How do I store iTunes music on an external hard drive?

My iBook has a small hard drive and I can't store any more music on it. How do I store the music on an external hard drive and have it appear as a library (its own or part of the library on the iBook)?

Assuming that your hard drive is plugged into your computer (USB or Firewire connection) and switched on, drag the Music folder (HD > Users > Your Name) on to the external drive icon. The Music folder is the default location for your iTunes files.
If you wish, you can set this new location in iTunes preferences so that any additions or deletions to your iTunes library will be applied to the folder on your external drive. You must remember to swich on the external drive to enable this. To set the new location open iTunes and go to preferences>advanced and click on General. You will see where you can designate the new location for the iTunes Music folder.

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  • How do I have itunes use/detect my external hard drive and place music on the external drive from the itunes store? There are no music files on my pc yet.  I will like to do this after installing itunes 11 on my pc for the first time. I am using windows 7

    How do I have itunes use/detect my external hard drive and place music on the external drive from the itunes store? There are no music files on my pc yet.  I will like to do this after installing itunes 11 on my pc for the first time. I am using windows 7.  HP computer intel Dual Core.  Thanks for any help!

    Hey idw3,
    Welcome to Apple Support Communities, and thanks for the question. Follow the instructions on this article to move your iTunes Media folder to an external hard drive:
    iTunes for Windows: Moving your iTunes Media folder
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1364
    Regards,
    David

  • I perviously transfered all my iTunes music to an external hard drive. But now when I connect the external hard drive and try to play a song, I get an error message saying that I need to "locate" my music. I don't how to find it on my external hard drive.

    I perviously transfered all my iTunes music to an external hard drive. But now when I connect the external hard drive and try to play a song, I get an error message saying that I need to "locate" my music. I don't how to find it on my external hard drive. Please help for I am not that computer savy and don't want to mess anything up.
    Thanks! 

    I called Apple Support and they walked me through it. They told me to basically copy and paste my music to the external hard drive. (I think.) Or maybe it was they had me transfer a folder to the EHD. I don't exactally remember it was a few years back. But I tried to plug in the EHD before starting and...nothing. Still says same thing, "locate file."

  • I want to keep my music on my macbook and my movies on my external hard drive how do i get itunes to recogonise my external hard drive.?

    I want to keep my music on my macbook pro and my movies on my external hard drive how do i get itunes to recogonise my external hard drive.? so i can drag more movies across later. i am able to plug my external into my Apple Express to stream to my apple Tv arent i..???

    Post your question in the iTunes area:
    https://discussions.apple.com/community/itunes/itunes_for_mac

  • How do I export itunes library onto an external hard drive so i can put the music on my new mac book?

    How do I export itunes library onto an external hard drive so i can put the music on my new mac book?

    iTunes: How to move your music to a new computer [or another drive] - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527
    do not confuse moving your whole folder and library with moving just media files as in
    iTunes for Mac: Moving your iTunes Media folder - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1449
    Quick answer if you let iTunes manage your music:  Copy the entire iTunes folder (and in doing so all its subfolders and files) intact to the other drive.  Start iTunes with the option key held down and guide it to the new location of the library.

  • How do I move iTunes library to an external hard drive to use less space?

    How do I move iTunes library to an external hard drive to use less space?

    Our iTunes guru Terence Devlin advises the following:
    1. Quit iTunes
    2. Drag the iTunes folder from your internal hd - located in ~/Music folder - to your external hd. DO NOT delete the original one from your internal hd... yet!
    3. When the transfer is complete, press and hold the Option(alt) key and fire up iTunes.
    4. A "Choose iTunes Library" window will come up. Click on the "Choose Library" button.
    5. Navigate to where the iTunes folder is located in the external hd.
    6. Within the iTunes folder, select the iTunes Library file and click Choose...
    That's it. iTunes will now display all your playlists, songs, movies, podcasts etc. At this point, should you wish, you can delete the iTunes folder from the internal hd to free up space.
    More info:
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1751
    Or if you prefer a more complicated explanation:
    http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/moving-your-itunes-library-to -a-new-hard-drive

  • New hard drive on laptop, itunes music stored on external hard drive...

    my hard drive on my laptop crashed and I got a new one installed...I kept all my itunes music on an external hard drive, and that is ok. I have reinstalled itunes on my laptop, but how do I get itunes to read the music from my external hard drive??

    When you say "when i double click on my itunes files it just opens up this list of music." it doesn't mean anything to me. You need to explain clearly, remember I only know what you tell me.
    I need to understand how you have things set up and if you had you iTunes library database on the external drive or the c: drive. That is the iTunes folder containing iTunes library.itl.
    What do you see when you open iTunes on the new PC, are your music files there. If not, every time you play a track it gets added to itUnes so you should at least have some files in your library.
    What problem are you trying to solve? Is just getting the tracks into your iTunes library, or are you also concerned about ratings, count and playlists from the old PC. If so do you still have access to the old PC?

