How do i restore iTunes from external hard drive?

All my music and play lists disappeared from iTunes for seemingly no reason. Back up my PC regularily on external drive. Using WinXP.
How can i restore?
Thanks.

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) so you get a prompt to select a library, then guide it to the 'iTunes Library.itl' file in the moved iTunes folder.

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How do I copy iTunes from external hard drive to iMac?

How do I copy iTunes from external
Hard drive to iMac?

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.

HT1660 How do I run itunes from external Hard drive?

How do I run itunes from external hard drive. I only have ssd on PC and media is too large to fit

You do not.
iTunes, like all programs is installed on the C drive.
You can store the media on another drive.
Assuming you are moving an existing library from another computer:
Move or Copy the ENTIRE iTunes folder from the old computer to the new computer and put it where you want it.
Install iTunes using the default options.
Hold <SHIFT> while launching iTunes. It will prompt to create a new library or locate an existing library.
Select the option to locate an existing library.
Point iTunes to the iTunesLibrary.itl file in the iTunes folder that was moved from the old computer.

Restoring itunes from external hard drive

-I used WD backup program to store itunes on external hard drive
-hard drive on mac pro crashed, replaced hard drive
-trying to restore itunes songsa from external drive and when I copied songs from external hard drive to new internal hard drive which has itunes program, only song titles appear and track number for songs I ripped from CDs. All info is present for songs I purchased from itunes (why is there a difference in the way these two are restored???)
-Can I restore itunes from external drive so that artist and album are associated with each song title I ripped from CDs?
Much appreciate all assistance. Thanks.

I know MP3 and AAC save tag data, and I believe AIFF does as well (if you want to keep them in full-quality but space-greedy format). I don't think WAV supports tagging which is why they were lost. Read:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=9558241&#9558241
This time make sure you have a complete backup of your itunes folder (which, in fact you may still have). That way you can recover your complete library and everything intact (as long as you keep your backups up to date).
Here is a related topic
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=9267109&#9267109

How can I transfer Itunes from external hard drive to a new computer?

Hello,
I had a Dell laptop with Windows XP on it recently crash, but I have everything saved to a Seamagine external 1 terabyte hard drive. I have about 250 gigabytes of media on it, mostly CD's and audiobooks. The setup I had on the XP computer was my Itunes folder saved on the C drive, but I kept all the actual music and audiobooks on the external hard drive, which was labeled the F drive.
After the crash, a relative sold me their three year old Compaq laptop, with Windows 7 instead of XP as the OS. My relative already had Itunes downloaded on it, but when I opened the Itunes on the new (new to me) laptop, Itunes only recognized their (my relative's) account. So, I uninstalled their Itunes and then I re-downloaded Itunes for 64-bit Windows 7. I then opened the Windows Explorer folder so to drag and drop my backed up Itunes folder and library information from the old C drive to the new Itunes folder in the new C drive. But, it wouldn't do anything. It still wanted the password info from my relative's account. It wouldn't recognize my account, even though I had uninstalled and then reinstalled a newer version of Itunes. Dragging and dropping my backed-up Itunes folder from my external hard drive to the new C drive didn't work because it said it didn't have certain permissions or something like that. I think I might have downloaded a newer version of Itunes, different from what I had saved a couple of days ago, which might be one of the problems here, not to mention that I switched OS's from XP to Windows 7.
When I plugged the external hard drive USB into the new laptop no Seamagine manager came up for user-friendly accessibility. I didn't know what to do, so I installed Seagate Dashboard onto the new computer. It didn't do anything for me either. No problem, I thought, I'll just use Windows Explorer to move the Itunes library, and then once I transfer (i.e., drag and drop) the old Itunes folder to the one, all will be as it was. I could then direct my Itunes account to use my external hard drive as the media source folder. I was wrong. It won't let me do that either. It says I don't have permission to do it.
How c an I get my old Itunes library info onto the C drive of this new computer, but keep the 250GB of media files on the external hard drive, just like the setup I had on the old laptop before it crashed? If you can help me, then you will be my hero. I'm scared to death that I've lost my library info and afraid to mess with it too much more for fear of erasing it or, worse, losing the 250 GB of media that is on the external hard drive, which has taken me a tremendous amount of time and money to compile. It is, in effect, irreplaceable. I'm very worried and frustrated. I've been working on this for days, to no avail. You're my last hope. Thank you.

