Hold entire iTunes library on external drive including iPhone backups

I have successfully moved my iTunes library to an external drive. This allows me to plug the external into any of my Macs, hold Option while launching iTunes, and manage the library. That way, I can use either mac as my home sharing server and can travel with any laptop I'd like.
Now I'd like to incorporate my iOS backups so I don't have to use a single computer to sync my phones and iPads. I travel quite a bit and take different laptops with me. While I'm home I want to use my Macbook Pro. Is it possible to sync my iPhone with any computer as long as I'm running an installation of iTunes from an external hard dirve?

http://osxdaily.com/2009/09/11/iphone-backup-location/ - your iPhone files are backed up at the following location:
in Mac OS X:
~(your home directory)/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/

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Import iTunes Library from External Drive to New Computer with Vista

I can't seem to "import" my entire iTunes library from my external hard drive to my new computer. However, I can import songs one-by-one. There must be a way to transfer the whole file at once but it is beyond me. Anyone have a solution?

Hi I am new and have found a way to import Files & Folders over my home network and or other drives.
Start in File, click "Add File to Library", or "Add Folder to Library". In the “look in” dropdown window, locate the File or folder and double click on it. It should begin to transfer. I have never transferred an enter library though.
On a personal note,
I have come to realize that I can only transfer iTunes music. I can not transfer or even find the music that I have installed from a CD into my iTunes library. iTunes dose recognize even the folder that such music is in. If any of you have an answer to this problem let me know.
Thanks

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?!?!

ITunes library on external drive issue....

I have my entire iTunes library on an external hard drive. I recently moved and had to restore my computer because of some issues. The computer is working now but iTunes does not recognize my library on the external drive. It shows everything I have purchased in the cloud but anything that I have manually put in my library doe snot show up in my library. When I look in the external drive all my media is there, I just can't get to it through iTunes. The path that can be changed in the advanced settings is not right and I am not sure how to correct the path. Thanks
I have a late 2008 iMac - 3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo - I just upgraded RAM to 6GB - right after I upgraded the RAM iMac booted into disk utilities - had to end up reinstalling OS and basically restore my files from Time Machine. Since I had to redownload iTunes the path under Advanced settings is not correct - it is not linked to my external. How do I fix this - I have had my library set up like this for years I just can't remember how to do it.
Thanks

dekker1 in your screenshot the folder that is usually 'one level above' that has the 'iTunes Library.itl' and the 'iTunes Music Library.xml'. Do you have copies of those files?
Those two are the files that maintain iTunes Data (playlists, ratings, song info …). Purchased files come from iCloud so that is why they always show up for download. According to Apple the library files should be placed in your home folder…
iTunes: What are the iTunes library files?
Can you restore those files back to /Users/[username]/Music/iTunes/ ?
If you don't have these files the only choice I can see is to import all the files & manually recreate all the playlists (this loses metadata, play count etc).
Normally you also have the following at the same location in your /Users/[username]/Music/iTunes/ folder.
Album Artwork/
iTunes Library Extras.itdb
iTunes Library Genius.itdb
Previous iTunes Libraries/
If you also have copies of these, restore them too.
The media folder can live anywhere, but you set the preference in iTunes to that location. It looks like your library may be in a mess already, the duplicate "Automatically add to iTunes" folders are a sign that you have chosen the wrong folder for iTunes media at some point.
Apple have a guide for moving the media, you need to ensure the media library is in the same path as on the old system, otherwise links to files will break.
iTunes for Mac: Moving your iTunes Media folder
Once the media is working you can 'consolidate it' but it must be in a good state before this.
I hope that makes sense, does this clarify anything? I use those Apple pages as a guide for moving & handling iTunes media.

Moving entire iTunes library to external USB hard drive

My internal hard drive is nearly full. I need to move the entire current 10 GB iTunes library of songs, podcasts, album art, etc. to a 300 GB external USB hard drive with plenty of space. Within a few weeks I'll get a new replacement computer with a much larger internal hard drive and will want to relocate the iTunes library again onto the new machine. The iTunes Help Forum had some tips but explained "From now on, new songs & other items are stored in the new location. Songs you've already imported stay in their current location." That doesn't help. I won't be importing anything new until I've gotten my new computer and am running iTunes on it. Any help is very much appreciated.

Copy /Music/iTunes/ folder to the external.
To use this folder, hold Shift and launch iTunes.
Select *Choose library*.
Select the iTunes folder you copied to the external.
Make sure the external is connected and ready before launching iTunes.
When you get your new computer, copy the entire iTunes folder from the external to /Music/ on the new computer.

