Can I put my library on an external hard drive and use it between two computers?

Can I put my library on an external hard drive and use it between two computers? I have two MBP; I will refer to one as computer A and to the other as computer B. I would like to be able to plug in my external hard drive, boot up iTunes, and if there were any changes made to the library previous to its last time accessed on this compluter, they show up on that computer, regardless of being imported on the other.
A hypothetical example: I import three albums called 1, 2, and 3 on computer A over a week or so. I take the external hard drive and plug it into computer B. The entire library which was visible on A, is visible on B, including albums 1, 2, and 3.
Is this possible? If so, what files need to be copied onto the external? I'm trying some different combinations, trial and error basically. Hopefully someone knows and can answer before I mess up my library. I also want to do this to free up space on my computer. All importing will be done from disc.

iTunes/Preferences/Advanced : point your iTunes to the new location of the Library.
Set "Share on local network" in the Sharing tab, and you or everyone on the local network can play your music.
You make a backup first of the Library.
Move the follwing to the new location:
/Users/your username/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music
have fun.

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Can i put my photos on my external hard drive and still open them in iPhoto

I am an amateur photographer and an art teacher and i have thousands of photos and music files on my computer that i would much rather put on my external hard drive so they dont take up so much room on my computer. I would like to extend the life of my computer as long as possible and want to keep as much memory free on the actual computer as i can. is there a way for me to put my pictures and or music on my external hard drive and still have it open regularly like it does now in iphoto or itunes?

they are backed up but there are thousands of them i have a small business selling my photos online and i was wondering if i could put them on the external hd and still have them open in iphoto or put my music on the hd and have it open in itunes so i dont have all of it on the computer. i take hundreds of photos a week and my photo gallery is not shrinking by any means any time soon so the more i can put in places other than my hard drive the better but i need them accessible at all times through my iphoto and other programs like photoshop illustrator etc.
DR.

I have an older MacBook Pro using 10.4.11 and want to use new operating system to use the latest iLife. Can i install 10.7 on an external hard drive and use the external hard drive to run new system while leaving my old system intact?

I want to use a new version of iLife (for iMovie and iDVD) but am currently running OS 10.4.11, which won't work with the newer iLife programs. Can i install OS 10.6.3 or 10.7 on an external hard drive, boot to that hard drive and work with the new software (installed on the external hard drive) using my MacBook Pro (circa 2005/6) as the engine while leaving my laptop running 104.11 the rest of the time?

Yes, you can use an external drive. To upgrade, however, means:
Purchase Snow Leopard DVD then update Snow Leopard to 10.6.8.
Access the App Store with your Apple ID and purchase and download Lion.
Your computer must meet system requirements:
Snow Leopard General requirements
Mac computer with an Intel processor
1GB of memory
5GB of available disk space
DVD drive for installation
Some features require a compatible Internet service provider; fees may apply.
Some features require Apple’s MobileMe service; fees and terms apply.
Lion System Requirements
Mac computer with an Intel Core 2 Duo, Core i3, Core i5, Core i7, or Xeon processor
2GB of memory
OS X v10.6.6 or later (v10.6.8 recommended)
7GB of available space
Some features require an Apple ID; terms apply.
Obviously, you do not have to upgrade to Lion but can stop at Snow Leopard 10.6.8 which is sufficient for the current versions of iLife apps. Note that iDVD is no longer part of the newest version of iLife. Lion 10.7.2 or later is needed should you wish to use iCloud.

HT1364 I have moved my library to an external hard drive and changed the location of the iTunes media folder in Preferences, but every time I close and re-open iTunes, I have to do it all over again. How can I make the iTunes media folder change permanen

I have moved my library to an external hard drive and changed the location of the iTunes media folder in Preferences, but every time I close and re-open iTunes, I have to do it all over again. How can I make the iTunes media folder change permanent? I have an older machine with Windows XP.