  • ITunes Music on an External Hard Drive

    Sometime ago I put, or as you will see, thought I'd put, all my itunes music on an external hard drive, I used the instructions as outlined on the Apple website, and it all SEEMED to work fine, except that when I choose "organise library" or as it used to be known "consolidate", itunes copies about 300 or so tracks and thats it, but I have over 10,000 songs, vids and podcasts. Also if I go into Spotlight/Finder, there are a lot of iTunes files on BOTH the external hard drive AND in the itunes folder on the INTERNAL hard drive, now I'm worried about copying one from the other in case I lose some stuff, any ideas?

    apple-lovin-it wrote:
    Sometime ago I put, or as you will see, thought I'd put, all my itunes music on an external hard drive, I used the instructions as outlined on the Apple website, and it all SEEMED to work fine, except that when I choose "organise library" or as it used to be known "consolidate", itunes copies about 300 or so tracks and thats it, but I have over 10,000 songs, vids and podcasts. Also if I go into Spotlight/Finder, there are a lot of iTunes files on BOTH the external hard drive AND in the itunes folder on the INTERNAL hard drive, now I'm worried about copying one from the other in case I lose some stuff, any ideas?
    check if iTunes is pointed to the desired location in preferences > advanced like so

  • HOW TO MOVE YOUR ITUNES LIBRARY TO AN EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE

    Read these directions before actually doing anything, just so you can do this right. I've messed things up before, it can get ugly...
    That being said, here's what you've gotta do if you're running on a Mac:
    Have all your music on the external hard drive. It should be organized in folders the way iTunes set it up
    The folders should be organized something like this:iTunes Media (Top folder, everything is inside of this folder)
    Audiobooks
    Automatically Add To iTunes
    Books
    Downloads
    iPod Games
    iTunes U
    Mobile Applications
    Music
    Podcasts
    Ringtones
    TV Shows
    Voice Memos
    Those folders are what I have in my 'iTunes Media' folder on my external hard drive. You don't necessarily need to have all of these folders. (I happen to just have a lot of things in my iTunes.)
    Finding your iTunes Library Files
    The way iTunes works is there are two parts to make what you see in iTunes work right. There's your media (songs, video, iPod games and Apps, etc) and there are your library files. They tell iTunes what your playlists are, where your 'iTunes Media' folder is located, and a lot of other important things. Here is how to find the iTunes Library files (there will probably be more than one!)
    Look in (yourusername)/Music/iTunes
    There will be a few things in here:
    Album Artwork (It's a folder)
    iTunes Library Extras.itdb
    iTunes Library Genius.itdb
    Itunes Library.itl
    iTunes Media (a folder)
    iTunes Music Library Backup.xml (this file might or might not be here. If there is no file with this name, it's okay.)
    iTunes Music Library.xml
    Some "temp" files (maybe, maybe not -- they are not important for this)
    Anything in the list that is BOLDED needs to be placed in (yourusername)/Music/iTunesIf you copied these files to your external hard drive, you will need to copy them back onto your internal hard drive. These library files do not need to be in the same place as your iTunes Media folder.
    Telling iTunes Where Your Music Is
    Now that your iTunes Media folder is on your external drive, and your Library Files are in place in "(yourusername)/Music/iTunes", we need to open iTunes.
    On the top bar of the screen, go to iTunes>Preferences.
    In preferences, go to the farthest right tab, titled "Advanced" with a picture of a gear.
    The top section says "iTunes Media Folder location" and underneath that you see a filepath ending in the 'iTunes Media" folder.
    This path is probably wrong, not leading you through the external hard drive.
    If it is incorrect:
    Click "change" on the right and then locate the folder in the prompt that shows up. Once the "iTunes Media" folder on your external hard drive is highlighted blue, click "Open" in the bottom right corner of the window.
    Give iTunes a moment or two (depending on the size of your library) to re-locate all of your songs. Voila!
    If it is correct:Do nothing!
    While you're in the advanced section, let's check to make sure you have a few important 'housekeeping' things checked off:
    "Keep iTunes Media folder organized" (CHECK THIS BOX!)
    "Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library" (CHECK THIS BOX!)
    At this point, iTunes should be all ready to go. Before I get into any troubleshooting, note a few things:
    If you ever unplug/disconnect the external hard drive from the computer, you must first make sure that iTunes is NOT running.
    Also, if the hard drive is unplugged and you open up iTunes, all of your songs will have little symbols next to them. Until you plug/reconnect the hard drive, the songs will stay like this and will be missing.
    TROUBLESHOOTING:
    Not having permission to access the external hard drive:
    In Finder (or on your desktop), right-click the external hard drive (if you don't have right-click, control-click will also work).
    Click on "Get Info"
    A thin, tall window will appear on the screen.
    Part One:In the "General" section, make sure that "Locked" is unchecked. If it IS checked, uncheck it.
    Part Two:
    We are now focusing on the very bottom of the window, where it says "Sharing & Permissions"/
    In the bottom right corner of the window there is a small padlock icon. Click it. When asked for an administrator password, type it in, and click "Ok".
    You will now notice that the bottom section of the 'get info' window is not greyed out anymore. Make sure your user name (it says in parentheses "(Me)" so there is no going wrong here) has "Read & Write" privileges.If not, click on whichever privilege you currently have, and a drop-down menu will appear. Click on "Read & Write".
    If you have any other issues, I will add them to the troubleshooting list to help you out. Hope this was helpful!

