How to transfer iTunes library to an external drive (thats easy!) but keeping the playlists musics on the computer?

How to transfer iTunes library to an external drive (thats easy!) but keeping the playlists musics on the computer?
Many thanks!

Select a single song with a broken link, press CTRL+I to Get Info, cancel when asked to locate the track and take a look at the Summary tab. Post back where iTunes is looking for the file. It begins file://localhost
Where is it really?
Please post back both paths so that I can make suggestions. Full paths please, exact spellings, you can replace your user name with <User> if needed.
tt2

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Easiest way to transfer iTunes library on an external drive to a new Mac?

Hello,
I currently have my entire iTunes Library (Music, Movies, TV Shows, etc.) on an external hard drive.
I have a new Mac arriving tomorrow, to replace my current one. What is the easiest way to get my entire Library into iTunes on my new Mac?
I know Migration Assistant is normally supposed to help with this, but I assume that's only if the Library has been stored internally. Can I simply plug the external drive into the new Mac, authorize the computer, and Import my entire Library from the File menu?
Any pointers would be appreciated. Thanks!

mattfromallston wrote:
I have a new Mac arriving tomorrow, to replace my current one. What is the easiest way to get my entire Library into iTunes on my new Mac?
From your OLD computer...
Copy your ENTIRE iTunes FOLDER to an External Drive... and then from the External Drive to your New Computer..
Full Details Here > http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1751
An Added Bonus is that you will have a Backup of iTunes.
Also... Have a look at these 2 Videos...
http://macmost.com/moving-your-itunes-library.html
http://macmost.com/moving-your-itunes-media-to-an-external-drive.html
NOTE:
It is important that the External Hard Drive is formatted as Mac OS Extended (journaled).

Moving iTunes library to an external drive that already has music on it?

I want an external drive that contains music to be designated as my iTunes library. How do I do it?
Note: I do not want to move an existing library to the external drive, just start fresh with the library on the drive.
Thanks!

pbay wrote:
I want an external drive that contains music to be designated as my iTunes library. How do I do it?
Note: I do not want to move an existing library to the external drive, just start fresh with the library on the drive.
welcome to the discussion area, pbay !
1) launch iTunes with the option key pressed. choose to create a new library when prompted.
2) in preferences > advanced make sure iTunes is pointed to the external drive and that +keep iTunes media folder organized+ and +copy files to iTunes media folder when adding to library+ are checked.
3) from the iTunes file menu, choose +add to library+ and start populating iTunes with the tunes you want.
when you have added all tunes to your new library, make sure they play fine. right-click on random files and +get info+. look at the summary tab and check if the path leads to the correct location (your external drive).
when satisfied, the original files can be deleted.
happy computing ...

How to transfer Itunes Library (PC) to external hard drive for backup purposes?

I need to save my Itunes library from my current PC to an external hard drive just in case my computer were to crash/die. Two questions:
Question #1: How do I do this?
Question #2: Should my computer crash and I need to get a new PC, how would I transfer my Itunes library from the external hard drive to the new PC?

iTunes- Back up your iTunes library by copying to an external hard drive

How to transfer ITunes library to an External Hard Drive?

I would like to transfer my ITunes library to an EHD.
Could some one tell me how to do this?
Does evrything else in ITunes transfers too? like videos,movies,rentals, etc
Thanks

What Niel said is pretty much the easiest and quickest way. It will copy it there so after following Niel's suggestion, make sure everything looks ok before discarding the original iTunes folder. It may take some time to do depending upon the size of the library.
I recently did the same with my library of nearly 200GB. Glad I did it then ( even though perhaps too late ) as it's now nearly 350GB. Movies do take up quite a bit of room but now everything is on a 2TB drive with a back up copy on another 2TB drive and freed up all the space on my 500GB iMac.
Everything works as normal inc. Apple TV streaming so you should be good to go.
Check in Preferences in iTunes where iTunes is looking for the library so next time you don't need the option key.

HT1751 How to transfer iTunes media files from external drive to another external drive and bring in the library from the main drive.

I have my iTunes media on an external hard drive while the library is on the main computer drive. I want to move both to a larger external drive. How do I get both together? When I consolidate, it only transfers the media files. Help.

Since I already consolidated, can I just move the library to the root level of the external drive then option click to point to that library? But using that method, all the media files are at the root level along with the iTunes folder. So nothing will be in the iTunes media folder itself. WIll that work?

