Can I split my iTunes library between 2 hard drives?

Can iTunes library be split between to hard drives?
Hi,
My laptop has 2 x 250GB internal hard drives. I wish there was 1 x 500 GB one.
1 of them is nearly full with music only 2GB remaining and the other one has over 100GB remaining.
I'm wondering is it possible to split the location of the library between the 2 drives without too much trouble or is it messy or even possible?!
In other words when I open iTunes the music that is on the nearly full hard drive will remain there and any music I import going forward will be re-directed to the other hard drive but still appear in iTunes along with the music from the other drive.
Thanks...

I have the same question.
I would like to be able to do the same thing with all my media. I'm a DJ and certain aspects of Mac Os X Lion or iCloud, and iTunes Match, don't favor folks with tons of media, storage wise. I'm not happy that there's a limit on how much space iCloud will give you. Yet, I feel forced to upgrade to Lion within the next 4 days. I've been hesitant to rip my collection or even upload all those digital copies because where will I put all those files. I agree with needing like 4-8T just to store, but how? I don't have Thunderbolt, only Firewire on late '08 iMac 20" and USB on 08 MacBook 13" Aluminum. Bleh!
If you can use Time Capsule to back up your entire network with more than one computer, it would seem likely that you should be able to piggy back 2 xTime Capsules. I believe they come with 2-3Ts now and you can get them refurbished? I'm gonna look at Time Capsule Support to find out for myself, I'll let you know what I find, also. One thing I did noticed was that I had uploaded a bunch of Digital Copies from movies I had bought from Blu-Ray Combo Packs like 2 years ago and deleted them from MacBook for more space, only to recently find that they had been saved as purchased items from the iTunes Store. So now I can grab them from iTunes and watch them anytime off my Apple TV.
Good Luck,
Jenn

Similar Messages

Can I split my iTunes library across two hard drives?

I am busy ripping my huge movie collection into an iTunes library, so I can play through my new Apple TV to my HDTV. Trouble is, it looks like I'll probably need at least 4TB's of HD space before I'm all finished. What I would like to do is to buy an external HD unit with two 3TB drives, and split my iTunes library across them, while still being able to view all of the movies on both drives all of the time, and give me lots of extra room for future expansion.
Is this possible? If not, does anyone know of an aftermarket Thunderbolt 4TB external HD? I found a 4TB drive, but not with Thunderbolt.
Thanks.

I have the same question.
I would like to be able to do the same thing with all my media. I'm a DJ and certain aspects of Mac Os X Lion or iCloud, and iTunes Match, don't favor folks with tons of media, storage wise. I'm not happy that there's a limit on how much space iCloud will give you. Yet, I feel forced to upgrade to Lion within the next 4 days. I've been hesitant to rip my collection or even upload all those digital copies because where will I put all those files. I agree with needing like 4-8T just to store, but how? I don't have Thunderbolt, only Firewire on late '08 iMac 20" and USB on 08 MacBook 13" Aluminum. Bleh!
If you can use Time Capsule to back up your entire network with more than one computer, it would seem likely that you should be able to piggy back 2 xTime Capsules. I believe they come with 2-3Ts now and you can get them refurbished? I'm gonna look at Time Capsule Support to find out for myself, I'll let you know what I find, also. One thing I did noticed was that I had uploaded a bunch of Digital Copies from movies I had bought from Blu-Ray Combo Packs like 2 years ago and deleted them from MacBook for more space, only to recently find that they had been saved as purchased items from the iTunes Store. So now I can grab them from iTunes and watch them anytime off my Apple TV.
Good Luck,
Jenn

Can I split my iTunes library between two HD's?

I am planning on converting my movie library and putting it on a large external HD, so that I can play movies on my TV via AppleTV. The only problem is, I think I may need at least 6 TB to do this. If I go with an external unit with two HD's (2 x 3 TB or larger), can I split the iTunes library onto the 2 drives, and still have access to all of my movies all of the time? If I go for more drives in one unit (4 x 2 TB), is it also feasible? Also, would I require something like a Thunderbolt connection, or would FW800 or USB3 work okay?

jc_hering wrote:
that works for anything he purchases after he creates the new account. What about his current music that currently resides in my itunes library? How can I get his current music out of my library into his new account/library?? Thanks..
Copy it to his computer into his iTunes library and authorize his computer with the iTunes account used to purchase them..
You cannot tranfser items from one iTunes account to another. Purchased items remain part of the iTunes account is was purchased with.
iTunes account - used to purchase items
iTunes library - where purchases (and CD RIPs) go on the computer

