External Hard drive pausing between tracks

Hi, I just transferred all of my music from my macbook pro to my external hard drive recently to conserve space, but now when ever songs play consecutively in itunes there is a big pause (sometimes up to 5 seconds) right before the next track starts--usually when the currently playing track has 3 seconds left. I have a Western Digital 400 GB Passport. Is there anyway to remove, or at least reduce, this pause? It's really annoying... thanks!

Hi. I just got my new iMac and when I first plug it in, I get a message saying that the drive is unreadable. When I open Disk Utility, the drive is in there, but when I click Verify Disk it says the disk needs to be repaired. When I click Disk Repair, it says that it can't be repaired and to back up as many files as I can and to reformat.
This is a major problem. How can I back up my files if I can't even view them ?
Again, I am desperate here. I can't sleep!
UPDATE:
Okay, I'm not a techincal genius here, so forgive me if my ideas are useless. Don't be afraid to be honest with me. I was reading up on the Disk Image function, in which Disk Utility will copy the entire contents of the drive into a single dmg file. In theory, could I do this, reformat the drive (on my iMac) and then somehow restore my files onto the drive using the dmg file ?
Also, could RAID be of any use for me ?

Similar Messages

External Hard Drive stuck between Mac & Windows

I'm in big trouble. I have an external hard drive that I've been using for almost a decade. I had been using it with a G3 for years, but I recently tried plugging it into a windows laptop. It had me give it a "drive letter," so I did, but then it prompted me to reformat the drive, and I said no because I have nearly 10gb worth of files on it! Problem is, now when I plug it back into the G3, it no longer reads it! What can I do ??! Help !!
NOTE - I have just ordered the newest iMac available and will ship in Feb of 2013.

Hi. I just got my new iMac and when I first plug it in, I get a message saying that the drive is unreadable. When I open Disk Utility, the drive is in there, but when I click Verify Disk it says the disk needs to be repaired. When I click Disk Repair, it says that it can't be repaired and to back up as many files as I can and to reformat.
This is a major problem. How can I back up my files if I can't even view them ?
Again, I am desperate here. I can't sleep!
UPDATE:
Okay, I'm not a techincal genius here, so forgive me if my ideas are useless. Don't be afraid to be honest with me. I was reading up on the Disk Image function, in which Disk Utility will copy the entire contents of the drive into a single dmg file. In theory, could I do this, reformat the drive (on my iMac) and then somehow restore my files onto the drive using the dmg file ?
Also, could RAID be of any use for me ?

External Hard Drive Usage between Mac and PC

I have a WD Passport SE 1 terabyte hard drive that I have backed up my PC (Windows XP) files on. I want to transfer files onto my Macbook Pro (OS X) but it comes up as read only. I've been reading a lot of different forums and stories about not being able to write and how to overcome that but am thoroughly confused.
I use Mac and PC equally as much and it's important for me to be able to use the External HD between both platforms because both computers are not in the same location at all times for a home network type situation.
I like the security of the NTFS but I don't want to do anything (or add any programs) that will make either the Mac or the PC unstable and unreliable.
What do you recommend I use to be able to read/write from both platforms that will be stable?
Why doesn't Apple/Microsoft get together and make a format compatible for both OS's?
Is it better to use NTFS or HFS+? What are the advantages/disadvantages of both?
I'm not very computer savvy on either machine so I need things dumb-ed down for me to understand. My mom is also in the same situation as I am so you would greatly be helping both of us out at the same time. Thanks in advance.

You have 3 basic options to work with. Both Mac and Windows support FAT32 drives in full read/write capabilities. This solution is all many need. There are limitations to this, and the big one comes in the max size for a single file. Using FAT32, a single file has a max size of 4GB (it might be only 2GB, but I believe it is 4GB). As I said, for many this is fine, and they have a simple solution supported out of the box on both OSes.
The second option is to format your external drive in HFS+ (Mac format). Your Mac will have full read/write access, and your PC will not have any access unless you ave the read-only driver from Boot Camp loaded, or if you buy a commercial driver like the ones from Paragon, or MacDrive. Many people will not consider this option unless they work primarily with Macs and only occasionally with a PC.
The third option is to format the external drive as NTFS. Out of the box, Mac OS-X providers read-only support for NTFS drives, and there are several choices for free or commercial drivers to give you full read/write access to the NTFS drive. This option seems to be used the most by people who often work with multiple PC's and sometimes with a Mac or two. I have not seen any of these NTFS drivers that make a Mac unstable, but some of them are quite slow. In my house, we have about 10 PC's and one Mac. It is more cost effective to to put drivers on the Mac vs on the 10 PC's (at $40-80 per PC).
At this point the recommendation depends upon your environment. If you are mostly around Macs and only a small number of PC's consider using a Mac format for the external drives and buying drivers for the few PC's that need to access the drive(s). If you are more like me where you interact with more PC's than Macs, consider using NTFS and getting a free or commercial NTFS driver for your Mac(s). Also keep in mind any computer that may need to access the external drive(s), so if you need a family member to access it, will they need drivers or not? One again, with my world being about 90% PC's and 10% (or less) Macs, having the majority of the computers that have full access to the drive out of the box is the "better" choice, especially considering the other computers (the Macs) can still read the information, just not write to the drives without a driver.