I don't believe mounting the hard drive should be necessary, unless you have several external drives and want your computer to recognise them as folders, rather than drives. I've never had to mount a hard drive, ever. If you don't know how to do it, then it shouldn't be necessary now.
Try this:
Prepare iTunes so that it can see the external drive.
Make a note of which drive-letter the external drive has been allocated. (Look in Windows Exploer)
Look at the file location for a song. Make sure it plays (and therefore that iTunes has found it). Highlight it and select File/Get Info/Summary>Where: and make a note of the drive letter for that song.
Close and shut down the computer.
The next time you turn the computer on again, connect the external drive
Before you start iTunes - check the external drive in Windows Explorer. Is it ready, does it have the same drive-letter that it had last time? Can you go into the drive and see the files on it?
Once you can, start iTunes. (If the drive lettter has changed, you need to work out why before going any further.)
If iTunes fails to find your external drive, you need to check where iTunes is looking for your Library.
Select the same song you checked before (presumably iTunes can no longer find it). Follow the procedure for locating it. You should be able to see where iTunes thinks the file is. It's the drive that counts. Which drive letter is iTunes looking at? Is it the same one that it was previously (which should also be the same one that the drive has now).
What happens, which step do you have problems with?
Message was edited by: the fiend

HT1751 if i back up my itunes library to an external hard drive and then add subsequent music and want to back that up a few days later, can i backup the only newly added music without backing up the entire library again?

hello,
if i back up my itunes library to an external hard drive and then add subsequent music and want to back up the newly added music a few days later, can i do it without backing up the entire library again? or do i need to back up the entire library each and every time i back up to the external hard drive?

Just copy Users/yourusername/Music/iTunes (containing your library-files) to your external drive as well as that (extaernal) folder that contains all your audio-tracks.

Can I create a "new" iTunes library on an external hard drive and transfer my iTune library to save space on my laptop

Can I create a "new" iTunes library on an external hard drive and transfer my iTune library to save space on my laptop hard drive

Yes. Just copy all your music to a folder on your external. Then delete the music on your computers hard drive.
It is not quite that simple. If you do that you will end up with many broken links and will have to re-create your library from scratch . iTunes does not like it when you move or rename files or folders and doing so between drives is guaranteed to result in exclamation marks indicating you have broken the links to all your media files.
If you are content with moving the whole library to an external drive (usually the best thing for most people), try:
iTunes: How to move [or copy] your music to a new computer [or another drive] - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527
Quick answer if you use iTunes' default preferences settings: Copy the entire iTunes folder (and in doing so all its subfolders and files) intact to the other drive. Open iTunes and immediately hold down the Option (alt) key (shift on Windows), then guide it to the new location of the library.

HT1229 Tried moving my library to an external hard drive and now when I open iPhoto, there are no pictures there!!!!

I am using iPhoto '08 and moved my library to my external hard drive exactly as all the instructions online explained how to do. I renamed the original "iPhoto Library.old" and ,y external hard drive shows a iPhoto library using the same amount of memory as what it shows on my internal hard drive. Here is where is becomes a problem. When I hold the option key and open iPhoto, the only box that comes up does not give me a list of libraries to choose from. It give me the option to "Create new library" or "choose existing library". When I click "choose existing library" I can find the copied library on my external hard drive but when I open it, iPhoto shows No Photos. When I have tried opening the original iPhoto Library (the exact same way using the option key and choosing library) that I have not done anything to, except rename it, it does the exact same thing: No Photos. Both my internal and external hard drives show about 137 GB of space being taken up by photos but I can't access them. My other big problem is that ,y internal hard drive is completely full, which is why I am trying to transfer them to an external, to free up space so I am very limited on what I can do because I have no free space. Also, when I open iPhoto and try to go to the Preferences to change to path under advanced settings, it freezes and I have to force close it.
Ay advice would be greatly appreciated as I am getting stressed out that I can't open my thousands of photos!

