How do I backup my iTunes to an external hard drive?

This was advice given by Chris (#4735)
"You can use any backup program and back up the entire iTunes folder.
Start -> All programs -> Accessories -> System tools -> Backup to create a backup.
Then Start -> All programs -> Accessories -> System tools -> Schedule to set it to back up weekly (or whenever)."
I get to the Systems Tools but then do not have an option for 'Backup to create a backup. Are there alternatives?

There should be a program named "Backup" in Accessories.
You use this program to create a backup.
Don't look for something called, "Backup to create a backup".
You use the Backup application located in Accessories to create a backup.
Or you can simply copy the entire iTunes folder to another drive.

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I am trying to backup my Itunes onto my external hard drive. I am at the step where I on Itunes, click on File - Library - Organize library. I am suppose to check mark both boxes there, It won't allow me to check mark the second box, why? How to fix this.

I am trying to backup my Itunes onto my external hard drive. I am at the step where I on Itunes, click on File ->Library ->Organize library. I am suppose to check mark both boxes there, the first being "Consolidate Files" & the second being "Reorganize files in the folder 'Itunes Media'. I am able to checkmark the first box but It won't allow me to check mark the second box, why? How can i fix this? Please help!

Well you must have made a mistake somewhere. The last instruction of step four reads:
When you've found your iTunes library folder, drag that folder to your external hard drive. This will begin the iTunes backup. The amount of time the backup will take depends on the size of your library. When the transfer is done, your backup is complete and your external hard drive can be disconnected.
Normally dragging content from to a new location on a different drive will result in a copy action which is what you were supposed to do. At a guess you somehow managed to move the iTunes folder. Then when you started iTunes it created a new blank library for you assuming it had just been installed rather that raising a warning.
Close iTunes. Rename the iTunes folder on the internal drive as iTunes (Empty) then copy the iTunes folder from the external back into the User's Music folder. Start iTunes. All should be well.
When you've made sure it all works please read my User Tip and use that method to backup in future. Since you already have a folder with the backup in place you can skip the "Make New" operation in the fourth step and simply choose the external folder.
tt2

HT1727 how do I transfer my iTunes from an external hard drive to a different computer?

How do I transfer my iTunes from an external hard drive to a pc?

If you don't have all of your music files within the iTunes Music folder structure, simply moving all of your music to a new location will not result in your iTunes library automatically updating the file paths to all of your songs appropriately. If you have a few other locations in which you store your music, you can take the ExportImport script turingtest2 wrote, make the modifications below, export the results, paste them into Microsoft Word or Excel, do a Find and Replace with the correct file location, and then import the new locations. To use the script, follow turingtest2's instructions on this thread as posted on Dec 19, 2012 6:28 AM.
Note that the modifications, while they worked for me, show my lack of experience with VB as the progress bar will no longer work. Definitely be sure to back up your iTunes library file before executing the script with the below modifications, but doing this for 3500 items didn't even take 2 minutes for the script to run.
Line 89 was:        Prog=True
Line 89 is now:     Prog=False
* I had to do this because otherwise the progress bar was erroring out. So, i just turned it off.
Lines 164-165 were:
'File.WriteLine "<#>" & .Location           ' Not so useful if working with missing tracks
'File.WriteLine "<Album>" & .Album
Lines 164-165 are now three lines (the middle one is the only uncommented line):
'File.WriteLine "<#>" & .Location           ' Not so useful if working with missing tracks
File.WriteLine "<Location>" & .Location
'File.WriteLine "<Album>" & .Album
Finally, insert this whole block around line 270 so that it looks similar to the others:
        Case "<location>"
          If T.Location<>Value Then                ' Don't update if value won't change
            T.Location=Value
            U=U+1
            Trace T,"Updated Location"
          Else
            V=V+1
          End If
          'If Trace Then MsgBox "Updated Location"
Note that I had to comment the very last line as well or else the program errored out. You won't be able to trace the results either.
Just thought I'd share this in case anyone else needed something like this.

How do I backup photos in iPhoto to external hard drive?

How do I backup iPhoto photos to an external hard drive (not a Time Machine drive)?

Just the Photos?
File -> Export...
This User Tip
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-4921
has details of the options in the Export dialogue.
The iPhoto Library?
Most Simple Back Up:
Drag the iPhoto Library from your Pictures Folder to another Disk. This will make a copy on that disk.
Slightly more complex: Use an app that will do incremental back ups. This is a very good way to work. The first time you run the back up the app will make a complete copy of the Library. Thereafter it will update the back up with the changes you have made. That makes subsequent back ups much faster. Many of these apps also have scheduling capabilities: So set it up and it will do the back up automatically.
Example of such apps: Chronosync - but there are many others. Search on MacUpdate or the App Store

How can i update the itunes in my external hard drive?

