External drive and change over

I have an external drive that has been operating perior to Leopard to save files. When I want to put Time Machine to work, what should I do with the current files in the external drive? I'm not a Mac tech whiz so excuse if this falls under the category of a stupid question. Thanks.

I have not tried this yet, but I think partitioning the tiger files (if it has a boot sector) from the time machine files will help. I currently lost mounting of my external HD in Leopard and I think this may be the reason but cannot confirm yet. My ext drive has my tiger boot clone on it. Leopard was able to use the drive and time machine for a week...then it became unmountable and keeping it connected will not allow the OS to shut down. I'll let you know or someone can confirm similar issues.I think I saw a post (among many related issues of time machine) which suggests partitioning if you have a boot sector in the disk.

Similar Messages

Help with script to eject an external drive and change Network Location?

Hello,
Could someone help me with a script that would do the following:
-eject an external hard drive call "1TB_BU"
-change the Network System Preferences Location from "Work" to "Home"
I then need another that would change the Location from "Home" to "Work"
THx!
~Von

1. Use the following:
tell application "Finder"
eject disk "1TB_BU"
end tell
2. Click here for information.
(35975)

Access to external drives and removable over FTP

does anyone know how I can make
access to /volumes/* available over FTP?
I need one of them (/volumes/Maxtor USB HDD/) on windows often, but also on my mac
it's not that useful if I have to unmount if from my mac and the use in on windows, and then connect it to my mac again

Just wondering why FTP is needed, wouldn't SMB work just as well?
Sharepoints for smb...
http://lowendmac.com/mac2win/04/0623.html
Sharepoints...
http://www.hornware.com/sharepoints/

HT1364 I have moved my library to an external hard drive and changed the location of the iTunes media folder in Preferences, but every time I close and re-open iTunes, I have to do it all over again. How can I make the iTunes media folder change permanen

I have moved my library to an external hard drive and changed the location of the iTunes media folder in Preferences, but every time I close and re-open iTunes, I have to do it all over again. How can I make the iTunes media folder change permanent? I have an older machine with Windows XP.

I don't believe mounting the hard drive should be necessary, unless you have several external drives and want your computer to recognise them as folders, rather than drives. I've never had to mount a hard drive, ever. If you don't know how to do it, then it shouldn't be necessary now.
Try this:
Prepare iTunes so that it can see the external drive.
Make a note of which drive-letter the external drive has been allocated. (Look in Windows Exploer)
Look at the file location for a song. Make sure it plays (and therefore that iTunes has found it). Highlight it and select File/Get Info/Summary>Where: and make a note of the drive letter for that song.
Close and shut down the computer.
The next time you turn the computer on again, connect the external drive
Before you start iTunes - check the external drive in Windows Explorer. Is it ready, does it have the same drive-letter that it had last time? Can you go into the drive and see the files on it?
Once you can, start iTunes. (If the drive lettter has changed, you need to work out why before going any further.)
If iTunes fails to find your external drive, you need to check where iTunes is looking for your Library.
Select the same song you checked before (presumably iTunes can no longer find it). Follow the procedure for locating it. You should be able to see where iTunes thinks the file is. It's the drive that counts. Which drive letter is iTunes looking at? Is it the same one that it was previously (which should also be the same one that the drive has now).
What happens, which step do you have problems with?
Message was edited by: the fiend

I changed the format to an external drive and lost everything that was on it.

I changed the format on an external hard drive and lost everything that was on it. Is there a way to recover what was on it?

1) Partition your hard drive or add an external drive and install Snow Leopard (with the Optional Rosetta) into it and then you can dual-boot (System Preferences:Startup Disk) into Snow Leopard and run FCE 3.5 there.
2) Use one of the following methods to install FCE 3.5 into Mavericks:
a) Pacifist: http://www.charlessoft.com/
b) Jeremy Johnstone's Terminal method: http://www.jeremyjohnstone.com/blog/2012-03-11-installing-final-cut-pro-studio-2 -0-on-mac-os-x-10-7-lion.html
Reports on this forum seem to confirm that Final Cut Studio 2 will continue to operate in Mavericks once it is functionally installed, albeit some plug-ins may fail to function. FCE 3.5 is the same generation as FCS2, and presumably will continue to operate in Mavericks, as well.

I'd love some help trying to figure out why my 2008 MacBook no longer recognizes my external drive and now is not downloading photos from my iphone....?