    My iTunes library is set up the way I said in the top post and works totally fine.
    Yes, and that is the default structure to which I was referring.  iTunes will organize it that way automatically unless people do start changing settings (in which case they should know what they are doing and how iTunes works with library files and media structure.)
    Both ways work, the advantages of mine would be that should iTunes try looking fo a library, it will always be in the default location.
    It makes people think they have to change media location in preferences.  They do not unless they want to relocate media only and leave other things on their internal drive (in which case there is no point in copying library files to the external, and you certainly wouldn't want to then delete them from your internal).
    Downside is that then should someone move their iTunes library to anther computer they need to remember to get those library files on the external hard drive.
    Just copy the whole iTunes folder and it will get the library files to the other drive in one step, along with all the other files.
    Your post has good stuff but it makes a move appear intimidating and look like people have to do a lot of organizing to move the collection.  It also throws in  extra steps (namely altering preference settings) that could cause confusion or even make a mess of things.  If people leave iTunes to default preference settings (which most people do) the move summarizes into a short line:  Copy a folder and hold an extra button the next time you start iTunes.
    Note that the instructions in the link I provided earlier do also include many steps, but those are to ensure that everybody does have it all organized correctly before simply copying the iTunes folder.  In the end it is just a simple action.

  • How can I play the music on my  external hard drive with my laptop?

    Look before everyone points out that this has been asked lots of times before, I wanted to state that in this particular case it might be a little bit more complicated. You see I think I've been an idiot.
    I backed up all my physical music onto my external hard drive, but only the physical music. So now I have my nice new laptop and haven't got a clue how to play the music off my external hard drive, since I don't have an itunes library on my external hard drive.
    Anyway any help would be much appreciated.
    Thanks

    Am I being a plonker, but it doesn't seem as simple as that. If I try and import via itunes it seems to want me to select the individual music file not the folder which holds all the music.
    Also if I simply import it, won't my mac copy the files from my external hard drive back on to my laptop? Which makes me think I change the location where all the music is stored in itunes...?
    Thanks for the help!

  • How do I get my music from an external hard drive

    I made the mistake of moving my music folder from my computer to my hard drive to free up space on the computer.  Now my ITunes doesn't know how to connect to my music.  It comes up as a set-up page, as if I had never had the account.  Any ideas?

    Put it all back and make sure it works then post back.
    I made the mistake of moving my music folder
    Actually, what I meant to say is I moved my music to an external hard drive.
    So what exactly did you move?

  • Mac-format to PC-format: How can I get my music off an external hard drive?

    I had a mac-formatted iPod for years, and all of my music is on an external hard drive that is hooked up to that computer. When I got a new iPod after mine was stolen, I had to get a PC-formatted iPod. How can I get my music off of the hard drive and onto my PC (and eventually my iPod)? I tried uploading the files into my iTunes account on the Mac, but they don't show up in my account on the PC. Most of the music are CDs that I copied onto my computer years ago, and had on my old iPod. Help!

    Your Firefox profile would have the data. You can find it at:
    *C:\Users\<Windows login/user name>\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\<profile folder>
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  • How can I transfer my music from an external hard drive to my Time Capsule and can I play it through apple TV?

    All my music is currently stored on an external hard drive, but I would like to transfer everything onto my Time Capsule, so that everything is backed up, what is the best way to do this?
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    Did you import the music on the external hard drive into your iTunes library on your new PC or point iTunes at the location of your library stored on the external hard drive?
    B-rock

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    I have alot of music and all of it is saved on my external hard drive.  I dont want to save any of the music on my computer because it takes up too much space.  I just want to be able to play my music from my external hard drive.  Can someone answer this?

    Did you import the music on the external hard drive into your iTunes library on your new PC or point iTunes at the location of your library stored on the external hard drive?
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  • How do I transfer my music from an external hard drive to my new computer?

    I have downloaded itunes but it would take for ever to individually copy each song & regroup them into genres.  Before I got rid of my old computer I copied itunes on an external harddrive as well as my entire playlist.  I thought I could just sync my ipod nano to the new itunes program but apperently not. 

    Did you import the music on the external hard drive into your iTunes library on your new PC or point iTunes at the location of your library stored on the external hard drive?
    B-rock

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