Backing up music and playlists to external hard drive.

Hi all.
I am a DJ and use computer software to play my music. I have a mac at home which has all of my music on which is completely organized with track images and playlists. When I imported all of my music from various locations such as other hard drives, memory sticks and CDS, I have selected to copy everything over to the itunes folder so that it is all uniformed and in order.
Heres the tricky bit...
I need to transfer EVERYTHING over to a portable external hard drive which I take to work with me which plugs into their computer (which doesn't have itunes and) and I then use a DJ software which recognizes iTunes setups and filing systems. The DJ system recognizes playlists and such forth.
Here is my questions...
1. I have copied the itunes music folder over to the hard drive to get the physical songs on there, but when I add new songs to my itunes at home, is there a way of running some sort of back up program that will only copy across the newly imported songs across to my portable hard drive??
2. Is there any way of copying the playlists over onto the portable hard drive so that the DJ program will see them on it and organize the songs accordingly?
Hope this is all understandable.
Thanks, Steve.

[SyncToy|http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=c26efa36-98e0-4ee9- a7c5-98d0592d8c52]
SyncToy 2.1 is a free application that synchronizes files and folders between locations. Typical uses include sharing files, such as photos, with other computers and creating backup copies of files and folders.

Similar Messages

  • My husband backed up our music and movies onto a hard drive and now all my playlists in my itunes have disappeared, how do I retrieve them back into my itunes library???

    My husband backed up our music and movies onto a hard drive and now all my playlists in my itunes have disappeared, how do I retrieve them back into my itunes library???

    Sounds more like the media was moved.
    Move it back.

  • HT1351 I have just reformatted my hard drive and re-installed iTunes; how do I connect back to my library on an external hard drive?

    I have just refromatted my hard drive and reinstalled itunes; how do tie it back to my library on an external hard drive?

    If the whole library was on the external drive then press and hold down shift as you start iTunes, then use the Choose option to reconnect to it.
    If it was only the media folder, but you backed up the library folder then restore that to <User's Music> in your rebuilt machine and you're good to go.
    If you forgot to backup the library folder, but you don't care about ratings, play counts, playlists etc. then shift-start-iTunes, Create a new empty library at the root of the external drive, e.g. at X:\iTunes, move the media folder inside that as X:\iTunes\iTunes Media, then use File > Add Folder to Library to import the media.
    Otherwise see Recover your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device.
    tt2

  • All of my music is on an external hard drive and now I can't play any of my songs...it says that it can't find the file. How do i fix this problem?

    I have all of my music saved on an external hard drive.  Now I can't play my music...it says that it can't find the location.  I think I need to re install all of my music but I'm not sure how to do it?

    thisisdavid wrote:
    i have all of my music on my external hard drive, and would like to be able to listen to it on itunes without it copying to the computer.
    go iTunes > preferences > advanced and temporarily disable the copy files ... when adding option.
    from the file menu, choose add to library and select the folder on the external containing your content, or drag the folder to the automatically add to iTunes folder inside the iTunes folder.
    when iTunes has finished the operation, go back to preferences > advanced and point iTunes media folder location to the external so that future additions to your library are put there. also, re-enable the copy files ... when adding option.

  • Music has disappeared from iTunes and from my external hard drive

    I store my music on 2 separate external hard drives. I have a lot of music and didnt want to choke my system drive. I do not have iTunes organise my folders. I have a lot of classical and iTunes doesnt understand classical music.
    I began to notice a while back that music files were not accessible to iTunes giving the annoying ! when I go to play them. I thought it was because one of the two drives is regularly swopped out for a back up drive. So I recently became aware that many more files were missing and when I search either drive the actual file has gone.
    I ran Dougs MIA script and a total of 2600 files are missing out of roughly 17,000. These are a mainly things I ripped myself from CD and alot of it is stuff I dont even listen to/ has never been in a play list so I couldnt have accidentally deleted them.
    I notice a lot of comments about this stuff over the years in the other questions here but not much is so recent.
    I'm on 10.6.8.

    Hey idw3,
    Welcome to Apple Support Communities, and thanks for the question. Follow the instructions on this article to move your iTunes Media folder to an external hard drive:
    iTunes for Windows: Moving your iTunes Media folder
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1364
    Regards,
    David

  • I just backed up my mac to an external hard drive using Time Machine. What would happen if I turn Time Machine off and then plug the external hard drive back into my computer?

