Can iTunes, song files, and library all reside on an external drive?

I loaded iTunes and also all of my music and audiobook folders onto an external drive. There are no iTunes files or song files on my local drive. However, when I try to populate iTunes by importing the music and audio folders iTunes insists on creating a library, with copies of all audio files, on my local drive. There is not enough room on my local drive to accommodate my entire music collection but there is plenty of room on the external drive. How can I persuade iTunes to create my library on my external drive? I’ve tried importing the folders manually and also by using PodPlus but the result is always the same – I receive a message from iTunes stating that there is not enough room for all the files. Any help or alternative suggestions would be very greatly appreciated. Thanks.

David, welcome to discussions! You may find this link from MacMuse helpful on how to move iTunes to a different drive, either internal or external. I used this information to move my music to an EHD on my old PC where it worked just fine. One trick, you must always boot up the EHD prior to opening iTunes or iTunes will revert the location of the iTunes music folder back to the main drive & you will have a bunch of dead links to your song files. Post back if you have any questions.
Oops, forgot the link!
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=121879
Message was edited by: StarDeb55

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Since I have the newest version of itunes, I can't back up like normally. The only way is to considilate files and then put them on an external drive which I don't have. Are there any other options? If I can't back up to a disc like I used to, can I inste

Since I have the newest version of itunes, I can't back up like normally. The only way is to considilate files and then put them on an external drive which I don't have. Are there any other options? If I can't back up to a disc like I used to, can I instead just keep everything on my ipod and then if I have to get a new computer or something just download all my songs from the ipod to my new computer's itunes? Will that work? Will I still be able to keep all my songs that way?

I'm going to assume the consolidating files does not work due to hard drive space limitations.
Since you're moving to Windows 7, have you tried using the Windows files and settings transfer utility? That will move everything for you to the same location on the new computer, it also allows some control over what actually gets moved.
Alternatively, if you know the location of all of the media, it can be manually moved by copying it from the old computer to the new computer in the same location.
Also, using the Apple article on moving the library, take a slight twist on what it says. Move the iTunes library to the external drive, update the settings in iTunes to reflect the library being on the external drive, then consolodate it.
The options are endless for moving the library... it simply takes a little effort to make it happen and possibly a twist on existing "standard" methods depending on your unique situation.

How to ensure the link between iTunes Library itl file and Music Folder residing on a different drive?

I'm planning to move my Music Library from a PC to Mac. Both running iTunes 10.
On the PC (Win XP) the iTues folder did not move from My Music folder when music (and videos, books, etc) were moved to a different drive on the PC. iTunes runs ok, but the itl, xml and itdb files remain in the My Music Folder.
When I transfer the music (folder and all other contents) to the Mac, and then the itl, xml, itdb files into the new Music>iTunes folder will they still be "linked" or will I need to rebuild the itl from scratch?
Is there a way to ensure that the itl and music files themselves transfer to the Mac and remain linked once iTunes is launched?
thanks

Making a split library portable
Here are typical layouts for the iTunes folders:
If the iTunes folder contains the iTunes Media folder as above then the iTunes folder can be moved to a new location/drive/computer without breaking the file references. Although it is possible to migrate a split library from one system to another, the media folder must end up at precisely the same drive letter & path on the target system. This is feasible when moving between Windows systems, possibly feasible moving between Macs, but definitely impossible when moving PC to Mac or vice versa.
Assume the media folder on the external drive is called ..\<Parent>\<Media> and the library files are in the usual place of <Profile's Music>\iTunes.
You need to copy the library files and Album Artwork folder into the <Parent> folder, then use the hold-down-shift-when-starting-iTunes method (hold down option for Macs) to open the copy of the database that you've made in the <Parent> folder.
Once this library has been opened and tested there are a few changes you can make so that it conforms to the standard layout. When iTunes opens it uses the folder name where the database is located as the window name so if the <Parent> folder isn't called iTunes then neither will be the main iTunes window. Close iTunes, rename <Parent> as iTunes and use the hold-down-shift-when-starting-iTunes method to open iTunes again. If <Parent> is the root of the drive, make a new folder called iTunes and move the library files, Album Artwork & <Media> folders into the new iTunes folder instead. Start iTunes, then check under Edit > Preferences > Advanced that the media folder location has been correctly updated and edit if necessary.
You may also want to correct the media folder name. Having applied the fix above, if it was necessary, close iTunes then rename the <Media> folder as iTunes Media. Start iTunes and again check under Edit > Preferences > Advanced that the media folder location has been correctly updated and edit if necessary.
Congratulations, your library is now fully portable and you can connect your external drive to any computer running the same build of iTunes, Mac or PC, in order to work with it. Don't forget to deauthorise the old computer if you won't need to access protected content on it again.
tt2

