HT1751 Can I consolidate my iTunes library and transfer to an external hard drive while my computer is in safe mode?

Laptop died, only works in safe mode. Am wanting to transfer everythign to an external hard drive and do a reset to if I can save it.

See this migrate iTunes library post. Depending on the layout of the library you may simply need to copy the entire iTunes folder using Windows Explorer without ever firing up iTunes.
tt2

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Can I put iTunes library and iPhoto albums on external hard drive?

How can I, if there is a way put my iTunes library and iPhoto albums on my external hard drive to free up space on my internal hard drive? If this can be done what are possible issues and do I just access them through my external drive when I need them. Can I sync my iPod to the external drive in order to deal with daily pod casts etc?
thanks,
Bill

You might find these articles useful:
iLounge - Managing your iTunes Library on an External Hard Drive
iPhoto: How to move the iPhoto Library Folder to a new location

How can I move my itunes library from pc onto an external hard drive for use on a mac

I have a large itunes library on my PC (roughly 200gb) and I want to transfer this to an external hard drive to then use on my new mac. I have tried this before using software which converts from NFTS to mac, but this didn't work properly (songs kept disappearing), so I also want the external hard drive to be mac formatted. Any suggestions? It seems much harder to do this than I expected.

Yes you can go to > Music > iTunes folder and copy the whole iTunes folder and drag the folder to your external and then on the new Mac click and highlight the iTunes folder and then in iTunes click on the button at the top (add folder to library) and you should see all your songs transfer from the external to the Mac and all songs start filling up in your iTunes library on the Mac.
This is the easiest method all songs and other media such as songs, movies, apps will be transferred over however you may not be able to keep ratings & last played counts using this method.
To keep all metadata including ratings & play count use the Apple method exclusively for this if you have to have your metadata, play counts and ratings saved.
I used scenario one above because it one of the simplest methods and I was just satisfied enough just to transfer all media over.

Have copied my iTunes library back-up from my external hard drive (saved from my iTunes on my pc) onto my new Macbook and loads of the tracks have been duplicated, some four times some not at all?? any ideas guys?

Have copied my iTunes library back-up from my external hard drive (saved from my iTunes on my pc) onto my new Macbook and loads of the tracks have been duplicated, some four times some not at all?? any ideas guys?

Have copied my iTunes library back-up from my external hard drive (saved from my iTunes on my pc) onto my new Macbook and loads of the tracks have been duplicated, some four times some not at all?? any ideas guys?

How do I restore iTunes library from Backup files on External Hard Drive?

How do I restore iTunes library from Backup files on External Hard Drive and keep the new iTunes library on the External Hard Drive. I have all the media and playlist and .xml .itl files, just want the iTunes to recognise the content.
I backedup my iTunes content by dragging to External Hard Drive. Formatted and reinstalled OS. My iTunes content is so large, that I wish for the Library and content to remain on the External Hard Drive. I have all the music files and playlists, I just cannot get the iTunes application to display all the content. Hoping to Not have to drag and drop all the content to be recopied into new iTunes organised files.
Troubleshooting this by researching other conversations on the web, I have come stuck for a solution. One Troubleshoot told me to hold down the Command key and then lauch iTunes and a dialogue box will appear to Choose a new library, however when I try this, no Dialogue box appear to give me the option!?

It sometimes has that funny switch symbol on it too.
tt2

HT1751 I had my library and playlists on an external hard drive. Now, I cannot get the playlists to come up in ITunes on my new computer. I recall doing something in properties but dk next step. Suggestions? Thanks

I have a new computer. My old Mac had my playlist synced to an external hard drive. (I have an IPod Classic) The playlists will not come up in ITunes now. As I recall, I had to do something with properties but that is all I remember. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to syn the library playlists tofrom the external hard drive to the computer? Thank you

chevalierdurufle wrote:
My itunes library used to be on a PC - but shortly before the PC went to PC heaven I transferred the library onto an external hard drive
You mean you transferred the media, not the library...
Now I have a laptop - but I can't get itunes to pick up the library location
The library location is in your /Music/ oflder.
Your media files (not yet in your new iTunes library ) is on the external drive.
I have changed in advance preferences, but the library does not display.
Because you have not yet added anything to your library.
Quit iTunes.
On the external, create a new folder named My iTunes library (or something).
Hold Shift and launch iTunes.
Select Choose library... and select My iTunes library on the external.
Go into Windows Explorer and move all the media files on the external into /My iTunes Llibrary/iTunes media/Automatically add to iTunes/ folder.

If i previously had my iTunes library set up on an external hard drive, how do I get my iTunes on my new mac pro to operate off of the same hard drive?

I recently bought a mac pro. I previously had a macbook that I had set up for iTunes to run off of an external hard drive. How do I set up my mac pro to run off of this hard drive? I have been trying to figure it out for the last hour and have had no luck.
I have tried to move my itunes folder on my mac pro to my external hard drive but am having no luck. Any help will be appreciated. Thanks.

If you had the entire library running from the external drive it should be a matter of holding down option as you start iTunes and browsing to the library on the external drive.
If you'd followed the advice to move the media folder only then ideally you need to recover the library folder from your Macbook with a view to making the library portable on the external drive.
Otherwise you're going to have to simply import the content into a new library, losing rating, playlists, play counts. etc.
If you have any devices that sync to your library see Recover your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device.
tt2

My itunes library is stored on an external hard drive. How do I set it up to be able to use with my work macbook pro? I do not want it stored on my laptop.