Sharing external hard drive between 2 mac's

I have all my music on an external hard drive. I have ratings, playlists, etc. and I've been using it with my desktop G4.
I bought a Powerbook and would like to use the hard drive with the iTunes on my powerbook. How do I share the library between 2 macs?
Thanks,
Jon

You can manually add the music files on the external drive to your powerbook's itunes by using File->Add to library but that won't bring over playlists, ratings or playcounts.
This "metadata" is in a file called "iTunes Library" on your desktop in Music/iTunes. To bring over that "metadata" you can try this:
1) Close iTunes on both machines.
2) Copy the "iTunes Library" from the desktop and put in in the same place on the powerbook.
3) Now open iTunes on the powerbook.
This will definitely work if the external drive is attached directly to the powerbook. I haven't tried your type of scenario, where you will access the external drive through the network to get to the desktop and then the external drive. But I think I've seen other here say this works.
If it doesn't work, ie it put exclamation marks next to tracks to indicate it can't find htem, then go into the preferences (Advanced, general) and set the music folder location to the external drive (through the network, through the desktop). This should make it find the music.
You'll also want to make sure "Copy files to the music folder" is ON so that any music you add through the powerbook is copied to the external drive. (If that's what you want. You may chose not to do this, to have some music stay on the local harddrive so you have acess to it when you're not at home).

Can I put my library on an external hard drive and use it between two computers?

Can I put my library on an external hard drive and use it between two computers? I have two MBP; I will refer to one as computer A and to the other as computer B. I would like to be able to plug in my external hard drive, boot up iTunes, and if there were any changes made to the library previous to its last time accessed on this compluter, they show up on that computer, regardless of being imported on the other.
A hypothetical example: I import three albums called 1, 2, and 3 on computer A over a week or so. I take the external hard drive and plug it into computer B. The entire library which was visible on A, is visible on B, including albums 1, 2, and 3.
Is this possible? If so, what files need to be copied onto the external? I'm trying some different combinations, trial and error basically. Hopefully someone knows and can answer before I mess up my library. I also want to do this to free up space on my computer. All importing will be done from disc.

iTunes/Preferences/Advanced : point your iTunes to the new location of the Library.
Set "Share on local network" in the Sharing tab, and you or everyone on the local network can play your music.
You make a backup first of the Library.
Move the follwing to the new location:
/Users/your username/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music
have fun.

How to get batch recognition of (!) on some tracks after moving library from external hard drive to new iMac (with terabyte hard drive)?

I'm using Lion 10.7.2 and iTunes 10.5.2
I have moved my iTunes music from an external hard drive onto my new iMac (with a terabyte hard drive) with music folder organized - when I try to play some tracks I get the iTunes can't locate warning and so I follow through and show iTunes the track - they are all in the music folder on my iMac hard drive - they all copied over and they all appear in the iTunes library list - so far as I can tell out of a 500 gigabyte music collection - but there are so many giving me the error - many other tracks function as they should too, some work others don't - So I'm looking for a way to get all the error tracks fixed in a batch correction way. Doing this individually with each track just isn't realistic.
Can anyone suggest how I might fix this issue?
Also, after I show iTunes the song location and it plays, I get a find files prompt that looks like it wants to find other files, but that just causes the process to jam and I have to force quit iTunes and then it doesn't remember what I last showed it next time I open iTunes.
Also I'm trying to avoid the use of the consolidate function because that would copy a whole other set of music - not in iTunes - that is in the process of being edited (audio hijack pro and fission tools being used to put vinyl and tapes to mp3) But all that other music just means the consolodate function across my whole computer would be too much.

