Hard disk crashed! How to save iTunes Library

OK so i am in a bit of a fix here.
My MBP Hard drive crashed and it has the iTunes library with all apps and music. Luckily I had OS X installed on external drive so am able to boot from external drive and access the crashed hard drive. I can read the crashed one but cant write to it.
Now how can I export my iTunes library so that I can import it on another machine? I cant export my library to CD as I cant boot the crashed drive.
Any alternatives?
Cheerio

KingDude wrote:
Any alternatives?
click here for tips/instructions.
or,
Do the following:
1. Quit iTunes
2. Drag the iTunes folder from your internal hd - located in ~/Music folder - to your external hd. DO NOT delete the original one from your internal hd... yet!
3. When the transfer is complete, press and hold the Option(alt) key and fire up iTunes.
4. A "Choose iTunes Library" window will come up. Click on the "Choose Library" button.
5. Navigate to where the iTunes folder is located in the external hd.
6. Within the iTunes folder, select the iTunes Library file and click Choose...
That's it. iTunes will now display all your playlists, songs, movies, podcasts etc. At this point, should you wish, you can delete the iTunes folder from the internal hd to free up space.
adjust these instructions to fit your situation.
for the future, see _*The Complete Guide to Backing Up your iTunes Library*_.

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