HELP! updating music from external hard drive

I recently had my computer wiped, but backed up all my music on my hard drive. Now I don't know how to get it back into itunes without going into each artist folder and adding each song. This is not only time consuming, but I would loose all of my playlists. I had previously linked my itunes to this external drive so I know it can read the music there. Any ideas on how to get it into my itunes? Thank you!

Did you b/u and save the 2 files - iTunes Library and iTunes Music Library.xml. These files are located by default in HD>User>Music>iTunes. If those 2 files are not in that location then iTunes will create new ones. These 2 files are how iTunes and other apps keep track of the tunes, location etc. If you didn't keep those 2 files then you will be at square one and have to start over by "adding" the tunes back. If you do have those 2 files then put them into the correct location - with iTunes closed - make sure you have directed iTunes to your ext HD - then open iTunes see if iTunes can "see" the tunes and PL etc.
MJ

Similar Messages

  • New mac user, need help transferring music from external hard drive

    I am new to using a mac. I have had an iphone for almost a year so I am catching on quickly to my macbook but this problem has stumped me and all my mac using friends.
    I have a 500gb seagate external hard drive aswell as a new 500gb seagate internal.
    I transferred all my music from an old ipod onto the external hard drive. There is about 50gb of music.
    When I plug my external into my pc desktop I can see the music folder organized into subfolders with files inside that are encoded unless they are opened in itunes. My pc doesn't have enough internal memory to open and store my music library so I have just left it on the hard drive. When I plug the hard drive into my macbook it will show the music folder as having 50gb but when the folder is opened, none of the subfolders or files are visable.
    I went ahead and dragged the folder from my harddrive onto my desktop. It took about an hour to transfer all the files but now the folder is sitting on my desktop and when I open it, it is empty. If i look in the folders info, it says it has the 50gb. If i try to drag and drop it into itunes nothing happens. If I drag and drop it into the itunes music folder, it will go there but will not show up on itunes.
    I'm stumped and no longer eligable for apples telephone support as I bought this macbook from a friend. Any help would be greatly appreciated

    I have a couple of theories, but I'm not an iTunes expert. These people are, though:
    http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=782
    Try posting your question there. Good luck!

  • Old laptop died, got latest itunes on new laptop and recovered all music from external hard drive but ipad not recognised as device when plugged in? Do i reset my ipad2!!!

    Old laptop died, got latest itunes on new laptop and recovered all music from external hard drive but ipad2 not being recognised as a device when plugged in so can't sync? Do i reset my ipad2?!!!! Its only taken 7 months to get to this point.
    My ipad is set to sync via wifi but it is still trying to look for my old laptop which has been trashed..but i have deauthorised it and removed it from my account and still not recognised.
    Please help (an extreme novice to Apple products)

    Sync Your iOS Device with a New Computer Without Losing Data
    http://www.howtogeek.com/104298/sync-your-ios-device-with-a-new-computer-without -losing-data/
    iPad not appearing in iTunes
    http://www.apple.com/support/ipad/assistant/itunes/
    iOS: Device not recognized in iTunes for Mac OS X
    http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1591
    iOS: Device not recognized in iTunes for Windows
    http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1538
    IOS: Syncing with iTunes
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1386
    Apple - Support - iPad - Syncing
    http://www.apple.com/support/ipad/syncing/
     Cheers, Tom

  • Transfering Music from external hard drive

    Thought I copied music files from external hard drive to new computer sucessfully, but when I try to play music on computer I get an error message telling me that the original file can't be found and do I want to locate it. Looks like everything is there, artwork, playlists, but can't play. Help. Thanks!!!

    Hi,
    These Links may be just what you are Looking for...
    iTunes on External Drive
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1751
    Moving your iTunes Media Folder
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1364
    Cheers,

  • Moving Music from External Hard Drive

    I just rebooted my pc and I am trying to put my iTunes music from my hard drive back on the computer. How do I do this? Do I just drop and drag directly from the hard drive to the itunes folder in explore or do I have to bring both folders out to the desktop. Thank you!!

    Do I just drop and drag directly from the hard drive to the itunes folder in explore or do I have to bring both folders out to the desktop.
    Neither. You need to use the Import function inside iTunes, or drag the folder to the library in the open iTunes application window.
    (47964)

  • HELP: Trying to get my music from external hard drive onto *new* computer

    HELP US! Our motherboard died last month, BUT we had everything on an external hard drive (YEAH!) so we've been able to download iTunes on our new laptop, but now are having trouble getting all of my music from my iTunes library into my iPod Nano. Specifically, it will not let me put any of the music I previously purchased--other songs I got from CD's came over find. I can see ALL of my music in my iTunes account, but it won't let me sync them onto my device.
    Any suggestions?

