Adding Music when away from external Drive where Itunes Library is stored

I have a macbook and an Ipod 60gb. I have come across a slight frustration in Itunes. I have limited space on my internal drive and as such have my iTunes music stored on an external hard drive. I frequently am away from this drive when I import a cd into itunes. The problem, itunes switches where my library is stored from the external drive to the internal drive. Is there an option that someone knows about that would keep this from happening?
I have a suggestion for itunes, why not make an option to add music to a briefcase folder, and when connected to the external drive add it to the main library. This would allow for music to be imported to the computer and then be added to the main storage source when available.
If anyone knows a way I send a product suggestions to apple please let me know, as I have a few that would like to suggest.

mattbeardall wrote:
Is there an option that someone knows about that would keep this from happening?
no, if iTunes can't find its drive/folder, it defaults to creating one within your Home directory's Music folder.
If anyone knows a way I send a product suggestions to apple please let me know, as I have a few that would like to suggest.
under the iTunes menu choose the Feedback menuItem.

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Music files deleted from hard drive and iTunes library

Often, after iTunes software updates, I find that some of my music files that have been uploaded from cds are completely erased from my music library and from my external hard drive, where I keep all my music. I always make sure I turn on the external drive before opening iTunes, and I quit iTunes before turning off the external drive.
So why is my music disappearing?! Where does it go? This has been a problem for a long time and I can't find any solutions online. Please help! Thank you!

When you have the unit in the dock, anytime you sync, you have to make sure that it will sync again to the folder. If it isn't set to sync the same folder where you had the music sync before, it'll delete the file.
That's just the way it's set up. So you have be conscious of it.

When my MyBook external drive (where I keep my music) is connected to my Mac, iTunes stops responding upon startup. I have to force quit iTunes, disconnect the iBook, restart iTunes and plug the iBook back in.

When my MyBook external drive (where I keep my music) is connected to my Mac, iTunes stops responding upon startup. I have to force quit iTunes, disconnect the iBook, restart iTunes and plug the iBook back in.

mattbeardall wrote:
Is there an option that someone knows about that would keep this from happening?
no, if iTunes can't find its drive/folder, it defaults to creating one within your Home directory's Music folder.
If anyone knows a way I send a product suggestions to apple please let me know, as I have a few that would like to suggest.
under the iTunes menu choose the Feedback menuItem.

HT4061 Why can't I access my music when away from wireless connection?

I have my music in iCloud but now I cannot access it when away from home what am I doing wrong.?

are you using itunes match?
if so go to settings> itunes & apps and at the bottom turn on use cellular data

How do l play music from external drive using itune.

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(61573)

MOVING mp3-files from external drive into iTunes automatically

Hi all,
for historical reasons (mainly because I was coming from Windows years ago) I have stored all my mp3-Files (audiobooks, songs, etc) on an external harddrive. My iTunes library is stored on the external drive, too and all media content in my iTunes library is manually linked to the external drive. Today the option iTunes >Setting >"Let iTunes manage your library" ias well as "Copy filed to iTunes Media folders" is UNchecked.
In my iTunes library there is only a subset of all mp3-files included.
Now, I would love to get my library moved to the mac as well as the audio and video-files, and let iTunes manage the storage of the library!
As far as I know once I move the library (manul or automatic) to the Mac and check the option to let iTunes manage the and copy content, then iTunes will COPY the medial files to the Mac.
Given that I have only included a subset of my entire repository in iTunes I will then end up with a mess of mediafiles on my external drive where some are doublicated while others aren't. I will be impossible to figure out afterwards what is included in iTunes and what isn't.
Hence the perfect process would be if iTunes could, while executing the import following the automation-Option (see above) and MOVE the files from the whereever and bring it to the place it want's it to be.
Is there any way to get this automated and get iTunes MOVE the files instad of copying?
That would be a tremendous help!
Many Thanks for your thoughts!
Mattthias

Hi mradvanyi,
For help with adding music files to iTunes I would suggest looking over the steps in this article -
iTunes: About the Add to Library, Import, and Convert functions
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1347
If this does not help, please respond and we will see what else can be done.
Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.
Best,
Brett L

HT2729 Steps to transfer music from flash drive into iTunes library.

