File Vault: Moving iTunes library to external HD

I am using File Vault (ouch!) but I would like - for space reasons - to move my iTunes library to two external HDs (preferably copy first, then test, then delete original from internal HD).
Firstly, I tried while logged in as Administrator (with File Vault active).
When I tried to follow the steps in the procedure "iTunes for Mac: Moving your iTunes Music Folder" I reached Step 5 (the Change Music Folder Location window) but the New Folder button was greyed out.
Next I tried again while logged in as a different user - again Administrator but without File Vault - but this time I could not seem to get access to my real iTunes (instead I got the actually empty default iTunes for that second non-File Vault Adminstrator user).
What am I missing ? My apologies if it is terribly obvious! - Thanks

Hi Chuck,
Ya know, I've never heard of anyone using Filevault AND moving the iTunes folder... I wonder if it would even work, since Filevault is designed to keep everything within... just a thought should we not succeed here!
First thing I'd try is just making that "New Folder" outside of iTunes first, then in that procedure see if the "Choose" button works inside that folder.

Similar Messages

Moved iTunes Library to External Hard Drive - having trouble - HELP!

I have had quite the ordeal...upgraded my Mac iBook G4 from os 9 to os x 10 Tiger.
Bought an external hard drive to back up my 30 GB of music
Now...my computer won't function because it's out of hard disk space.
I moved my iTunes library to the external hard drive. Everything seems to be jim dandy...except that when I go to play a music file...the computer does not recognize the file.
I have to locate, and re-direct the path for each song to the new file location. SONG BY SONG!
Is there any way to do this globally for the entire library???
What else should I do to ensure I free up hard drive space, without jeopordizing my precious music files?
Thank you!!!

With iTunes 7.x you can transfer iTS purchases from the ipod back into iTunes.
To prevent your iPod from syncing - hold down the 'option' and  keys at the same time when plugging in your iPod. Keep the keys held down until the iPod show up in iTunes.
MJ

No success moving iTunes library to external hard drive

I'm trying to move my iTunes library to an external hard drive to free up some space on my laptop. I'm working on a Macbook running OSX 10.8.2 and trying to transfer the library to a WD My Passport for Mac (which is optimized for Mac OS Extended). I followed all of the steps in this article from apple: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1449. When I reopen iTunes, as instructed in step 15, I get the message that "The folder containing "iTunes Library" cannot be found, and is required. Please choose or create a new iTunes library." In the article, it just says that if you get that message, then take your old library back out of the trash. It offers no real solution! I don't want to keep my iTunes library on my Macbook! I've tried holding down the option key when opening iTunes and choosing the folder on the external drive. When I do that I get this message: "An iTunes library file could not be found in the folder "iTunes 1" (which is what I called it). Please choose a different folder." What am I doing wrong? This should be a simple process!

I just want to clarify: Your library had been moved to an external, but your database files are still where they ought to be, right? In the home / music / iTunes folder?
If not, try putting these files back in the Music / iTunes folder in your user folder.
/Users/username/Music/iTunes/iTunes Library.itl
/Users/username/Music/iTunes/iTunes Library.xml
Keep the media on the external drive. If you get a message about missing content, go to preferences and make sure that the library location points to your external drive's itunes folder.

Moved iTunes Library to External - Now What?

Moved my iTunes Library to an external hard drive, following the steps provided by the Apple Support.
Everything works fine, but now I want to delete my iTunes Library from my internal hard drive to make more room (approximately 60 gb).
Step 13 has the following:
After the folder has been copied, locate your original iTunes Music folder, and drag it to the Trash or Recycle Bin. Note: Don't remove the iTunes library files that may be in the same location as the iTunes Music folder. For more information about the iTunes library files, see this article.
Went to the Finder / Music / iTunes /:
Found sub folders of: Album Artwork, iPod Games, iTunes Music, Mobile Applications
The iTunes Music Library.xml is also under itunes (apparently not suppose to delete this one per the article).
Question is which one it the Original iTunes Folder I'm suppose to delete? If someone can tell me where to locate it on the finder, that would be great.
None of the folders is showing anything near the size of 60 gb.
So far I only noticed an increase on my internal hard drive of 5 gb gained.
Sorry if this subject has been addressed before. I promise I did do a search on both google and the forum.
Thanks for you help!
Alan