Some details seem to be coming into focus - I have started scrolling through the main library list A to Z repairing tracks individually (there are thousands, but it's what works so far) - as I work through, it appears the problem occurred on tracks where album artist metadata was different than song artist metadata, predominantly. I'm not sure that is 100% the case in every instance, but that is what it's looking like. I don't why that happened, must be some technical glich I guess.
Also, I tried running Doug's Scripts - the one titled, iTunes Track CPR v1.3 - it is supposed to fix exactly the kind of issue I'm having - I bet it would work for some people with a similar issue - but for my case it only identifies the 'de-linked' tracks and doesn't repair them - that is at least helpful as I scroll though to fix them - I can see exactly which tracks have the issue quickly after running that script - but iTunes doesn't remember that warning symbol after a log-out, so it's only worth running the script on a set of tracks I intend to review and fix in any given session at a time.
If you are interested, Doug's free scripts can be found at
http://dougscripts.com/itunes/scripts/ss.php?sp=itunestrackcpr
there are other interesting and useful iTunes scripts there too...
also, unrelated to the issue I'm having, I found a lot of really useful and time saving metadata fixing free scripts at - hubi's iTunes scripts - the page isn't English, but the script download is easy to find -
hubi's scripts work for batch selections of tracks - so if you import an album and find the metadata screwed up somehow, you can select the whole set of screwed up tags at once (even across a series of albums), run the easy to use script, and watch it all be fixed automatically while you sit back and relax...
http://hubionmac.com/wordpress/category/softwareschmiede/applescripting/itunes/
just for reference, here is a sampling of what hubi's scripts can do...
there are other useful scripts out there - the tough part can be finding the one that helps you...
01-(un)capitalizes
01-(un)capitalizes
This script changes.... THIS TEXT into This Text... or this text
01-Delete spaces
Sometimes invisible blanks are behind an artist name or album name...this script deletes these blanks behind or infront of the strings
01-Delete x first-last chars. of Title
A Name like "01--Ray Of Light" will be changed to "Ray Of Light" and the01 will be entered in the tracks tracknumber id3 field =)
01-fix combined Artist-Title
Sometimes Tracknames look like:
"Madonna---Ray of Light" and in the artist field you see something like"Ripped by Me"... this script puts Madonna back to the right field... all youhave to do is to enter the right delimiter ("---" in this case)
01-switch Artist<->Title...
Switch ID3 field a with ID3 field b (not only Artist with Title any more =)!
01-z_filename ->Title
Sets the ID3 field Title to the track's filename)
01-z_trackNr-Filename->ID3
When a track's filename look like "01-Madonna-Ray of Light.mp3" andyou don't have the track's tracknumber stored in the ID3 Tag... this Scriptcan do this for your =)

External hard drive showing up in iTunes but tracks are not...

Hi,
I've read a bunch of the posts about running iTunes off an external hard drive but haven't had any luck getting my set up to work... I have an LG netbook, Western Digital 2 TB ethernet hard drive, the latest version of iTunes (updated yesterday)... Ideally I'd like to keep all of my iTunes stuff on the hard drive and access it through my netbook, iTouch, phone etc...
I followed Apple's instructions for moving iTunes to another drive - I consolidated the files, checked the box for keeping the files organized, changed the location for iTunes Media folder location to my external hard drive (when I 'Get Info' for the tracks iTunes it shows them in the external hard drive), then deleted the original iTunes Media folder... My Book Live shows up in iTunes, but does not list any tracks... I moved all of my iTunes (tv, music, ringtones, etc) to a folder I created in the external hard drive called iTunes... I did move the music from the iTunes folder to the Shared Music folder on the external hard drive, but neither location shows the tracks in iTunes...
Am I missing a step? I'm not great with computers in case that wasn't obvious But the instructions were clear and I had no problems going through them so I'm not sure what the problem could be...
Thanks for any help or tips you can offer

Okay, I run off my Ext HD all the time... I have had a couple minor problems trying to get multiple machines to use the same ext HD & iTunes library... but that's another story. LOL Maybe I just want too much. giggle Greedy me... I want my music everywhere and not always on my iPod. <g>
I'll keep working on that... Anyhooo... I can address YOUR problem at least. Cuz, I think I know what you may have done wrong. Although the library of music (i.e. all the music files) are stored on the external hard drive, iTunes will still use the iTunes LIBRARY files (i.e. the files that list what is stored where and data and junk) that are on your computer's main hard drive. So, if you deleted those files in your iTunes folder when you say you deleted the iTunes media files on your main hard drive... you may have killed its ability to find, identify and play all those files out on your external hard drive.
You should still have a number of files like:
Sentinel
PPTThumbs
ITunesMusicLibrary
ITunesLibraryGenius
ITunesLibraryExtras
ITunesLibrary <-key one... tells it names of all your music & where files are
ITunesPreferences <-key one... tells it where you told it you stored your library
lots of weird .tmp files
Hope this helps

What format i should use for my external hard drive that can be used interchangeably between mac and pc?