Splitting my Itunes directory between 2 hard drives

Hello all,
I have been trying to figure out how to split my itunes folder between hard disks.
Would you be able to help me?
I have a 40 gb hard drive in my ibook g4, which is full of itunes songs.
In order to free up some space, I purchased an 80 gb external hard drive.
I realize that I can just export my entire itunes file to the new hard drive.
However, I would like to export only part of my itunes. I basically want to keep all the files I have rated with 4 stars and above on my internal hard drive and export those songs with 3 stars and below to my external hard drive.
Could anyone be able to tell me how to do this?
Thank you very much

Some people advise not using the Finder to move tracks around, as iTunes tends to lose track of them and give you the exclamation mark when you try to play them. But I believe this situation of splitting iTunes across two drives is one of that the Finder is the best bet. This way when you move the iTunes folder containing iTunes Music Library Folder, you retain the organization of individual Artists/songs within it on the external drive. Also you will have a copy of the iTunes Library file which holds the data about ratings and play counts.
So bearing in mind I haven't done this procedure and I'm basing this on TP2GO's post here, this is my take.
1) Copy the iTunes Folder over to External Hard Disk (EHD)
2) In preferences, Advanced tab, change the location of iTunes Music Folder to EHD, and set NOT to copy to iTunes Music folder and DO keep organized. Then from file menu select Add To Library and navigate to EHD.
3) Make a Playlist of the iBook Music Library named "internal" or "iBook" AND one of the EHD Music Library named "external"/"EHD" - or whatever.
4) Set EHD Playlist to My Rating and highlight four and five star songs and Option delete. Test to see if the three and above songs still play. Same for the iBook Playlist, but highlight all three stars and below, then delete. Check to see if four and five star songs play. If they do, they will produce exclamation marks, when you are disconnected from the EHD.
how do I tell my itunes to play from one or the other hard drive? Please excuse my ignorance, but I am clueless.
I'm not that clued up on this myself, just trying to make sense of what I've read in other threads. The playlists will tell you what will play on the iBook and what won't. With the Home folder set to EHD in preferences I'm sure it will see the 3 and above songs, though, similar to CharityJF's question, can't see how it will see the others on iBook. However, whenever you have the EHD connected to the iBook you should be able to access the entire library as normal.

How can i split my itunes library between two different accounts?

For years my son has always been a part of our itunes library. now that he is off at college, I would like to split his music off from our library to a library of his own with his own account info. Is this possible?

jc_hering wrote:
that works for anything he purchases after he creates the new account. What about his current music that currently resides in my itunes library? How can I get his current music out of my library into his new account/library?? Thanks..
Copy it to his computer into his iTunes library and authorize his computer with the iTunes account used to purchase them..
You cannot tranfser items from one iTunes account to another. Purchased items remain part of the iTunes account is was purchased with.
iTunes account - used to purchase items
iTunes library - where purchases (and CD RIPs) go on the computer

Can't import entire iTunes library from external hard drive

I recently had to reset my IBM ThinkPad T40 (Windows XP) to factory settings. Of course, I backuped up my iTunes library on an external hard drive, and there didn't seem to be any problems doing so. (I've had to do the same thing before) But I can't re-import the entire library now! It only imports about a thousand songs (I had about 5,000), and I get an error message saying "The file iTunes Library.itl~ cannot be imported becuase it does not appear to be a valid exported file.") I also tried to import a previous back-up (stored in a different folder, and it wouldn't import all of those files, either -- no more than in the more recent backup files) either. I've tried re-downloading the iTunes software several times. Help!!!!
Thanks!!!
PS: Is there a way to sync my iPod to import songs from that BACK into itunes?
IBM ThinkPad T40 Windows XP

This seems to have deleted ALL of my iTunes. The folder (and all iTunes files) is still there on my backup, but now the newly-installed iTunes won't import ANYTHING (It at least imported about 1,000 (out of 5,000) songs before. But now it says all files are invalid, regardless of where I attempt to import them from. (although the names of some playlists import -- but they're empty files) It appears that SOME of the music files are located on the backup copy, but simply won't import. Perhaps they're corrupted?

Hello there - how can I share my iTunes library between two users on the same computer? I put the library in a shared folder between both and have selected this library on both as well, but when I update iTunes with music etc it only appears on one?

Hello there - how can I share my iTunes library between two users on the same computer? I put the library in a shared folder between both and have selected this library on both as well, but when I update iTunes with music etc it only appears on one?