    I just backed up my mac to an external hard drive using Time Machine. What would happen if I turn Time Machine off and then plug the external hard drive back into my computer?
    What I am ultimately wanting to do is make more room on my computer by backing up all of my files onto the external hard drive and then deleting them off of my computer. However, neededing to be able to retrieve them from the external hard drive later down the road.
    From what I have read and am trying to understand, is that I probably shouldn't have used time machine. I need to use the external hard drive like a basic flash drive where I can put things on and get things off without having it automatically update through time machine everytime I connect it to my computer.
    Not tech savvy at all and barely understand basics. I need very simple and easy to understand explanations.

    sydababy wrote:
    and then deleting them off of my computer.
    BIG BIG MISTAKE ..... youre making a linchpin deathtrap for your data trying to shove everything on a single fragile HD.
    Dont suffer the tragedy other people make, buy another or 2 more HD, theyre cheap as dust.
    The number of people who have experienced terror by having a single external HD backup is enormous.  One failure that WILL HAPPEN, and kaput,......all gone!
    Dont do it, its all about redundancy, redundancy, redundancy.
    follow here:
    Methodology to protect your data. Backups vs. Archives. Long-term data protection
    Deleting them off your computer is fine....having only ONE copy is extremely BAD.
    The Tragedy that will be, the tragedy that never should be
    Always presume correctly that your data is priceless and takes a very long time to create and often is irreplaceable. Always presume accurately that hard drives are extremely cheap, and you have no excuse not to have multiple redundant copies of your data copied on hard drives and squirreled away several places, lockboxes, safes, fireboxes, offsite and otherwise.
    Hard drives aren't prone to failure…hard drives are guaranteed to fail (the very same is true of SSD). Hard drives dont die when aged, hard drives die at any age, and peak in death when young and slowly increase in risk as they age.
    Never practice at any time for any reason the false premise and unreal sense of security in thinking your data is safe on any single external hard drive. This is never the case and has proven to be the single most common horrible tragedy of data loss that exists.
    Many 100s of millions of hours of lost work and data are lost each year due to this single common false security. This is an unnatural disaster that can avoid by making all data redundant and then redundant again. If you let a $60 additional redundant hard drive and 3 hours of copying stand between you and years of work, then you've made a fundamental mistake countless 1000s of people each year have come to regret.

  • I am a long time iTunes user but a new MacBook owner! :) I keep the majority of my music files on an external hard drive.   I'm trying to view all those files on my MacBook through iTunes.   With windows you would go to : File/Add To Library, and iTunes w

    I am a long time iTunes user but a new MacBook owner! I keep the majority of my music files on an external hard drive.   I'm trying to view all those files on my MacBook through iTunes.   With windows you would go to : File/Add To Library, and iTunes would add all your selected files to your music library BUT WOULD NOT COPY THEM TO YOUR HARD DRIVE.  In other words, if the external hard drive was connected, you could listen, drag/drop, and edit the files.   When I tried the same thing with my new MacBook... it actually started coping the files to my MacBook harddrive.  I don't want that, it's millions and millions of mp3's that I don't want to keep on my computer, only my external hard drive.   Can anyone help?    I'm sure it's something easy, I'm just so new to the Mac world.   Being an iPhone owner for many many years I'm picking up things fast, but this is getting the best of me!  Help !

    In iTunes 11 uncheck the preferences setting in in the iTunes Preferences panel "Advanced > Copy Files to iTunes Media folder when adding to Library"

  • HT1473 Help I just moved my music files to a external hard drive and am using the new crappy version ( i know my opinion) of itunes and cant add the files to my libray it gives me the add file to library option but not the add folder to library option wha

    Help I just moved my music files to a external hard drive and am using the new crappy version ( i know my opinion) of itunes and cant add the files to my libray it gives me the add file to library option but not the add folder to library option what am i doing wrong?

    In iTunes 11 uncheck the preferences setting in in the iTunes Preferences panel "Advanced > Copy Files to iTunes Media folder when adding to Library"

  • How can I store my music files on an external hard drive and listen to them through iTunes that way?

    How can I store my music files on an external hard drive and listen to them through iTunes that way? At the moment they're both on the external hard drive and also stored on the computer but I'm quickly running out of memory on my iBook G4 so I'd like to only keep them on the external hard drive and, if possible, delete them from my computer's hard drive. At the moment, when the hard drive isn't plugged in a lot of the files won't play and I get the exclamation mark next to the particular song in iTunes, but everything plays fine when the hard drive is plugged in.
    Thank you.

    Sounds like your files are playing from the external drive already.  To check go to iTunes - Preferences - Advanced and check the Media Folder Location.  Change it to the external drive if you need to.