Can't import entire iTunes library from external hard drive

I recently had to reset my IBM ThinkPad T40 (Windows XP) to factory settings. Of course, I backuped up my iTunes library on an external hard drive, and there didn't seem to be any problems doing so. (I've had to do the same thing before) But I can't re-import the entire library now! It only imports about a thousand songs (I had about 5,000), and I get an error message saying "The file iTunes Library.itl~ cannot be imported becuase it does not appear to be a valid exported file.") I also tried to import a previous back-up (stored in a different folder, and it wouldn't import all of those files, either -- no more than in the more recent backup files) either. I've tried re-downloading the iTunes software several times. Help!!!!
Thanks!!!
PS: Is there a way to sync my iPod to import songs from that BACK into itunes?
IBM ThinkPad T40 Windows XP

This seems to have deleted ALL of my iTunes. The folder (and all iTunes files) is still there on my backup, but now the newly-installed iTunes won't import ANYTHING (It at least imported about 1,000 (out of 5,000) songs before. But now it says all files are invalid, regardless of where I attempt to import them from. (although the names of some playlists import -- but they're empty files) It appears that SOME of the music files are located on the backup copy, but simply won't import. Perhaps they're corrupted?

Backing up entire iTunes Library on external hard drive?

I have recently purchased an external hard drive to backup all media on my computer (photos, music etc).
However, having searched apple.com for backup advice, the only instructions available refer to creating backup discs on an a CD.
I have already copied my Itunes Library to the external hard drive. However, please can someone confirm that this is sufficient and if, in the event that everything goes wrong, the $800 of music that I have from iTunes won't disappear.
Thanks for you help

Unfortunately the iTunes backup only works with DVD/CDs.
You can simply copy your iTunes directory to the external disk, or you can use backup software outside iTunes to manage it for you. If you have XP pro you already have a backup program. If you have the home edition, it has to be installed from the Windows CD if you got one with your PC.
There is a good article on backup here:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=1522195&#1522195

Reinstall of OS: iTunes Library on external drive not recognized

I've always had my iTunes library on my external drive. Now that I reinstalled my OS iTunes will not open the library. I've navigated to the correct library using the advanced preferences but that's not doing it. I've tried discarding the existing library in the music folder. Can't seem to find the answer.
Thanks

JS,
I had some trouble following macmenno's instructions, but have had almost complete success. If you DO have your original itunes library file, this should work for you too.
Background, my situation:
My harddisk was failing but warned me, so i copied the ENTIRE itunes folder to an external drive. The iTunes folder includes the "itunes library" file, the music folder, and the xml file. This was suggested in a book i have on iLife as the best way to backup itunes to an external HD to preserve playlists, et al. But the book failed to say how to copy the folder back if needed.
So the first time i naively just copied the entire folder back to the imac (new HD) but itunes failed to "find" it, even though it was exactly where i had deleted the equivalent default (empty) files/folder. Playing around i managed to get itunes to find the music but not the playlists and ratings...i.e., it was not finding the library file.
Macmenno's instructions:
I started all over: With Itunes closed, I deleted all three items from the itunes folder: the library file, music folder, xml file. to be safe, i also emptied the trash since itunes seemed to be following the files. But i left the itunes folder in place, albiet empty. Per macmenno's instructions, i then copied ONLY the itunes library file and the xml file from my external HD to the imac itunes folder. I then opened itunes, checked the preferences to be sure it was pointing in the right direction. I then dragged the Music Folder from the ext-HD and dropped it on the library icon in the itunes program window.
That worked. i have my playlists, ratings, comments, et all.
Only problem is i now have duplicate listings of all music songs -- one with an exclamation point that doesn't play (apparently came from my itunes library file before i dropped in the songs), one that does play.
So macmenna, if you are still with us, how can i delete the 3,000 song titles with exclamation points? I tried to click on the column head to sort them all together, then block-mark and delete... but apparently we can not sort on that column head.
Or did i miss something in your instructions?
Thanks. and good luck to you JS.
SB
imac G5 Mac OS X (10.4.7) itunes 6.0.5

How to transfer itunes library to external drive and keep playlists and ratings

I don't have much space on my laptop. I have attached an external drive. I want to access my Itunes library from
the external drive. All attempts to move the library now result in me losing my "playlists" and even more importantly
my ratings and genre information.
How can I move the library with all my associated data intact such as the playlists, ratings, genres?
I want this external drive to be the main location where I access my Itunes library.
Once that is done I will work on backing it up, as that will be the only place that the data exists.
Also, will my Apple TV be also be able to access my Itunes library with playlists. thus far I have not been able to do this.