    Choose Authorize Computer from the Store menu in iTunes, or play a purchased song on your computer.
    (32358)

  • How do I get music from External Hard Drive to iTunes?

    Hi, I recently got an external hard drive to free up some memory on my powerbook. I put all of my music on there and deleted it from my computer, following the article about "Moving your iTunes folder". It copied most of the songs and worked temporarily, but then I had to erase my hard drive, because I was having some issues with a few programs. So now I have my "iTunes Music" folder on my external hard drive, and when I choose that as the source of music for the library and try to consolidate, nothing happens.
    So, how can I use the folder on my external hard drive for my iTunes library? I even tried reloading it onto my PowerBook hard drive and importing from there, and it didn't work... Any help would be fantastic.

    if your main library is on your external, then when not connected, you wont have access to it.
    so first decide, where do you want to keep the files.
    E.g. In my case, I keep my files on "C:\iTunes Music".
    I have a backup on external "Z:\iTunes Backup". If I format my laptop, this is how I restore everything.
    Edit -> Preferences -> Advanced.
    The iTunes music folder in selects as "C:\iTunes Music"
    I have checked Keep iTunes Music Folder Organized, and also Copy Files to iTunes Music folder when adding to ibrary". Click OK to save and close preferences.
    My iTunes list is now empty. I go to file, and select "Add Folder to Library". From that window, I select "Z:\iTunes Backup". iTunes then copies everything from the backup to "C:\iTunes Music". For me, backup is backup, I dont need it to play music.
    Now decide this. If you do not want to keep music on C:, but want to only connect the external to update music on your ipod, do this:
    In preferences, set iTunes Music folder as "Z:\iTunes Backup", and uncheck Copy files to iTunes Music folder, since they are already there. Then in files, select Add folder to library again to build and update the list.

  • Can't play music from external hard drive through iTunes on Windows 8?

    I recenty bought a new laptop running Windows 8 with a small internal hard drive, so I don't want to store all my music on it. I backed up my iTunes library onto an external hard drive, but when I plug this into my new laptop I can't play my music no matter what I do.
    I have tried:
    - selecting the newly created iTunes library by pressing Shift when opening iTunes and playing a song directly through the iTunes player. It selects the song, comes up with the speaker icon next to it to indicate it is playing, but the time doesn't count down and no music plays
    - I have gone into Advanced Preferences and specified the iTunes media folder location, still no songs play
    - coped a single song onto my new laptop desktop and tried to play this through iTunes, Media Player and the Music app. Media player says "Windows Media Player encountered a problem while playing the file". The Music app says it can't find any music on the computer, so when I select the music folder from my hard drive, it says "Can't Play. Make sure your computer's sound and video cards are working and have the latest drivers, then try again".
    I know my laptop can play sound and video as I can watch YouTube videos with no problems. I went to Windows Update, and there are no available updates, I already have every available update.
    I have also plugged in a different external hard drive, with different music files on it, and have encountered the exact same problems. It seems I can't play any music at all on this laptop. I know the files are not corrupted, as I can plug both hard drives into a different laptop that runs on Windows 7 and play the music on them with no troubles. Could it be a problem with the files compatibility with Windows 8?
    I can also access my iPhone backup through this iTunes library on the new computer, so I know there is no problem with my backup.

    I am experiencing a similar problem in Windows 7 64bit.  Since my laptop has a 128gb SSD, I have loaded my iTunes library on to an external drive.  I can sync my iPhones and iPads from this library, and the songs play fine from those devices.  However, when I select a song from my library, and click the play button, nothing happens.  iTunes does nothing.  I have also tried right-clicking mp3s in my library and selecting "Play", with no results.  I do not receive an error message of any kind.
    I have also noticed that some of my mp3's within iTunes denote the Time as 00:00.  The same mp3's will play and register properly using other mp3 players on my computer, and they also play normally on my iPhones and iPads.
    I am running Windows 7 x64 on a Lenovo T530, in iTunes 11.1.3.  Everything else in iTunes appears to function normally.  I can listen to internet radio stations without an issue, through iTunes, and they play as they should.  I have tried three different external drives, with different drive formats, and they all have the same issue.  If I copy my iTunes library back to my internal drive, iTunes will play my mp3s.
    I did not have this issue with iTunes 10, so I am assuming it is something that has occured within the last few updates.
    Has anyone found a fix for this?  Unfortunately, I am forced to use iTunes 11 because of my iOS devices, otherwise I would revert to iTunes 10.

  • How to play itunes music from external hard drive

    How do I either play continuous music from my external hard drive, or make itunes recognize my external hard drive as the library.

