How to transfer iTunes files to external hard disc

how to transfer iTunes files to external hard disc

A forum search would indicate the question has been answered in previous posts such as:
https://discussions.apple.com/message/21054789#21054789
https://discussions.apple.com/message/8667031#8667031

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How to transfer iTunes to a second hard disc - internal or external.

I know this is a perrenial topic, but it still seems unusually tricky, and I've searched but not come up with all the solutions.
I have a modest size primary hard disc in my G5 (leopard 10-5-8), but a second one which is twice the size and empty. Plus two external hard discs which are huge - one terrabyte. So right now iTunes on my primary hard disc is slowing everything down and I want to put a whole lot more music in it.
So how to shift everything to the internal and/or external hard discs? I've tried and got nowhere. I shifted the library but the playlist didn't follow, so I put it all back again. And when I open iTunes on disc 2 which is empty apart from that, it just reverts to the window I get on disc 1. Doesn't seem to function properly on disc 2.
Ideas? I'd love some help with this - I'm a musician with projects for iTunes and this is driving me nuts.
andy

Did you move the whole music folder to the external drive, then hold down the option key while starting itunes so you could select the new library location on the external drive?

How to transfer itunes library via external hard drive?

How do I transfer my entire itunes library to a new pc via an external hard drive? I want to also keep the library on my old pc. Because my library is about 30gb I thought that getting an external hard drive would be the easiest way to do this. Are there any other options?

Start by consolidating your library. When you consolidate, any songs in the iTunes Library that are not in the iTunes Music Folder are copied to the Music Folder and the Library is updated to point to those new files. Files already in the iTunes Music Folder have no changes made to them: Consolidating your library - Windows
Then copy the iTunes Folder to your external drive. Copying the whole folder brings with it the iTunes Music folder and also the iTunes Library (iTunes Library.itl in Windows) database file which holds all the information about your songs (Playlists, Ratings, Play Counts, Last Played, Date Added, etc). You'll get more information including the Folder/File structure in this article: What are the iTunes library files?
Disconnect your external drive and connect it to your new computer, copy the iTunes folder to the new pc. When you copy the iTunes folder make sure you put it into the default location on the new computer. On a PC this is \Documents and Settings\Username\My Documents\My Music\ (or C:\Username\Music\ in Vista). You should also use the same version of iTunes on both computers.
Once you have copied everything over hold down the Shift key in Windows when opening iTunes. In the resulting dialogue you will get the option to create a new library or navigate to an existing one. Navigate to where you placed the copy of the library file and open it up: How to open an alternate iTunes Library file
If you have any iTunes purchases in your library don't forget that you'll need to authorise your new computer to play them. Also if you are disposing of the old one remember to deauthorise it so you don't use up one of your allowances: About iTunes Music Store Authorisation and Deauthorisation

I moved itunes file to external hard drive and want to move the file on my pc to recycle bin. When I move i get an error message that it cannot delete ituneshelper.dll access is denied. Can I move that file to the recycle bin?

I am trying to free up space on my pc and moving itunes files to external hard drive. I have followed instructions and believe I have file copied to new drive, but I am having trouble moving file to recycle bin as the instructions say. I am getting the following error message: cannot delete ituneshelper.dll:access denied, make sure disk is not full or write protected and file not in use. I know the file is not in use when trying to move. Any help would be most appreciated. I am on Windows XP.

Yes. And you should not have moved that folder. Put it back. To move your iTunes library move the folder from User's Music.
tt2

How to run itunes off an external hard drive using the new itunes

I have windows 8. I installed the new itunes and I want to know how to run itunes off an external hard drive.
thank you for your help.

Same way as before, hold down shift as you start iTunes, Choose or Create a library.
tt2

How to play itunes music from external hard drive

How do I either play continuous music from my external hard drive, or make itunes recognize my external hard drive as the library.

Hi Jim
I've recently upgraded to a macbook Pro and I copied all data, profiles etc across from my old macbook. I have also created a second account in my mackbook Pro. I am able to play my iTunes music from the external HD in the 'old' account, but not in the 'new' account, despite trying what you've said above. On the external HD, there are two folders: iTunes music and iTunes media. I have tried selecting each of these, but both times, I get this message: "An iTunes library file could not be found in the folder "iTunes Media". Please choose a different folder." ... Please can you help?
Many thanks in advance!

How to Play iTunes from a external Hard Drive?

Is it possible to run iTunes from an external hard drive so that I dont use up the space on my labtop? For example, store all my music files on the External and run it through iTunes.