When i try to update the itunes on my external hard drive, it creates a new application in my computers hard drive. How can i update the one on my external hard drive?

there's no advantage to having the application on your external drive, you should leave it in your applications folder on your internal drive. if you insist on changing the app's location, you'll always have to then copy the app by hand to the external drive

How do I back up iTunes audio to external hard drive

I want to store my audio books currently in iTunes to WD Passport 120G external drive but when I export them they appear as encoded text. How do I get them stored so I can bring them back into iTunes to listen or download to my iPod.

Outside iTunes, copy the files to the external hard drive. If you have not done it already it might be a good idea to backup to external drive anything purchased from iTunes also.
Audiobooks are generally stored under the authors name in the iTunes folders.
Message was edited by: camoracer

HT1751 I am trying to backup my iTunes to an external hard drive, but it won't let me click and drag or copy and paste into the external drive.

I am trying to backup my iTunes to an external drive, but my Mac won't let me drag and drop into the external drive or any of its folders.
Any suggestions?
Thanks,

I think I know what I did....my external hard drive has been used to back up my PC. I was trying to back up my iTunes on my Mac. I forgot that the formats mattered. Thanks.

How do I backup with TimeMachine to my External Hard Drive through iCloud?

I have connected my external hard drive to my iMac and it has Back to My Mac through iCloud enabled. On my Laptop I have been able to access the iMac through the shared computer section of the Finder and then mount the external hard drive to my machine. In Time Machine preferences I have selected the disk that I mounted and it shows me the name in black and below it iMac in grey. However when it goes to back up it gets an error and says the Backup disk is not available. What do I need to do to make the disk available?
Thanks!

Two ideas.
1) You need to drag the little icon next to the Event in the Event Library List (on the left) to the litlle icon for the drive in the event library list. Do not drag anything from the main Event Pane.
You should also know that a simple drag and drop will copy the Event to your external drive. If you hold down the Command Key while you drag, it will be a Move rather than a copy. If your goal is to save space, use Move.
2)
The external drive must be formatted as Mac OS Extended (journaled). Also known as HFS+.
FAT32 drives will not work. NTFS drives will not work.
If you right-click on the drive in the Finder and "Get Info", you should be able to tell how the drive is formatted.
You can reformat if necessary using Disk Utility, but this will erase anything that is currently on the drive.
If the formatting appears to be correct, report back and maybe we can think of other things to try.

How do I move my iTunes from one external hard drive to another?

Hi. I received a NEW external hard drive for my G5 for Christmas. I have moved all my photos, files etc onto the NEW external hard drive. After I thought I moved the iTunes music, I went to start my iTunes and the following error came up...*"The folder iTunes cannot be found or created, and is required. The default location for this folder is inside the "Music" folder*."
So I plugged my OLD external hard drive in and researched Apple support. I found the subject "iTunes for Mac: Moving your iTunes Music folder" at http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301748 (I had followed these directions originally when I moved the folder to the OLD external hard drive). So I followed the directions again, and thought it was now on the NEW external hard drive. Well again, after I unplugged the OLD external hard drive, plugged in the NEW external hard drive... still the same error came up. Am I missing something? It is like the iTunes app is not there.

Hi. I received a NEW external hard drive for my G5 for Christmas. I have moved all my photos, files etc onto the NEW external hard drive. After I thought I moved the iTunes music, I went to start my iTunes and the following error came up...*"The folder iTunes cannot be found or created, and is required. The default location for this folder is inside the "Music" folder*."
So I plugged my OLD external hard drive in and researched Apple support. I found the subject "iTunes for Mac: Moving your iTunes Music folder" at http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301748 (I had followed these directions originally when I moved the folder to the OLD external hard drive). So I followed the directions again, and thought it was now on the NEW external hard drive. Well again, after I unplugged the OLD external hard drive, plugged in the NEW external hard drive... still the same error came up. Am I missing something? It is like the iTunes app is not there.

How do I transfering my iTunes library to external hard drive?

My iTunes library is getting rather large and I only have a 60GHZ internal harddrive and two 100 GHz harddrives attached and I want to transfer all of my files to one of the external harddrives so I can continue to grow my library. Can I do this seemlessly without having to reload my 60 GHz ipod? Does the music have to remain in the MY MUSIC folder on C:\ or can I create a MY Music folder on my external drive and copy the files over?
HP Windows XP Pro 2.4 GHz, 1 Gig memory, 60 GHz HD, 56KBPS modem/DLS N/A, 2-200 GHz external HD

Give these steps a try.

