Copying Large Blocks of MP3 files from External Hard Drive to iTunes

I'm trying to copy large numbers of MP3 files from my external
hard drive to iTunes. I tried putting them in the iTunes music folder but this did not work. Then I tried selecting blocks of the songs and dragging and dropping them in iTunes. This also did not work because when I select a large block of files and then click on them (holding down the mouse button) to drag them, then they become "unselected." So, I guess my question is 2 fold: Why can I not copy and paste these files to some folder on the Macintosh Hard drive where they will be recognized by iTunes (show up in iTunes) and what is wrong with my clicking and dragging technique? Am I losing it?

If you are trying to add tunes to your library then do the work from within iTunes not via the Finder. Droping the tunes into the iTunes folder will not create a reference for iTunes to find the tunes. You should be able to drag-drop the tunes/folders into the main iTunes window.
It is usually easier to use the 'keep' and 'copy' features selected. This way iTunes will keep your tunes organized and all in one place. If you work from in the iTunes interface then you will likely not go wrong.
From the iTunes File menu select 'add to library' (+O) and navigate to your ext HD and iTunes should bring those tunes into your library.
MJ

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I able to copy and paste files from external hard drive to mac, but not the other way around. Please suggest. Thanks

I m able to copy and paste selected files from external hard drive to my mac but not the other way around. Im not able to copy files from Mac to external hard drive.
The same is working fine with USB flash memory.
Please help.

Vijay Raymond Daniel wrote:
The only thing is we need to buy this software. if there is a free solution to inter change files between NTFS and HFS it would be better,
Don't use NTFS, remove your data off it first and change the format to something the Mac and PC can read, but doens't cost money or require software.
Drives, partitions, formatting w/Mac's + PC's

Importing music files from ext. hard drive to itunes

If I import all my music files (years of collections, unorganized about 90 Ggs some duplication) from ext. hard drive to itunes will itunes organize my music collection and be accessible?
what is the simplest way to transfer these files from ext. hard drive to itunes
Thanks

If I import all my music files (years of collections, unorganized about 90 Ggs some duplication) from ext. hard drive to itunes will itunes organize my music collection and be accessible?
Do you want it to do this?
You can leave it on the external and play it from iTunes. Nothing will be moved or organized. Everything will stay as it is.
Or you can leave it on the external and have iTunes organize it.
Or you can add it to iTunes and copy it to the internal and organize it.
what is the simplest way to transfer these files from ext. hard drive to itunes
This is two differnt things.
You can have these songs in iTunes and leave them on the external.

Can I play my music from external hard drive through itunes?

If this is possible How would a (NEW TO iMac) user do this? Otherwise if that is not possible, how do you export music files from a seagate external hard drive to itunes.

Expanding Niel's answer a bit...
in iTunes, go to iTunes->Preferences->Advanced and insure that "Copy files..." is NOT checked. Then you can add all your music to your iTunes library by dragging the parent folder into the "library" window at the upper left (if you're using iTunes 11, do View->Show sidebar first). You can also do "File->Add to library...".

Permissions problem when copying files from external hard drive

Hi.
I have recently reinstalled leopard (wiped the hard drive clean) on my macbook pro. (10.5.4). I had used Time Machine so I have a complete backup. But I only wanted a few of the files so I didn't do a backup restore. I went into the file directory of the backup on my external hard drive and dragged the folders I wanted back over to my laptop.
But I'm in permissions **** though! When I want to copy them over I get an alert saying you may not have privilege to do this and asks for my password. I enter my password and it copies fine. But every time I want to do anything with those files (like move them, or delete them) I have to re enter a password.
So, inside of the terminal I do a "ls -al" command to see whats going on and find that everything is the same as a natively created folder except for a '@' on the permissions column. I do a "ls -al@' to see more details and I get this:
drwxr-xr-x@ 6 xenition staff 204 Jul 20 17:08 Assets
com.apple.metadata:_kTimeMachineNewestSnapshot 50
com.apple.metadata:_kTimeMachineOldestSnapshot 50
I did run repair permissions from Disk Utility and it didn't solve it. How can I resolve the permissions on these files?
Message was edited by: risingtiger

run ls -aleO on the copied files and see if there are any ACLs or flags.
BTW, another (and possibly better) way to restore files from an old TM drive is via TM interface. control-click on TM in the dock and choose "browse other TM disks" select a disk to browse and go at it. when you try to restore something you'll be prompted for a location to restore it to and maybe a password.

Transferring large Mac files from external hard drive to network share

I am moving large Mac files (user files, videos, images etc.) from an external hard drive to a network share, and the transfer continues to fail with the message “The operation can’t be completed because an unexpected error occurred (error code -50)”. I have tried logging in as an administrator, root, and the user of the external hard drive, all failing with the same error.