Can't Open file--and then ALL backups also will not open. SEVERE BUG

After losing 2 FULL day's work to files that inexplicably and suddenly would not open, I read discussion board questions and rebuilt the entire presentations from Keynote, instead of starting with PowerPoint imports.
However the same thing happened. Worse, when it happens, ALL THE BACKUPS THAT I HAD BEEN SAVING ARE ALSO NOT ABLE TO OPEN. How can that be?
I have had it with Keynote. If I could get my money back I would.
But I'd pay a *lot more* money to have never heard of the program and not have wasted now four full day's work...gone.

I am using Keynote 2.0.2, and after installing Mac OS X 10.4.6, I have been unable to open either of 2 Keynote files I have tried to open since the installation. I am hesitant to try opening any other presentations, though I may copy other presentations to a safe place and then trying. I get a message each time that the file may not be opened "because it is damaged." I tried deleting the Keynote preferences file and reinstalling Keynote, but I could still not open the prior presentations. I don't know if this is a 10.4.6 issue or a Keynote issue, but I thought I would mention it. I am nervous about using Keynote again until I hear what is causing the problem and knowing there is a fix, especially if others are having the same problem...
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How do I get my new pc to see my itunes library already residing on my external drive?

I have a laptop pc connected to an external drive. My iTunes libary was moved to an external drive because it took up so much memory. I have a new desktop pc now. I downloaded iTunes onto it and I am trying to get it see the iTunes library on the external drive now, but it will not. Any thoughts on how to make that happen?

Hey KHpod,
Thanks for the question, and welcome to Apple Support Communities.
It sounds like you are attempting to open up the iTunes library from your external drive. The following article may provide the resolution to your issue:
iTunes: How to open an alternate iTunes Library file or create a new one
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1589
Thanks,
Matt M.

How can I create an iPhoto Library from photos on an external drive?

Here's my issue:
I have a MacBook Pro running OS X Mavericks, and I am just about out of hard drive space.
I also have about 20 GB worth of photos on an external drive. The photos are not organized at all, just got dumped into a folder there during a hasty backup a couple years ago.
I'd like to use iPhoto to get these photos organized, but don't have the space to import them into the library on my laptop.
How can I create and manage an iPhoto library with these photos while keeping them on the external drive? They are on a terabyte drive, so I have a feeling I'd like to make that my main library moving forward.

Check that the drive's formatted as Mac OS Extended, drag the iPhoto library to it, launch iPhoto with the Option key held down, and choose that library.
(114618)

How do I organize my 3 files to be one file and not lose music from my external drive???

If given proper instructions, I know I can reorganize this but i'm afraid that I'm going to lose my music. I had "someone" that said they knew what they were doing move the music from my laptop to my external hard drive and they created a NEW file rather than the existing one created by iTunes. They wiped out my iTunes and now I get question marks and now I have doubles, three different files, it's stressing me out. My iPod (80 GB) is full and it doesn't even have the same music as iin the files or on iTunes. All I would like to do is see one file, see all my music in iTunes, and even though I'll have to keep my external connected, I want to know I can click play it it will just go. PLEASE...help.

PDF is the worst possible format to try to convert to something else -- it is intended to be the end of the line, and the results of conversion are usually a mess.
I suggest you do a google search on "convert pdf to epub" and try out the various options.