Start by consolidating your library. When you consolidate, any songs in the iTunes Library that are not in the iTunes Music Folder are copied to the Music Folder and the Library is updated to point to those new files. Files already in the iTunes Music Folder have no changes made to them: Consolidating your library - Windows
Then copy the iTunes Folder to your external drive. Copying the whole folder brings with it the iTunes Music folder and also the iTunes Library (iTunes Library.itl in Windows) database file which holds all the information about your songs (Playlists, Ratings, Play Counts, Last Played, Date Added, etc). You'll get more information including the Folder/File structure in this article: What are the iTunes library files?
Disconnect your external drive and connect it to your new computer, copy the iTunes folder to the new pc. When you copy the iTunes folder make sure you put it into the default location on the new computer. On a PC this is \Documents and Settings\Username\My Documents\My Music\ (or C:\Username\Music\ in Vista). You should also use the same version of iTunes on both computers.
Once you have copied everything over hold down the Shift key in Windows when opening iTunes. In the resulting dialogue you will get the option to create a new library or navigate to an existing one. Navigate to where you placed the copy of the library file and open it up: How to open an alternate iTunes Library file
If you have any iTunes purchases in your library don't forget that you'll need to authorise your new computer to play them. Also if you are disposing of the old one remember to deauthorise it so you don't use up one of your allowances: About iTunes Music Store Authorisation and Deauthorisation

Want to Move iTunes library to external drive & access from home & work

I want to move my Windows iTunes library to my new external drive and be able to access my music library from my work computer and my home computer. I have read some discussions here about move libraries and I have some concerns:
1. What is the best solution to the problems people reported about iTunes Helper changing the drive letter back to C: if they booted the computer without the external drive connected?
2. Can I buy music and make playlists from both computers and not run into problems?
3. Any other advice to avoid gotchas?
Thanks,
Mark

If the drive is formatted NTFS, the Mc will not write to it. You need a driver installed to write to NTFS.
Or refomrat the drive to FAT32/MSDOS and it'll work fine.
If you have the entire iTunes folder on the external, connect it to your Mac, hold Option, launch iTunes and select Choose library... and select the iTunes folder on the external.
Note that the iTunes versions need to be the same between computers.

HT1660 move iTunes library from external drive to internal drive

I had to move my iTunes library from my internal hard disk to an external one so that they could replace the recalled hard drive on my iMac. Is moving the library back to the internal drive as easy as dragging it into the Music/iTunes folder?

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 library.itl file in the moved iTunes folder.

One Itunes Library, 2 external drives in different locations...

Here's my problem... I go everywhere with my laptop... iphone and ipod... My laptop contains my itunes library.. I connect at work to an external 1tb drive which houses my entire music collection..
My goal is to be able to copy that drive (64,000 songs) to another external that I can leave at home.. I want to be able to plug in both places without having to carry the external with me..
Is is possible to have one library and 2 externals with identical music folders? Any help would be appreciated.

How to use multiple iPods with one computer , describes two methods.
If you both use the same account (and one iTunes library), the easiest way is to create separate (Smart) Playlists for each iPod.
Hope this helps.
M
17' iMac fp 800 MHz 768 MB RAM Mac OS X (10.4.7) Several ext. HD (backup and data)

How do I reconnect to an iTunes Library onan external Drive?

I have a huge iTunes library comprised of 10,000's of songs and 1000's of videos. I keep this library on an 8TB Raid 5 network attached storage device. I reciently had a catestrophic hard drive crash on the computer running my iTunes application (the local HD on my computer, not the network drive which is reasonably imune to an HD failure). Everything is gone from that computer's drive except for the files in scope of my automatic backups. There are two locations on my external hard drive that are candidates for the location of the iTunes files:
M:\Music\iTunes and
M:\SharedFiles\Music\iTunes.
Location #1 looks to be an early version of my library prior to consolidation into the "SharedFiles" location. My delemma is that I have attempted to point my iTunes (on my replacement computer) to location #2 and I don't get any of my library files. I am running Windows 7 (the old computer was running Vista). Looking at the M:\SharedFiles\Music\iTunes\iTunes Library.xml file (using a text edditor) In the first "<dict>" record I see: "<key>Music Folder</key><string>file://localhost/M:/SharedFiles/Music/iTunes/iTunes%20Music /</string>". So, thinking that was the "iTunes Media Folder" I pointed my iTunes application to that folder. I used Edit->Preferences->Advanced to change the location of my library. This resulted in an empty iTunes (no music,no movies,no devices).
One thing I noticed is that before changing the iTunes folder was pointing to a default location of "C:\Users\Bill\Music\iTunes\iTunes Media". However, I do not have an "iTunes Media" folder at either location #1 or #2. Under location #2 I see sub-folders for "Album Artwork", "Automatically Add to iTunes", "iTunes Music", and "Previous iTunes Libraries". Within the "iTunes Music" sub-folder I see a "Movies" folder with sub-folders for all of my movies, and a "Music" folder with sub-folders for all of my music.
After all of this, my question is: How do I connect my new iTunes application to my networked iTunes Library?

