Can I transfer our family itunes libraries to external hard-drive and connect to Time Capsule to share accross network

I was wondering if I could transfer our family itunes account libraries which are on 2 laptops and 1 Macbook, each with their own Apple ID's linked to iTunes per machine to an external hard-drive. This hard-drive would then be connected Time Capsule to share accross the network. Is this scenario possible? Please advise. Thank you.

There's your problem. Macs can only read NTFS and not write to it. there are various cross-platform solutions but none are ideal. If this is a Mac-only drive the best thing is to reformat it to Mac Extended with Disk Utility. Note in doing so you will erase the drive!
Kappy's extensive hard drive formatting post - http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=8340551 - note that instructions at end are for zeroing data.
BDAqua's Formatting instructions - http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=8901255
Pondini: Formatting, Partitioning, Verifying, and Repairing Disks... - http://pondini.org/OSX/Home.html

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My husband bought an imac for the first time. We backed up our separate itunes libraries on external hard drive but when it was retrieved, the 2 libraries had merged and they only appear in my husbands area. How do we split them back up again?

Really need some help here. We got the guys at PC World to back up our old computer onto and external hard drive, but our libraries merged. I've tried retrieving the whole thing from the external hard drive but can't seem to identify any files to retrieve. If I could copy the whole thing into my area, we could both just erase the things from each others' libraries that we didn't want. We are imac virgins, and need some advice!

if it's content purchased from the iTunes store we're talking about, the following script will help to tell the files apart:
Track Down Purchases
This script will examine each track in a selection of tracks or a selected playlist to determine if it was purchased from the iTunes Store and then copies it to a discrete playlist named for the person who purchased it, eg: "Steve Ballmer's Purchased Music". Recognizes song, video, and audiobook purchases. Purchaser information is gleaned by examining the track's file, which, depending on file location and access speed, can take as long a second per track.
for content you added manually (i.e. CD rips), i don't know of any easy way once the libraries were merged.

HT3500 how do you transfer data from an external hard drive to a mac time capsule

I am trying to use my Mac Time Capsule as a wireless external hard drive for my MacBook Pro, so how do I transfer the data from a toshiba external hard drive, to my Mac Time Capsule?

Drag and drop or copy and paste files just as you would do with any normal Finder operation.
The Time Capsule is located under the SHARED heading in the Finder.
Click on the Time Capsule icon and double click the folder that appears representing the drive....named Data....unless you have changed the name......to mount the drive on the desktop.
Drag/drop or copy/paste files to the icon on the desktop or to the open window there.

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.

Can Time Machine back up an external hard drive plugged into a Time Capsule

I have iTunes and iPhoto libraries that have outgrown the hard drive on my laptop so I've moved them on to an external hard drive. Since I'd like to move around the house with the laptop, I've plugged the external hard drive in to the Time Capsule so that the files on the external hard drive will be accessible on the network. Now that my really important files live on an external hard drive, I want to back it up.
Time Machine is backing up my laptop's internal hard drive to the Time Capsule drive, but I can't seem to figure out how to make Time Machine also back up the external hard drive that's plugged in to the Time Capsule.
Is this possible?

I understand that [Chronosync|http://www.econtechnologies.com/pages/cs/chrono_overview.html] ($40 U.S.) can do that, but I've never used it.
If you do that, you'll want to back it up to a disk image on the TC's internal HD, or a separate HD. See #Q3 in [Using Time Machine with a Time Capsule|http://web.me.com/pondini/TimeMachine/TimeCapsule.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum) for details.

How do I back up my itunes to an external hard drive and restore from same if necessary

How do I back up my entire itunes to an external hard drive and restore from same if necessary.
Thanks

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 transfer my iphoto events to an external hard drive and have the pictures remain within their original events?

How do i transfer my iphoto events to an external hard drive and have the pictures remain within their original events? Every time i try it splits up all of my pictures one by one. You'd think you'd be able to just drag and drop the event, but no such luck. Help!!

What version of iPhtoo do you have?
To export the photos in an event use the file menu == export command - see the user tip on exporting for the available options
TO use your iPhoto library on an external drive
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

How do i transfer music from itunes to an external hard drive

I'm Trying to transfer music from my iTunes library to an external hard drive. how do I go about it.