What are the steps to transfer music from a jump drive into iTunes library? I am not finding where to drag a song off my jump drive and onto my iPhone.

You can't drag it from a jump drive to your phone. You can drag it from a jump drive to iTunes on your computer then sync your iPhone.

I need help transferring my itunes content from an old exteranl hard drive to a new one. The itunes media folder is on the external drive, the itunes library file (.itl) resides on my mac in the music folder.

I have already copied over from the old hard drive to the new hard drive the iTunes media folder (423 GB). But this does not contain the iTunes Library .itl file which for good or bad reason has been working from the mac itself from inside the user music folder. In iTunes Preferences, Adanced Preferences window the iTunes media fold location is currently set to the ITunes Media folder on the old hard drive. How and why i set it up like this all that time ago is forgotten! Do i simply browse for a new location for the newly created duplicaye file? My worry is that i will end up with every song listed twice in iTunes, or worse manage to wipe the content like a mate did!

Okay, solved. Simple really, just moved the media folder location and there was no duplication. Phew!

Moving music and photos from external drive

Bought a new 27inch iMac for Xmas this week. Today my G5 imac wouldn't boot and has a video RAM error code 2NYD/1/4:2103 and I can't boot in safe mode or from and external drive with carbon copy cloner backup. I am resigned to the G5 being toast. This of course removes transferring files using Migration Assistant.
My question is can I bring all my iphoto pictures and itunes songs/ library to the new iMac from the external drive and what is the best way to do this ?? Will there be issues with the backup being 10.5 and the new iMac being Snow Leopard ??
Thanks for any help.

Read the article I provided and it will give you all you need to run Setup Assistant successfuly. You will need a cable to connect the two machines, the G5 probably only has FW400 and the new machine only has FW800 so you will need a cable like this one. Your local computer store should have one or possibly your local Radio Shack. If you can't find one at either place just order it from Amazon.
NOTE: There will be no need to drag and drop any files from the external HD to the new machine, SA will take care of it all. SA is also smart enough to not overwrite newer applications on the new machine. For example if the Clone has iLife 08 on it and the new machine has iLife 11 on it the new machine will only have iLife 11 on it after running SA.

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Using Tiger 10.4.9 on a G4 Dual PowerPC.
What am I doing wrong?

Neil,
Thanks for that info. Not that familiar with these kinds of steps, so I want to make sure I do the right thing.
If I do the steps listed, am I working on the system on the internal hard drive, or the external? If I'm working on the internal, do I then need to copy anything over to the external drive to be able to boot?
And the instructions there are confusing for me. I have no idea what it's talking about. It says:
"yourhostname", substitute your computer's actual hostname, likewise for "youripaddress". For "yourpath", substitute the actual path to the location to which you saved createrestorenidb.
I don't know what it means by hostname or youripaddress or the actual path to the location?
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How do I move files from external drive to Itunes on computer?

I am doing a system recovery and have saved my Itunes folder on an external drive. How do I get the data back into Itunes?

Install iTunes, the same version you had when you saved your music folder.
When done, don't run iTunes.
Copy the content of your itunes folder (iTunes Media, iTunes library...) from your external HD to /user/music/itunes
Run iTunes. You should see your content and playlists.
Bye

Crashed external drive where iTunes was stored?'s

Had everything conolsodated on an external drive which crashed. I have it stored on another system so I can easily get a new drive and put it on there.
My questions are:
I have around 200gbs of music, the extensions or whatnot are on the iMac drive, but the bulk of the music itself was on the crashed drive.
I'd like to clean up the huge selection of songs when I copy to the new drive...
So say I copy half of it to the new drive...obviously all the extra extensions and whatnot will still be on the iTunes on iMac...Is there an easy way around this, meaning to get all the extra/old itunes extensions out of iTunes without wiping iTunes completely? Or will I have to manually delete all unwanted xtensions and so forth?
Also, maybe 100 sings were purchased through the iTunes Store (the rest was from years of CD collecting), those were on the crashed drive as well. I think I can, but want to double check...am I able to redownload those directly from the iTunes store? All software and such are up to date running Snow Leopard.
Walk me through it as best as you can.
Thanks for your help!