Hmm, I think we should start over...
Here are the typical layouts for the iTunes folders:
In the image above the red outline denotes the "media folder", that is the folder listed under Edit > Preferences > Advanced. In the standard layout where the "media folder" is inside the "library folder" the iTunes library has the advantage of being self-contained and portable. Since you've lost the "library folder" from your old computer you're going to have to start over so you might as well get organized properly.
If the folder curently holding your media files is called G:\iTunes then rename it as G:\Media.
The support doc How to open an alternate iTunes Library file or create a new one explains how to create a new iTunes library where you want it. In short click the icon to start iTunes and immediately press and hold down the shift key. Keep holding until asked to choose or create a library, click Create and browse to G:\, make sure the folder is going to be called iTunes and click save.
Move the folder that actually holds the media inside the folder G:\iTunes\iTunes Media. We're going to let iTunes reorganize everything (unless you have a collection of .wav files in which case stop and tell me because they require a different approach).
Use File > Add folder to library and select the folder G:\iTunes\iTunes Media. iTunes will search through the whole series of subfolders adding all media files into the library and reorganizing them into the correct artist & album folders.
Again, for data security, you really ought to obtain a second external drive at some point and backup your library to it. Only having one copy, as you have found, leaves you vulnerable to failure. External drives are no less prone to it.
A) Windows uses \ as a folder separator in path descriptions, Mac uses /.
B) Do you have a backup of the iTunes folder that was on drive C:\ or are you simply referring to the location of your media as a "backup" when it really the only copy? If you have a backup copy of your "original" iTunes library you could move/copy that to G:\iTunes shift-start-iTunes to open it, and then I can offer tools or techniques for fixing the links that will be broken becuase the drive letter has changed.
C) Use Store > Sign out and then Store > Sign in to sign into your iTunes account. You will also need to use Store > Authorize the computer to allow playback and transfer of any protected content. If your new library contains protected content from any other accounts then you will have to authorize the computer for those too.
tt2

Hard disc died - how to restore iTunes from external hard drive

My son's Windows PC has died and needs a replacement hard disc. Fortunately he had backed up iTunes to an external hard disc. However, this is not an iTunes backup - but a straight copy of the PC's music folder.
This folder contains an iTunes folder with the music folder and other iTunes files/folders.
Can this file be copied directly back onto the new hard disc - or does re-importing need something else - and if so what?
Thanks
Patrick

See Empty/corrupt iTunes library after upgrade/crash. If you restored the entire iTunes folder then you ought to have everything unless the .itl file was corrupted when it was first opened and upgraded. Double-clicking other .itl files in the Previous iTunes Libraries folder doesn't actually open them so I suspect they are "all empty" because in truth you've only been looking at the one corrupt library.
tt2

HT1449 how do i import iTunes from external hard drive

I had itunes on our old PC. We moved iTunes to an external Harddrive and replaced our PC with a iMac. I would like to move my iTunes back onto the computer from external HD. I followed some instructions posted but nothing happened. I think I am missing something.

Try Here...
Move iTunes Library from PC to MAC
http://www.macworld.com/article/146958/2010/03/move_itunes_windows_mac.html

How do I restore a failed external hard drive using Time Machine?

I have an external hard drive connected to my iMac that is being backed up with Time Machine. I just realized that should it one day fail and no longer appear as a connected device, I'm not sure how to restore its data to another external drive. When I disconnected the external hard drive (to mimic a drive crash) and entered Time Machine to see if I could verify that the external hard drive was, in fact, being backed up - I didn't know where to find it. Under the Today (Now) information, I didn't expect to see it there as it was no longer connected to the machine. But when I went back a few days, I expected to see its backup appear in the Sidebar. But no!
So - how do I restore a failed external hard drive using Time Machine?
Searches for this information on Google yielded "iffy" results. I'm hoping someone here is able to offer some clear steps to follow. Perhaps I'm missing something silly. Thank you very much!