After many years of having no problems at all on my Macbook, I recently figured I should finally upgrade my OS. I did that about three weeks ago, updating to Snow Leopard (10.6.8). I used Time Machine at least once after the OS upgrade but now Time Machine no longer recognizes the external drive I have used for all these years to back up. The MacBook does not "see" it. (Disk Utility does however.) The computer then also stopped recognizing another La Cie back-up that I have and now... my iPhone cannot download photos? Yikes.
I have, of course, shut down numerous times, used different cables (that worked for some) and the two USB drives. I even used a firewire. Nothing worked. I also tried to "Repair disk" on Disk Utility. It didn't work either, giving me an error (that I didn't save, sorry).
I read many other discussions on the file format of the external drive and of course I'd be happy to reformat the external drives--however, it is obviously a tad nerve-wracking to reformat drives before having an accessible back-up. Suggestions? I do not remember what file format they have but am pretty sure it's not the Mac file system someone mentioned. The drives are a 2009 WD "My Passport Elite" and La Cie 2007 d2 Quadra,
In terms of other hardware available, we do have another MacBook Air but it has started rejecting both drives as well (without the Snow Leopard upgrade). We have an old Dell but it wouldn't have the disk space to help out much.
Any thoughts on the process involved would be welcome. Any ideas on the iPhone rejection would be helpful as well! It is a 30gig iPhone 4 that has 20 or so gigs free (not clear as iTunes says that there are abour 18 Gigs on the phone but 24 free gigs? I may be bad at math but that's 40 gigs...).
I am checking out iCloud but apparently there are only 55 gigs available?
Will be glad to hear any thoughts. Thanks!

Good afternoon Lyssa,
Phew. First of all, thanks in advance...these blogs are always comforting help!
So, to answer your questions: For the age of the hard drive.Well, I added memory a couple of years ago (RAM and hard drive). Being a mom leads me to eat up a fair amount of gigs with photos of my kids and, in fact, I think I entirely replaced the original drive, so it is a couple years younger than 2008 since I did that in March 2010. If there is some way to verify that (whether or not I replaced the entire drive), I'm all ears. I have 311 Gigs free, so it is not a space issue. I verified the startup disk on Disk Utilityand nothing showed up.
Question 1- What formats...
The La Cie is format Windows NT Filesystem 3G ....At the time that I bought it I was still using a PC as well as a Mac and was told by afriend to use this format...
The WD is Mac OS Extended (Journaled). I again tried to repair the WD last night and this is the error message: "Error: DiskUtility can’t repair this disk. Back up as many of your files as possible, reformat the disk, and restore your backed-up files."
Also, Time Machine tried again to back-up and gave me this error: "Files can't becopied onto the backup disk because it appears to be 'read only'. You may needto repair or reformat the disk using Disk Utility. If the disk can't berepaired, you must use a different disk for backups. Open Time Machinepreferences to select a different backup disk."
Question 2. Other cables...
I used two other cables with the WD and that didn't change anything.
Question 3... Fire Wire from the La Cie
Yes, I used the Firewire cable from the La Cie and it is indeed present, though still not visible in Finder. Since it is not Mac OSExtended I know that I can't use Time Machine with it.
So, in summary...
I can plug in the La Cie and it is functional on the MacBook, visible on Disk Utility but not visible in Finder. The WD drive is not visible and not functional. So we can think it is indeed the WD that is not working.... Also, the iphone photos did, in the end, get downloaded, so it is not something more general.
Causes...
I forgot to mention that there is a "lost+found" file on the WD which apparently points to a UNIX /OS issue?
Some kind of "insurance"?....
I'm curious about how people avoid this kind of issue. You just regularly replace back-up drives and hard drives before problems come up? Time Machine is great and saves many of us from disasters, however, knowing that your Time Machine back-ups are vulnerable makes the whole system insecure. No way to have alarms ring before the drive goes out?
As for ways ahead...
It seems that I ought to be able to copy off of the WD to the MacBook then erase it and reformat it and start over again. However, I haven’t been able to see its contents except on random occasions. If you have any ideas on how to copy the Time Machineback-ups from the WD, again, I'm all ears!
Good afternoon Lyssa,
Phew. First of all, thanks in advance...
So, to answer your questions:
For the age of the hard drive. Well, I added memory a coupleof years ago (RAM and hard drive). Being a mom leads me to eat up a fair amountof gigs with photos of my kids ….and, in fact, I think I entirely replaced theoriginal drive, so it is a couple years younger than 2008 since I did that inMarch 2010. If there is some way to verify that, I'm all ears. I have 311 Gigfree, so it is not a space issue. I verified the startup disk on Disk Utilityand nothing showed up.
Question 1- What formats...
The La Cie is format Windows NT Filesystem 3G ....At thetime that I bought it I was still using a PC as well as a Mac and was told by afriend to use this format...
The WD is Mac OS Extended (Journaled). I again tried torepair the WD last night and this is the error message: "Error: DiskUtility can’t repair this disk. Back up as many of your files as possible,reformat the disk, and restore your backed-up files."
Also, Time Machine tried again to back-up and gave me thiserror: "Files can't be copied onto the backup disk because it appearsto be 'read only'. You may need to repair or reformat the disk using DiskUtility. If the disk can't be repaired, you must use a different disk forbackups. Open Time Machine preferences to select a different backup disk."
Question 2. Other cables...
I used two other cables with the WD and that didn't changeanything.
Question 3... Fire Wire from the La Cie
Yes, I used the Firewire cable from the La Cie and it isindeed accessible, though still not visible in Finder. Since it is not Mac OSExtended I know that I can't use Time Machine with it.
FYI...
So, in summary... I can plug in the La Cie and it is “functional” on theMacBook but not visible in Finder. The WD drive is not visible and notfunctional. So we can think it is indeed the WD that is not working.... ALSO,the iphone photos did, in the end get downloaded.
As for ways ahead…
It seems that I ought to be able to copy off of the WD tothe MacBook then erase it and reformat it and start over again. However, Ihaven’t been able to “see” its contents except on random occasions…
Any further thoughts are welcome!