Of course after I post the question, I find the answer...Thanks

Moved itunes library to external HD now major issues

I moved my itunes library
(6080 songs) to a external (mybook 160 gig) hard drive
now when I startuo Itunes- it tries to "determine gapless payback" and freezes about 1/2 through and i have to force quit
-try 2-
when I start up Itunes and stop the "determing gapless payback" i will be paying music is freezes randomly when playing (middle of first song played , play for an hour , or at any other random time
this is the machine that it is on
- G4 533
- OS X 10.4.10
- ram 384 megs
- mybook is connected via a usb 2.0 card
- create alias of external music folder and placed in itunes folder to point to external hD with music
have verified/repaired permissions
have verified/repaired disk via booting up from
OS X install disk
trashed all itunes preference files
what is going on==what do I need to do??

ok when i go to prefs----Advanced--General-- it states the location for import is F:/Backed up Music [which is a folder on the external HD that has the rest of my music on it]
For some reason the folder[or itunes] on the HD is not creating new folders for artists and albums imported.
does this help anyone troubleshoot the issue?

Moved iTunes Library to external drive- now can't move iPad purchase to Mac

I moved my iTunes Library to an external drive because I didn't have enough internal HD space to move a movie purchased on the iPad to my Mac. Now iTunes won't sync my iPad - and wants to reformat it - because it says it was formatted on another Mac.
I've tried Aiseesoft iPad Manager but the movie - a iTunes+ movie, so I assume it is a package of some sort - doesn't show up in the movie pane.
This is a really crappy position to be put into. If I could re-download the movie I'd just reformat my iPad and be down with it. Unfortunately, this is not an option.
Help!

As a best practice, you should move your content to an external drive and import references to into iTunes rather than moving the whole database and app files. In iTunes > Preferences > Advanced, uncheck "Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library". This will keep all your music and movies on the external drive, but iTunes and all references to the content on your desktop.
I know that's not what you wanted to hear as a fix, but this is how I have my MacBook Air setup and it works fine with the iPad. My son tried to move the whole app and database to a hard drive and we had endless problems with it.

Moving iTunes library to external HD - all messed up

My C: HD ran out of space and my iTunes library was the biggest part so I decided to move it to an external HD. For reasons too complex to go into I have several. I followed the instructions in the "Help" feature of iTunes before I learned that there was a longer (and completely different) set of instructions on this website. I moved the contents (not the directory) as instructed from "C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\My Documents\My Music\iTunes\iTunes Music" to "H:\NewMusic". I then changed the reference in Edit->Preferences->Advanced to the new location. I reopened iTunes and it was blank. No music, no playlists. I tried copying things back and reset the reference but nothing. As a safety measure I copied the music to another hard drive but no matter what I do, or where I point iTunes nothing changes.
I'm afraid to plug in my iPod for fear that the blank iTunes will clear the iPod rather than the other way around. Also not everything is on my iPod (most but not all) and I'd rather not lose things. How can I recover from this mess and get iTunes working again. I have all the files, but iTunes will not see them.
Thanks

I'm taking long deep breaths to keep from yelling and cursing. I read the article and found that nothing would work but putting everything (23 GB) back on my C: drive. I had to move other folders and finally put everything back. Then the original (I suppose) iTunes library seemed to work. Still I had to move and/or re-identify dozens of items. Finally everything worked. I then used the "correct" instructions and moved everything. All seemed okay. I tested everything and it worked. I then did the final instruction - to delete the original iTunes Music folder. Not the iTunes folder on C: - but the iTunes music folder. Now everything is GONE again. The lists in iTunes show everything but nothing will play because it doesn't know where anything is. I can only assume that the iTunes library was in the iTunes Music folder that the instructions said to erase. And no my Recycle bin is not active. several years ago I got tired of running out of disk space and having to erase everything twice. I have tried opening iTunes with everying iTunes Library file on every disk I have and nothing works. So I have to do everything all over again.
Not asking for advice. Not blaming anyone. Just saying.

