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.

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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

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!

Itunes library on external hdd for mac and pc

I want to store my my iTunes library on an external hdd and use it with a Mac and a PC. All changes made on the Mac should be recognised on the PC and all changes made on the PC should although be recognised on the Mac - one library for both.
I already tried to store my library from my PC on an external HDD and then started iTunes on the Mac, pressing "alt". But I wasn't able to open the library. When I choose library.itl, the Mac just opens iTunes without opening my iTunes library.
Any ideas, how I can put all my music, videos and podcasts on the external and then use it on Mac and PC?
Kind regards,
Matthias

The only format drive that will work with both a Mac and a PC without you using additional drivers is an older format called FAT. Disk Utility can create this. Otherwise if you use Windows' NTFS you need something like NTFS3G or MacFuse, and if you use OSX's HFS format you will need MacDrive on Windows (others may also work for both PC and Mac -- those are just the ones I could remember).
Theoretically the Mac should have been able to read the .itl on the Windows NTFS drive but maybe since it found it could not write to it, it reverted to default.
Note, if anything happens to the FAT32 drive you will need to repair it using Windows. I also assume you aren't usign this drive for huge files because FAT32 has a 4GB filesize limit.
You will have to completely erase the drive to partition and re-format it.
iTunes: How to move [or copy] your music to a new computer [or another drive] - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527
do not confuse moving your whole folder and library with moving just media files as in
iTunes for Mac: Moving your iTunes Media folder - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1449
Quick answer if you let iTunes manage your music: Copy the entire iTunes folder (and in doing so all its subfolders and files) intact to the other drive. Start iTunes with the option key held down and guide it to the new location of the library.
Macworld - How to transfer iTunes libraries between PC and Mac - http://www.macworld.com/article/46248/2005/08/shiftitunes.html

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 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

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

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?

Thinking that I was deleting from my iPod, I have inadvertently deleted a lot of music from my iTunes library. I clicked for retaining on file rather than sending to trash. How do I get this music back from file into my library?

Thinking that I was deleting it from my iPod, I have inadvertently deleted a lot of music from my iTunes library. I clicked for saving to file rather than sending to trash. How can I get it back into my library?

See Empty/corrupt iTunes library after upgrade/crash or simply import the media folder back into the library. Restoring a recent backup of the .itl database will restore the original date added values, ratings, play counts, playlist membership, etc. that would otherwise be missing from the reimported media.
tt2

Backup itunes library

I'm unable to backup itunes library. The backup window does not appear to be active.Last backup, was on previous itunes version, present version is 9.02

Hello Loxi
I'm still learning about Itunes after 4 years but I have learned alot....I will back-up my music from library by inserting disc and clicking on "burn cd" i have never tried backing from the "file" or never have used a DVD-RW. Another pointer is to go "edit".."preferences"..."advanced"..."burning", click on "data" this will reduce the number of discs needed, I am backing up about 9Gig to 2 CD-RWs....this might help you.
Thank you for your reply HEC. I guess I'll use CD-RW disks if or until I can figure out how to get iTunes to find the DVD drive for backups (I use the DVD drive all the time to import songs from CDs, so I don't know why it doesn't see the drive for backing up songs).
It's funny that you never used the 'file' route because that is the instruction in the help file for how to create backups. Whatever works.
I actually chose the data option not long ago (it just looked like the best option when I happened to be in that section), so I'm glad to hear that this option (apparently) yields backup files that are smaller than they are in iTunes. No wonder all the data from my purchased file fit on one CD-R disc - that did surprise me, though I assumed that some sort of compression must have taken place.
The CD-R and CD-RW discs I saw at the store listed their capacity in MBs, and when I told the clerk my purpose, he advised me to purchase DVDs for greater capacity, so I did. The only DVD discs they carried held 4.7 GB each, so that's what I bought.
I tried disabling my CD drive via the device manager, reasoning that iTunes might then find the DVD drive, but it didn't. This resulted in iTunes being unable to find any drive at all and getting hung up.
I just have to figure out how to get iTunes to find that DVD drive for backups.

I had to restore my computer to the factory settings, which means my itunes library was lost except for what was on my ipod nano. How do pull the songs from my ipod back onto my computer?

I had to restore my computer to the factory settings, which means my itunes library was lost except for what was on my ipod nano. How do pull the songs from my ipod back onto my computer? I have over 200 songs. There is no way I can re-purchase them! Any help?

How to use your iPod to move your music to a new computer

My iTunes library is too large for my iPod classic--can I create a separate library so that I can split the current library and sync the distinct libraries onto separate iPods?

My iTunes library is too large for my iPod classic--can I create a separate library so that I can split the current library and sync the distinct libraries onto separate iPods?

- If the Gmail accounts are IMAP one then if the library is erased and then you use the account old email will be redownload
- Easing the library on the MacBook does not effect what is on the iMac. On the other hand if you deleted the messages in the Mail app on the MacBook then they will deleted from all devices.
-See the middle of the following. It would seem to help in your situation
http://www.howtogeek.com/209517/how-to-stop-your-macs-mail-app-from-wasting-giga bytes-of-space/

HT1206 what happened to my iTunes library, it disappeared except for the purchased songs?

What happened to my itunes library it disappeared except for the purchased songs?

By being gone do you mean the library is not in your Pictures folder or when you open the library you don't see any photos or thumbnails? If it's the latter apply the two fixes below in order as needed:
Fix #1
Launch iPhoto with the Command+Option keys held down and rebuild the library.
Select the options identified in the screenshot.
Fix #2
Using iPhoto Library Manager to Rebuild Your iPhoto Library
Download iPhoto Library Manager and launch.
Click on the Add Library button, navigate to your Home/Pictures folder and select your iPhoto Library folder.
Now that the library is listed in the left hand pane of iPLM, click on your library and go to the File ➙ Rebuild Library menu option
In the next window name the new library and select the location you want it to be placed.
Click on the Create button.
Note: This creates a new library based on the LIbraryData.xml file in the library and will recover Events, Albums, keywords, titles and comments but not books, calendars or slideshows. The original library will be left untouched for further attempts at fixing the problem or in case the rebuilt library is not satisfactory.
OT

How could i save my playlist on the iTunes library of my pc for being reused

how could i save my playlist on the iTunes library of my pc for being reused in iTunes of my other PC ?

Hi ahn52us,
Welcome to the Support Communities!
The article below may be able to help you with this.
Click on the link to see more details.
iTunes 11 for Windows: Save a copy of your playlists
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH12345
Cheers,
- Judy

Backup iTunes Library External HDD?

I am upgrading to Leopard this week and want to do a complete clean upgrade to Leopard. My iTunes library is over 100GB, and I don't want to have to back it up to DVDs. How can I backup my iTunes library to an external HDD and still retain my precious playlists, ratings, etc...? I wan to also backup my entire library, not just purchased music etc..

The following link will give you the instructions to move iTunes to an EHD. These instructions need to be followed EXACTLY. From what you have posted, it sounds like one of the issues is you moved the whole iTunes folder, instead of just the iT music folder. The 2 metadata files within the main iTunes folder must stay on the main drive of your system as that is their "home", they can't be moved.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301748
As a suggestion for future posts, it's always much better to start your own topic rather than disrupt someone else's topic with a similar but unrelated issue. It can also get very confusing to try to troubleshoot with several different people on the same thread who have different issues. Thanks!

Backup iTunes Library to External HD for System Reformat

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