Thank you Joe - I tried this but it's only showing a teensy amount of music - the stuff on the second users account as opposed to the giagntic library on the 'main' account. I actually went to a Genius Bar and they said that apple doesn't really want you to share music between accounts - parents don't want to hear their kids music etc. Which seemed strange, but it might be the case sadly Thanks anyway!

Can I share my itunes library between my laptop at home and my computer at work using homeshare?

can I share my itunes library between my laptop at home and my computer at work using homeshare?

Can I rip my CDs to only one of the iTunes instances and share this iTunes Library between both instances of iTunes?
Have a look at this article in the Apple Knowledge Base and let us know if it brings you any combination of joy and/or satisfaction.

I have a new Windows tablet computer with limited hard drive space, and cannot transfer my itunes library to the hard drive. Can I run t media from an external hard drive? If so, how do I transfer my files?

I have a new Windows tablet computer with limited hard drive space (32 GB), and cannot transfer my itunes library to the hard drive. Can I run itunes from an external hard drive? I have tried to follow some of the directions on this site, but am having no success. Thanks.

iTunes will run fine with the media on an external drive.
However, I suggest that a tablet computer with a tiny hard drive is not ideal as the primary computer for managing an iTunes library, even a small one. If you have another machine, perhaps a big, boxy, inexpensive old desktop with a decent amount of storage, that might be a better choice.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1364

Can users have one iTunes library deriving from two drives?

Hi everyone,
I keep my 4 & 5 star songs on my C drive and the rest (all stars, 1,2 3, etc.) on my exhternal hard drive.
Whenever I want to listen to my music, all I can readily play are the tunes on my C drive.
I'm guessing the issues having one library for tunes stored on separate drives is insurmountable?
I say that because I'm guessing that my iPod (4th gen) is only capable of importing from one library?
I think the biggest issue is either I don't know how to (or maybe users can't) list a second drive so that iTunes can load all songs from both drives whenever I do have the second drive up and running.
Adding to the second drive library issue, I can't figure out how to permanently tag my external HD's (I've got 6) so that their drive letter is not automatically defaulting to their order of prescence.
I can deal with that issue by simply not opening iTunes while I the second drive has been assigned a drive letter other than what iTunes (hopefully) is set to (i.e.; hopefully C and F drives).
But can users have one iTunes library deriving from two drives?

Seems I've over come what is something I'd hoped/expected iTunes would be capable of (ie; reinitiating the pathway for external HD music files when their drive letter is the only thing that changed).
I tried the obvious by going to iTunes's Edit>Preferences>Advanced and clicking the change button for "iTunes Music folder location", then entered the current drive and pathway (as the drive is currently assigned, F as opposed to the original G) and of course iTunes still couldn;t find the missing tunes.
Giving up on the hope that iTunes was designed smarter than it is (ie; each and every single missing tune req's manual redirection of pathway, as opposed to a preferable tick box for something like 'use the last redirected pathway').
And I finally figured out how to properly changed drive letter assignments, but still uncertasin if that means permanently tags my EHD's with that drive letter.
For that to be permanent, maybe I need to name each drive regardless that Windows already has unique inforamtion on each HD. Suppose I'll soon find out if the drive at this point has fianlly stored its drive name and whether or not Windows will contiue to change the EHD drive letters simply by the order which I am introducing them to the os.
No real luck with rats nest USB hubs as they crash my os alot, so I'm left to trying to find an easy way of managing the EHD drive assignments. THe following is the closest I've yet to come to doing that:
Click Start>Control Panel>Administrative Tools>Computer Management, and then in the left pane, under Storage, click Disk Management.
Right-click the drive, partition, logical drive, or volume for which you want to assign a drive letter, and then click Change Drive Letter and Paths.
Click Change.
Click Assign the following drive letter (if it is not already selected), click the drive letter that you want to use, and then click OK.
Click Yes when you are prompted to confirm the drive letter change.
Again, too bad iTunes doesn't afford a 'find' feature for 'missing' files such that one might be afforded a tick box for 'do not prompt again, instead use the last indicated location for "iTunes Music" folder as the base storage location'.
This drive renaming thing is a real hassle. Not like somebody couldn't have guessed it and Windows and/or iTunes can't afford some script, etc. to better manage 'tagging' EHD's and/or re-locating 'missing' tunes.
But then what would we have to complain about, not that they listen anyway.

How do I transfer itunes library to new hard drive running lion os

I have a Mac Pro with 2 hard drives in it.
Hard drive #1 has Leopard OS and my iTunes library on it
Hard drive #2 has Lion 10.7.4 OS and this is where I want to move my iTunes library to from hard drive #1.
How can I due this insuring that all playlists, etc. transfer seamlessly. I will then only be using the new Lion OS
to run iTunes (and this will also communicate with Apple TV, etc.)
Thanks!

