Consolidate multiple iTunes libraries on External HD to use with iTunes Match

I have a backed up iTunes library on an external HD because I rebuilt my macBook Air. I now want to move it to another External HD, consolidate that library with the one I have been building on my laptop for the last 6 months and use iTunes Match for 1 library.
There seem to be multiple ways of copying or building the libraries themselves. I would like to keep playlists but it is not absolutely necessary. Where do I start?

You can check online for various merging tools but the standard way is to simply drag media from one media folder to iTunes open to the other library.
You could try exporting and importing playlists. I don't have much experience with that but I don't know how well it will work since playlists basically point to media files and if you are moving those...

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Is Time Machine something that I can back up to in a separate particle of my new MacBook Pro or do I need an external drive to use with it?

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Belinda

Belinda,
In order to use Time Machine the external volume must be formatted in Disk Utility as "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)". You can't use a drive that is formatted to be used for both a Mac and a Windows unit (exFAT, etc.). You should purchase a new external drive to use with Time Machine and never let your work go for over a week with hooking up to the TM drive and allow Time Machine to do it's thing.
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If you have an Intel Mac do this:
Extended Hard Drive Preparation
1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
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4. Select the PC volume you just created (this is a sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window. Set the format type to MSDOS (FAT32) from the Format drop down menu. Click on the Erase button.
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6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.
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External HD for use with Time Machine

I have a new MacBook Pro with 320GB HD. I want to buy an external HD to use with Time Machine for a back up. HOw much capacity should I be looking at for the external? Is 500GB enough or is it possible to partition a 1TB unit for use as backup and extra storage (photos, music, etc...)?
Thanks.
This should have been posted in the late model forum. Sorry.

tsoup2u wrote:
Can I use disk utility to partition once plug in HD?
Yes, you can. Click the Partition tab. Click options and set the partition scheme to GUID. One option is to have one partition a bit smaller than your internal HDD, which you can use for a bootable clone (SuperDuper or Carbon Copy Cloner).
See this post for a great discussion of backup strategies:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=9423426&#9423426

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You should check your date of purchase against the manufacturer's warranty
or guaranty since some of those better brands have some recourse should
they fail within a specified time period. A good reason to save dated receipts.
Since solid-state USB drives probably don't (all) use a wear-leveling software
to equally utilize their recordable space evenly, it is possible that some of these
may exhibit a failure in some sector areas due to excessive over-writing. If the
ones you use do not have such a technology or an undercounted total capacity
with a means to automatically write in other sections, you may have to consider
manually using a disk utility to zero-overwrite and reformat them occasionally.
Even so, that may only help a marginal flash or thumb drive work a little longer.
Should a camera memory card fail you still may be able to attempt with margin of
success, to +recover image files+ from it. re: http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec
The standard default format they ship with works well for most file types; so if
you aren't moving OS X or Mac app specific files around on a USB flash drive,
the original format should be fine. Oh, you can use Disk Utility to attempt to do
a repair; but in some cases you may have to reformat them, etc.
{Some of the flash drive warranties or guarantees may vary from between regions;
so if you have one with a '5 Year' guarantee in the US, other rules may apply in EU,
or when you seek to replace an item under warranty outside of where it was bought.}
Good luck & happy computing!

How to Consolidate MULTIPLE iTunes Libraries?

