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.

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