Select the drive (on the desktop), press Command-I (I for info), at the bottom of the info panel check Ignore ownership on this volume

Can't delete file from external hard drive

Hi,
There is a permition problem with my external hard drive (no time mashine on it!) - can't delete certain files.
I copied my documents on my external hard drive from previous computer with windows and later with linux system on it and there had been changed icons at certain folders previously. I mention this, becouse what linux did was that it locked the changed icon files and I couldn't delete them until I unlocked them manually. But at least it showed me that i don't have permition and i could change it. Well, now I mounted the disk on my new macbook and wanted to delete some files and it seems that there is the same problem with permition, at least it seems to happen with the same files. When I want to delete them, the system asks me for admin password, I give it allright, it makes the sound as if the folder was moved to trash but that's all. the folder is still there even after dismounting and restarting. I already checked the permitions and it says in the info that i can read and write with the file so it looks as if my rights were ok...
Please help, I desperatly need more space for new backup and can't get rid of the files I don't need any more...
Thank you for any sort of simple-ish advice
Message was edited by: brevon

Thanx for such qucik reply!!! The pages were great, it had an answer for my problem, but unfortunately it also involved me dealing with it only on the MacIntosh HD itself, not on mounted external drive I suppose... So it didn't work they say that there is an icon in the left corner indicating locked folder - I don't see any icon on it. It says you can untick the box to unlock the folder - there is no tick to be unticked. Finally, they say that if I don't have permition or rights I cannot delete it. But how do i change permittion which already says that i can read and write in it? So everything appears to be normal only I cannot delete it. there is not even any warnig telling me I don't have enough rights, it just requires the password and after me typing it in it makes the sound of scraping paper but does nothing more. I aslo had some problems with emptying Trash after being seemingly succesful with one file and had got so far to have them appear in the Trash (no clue how this one actully got there though..) I followd the advice and emptied the Trash with Terminal. The Folder is still there but it shows 0 Kb... So far so good BUT: It is still on the external drive, so I obviously only managed to copy it into the Trash!!! Phew, innit a bit too tight to poor owners, this macbook?? I want my rights back!

Cannot delete Time Machine file from external hard drive

Hello,
I'd like to delete my original Time machine file from an external hard drive ( Lacie mini ). I move the file into the trash bin and it constantly "deletes". At one time I left it deleting overnight and the file still wasn't trashed.
I am going to hook up Time Machine to a different, dedicated external hard drive, but I'd like to gain space on the drive that Time Machine is currently on.
I currently have Time Machine turned off ( I do have everything backed up with my home folder on another external HD ). Should Time Machine be turned on for me to trash the file? Is there a better way to delete the file?
Much thanks in advance.

V.K. wrote:
... the best and the quickest way to delete it is to erase the TM hard drive....
But what if a person doesn't want to erase the TM drive? My MacPro came with tiger installed, but since tiger-intel-retail discs don't exist, my copy of tiger is what i have. I was all manner of foolish directing TM to that drive, but damage is done. What can someone in my position do?

ITunes 11 won't import .mov video files from external hard drive but will from internal.

Hi Everyone
I'm having a problem with iTunes 11.0.1. I can't import .mov video files stored on an external hard drive. I can however import .m4v files from the same external drive. Using either the add to library option or dragging files from the finder.
I can add .mov files from the internal though. Strange I know.
The reason behind this posting is that I'm using iFlicks to convert my TV and movies from my external drive for Apple TV and add all relevent meta data, keeping the files on the external drive and having iTunes link to them.
I would like to be able to simply create a general iTune compatiable file using iFlicks which only takes a minute or two per file to convert. I'm currently converting them to .m4v just for the sack of being able to import them into iTunes from an external drive takes 45 minutes per file.
Has anybody else had this problem? Any ideas on a fix to allow me to import .mov files from an external drive into iTunes without copying it to the iTune library file.
Many Thanks
Dave

This might be worth a shot - basically seeing if Vista permissions could be the culprit.
Give yourself FULL control and ownership of the exHD, let's call it M:
How to Take Ownership and Grant Permissions in Windows Vista
Take control of the top level folder and ALL subfolders.
Try creating a new blank ITL file on M: by pressing *and holding* the shift key while itunes starts. See if you can add everything again.

Hard Drive Crash--Restoring music files from External Hard Drive

My hard disk crashed, but I think (at least I hope) that I'm backed up. I had copied all of my Itunes music onto an external hard disk before the crash, although I'm not sure I copied everything that you are supposed for a full backup (i.e. all files in the Itunes folder). I'm uncertain as to the process to get everything restored.
Right now, Itunes is not installed on the new hard disk. Obviously I need to download and reinstall Itunes, which I'll do. But from here I'm confused, and I haven't seen a straightforward explanation of the next steps. Is it then as easy as copying all the old music from the external hard drive into the new Itunes music folder once Itunes is reinstalled, then synching? Or, do install itunes, then reopen it while the external hard drive is attached, and "consolidate" the old library into the new? Or do I first have to plug in the Ipod, authorize the new drive, and move the purchased music from the Ipod to the new drive through the manually managing music process that I've read about? Is there a relatively straightforward "step by step" process someone can point me at?
I'd appreciate any guidance anyone can provide, or any directions to some materials that I can read. Thanks very much.