I’ve found myself in a situation where my iTunes file organization has gotten out of hand. Originally this occurred because I had an iBook with only a 60GB HD, storage was tight, so I had to keep my music on both an external HD as well as the iBook’s internal HD … a real pain in the butt.
So now I have three separate locations that hold the triad of folders: iTunes Library/ iTunes Music Folder/ iTunes Music Library.xml. In addition, I have about another 20GB of music in Mp3 or MPEG-4 format, which are in folders arranged by artist but are not included in an iTunes Library. I’m spread all over the place!
I just bought a new G5 Dual-Core last week and thankfully, I now have sufficient hard drive space to consolidate everything, but I have no clue as to how to proceed to merge the several iTunes Libraries into ONE, and then to add my other 20GB of music files to it (I believe I can accomplish the latter by using the import command in iTunes, correct) … with the desired end result of having all my music in one iTunes Library and stored in one location?
As it stands, I now have two small iTune Libraries on the G5 (filed in the ‘Music’ folder … this mirrors how it was on my iBook). On one external HD I have another very large iTunes Library (25GB), and on a third HD I have large collection of music (20GB) that is not currently cataloged in any of my iTune Libraries. I could really use some advice on how to get my iTunes in unified working order.
Any help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks a bunch!
G5 Dual-Core Mac OS X (10.4.5)

Thanks.
OK. I did the Consolidate command.
However, I'm not exactly sure what it did?
It looks like iTunes just COPIED the second location of my music files and placed them into the main iTunes Library (ie. the library that is referenced when iTunes opens)?
So, I'm assuming it is now safe to trash the files that were copied over/
I still have a third mass of music files (20GB) that is already organized in folders by artists (this was copied from another itunes on a different computer); they were pulled from a different iTunes Music Folder and but there is no 'iTunes Music Library.xml' or 'iTunes Library' file extant that accompanies them. So although they have already been organized (segregated by artist) by iTunes, they have not been imported into my current iTunes library. What's the most expeditious manner of bringing them in en mass?

How do I consolidate multiple Itunes folders on one computer?

I had a mishap with my external hard drive (I didn't know how to use it properly..yup USER ERROR!) so I have three different Itunes folders intertwined in my music folders with different previous Itunes libraries. I made a backup of the entire music mess on a flash drive, have a new computer and finally an ipod to put my music on...
Can someone give me some detailed steps to be able to consolidate all of my many Itunes libraries and let me know how I can access the music in my previous Itunes libraries? I want to make sure that I still have the rights to the music that I purchased in the past. I had some music in the Itunes cloud which is great but not nearly all of it...DRATS!
I found some steps to consolidate music from different computers onto one but I'm not sure that the same steps apply to my situation. Here are the links that I was looking at in eHow: http://www.ehow.com/how_5704389_consolidate-multiple-itunes-libraries.html and http://www.ehow.com/how_8149083_can-itunes-libraries-two-computers.html.
Thanks so much in advance!
Itunes libraries make my brain hurt!

Import everything into one library and then dedupe it.
tt2

Multiple iTunes Match accounts (one per Windows profile)?

Hi,
Forgive me if this subject had been covered before (I did have a quick dig), but is it possible to have seperate iTunes Match accounts, one per Windows profile (on the same box)?
Our Windows 7 system has multiple users and we don't want to merge music into one library just to get Match working. Is it the case that it's limited by MAC address / physical hardware? (I don't want to go down the route of having one network interface per windows profile either!)
If somebody from Apple reads this, are there any plans to support this future iTunes releases? It would bring you more revenue with a household willing to pay for more than one subscription...
Many thanks,
Matt.

You can authorize a single copy of iTunes to up to five iTunes Store accounts. So yes, you can have both your account and one for your daughter in the same system.

Multiple iTunes Match problems

Hello,
I just purchased iTunes Match a few days ago and am having several problems. First, I'm running a late 08 Macbook Pro with up to date Lion, an iPhone and an iPad 2. I just bought the iPad and got a 16gb thinking that iTunes Match would create extra memory since all of my music wouldn't have to be on it. Now on to the iTunes Match issues.
1. Several songs will not match.
          -I have tried converting many of them to mp3 128kb since they were 160kb originally. I have an (gasp) android device too and need them to be mp3 and not aac. This worked on one song last night and I decided to try multiple. Didn't work, now many of them have the cloud with the x through it or the cloud with the slash through it.
          -I have tried renaming the "album artist" as suggested in these forums but with no sucess.
2. On both the iPad and iPhone there are greyed out songs. I can't play these songs and can't download them.
          - These are the same songs as in #1
          - These are also every song downloaded by iCloud. I'm a musician have have several original songs but I can't get them onto my iOS devices.
3. iTunes Match is stuck on the second step with two songs left.
          - I have tried closing iTunes and quiting then reopening several times with the same result.
I have also updated everything.
Thanks for any help you can provide,
Matt

