Getting files from old external drive to a new one

Question

I have a dying Acom ac powered 80gig external drive on my eMac and a powerbook that is running out of drive space.
The Acom has one USB and two firewire outputs, one firewire is hooked up to the eMac . The Acom is all itunes music (none from the Apple Store) .
I had an ex-friend set it up so I don't know squat about using external drives . I think I'll get the LaCie Mobile firewire . From what I've read it seems the best . Any other suggestions are welcome .
Is there a good tutorial somewhere on how to do this ? I would like to transfer all the music from the Acom to the new drive and be able to use it like I did the old one AND use it with my powerbook to do the same thing .
Will there be a problem with library ? In iTunes (4.7) I have "Create file names with track number " checked but I don't have "Copy files to iTunes music folder when adding to library" I don't really know what this does but it sounded like it took up space so I haven't ever checked it .
as mentioned the eMac is iTunes 4.7 using Panther and the powerbook is iTunes 6.0.2 using Tiger .
G4powerbook tiger- G4eMac panther   Mac OS X (10.3.9)  

Answer 1

What you like to do can be done, but not using different main versions of iTunes.
The reason for this is, that the 'iTunes Library' file has different structures with different main versions and is not downwards compatible.
Unless you have a reason not to upgrade iTunes on the eMac, my advice would be to upgrade.
If you purcase music at the iTMS, using iTunes 6, you won't be able to play them on previous iTunes versions.
If you have MIDI files, don't upgrade to the latest iTunes 6.0.4, unless you own QuickTime Pro.
iTunes 6.0.3 and 6.0.4 are having troubles with them (iTunes: MIDI files cannot be converted in iTunes 6.0.3 and 6.0.4).
I have an G4 iMac running iTunes 6.0.4. and an G3 iMac DV running itunes 6.0.2.
My music is stored on an external drive and it is no problem at all to use it on both computers.
There are a few requirements however (more about that later)
My advice would be to take the next steps.
• Purchase the mobile drive and transfer the music to it, using the instructions in the 'Moving your iTunes Music folder' article.
You will still have a backup on your Acom (as long as it still is running) in case something might go wrong.
• Upgrade iTunes on the eMac
• Copy the 'iTunes Library' file from eMac to the new mobile drive, attach the drive to the Powerbook and copy the 'iTunes library' file from mobile drive to Powerbook. Read "What are the iTunes library files?" to find the exact location of the file.
• Run iTunes on the Powerbook. you should see the entire library as you saw it on your eMac.
A few things to consider and take int account:
Decide which computer to use to add and import music. This will make things a lot easier.
You can of course add music on both computers, but you have to swap the 'iTunes Library' over and over to keep the libraries on both computers synchronized.
Always attach the mobile drive to the computer, before running iTunes. If you fail to do so, iTunes will reset the 'iTunes Music folder location' to the default location on the internal drive on the computer. Unless you 'point' iTunes to the location on the mobile again, songs you add and import will then be stored on the internal disk.
Let know if you have further questions.
M
17' iMac fp 800 MHz 768 MB RAM   Mac OS X (10.3.9)   Several ext. HD (backup and data)