Taking the plunge - external drive and exclamation points

Okay...
I have cried for help on this forum before about the somewhat common problem of iTunes 7 having a strange relationship with music on my external drive. The drive in question is a Lacie 250 GB Firewire drive.
A few months ago, out of the blue, one day I opened iTunes to find a sea of exclamation points. Though all the music I had added after a particular date was there, most of the music I had added prior to that was tagged with the exclamation. When I'd try to play one of these songs, iTunes would say it could not be found, though I could manually locate it and things would work fine. I tried a few fixes recommended on this forum by well-meaning but misguided people that resulted in a few sets of duplicate playlists but no fix to the problem. Then, one day, out of the blue again...it started working fine.
I don't even recall having restarted the computer. iTunes had just fixed the problem somehow.
Well, now the problem is back, and I've dealt with it for about a month. But I'm not convinced that it will just go away this time. So, even if I destroy my painstakingly cultivated hundreds of playlists, ratings, play history and comprehensive information (artwork, composer, etc.), I am determined to fix this problem without manually locating over 10,000 songs.
I am posting my attempts here as a record that will hopefully help those struggling with this problem in the future. Though I would welcome any and all comments or questions, I have frankly come to expect very little assistance or even the willingness to assist from this forum (that is to say, I imagine my unresolved question will languish for awhile as a monologue until I either fix the problem or die).
The first thing I will do (after doing a final backup, of course) is to determine whether it makes a difference if an updated version of my iTunes library file and .xml are in the Music folder (on my hard drive) or in my Musica folder (on the external drive). The latest edition of the file is currently on the external drive.
So, here we go...
Grant
Dual 1GHz G4, 1G RAM, 80G HD Mac OS X (10.4.9) iPod (1st Gen), iPod Shuffle (1st Gen), iPod Mini, External HD