Firstly, turn off iTunes Match on your iDevice until the inital scan, match and upload process is complete. Enabling the service on an iDevice before the intial process is complete can cause the types of behavior you're seeing.
If you have not already done so turn on the iTunes Status column in the iTunes browser by pulling down View > View Options, selecting "icloud status" and clicking OK. Sort on this column, find all the files that are "waiting" or have an error and remove them from your iTunes library and from the cloud (but not from the HDD). You might want to cp\opy them into a special folder on the desktop first.
Next, re-enable iTunes Match and let it run through the scan. Then start adding the trouble files back to your library a few at a time and let iTM process them.
If you still wind up with errors you can right-click (or Control+click) on the tracks and choose add to iCloud.

Format external drive for use with both Leopard & XP, & maybe Win7

I want to repurpose one of my old small Firewire drives to use with both Leopard and XP via Boot Camp on my MacBook. It is is 60GB and is currently formatted with MacOS Extended Journaled, and Apple Partition Map. I don't think I will have any need at the present time to store files of more than 4GB on it (most of the ones I want to store are no more than a few hundred MB each).
Is using FAT32 with Master Boot Record adequate? Up until now I have just used flash drives for external Windows storage, but I would like to consolidate lots of topographic maps files onto this one Firewire drive instead of using multiple flash drives, and use these files with both Leopard and XP. If I want to try Windows 7 in the future via either Boot Camp or virtualization, will there be a problem with FAT32/MBR?

Hi,
using FAT32 as file system and MBR as partition table should work just fine with OSX and all Windows versions up to 7.
And since your files don't come close to 4GB single-file-size, that FAT32 limitation is no hinderance.
Use Disk Utility to do this, since Windows won't format partitions/drives with more than 32GB to FAT32 (built-in limitation).
Nonetheless it can use such partitions (I have a 200GB on my external HD).
Regards
Stefan
Message was edited by: Fortuny

How do I format my external HD to use with iMac?

I have an external HD by Maxtor that I have used with a Windows computer. I am changing to iMac and want to use the same drive. I have transferred the files on it to my iMac successfully. But now I can't clean up the drive because everything is "read only". I read in Maxtor support how to format the drive but it was directions for Mac OS 9 and I couldn't figure it out.

Additionally, you need to be aware of OS X file system formats and partition mapping schemes are two different things.
OS X requires the Mac OS Extended (HFS+) file system formatting—applies to both PPCs and ICBMs (Intel-chip-base Macs). Details on file system formats are in <http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Performance/Conceptual/FileSystem/Art icles/MacOSXAndFiles.html>.
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So, for your situation, in addition to Mr. Clifton's advice, you need to select the GUID partition map scheme.

Suggestions for an external HD to use with my AirPort Extreme?

I have a fairly new APE (6 months old or so), and I want to purchase an external HD for use as a backup/sharing device on my network. I have a MBP running ML, a PC desktop (win XP), and a PC laptop (win 7).
It will be a stand alone unit at part of the network, and plugged into the APE, but when configured, I'd like to be able to access the files stored there with any of the computers I have.
I do not anticipate having to plug the ext HD directly into any of the computers, except in an extreme emergency.
Would a HD like a WD MyBook do, formatted either for the PC or the Mac? Does the HD need to be formatted one way or the other for maximun compatibility?
I dont intend to buy a "portable" HD to do the job. It will be connected full time to the network.
I've never used Time Machine before as a backup tool, nor any other backup software. Primarily, the backup will be of my photos, and a few documents.
If I have a system crash, I can and will reinstall the OS, whatever computer dies.
I've not got much experience with network HD backup, but I figure it's about time.
Sorry if my questions are a bit lame, or if this has been covered in some kind of tutorial somewhere else. Please direct me to that link if it has.
Any advice or help would be greatly appreciated!!
DJ

