Access iTunes library on an external hard drive

I am new to Vista. I backed up my itunes library from my imac to an external hard drive. How can I use my HP with Vista to access that library?

Well if you go to edit, preferences, and advanced, you should be able to change where your iTunes library is located. Once you get there, just browse to the iTunes folder on your ext hard drive. It won't save it to your computer, it will just let it play the music when the ext. is plugged in.

Similar Messages

HT5085 I bought a new computer. I backed up my old computer and put my itunes library on an external hard drive, that I then uploaded to the new computer. However, how do I access my Itunes account and use the $25.00 or so credit that Ihave and purchase

I bought a new computer, I backed up my itunes library on an external hard drive from the old computer. I then uploaded the external hardrive to my new comupeter Windows 8 - How do I access my apple store account to purchase additional music and use the $25 or so dollars I have in credit. ?
Thanks - Patti

You should be able to log into your account via the Store > Sign In menu option - if the drop-down menus aren't showing the control-B should them to show.
Your balance should be accessible wherever you are signed into the account. My account's balance shows at the top left of the store's page on my computer's iTunes, and by logging in to view my account via the Store > View Account menu option (that option will only show after you've signed in).

I got a new computer and backed up my iTunes library to an external hard drive. The external hard drive is not allowing me to access the drive. Is there a way to transfer the songs from my iPod touch to my new computer?

I got a new computer and backed up my iTunes library to an external hard drive. The external hard drive is not allowing me to access the drive. I no longer have access to the old computer. Is there a way to transfer the songs from my iPod touch to my new computer?

That's a bummer, didn't realize the exHD files were corrupt, esp if you have tried from another PC and not just this new computer.
You can get purchases from the itunes store transferred from an iPod using these directions:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1848?viewlocale=en_US
If you want everything (meaning non-itunes songs, app data, photos, etc) you need to buy a 3rd-party ipod manager that support iTouch. Here is an iLounge article to start your research:
http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/copying-music-from-ipod-to-co mputer/P2/

HT1751 if I move my iTunes library to an external hard drive can my computer access these files in iTunes or do I need to move them back to play music, watch movies, etc.???

If I move my iTunes library to an external hard drive, can my MacBookPro access these files in iTunes or do I need to move them backto my MacBookPro to play music, watch movies, etc.???
Trying to alleviate some disc space on my Mac!!!

Yes, it can. Launch iTunes with the Option key held down and navigate to that instance of the library.
(86939)

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.

Using my iTunes library from an external hard drive to a brand new Macbook.

This seems to be such a simple thing to be able to do but I'm fearing it's not. Basically I've had an iMac for 3 years and during that time have built up around 165gb in my iTunes folder. So I learnt off the net how to move my library onto an external hard drive so that I can free up the space on my iMac and play my iTunes library from the external drive. So far so good. My iPhone 4 is obviously connected to my iMac and thats how I get my media on and off the phone. Here's where my problems begin.
I've just bought a Macbook Pro. Its obviously empty and has no media on it. I have paired my iPhone 4 with the new Macbook but obviously the iTunes library on my new Macbook is empty. I downloaded a couple of podcasts onto my new machine and tried to put them onto my phone but got a message saying that the podcasts I currently have on my phone (that are on there from my iMac iTunes library) were going to be deleted and the new ones would be put on. Still with me? So, if I could get my original 165gb library thats now on my external hard drive to be seen on my new Macbook that would possibly solve my problems. But I cant see a simple way of doing this. I've pointed the iTunes Media Location folder in the preferences on my new Macbook to the same folder on my external hard drive as is on my iMac but iTunes on my Macbook is not showing up my library. Do I really have to open every album into iTunes on my Macbook seperately? It seems such a stupid, laborious way of doing it. As if you cant have two Apple computers and run one iTunes library off an external hard drive so that its the same on both machines.
Help!
Message was edited by: Eels290776

Eels290776 wrote:
if my external hard drive is not connected to either of my machines, and I download something onto my iMac and then something different onto my Macbook, where are my machines going to be storing the new downloaded media
when the drive is not connected, +iTunes media folder location+ will default back to <MacintoshHD>/users/<yourname>/music/iTunes/iTunes music (or media)
and when I next connect the external hard drive how will I easily get the newly downloaded media onto the external HD
you'd have to point +iTunes media folder location+ back to the external via preferences > advanced > iTunes media folder location, then file > library, organize library > consolidate files
and essentially, to have it easily readable on both machines?
in that case it might be best to copy the entire iTunes folder to the external. then, on each machine, launch iTunes while pressing option on your keyboard. when prompted, click on +choose library+ and navigate to the iTunes folder on the external.
note only one iTunes can access the iTunes library @ a time !
also, make sure the external is mounted on either machine before launching iTunes.
JGG

Can I safely move my iTunes library to an external hard drive, to free up memory?