If you copied the entire iTunes folder to the external, then all you have to do is install iTunes like normal, then start up with these instructions and point it to your backup on the external...
How to open an alternate iTunes Library file or create a new one
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304447
Assuming that works, you can either leave everything as is and continue to use it directly off the external. Or close iTunes, then again copy the entire iTunes folder back to your internal drive, then reopen iTunes with those instructions again and re-point it back to your internal drive's copy.
Patrick

Transfer files from External Hard Drive to PC?

Sadly, my iBook g4 1.2 GHz (2005) is on the fritz (see my other question on Apple Discussions if you're curious as to why) and so I must get a new laptop. Unfortunately, I can't afford any of the Macs available, and so will be purchasing a PC. I have been using a 250GB external hard drive to store my iTunes library (about 25GB, too much for my iBook's 30 GB HD to handle) and as a Time Machine. I need to know how to be able to put all of my music and docs onto the new PC. Would it be best to not use TM and just put everything I want on the external HD and then access it from the PC? Alternatively, I do have a small home wireless network (using an Airport Express)...if that's the better option, how do I use it to transfer files? Any help would be wonderful!

The easiest solution is to erase the external hard drive and re-partition it to use on the PC:
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. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Set the format type to MS-DOS. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to MBR then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
Open iTunes and de-authorize your computer.
Copy your iTunes library in it's entirety (/Home/Music/iTunes/ folder) to the drive along with any other data you wish to transfer.
See the following about how to convert your iTunes library for the PC:
Macworld - How to transfer iTunes libraries between PC and Mac;
Geek to Live- How to move an iTunes library from a PC to Mac (and back).

Moving files from external hard drive to library

Hi,
I have recently bought a mac and transfered my library from my old laptop to it. There are a number of songs missing from the library though.
I have a number of them on an external hard drive and want to move them from this to the library on my mac.
As there are around 97 missing I don't want to this individually for each one and wondered if there was a way for itunes to look on the external hard drive and then copy the file to the library by itself. I can point the library to look to the external hard drive but obviously once i disconnect it, it can no longer play.
Is it possible for itunes to look in the extrnal drive and then move the files itself?
Thanks in advance

And after you relocated the files, did you trash the 'originals' on your internal drive?
(dumb question, I know, but I gotta ask...)
Clinton

Lost iPod in fire and trying to restore files from external hard drive

I've got a similar issue to folks who are trying to restore their Library from an external source, but with a new twist. We suffered a house fire, and my iPod was destroyed. Amazingly an external hard drive I had done some backups to survived (mostly) and I have several of my iTunes songs, but when I tried to import them into my new computer (and new license of iTunes) I can't get anything to work. I tried manually copying the files over to the iTunes folder and then "importing a file" into my Library but it doesn't do anything. any ideas?

Thank you for the suggestion. I was moving them in Finder, (just as the Genius showed me but obviously he wasn't quite a genius after all!) However, even after moving a file onto the external drive within iMovie like you suggested, it's still not working. Trying to open the files from the external drive, they will only open in QuickTime Player, and also only as individual clips. Any other suggestions would be very much welcomed!
Thank you.

How do you move video files from external hard drive?

I moved video files that were originally from Flip Video recorder and uploaded to my Macbook to an external hard drive to save space. However, I can't seem to figure out how to get them back onto my computer, so I can start burning DVDs. I tried dragging and dropping, but that doesn't seem to work. Please help!!

Copy /Home/Pictures/iPhoto Library to your external drive. Delete the one on your internal drive. Now create an alias to the iPhoto Library's new location and put the alias in the original location. Be sure the alias is named "iPhoto Library".

How to get files from external hard drive on new user on iMac?

My wife has an iMac, and I want to transfer my time machine info from my external hard drive that it ultimately from my laptop...onto a new user name on her iMac for myself. How do I do this? Because every time I connect my external hard drive, it just wants to save the content from her iMac....and will this erase her user stuff if I do this? Thanks.

Connect the extermal drive to her iMac and run the program called Migration Assistant. (It is in the Utilities folder.) This program will create an account on her iMac and copy your user folder to the new account. It will not erase anything (unless you tell it to.) Assuming your external drive is large enough you can also back up her account onto it. One drive can be used to back up multiple accounts. It keeps each account separately.

Copying Large Blocks of MP3 files from External Hard Drive to iTunes

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