Backup iTunes Library on External HardDrive ?

iTunes should be made on an option to be able to backup the entire library and an external hard not only on DVD or CD?

*Fast backup for iTunes library (Windows Only)*
Grab SyncToy 2.1, a free tool from MS. This can be used to copy your entire iTunes library (& other important data folders) onto another hard drive or network share. You can then use SyncToy periodically to synchronise or echo your library to the backup. A preview will show which files need to be updated giving you a chance to spot unexpected changes and during the run only the new or updated files will be copied saving lots of time. And if your media is all organised below the main iTunes folder then you should also be able to open the backup library on any system running the same version of iTunes.
tt2

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Backup iTunes library to external HD

How can I select or point to an external hard drive to backup my iTunes library rather than use hundreds of CD's?

StarDeb55,
I'm not trying to permanently replace the normal iTunes library on my PC harddrive, but only to back it up to an external hard drive where it could be restored back to the PC library if necessary. The only options currently available under the "Backup" command are to CD's or DVD's. If you have thousands of songs that would eat up a lot of media. I have done an "Export" to the EXT HD, but don't know if it's possible to resotre that file.
Thanks

Backup iTunes Library to External HD for System Reformat

I'm going to reformat my computer this month, and have been using Windows Live OneCare's backup utility to backup my iTunes library to my external hd. Once I reformat & begin the process of transferring everything back onto my desktop, will all of my songs transfer/play? (I'm mainly referring to the songs I've purchased from the iTunes music store) I thought I heard/read that the songs purchased from iTunes will not play afterwards. Also, do/should I deauthorize my desktop computer in iTunes before I reformat? Thanks for the help!

You need to de authorise your computer before reiinstalling Windows to avoid using up an authorisation.
If you have a default arrangement with your music in iTunes\iTunes Music, you need to ensure that your iTunes folder and all its subfolders are backed up.
you can simply copy the iTunes folder to the external drive, but it is also fine to use backup software.
To restore, install iTunes on the new system. Drag the iTunes folder to the desktop and replace it with the backed up iTunes folder. Start iTunes and authorise your PC.

Time Machine Backup iTunes Library on External Drive?

Hi, my external firewire drive that holds all of my iTunes music and videos recently crashed (it had close to 100GB). It is completely unrecoverable (tried Data Rescue II - nothing).
Would Time Machine by default backup my iTunes library if it existed on an external firewire drive (assuming, of course, that the drive is plugged in when Time Machine is working)?
If not, can this be made to happen for the future?
Thanks.

Yokenny,
To add to the former comments...
Time Machine will not "by default" backup extternal HDs attached to our Mac. You would have to go in an remove them from the TM Prefs exclusion list first, as the 'default' behavior is for TM to ADD external drives to the list.
If you do determine that your crashed hard drive was attached and backed up (you can check your TM backups via the "time travel" interface.) you may still be able to recover the backed up data. But you would need another drive named the same as the crashed drive to do it.
Let us know if this was helpful.
Cheers!

Unable to transfer iTunes Library to external Harddrive

I followed the online directions and tried to transfer my iTunes library to my external hard drive, but it wont do it and I get the message "required file is in use". Does anyone have any suggestions?

stelladuce wrote:
Hi,
How do I properly open iTunes now with my library on th external drive. When I open iTunes it seems unable to open Music/ podcasts and audiobooks now?
iTunes is still looking for the iTunes Folder that you deleted. Just open iTunes and then select iTunes at the top menu bar, then select Preferences. When the Preference windows opens, select Advance, select General and you will see the old location listed. Now click the Change Button and from the popup window, navigate to the New iTunes Library Folder Location on the external drive and select it. Then click the Open button and the new path to the iTunes Library should now be set. Click the OK button to close the Preferences window and If iTunes doesn't open them, just quit & reopen iTunes.
That should doit.
Later ...
!http://homepage.mac.com/buzzlightgear/Buzz.tiff!
Buzz

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

HT1766 How do I back up my iphone5 to my ICloud account, when my restrictions password. My restrictions pass code has my icloud a account greyed out? Can i backup to a wd external harddrive, or try to backup to a new mini-mac, i jUst purchased?

How do I back up my iphone5 to my ICloud account, whqen iI have forgot my restrictions password. My restrictions pass code has my icloud a account greyed out? Can i backup to a wd external harddrive, or try to backup to a new mini-mac, I just purchased yesterday? This is my first iMac and IPhone5, so i am kinda out on my own, and can use some pointers!! My phone is full of pictures, and will not download anything, until i store my pictures somewhere!!