What format i should use for my external hard drive that can be used interchangeably between mac and pc?

Usually Fat32/MS-DOS as mentioned, but that has several limitatiuns, like 4GB filesize limit.
One option is MacDrive for you PCs... allows them to Read/Write HFS+...
http://www.mediafour.com/products/macdrive/
More options...
NTFS-3G Stable Read/Write Driver...
http://www.ntfs-3g.org/
MacFUSE: Full Read-Write NTFS for Mac OS X, Among Others...
http://www.osnews.com/story/16930

HT1452 I want to reset the permissions on a western digital external hard drive to work between mac and windows... How can I do this easily?

I have a MacBook Pro and have recently bought a Western Digital external hard drive. I used it on my windows laptop first and unfortunately now on the Mac it is read only. How can I set it so that I can use it successfully between the both the Mac and windows laptop?
Thanks

MacQuack wrote:
You will need to pull all the information off first. The formatting will erase it all.
Use Disk Utility (in Applications >> Utilities or use Spotlight to find it). On the left select your WD drive and then select the Erase tab. Where it says Format, select exFat in the drop-down menu. Next, click Erase and done. It will take approx. 5-15mins to re-format.
Cons: You will be unable to store files 4GB or larger in this format (usually only dmg/iso files or large Outlook files). Also, you will be unable to use Time Machine or other auto-backup programs.
That is not entirely correct, there is no 4G limit using exFat, FAT32 is the one with the limit.

How to move huge HD video files between external hard drives and defrag ext drive?

I have huge high definition video files on a 2TB external hard drive (and its clone). The external hard drive is maxed out. I would like to move many of the video files to a new 3TB external hard drive (G-drive, and a clone) and leave a sub-group of video files (1+ TB) on the original external hard drive (and its clone).
I am copying files from original external drive ("ext drive A") to new external drive ("ext drive B") via Carbon Copy Cloner (selecting iMovie event by event that I want to transfer). Just a note: I do not know how to partition or make bootable drives, I see suggestions with these steps in them.
My questions:
1.) I assume this transfer of files will create extreme fragmentation on drive A. Should I reformat/re-initialize ext drive A after moving the files I want? If so, how best to do this? Do I use "Erase" within Disk Utilities? Do I need to do anything else before transfering files back onto ext drive A from its clone?
2.) Do I also need to defrag if I reformat ext drive A? Do I defrag instead of or in addition to reformating? If so, how to do this? I've read on these forums so many warnings and heard too many stories of this going awry. Which 3rd party software to use?
Thank you in advance for any suggestions, tips, advice. This whole process makes me SO nervous.