Well, I've made quite a mess of things. So I have 14,000 songs. Most were added years ago. Looking at the date added in correlation with the exclamation points, it seems as though iTunes forgot the location of most of the songs added before 5/9/06. Mind you, iTunes worked fine (with the exception of doing this whole thing once before) until about a month ago. So, in May 2007, iTunes forgot most of what happened before 5/9/06.
(For reference purposes, the gap seems to exist between two songs I downloaded. "Help Me, Ronda" by the Beach Boys is the last song with an exclamation point in the date added list (see two exceptions below). "Proud Mary" by Ike & Tina Turner, on the other hand, is exclamation point free and only a couple of songs added after "Proud Mary" have exclamation points. They are:
Freedom, by Richie Havens, added 6/3/06.
Slow Free Bird, by Geesekey, added 12/17/06, a song I made in Garageband.
Now, don't let me give you the impression that there is a solid wall of exclamation points up to "Help Me, Rhonda." Maybe about every 10/20 songs, there is a song with no exclamation point that plays fine. Following Jase's lead before (his advice to another user), I have investigated some of these songs that work fine, but can't find any reason why these work and others don't (any difference in the iTunes Library.xml, files created with/without track number, etc.).
So, here's what happened in the past couple of days: I dragged my "iTunes Music" folder (located in my "Musica" folder on the external drive) into the iTunes source list). Most everything was duplicated, with the new songs playing just fine but lacking ratings and play history. Also, the new songs were not included on any playlists.
What I did next was poorly executed. I sorted iTunes by the Date Added and selected the first few thousand (roughly, A-J; seeing them according to the Date Added reveal that they weren't added in exactly a linear fashion). I hit the delete button and selected "Remove", but I then told iTunes to "Move to Trash." What I should have done, I imagine, is told iTunes to "Keep Files". So, my A-J songs are now deleted off the External Drive and gone (though I have backup DVDs generated by the iTunes "Back up to Disc" feature).
What should I do next? is the pressing question. Should I rip everything out and start from scratch with my backup discs? I guess the question I would have with that approach is this: if I restore from backup discs made three months ago, will I still have all my playlists, ratings and play history as they were when I made the backup? If that's the case, that'd be fine with me...I just want to make sure that's what will happen. Also, I have a backup of my iTunes Library file before I've done all this crazy stuff of the past few days, so if that enters into the equation, let me know.
Otherwise, let me address your comments, Jase.
Anyway, here's a question. Can you export your
playlists, even though they're made up of songs with
exclamation marks? If so, you could try exporting one
of them as an XML file. Then import it--you'll
probably wind up with duplicates (playlists, not
songs). Does the newly imported playlist play, or
does it still have the exclamation mark problem? I
wouldn't know what to expect, but it might be worth a
try.
My playlists themselves are all still the same as they were (though there are exclamation marks all over the place). From what I can tell, they look fine when exported to an .xml (the music folder seems to have the correct path). When I import it, it's the same deal: exclamation points at the same places.
If your playlists are exportable, you might want to
export them to XML files, just so you'll have those
little databases of them. Then, if worse came to
worse and you had to give up on your current Library
file and reload your Music folder into a new library,
at least there's a chance you could import your
playlists and not have to build them again from
scratch (assuming nothing has changed in terms of the
organization of your Music folder).
I'm not willing to export every playlist, because I have hundreds and it would just take too long. Is there a way to export all or a lot of playlists at once? Anyway, I figured that my playlist data was stored somehow in the iTunes Library file, so I felt I had a backup already. I could be wrong about this, though, as I really don't understand much about the iTunes Library file and .xml and the like.
Can you drag songs that have exclamation marks into a
playlist? Somehow, I doubt it. But if you can, you
could use new playlists to make a record of some
information that you might want to save if you had to
start all over again with a new Library.
Believe it or not, I can add songs with an exclamation point into playlists and they're added just fine (though, they still have the exclamation point). How this works is: I can't drag and drop them into a playlist. However, I can control-click and select "Add to Playlist" and it works. There's another mystery for you.
Have you looked at your iTunes Library.xml file --
specifically at the location information for
individual songs -- to see if the location
information exactly matches the information you see
in the Finder? I have found mismatches when
investigating some exclamation marked files. I didn't
know how that happened, and I didn't know what to
about it, but it was intriguing to see evidence of
some iTunes mischief.
Is the iTunes feature to start music file names with
the track number turned on? To my mind, fewer missing
song file problems occur when this is on.
Yes and yes. Based on what you told others, I have looked at the .xml of some of the problem songs and the working ones and could find no difference, but I didn't really know what I was supposed to be looking for. I also use the Add Track Number feature and always have.
If you still have the 28,000 songs in your Library
and want to go back to the 14,000, you could sort all
your songs by Date Added and delete the ones you
added on June 21. Or, if you saved a copy of your
iTunes Library file before you dragged your iTunes
Music folder into the library, you could just throw
out the more recent Library file and reinstitute the
back-up copy.
I probably should have done the latter (just restore the backup of the iTunes Library file). Oh well...
Some advice for future experiments. Try them with a
small sample if possible unless you're absolutely
sure they will work the way you want them to. For
example, drag one album in your Music folder into
iTunes rather than the whole Music folder.
This is a great idea. I wish I would have checked my sample more closely or done more tests before I plunged off the cliff.
Back up your iTunes Library file, as well as your
Music folder. (You might already do this.)
Check.
Those are a few things to think about. They probably
will not be helpful. Like I said, I don't think there
are clear answers to this problem. The best I can
wish for you is that iTunes will magically fix the
problem, like it did once before. Then, maybe there
are some preventive measures you can take.
Since iTunes did fix it once before, I would not
throw your current iTunes Library file away, no
matter what. If you decide to start a new library so
that you can actually listen to your music, rename
this Library file and keep it around, since it has a
lot of your metadata in it. You can try it every now
and then and see if iTunes spontaneously revives it.
Okay, I will post what I do next, provided that I don't hear any compelling advice and make my own decision (though I should be even more gun-shy after my recent blunders).
Grant