My guess is that the library has been corrupted from being run on an overfull HD.
So, try rebuild the Library on the External
Try these in order - from best option on down...
1. Do you have an up-to-date back up? If so, try copy the library6.iphoto file from the back up to the iPhoto Library (Right Click -> Show Package Contents) allowing it to overwrite the damaged file.
2. Download iPhoto Library Manager and use its rebuild function. (In Library Manager it's the FIle -> Rebuild command)
This will create an entirely new library. It will then copy (or try to) your photos and all the associated metadata and versions to this new Library, and arrange it as close as it can to what you had in the damaged Library. It does this based on information it finds in the iPhoto sharing mechanism - but that means that things not shared won't be there, so no slideshows, books or calendars, for instance - but it should get all your events, albums and keywords, faces and places back.
Because this process creates an entirely new library and leaves your old one untouched, it is non-destructive, and if you're not happy with the results you can simply return to your old one.
3. If neither of these work then you'll need to create and populate a new library.
To create and populate a new *iPhoto 08* library:
Note this will give you a working library with the same Events and pictures as before, however, you will lose your albums, keywords, modified versions, books, calendars etc.
In the iPhoto Preferences -> Events Uncheck the box at 'Imported Items from the Finder'
Move the iPhoto Library to the desktop
Launch iPhoto. It will ask if you wish to create a new Library. Say Yes.
Go into the iPhoto Library (Right Click -> Show Package Contents) on your desktop and find the Originals folder. From the Originals folder drag the individual Event Folders to the iPhoto Window and it will recreate them in the new library.
When you're sure all is well you can delete the iPhoto Library on your desktop.
In the future, in addition to your usual back up routine, you might like to make a copy of the library6.iPhoto file whenever you have made changes to the library as protection against database corruption.

How do I backup my iPhoto Library to an external hard drive and keep my photos grouped by their events?

How can I backup my iPhoto Library to an external hard drive and keep my photos grouped by their events?

I have attempted to make sure my iPhoto library has been backed up on the external hard drive and that it is safe to delete some events from my internal hard drive
You need to think this through.
Time Machine is a back up application. It keeps a rolling back up of the data. It's called rolling because it means you can revert to the data you had on a specific date and time. But that's not eternal, and as time goes by, and your drive fills up, older backups are deleted. So if you delete Events on your Mac they will - eventually - also be deleted from the Time Machine back up.
If you wan tot archive data hendon't use Time Machine for that job. Here's how you might archive an iPhoto Library:
Make sure the drive is formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
1. Quit iPhoto
2. Copy the iPhoto Library from your Pictures Folder to the External Disk.
Now you have two full versions of the Library.
3. On the Internal library, trash the Events you don't want there
Now you have a full copy of the Library on the External and a smaller subset on the Internal
Some Notes:
As a general rule: when deleting photos do them in batches of about 100 at a time. iPhoto can baulk at trashing large numbers at one go.
You can choose which Library to open: Hold down the option (or alt) key key and launch iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Choose Library'
You can keep the Library on the external updated with new imports using iPhoto Library Manager

I moved my itunes library to an external hard drive and now when I try to sync my ipad it says it is already synced to another library.

I moved my itunes library to an external hard drive and then I tried to sync my ipad. I got a message that says my ipad is synced to another library and it will erase my ipad, which I don't want to do. I'm not sure how to fix this problem, any ideas?

Ok. progress...
So is your media folder called iTunes Music or iTunes Media? And does it have a folder called Music inside it?
Before going any further you should first attempt to use File > Library > Organize Library > Rearrange files in the folder "<Media Folder>" (ignore if grayed out). This will make sure that any iPod Games or Mobile Applications get placed inside the iTunes Media folder which is needed for portability.
If your iTunes Media folder is called iTunes Music, close iTunes, rename the folder as iTunes Media and start iTunes again. iTunes will automatically adjust. Close iTunes again.
On your external drive rearrange the folders that you have already copied there so that they match the layout in your active library. You should end up with a folder called X:\iTunes where X: is the external drive letter, and the media folder is X:\iTunes\iTunes Media. If the library layout was upgraded then you will need to create a Music folder inside this and move all the artist folders and Compilations into Music. You will also need to copy iPod Games and Mobile Applications from your internal drive into the new media folder. Next copy the files iTunes Library.itl, iTunes Library Extras.itdb, iTunes Library Genius.itdb, sentinel and the folder Album Artwork from the internal drive into X:\iTunes. The preceding manipulations should make the internal and external copies of your library match without you having to copy all of the media over again.
Now hold shift as you start iTunes. Click choose, browse to and open X:\iTunes\iTunes Library.itl.
Finally use File > Library > Organize Library > Consolidate files. This will ensure that any stray files that might have been added from outside your original media folder will be copied into the new one.
You can now reclaim the space used by your library on the internal drive, however before you do so I would advise you to obtain another external drive and make use of this backup tip.
tt2