Moving iTunes Library to external HD--song could not be used

I wanted to move my iTunes library to an external HD, because my internal drive was running out of space. I looked around on here and found directions how to move my iTunes Library to an external hard drive. I followed those directions, and everything seemed copacetic the first time I started iTunes after the move and pointed it at the moved library. Songs played and everything was great.
But tall subsequent times I've started iTunes, I get the dreaded "song could not be used because the original file could not be found" message for every song I've tried.
I looked around on the discussion boards here some more, and seem to be seeing that there is no general solution. There's no good way to tell iTunes, "Go match up all the lines in the iTunes database with all the song titles in such-and-such a location."
I also read the article about "What are the iTunes Library files." I see that there are 2 basic files. One is a database file called "iTunes Library," and the second is a text file called "iTunes Library.xml." I opened up the XML file and looked around a bit. Here is what I find:
Every song in the XML file seems to be referred to with a relative path, such as: <string>file://localhost/Users/rodney/Music/iTunes/iTunes%20Music/Krys%20Mach,%20Jo%20Az usa,%20Jerome%20Mokar/Native%20Spirit/01%20Cave%20Dweller.m4a</string>
The thing is, that's not the right path, unless localhost happens to be pointed at my external HD, which I don't know why it would be.
I suspect that this is the exact same problem inside the database file, too.
I'm looking around for a definition of localhost... the only thing I'm finding is in /etc/hosts, which looks like:
127.0.0.1 localhost
255.255.255.255 broadcasthost
::1 localhost
I think it's odd that localhost is in there twice, but maybe that's normal.
Anyway, enough rambling, the basic question is, how can I tell iTunes that my files are on my external HD instead of wherever it thinks they are on "localhost," which I'm sure somehow resolves back to being my internal HD. Can I do some tricky grep-ing through the database file and strategically replace all occurrences? Or is that just asking for trouble?
Thanks!
Rodney

I don't know if this is at all useful to other people having similar problems, but I did get all my songs back more or less, and this is how:
1) With iTunes shut down, I went into my iTunes directory (ExternalHD/Users/rodney/Music/iTune), and moved my "iTunes Library" and "iTunes Library.xml" files to someplace else.
2) I started iTunes while holding down the Option key.
3) When iTunes popped the "Quit / Create New Library / Choose Library" dialog, I selected "Create New". I chose the path back to where my original iTunes Library used to live and where my music is; ExternalHD/Users/rodney/Music/iTunes.
4) iTunes started up with a completely blank library. I went and looked in the above directory, and yes, there was now a very small "iTunes Library" file there.
5) Under the File menu in iTunes, I chose "Add to Library". I then navigated to the location of all my music, which was ExternalHD/Users/rodney/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music.
6) When I selected this folder, iTunes started going through a bunch of gyrations of scanning, organizing, adding... I don't know what all it thought it was doing, but it finished 24 GB of music in about 3 minutes.
And now my music is all playable again! Of course, all my playlists are toast... completely gone, since they were in the old library.
The thing I notice is that iTunes moved all the artist folders... For instance, my album by the group Baka used to be in "ExternalHD/Users/rodney/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music/Baka" with previous versions of iTunes, but now iTunes 8 seems to want to flatten that out and it moved that directory to reside at "ExternalHD/Users/rodney/Music/iTunes/Baka". So, while it works, it looks messy. I liked it better when all the artist folders were down a level in the directory /iTunes Music/. Then the only things in the iTunes folder were the database files, a few other files iTunes has created over the years, and the iTunes Music folder.
But whatever... at least I don't have to add thousands of songs back into iTunes manually.
Just as a side note, I took a clue from the directory flattening out, and I tried one other thing: I put all the artist folders back down in the /iTunes Music/ folder, and I moved my original "iTunes Library" files down into that folder too. Then on startup, I tried pointing iTunes at the original library which was now down one level. But that didn't help... the individual song paths in that database are apparently still pointing onto my internal HD.
Rodney