Here is a very good writeup on de-fragging in the OS environment that I borrowed
From Klaus1:
Defragmentation in OS X:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1375 which states:
You probably won't need to optimize at all if you use Mac OS X. Here's why:
Hard disk capacity is generally much greater now than a few years ago. With more free space available, the file system doesn't need to fill up every "nook and cranny." Mac OS Extended formatting (HFS Plus) avoids reusing space from deleted files as much as possible, to avoid prematurely filling small areas of recently-freed space.
Mac OS X 10.2 and later includes delayed allocation for Mac OS X Extended-formatted volumes. This allows a number of small allocations to be combined into a single large allocation in one area of the disk.
Fragmentation was often caused by continually appending data to existing files, especially with resource forks. With faster hard drives and better caching, as well as the new application packaging format, many applications simply rewrite the entire file each time. Mac OS X 10.3 onwards can also automatically defragment such slow-growing files. This process is sometimes known as "Hot-File-Adaptive-Clustering."
Aggressive read-ahead and write-behind caching means that minor fragmentation has less effect on perceived system performance.
Whilst 'defragging' OS X is rarely necessary, Rod Hagen has produced this excellent analysis of the situation which is worth reading:
Most users, as long as they leave plenty of free space available , and don't work regularly in situations where very large files are written and rewritten, are unlikely to notice the effects of fragmentation on either their files or on the drives free space much.
As the drive fills the situations becomes progressively more significant, however.
Some people will tell you that "OSX defrags your files anyway". This is only partly true. It defrags files that are less than 20 MB in size. It doesn't defrag larger files and it doesn't defrag the free space on the drive. In fact the method it uses to defrag the smaller files actually increases the extent of free space fragmentation. Eventually, in fact, once the largest free space fragments are down to less than 20 MB (not uncommon on a drive that has , say only 10% free space left) it begins to give up trying to defrag altogether. Despite this, the system copes very well without defragging as long as you have plenty of room.
Again, this doesn't matter much when the drive is half empty or better, but it does when it gets fullish, and it does especially when it gets fullish if you are regularly dealing with large files , like video or serious audio stuff.
If you look through this discussion board you will see quite a few complaints from people who find that their drive gets "slow". Often you will see that say that "still have 10 or 20 gigs free" or the like. On modern large drives by this stage they are usually in fact down to the point where the internal defragmentation routines can no longer operate , where their drives are working like navvies to keep up with finding space for any larger files, together with room for "scratch files", virtual memory, directories etc etc etc. Such users are operating in a zone where they put a lot more stress on their drives as a result, often start complaining of increased "heat", etc etc. Most obviously, though, the computer slows down to a speed not much better than that of molasses. Eventually the directories and other related files may collapse altogether and they find themselves with a next to unrecoverable disk problems.
By this time, of course, defragging itself has already become just about impossible. The amount of work required to shift the data into contiguous blocks is immense, puts additional stress on the drive, takes forever, etc etc. The extent of fragmentation of free space at this stage can be simply staggering, and any large files you subsequently write are likely to be divided into many , many tens of thousands of fragments scattered across the drive. Not only this, but things like the "extents files", which record where all the bits are located, will begin to grow astronomically as a result, putting even more pressure on your already stressed drive, and increasing the risk of major failures.
Ultimately this adds up to a situation where you can identify maybe three "phases" of mac life when it comes to the need for defragmentation.
In the "first phase" (with your drive less than half full), it doesn't matter much at all - probably not enough to even make it worth doing.
In the "second phase" (between , say 50% free space and 20% free space remaining) it becomes progressively more useful, but , depending on the use you put your computer to you won't see much difference at the higher levels of free space unless you are serious video buff who needs to keep their drives operating as efficiently and fast as possible - chances are they will be using fast external drives over FW800 or eSata to compliment their internal HD anyway.
At the lower end though (when boot drives get down around the 20% mark on , say, a 250 or 500 Gig drive) I certainly begin to see an impact on performance and stability when working with large image files, mapping software, and the like, especially those which rely on the use of their own "scratch" files, and especially in situations where I am using multiple applications simultaneously, if I haven't defragmented the drive for a while. For me, defragmenting (I use iDefrag too - it is the only third party app I trust for this after seeing people with problems using TechToolPro and Drive Genius for such things) gives a substantial performance boost in this sort of situation and improves operational stability. I usually try to get in first these days and defrag more regularly (about once a month) when the drive is down to 30% free space or lower.
Between 20% and 10% free space is a bit of a "doubtful region". Most people will still be able to defrag successfully in this sort of area, though the time taken and the risks associated increase as the free space declines. My own advice to people in this sort of area is that they start choosing their new , bigger HD, because they obviously are going to need one very soon, and try to "clear the decks" so that they maintain that 20% free buffer until they do. Defragging regularly (perhaps even once a fortnight) will actually benefit them substantially during this "phase", but maybe doing so will lull them into a false sense of security and keep them from seriously recognising that they need to be moving to a bigger HD!
Once they are down to that last ten per cent of free space, though, they are treading on glass. Free space fragmentation at least will already be a serious issue on their computers but if they try to defrag with a utility without first making substantially more space available then they may find it runs into problems or is so slow that they give up half way through and do the damage themselves, especially if they are using one of the less "forgiving" utilities!
In this case I think the best way to proceed is to clone the internal drive to a larger external with SuperDuper, replace the internal drive with a larger one and then clone back to it. No-one down to the last ten percent of their drive really has enough room to move. Defragging it will certainly speed it up, and may even save them from major problems briefly, but we all know that before too long they are going to be in the same situation again. Better to deal with the matter properly and replace the drive with something more akin to their real needs once this point is reached. Heck, big HDs are as cheap as chips these days! It is mad to struggle on with sluggish performance, instability, and the possible risk of losing the lot, in such a situation.