  • I am planning on using my time capsule as a network and essentially an external hard drive - not just back up, is this ok?

    I am planning on using my time capsule as a network and essentially an external hard drive - not just back up, is this ok?

    Most users should use the Time Capsule for backups. This assumes that "original" copies of your data are on the computer and backups of this data are stored on the Time Capsule.
    If either the Time Capsule or the hard drive on your computer fails, there are at least copies of your important data on the other drive.
    If you are asking if you can place "original" files on the Time Capsule, do you have a plan to backup those files?
    If the Time Capsule drive has a problem....and your only copy of your important data is on the Time Capsule....you will lose everything.
    If you are asking if this is OK, the answer for most folks would be "no".
    Can you clarify if this is what you are asking?

  • How do i back up my iphone to an external hard drive and not my computer

    How do I back up my iphone to an external hard drive attached to my pc and not my pc?  My disk on my pc is almost full and even though I selected the external hard drive it still seems to try to back it up to my computer, then says I don't have sufficient storage.  I cahnged my folder under preferences to the External Drive folder.

    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 do I download and access music directly from an external hard drive

    How do I download and access music directly from an external hard drive through iTunes

    Hello Docwa
    Check out the article below to move your iTunes Media folder to an external drive so that way you can have the media externally. If you have not added the media yet, go ahead and move the folder if you do not have enough room on your computer so you can import the music
    iTunes for Mac: Moving your iTunes Media folder
    http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1449
    Regards,
    -Norm G.

  • I have a new computer and have all my music is on an external hard drive.  I have the external hard drive connected to my computer.  How do I get my music that is on my ipod to go to the itunes on the new computer.

    I have a new computer and have all my music is on an external hard drive.  I have the external hard drive connected to my computer.  How do I get my music that is on my ipod to go to the itunes on the new computer.

    What error message are you getting when you try to launch iTunes? (Precise text, please.)

  • I have a macbook and I'm having trouble backing up my pictures on an external hard drive.  The Macbook won't install the backup drive soft ware? It is a new Sea Gate hard rive from costco.

    I have a macbook and I'm having trouble backing up my pictures on an external hard drive.  The Macbook won't install the backup drive soft ware? It is a new Sea Gate hard rive from costco.

    You don't want to install the software that came with the drive, you don't need it and it will be problematic. Connect the new drive, open Disk Utility, select the new drive and partition it using the GUID partition scheme, then format it as Mac OS extended journaled and it will be easy to use with your Mac.

  • I have been backing up my photos to an external hard drive. I usually choose the photos, copy and paste them to the EHD. It has started saying "an item named "unnamed.jpg" already exists in this location. I don't know what to do.

    I have the MacBook OS X 10.5.8, 2.4 GHz, 2 GB. I have been backing up my photos to an external hard drive since I purchased it. I usually choose the photos, copy and paste them to the EHD. It has started saying "an item named "unnamed.jpg" already exists in this location. Do you want to replace it with the one you're moving? Don't replace/Stop/Replace". I don't know what to do.

    Thanks Jim, I kind of thought that was the answer, but was hoping against hope that I was just missing something. Like I said, it's not a big problem. One work around I've found is to name a folder on the external hard drive the same as the name I give the folder to import to and then choose this folder to back up to. I still get a subfolder inside that folder named Imported on...... but at least it's in the folder with my chosen name.
    Thanks again,
    Jack

Maybe you are looking for

  • SSRS pulls data from ESSBASE cube, data not showing

    Dear Experts, We are connecting SSRS 2012 to Essbase 11.1.3 to pull data from the cube, and having some issues with some members data not showing in the query designer and report, while some have no problem. And we couldn't find a pattern on which me

  • Adobe Content Viewer problem. Please Help me...

    Hi after updating online. Folio, I tried to update the trial version of the publication on my iPad but I get this message: "the issue isavailable for dowload, but new signing for an application version. Update the application from the App Store. "I w

  • Search feature in Abobe X

    I'm viewing a pdf document (2000 pages) and can't find a "search" feature in the Adobe X tool bar - is ther one and how can I activate it?  Thank you - -

  • ECO number with revision level and release key

    Hi All, I have a requirement from client with regards to Engineering change manangement. The scenario is that we are maintaining BOM for materials.Whenever a change is required  for BOM a ECO number is created with release key. Once the BOM is change

  • Missing registry entries

    I opened iTunes and an error message that said "unable to find registry entries for CD and DVD, reinstall iTunes". I did several times and still recieve the error message. How can I resolve this? Sony Vaio VGN-N170G, XP sp3, iTunes 11.1.3.8