How to Move iTunes Library on an External Drive to Another Computer

How do you move your iTunes library (including all your playlists) if your iTunes media files—movies, TV shows, music, etc.—are housed on an external drive, rather than the local drive on your computer?
The usual advice concerns copying media files from one computer to the next, e.g.:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527
But if your media is on an external device, you don’t want to copy it, just access it from a new device. You could plug the drive into your new computer and drag the media into iTunes, but then you would lose your playlists and other information.
Fortunately, you can transfer an entire iTunes Library using the Export/Import function. The essential information is found in an Apple support document, “iTunes: How to re-create your iTunes library and playlists”:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1451
Using this information, we can create a procedure for transferring both the media files that are on an external drive and the iTunes Library that goes with it.
Here is the procedure:
1. On the old computer, Export the playlist, using File > Library > Export Library. Transfer the resulting file to the new computer.
2. You might want to note the number of music files, TV shows, etc. you have on the old system. Select View > Show Status Bar, then choose the “List” view, and this information will be shown at the bottom of the iTunes window. Also disable sharing, etc.; you may want to deauthorize the computer as well.
3. Close iTunes on the old computer, dismount and disconnect the external drive(s). (Yes, this will work with media on multiple drives).
4. On the new computer, close iTunes and delete “iTunes Library.itl” in the iTunes folder.
5. On the new computer, Connect and mount the external drive(s).
6. Open iTunes on the new computer. Choose Preferences > Advanced. Deselect (uncheck) both “Keep iTunes Media Organized” (because it’s already organized on your external drive, right?) and “Copy files to iTunes Media folder” (because the files are on the external drive). Then set your iTunes Media folder location to your media folder on the external drive and click on “OK”. (Note: don’t close iTunes after this step, because it will automatically reset your media folder to your local machine rather than the external drive).
7. Choose File > Library > Import Playlist and choose the file you exported from the old computer. This will import all the media you had on the old system into iTunes (no need to manually move anything from the external drive). The import will probably take some time. (If you see that iTunes is copying files, you probably messed up Step 6; you can stop it and go back to Step 4 without harm).
8. After the import, you can check the numbers you noted in Step 2; if there is a discrepancy that bothers you, check out the scripts “Music Folder Files Not Added” “List MIAs” and at http://dougscripts.com/itunes/.
9. When everything is satisfactory, you can recheck “Keep iTunes Media Organized” and “Copy files to iTunes Media folder” in Preferences.
10. You may now want to enable sharing, sync iOS devices, etc. Also be sure to set up your backup strategies on the new machine (you *do* have backups of your external drive(s), right?). If you already had some media on your new computer and you want to incorporate it into the external drive, choose File > Library > Consolidate.
11. Oddities:
* iTunes Extras must be manually imported.
* Some of my movies & TV shows imported as “Home Video”.
* Mobile applications did not import (presumably because no iOS device was synced).
* Books that were once handled by iTunes are now handled by iBooks and will not import (to let iTunes see them again, you’ll need to add them manually to iBooks, then choose File > Move Books from iTunes). Audiobooks import okay, but you may have to authorize your Audible account.

Or:
Copy the iTunes folder from the old computer to the same location in your user area on the new one. Attach the external drive and start iTunes. If you have put it in your Home > Music folder the application will automatically know to look for it there and becausse you are using the same library it will be configured to look for media on the external drive.

How to use itune library from an external drive ?

I have an old old computer that works perfectly fine on window xp and I will like to keep it. However, the disc space on the pc is LESS than my IPOD. I will like to move my library to my external hard disk and wondering if it is possible and if itune could operate with the library from an external hard disk.
I have a 80GB video ipod and a 4GB ipod shuffle, 500GB external hard disk and 30GB PC.
thanks for your help.

Hello,
I have read several posts which ask questions about the same problem that I am having however the answers do not quite cover the exact problem and I am hoping that someone can help me.
I have successfully moved my itunes music folder to my external hard drive and I know how to consolidate the itunes library so that it contains all of the music from the music folder on the hard drive however it then loads the music back onto my C drive as I play it from itunes. Also, when I try to consolidate the music from the external hard drive it tells me that I need to have that much space on my computer or it cannot transfer. There is not enough space and that is why I want to move everything, including the library to my external hard drive. When I tried to move the itunes library I could not move it from my C drive to the external hard drive.
I really want to move the itunes library onto the external hard drive with the itunes music folder and operate both from the external hard drive. Is there a way that this can be done?
Many thanks,
Sarah