If you have set iTunes to organize your library (under Edit > Preferences > Advanced) then all you need to do is:
with iTunes not running, copy your entire iTunes library (by default, C:\Users\user_name\Music\iTunes) to your external hard drive - if the latter is drive X, you end up with X:\iTunes containing:
Album Artwork (folder)
iTunes Media (folder) containing (the exact list of folders varies with the types of content in your library):
Audiobooks (folder)
Automatically Add to iTunes (folder)
Music (folder - this will contain one subfolder per artist, each containing one subfolder per album)
Podcasts (folder)
TV Shows (folder)
iTunes Preferences.plist (file)
Previous iTunes Libraries (folder)
iTunes Library Extras.itdb (file)
iTunes Library Genius.itdb (file)
iTunes Library.itl (file - this is the iTunes database)
iTunes Library.xml (file)
sentinel (hidden file)
When everything has been copied, hold down SHIFT while starting iTunes. You'll see this prompt:
Select Choose Library ... and browse to the iTunes folder on your external drive. Select the iTunes Library.itl file and click Open.
iTunes is now running with the complete library (database, media and supporting files) on the external drive.
If you haven't been allowing iTunes to organize your library (which means that some media may be stored in other locations, i.e., not all under C:\Users\user_name\Music\iTunes\iTunes Media) then you need to do the following prior to the steps described above.
In iTunes, go to Edit > Preferences > Advanced and check the Keep iTunes Media folder organized and Copy files to iTunes Media folder ...
Then select File > Library > Organize Library ... In the next dialog check the Consolidate files option and (if not grayed-out) Reorganize files ..., then click OK.
iTunes will then reorganize your media so that you can follow the procedure to copy the complete library to your external HDD.
Last point: once you've done this I strongly recommend that you get a second external drive and use this to take a regular backup of your library,

HT201250 can i back up my iTunes on one external hard drive to another external hard drive through time machine?

I have my itunes on an external hard drive which I use on my macbook. Can I back these files up through time machine onto a second external hard drive?

For TM yes, for another backup program running on the mac yes. You can avoid the NTFS issue by installing a NTFS driver in your mac: there are two proven ones: Paragon and NTFS-3G. These drivers make it possible for a mac to read and write NTFS formatted drives.
But it will not help TM (I am not 100% sure about that), but other backup apps it will help.

I moved itunes file to external hard drive and want to move the file on my pc to recycle bin. When I move i get an error message that it cannot delete ituneshelper.dll access is denied. Can I move that file to the recycle bin?

I am trying to free up space on my pc and moving itunes files to external hard drive. I have followed instructions and believe I have file copied to new drive, but I am having trouble moving file to recycle bin as the instructions say. I am getting the following error message: cannot delete ituneshelper.dll:access denied, make sure disk is not full or write protected and file not in use. I know the file is not in use when trying to move. Any help would be most appreciated. I am on Windows XP.

Yes. And you should not have moved that folder. Put it back. To move your iTunes library move the folder from User's Music.
tt2

I spent hrs fixing my iTunes since I did the update and it wiped out everything! I have put all of my iTunes on my external hard drive and it works but I got a new computer. I installed iTunes on the new computer but now the folders on my ehd are empty!

I am having a very hard time. First I finally got all of my music back into iTunes and then moved them all to my external hard drive. I set up iTunes to automatically put and get music from the external hard drive and whenever I open the drive al of the music is there. Now, I bought a new computer and went ahead and got iTunes all set up then tried to add folder to import from the external hard drive but all the music folders are empty! They show the names of the artists and the albums but there is nothing inside. Please help!!

