finding out that it would not work I took my itunes folder and moved it from my music folder on my hard drive to my desktop. After doing that I realized what I needed to do to get my itunes on the external hard drive. I got the itunes on the hard drive alright, lost my playlists which is OK, I will just re-do those, but I also lost my apps for my iPad. I still have all my original files though on my desk top. Does anyone have any suggestions?

davidfrombillings wrote:
I thought I could just drag and drop my iTunes library to an external hard drive.
it'll work ... if done properly ☞
copy the entire iTunes folder (not just the iTunes music or media folder) from <MacintoshHD>/users/<yourname>/music on your Mac to the external, then launch iTunes while holding the option (⌥) key, click on choose library when prompted, and select the iTunes folder on the external.
if I already have my iTunes going to the incorrect files how is it going to find the correct files again.
you could try if this script helps:
iTunes Track CPR v1.3
This script attempts to locate the files of so-called "dead tracks"--iTunes tracks designated with (!)--that you assume are not actually missing but are still located in the iTunes Music folder in their "iTunes File Order" (Music -> Artist -> Album -> file.xxx)."
Eric Ross wrote:
When you moved the file back did you go back into iTunes in your preferences and select the advance tab and then selected the location again or where your files are
the iTunes media folder location in preferences > advanced tells iTunes where to put new additions to your library, not where your content currently is.

ITunes Library for External Hard drive on MacBook

Just switched to Mac. Old PC's iTunes library was on an external hard drive. I tried to access the external hard drive through iTunes on the MacBook and the iTunes Music folder shows up, but there are no files showing up. The external hard drive is connected to the Airport Extreme Base.
Through finder all of the music files show up on the external hard drive, but not through iTunes.
I would like to be able access the external hard drive from the mac and pc.
Thanks

it must have something to do with the Airport Extremem Base Station. I connected the externam hard drive directly to the MacBook and "Add to Library", and everything was added. Then I plugged the external hard drive into the Airpot again, and everything worked o.k., I am still missing 80 songs somewhere.

ITunes Library to External Hard Drive...and iTunes Match???

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for