How to back up itunes to a external drive.

I need some help I just bought a Western Digital Elite Portable external drive and I want to back up my itunes in it. The problem is that I've never done it
before so basically I do not know how to do it. I been backing up to discs but I want to do it with the external drive now. I have itunes 7.7.1.11, and a second generation 8GB ipod nano.

lets say i put music videos on my external hdd
How are you "putting" them onto the external?
If you move them yourself, iTunes will lose them.
You need to Consolidate library in iTunes to move it.
Also, the external needs to be on and mounted before opening iTunes.

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How to back up iTunes Library to external drive so it can be restored

I recently moved my iTunes Library from a firewire Lacie external hard drive to a Western Digital USd hard that is now having problems (It keeps unmounting itself and I don't think that's good). It was not easy to move my iTunes folder and make it work again. I do not want to send 3 weeks plus using my spare time relinking songs or recreating playlists. I had to re-link 6,000 songs one by one. I iTunes will make a backup on CDs or DVDs why not an external device? Why would I want to copy 80 plus gigs to CDs?
If I simply copy my iTunes folder to the LaCie drive like apple recommends and the WD fails, I will lose all my playlists, track info, art work. I just got it all back. There must be some type of back up program I'm not seeing.
Please, some one help me. I am very disappointed that this solution is not on here.
I'm going to copy the file for now but it's really a poor solution.
Message was edited by: CindyLoo

I want to back up every thing, but I can't find a way to do it. That is the problem. Apple recommends if you are backing up to an external drive to copy folder the music folder to the drive via drag and drop. But I know when you do this that if you try use the backup you will only have the songs as if they were first added to iTunes.
I was able this time to move my music folder successfully (Last time the problem wasn't immediately apparent as it didn't affect my iPod, so I hope I'm not jinxing it). For now, my music is back on the Lacie drive, but it's still not backed up. If the LaCie drive were to fail I'd be faced with reimporting all my music and re-purchasing the TV shows and movies. (I almost always make a CD of new iTunes Purchases. which is why I have no desire to have a second huge stack of CDs.) My computer will not burn DVDs.
I want to backup everything so that it could be restored and be like it is now, but I don't see a way to do it. And I am not backing up all 80 plus gigs to CDs. My computer would crash and burn.

How to back up iTunes Library on external hard drive & computer, after purchasing new music?

I keep my iTunes library on my computer's hard drive and also backed up on an external hard drive. I have added more music to my library since my previous back up, and I want to back up the new music to my external drive.
What's the best way to do this?

The first time I backed up my iTunes on an external drive, it took a 1 hour +. Do I basically need to start over on my external hard drive? Or is there an easier/faster way?
Yes there is a faster way.
Check this out -> Backup your iTunes for Windows library with SyncToy
Don't change the library location or hold Option to update the backup on the external.

How do i setup itunes only on external drive with windows

well i have windows xp running on bootcamp. i have my main library on my internal drive on my os x partition.
i want to have music with xp without putting music on my bootcamp partition ( i think my size is 25 or 35 gig). how do i do this on my external drive? do i install itunes on my windows external partition and just copy my music folder there and then import?
i want to make sure i have a good idea of what to do before i start fooling around. my windows partition is fat 32 while my bootcamp is ntsf

Move the iTunes music folder to the desired location, and then drag it into the open iTunes window. iTunes itself must be on the startup disk.
(33998)

How do i install itunes on an external drive

How can i install iTunes on an external hard drive?

Thanks, but I'm not referring to the music library, I'm referring to the actual iTunes application. I've read other threads saying that it can only be installed on the C: drive, so guess i'm out of luck.
Thanks anyway!