HT201250 How can I restore files using Time Machine to a new external drive?

I need to restore all the files on a failed hard drive—upwards of a terabyte of data. How can I instruct Time Machine to copy the files to a new external hard drive? Thanks!

Hold down the option key and select
Browse Other Backup Disks...
from the Time Machine menu in the menu bar. The menu icon looks like a clock running backwards. If you don't have that menu, open the Time Machine preference pane and check the box marked
Show Time Machine in menu bar

Can time machine backups and data live on the same external drive?

I have a 1TB drive, more than enough for my data and backups. Question is, I already have it partitioned as Mac OSX extended (Journaled), and when I plugged it in my new mac with my old data, it said, do you want to use this as a backup drive. I selected yes, not thinking anything. But then I wondered, can I continue saving new data on this drive (music, videos, photos, etc) AND use it as a time machine backup drive, or is it either or? Hope this question makes sense. Thanks!

To expand on Lyssa's answer a bit, it really depends on what other data you want to put there.
If it's something like "scratch" space for editing video, etc., then no problem, except perhaps some contention for the drive while TM backups are running. Be sure to exclude the partition from TM, via TM Preferences > Options.
But if it's important data that's not backed-up elsewhere, then you can let TM back-up that other partition along with your internal HD. That's better than no backup of it at all, but not much.
So, consider backing it up separately, either to another external HD or (especially if it's something like photos or videos that don't change a lot) to DVDs (that you can take off-site for extra security).
But whatever you do, don't put other data in the TM partition. That will probably bite you sooner or later!

I want to move the location of my iTunes library music files. At present they are all on my time machine . I want to move them all to my imac. Can I do that and keep all my playlists and play counts? Thanks in advance

I want to move the location of my iTunes library music files. At present they are all on my time machine . I want to move them all to my imac. Can I do that and keep all my playlists and play counts? Thanks in advance
its 1000s of songs . Originally I used the time machine as a networked drive but it can cause the songs to pause so I'm thinking it would be better to have the songs on the internal imac drive
how can I move the songs so I can re-open iTunes and the playlists (with plays in the 100s) find the song in the new place?

Do you mean on your Time Machine backup drive? Or are you actually accessing the backup? In either case you shouldn't be doing that. If you haven't space on your HDD to store the iTunes Library, then at least put it on another external drive.
Since you did not provide any information about what's actually "on my time machine," here's what you would do. The entire iTunes folder should be stored in the /Home/Music/ folder. Within that folder you would have three folders: imm Media, iTunes, and iTunes Playlists.

I have downloaded itunes songs into my library and now I want to import them into my DVD program, but they are MP4 files and I need them to be wma. files, can I and how do I change them?

I have downloaded itunes songs into my library and now I want to import them into my Adobe Premiere Elements DVD program. When I did it before, they were already .wma files, now they are MP4 files and they won't go. How do I change these MP4 files into .wma files?

You got the new iphone????? I have same problem. I transferred audiobooks to device to find no audiobooks on device (despite it being in iTunes as if it was). Have you found a solution????? I even tried to change import settings on format transfer but hasn't worked.

I SET UP THE HOME SHARING ON MY COMPUTER, AND i CAN STREAM MY PHOTOS AND SEE ALL THE VIDEOS AND LISTEN SONGS IN MY ITUNES, BUT CAN NOT DO HOME SHARING, ON THE TV, ALWAYS SHOWS "TURN ON HOME SHARING ON YOUR OMPUTER WITH YOUR ID WHICH I DID BUT NOTHING HELP

I just bought my apple tv yesterday and SET UP THE HOME SHARING ON MY COMPUTER, I CAN STREAM MY PHOTOS AND SEE ALL THE VIDEOS AND LISTEN SONGS IN MY ITUNES, BUT CAN NOT DO HOME SHARING, ON THE TV, ALWAYS SHOWS "TURN ON HOME SHARING ON YOUR OMPUTER WITH YOUR ID WHICH I DID BUT NOTHING HAPPEN. WHAT'S WRONG? WHAT SHALL I DO NOW?