Sync problems since moving iTunes library to external HD

My wife's MacBook Pro is the syncing computer for our house. Since she moved her library to an external drive we have had to start all over. iTunes is current. In preferences the library is mapped correctly to where it resides on the external drive. The sync begins and then almost immediately stops with an error message that the file type (music and TV shows total of 100 errors) is not supported by this Apple TV. The Apple TV has been reauthorized in iTunes Store. I am as I write this syncing the photos, but since they are in iPhoto, that seems to work fine. I disabled the syncing of music for this sync until I get this figured out. The cover art for all the movies and TV shows is not available. All of this content synced fine before the change to the external drive. I suspect that once the photos are done syncing the TV shows and movies won't sync because the above mentioned error messages will prevent this from happening.
Any help much appreciated.
CD3

Hi Winston,
After 4 hours of futzing around and finally fixing, I found my answer on the iTunes forum. Simply mapping the external drive which now has the content to iTunes, is not enough. All that does is tell iTunes where to put new purchases. The library list is there, but when trying to play or sync anything, there is an alert exclamation mark. When you click on that it tells you that the song can't be found and asks would you like to find it. I knew something was wrong when none of the cover art was available. So I did a test and "found" 2 missing songs, and 2 TV shows. The exclamation mark then disappeared next to each, the songs played, and I tried to sync just the aforementioned content, and that worked perfectly.
So now I'm faced (since I didn't know how to do this, and frankly still don't have the easy answer) with "finding" every single piece of content manually. Yikes!. So I found on the iTunes forum the "add to library" command and everything shows up fine and plays fine except that I now have duplicates of everything. One each of the exclamation point and one of the real content. LOTS! 1000 plus songs, 2 dozen movies 100 plus TV shows, audio books, podcasts.
Here is where I don't know the easy solution, which you may know for future reference, once you've "added to library. What I ended up doing was deleting all the exclamtion points one by one. That part alone took and hour and a half of near midnight, very tired, bleary eyes. The good thing was if you happen to accidentally try to delete the real content as you go down the list you get a warning. I checked the trash when I was done, so nothing was accidentally deleted.
The sync took quite a long time, about 9 hours, because there is alot of video content, but it's all on the TV now. Everything! Phew!
Do you know of an easier way to do this when you put your library on an external drive? Or should this question be posted on the iTunes forum. I may do that anyway.
Many thanks for your help.
CD3

Moving iTunes library from external HD to MacBook Pro

Ok, so a while ago, my iTunes library had grown so large I was running out of space on my Mac, so I moved all the files to an external HD. Of course, I could only listen to my music (as well as sync my iPhone and iPod) with the external device plugged in.
Fast forward to today, and I've decided that I'd like to reverse this process, as it's far too big a pain in the rear to continue, not to mention the fact that I'm a little sick and tired of entire albums disappearing for no apparent reason.
That said, if I simply go to Files>Add to Library and click on the iTunes Music file on my external HD, will I end up with duplicates of all 2300 of my albums? This is what I'm dreading, as I have nightmarish visions of my sitting here all weekend deleting duplicate files.
Sorry if this is a ridiculous question, but there it is...
Danke schoen!

Did you move the whole library or just media (there is a big difference)?
Whole library:
iTunes: How to move [or copy] your music [library] to a new computer [or another drive] - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527 - a somewhat bewildering and not always easily understandable set of options.
Quick answer if you use iTunes' default preferences settings: Copy the entire iTunes folder (and in doing so all its subfolders and files) intact to the other drive. Open iTunes and immediately hold down the Option (alt) key (shift on Windows), then guide it to the new location of the iTunes Library.itl file in the moved iTunes folder.
For the record there's this reference for iTunes 11 but it really doesn't strike me as having the specifics you need. iTunes 11 for Mac: Move your library to another computer - http://support.apple.com/kb/PH12168
Just media:
Consolidate is how you move your iTunes media files to a new location. Consolidate simply looks at everything you have in iTunes and copies them to the iTunes media folder location specified in iTunes prefs -> Advanced.
iTunes 11 for Mac: Change where your iTunes files are stored - http://support.apple.com/kb/PH12165 - more information at: https://discussions.apple.com/message/22026652

Moved iTunes library to external drive

NOTE: I have the most recent version of iTunes (as of 14 DEC 08).
I moved my iTunes library to an external hard drive. The music videos I purchased shows an exclamation icon next to them. Is there a way I can reference all those videos to their new location on the external hard drive? Or is the only way to do it is one at a time? Thanks!

