EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE ISSUES WITH ITUNES

I originally installed my entire ITUNES library (MP3 format) of music (6000 songs, 50GB)on my "G" drive which is a Western Digital 160GB hard drive. My IPOD software and ITUNES software are on my laptop "C" Drive. After a recent move and re-install of all of the same hardware, somehow now my IPOD and ITUNES cannot find the music library, so when I did a sync, I lost everything from my IPOD. I think I have the IPOD sofware looking in the right place in PREFERENCES, but am not sure whether I now have all the folders set up right in both drives. I ended up downloading all new IPOD and ITUNES software from apple thinking that would help...maybe I just made it worse. I'm willing to pay for someone to help me restore this to the way it has always worked satisfactorily. Perhaps we can do it over the phone? Thanks in advance!

OK what should be in the My Music>iTUnes folder is the "iTUnes Music Library.xml" and "iTUnes Library.itl" file. these are itunes database files, more about them can be read here http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93732
What you can try to do is recreate the library and see if that brings it back http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93313 Also look on your external drive, hopfully you backed the xml file up there

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External Hard Drive problems with iTunes and iPod

I recently purchased a 320 gig external hard drive for my computer, hoping in part to load my iTunes library onto it. Obviously I'd have much more room on disc than my actual iPod, so I was going to manually manage my music (an option I didn't have selected on my iPod before).
I followed all the online help topics which have all been helpful so far. I organized my music files, changed my directory, consolidated my library, and now everything is on the external hard drive and is working just fine.
The problem comes when I connect my iPod. iTunes barely even seems to recognize my iPod all of a sudden, saying that it has been corrupted and needs to be restored. When I try restoring it, nothing happens, and I can't seem to do a thing about it through iTunes. Of course, there's actually nothing wrong with the iPod at all, since it still works fine and plays music exactly the same as before. It simply won't update or do anything at all when hooked up to my computer.
I know this has something to do with the new hard drive, since everything was just fine a few hours ago, I just can't figure out why I can't get my iPod to sync all of a sudden. Like I said, my iPod is working fine otherwise, iTunes is playing music through the external hard drive without any issues, and I haven't touched any files other than music files (I haven't even deleted them off my original hard drive yet, so all the original fines remain unchanged, even though I switched the directory).
To the best of my knowledge, all my software is up to date, and the iPod is a 30 gig photo. Any ideas?
pc Windows XP

Yeah, I gave the new drive the letter Z, so there shouldn't have been any conflicts there. I also tried your other suggestion, and while the computer recognized my external hard drive, it didn't seem to make any difference once I plugged in the iPod again.
I've been wrestling with this for days now. I've tried changing the drive letters for both the external hard drive and my iPod several times (but no matter what, the iPod always seems to take F when it's unplugged and then plugged back in). I've tried restoring the iPod on multiple occasions. I've tried reinstalling all my USB drivers. I've consolidated my music library on several occasions (I now have two identical libraries on my external hard drive), yet annoyingly, iTunes seems to keep switching file paths away from the external hard drive and back to their original locations on the C drive. I'm trying to free up internal hard drive space, not house 30 gigs of media on it. That's what this new external hard drive is for.
Somehow, I was able to get them both to be recognized at the same time, but it never lasts long. I'll start iTunes with the external hard drive disconnected, plug in my iPod, wait for the iPod screen to come up in iTunes, then plug my external hard drive back in. Then, I can miraculously start to transfer music back onto my iPod, but iTunes doesn't seem to want this to happen for some reason, and will usually cut off the transfer. So far I've managed to put three whole songs on my iPod.
So now I'm trying to do two things. One, the same as before, get my computer and iTunes to recognize both my iPod and my external hard dive at the same time. And two, get iTunes to stop changing the file paths back to the C drive. These files are already on my external hard drive and don't need to change.
(As a side note, I should comment on how helpful people are on this discussion board. The Apple representitives I called on several occasions seemed totally unwilling to help, acting more like pushy salesmen than anything, while people here seem to be much more friendly and knowledgeable. Just thought it needed to be said.)
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Firewire external hard drive issue with 10.9.3

Hello,
i have got a question to the existing firewire bug in Mavericks! My thought was, that with 10.9.3 all would be better, but that´s not true.
My Firewire drive does not spin down for sleep, when my iMac goes to sleep. Does anyone know, if there is a solution or, better, when there would be
a solution? - I do have to downgrade my Mac, if there is no better solution than unplugging the drive. It´s enough annoying, that my printer and my scanner do not work properly. But unplugging the drive everytime i leave, would then be my "cherry on the cake" which brings me to the question, why i have a mac?!
I tought windows is the only system, that is compounded by its own updates and upgrades ...
Thanks so far!