I have found with AppleTV that it is the IPV6 on the computer you want to access is the problem. The issue is that Homegroup on Win 7 or Win 8 requires IPV6 to work, but AppleTV won't work with IPV6. (So maybe double check you have IPV6 turned off)
So you have to make a choice - Homegroup or AppleTV.... but you can't have both, until Apple brings ATV up to date. (crazy that it does not recognise IPV6 - c'mon Apple!)
You can set up sharing individually in Win 7 or 8 and have the ATV access files that way.
Having said that, there is always the exception.. I have an old HP home server running Win8 and it services ATV - but is part of the Homegroup... have no idea why it works on both, but no other machine on the home network will talk to both ATV and Homegroup at the same time!

How can I get iTunes to locate and play all my music files?

How can I get iTunes to locate and play all my music files?

I have this problem too. I am researching now. Here is what I know so far. If you right click a song then get ifo the it will say Protected AAC or purchased AAC. Protected wont play on sonos, purchased will play on sonos. It seems that all my protected were purchased 2005 to 2009 or so. I am trying to find out if apply will convert these for a small dfee or if I use the itunes cloud these tunes will convert for me. downloading and reloading is not an option for me. Pretty much a money grab by apple either way. I am sure Steve is smiling.

I moved my song files and now my playlists can't find them

Here's my scenario:
I run iTunes off my laptop and stored most of my songs on an external drive. My external drive went bad, so I copied the songs off my external drive onto the laptop hard drive in a separate folder.
Now when I run iTunes and open a playlist, there are exclamations next to all the songs that used to be on the external drive but are now on the laptop drive.
I can re-locate the songs one by one, but that will be a pain for the 2000 plus songs that used to be on the external drive.
My purchased music stays on my laptop, so I have music in two different folders.
How can I re-point the playlists to the correct folder(s) without doing it song by song? I don't want to lose the playlists (i.e. I don't care about metadata like ratings, play count, etc.) I have seen the "Moving Your iTunes Music Folder" article, but I'm not sure if this applies to my situation because I already moved my song files through Explorer and not through iTunes. I want to make sure that my playlists can find the song files even though I've moved them.
HP pavilion laptop Windows XP

Well, I think I figured it out. My playlists were pointing to an external drive E:, which I had removed from my system. So I gave the playlists something to find: I enabled my iPod as an external disk, moved the files that I had previously removed my exHD and put them on my iPod. With my ipod connected and now acting as a new exHD, I opened itunes and hat cleared up all the exclamation points. Then I consolidated my library (in edit>preferences>advanced menu, check "keep itunes music folder organized," check "copy files to iTunes music folder when adding to library," then OK; in advanced menu choose "consolidate library"). That put all those songs from the exHD into the iTunes music folder. I then deleted those files from my iPod, enabled automatic update again, and now I'm back in business.
Hope that helps anyone else out there with the same problem. My advice is to keep your library all in one place. Easier to backup and restore. Also, if you want to move itunes song files, read the article "changing where your itunes files are stored" and "moving your itunes music folder."

How can i "add file to library" and have it be considered to be a Podcast?

I went to a web site and downloaded a file to my C drive (MP3 format) that is not music. It is spoken, and is what i would call a 'Podcast', although i did not access it via iTunes as an official podcast. I then use iTunes "add file to library" function. But, it considers it to be music. I thought maybe drag/drop would work to let me add it to Podcasts, but it does not.
How can i get this file which i have imported into iTunes to be treated as a Podcast? First, i'd like it to appear on my iPod with 'Podcasts'. But, more importantly, if i stop listening in the middle, i'd like it to restart from that point the next time i start it again. Now, it is treated by the iPod like music, and so it starts at the beginning each time.
Thanks for your help! Tom.
Windows XP

Is there a way that you can "subscribe" to something that is not in iTunes store? This is just a file on a site that is available for download.
If not -- does anybody else know if there is a way to do what the original question posed, to have a file that you downloaded, treated as a Podcast instead of as music?
Thanks, tom.
Windows XP

Can iTunes, song files, and library all reside on an external drive?

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