No longer an issue.

Moved itunes library to external drive..now issues..

Hi, I recently picked up an external hard drive and needed space on my macbook so I dragged my folder onto my external drive. Next time I launched Itunes my library was wiped out. I still have the original library on the external but is there anyway I can direct Itunes to pull up the library instead without having to import everything a second time and end up with duplicates? I don't want to lose my purchased apps and songs.

I am having the same problem. - everything was fine, and I thought I had figured it out, It looks like I messed up on a step though. I copied the ENTIRE folder to my external drive. Then when I opened Ituned while pressing the option key, I think I selected the wrong thing (pretty sure I selected "create library" , when I should have selected "choose library".
Now, when I open the itunes folder in my computers (macbook) hard drive OR on the external hard drive, looking for that "itunes library.itl" file, it is blank - just a white icon, and says it was created today.
When I open Itunes from my desktop, there is NO music in it - which is not the end of the world because the files are on my external drive, but all of my playlists and customized itunes stuff is gone. Is there any way to recover this?!?!

I am having trouble moving itunes library to external hard drive

It is a WD My book essential external hard drive (1 tb) that I just bought. I already have a ton of files I put on from my PC and I want to get my itunes library from my mac. When I try and drag the itunes folder into the hard drive folder it says somthing like "Can not move 'itunes' because 'music' can not be modified'" help please. Not sure about the oporating system I added below.

i'm guessing but could the WD be NTFS formatted ?
if so, your Mac can only read from, but not write to it. you may have to install the NTFS 3G driver for it to work.
to install the driver, you need to be on OS X 10.4.11 !

Downside to moving iTunes library to external HD ?

I am using Leopard. I have an iPod and an Apple TV. Both of their hard drive capacities exceed my 3-year old PowerMac desktop. Thus, I am always battling with "Your startup disk is almost full."
I am curious about the performance implications if I moved the iTunes library to an external HD drive.
Does anyone have any experience with this? If so, do you think firewire or USB 2.0 is best?
Thank you!

I've been using an EHD for my media library for several years. I've used both Firewire and USB 2.0. I've never noticed any particular difference between the two. It has no impact on my Apple TV but I sync my Apple TV; I never stream.
The only downside is that you have to make sure that your hard drive is own and showing in the Finder before starting iTunes. If you don't, iTunes will default back to the boot drive and get confused. For travel, I sometimes create a second, smaller library on my laptop but mostly, I just use my iPod.

Moving iTunes library to External HD

I needed to move my library to an ext HD. However, in my haste I've managed to make a mess of it. First off, I do not have a backup. Don't ask, it's a long story.
So far:
1 changed folder location to L:\
2 did not check Keep files organized box (stupidly)
3 moved iTunes folder from C:\ to L:\
4 opened iTunes and library didn't appear, so
5 added a folder to the library on L:\ (poss stupid)
6 can't find original library or playlists or purchased tunes in iTunes
7 did find original itl file in C:\ and opened it; all info seems to be there but all links are broken; I noted that itl file in L:\ contains only folder I added earlier. Not clear why that is.
My questions:
1 Since I neglected to Keep files organized when I moved, should I attempt a File>Library>Organize files to get original itl links back?
2 If above works, how do I move my original library to L:\
3 I did find many previous itl files by date on L:\, can I load these?
4 Do I win the Idiot of 2010 award for this maneuver?
I do have a pic of current status of iTunes folder(s) if that would help.
Thanks for any assistance, consolations, etc.
Message was edited by: Jamowa GA

+1 Since I neglected to Keep files organized when I moved, should I attempt a File>Library>Organize files to get original itl links back?+
No. Since itunes already can't find any files, it won't be able to organize anything.
Can you move everything back to C: like it was to begin with? That's your best bet.
+4 Do I win the Idiot of 2010 award for this maneuver?+
No, you've just made the most common mistake folks make when going to a new drive. You have PLENTY of company.

File Vault: Moving iTunes library to external HD

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