If you don't remember your restrictions passcode, you will have to force the phone into recovery mode and restore it using iTunes. Do NOT restore your backup. The restrictions passcode is part of the backup.
Everything on the phone will be lost.
You can extract the photos from the camera roll the same way you would from any other digital camera. Having a restriction passcode set should not prevent that. do that before you put the phone in recovery mode and restore it.

Reinstall of OS: iTunes Library on external drive not recognized

I've always had my iTunes library on my external drive. Now that I reinstalled my OS iTunes will not open the library. I've navigated to the correct library using the advanced preferences but that's not doing it. I've tried discarding the existing library in the music folder. Can't seem to find the answer.
Thanks

JS,
I had some trouble following macmenno's instructions, but have had almost complete success. If you DO have your original itunes library file, this should work for you too.
Background, my situation:
My harddisk was failing but warned me, so i copied the ENTIRE itunes folder to an external drive. The iTunes folder includes the "itunes library" file, the music folder, and the xml file. This was suggested in a book i have on iLife as the best way to backup itunes to an external HD to preserve playlists, et al. But the book failed to say how to copy the folder back if needed.
So the first time i naively just copied the entire folder back to the imac (new HD) but itunes failed to "find" it, even though it was exactly where i had deleted the equivalent default (empty) files/folder. Playing around i managed to get itunes to find the music but not the playlists and ratings...i.e., it was not finding the library file.
Macmenno's instructions:
I started all over: With Itunes closed, I deleted all three items from the itunes folder: the library file, music folder, xml file. to be safe, i also emptied the trash since itunes seemed to be following the files. But i left the itunes folder in place, albiet empty. Per macmenno's instructions, i then copied ONLY the itunes library file and the xml file from my external HD to the imac itunes folder. I then opened itunes, checked the preferences to be sure it was pointing in the right direction. I then dragged the Music Folder from the ext-HD and dropped it on the library icon in the itunes program window.
That worked. i have my playlists, ratings, comments, et all.
Only problem is i now have duplicate listings of all music songs -- one with an exclamation point that doesn't play (apparently came from my itunes library file before i dropped in the songs), one that does play.
So macmenna, if you are still with us, how can i delete the 3,000 song titles with exclamation points? I tried to click on the column head to sort them all together, then block-mark and delete... but apparently we can not sort on that column head.
Or did i miss something in your instructions?
Thanks. and good luck to you JS.
SB
imac G5 Mac OS X (10.4.7) itunes 6.0.5

Transfer iphoto library to external harddrive. Best practice?

Need to transfer iphoto library to external harddrive due to space issues. Best practice?

Moving the iPhoto library is safe and simple - quit iPhoto and drag the iPhoto library intact as a single entity to the external drive - depress the option key and launch iPhoto using the "select library" option to point to the new location on the external drive - fully test it and then trash the old library on the internal drive (test one more time prior to emptying the trash)
And be sure that the External drive is formatted Mac OS extended (journaled) (iPhoto does not work with drives with other formats) and that it is always available prior to launching iPhoto
And backup soon and often - having your iPhoto library on an external drive is not a backup and if you are using Time Machine you need to check and be sure that TM is backing up your external drive
LN

Using iTunes from an external harddrive?

I would like to know if it is possible to download and run itunes from an external harddrive.
I have a lot of music and would not like it to be on my macbook's harddrive.

The iTunes application needs to be on the boot drive, but you can put your media anywhere you wish. The easiest way is to just drag the entire iTunes folder (the entire folder, not just the iTunes Music folder) to your desired location. Then hold down the Option key while launching iTunes. You'll be given a dialog box where you can select the iTunes library you want to use. Navigate to and select the iTunes folder in it's new location.
Note that this procedure assumes that all of your tracks are contained in the iTunes Music folder. If they're scattered around your drive, moving them becomes much more complex. And don't launch iTunes with the external drive not mounted or iTunes will default back to the internal drive. If it does, though, just mount the external drive and launch iTunes with the Option key again.
Don't delete the tracks from the old location until you've confirmed that they're working correctly from the external drive.
Regards.