Your use of the word "extension" is really confusing me. An extension in iTunes is a small program that adds functionality to iTunes, perhaps an Applescript or something. Some people don't even have any. I am not sure what you really mean by extension. If you mean library files, there ideally should be only one, not many all over the Mac. Do you really mean library files, and if so, how many do you have?
Depending upon how you had iTunes set up, your library file will either have been on the old drive that crashed, or it may still be on your computer in your iTunes folder.
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
iTunes 9: Understanding iTunes Media Organization - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3847
Image of iTunes folder structure Dec. 2011 - https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3547807
see also:
Image of folder structure and explanation of different iTunes versions (turingtest2 post) - https://discussions.apple.com/message/13025536
I believe you can selectively consolidate items if you highlight them and then select to consolidate to a new location.

Relocating Image Folders to External Drive where LR library resides...

I have 12,500 images on my main drive in my Pictures Folder (MAC), and the LR library/catalog file (also on my main drive) automatically looks to that folder when I open LR. But I just moved my LR Folder (library, etc.) from my main drive to an external drive. When I opened LR again and chose the library on the external drive, what shows up in FOLDERS down the left side is my PICTURES folder and all my RAW file folders from my main drive. I've already made a physical copy (by drag/drop) of each of those RAW folders onto the external drive, but how to I get LR to recognize/access those, and not the PICTURES folder on the main drive?
Thanks for your help,
Brenda

The easiest way is to "loose" the images and then "find" them again. You could remove the images from the drive so LR fails to locate the images, but it's easier just to rename to folder on the main drive that contains all your images.
Then start Lightroom. All your folders will be in red. Right click on the main folder and click "locate missing files" then point to the new location.
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HT1386 I have a new computer and when I tried to sync my iPod Touch with the new iTunes, it has lost all of my music and videos from my iPod/old iTunes library: including all but 4 songs of my bought songs, videos and audeobooks!

I have recently updated my computer since my old one broke and therefore had to download a new iTunes. When I came to add my iPod to this new iTunes, I was given no option to transfer the contents of my iPod library to this new iTunes and was forced to try 'sync'; when my old computer was repaired once we lost all of our data so I had to download a new iTunes then,all of my iPod downloads were transferred and I could easily reburn my CDs so I didn't think the wiping of my iPod would be a problem. When I clicked 'sync' it warned me that it would replace the contents of my iPod with the new iTunes library, as I said I didn't think this would be a problembut then it asked if it should transfer my recent iTunes downloads so I said 'yes'. The sync was completed but now I only have 4 downloaded songs and 5 albums which I burned to my new iTunes! I have lost all the music I bought, all the videos I bought and all the audiobooks I bought! (Luckily I still have my apps.) I tried to restore backup but realised that only covers calendars, contacts E.T.C and I checked my iTunes account and that shows all my downloads but I can't see a way to restore them or anything like that!
Please help! I am in despair as you can imagine how much moneys worth I have lost and am losing faith in Apple

Correct. When you update via iTunes all synced media that is not in your iTunes library will be lost.
As IO said before:
You can redownload most iTunes pruchases by:
Downloading past purchases from the App Store, iBookstore, and iTunes Store
I do not think it included audio books.

How to transfer music from flash drive to itunes library?

How do I automatically transfer my 1,000 songs from my flash drive to my itunes library?

Highlight all the tracks on the flash drive via Windows Explorer (click on and select Ctrl + A) and drag them into iTunes.
B-rock

Adding Music when away from external Drive where Itunes Library is stored

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