Itunes not reading external hard drive correctly

I recently moved or at least attempted to move all my music from my old hard drive to an external hard drive.
My original plan was to have all my music on the external and have Itunes pathed to the external so whenever I have it plugged in, all my music would be in my library. Obviously it wasn't that easy, at least not in my case. Throughout the process I ended up losing a decent amount of my music which ***** but what can I do now. My question is, how do I properly have Itunes read my external hard drive and have it show my music? I have the path set to the folder in which my music is at but the issue seems to be that when I consolidated to transfer into the external, all the songs are in individual folders by artists. I'm lost and don't know what to do. If I drag the music folder to Itunes, the music stays on my library whenever the external is plugged in which is what I want. But, many songs are doubled for some reason.
Any help would be appreciated as this is becoming very frustrtating, thank you.

†ry the refresh script from here http://ottodestruct.com/blog/2005/10/20/itunes-javascripts/

Moving iTunes to an external hard driv

I'm trying to move my iTunes music to my external hard drive but when I try to drag it to my Iomega drive I get an error message saying cannot copy from or write to. Also when I try to update my iPod I get the same error message and I noticed that I am missing 2,000 or so songs from my iPod that show up in iTunes. I also should mention that I even tried restoring my iPod and I still get the same message. I did notice that each time I plug my iPod in it gains a few more songs each time. How can I move my iTunes to my external hard drive and how can I get my iPod up to date again?
Thank You

That's why you can't write to it (it's probably NTFS format (Windows)).
You'll need to repartition it (this WILL erase all files on it):
This option will erase the disk and allow you to install the firmware update. Important: Back up your important data. Partitioning a hard disk erases all data on the disk.
1. Back up your important data. Partitioning a hard disk erases all data on the disk.
2. Open Disk Utility
3. Select your external Hard Drive (disk name).
4. Click the Partition tab in the Disk Utility window. If the partition tab is not visible, make sure you've selected the disk (not volume) in the left side of the window.
Tip: In Disk Utility, volume names are indented on the left side of the window. Disk names are not indented.
5. Choose the desired number of partitions from the Volume Scheme pop-up menu. (Choose "1")
6. Click Options.
Note: On some Intel-based Macs, the Options button does not appear under the partition tab. Use the erase tab to erase the disk instead. This will change the partition scheme to the default "GUID Partition Scheme". You can then use the partition tab to create additional partitions if desired.
7. From the Partition Scheme pop-up menu, choose "GUID Partition Scheme".
8. Click OK.
9. Make any other changes you wish in the Volume Information section, such as partition size or naming.
10. Click the Partition button to erase and partition your disk.

When I plug in my ipad it automatically tries to back up and download all the contents to the C drive - the PC is too full and I have iTunes on an external hard drive, how do I tell the system to do the backup to the hard drive please?

When I plug in my ipad it automatically tires to back up and download all the contents to the C drive - the PC is too full and I have iTunes on an external hard drive, how do I tell the system to do the backup to the hard drive please?

You can open a command prompt by hitting the start button and typing CMD<Enter> in the search box that opens up.
To move the current backup folder from C: to D: type in this command and press <Enter>
Move "C:\Users\<User>\AppData\Local\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup" "D:\Backup"
Where <User> is your Windows user name.
To make iTunes look for the data in the new location type in this command and press <Enter>
MkLink /J "C:\Users\<User>\AppData\Local\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup" "D:\Backup"
If your external drive has a different letter or you already have a folder called "Backup" then edit "D:\Backup" accordingly in both commands.
tt2

I need to replace my laptop Hard drive. How do I get my iTunes off the old hard drive to an external so I can put it back on the new hard drive?

I need to replace my laptop Hard drive. How do I get my iTunes off the old hard drive to an external so I can put it back on the new hard drive?

Type move itunes library into the google serach bar.
It has always been very basic to always maintain abackup copy of your computer. Do you not have a backup copy?

How do I back up my itunes to an external hard drive and restore from same if necessary

How do I back up my entire itunes to an external hard drive and restore from same if necessary.
Thanks

This is where iTunes stores backups for different operating systems: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4946
I do not use a Windows machine, have a Windows Vista Dell I rarely startup now. But, from what I remember with Win boxes is, you will have to create on the external hard drive a file system like that one iTunes normally uses, and then in the iTunes preferences or control panel edit the location for the storage to specify the name of the external hard drive, or its letter code, with the name of that file system you created on the exernal drive.
I would also move all of the files from the internal file system to the external since you have now told iTunes that is where they are...before deleting from the internal drive, test iTunes to see that it goes where you want it to go.

How do I backup my iTunes to an external hard drive?

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