Backing up iTunes located on external drive to another external drive

Greetings,
I'm on iTuens 11.3 and in preferences have chosen an external drive to keep all my music. I would like to back-up the contents of my iTunes to another external drive.
I have NOT chosen: iTunes - File - Library - Organize Library
Perhaps this is my problem…?
The external hard drive that has my iTunes library does not have a single iTunes folder. Instead, each artist has a folder within which are multiple albums, single albums or songs.
It seems there should be a single file folder somewhere that I can copy to another external hard rive in order to make a back up.
Any help will be much appreciated.

There will only be a single folder if you've told iTunes to organize your library. You need to either do this, or drag all of the individual folders to the second drive, or clone the first drive to the second.
If desired, you can move the iTunes folder to the first drive, launch iTunes with the Option key held down, and choose it before organizing the library.
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How to switch my Itunes library from External Drive to Internal drive

I recently formated my hard drive and backed up all my tunes to an external drive. When the computer was back and running I imported my tunes from the external drive to my Itunes. However itunes still reads music from the external even though the music is also in a Itunes folder in my Music folder in documents. I tried deleting Itunes and reinstalling but it still looks at the external first. When I look at the advanced tab in itunes it says the music plays from my C drive but if I disconnnect my external drive the music won't play because it's still looking there. I would like the music to play from my internal drive and only use my external drive for backing up. What should I do? Thanks!

Choose Home from the Finder's Go menu, double-click the Music item, and drag it there.
(123001)

How do I move itunes to an external drive and use from there

Mid July 2010 Mini running 10.9.4, 320 gig HD, about 95 gigs left on drive and I need to add bootcamp/windows7 which will need about 90 gigs, maybe a little less for what I need to do with win7. Next problem will be figuring out how to make bootcamp work. Like how do I make a ISO out of a dmg? That's for another post. Excuse me.
What do I move to an external drive? The media folder? Do I move iTunes? Seems to me iTunes needs to be on the MacHD and it pulls media from the drive to be rendered or played. Do I drag and drop? From where? Why doesn't Apple have simple easy to understand certified answers to issues ordinary people have? Something about once "it" is moved, do you restart and then I think hold control down while starting iTunes? What about iTunes Match? Should that be off? If it is off during the change over and then after restating Match will it matter that now the media is all in a different location? Absolutely at a loss.
Can someone please shed light on this?
thanks,
tom

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.
If this is to a new computer and you put the copied iTunes folder in the default location of Macintosh HD > Users > *User Name* > Music then you don't even need to start with the option key held down, iTunes will automatically look for it there. (Make sure there isn't anything already in the iTunes folder there that you want to keep since you will be replacing it with the one you are moving.)
iTunes: How to move [or copy] your music [library] to a new computer [or another drive] - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527 - a somewhat bewildering and not always easily understandable set of options.

How to transfer my itunes to an external drive

I've bought a new external hard drive which I would like to use for iTunes as I want to free up some space on my C Drive. I'm operating Windows 7. I have found some instructions from Applehttp://support.apple.com/kb/ht1364 (iTunes for Windows: Moving your iTunes Media Folder).
I have managed to create the new iTunes folder but when I go back to iTunes to Library I do not have tthe option to Organise Library. I only have two options - Network Sharing and Album Artwork. Can anyone help?

I've bought a new external hard drive which I would like to use for iTunes as I want to free up some space on my C Drive. I'm operating Windows 7. I have found some instructions from Applehttp://support.apple.com/kb/ht1364 (iTunes for Windows: Moving your iTunes Media Folder).
I have managed to create the new iTunes folder but when I go back to iTunes to Library I do not have tthe option to Organise Library. I only have two options - Network Sharing and Album Artwork. Can anyone help?

How can i use Itunes from an external drive

How can I install iTunes on to an external drive an use as my master librarian for music and movies, it must pretty simple, thanks guys!