I have my iTunes library between an external hard drive and my PC. How do I get all of it onto the PC? When I consolidate it leaves the songs on the external drive.

My iTunes library is split between an external hard drive and my PC. How do I get all the songs onto my PC? When I consolidate, it brings the names of the songs to the PC but they are empty files.

Hold down the "option" + "command" keys and launch iPhoto.
Select the "Rebuild Thumbnails" choice.

I have a disconnect between my external hard drive and lightroom 5.6. The recommended steps do not connect 11000 photos on the hard drive. How can I connect? I am concerned I have lost my edits in lightroom.

I have a disconnect between my external hard drive and lightroom 5.6. The recommended steps do not connect 11000 photos on the hard drive. How can I connect? I am concerned I have lost my edits in lightroom.

after some sorting out your article, I clicked on a question mark with the message find the missing folder. This brought me to a page where I could choose a folder by year and click on it. The question marks disappeared and the photos were available. In some cases I had to click on the year folder for each subfolder by date.
The find missing folders message did not bring me to the finder window in which I could click on folders in the hard drive itself. I appreciate your help big time!!

How to share files between pc and mac via external hard drive

how can i share my files(mp3,mp4,documents) from my harddisk with mac. i am a new mac user and i have a harddisk of NTFS format(as i was a pc user).I learned that mac supports FAT32 format and therefore i can't write data on my external hard drive.
but, reading a section of OSX yosemite(under compatibility) it is said that now we can easily share files between pc and mac.
So please suggest me easier way that how can i share files between macs and pc as my friends uses pc and in future i really want to share my data with them without any hustle and i dont wanna loose my data in future

You can format the HDD to a common one like ExFAT or Fat32 but a reformat will delete all data off of the HDD.
Your other option is to use a third party software such as Paragon or Tuxera that will allow you to write to a NFTS formatted HDD.
Ciao.

How can i stop itunes from finding duplicate tracks from my external hard drive?

All my music is stored on C: drive and backed up on an external hard drive. when I install I iTunes it detects all tracks from both sources giving me 20000 duplicates. I have tried uninstalling iTunes and then installing without the external drive plugged but iTunes still shows both copies, only the f: drive version has the ! next to it. How can I get iTunes to only search in one place?

Uninstalling and then reinstalling iTunes doesn't reset the library. To that simply delete the iTunes Library.itl file in the iTunes folder. For completeness delete the other files in that folder and the subfolder Album Artwork.
Don't let iTunes scan the computer, or if you do disconnect all of the additional sources of media. Better not to scan and then use File > Add Folder to Library so you are in control.
See Backup your iTunes for Windows library with SyncToy for a suggested method of keeping the original and backup of your library in sync.
tt2

Splitting music between external hard-drive and laptop?

I've just bought an external hard-drive for my ageing Powerbook, and am wanting to split my iTunes collection so I have all of my music on the external drive, and a selection (30Gb or so) on my laptop, for when I'm on the move or disconnected.
There are several posts on this topic, but they all seem confusing and contradictory. Most people seemed to suggest using the Multiple Libraries function in iTunes, so this is what I did. I set up a small library file for the music on my laptop, and a larger one for the music stored on the external drive, which I can switch between by using the Option/Alt key when loading iTunes.
The problem is, iTunes doesn't seem to allow you to have different Music Folders for each of these libraries. So if I change the destination for my Large Library so that music is sent to/stored on my external hard-drive, it also changes it for my Small Library - and vice versa. So iTunes is constantly loading up with the wrong default settings, and if I try to correct it, it starts laboriously re-labelling my entire library. It's now telling me half the music I know is on my laptop can only be found on my external.
I realise I could just unselect the "Keep iTunes folder organised" and "Copy to iTunes Music folder" options, but this would mean having a mass of music labelled on my laptop that's not actually there when I don't have my hard-drive plugged in, with the Missing Excalamation Point Of Death taking over my screen. I do not want this.
Is there no simple way to have music separated into two places, and my computer show me what's actually there? It ain't rocket science, is it?
All assistance gratefully recieved.

There is a KB doc from Apple: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304447. The KB doc shows how to add a second (or third, etc) to your iTunes app. This is what I've done so I now have a library that uses my external drive for normal usage at home and syncing my iPod and iPhone. The second library is used for just music when I'm on the road. Hope this helps.

External Hard drive pausing between tracks

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