Have you tried opening your project through your external hard drive. Go into it, open the file Final Cut Projects
and double click your project. It should launch it.
I also use an external hardrive and that is what I did. Has been fine ever since.
Final Cut Pro X on the other hand is so slow that is is not even usable. I get the spinning beach ball if I even try and move my cursor!!!

EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE ISSUES WITH MACBOOK PRO 13"

My new macbook pro 13" is unable to read my new Toshiba Canvio 3.0 plus 1 TB hard drive. I have the new OS Lion that came with the computer. The computer is up to date. I am not sure what is causing this issue. Is this problem caused by a software issues or is my new Macbook deffective. Please some one help me or give me some advice. I am thinking about turning my MacBook in for a new one.
Clem

Did you format the external drive for use with OS X?
Open Disk Utility. Does Disk utility see the connected drive?
Format it to "Mac OS Extended (Journaled).

I have an old iPod Classic with 80 GB (I think) of space. I saved all my songs in an external hard drive, but the iTunes library resided in an old computer (no longer working). Can I get the libray from my iPod and use it in my new computer (Windows)?

I have an old iPod Classic with 80 GB (I think) of space. I saved all my songs in an external hard drive, but the iTunes library resided in an old computer (no longer working). Can I get the library from my iPod and use it in my new computer (Windows)?

You might want to check your process for moving your iTunes music against this: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527.

I am using a T61 ThinkPad with an external hard drive and my itunes library keeps disapearing but remains on the external drive. Any idea how to fix this so my music doesn't disapear all the time? It's a real drag pulling music back into iTunes each week.

I am using a T61 ThinkPad with an external hard drive and my itunes library keeps disapearing but remains on the external drive. Any idea how to fix this so my music doesn't disapear all the time? It's a real drag pulling music back into iTunes each week

In iTunes 11 uncheck the preferences setting in in the iTunes Preferences panel "Advanced > Copy Files to iTunes Media folder when adding to Library"

ITunes Library on an External Hard Drive issues

I've read hundreds of forums, but none of them discuss my problem in a way that's at all related to mine.
I have two external hard drives for my iTunes library. I have iTunes set up to read everything from the two external hard drives, and it works fine...until the external hard drives get disconnected somehow. Sometimes when I hook up my iPod, they just get disconnected and come back a few seconds later, but by that time, iTunes has lost all the links to my thousands of files.
What is the simplest, easiest way to keep iTunes from losing those thousands of links. I have a TON of TV shows that I made myself that I HATE having to put into iTunes again and again and again and having to convert from Movie format to TV format.
I know there's a simple way. People talk about doing it all the time, but none of them seem to have linkage problems like I do. I'm getting so tired of having to destroy my entire iTunes library and rebuild it from scratch every day.

The article Zevoneer linked to has a very good explanation of the porcess.
One thing it dos NOT mention, is that you should assign a permanent drive letter to your exHD before you start moving/consolidating anything to it. Windows has a nasty habit of changing drive letters unless they are permanently assigned, like when you plug in a digital camera, it could change your exHD's letter and mess up itunes finding your songs.
Use these directions and the further down in the alphabet, the better. Like M: for music.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307844

External hard drive issue - PC to Mac (weird problem...)

Hi everyone,
this is my first post and new to Macs, so apologies if this may have been covered elsewhere (though I can't find an answer!), but I'm getting seriously frustrated with this issue!
I've just recently been given an iMac and I'm trying to access my files and use my previously PC-mounted external hard drive as my iTunes library and general storage for everything else. However, I'm having permission issues in that it will only allow me read-only status. I followed instructions from other forums and google searches that said I should install macFUSE and NTFS-3G drivers and this would solve the issue, which it did. Then my girlfriend turned off the hard drive accidently at the wall socket and once I remounted it, it has returned to read-only once again and even re-installing the drivers makes no difference!!!
I'm running an iMac PowerMac G4, Mac OS X 10.5.6 if that has any relevance?
Any help????
Thanks,
Adam

Hi Adam;
Personally instead of attempting to use NTFS, I would suggest that you reformat to HFS+.
Using NTFS on a Mac is always a kluge at best. It will always give you problems. If you reformat to HFS+ then you are using the native format and everything should work much better for you.
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HT2292 After installing iTunes 11.1.5, my external hard drive holding my iTunes music cannot be acccessed

After installing iTunes 11.1.5, my external hard drive holding my iTunes music cannot be acccessed. Attempting to open the iTunes folder location locks up the computer and requires a cold reboot to restore.