I have moved my Itunes media folder to an external drive and Itunes does not find the items in the folder

Running Win7. I moved my entire Itunes library to an external drive to free up space on my laptop. Itunes recognized the change and all was well. That worked fine and I have synced several times from the laptop with the library on the external drive. Now the laptop is in the shop (sigh, not Itunes related a dead network card). I connected the external drive to my desktop, made sure my software was up to date. opened ITunes went to edit/preferences/advanced. Went to change Itunes media folder location and navigated to the proper folder on my external drive and clicked OK. None of the music, videos, etc, that are in that folder show up in iTunes on the desktop. Restarted ITunes, no help, reboot computer, no help. Have I done something wrong or left out a step. I could copy all the media onto the desktop individually and build new playlists but that seems like something that should not be needed? One of the reasons I moved my Itunes media folder to the external drive was so I could use the laptop for iTunes while travel and the desktop for iTunes while at home. Do I have to copy the entire folder to my desktop and take up space there? That would be counterproductive to using the external drive. I searched and saw a hint to hold down shift while starting ITunes but that did not change anything. Any help would be most appreciated!
Jim in WV

Thank you for your prompt response - I did as you said and did a drag and drop into the iTunes window - it imported and got my album art from the net. When I started Itunes with the shift key down I was prompted to choose a library but since I copied over the media folder and not the library folder I was unable to select that so I guess I will have to create a new library and add in all the music, videos, etc. unless I wait for my laptop and export the library or at least that seems to be the case? In short, all my data (iTunes media folder) is on my external drive and can be added to the blank iTunes screen but I can not choose a library folder. Is there anyway around completely making all those playlists again? I am not sure my laptop will survive the shop with data intact and really hate to start over on those.
In an unrelated question - I collect old TV shows from the 1950's. Can I make playlists within the home video folder somehow? In other words like one for Quiz shows, one for comedies, one for police and detective shows, etc. while I am remaking all my playlists for my music if I end up having to go that route?
Once again thank you for helping me out. I am not too Itunes savvy and really appreciate you taking the time to answer.

How to transfer itunes library to external drive and keep playlists and ratings

I don't have much space on my laptop. I have attached an external drive. I want to access my Itunes library from
the external drive. All attempts to move the library now result in me losing my "playlists" and even more importantly
my ratings and genre information.
How can I move the library with all my associated data intact such as the playlists, ratings, genres?
I want this external drive to be the main location where I access my Itunes library.
Once that is done I will work on backing it up, as that will be the only place that the data exists.
Also, will my Apple TV be also be able to access my Itunes library with playlists. thus far I have not been able to do this.

Start by consolidating your library. When you consolidate, any songs in the iTunes Library that are not in the iTunes Music Folder are copied to the Music Folder and the Library is updated to point to those new files. Files already in the iTunes Music Folder have no changes made to them: Consolidating your library - Windows
Then copy the iTunes Folder to your external drive. Copying the whole folder brings with it the iTunes Music folder and also the iTunes Library (iTunes Library.itl in Windows) database file which holds all the information about your songs (Playlists, Ratings, Play Counts, Last Played, Date Added, etc). You'll get more information including the Folder/File structure in this article: What are the iTunes library files?
Disconnect your external drive and connect it to your new computer, copy the iTunes folder to the new pc. When you copy the iTunes folder make sure you put it into the default location on the new computer. On a PC this is \Documents and Settings\Username\My Documents\My Music\ (or C:\Username\Music\ in Vista). You should also use the same version of iTunes on both computers.
Once you have copied everything over hold down the Shift key in Windows when opening iTunes. In the resulting dialogue you will get the option to create a new library or navigate to an existing one. Navigate to where you placed the copy of the library file and open it up: How to open an alternate iTunes Library file
If you have any iTunes purchases in your library don't forget that you'll need to authorise your new computer to play them. Also if you are disposing of the old one remember to deauthorise it so you don't use up one of your allowances: About iTunes Music Store Authorisation and Deauthorisation