Assuming you use the iTunes default settings where iTunes copied added items to your iTunes folder and organizes your library (meaning - everything is all self contained in the iTunes folder), then all you have to do is drag & drop your iTunes folder (not just the iTunes Music folder you find inside the iTunes folder) to the external drive and copy the entire thing.
If you want to test that it worked or would like to actually start using it from that location instead, use these instructions when you start iTunes to point it to the new location...
How to open an alternate iTunes Library file or create a new one
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304447
If you are just testing, then close iTunes after you verify it works, and restart iTunes again with the same instructions and point it back to your internal drive (original) location.
Back up your iTunes library by copying to an external hard drive
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=307074
Patrick

Running iTunes from an external hard disc, deleting songs on local disc

I've moved my iTunes library to an external hard disc, so I could free up room on my Macbook Air. Everything seemed fine, so as a test, I deleted 1 song from the iTunes media file on my Air, and then tried to play it from the external disc.
I get the "original file could not be found" message. The preferences in iTunes point to the external drive, and the song is there. I get find the individual file, but that's clearly not going to be a good solution for ALL my music!
What should I do? The only advice I find online is to go to preferences, advanced, find the external hard drive and click OK, but that's all be done!

You have to move the library database too, or you have to use a method for just moving media. Unless you know the details of how iTunes works I would move it all otherwise you are more likely to encounter issues such as the one you are seeing and won't know how to resolve them.
iTunes: How to move [or copy] your music to a new computer [or another drive] - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527 - Basically what ChrisCA recommends
iTunes for Mac: Moving your iTunes Media folder - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1449 - moving just media but leaving all else on your main drive.
What are the iTunes library files? - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1660
More on iTunes library files and what they do - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITunes#Media_management
What are all those iTunes files? - http://www.macworld.com/article/139974/2009/04/itunes_files.html
iTunes 9 [and later]: Understanding iTunes Media Organization - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3847
Image of iTunes folder structure Dec. 2011 - https://discussions.apple.com/message/16923545
see also:
Image of folder structure and explanation of different iTunes versions (turingtest2 post) - https://discussions.apple.com/message/13025536 and https://discussions.apple.com/message/17457605

Mac book air not reading files on external hard disc.

Whenever I connect my external hard disc ( Transcend 1 TB, Ms DOS) to my macbook air (OS X 10.9.3, 1.3 GHz intel core i5, 4GB 1600 MHz) its icon appears on the desktop but I can not open the files saved on it. When I try to open the music files lets say, this message appears: "You can’t open the application because Microsoft Windows applications are not supported on OS X." Also, it worked properly a while ago. What shall I do?

What file extension(s) do these music files have at the end of their names?

How do I make space on my MBP and transfer old files to External Hard Drive?

I recently ran out of the 250 GB space on my 2010 Macbook Pro, so I bought a non-apple external hard drive. I plugged it in and Time Machine automatically popped up.
I just wanted to know what the correct way to transfer all my old files that I'm not using any more and still want to keep to the external hard drive and not use the external hard drive as a "backup" for my laptop but rather as just a place to keep all the files I'm not currently using. Do I just use Time Machine and turn off the automatic back ups? Is there a certain way to transfer individual files to the EHD later (does this happen through Time Machine or just dragging them in through Finder?)?
I've never used an EHD so I'm really unsure on how all this works on a Mac since the instruction manual only gave instructions for PC's even though it is Mac compatible.
Thanks in advance!

Apple doesnt make hard drives, they use Toshiba/Hitachi inside current macbook pro non-retina.
You should always have a backup regardless, and 2 at that. One backup, and one archive, unless losing valuable data is no consideration to you.
use time machine as a backup for restoration /emergency backup and use a separate HD for archiving valuable data.
Using an external HD is as easy and falling down. Buy a nice Hitachi/Toshiba or Seagate external HD, format it in disk utility for MAC OSX extended journaled and drag and drop ALL your valuable data to same and updata as needed.
a nice 1TB external HD is currently running $65
backup with time machine,
ARCHIVE all valuable data, ,music, pics, files, videos etc etc onto ANOTHER hard drive.
2 backups is 1, and 1 is none.
If you always follow that rule that should be written in stone, you'll never be sorry.... (and I know countless 1000s that have been)

How do I transfer iTunes Library from external hard drive to another drive?