As an elementary music teacher, I have more than 10,000 songs in my iTunes library.
I also have a lot of video footage of my students' performances.
I need to free up memory and am wondering if there is a safe way to move the iTunes library to an external hard drive, and, if it is safe, how difficult will it be for me to access it from the external hard drive.
On my school computer, one of the "techies" moved that iTunes library to an external drive and ended up quadrupling the size of it, so want to be sure that if this makes sense, that I do it the right way!!!
Thanks so much!

Can I move those songs to an external hard drive?
yes.
Will that improve the speed of my computer?
maybe. what is the total capacity of your boot drive and how much free space is left ?

I've copied my itunes library onto an external hard drive. Is there any way I can do this and delete songs from my PC without also deleting from the external drive? Already lost two songs!!!

I've copied my itunes library onto an external hard drive. Is there any way I can do this and delete songs from my PC without also deleting from the external drive? Already lost two songs!!! I just want a back up - using a work PC and don't want others accessing my songs. Hope someone can help. Thanks!

I see. To get a better idea of what is being stored where please download and run the script iTunesInfo which should output something like this:
I'm interested in the block of 4 results starting ITL location. If your profile name shows up somewhere replace it with <Name>. It is also worth checking under Edit > Preferences > Advanced to see where iTunes thinks your media is supposed to go. My script estimates the setting based on the location of the first media file it can actually find.
tt2

Itunes library on an external hard drive for the Ipad?

Does anyone know of a way that I can access an iTunes library through an external hard drive on the ipad? Currently, I have an external hard drive connected through an airport base station. From my ipad, I can connect to this hard drive and see all my media files (using the FileBrowser app); however I cannot create playlists or let the music play on a loop. Is there a way I can import this library of music into itunes and still have it reference the external hard drive location?
I have this setup on my computer to keep the hard drive clean and am trying to do the same with the hard drive.
Any suggestions?

I have my iTunes library on my hard drive, but keep a number of mp3's on an external hard drive..but here are some things I looked at to get an idea how to best manage this:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1473 ( adding content on your computer to iTunes section..important to avoid duplication)
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2723211
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1364
Hope this helps.

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.

HT1751 I am trying to backup my iTunes library onto an external hard drive but it won't complete due to 'insufficient privileges for some of the items'. Am I doing something wrong and is there a solution to this problem?

Hi All,
I am currently trying to backup my iTunes library onto an external hard drive so that I can copy it onto my new Macbook Pro. I have been following the steps posted on the Apple website however each time I get a dialogue box stating:
'The operation cannot be completed because you do not have sufficient privileges for some of the items'.
Is this because I have items that were bought under another persons iTunes account? If so, is there a solution to this problem? Or am I doing something completely wrong?
Thanks in advance,
Sbrooks19

Go through the below forum with similar issue and follow the process mentioned by "Macjack" in the beginning.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4499820

How can i back up my itunes library onto an external hard drive?

I can seem to figure out how to back up my Itunes library onto my external hard drive. Any advise?

A quick search provides the answer, see the following:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1751 for backing up to an external drive.
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1382 for backing up to optical media.

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 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....

Help! I need to open my iTunes library from my external hard drive

Hey everybody
I recently moved my iTunes library to an external hard drive. It worked great for a while; whenever I opened iTunes I made sure my hard drive was plugged in. Since then, I've used iTunes without plugging the hard drive in to sync my iPhone contacts, so there is also a local iTunes library without any files. My question: how do I tell iTunes to open the library on my external hard drive again? The hard drive is plugged in but iTunes won't open the library on the hard drive. I think there is some key I have to hold down while opening iTunes (?) it's not ctrl or option. Help! Thanks
Ryan

Yep. You're right. My problem was that I wasn't holding the option key down long enough... wow, epic fail... but thanks! I now have my music back!

Access iTunes library on an external hard drive

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