Can i use backup of music library on external hd as original

Had my iTunes music folder located on an external hd 1 that recently failed. Had recently made a copy of that music folder on a separate external hd 2. My question is can i plug in my external hd 2 with that music folder copy, open iTunes, and when it asks for the location of the music folder can i just point it to the external hd 2 music folder and have the iTunes library use that location instead? Will it keep all my same playlists, album covers, library ect. all the way it was before but just grab the music from a different location? Want to know before i try it and mess up the library I've got going on. I've done a lot of work installing album covers I couldn't find and lots of ratings that I don't want to loose. Thanks for any help in this situation.

If you just change things in Win Explorer, itunes will lose the paths to the music files.
Your ratings & other metadata are stored in a file named iTunesLibrary.itl. That database also stores the exact paths to all the music.
If your exHD2 has the same folder structure/paths as the exHD1 that died, you might be able to assign it the drive letter that exHD1 was using, and it will all work.
Here is a good background article to read before doing anything.
http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/moving-your-itunes-library-to -a-new-hard-drive/
Especially the section, *iTunes: The Database versus the Content*.
My advice is to make a backup of your ITL file now before doing anything, and put it in a safe place so you can get to it if you need to try a few things.
I assume you are like most folks and still have the iTL file in the default place on the C: drive.
Make a copy and put it on exHD2 or in another folder on C:.

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