External drive and iphoto help

hi i was uploading pictures into iphoto witch is on my external drive and i accidentally unpluged the drive while it was uploading the files and now everything is screwed up this is the massage i get when i try and open iphoto from this drive The iPhoto Library is on a locked volume. Relaunch iPhoto when the volume has read/write accees or relaunch iPhoto with <option> key held down any ideas please help
imac intel Mac OS X (10.4.4)

Hold down the option (or alt) key key and launch iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Choose Library' and point it at the Library on the external.
If that doesn’t open then you have damaged the Library.
Try these in order - from best option on down...
1. Do you have an up-to-date back up? If so, try copy the library6.iphoto file from the back up to the iPhoto Library allowing it to overwrite the damaged file.
2. Download iPhoto Library Manager and use its rebuild function. This will create a new library based on data in the albumdata.xml file. Not everything will be brought over - no slideshows, books or calendars, for instance - but it should get all your albums and keywords back.
Because this process creates an entirely new library and leaves your old one untouched, it is non-destructive, and if you're not happy with the results you can simply return to your old one.
3. If neither of these work then you'll need to create and populate a new library.
To create and populate a new *iPhoto 6* library:
Note this will give you a working library with the same Rolls and pictures as before, however, you will lose your albums, keywords, modified versions, books, calendars etc.
Move the iPhoto Library to the desktop
Launch iPhoto. It will ask if you wish to create a new Library. Say Yes.
Go into the iPhoto Library on your desktop and find the Originals folder. From the Originals folder drag the individual Roll Folders to the iPhoto Window and it will recreate them in the new library.
When you're sure all is well you can delete the iPhoto Library on your desktop.
In the future, in addition to your usual back up routine, you might like to make a copy of the library6.iPhoto file whenever you have made changes to the library as protection against database corruption.
Regards
TD

I have my iTunes library on external drive and can access from any PC. However I cannot access from new MacBokk Air.

My iTunes library is on an external drive and been using it on two PCs with no problem.
Now that I got a new MacBook Air I want to access the same iTunes library from the external drive and keep all the library and media on that external drive.
When I try to change to another iTunes library by hitting "option" with iTunes and select the library on the external hard drive I get the following message:
"The iTunes library file is locked, on a locked disk, or you do noy have write permission for this file."
I have read many posts in which many suggest to go to the library or media file on the PC and right click to make sure the read only tab is not checked.
I uncheked the read only tab and gave full permission to all the iTunes files and folders.
The unusual part is that I can use this external drive on many PCs that I have tried with no problem at all.
I just select a different library, which is on my external hard drive and everything works, play lists and everything.
However, when I try it on a MAC i get the message stated above:
What can I do to be able to access my External iTunes library from new MacBook Air while keeping everything on the external drive like I can on PCs?
I am running latest version of iTunes and Mavericks.
Please advise.

Here are the official Apple Support instructions:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527
Ciao.

How do I move my iTunes Library to an external drive and retain everything?

I'm sure this is a common [stupid] question, but I couldn't find a clear answer and I want to be sure I'm doing it correctly.
To clarify; I want to move/relocate my iTunes Library folder to an external drive (FW800 two-disk RAID1) to free up my system drive and have a backup. Do I redirect iTunes to the new location and use File>Library>Consolidate Library, or, can I just move or copy the 'iTunes' folder to the external drive and then change the iTunes 'music folder location' to the new location? Will this now save all subsequent imported/purchased music, movies,,..etc to the external drive and retain all my library details?
Message was edited by: Sakahara

Hello, Welcome to Apple Discussions.
Below you will find more information about your options of relocating iTunes Library and backing it up.
iTunes for Mac: Moving your iTunes Music folder
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1449
How to use your iPod to move your music to a new computer
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1329
Back up your iTunes library by copying to an external hard drive
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1751
How to back up your media in iTunes
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1382

