Accessing music files on external hard drives with Home Sharing

I use my iMac as a computer and music server. I have it connected via USB and SPDIF to my audio system, and access my music files with the Remote app on my iPhone. It works fine except when the Remote app occasionally wants to take a brief break. The problem is that I have a LOT of high-res music files, and my IMac's hard drive is filling up and slowing the processor down. Is there a way to access music files located on external hard drives (I have two) AND the files located on my iMac using Home Sharing and the Remote app on my iPhone. I'd like to move some of the files off of the iMac's HD to free up space. Thanks.

The best thing to do is to get an external drive that is large enough
and has sufficient room for growth and move your entire iTunes
folder to it.
Then start iTunes holding down the option key and when the dialog
box comes up, select choose library and navigate to the new iTunes
folder location.
This way, nothing will be lost, confused, or otherwise messed up since
the entire library will be intact.

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How do I get iTunes to access music files on external hard drive?

We moved all of our music to an external hard drive. The hd is always on and I connect to it wirelessly. I don't know how to get iTunes to use the library that is on the hard drive, can anyone help me please.

iTunes expects to find its library in the ./Music/iTunes folder. To get iTunes to see music on another drive, you first have to create the library on your internal drive. Once you've done that, you copy the iTunes folder over to your external drive, and redirect iTunes to that drive, using an alias. (I originally did this in Tiger and it continues to work fine in Leopard. I don't know if doing it originally in Leopard would make any difference.)
Note: If your external drive library is already too large for your internal drive, simply use as much of it as you can to create the original library on your internal drive. You can add the rest of it once you've got iTunes looking at the external drive. In this case, remember to name any "iTunes" folder on the external drive to something else, so you don't erase everything in the following procedure.
Load up as much music as you can on your internal drive, making sure it appears in iTunes.
Quit iTunes and copy the iTunes folder from your internal drive to your external drive (be sure you don't erase whatever's already on the external drive). Copying that folder to the root of the external drive is OK.
On your internal drive, rename the 'iTunes" folder to something else (like orig_iTunes) -- or move it out of the Music folder.
Open your external hard drive to the directory containing your iTunes folder.
Cmd-Option drag the iTunes folder from the external hard drive to the internal hard drive Music folder, creating an alias in the internal drive's Music folder.
Launch iTunes. You should now see the music from the external hard drive. If necessary, you can now add back any missing music, and it will automatically create the necessary music and library files inside your iTunes folder on the external drive. Once you've got them all added, you can delete both the orig_iTunes folder, and the folder on your external drive that served as the source for adding your library back in.

My PC computer was wiped (virus) including itunes. How do I transfer the many playlists and music to the new re-installed itunes?? Ipod is synced to old itunes. I have all original music files on external hard drive. Please help?

My PC computer was wiped (virus) including itunes. How do I transfer the many playlists and music on my ipod to the new re-installed itunes?? Ipod is synced to old itunes. I have all original music files on external hard drive. Please help?
New itunes is trying to wipe the ipod. But have many many playlists (many hours making) which I want to save. Any help would be appreciated.

If you want to just extract the playlists from your iPod, plug it in iTunes. When it appears under devices, right->click on it and choose Export Playlists. Save them to a location such as your desktop and them import them into your library once you have copied and imported all of your music back into it.
See this older post from another forum member Zevoneer covering the different methods and software available to assist you with the task of copying content from your iPod back to your PC and into iTunes.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2452022?start=0&tstart=0
B-rock

I have an external hard drive with a shared music folder, which I can access (from Home Sharing) and play music on my Windows computer. On my new Mac, I can see the drive in Home Sharing but not play any music. What's the solution?

I have an external network hard drive with a shared music folder (WD MyBookLive), which I can access from Home Sharing and play music on my Windows computers. On my new Mac, I can see the drive and the music in Home Sharing but the tracks will not play. All the other authorized computers in my home network show up in Home Sharing and I can play the content. What's the solution?

Troubleshooting Home Sharing - http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2972

Moving music files via external hard drive-- Can you keep ratings/playlists

I keep all my music on an external hard drive in order to prevent it getting lost. Anyways... what I'm wondering is if I go to move my music from one computer (comp. A) to another computer (comp. B), is it possible to keep all the ratings and my playlists? I've seen the stuff for transfering with your ipod, but the problem is my 30Gb doesn't hold all my music, and I would reeeeeaaally hate to go through and redo all the ratings. If anyone knows maybe a file involved with itunes that might contain the ratings or playlists that I could store with the files themselves to transfer that would be excellent. Thanks to anyone who can help out. If you need clarification on any of the details just lemme know.