Copy the entire /Music/iTunes/ folder from old hard drive to /Music/ on new hard drive.
Start iTunes.
That is all.
You can also leave it where it it, hold Option, launch iTunes.
Slect Choose library... and select the iTunes folder on the Leopard drive.
This will be your iTunes for both OS, whichever you boot into.

Backing up itunes library to a hard drive

I want to back up my entire itunes library to my hard drive but can only find instructons on backing up to cds, i have a very large library and dont want to lose any of my songs, please help
thanks

The instructions you saw are for using iTunes to back up to CD or DVD. You do not need them for backing up to an external hard drive. Just close iTunes. Make sure the hard drive is connected to the computer. Go into Windows Explorer, or "My Computer." Copy your entire "My Music" folder to the hard drive, along with anything else that you wish to back up.

I have just transferred my iTunes library from a hard drive previously connected to a windows laptop to a MacBook Pro and now all my options for editing info are greyed out. I have seen the answers if still using windows but could find a similar situation

I have just transferred my iTunes library from a hard drive previously connected to a windows laptop to a MacBook Pro and now all my options for editing info are greyed out. I have seen the answers if still using windows but could find a similar situation to this one.

Eels290776 wrote:
if my external hard drive is not connected to either of my machines, and I download something onto my iMac and then something different onto my Macbook, where are my machines going to be storing the new downloaded media
when the drive is not connected, +iTunes media folder location+ will default back to <MacintoshHD>/users/<yourname>/music/iTunes/iTunes music (or media)
and when I next connect the external hard drive how will I easily get the newly downloaded media onto the external HD
you'd have to point +iTunes media folder location+ back to the external via preferences > advanced > iTunes media folder location, then file > library, organize library > consolidate files
and essentially, to have it easily readable on both machines?
in that case it might be best to copy the entire iTunes folder to the external. then, on each machine, launch iTunes while pressing option on your keyboard. when prompted, click on +choose library+ and navigate to the iTunes folder on the external.
note only one iTunes can access the iTunes library @ a time !
also, make sure the external is mounted on either machine before launching iTunes.
JGG

Hi, I had to re install my itunes library from a hard drive to my new laptop. Now I cant sync my iphone because itunes thinks all songs are new and basically doubling all albums. Should i restore iphone or is there a better way?

hi, i had to re install my itunes library from a hard drive to my new laptop. Now itunes thinks i am trying to add new albums and saying there isnt enoug space. should i restore or is there a better way.

Have you tried exporting a 10 second section of the footage to see if the issue shows up once the seqeunce is actually exported from the timeline. I edit on CS5 with windows 7 pro at work quite often and have no issues so I assure you that isn't the issue. I also edit with AVCHD footage when at home and work quite freqeuntly as well so I'm positive that isn't the issue. It sounds like a GPU driver has been corrupted in the way it interacts with premiere pro. What type of GPU do you have? If it supports MPE's GPU acceleration have you tried turning it off and seeing if that makes any difference?
Anyways though try to export a 10 second test section of your timeline to see if when the clip is exported from premiere it will play normally in windows media player or vlc or w/e media player you want to use. If it exports fine then you can almost be positive it's a corrupted video card driver. If that's the case I'd re-install your GPU's driver and also check your gpu makers website to see if they have a updated driver avaiable.

Moving iTunes library to another hard drive

I followed the directions on the Apple website
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301748
to move my iTunes library to another hard drive. the instructions say to delete the original iTunes folder ...
now the library has been moved (the files are in the folder on the new hard drive) but iTunes has completely lost its catalog of my music (the screen is empty when I select library in iTunes) - what happened and how can I get the catalog back without importing everything?

You missed 'Point 14':
After the folder has been copied, locate your original iTunes Music folder, and drag it to the Trash or Recycle Bin. Note: Don't remove the iTunes 4 Music Library files that may be in the same location as the iTunes Music folder.
If you deleted the 'iTunes Library.itl' file from that folder, then you deleted the iTunes database file that keeps track of all your song references, Playlists and some attributes. See:What are the iTunes Library files?
Can you recover this file from the ExHD? Or maybe the Recycle Bin? Place it back into the 'iTunes' folder under the 'My Music' folder.
If not, you'll have to 'Rebuild' your Library from the ExHD's music files. It's a simple 'File=>Add Folder' from within iTunes, but you will lose your Playlists, Ratings, Play Counts and Last Played attributes.

Can I split my iTunes library between 2 hard drives?

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for