    Hi Jim
    I've recently upgraded to a macbook Pro and I copied all data, profiles etc across from my old macbook. I have also created a second account in my mackbook Pro. I am able to play my iTunes music from the external HD in the 'old' account, but not in the 'new' account, despite trying what you've said above. On the external HD, there are two folders: iTunes music and iTunes media. I have tried selecting each of these, but both times, I get this message: "An iTunes library file could not be found in the folder "iTunes Media". Please choose a different folder." ... Please can you help?
    Many thanks in advance!

  • Moving music from external hard drive to i-tunes

    Please I need some help with moving music on an external hard drive to my i-tunes library. I think that I have cut and pasted it to i-tunes from this hard drive but once the hard drive is disconnected...i-tunes can not find it. I would appreciate a step by step run down on how I might do this

    Rosanne Maitland wrote:
    Please I need some help with moving music on an external hard drive to my i-tunes library. I think that I have cut and pasted it to i-tunes from this hard drive but once the hard drive is disconnected...i-tunes can not find it. I would appreciate a step by step run down on how I might do this
    I am having the same problem, only with music I import into iTunes from a CD. The tracks will import, and will synch to my Ipod, but will not play in iTunes unless the original, source CD is in the computer. It seems to me that once iTunes "accepts" imported tracks, it should play them, whether the source CD is present or not.
    I suspect that iTunes will be able to "find" all of your songs, and play them, provided the original source (hard drive) is hooked back up to your computer.
    But you shouldn't have to do that. iTunes will play most imported tracks without requiring the source to be present. Puzzling.

  • How to play iTunes and music from external hard drive?

    I recently back up all my music from my old computer on to an external hard drive. I have a new computer but don't want to store all the music on the computer's hard drive. I would rather play iTunes and all the music straight off of the hard drive. How do I do this?
    I already downloaded and installed iTunes on my external hard drive and my music is on a separate folder. When I open iTunes it says that I have no music in the library. How do I tell iTunes to use all the music from the external hard drive? I do not want to save anything on my computer's internal hard drive if possible because I do not have enough space.
    Thanks for the help. Also, if I should clarify anything else then please just let me know!

    did you ever find the answer to this question? I have the same problem

  • Playing music from external hard drive, iTunes

    Hello all,
    After years of wanting to own a MacBook Pro, I finally have one.  This is the first Mac computer that I have owned so I am still new to everything.  One issue that I  am having is an issue that I have had over the years on Windows, that always took me hours to get straight.  I am going to explain  how my iTunes has been setup on all of my previous computers so that hopefully you guys can make sense of what I am trying to accomplish as I could not find a solution on here.
    The way iTunes is set up on my Windows PC's was that all of my music was on my external hard drive.  Whenever I would want to use my music through iTunes, I would have to plug in my external hard drive and once it boots I can now play music.  Without the hard drive plugged in I can only see all the information about my music on iTunes but I cannot play it since the hard drive is disconnected.  I am trying to do this same setup with my macbook but I am having difficulty accomplishing that.  I honestly do not remember how I did it on my Windows PC other than it took forever.  I kept getting duplicates but after trying multiple times, I got it to where there were no duplicates and everything was fine.
    What steps do I go about in order to be able to see all my music information on iTunes but having the actual music file on my external?  I like it this way as it saves my internal hard drive storage and I don't mind having to plug in my external when needed.  I have only attempted once so far to do this procedure on my new MacBook, I failed.  It transferred all of the music and worked just how I wanted it to work.  However, it created a duplicate of every song, which there is thousands of, so I deleted everything and now iTunes doesn't have anything.  Any help is appreciated, sorry for the long post.

    So after messing around for awhile I finally figured it out and got everything working how I want it and had it on my Windows machine.  It took me forever to find the iTunes library file as it was not in its default location on my Windows machine.  I finally figured out what needs to be done and it is really easy like you explained.  I discovered that my issue is: 1. The default location of these common iTunes files is not in its default location likely due to me moving it the last time I did this from my prior Windows machine and 2. My external hard drive needs to be cleaned up, at least my music section.
    What I am going to do in the future is purchase a new external hard drive specifically for my Mac backups and music.  I will have to take a day and transfer my huge library to the new drive so that I ensure everything is organized and kept clean and not make this process more difficult than it should in the future.  I am however missing some of my tracks (noted with the !) I do believe that this is due to me accidentally changing the file paths on my external at some point in the past and left certain files on my Windows internal drive.  This issue is solved though, hopefully.  I appreciate your help.
    BTW:  I am loving my 15" rMBP, I wish the price didn't hold me back as long as it did.  