I have filled by 160GB drive with my iTunes music library so I am purchasing a 400GB external drive. I want to transfer the entire library to the bigger drive. Can I simply drag via fire wire then entire libarary to the new drive and then "tell" by iTunes Mac where it is? Any step by step would be appreciated.
Thank you.

I just posted this to another topic, but it applies here as well. Hopefully there's no prohibition on cross-posting on this board, my apologies to all if there is:
"I haven't read the whole thread, so someone could have already mentioned this, but I did the same thing, move my music library to an external drive. The Help articles are helpful, but only up to a point. When that didn't work, I called up AppleCare support up, and they took me through all the standard steps, and got stumped at the same point I did. Finally she suggested trying something, and that ended up doing the trick. So here in brief is what you do:
1) Copy over your "iTunes Music" folder to the external hard drive
2) Go into Advanced preferences to have iTunes look for the "iTunes Music" folder in the new location. If you're like me, your music won't appear in the Library.
3) In iTunes, go to the Library window (which is probably blank), then in a Finder window, find the icon for the "iTunes Music" folder in the new location. Drag that icon onto the Library window.
You should now see a progress window pop up showing all the songs that it's populating the Library window with."
20" Intel iMac 14" iBook G4, 233 MHz Beige G3 Mac OS X (10.4.5)

Saving itunes files to external hard drive

Ok, hopefully someone can help me with this:
I have already saved my cd collection (nearly 8000 songs) onto an external hard drive that has over 90 gb using WMP. I am trying to convert the wma files to mp3's to put them on itunes so I can get them on my new ipod. I installed itunes onto the external harddrive hoping that when the files converted they would stay on the external harddive.
For whatever reason, when the files are converted, they go onto my C drive (which only has about 15 gb) so I can't get all of my files converted without filling up the disc.
What I need to know is how I can move the converted files over to my external harddrive and possibly change the prompt on itunes as to where to save those converted files while still keeping those files playable.
If what is mentioned above is possible, please let me know how I can do that. If not, do I have to reinstall itunes and what in specific should I do in the install process to get the files saved to where I want them?

Mark
I am having difficulties saving my music collection on to an external hard drive or on to ZIP disks. How do you do this? The help section on Itunes only talks about saving to a CD or DVD.
Any help would be appreiated.
Thanks

Moving iTunes files to External Hard Drive

Folks:
I just purchased an external hard drive to store iTunes songs and pictures, etc., and get those files off my laptop hard drive to create some room. Truth is, I really don't need to travel with my iTunes files.
I've copied the files to the new drive already. I've also changed the location pointer for iTunes files to the new drive. Problem is, if I look at the info on a song, iTunes still thinks the song is located in the old location on the laptop, which is true. How do I get it to recognize the new location? Delete all of the files from the laptop (scary)? Is there another way to get iTunes to point to the new location?
Thanks, Henry

If you follow the steps in this article, it should work.
Just delete everything from your exHD and start over.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1364
Also - naming your exHD a letter far down in the alphabet is a good idea.
E: F: and G: are frequently used by other USB devices, and if your exHD letter changes, you'll get all the ! marks again.
So name it K: or Q: or W:, something another USB is unlikely to use.

How to populate iTunes library on external hard drive onto new MBP.

I have a Powerbook G4 that is slowly dying. I have a new MBP that I want to populate my iTunes library onto without moving my music off my external hard drive. I've tried holding down the OPTION key while launching iTunes and selecting the iTunes Library file, but it seems to only load songs that were added in 2006 or later.
How do I get a current iTunes Library file that will populate all the songs?
Or am I going about this the wrong way?
Thanks!!

i want to keep the music on the external HD, and I have linked the MBP iTunes account to the external HD (as in where to look for music), but I just can't get the whole library to populate into the new iTunes account.
Thanks!

How to use iTunes with an external hard drive?

Hi-
I'm pretty new to iTunes, so forgive me if this is a stupid question. I have about 15GB worth of music saved onto my laptop now and taking up a ton of space. So I got an 80GB external hard drive to move everything onto. What I don't understand, though, is what happens after I save my music onto the external hard drive and remove from my laptop hard drive. How do I play music in iTunes from the files stored on the external hard drive?
Thanks in advance!!
HP Compaq NC6000 notebook Windows 2000

Welcome to discussions! Even though this is the "using iTunes music store" forum, for questions & issues using the store, I can go ahead & offer a little advice. This link from MacMuse will explain about moving iTunes to a new drive. The most important point being is you must tell iTunes the location of the iTunes music folder on the EHD. Please post back if you have any questions.
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=121879

How to transfer iTunes files to external hard disc

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