How to maintain playlists with an external hard drive

My music folder is on an external hard drive. I turn on the HD when I need to add Music, then I re-sync. The problem is that the playlists all empty when the hard drive is turned off. How can I make a persistent playlist that is maintained whether or not the HD is connected.
FYI: To create a list, I use select the songs and then use File -> New Playlist from Selection.
Thanks,
Marc
80 GB Windows XP

playlists are in the itunes.itl file
I Believe they are static links that is why if the files are not found then links are broken. This is also why if you move or rename the files iTunes loses track of them.
If you mean manual manage sync when you said manual maintenance then that should work.

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JohnHusk wrote:
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Thanks for your quick response. I had a look at your discussion... I tried it on a Windows machine and I thought that was compatible with ExFAT?
Therefore I need to attempt to use my external hard drive with a machine that boasts OS X 10.6.5 or above and then it should work?
Thanks

How to maintain playlists with an external hard drive

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