  • Music from external hard drive not showing up

    I am new to using a mac. I have had an iphone for almost a year so I am catching on quickly to my macbook but this problem has stumped me and all my mac using friends.
    I have a 500gb seagate external hard drive aswell as a new 500gb seagate internal.
    I transferred all my music from an old ipod onto the external hard drive. There is about 50gb of music.
    When I plug my external into my pc desktop I can see the music folder organized into subfolders with files inside that are encoded unless they are opened in itunes. My pc doesn't have enough internal memory to open and store my music library so I have just left it on the hard drive. When I plug the hard drive into my macbook it will show the music folder as having 50gb but when the folder is opened, none of the subfolders or files are visable.
    I went ahead and dragged the folder from my harddrive onto my macbook desktop. It took about an hour to transfer all the files but now the folder is sitting on my desktop and when I open it, it is empty. If i look in the folders info, it says it has the 50gb. If i try to drag and drop it into itunes nothing happens. If I drag and drop it into the itunes music folder, it will go there but will not show up on itunes.
    I'm stumped and no longer eligable for apples telephone support as I bought this macbook from a friend. Any help would be greatly appreciated. (Please use extreme lay terms as i'm just learning the lingo...thx)

    incase anyone is wondering, i figured out how to get the files onto the macbook. I transferred the files from my hard drive onto a flashdrive using my pc and when i plugged the flashdrive into the macbook the files showed up and could be dragged and dropped into itunes! yay!

  • Transferring my music from external hard drive into i-tunes

    Help!
    I'm sorry if this has been asked before, but I've browsed through a lot of the posts and have not been successful.
    I am new to using iPods and iTunes, as I've always had a zune. I have about 80gb of my music backed up on my external hard drive. I am trying to transfer my music files to my itunes and sync to my ipod, and am running into all sorts of problems. Some of my music transferred, the rest didn't. So far, I have only been able to transfer about 21 gb of music from the external into iTunes. I have tried to add folder to library, add file to library, and add playlist to library. In all three, it will not let me select the entire external hard drive, or select more than one individual song that is on my external to transfer. When I tried to transfer my music files individually, I can't find them in my iTunes library. What am I doing wrong?
    Bottom line is, how do I get the music off my external hard drive and onto my iPod? It won't all fit on my computer, which is one reason it's backed up externally.
    Any suggestions would be appreciated. I am getting so frustrated I could cry. Thanks.

    Rosanne Maitland wrote:
    Please I need some help with moving music on an external hard drive to my i-tunes library. I think that I have cut and pasted it to i-tunes from this hard drive but once the hard drive is disconnected...i-tunes can not find it. I would appreciate a step by step run down on how I might do this
    I am having the same problem, only with music I import into iTunes from a CD. The tracks will import, and will synch to my Ipod, but will not play in iTunes unless the original, source CD is in the computer. It seems to me that once iTunes "accepts" imported tracks, it should play them, whether the source CD is present or not.
    I suspect that iTunes will be able to "find" all of your songs, and play them, provided the original source (hard drive) is hooked back up to your computer.
    But you shouldn't have to do that. iTunes will play most imported tracks without requiring the source to be present. Puzzling.

  • Problems transfering music from external hard drive to ipod.

    When I plug both ipod and external hard driver (WD 1600B014) into my Gateway laptop, only 1 device will work at a time with the other saying "usb device not recognised". This means I am unable to copy selected itunes songs onto my ipod.
    This is driving me insane as I have 60gb of music on my hard drive which I want to chop and change frequently.
    I have tried all manner of solutions including buying a powered usb hub (belkin) and starting a clean sheet with my laptop, installing all manner of new drivers for the usb ports.
    I have the same problem with my 5G ipod 40gb.
    I have tried the same problem on my dads desktop computer and the same problem arrises.
    Does anyone have any answers as this has been driving me mad for ages and ages.
    Is this a common thing or is it a problem with Western digital hard drives (although i thought they were a pretty big brand).
    Any help would really be appreciated.

    if I want to copy all those song files onto my iPod, they have to be copied into itunes first, and there's not nearly enough space on my desktop for that.
    No, you don't have to copy the tracks to your internal hard drive. Just turn off the "copy music to iTunes Music Folder when adding" option in the iTunes Advanced preferences. Then use the "Add To Library" menu command and select the appropriate folder(s) on your external drive. iTunes will add the tracks to the Library but not move them to the internal drive.
    Once that's done, use iTunes to transfer the music to the iPod. You can then, if iTunes is set for manual synchronization, remove the tracks from the Library if you want to remove the reference to the external drive.

Maybe you are looking for