How to transfer itunes library to another iTunes library on my external HD

Previously I created a duplicate iTunes library on a external HD that I partitioned.
Recently I redid my music from ACC to AIFF as I got a larger HD with a new iMac.
I created a new library to store the AIFF files and I completed the entries and them merged them into my regular iTunes library.
It went without any problems.
Now I want to transfer the songs to the EXternal HD iTunes library.
I have additional songs on the external HD so I would like to keep that library OR merge the two into a new library on my external HD.
How do I accomplish this.
Sorry if it is a simple question but I just want to make sure I do not lose anything.
MY External HD is a backup to the iMAC so I have the the iTunes main account on a separate partition.
Greg

Let me try and ask this another way as perhaps this is not doable.
Can I transfer the external HD iTunes library to my iMAC library ?
This way I have the full library and then I can transfer the iMAC main library back to the external HD (partitioned side) library.
I just want to ensure that I do not lose my songs from the external HD and not have to reenter them from CD's.
Thanks, Greg

How do I move an iTunes library from one external drive to another?

I need to move my iTunes library from one external disk to another, because the original disk is about to fail. So, I went into iTunes Perferences --> Advanced, and set the library to a new, empty folder on the new drive.
Nothing changed. I expected all my music to vanish from iTunes, so that I would have to re-import it. However, all the music remained, still on the old disk. At this point, if I were to recreate the library on the new disk, I would have all of my music twice.
Is it possible to move an iTunes library from one external drive to another, or am I stuck with my original choice until I buy a new machine? If I can move it, can one of you clever folks explain how it could be done?

Paul Seymour1 wrote:
However, those are all dealing with old versions of iTunes that still contained the Advanced --> Consolidate Library command which is no longer part of the app. (I'm on iTunes 10.6.1.)
Consolidate is still part of iTunes.
It is in iTunes menu File > Library > Manage library > Consolidate.
The article you linked to is old and it is (and was) a hacky way of doing it.
Just copy the entire /Music/iTunes/ folder to new location, hold Option (Mac) or Shift (Windows) when launching iTunes.

How can I download my iMac iTunes library to an external drive and reload the library to iTunes on a PC?

How can I download my iMac iTunes library to an external drive and reload the library to iTunes on a PC?

Hi Niel. Can you be move specific for those of us not tech savy? 1 - Can you provide steps to back up the library? 2 - How do you organize the library? 3 - When you move the entire iTunes folder, does it include iTunes paid for music along with downloaded music from CDs? Thanks

HT1373 How do I backup my itunes library to an external drive

My iTunes library is unstable. I have two questions:
1) How do I backup my iTunes library to an external drive?
2) Why am I constatntly prompted to add my computer to iCloud when I have done so multiple times?
When opening iTunes, I receive he error message: "Please Sign In Again, iTunes Match has encountered an error. Please choose Sign Out and he Sign In from the iTunes Store menu and try again."
I tried downloading and installing/repairing the latest iTunes. That did not correct the problem.
Also, I have sync'd to iCloud. Every time I select iMatch from iTunes, I am prompted to Add This Computer to iCloud. I have already done this multiple times.

Hello cijackson,
You posted your question in the iTunes for Mac Forum. You may get better results on the iTunes for Windows forum. Best of luck > https://discussions.apple.com/community/itunes/itunes_for_windows?view=overview

How do i get my laptop to access the itunes library on my external drive hooked up to my desktop via my home network?

How do i get my laptop to access the itunes library on my external drive hooked up to my desktop via my home network?

If you are willing to pay $24.99 per year for iTunes Match you can put your library in the cloud provided you don't have more than 25,000 tracks.
iCloud- iTunes Match
iTunes in the Cloud and iTunes Match Availability
iTunes Store- Troubleshooting iTunes Match
iTunes- How to add a computer or iOS device to iTunes Match

I had my itunes library on an external drive, I now have a new Windows 7 computer. How can I access my library?

I had my itunes library on an external drive, I now have a new Windows 7 computer. How can I access my library?

Hello, robertfromboulder city.
Thank you for the question. You can direct iTunes to read your media off your external drive. To do this, follow the instructions below. See the section in the first article labeled Discovering and changing the iTunes Media folder location.
Where are my iTunes files located?
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1391
iTunes: Back up your iTunes library by copying to an external hard drive
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1751
Cheers,
Jason H.

How to transfer itunes library music from a macbook to other macbook

how to transfer itunes library music from macbook pro to and other macbook pro with the internet cable .

Move it to the /Users/Shared/ folder.
(58475)

How to transfer iTunes library to an external drive (thats easy!) but keeping the playlists musics on the computer?

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