ITunes 10 how can I have iTunes recognise an external harddrive

iTunes 10 how can I have iTunes recognise an external harddrive, where all my music is already. I did the option, selecting extenal HD but some reason the iTunes does not alow me to select the .xml file (grayed out)

Use Migration Assistant in the Utitiies folder to return the deleted user account back to the machine, I don't know exactly how to go about this as I don't use TimeMachine as it's so limiting, but Pondini can help
http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
You might have to create the account with the same name, but I don't know if it will access the user files on the TM drive or not.
Once the account is back onto the machine you can log into it and transfer files between accounts on the same machine using the Finder > Go to Computer > Macintosh HD > Users > other account > Public > DropBox and drop files/folders in there, the permissions will change to the other user and the files/folders will be there when you log into the other user account.
Next time consider bootable clones, you can access them directly and even boot directly from them, update them when your ready and make as many as you need, create clones from clones even.
Most commonly used backup methods

How to create iTunes library outside Macintosh harddrive

Well I tried to ask another question about re-installing recovered data to no avail.
I figured some things out on my own now I need to figure out how to have my iTunes library on a harddrive outside of my MacintoshHD.........I have a new hardDrive whre I want to store all of my music.

If you are running iTunes 6,, see:
iTunes: Moving Your iTunes Music Folder
IMPORTANT: do not delete the iTunes folder or the preference files it contains from your boot hard drive; delete ONLY the tracks themselves (i.e. the contents of the old iTunes Music folder).
If you have iTunes 7, then you can just drag the entire iTunes folder to your desired location. Then hold down the Shift key while launching iTunes. You'll be given a dialog box where you can select the iTunes library you want to use. Navigate to and select the iTunes folder in it's new location.
In either case, don't delete the tracks from the old location until you've confirmed that they're working correctly from the external drive.

Keeping iTunes library on external drive

I have moved all of my music files to an external hard drive to free up my laptop's drive. Now I want iTunes to read and save to the external hdd without moving any of the files back to my laptop. How can I set this up? Please Help. Thanks.

you have to tell i tunes that you want your music stored and read from your ex hard drive.if i remember you go to itunes on your computer then in upper left corner at top go to edit>preferences...then put in your storage folder or harddrive info. after you have copied your itunes library to the harddrive, close out itunes and unplug the hard drive. hook up the harddrive back to the computer open the harddrive, open your music folder in the harddrive, play 1 song out of the harddrive, (itunes should reopen on its own as long as it is the default music player on your computer)the song should start playin. this tells you that it downloaded correctly. once this is fine, you can erase your i tunes music library on your computers' internal harddrive. you then can reload the file into itunes(just remember that you changed where your music file is stored and read from)this will repopulate your tracks and albumsand will be kept in your computer. every time you want to play music, hook up the ex harddrivefirst then open itunes on your computer. this is very important especially when you go to add or download a cd or music, otherwise if you open itunes without the harddrive hooked up first your new download will go to your computers internal harddrive and start taking up space on your computer. you will also know if you did it right by disconnecting the external harddrive then open up itunes on your computrt and play a song, you should get an error msg saying (itunes cannot play the file because origional file cannot be found)do you want to locate the file? close it, hook up the harddrive wait a min then play a song and it will play.research other similiar questions and the ere will be exact way to do this. if your having problems.

Possible to save itunes library to external HD, when partial is on HDD?

I moved my itunes library to HDD to save space on my macbook, but as i continue to add songs to itunes, it added onto the macbook copy of itunes. Is it possible for me to save this itunes library to overwrite the old copy i saved on the HDD? How?
I know its confusing. Say
I saved my entire itunes library on external drive yesterday
today, i added 5 new albums on itunes, but it's residing on my macbook.
I would like to add this new library (old plus 5 new albums) and permanently move my itunes library to external disk.
I use to not like to have the external drive always attached to macbook since i use macbook as my primary browsing thing, but now i mainly use ipad.

I have most of the iTunes Library backed up in an External HD
What exactly do you have backed up on the external?

HT1751 when I click and drag itunes into a external harddrive all I get is a icon in the harddrive not the files

when I click and drag itunes to an external harddrive all I get is a shortcut an icon to itunes not the files the music to itunes
I am running windows xp home edition

I had this problem once and in my case it happenned with music I had not purchased through itunes and also to music that stored in icloud. Once I brought that music off icloud and into my laptop it resolved most of the issue.

Backup iTunes Library on External HardDrive ?

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