How do I move iTunes library to an external hard drive to use less space?

How do I move iTunes library to an external hard drive to use less space?

Our iTunes guru Terence Devlin advises the following:
1. Quit iTunes
2. Drag the iTunes folder from your internal hd - located in ~/Music folder - to your external hd. DO NOT delete the original one from your internal hd... yet!
3. When the transfer is complete, press and hold the Option(alt) key and fire up iTunes.
4. A "Choose iTunes Library" window will come up. Click on the "Choose Library" button.
5. Navigate to where the iTunes folder is located in the external hd.
6. Within the iTunes folder, select the iTunes Library file and click Choose...
That's it. iTunes will now display all your playlists, songs, movies, podcasts etc. At this point, should you wish, you can delete the iTunes folder from the internal hd to free up space.
More info:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1751
Or if you prefer a more complicated explanation:
http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/moving-your-itunes-library-to -a-new-hard-drive

I copied my iPhoto library to an external hard drive and all the event windows are black. Once you click on a square the photos are still there. How do I fix that?

I copied my iPhoto library to an external hard drive and the event windows show up black.
The photos are still there once I click on an event but they don't show in the window.
My next step is to delete the iPhoto library from the internal memory to free some memmory space but I don't want to do this until I see that the library works fine on the external hard drive.
How do I fix that?

Hold down the "option" + "command" keys and launch iPhoto.
Select the "Rebuild Thumbnails" choice.

If I've downloaded my music to an itunes library from an external hard drive and I have several duplicate songs, is there an easy way to delete the duplicate songs? Or, do I have to go through my entire library song by song to delete duplicates?

If I've downloaded my music to an itunes library from an external hard drive and I have several duplicate songs, is there an easy way to delete the duplicate songs? Or, do I have to go through my entire library song by song to delete duplicates?

In iTunes, File>Display Duplicates

I have an 2tb time capsule 802.11n Wi-Fi base station can I use this as an external hard drive and use a new airport extreme 802.11ac Wi-Fi for my wifi?

I have an 2tb time capsule 802.11n Wi-Fi base station can I use this as an external hard drive and use a new airport extreme 802.11ac Wi-Fi for my wifi?

You can use the 2 TB Time Capsule as a network drive. That means that it must connect to one of the Ethernet LAN <--> ports on the new AirPort Extreme, or connect to the network using wireless.

I have just bought an iMac, and when I had my PC I had all my mp3 music on external hard drive and used to stream using software called ps3 server and tveristy which used to pick up on my Roberts radio via network wi fi hiw do I get iMac to do it

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To install apps from developers Apple doesn't recognize go to Security and Privacy in the System Preferences and change Allow apps downloaded from anywhere

Can I keep my itunes library on an external hard drive and still use it??

Hello,
I recently purchased a new laptop because my old computer wwent on the fritz. Luckily I backed up my library on my external hard drive. My question is can a) connect my itouch and ihone to my nex computer and b) run my library strictly from my hard drive and not import everything to my new computer?
thanks for the hep!!

tothatc wrote:
Hello,
I recently purchased a new laptop because my old computer wwent on the fritz. Luckily I backed up my library on my external hard drive. My question is can a) connect my itouch and ihone to my nex computer and b) run my library strictly from my hard drive and not import everything to my new computer?
thanks for the hep!!
On Windows, hold Shift (not alt), launch iTunes and select Choose library... and select the iTunes folder you copied to the external drive.

Can I put my library on an external hard drive and use it between two computers?

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