Hi,
Read this http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1449
Jim

How to back up iPhoto library to external drive

I have purchased a seagate external drive to back up my iphoto library. I currently use Time Machine but want to have my pictures in another place just incase of drive failures.
Wen doing the following User>Pictures I try to drag iphoto library onto my desktop Seagate drive icon. Nothing happens. The files do not copy onto the external drive.
Can anyone help with what

It should not be a problem. How is the drive formatted?
Select the Drive in Finder, then Get Info (cmd-i).
You'll see the format in the General section:

How to back-up my iPad to external drive?

I want to back-up my iPad to the 1Tb external drive on my MacBook Pro. However in iTunes I can only choose between 'This computer' and iCloud. I cannot find a way to back-up to the external drive. Anybody?

Your best option is still iTune and/or iCloud.

How can I place iTunes on my external drive

I would like to place itunes on my hard drive to preserve space on my laptop. How can I go about the process.
Thanks in advance.
Teejaver

iTunes the application cannot really be moved. If you mean your collection:
iTunes: How to move [or copy] 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.
iTunes Terminology
- iTunes - the application itself.
- iTunes account - an account with Apple used to buy items from the iTunes Store
- Computer account - a user area on a computer
- iTunes library - Usually refers to a specific file on your computer (library.itl) that contains information about all the media you use with itunes, playlists, play count, etc.
- iTunes collection (library) - The collection of iTunes files and media files and folders that makes a complete package that represents all you have in iTunes and the files presenting this organization.

HT201272 I had to reinstall windows 7 on my computer and never backed up iTunes on a external drive. Two things, first, I have all my music on my iPod (which a lot of it was on cd's that I no longer own),if I back up my iPod to iTunes will I lose all that

I have all my music on my iPod ( which includes music from all my cd's that I bought from retail stores and I no longer have), if I back it up to ITunes will I lose it even though it is in iCloud ?
Also, I can not find any of my audio books that I bought and downloaded thru iTunes, why?

For music purchased from iTunes you might be able to re-download it via the Purchased link under Quicklinks on the right-hand side of the iTunes store home page on your computer's iTunes.
For music copied from CDs, and for purchases if you can't redownload them, then there are some programs listed half-way down this page which should be able to copy them back from your iPod : https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3991
There is also this page for syncing to a new computer (which, in effect, you will be) : https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3141
Where are you looking for the audiobooks ? They are currently a one-time only download from the store, so they won't appear in the Purchased tab for redownloading. If you don't have them on a backup nor on your iPod (if they are on your iPod then File > Devices > Transfer Purchases should copy them back to your computer's iTunes), then if they are still in the store then you can try contacting iTunes Support and see if they will grant you a redownload : http://www.apple.com/support/itunes/contact/ - click on Contact iTunes Store Support on the right-hand side of the page, then Purchases, Billing & Redemption

How do I run iTunes off an external hard drive?

I have an 80GB laptop which is getting pretty full, so I've added a 500GB external hard drive with the intention of transferring my music files (amongst other things) to the external drive, freeing up space on the laptop. This has proved (almost) more trouble than it's worth...
Initially I simply copied iTunes over to the external drive using Windows Explorer. Surfing the apple discussions, however, convinced me that I ought to do the "consolidate library" thing as well (which resulted in me duplicating the files on the external drive). Finally sorted that out, deleted the music files on the hard drive, and discovered that my music library was allegedly "empty". Further surfing on apple discussions made me decide to copy the various iTunes library files from the main iTunes folder back to the hard drive. This has resulted in iTunes being unable to open, due to an "unknown error".
I'm ready to give up! Anyone out there successfully running iTunes off their external drive? How do you do it?

Follow up: My next move was to copy my iTunes folder back onto the hard drive. I had only been doing this for ten minutes (the process took twelve hours the previous time I did it) when iTunes was up and running again, and indeed "seeing" all my music files on the external drive. I cancelled the copy process, deleted all the newly copied iTunes music files from the hard drive, leaving all other files intact, and everything seems fine. The problem is now solved, but I'd nevertheless be grateful if someone could explain to me what was going on!
Thanks
Ian

How to back up itunes to a external drive.

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