I figured it out!
After setting the iTunes Library to M:/SharedFiles/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music, I then used File->Library->Import Playlist and then navigated to M:/SharedFiles/Music/iTunes and added it. This then went to work for an hour or so reading my entire library. After that I connected to iCloud, Match, shared with home network, and connected to iTunes Store. I am now watching my movies on my big screen using Apple TV again.

ITunes Library on External Drive - NO .xml file

i recently had some serious hard drive corruption on my old computer, and figuring it was time for an upgrade anyway I decided to buy a new MacBook.
i had been storing all of my iTunes music on an external hard drive. i'm trying to figure out how to get my new MacBook to be able to access the music. I've changed the location of my library to the external drive in iTunes preferences, but no luck.
I know that iTunes has an .xml file where it stores things like song titles, data, etc etc -- unfortunately, that .xml file is on my old, ruined hard drive -- all i have is my external drive with my MP3s.
what do i do at this point? how can i access all of these songs using iTunes on my new MacBook without that .xml file?

There are 2 files that give iTunes and other apps the info the need to perform. The files are iTunes Library and iTunes Music Library.xml.
The default location of the 2 files is HD>Users>User Account>Music>iTunes - do not move regardless where your actual tunes are located. If the files are not present in the default location then iTunes will create new files with no info in them until you add the tunes back to the library.
This is from the iTunes Help Menu with a search for "files":
What are the iTunes library files?
The iTunes library is a database iTunes uses to organize your music. Two iTunes library files are created and maintained by iTunes for different purposes. They're both in the iTunes folder.
Mac OS X
/Users/username/Music/iTunes/iTunes Library
/Users/username/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music Library.xml
Microsoft Windows
\Documents and Settings\username\My Documents\My Music\iTunes\iTunes Library.itl
\Documents and Settings\username\My Documents\My Music\iTunes\iTunes Music Library.xml
The two different iTunes library files serve different purposes.
iTunes Library (iTunes Library.itl in Windows)
This file is a database of the songs in your library and the playlists you've created. Some song-specific data is saved in this file. If you delete the file, iTunes creates a new, empty copy when you open the application, but any playlists, song ratings, comments, or other information you created is lost. The iTunes Library file is only used by iTunes.
Note: The library file name for versions of iTunes prior to 4.9 was "iTunes 4 Music Library" for Mac OS X and "iTunes 4 Music Library.itl" for Windows. After upgrading to iTunes 4.9 or later, the older library files are moved to a "Previous iTunes Libraries" folder.
Tip: New versions of iTunes sometimes include enhancements to the iTunes library. When you open the new version of iTunes, iTunes upgrades your existing library to the new format and places a copy of the old library in the Previous Libraries folder. If everything goes fine during your upgrade to the latest version of iTunes, you can delete the older iTunes Library files.
iTunes Music Library.xml
This file contains some (but not all) of the same information stored in the iTunes 4 Music Library file. The purpose of the iTunes Music Library.xml file is to make your music and playlists available to other applications on your computer. In Mac OS X other iLife applications (like iPhoto, iDVD, and iMovie) use this file to make it easier for you to add music from your iTunes library to your projects.
MJ

I moved my itunes library to external drive and now itunes wont work.

I moved my itunes library to an external drive and now itunes cannot find the library. I followed a youtube video and all seemed to work fine until i deleted the old library and emptied the trash. Prior to deleting and emptying the trash I checked preferences to verify the path of Itunes was to the external drive. It seemed to work even when I moved the original library to the trash.
Now when I launch itunes the song listings show but the songs cant be found. I checked the volume of my itunes that I moved to the external and it was about 4 GB that i moved. I have approx 2000 songs.
Any suggestions?

Hold down the alt/option Key when you start iTunes a dialog box will open
Select Choose Library and select the itunes library on your external drive

Hold entire iTunes library on external drive including iPhone backups

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