Thank you for your reply.
I have been looking at the WD MyBook Studio as an option in my system. Not so much because it is Mac compatible out of the box, but more because I like the idea of the metal enclosure, for durability and heat dissapation.
I have heard and seen reviews where many external drives can be noisy as well. I'm not so concerned with noise during a backup or a file transfer, but I dont think I could tolerate constant noise.
I have a APE, 802.11n, Model MD031LL/A that I intend to plug my external drive into. I may or may not just do basic "copy and pastes" of files and such, at least until I find a backup plan that is somewhat automated and hands-free.
For now, anyway, I have nothing of importance stored on my MBP, so using Time Machine might not be a factor as a backup solution for my MBP.
An overwhelming majority of my files will be JPEG, RAW, along with Word and Excel files (from both my MBP and PC). I do not have any Mac-exclusive formatted files on my MBP.
I try to be careful when saving and storing files to allow for max compatibility on both platforms. As an aside, if there is a good tutorial about this topic (file-saving and compatibility), I'd love a link if you can share.
I would be willing to reformat the external drive if it meant better, cross platform compatibility and performance. In the back of my head, I have this idea about getting the MyBook Studio, and reformatting as necessary.
I know this idea sounds a bit fussy, but I just want to get a quiet, solid desktop external drive, that I can just sort of buy, configure and forget (in a manner of speaking)
Plus, I dont want to waste $100-$150 bucks making a poor HD choice.
Further suggestions?
Thanks,
DJ

Can an external gps be used with ipod touch

I wonder if an external gps device can be used with the ipod touch.

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How do I consolidate multiple iPhoto libraries on multiple machines into a single Aperture libraries?

Hullo all,
I run a smallish studio at a University, and I have inherited multiple Macs (2 Powerbooks, 2 Mac Pros) running multiple OS (2 on Mavericks, 2 on 10.7) and multiple versions of iPhoto. These have been used for photo and video work over the years, and each has its own stash of content, project files, etc. In an effort to organize, I wish to consolidate all the various iPhoto and Aperture libraries into a single library. I have a 16TB Pegasis RAID available via Thunderbolt to hold the material. Can anyone tell me the best way to go about this? My background is 20 years production work in film and video and I am rather new to still photo work and as such, do not know much about maintaining archives etc.
If I read correctly from other questions, I need to update all versions of iPhoto to be the same, establish the library on the Pegasus, then export all the files to that library? Is this correct? I am not sure I can update all computers to the current version (one is a late 2009 MacPro) Is there any easier way to do it? I am happy to purchase software if that makes the process easier.
Cheers! Thanks for any info!

iPhoto does not support to merge libraries into one.
The utility iPhoto Library Manager can merge libraries -
download here: iPhoto Library Manager
If you have access to Aperture, you can also use it to merge your libraries (see: Aperture 3.3: How to use Aperture to merge iPhoto libraries), but if you need to buy a tool, iPhoto Library Manager would be the more economic solution, and it is a must-have with iPhoto anyway.

How do I consolidate multiple itunes accounts?

Over the years I have somehow ended up with music purchases associated with different email accounts. I think I might have multiple appleid's.?? I think one Id has me on 4 of 5 computers and the other on 2 of 5.
I want to start over without losing all of my purchases.
PS; I also suspect that when I loaded it on the last computer that I lost some purchases made prior to 2009.
I NEED HELP.

BTW, this forum is for questions about iTunes U, Apple's service for colleges and universities to post educational material in the iTunes Store. Normally you will get the quickest and most applicable responses if you ask your questions in the general iTunes forums.
Regards.

Consolidate multiple iTunes libraries on External HD to use with iTunes Match

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