I came across this discussion after encountering the same problem. Since my internal HD was cose to full I added an additional external HD to my setup. I moved my iPhoto files to an external HD and backed both this external HD and my internal HD up with Time Machine to another external HD. So far the theory. When I wanted to test if this setup worked I noticed that I could only see my iPhoto libraries on the external HD in Time Machine when the external HD was connected to my computer, but not if I turned it off. This led me to search for a solution on the Apple Support Communities discussion board.
The suggestions made Kappy seem right, at least in my experience, in that my Time Machine simply did not back up the external HD until I followed the steps he suggested above. These were the following:
"So, if you want it backed up then here's what you need to do:
1. In Time Machine preferences remove the external drive from the Exclude list.
2. Verify that it is now included with your other drive in the backup list.
3. Do a Backup Now to create a new backup of the external drive."
After doing this, my external HD showed up in the Backups.backupd as a seperate folder. I could clearly see the Time Machine back-up for my internal HD and my external HD. In addition, in Time Machine itself I was able to find the external harddrive by clicking on my own computers name under "Devices". I hope my experience helps to resolve your issue as this discussion board has helped me resolve mine (which I believe to be very similar).
Cheers!

How do I import photos from external hard drive to iCloud library?

I have saved many photos to an external hard drive for security. I would like to store at least some of them in iCloud so I have direct access from Photos. Is this possible please?

how do I import photos from external hard drive to iCloud library?
Just like you'd do it with iPhoto. Drag the photos or folder of photos into the open Photos Library window or onto the Photos icon in the Dock.
If you have the iCloud Photo Library activated in Photos the new photos will be copied to the online iCloud Photo Library along with the rest of the photos in your library. Remember, with the iCloud Photo Liberty it's all the photos or none. You may have to purchase additional iCloud space to store all of your photos.

Hard drive replaced on imac how to restore data from external hard drive

Hard drive crashed, replaced by authorized dealer. Need to transfer all data from external hard drive to repaired computer.

http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/14.html
See especially C.

How do i move itunes to external hard drive to free up space on my imac

I keep running out of space on my imac (320mb)
I have my movies on a Lacie hard drive.
How do I put itunes on the hard drive?
Thanks

iTunes has many components. The two main ones are the application itself (which is what ones means when ones says "iTunes") and the library which is a set of files and folders. I take it you want to move the iTunes library (you cannot run iTunes the application off a non-boot drive).
iTunes: How to move [or copy] your music to a new computer [or another drive] - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527
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.
My one hesitation regarding the above is it sounds like you already have some things on the external drive and you have not shared with us the details of your setup. You have already modified itunes from its standard behavior and this can sometimes introduce problems.

How do I retrieve data from external hard drive

How do I retrieve data from external hard drive

What problem are you encountering?
Normally you would connect it to your Mac and just drag and drop.

How do I boot Leopard from external hard drive?

I'm currently staring off into space... my 3 month old MBP seems to have finished its painfully long boot and all that appears the Leopard background. The local Mac guru isn't available until Monday but did tell me I need to boot from my external hard drive. Um, how do I boot from external hard drive?
The cause of the problem: inserting flash drive powering up.
Tried safe boot. Only difference was iCal reminder popped up in space.
Mac guru told me do NOT use install disks!
Help!
AR

Apple support has told me that you cannot boot a MBP from an external drive when Leopard is installed on a MBP.
That is just plain wrong.
1) Hook up your external drive. Use FireWire for better performance.
2) Launch Disk Utility and highlight the actual drive icon at the left. Click on the Partition tab.
3) In the Partition section, click on the Options button. Click on the radio button for "GUID Partition Map". This is the option you must use in order for a drive to be bootable on an Intel based Mac. Click OK.
4) Set up your partitions however you want and click the Partition button at the lower right.
From here, you can either clone your internal drive to the external, or install Leopard on it from scratch.

How do I get my itunes from external hard drive onto new laptop?, how do I get my itunes from external hard drive onto new laptop?

A few years ago I was running out of room on my Windows laptop so I followed instructions on how to move all of the music to an external hard drive and then had all music added to the always connected external hard drive instead of the laptop. That old laptop has now died and I have a new one and need to get the music added to the new one. Is it as simple as just plugging the external hard drive into the new computer and importing or is there more I need to do? I'm just really not sure what to do and nervous about doing the wrong thing. The old computer was running Windows XP and the new one has Windows 8. I have downloaded iTunes to the new laptop. Please note that I am not super savvy so if anyone could provide easy to follow steps that would be great. Thank you!! Please let me know if you need more information. Thanks again!

See Here > Restoring your iTunes Library backup
From here > http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1751

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.

How do i restore iTunes from external hard drive?

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