Can I store only my movies in an external drive and still sync them to iPod

I have an 80GB ipod, and as I began ripping a few DVD sets of TV shows onto my computer I realized that I believe I can rip every single DVD I own and store it onto my iPod. I will be on the road constantly over the next year or more and would like to have them all with me. However, I don't want to take up the entire hard drive of my macbook with these files. I have an external hard drive, but also don't want to store my entire library on the hard drive so that I can still access my music on my laptop if I wish.
Am I doomed to simply keep my ENTIRE library off my laptop, or is it possible to only move the Movie files to an external drive and not have iTunes erase them from my iPod every time I sync it without the drive connected? I know you can create multiple libraries, but if I sync my iPod with the movie library, won't it erase all my music from the iPod and vice versa?

You can have multiple libraries with iTunes.
1. Quit iTunes.
2. Open iTunes and at the same time hold down the option key (if you are Windows press shift and open iTunes)
3. Choose "Create Library"
4. Once you have created the library go to the "Preferences > Advanced > Choose Where Your iTunes folder is stored
5. Choose your external hard drive.
Whenever you import/downlaod a movie use this library.
Repeat the first 2 steps to choose a new library.

ITunes Media on external drive and moved to new PC laptop

Environment: Dell PC laptop, Window 7 32-bit, iTunes 12.1.1.4
I have all of my iTunes Media on an external hard-disk drive. I want to keep it on that drive. I have a new laptop and have connected the external drive to it. I have installed iTunes on the new laptop and in Advanced Preferences I have changed the iTunes Media folder location to E:\iTunes and I have checked the box "Keep iTunes Media Folder Organized." I have also checked the box "Copy files to iTunes media folder when adding to library."
When I open iTunes, the software does not seem to recognize the content in E:\iTunes. It does not recognize that I have already downloaded most of my purchased content (everything previously downloaded still has the little cloud icon in the bottom right corner) and it won't play anything I've already downloaded. Also, music that I have previously imported from CD's is not accessible.
I have read through some of the other support discussions and have seen situations similar to mine, but not exactly like mine. I would copy the file "iTunes Library.itl" from the old computer, but I have one concern: on the old laptop the external drive was Drive G: and on the new laptop it is Drive E:
I tried File --> Library --> Consolidate Files, but nothing happened.
I'm not sure what to do. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Regards,
Brandon

Copy the iTunes Library.itl file from the old computer. iTunes can handle a change in drive letters as long as the relative paths from the database to the media is the same - typically where you have an iTunes folder (preferably in the root of the external drive) that contains both the iTunes Library.itl file and the iTunes Media folder, as follows:
See turingtest2's user tip on Make a split library portable for steps that may be necessary to bring your library into this layout.
Then, hold down SHIFT as you start iTunes, and when you see this prompt:
click on Choose Library..., navigate to the iTunes folder on your external drive, and select the iTunes Library.itl file.
Note also that the iTunes Media folder location setting in Edit > Preferences > Advanced does not provide iTunes information about the location of your library (that info is all within the database file). This setting is used, in conjunction with the Keep iTunes Media folder organized setting, to determine where iTunes stores new media when you add it to your library.
Once everything's sorted out, use a second external drive to create and maintain a backup of your library.

I formatted my ext hard drive and changed it to mac os x extended(journaled). then i put in all my data back. after a while, i insert the hard drive but my macbook cannot read it. plz help

i formatted my ext hard drive and changed it to mac os x extended(journaled). then i put in all my data back. after a while, i insert the hard drive but my macbook cannot read it. plz help

SanandaDutta
tried on a different mac. The same problem exists.
If that is the case, its extremely unlikely you have a bad USB cable on the seagate, rather as I mentioned earlier a bad SATA bridge card.
If the Seagate 1TB USB external wont open on either Mac and youve verified same (try a diff. USB cable if you have one however this is nearly never the case),....then to get the data off that HD (unless it is dead which is also extremely unlikely),......then you would need to extract the HD from its case and insert same into either a HD dock or USB HD enclosure.
8 out of 10 seemingly dead inopperable 1-3+ year old external HD are perfectly fine, rather the cheap 50 cent SATA bridge card fries and dies (alas)
reply back if you need help in extracting same.

External drive and change over

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