It looks like it should, thanks. One other bit that I'm wondering about is how do I load that Library list once I've installed itunes on comp B? Is it just a matter of going file>import or file>add new file to library? Thanks again

Hard Drive Crash--Restoring music files from External Hard Drive

My hard disk crashed, but I think (at least I hope) that I'm backed up. I had copied all of my Itunes music onto an external hard disk before the crash, although I'm not sure I copied everything that you are supposed for a full backup (i.e. all files in the Itunes folder). I'm uncertain as to the process to get everything restored.
Right now, Itunes is not installed on the new hard disk. Obviously I need to download and reinstall Itunes, which I'll do. But from here I'm confused, and I haven't seen a straightforward explanation of the next steps. Is it then as easy as copying all the old music from the external hard drive into the new Itunes music folder once Itunes is reinstalled, then synching? Or, do install itunes, then reopen it while the external hard drive is attached, and "consolidate" the old library into the new? Or do I first have to plug in the Ipod, authorize the new drive, and move the purchased music from the Ipod to the new drive through the manually managing music process that I've read about? Is there a relatively straightforward "step by step" process someone can point me at?
I'd appreciate any guidance anyone can provide, or any directions to some materials that I can read. Thanks very much.

If you copied the entire iTunes folder to the external, then all you have to do is install iTunes like normal, then start up with these instructions and point it to your backup on the external...
How to open an alternate iTunes Library file or create a new one
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304447
Assuming that works, you can either leave everything as is and continue to use it directly off the external. Or close iTunes, then again copy the entire iTunes folder back to your internal drive, then reopen iTunes with those instructions again and re-point it back to your internal drive's copy.
Patrick

Share music stored on external hard drive with users of computer?

Is it possible to share music that has been stored on an external hard drive with the users of that computer? I have just moved and combined all music to an external hard drive and now I want to allow all the users to access that music. I'd also like to have it so that when one user adds more music, it is also added to the other users iTunes.

Close itunes, go into windows disk mgmt and set the drive letter back to F:
When you re-open itunes it should be back to normal.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307844

How can I play the music on my external hard drive with my laptop?

Look before everyone points out that this has been asked lots of times before, I wanted to state that in this particular case it might be a little bit more complicated. You see I think I've been an idiot.
I backed up all my physical music onto my external hard drive, but only the physical music. So now I have my nice new laptop and haven't got a clue how to play the music off my external hard drive, since I don't have an itunes library on my external hard drive.
Anyway any help would be much appreciated.
Thanks

Am I being a plonker, but it doesn't seem as simple as that. If I try and import via itunes it seems to want me to select the individual music file not the folder which holds all the music.
Also if I simply import it, won't my mac copy the files from my external hard drive back on to my laptop? Which makes me think I change the location where all the music is stored in itunes...?
Thanks for the help!

How can I use 300 GB of music on my external hard drive with my itunes on ipad?

I have 300 GB of music on my external hard drive. I use an ipod touch and want to to use an ipad to manage and make playlists and transfer to my touch. What is the best way for me to do this?? Thanks in advance.

It doesn't appear so. I am shopping around now and the latest review I read says that there is an interface built into the product to manage media.
http://www.laptopmag.com/reviews/storage/seagate-goflex-satellite.aspx

I have recently changed my apple id and password, but when i try to access music on an external hard drive that i bought on iTunes it asks me to authorize my computer with my old apple id? can anyone help?

I have recently changed my apple id and password. When i try to access music that i bought on itunes on an external hard drive, it asks me to authorize my computer with my old apple id? can anyone help?

Please try to sign in at https://appleid.apple.com
Check if your new username/email address is verfied
If this works, delete your account on your iPhone (Settings > iCloud)
Sign back in

Access to files on external hard drive.