Hello, LoudenFam.
Thank you for the question. Try the steps in the article below as they may help you resolve the issue that you are experiencing with iTunes becoming unresponsive.
iTunes for Windows Vista, Windows 7, or Windows 8: Fix unexpected quits or launch issues
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1717
Cheers,
Jason H.

I recently reset my computer and copy my music from an external hard drive to my itunes library. When I click on a song to play i get an error message that says " the song could not be used because the original file could not be found". need help

I recently reset my computer and copy my music from an external hard drive to my itunes library. When I click on a song to play i get an error message that says " the song could not be used because the original file could not be found". But when I have my external hard drive plug in the song will play with no problem. What do I need to do to play my music without having the external harddrive plug in ???????? Please help

Because the location for each song in your library is on your hard drive. If the hard drive isn't there, how can iTunes play it?
You'll have to move/copy the music from your hard drive to your computer's hard drive.
Basically, EASIEST way to do all this, if you don't care about your play counts, etc...
-Delete EVERYTHING from iTunes, so that your library is now empty.
-Go to "Advanced" inside of the "Preferences" window, found in the "Edit" drop-down. You can also access Preferences by pressing Ctrl+, (Press Ctrl and the comma key)
-Change your iTunes Media Folder Location to something simple, but on your computer. I use C:/iTunes. Make sure "Keep iTunes Media Folder Organized" and "Copy files to...." are both checked. You can close Preferences now.
-Now, drag and drop your music from your hard drive into your iTunes library. iTunes will automatically add the music to your library, as you would expect, and also creates a copy of each file to place into that iTunes Media Folder you just created.
Shouldn't have any more problems...

How do I get my external hard-drive recognised by iTunes?

I have 2 external hard drives, but now iTunes 12 will only recognize 1 of them. When I plug in the second for a back-up, it doesn't show up on the screen. This just happened with the latest upgrade to iTunes 12. I have a MacBook with OS X Version 10.7.5.

So there is no itunes 12. You must be having this problem in the future LOL
So you library is on the external? Make sure itunes is set to look on that drive for it, after checking to be sure the drives have different names, do into the prefs/advanced and set the location of the itunes library file/folder
I ran itunes on an extrernal for years its always been very reliable.

I have been using an external hard drive for my itunes media folder. Today, I opened itunes on my PC and all of my playlists were missing, as well as the majority of my hundreds of hours of files. How do I restore?

How do I restore/reconnect my lost USB external hard drive connection to itunes on my PC?

You're welcome.
See also Make a split library portable and Backup your iTunes for Windows library with SyncToy.
tt2

HT2518 How do I transfer music from an external hard drive to my itunes on my mac? I have put the files into the itunes media, but they are not showing up in iTunes!

How do I transfer music from an external hard drive to my itunes on my mac? I have put the files into the itunes media, but they are not showing up in iTunes!

Hi, did you try iTunes>File>Import?

External hard drive compatible with macbook pro 10.5.8

external hard drive compatible with macbook pro 10.5.8, i need a hard drive that will work with 10.5.8 to back everything up before upgrading to 10.6. a hard drive that is compatable with 10.5.8 has been impossible to find, a hard drive that works with both opperating systems is what i am looking for, any information that can help is appreciated

You can buy just about any USB2.0 hard drive and use it with your MacBook Pro. Many older external drives come pre-partitioned and formatted FAT32 for use on Windows. Your Mac can use that file system as well, but it has limitations on file sizes. You can always re-partition your external drive and re-format it as HFS+ (MacOS Extended Journaled) then your old Mac OS version and your new one should both be able to access it just fine. One thing to keep in mind is that many older OSes don't really handle drives larger than 2TB well, so you would probably want to try to keep your external drive to something smaller than 2TB...

Can I move my itunes media folder to an external hard drive without having Itunes managing the media folder

Hi all....I have spent weeks tidying up my music collection. I moved it all to Itunes media folder. Since I don't like how Itunes manages this folder I manually organised it myself so that albums where together etc. I am wondering if there is a fool proof way to move my media folder to an external hard drive without letting itunes manage and consolidate files as this will reverse all the work I did in organising. Im not sure if Im posting to the right place but fingers crossed:)
Thanks in advance

Just one more thing puhlease:) This is the list of things that are in my iTunes folder. Album artwork, Automatically add to iTunes, iTunes media, Mobile apllications, podcasts, previous itunes libraries, voice memos. Then it has files itunes preferences, itunes libary extras, itunes libarry genius, itunes libraary, itunes music library......Is there stuff in there that doesnt need to be there as some are repeated in itunes media folder which contains....automatically add to itunes, books, downloads, home videos, mobile applications, music, podcasts, tones, voice memos and itunes preferences. Any thoughts on deleting some folders??? Thankyou so much for your time on this

EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE ISSUES WITH ITUNES

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