How do I get my iTunes transfered to a new hard drive?

I used iTunes on my C drive and stored the music on an external hard drive. My C drive crashed, but I am able to access all of the data. I also had iTunes on another computer I use and will now be my main computer. This "new" computer had its own music, a few of my favorite CD's, but I never synched an iPod to this system. I can still access the external drive that had the music. The only thing missing is the last album I downloaded from Amazon. (That music lives on the old C drive that crashed but is still accessible)
I want to 1) consolidate the music from these two sources on the external drive; 2) have the new iTunes recognize the place where the music is 3) get my playlists back; 3) get everything in one place for my system to backup; 4) entertain any other suggestions regarding my iTunes setup and how best to avert this situation in the future.
I have about 40G of music, pictures, and music videos. I don't want to leave any of the pieces out of my next iPod synch.

Open itunes by pressing *and holding* the shift key. Choose the ITL from the old hard drive when prompted.
Consolidate the library from the old hard drive onto the new PC. Make sure the copy files option is turned on in itunes preferences, so they get copied to the new PC. I assume you want that.
Then get that updated ITL file from the old PC and put it on your new PC. DO the shift-start for iTunes again, but pick the ITL file on your new PC.
You'll have to add the new PC's content back into the itunes library. You might want to turn copy files back off before doing that.
This article should help you understand itunes content vs itunes database
http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/moving-your-itunes-library-to -a-new-hard-drive

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