Hi,
I have a really annoying problem. I have a sata hdd connected via usb to my pc. I am running windows 8.1. The external hard drive belongs to a friend that wants their data.
I can locate the folders in explorer. But when I try to copy any of the files it says: You'll need to provide administrator permission to copy this file. so I click on continue and it tries to move it, then says : You need permission to perform this action
You require permission from the computers administrator to make changes to this file.
Neither the folder the file is in, nor the Hdd show a security tab in properties unlike all of the rest of the drives / folders on my pc.
I have tried adding take ownership to my left click context menu, but that didn't help either.
What do I have to do to be able to copy these files?

If your friend doesn't mind that the permissions are changed on the drive, what you need to do is this:
1. Take Ownership of all the folders and files. To do so you need to have Explorer running As Administrator.
2. Set the permissions of all the folders and files so that you have Full Control (or at least Read) access. Same requirement as step 1.
It's really as simple as that. If you find you can't do one of these steps,
then you are not executing the program you're trying to use to do the step with administrative privileges.
Yes, I agree that UAC gets in the way of doing the things you want to do. IMO it's a poor implementation of a bad idea, which is why I disable it.
-Noel
Detailed how-to in my eBooks:
Configure The Windows 7 "To Work" Options
Configure The Windows 8 "To Work" Options

2 CD Music Files in External Hard Drive

I remember you told me how to file my iTunes music folder into my existing one in my external hard drive (EHD).
When I slide the one from my PC directly over the iTunes Music File in my EHD it copies and updates everything fine. However, when I look in the iTunes Music folder file on the EHD to see all the songs, there is another iTunes music folder with all the same songs in that one too.
In other words, I have two of the same folders on my EHD that read 'iTunes Music folder." Understand what I'm saying?
So should i delete one of them since they are apparently the same?

Go to File -> Add then naviage to and pick your new location where your songs are. They should all be added to the library and hopefully have the right information. You may still need to go in and delete the older pointers which now have the in front of them.
Patrick

HT1199 Accessing hidden files on external hard drive

My external hard drive I've used to store my newspaper back issues for years has suddenly stopped accessing the files on the drive. I can see by the amount of storage that the files are there, but I can no longer see them, nor access them. There's still plenty of room on the drive, but now it thinks it's part of my Time Machine (though it's not the drive I use for system Time Machine backup) and won't let me do anything with the hard drive. And no, I did not do anything different with the drive than use it to store my back up newspaper issues (I make a weekly newspaper).
Any ideas how I can re-access the files on the drive?

Several thoughts:
If you double-click on the drive, do you see any files or folders? Does it say (at the bottom) how many items are in the drive? Can you see any of them?
What do you mean when you say it thinks it's part of your Time Machine?
Can you try running Disk Utility and verify the external hard drive? I wouldn't repair it yet, just in case you want to run a recovery utility later. I'd just like to see if Disk Utility gives you any errors when you try to verify the external drive.

How do I transfer my music from my external hard drive with the extension .itl?

I transferred my music from my old computer to an external hard drive. Now trying to get my music to load into my new computer via external hard drive but I do not think it will due to the extension of .itl. what shall I do?

The itl file is the library's database file; it doesn't contain the music itself. You need to transfer the actual song files.
(118022)

Accessing back-ups on external hard-drive with Time Machine.

Hi guys,
I hope someone can help me with this problem. I am a novice at this so please be patient and forgive my ignorance.
I backed up the internal hard-drive of my '06 iMac onto an external Iomega 500GB hard-drive using Time Machine.
A couple of weeks later the internal hard-drive of my iMac fried and I got the " grey screen of death ".
Now I have the external hard-drive connected to my '06 MacBook.
There is 300GB of data on the external hard-drive. There is only 50GB of space available on my MacBook.
I would like to access my iPhoto on the external hard-drive but when I click on the iPhoto icon in Time Machine, I get "error code 10657 ".
I am NOT trying to do a full restore of the back-up onto the MacBook because :
1. There is not enough space available on the MacBook and
2. I will do a full restore when I have bought and installed a new bigger hard-drive into the iMac.
So, I guess my question is this : Is it possible for me to access my iPhoto on the external hard-drive using my MacBook without doing a complete transfer and if so, how ?
Thanking you in advance,
Sean.

If this is a network device, you can't back it up with Time Machine. If it's directly attached, and in Mac OS format, delete it from the exclusion list in the Time Machine preference pane.

Accessing music files on external hard drives with Home Sharing

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