If you've just moved the drive between systems then see Repair security permissions for iTunes for Windows just in case that reveals the missing files. Apply to a single album folder first as a test. Otherwise, if you've not done too much with the drive since things went missing, an undelete tool might recover the lost media. FreeRecover looks promising... Select the drive, use the options to get file paths and check file integrity, then, presumably, you can restore anything that has been deleted that looks recoverable. Backup to another drive when you're done.
tt2

Move PC iTunes library to external hard drive and consolidate with iMac

Hi, I have a PC that I'm not using much. I have a ton of iTunes music files on it so I went through the process of copying these files to my networked external hard drive. I have my iMac connected wirelessly to this same hard drive. I went into the System Preferences on the iMac to tell it where it could find the new library and I pointed it to the iTunes folder but there is not an iTunes Media folder like many of the articles state, like this one: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1449
Do I need to create an iTunes Media folder? Note this is an iTunes Library that was on a PC, moved to a networked external hard drive and will be used on my new iMac.
Thanks.

kneedragger101 wrote:
Note this is an iTunes Library that was on a PC
you might want to read these articles: one and two.
why not move your media files using _*Home Sharing*_ ?

I transfered my itunes to an external hard drive and seemed to have lost my apps. Any ideas?

I thought I could just drag and drop my iTunes library to an external hard drive. After doing this and finding out that it would not work I took my itunes folder and moved it from my music folder on my hard drive to my desktop. After doing that I realized what I needed to do to get my itunes on the external hard drive. I got the itunes on the hard drive alright, lost my playlists which is OK, I will just re-do those, but I also lost my apps for my iPad. I still have all my original files though on my desk top. Does anyone have any suggestions?

davidfrombillings wrote:
I thought I could just drag and drop my iTunes library to an external hard drive.
it'll work ... if done properly ☞
copy the entire iTunes folder (not just the iTunes music or media folder) from <MacintoshHD>/users/<yourname>/music on your Mac to the external, then launch iTunes while holding the option (⌥) key, click on choose library when prompted, and select the iTunes folder on the external.
if I already have my iTunes going to the incorrect files how is it going to find the correct files again.
you could try if this script helps:
iTunes Track CPR v1.3
This script attempts to locate the files of so-called "dead tracks"--iTunes tracks designated with (!)--that you assume are not actually missing but are still located in the iTunes Music folder in their "iTunes File Order" (Music -> Artist -> Album -> file.xxx)."
Eric Ross wrote:
When you moved the file back did you go back into iTunes in your preferences and select the advance tab and then selected the location again or where your files are
the iTunes media folder location in preferences > advanced tells iTunes where to put new additions to your library, not where your content currently is.

Can I move Itunes from a pc based external hard drive on to a Time Capsule linked to Macbook Air? Is Timecapsule a good backup option for a 'silver surfer'?

I have a Macbook Air, iPod and old pc with external hard drive. My iTunes is on the pc which I sync with my iPod. I am thinking of buying a Timecapsule for backing up Macbook. At the sametime would it make sense/be easy to move iTunes library on to new Timecapsule and access it from Macbook? Or would I have to store the iTunes library on Macbook internal drive? (pc is getting old and will eventually be binned). Thanks in advance

speachmusic wrote:
if I ran an eithernet cable through my flat
you could do that - or you could employ a pair of *powerline adapters* _*such as these*_.
either way, as William pointed out, it will boost syncing speed and improve reliability.
Or can I attached an external hard drive to the time capsule, set it us as a network drive and then set that drive in the iTunes preferences as where to where its media folder is?
yes. my test iTunes library lives on an external HD hanging off my TC and, using a hardwired connection, data transfer speeds are more than sufficient for what you intend to do.
in fact, i would recommend the external drive connected to the TC over using the TC itself. one reason is that you will not be able to backup what is on the TC's drive using time machine. also, if the TC croaks and needs to be replaced, it will be difficult to retrieve the data from it.
an external HD, otoh, could be connected to you Mac periodically and backed up to another external HD using free apps such as _*Carbon Copy Cloner*_.
JGG

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brogand wrote:
Thanks for that, it was really helpful.
Glad to hear that worked for you. While formatting an external drive with a Mac format is best if it will be used only with a Mac, if the files on the drive have to be accessible to a PC also, it's possible to format it in an exFAT format, which both the Mac and a PC can read from and write to. However, if you do that, do the actual formatting while the external is connected to the PC.

Can I transfer our family itunes libraries to external hard-drive and connect to Time Capsule to share accross network

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