How do I store my itunes library on an external hard drive and access it on my macbook pro? I do not want to store my library on my macbook because it is a work computer and do not want to take up storage space there. I know it can be done because I had it that one on a previous laptop but I cannot remember how I did it and would really appreciate a quick step by step process. I do not mind if it seems elementary. I am admitting my lack of knowledge and would really appreciate basic instructions. Thank you for anything anyone can do to help.

iTunes>Preferences (Cmd+,)>Advanced
Choose the Ext HD (and the appropriate folder) as the location for your library.

Can I shift my itunes from my PC to an external hard drive with laptop???

Hey
I really want to shift my itunes from my pc (because its running low on memory now) to one of those external hard drive books which will be attached to my laptop ---- but is this possible????
Does anyone know of any manuals that i can read or any information?
Email me on [email protected]
Manny xxxx
iPod Nano Windows XP

To move your iTunes music...
1 Quit iTunes.
2 Move the entire iTunes folder including music to the external drive.
3 Restart iTunes holding the Shift key in Windows, Option key in Mac.
4 iTunes will ask to Create new library or Choose existing library. Select Choose existing library and select the library in the folder you just moved.
5 Move the old iTunes folder to the trash but do not empty it.
6 Restart iTunes normally and verify the songs work. If they do, empty the trash.

How can I keep my iTunes folder from changing from my external hard drive?

I have an external hard drive connected to my Time Capsule. I have changed my iTunes preferences to store my media on the external hard drive. Whenever I shut down iTunes and restart it, the preferences revert back to my hard drive.
Any suggestions? Is this normal?
Any information is much appreciated.

Well - first, I shut down iTunes and restarted it, the external drive was still in the Preferences. I shut down the computer, and restarted it, the Preferences reverted.
From what I can tell, the hard drive never shut off - I don't know what the deal is - I've contacted Apple support and scheduled time to see if there is something in the set up I am missing. Will let you know.

Moving iTunes library from macbook pro to external hard drive

I need to move my iTunes library to my external hard drive.

Drag it there, launch iTunes with the Option key held down, and choose it.
(121239)

Putting library and all music on external hard drive

This may be obvious, but I want to put all my music on an external hard drive to free up space on my laptop. I want to be able to plug in my ipod and have it update the full music library. I tried changing the library in advanced preferences and it just made a folder that didn't have anything in it on the external hard drive. Do I have to drag and drop Itunes Library from my internal harddrive user folder to the external? Thanks, and sorry for the slightly dunderheaded question.

In the iTunes preferences, under the "Advanced" tab, you have to make sure to uncheck the option to "Copy files to the iTunes Media folder when adding to library". Make sure to keep the option above it checked, that reads "Keep iTunes Media folder organized". Then, when you want to add music to your library, put the new music file in the external drive's folder with the rest of your music files, then drag it to the iTunes icon. iTunes will keep it on the external drive and organize it in there.
This is at least what I do. Perhaps others have a different way to do it but that has worked pretty well for me.
Message was edited by: gojirasan

How to back up all my iTunes music and playlists on a external hard drive

How do you back up your iTunes music & playlists to an external hard-drive (in this case a W.D.Elements)
My Computer is an I Mac 27 inch, Late 2013 OSX Version 10.10 Upgraded to "Yosmite" on the 26th October 2014
Thanking you in anticipation of your help.
Vince Cygan

Thank you Niel,
My 21,574 music tracks are populating the external hard-drive as I reply. I'm assuming my playlists will accompany them. My playlists start with music from 1914 to the present, each year is divided into 4 month periods so I know almost exactly when each record was released or from 1952 onwards when it entered the charts.
According to the progress line the procedure should take 2 hrs 20 mins approx.
Thank you once again Niel

How to play my itunes library on my pc or external hard drive?

How can I import and play my ITunes library on my pc and external storage device?

Is the iPhone the only location or your media now? See Recover your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device.
tt2

My iTunes library is on a 2T ex. hard drive. I want to install on new PC w/o losing playlists,

My current iTunes library is on a 2T external hard drive, using a PC with Vista. I am wanting to move the entire library HD to a new PC running Windows 8 without losing my playlists, date added, last played, # of plays, etc. However, when connected to the new PC, only the purchased tunes from Apple show accurate data of date added, etc. 99% of my library is self-added/burned. I would like my new set-up to mirror my old set-up exactly but now I have double and even triple downloads of songs and albums in my iTunes library display and my computer files, and only one of 4 library files on the hard drive. What am I doing wrong or forgetting to do?

Gordon,
There's a solution to your problem but first it's time for a little lecture. (If it makes you feel any better, I don't like this any more than you do.)
I hope you take this as an opportunity to learn a very important lesson: Back up your iTunes library as soon as you can after resolving this situation because right now you are only one glitch of your iPod away from losing your music entirely.
Many people come to the Discussions having lost their music in just such situations and, believe me, it's not a happy time for anyone.
If you place any importance on your playlists and the data they depend on, you will want to include your iTunes Library files in your back-up regimen as well.
Anyways, that's the lecture. The answer to your problem should be found in this post:
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=797432#797432
Good Luck! But once your music is back on your computer, remember:
Your music is valuable - please back it up!

HT1751 Can I consolidate my iTunes library and transfer to an external hard drive while my computer is in safe mode?

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