I am using external drive for iTunes why does it put art on internal

I have my itunes library on an external drive which works quite well for the most part. However it keeps recreating an itunes folder and subfolders on my internal drive mainly artwork and .itdb, .itl and .xml files in user/music/itunes. this is quite annoying because I am trying to keep as much data as possible off my internal drive for space considerations. I have tried deleting these files but itunes just recreates them. Does anyone have any ideas?

pharmercist wrote:
Solved the problem. When I initially moved itunes to the external drive I copied the entire iTunes folder and seleted the appropriate library drive in preferences
This is not the correct way to do it.
This still uses the iTunes folder on the internal for the iTunes library file, artwork etc.
Holding Option and Choose library... tells iTunes to use everything in the iTunes folder you select.
Holding Option and Choose library... you do not need to change the Tunes prefs > Advance - iTunes media folder location.

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Using external drive for itunes

Hope someone can help with this: I am going travelling and want to take my music library, at present in itunes on my desktop G4. I have copied this library onto a 100GB portable hard drive, and would now like to get itunes on my macbook to refer to this library on my hard drive. I tried going to preferences and changing the itunes music folder location to
Lacie Drive:music:itunes:itunes music:
but after I okay this, nothing happens, the itunes on my macbook is still full of the few songs I have put there, and no sign of the 2.99GB of music that I copied off the G4.
Ideally I want to keep the hard drive of the macbook as empty as possible, so would like to use itunes just from the external drive, plugging it in whenever I want to use itunes.
Many thanks,
Hugh
G5, macbook pro, G4 Mac OS X (10.4.7)

By changing the location, you only told iTunes where to store the next ripped CD or purchased music. iTunes doesn't know where your music is.
The song locations are stored in the 'iTunes Library' file.
If you're using iTunes 7, there could be an easy fix.
First, copy the entire iTunes folder from the G4 to the external drive (not just the iTunes Music folder inside it).
Then connect the drive to the MacBook and hold the Option button down when you run iTunes. Keep holding it down until a window pops up that lets you choose a library (or create a new one).
Choose the iTunes folder on the external.
iTunes now should recognize it.
Hope this helps.
M

Using external drive for iTunes Library

There's about 80G of music on my external hard drive. I'd like to use this music as the library when the external is connected to the laptop. I don't know how to make this work. I know it's possible to duplicate the music on the Powerbook and create another library on the HD. But what I'm looking to do is have the laptop library separate from the HD and to manually choose which is being used. The problem is getting the mac to create a library of the 80G of music stored on the HD.
Any replies greatly appreciated.
Powerbook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.8)

It's no different than creating any new iTunes library. Since you already have an iTunes Library file that you want to keep, rename that file...something like iTunes Laptop Library. Then hold down the Option key while opening iTunes and choose "Create Library" when presented with the option. iTunes will create a new iTunes Library file in the iTunes folder, and it will be empty. Use the Add command or drag-and-drop the external HD music folder to populate this new library. When you close iTunes, you might want to rename this new library file also, so the two library files, which can coexist peacefully side by side, are easy to distinguish from each other.
Whenever you want to switch from using one library to the other, just hold down the Option key when opening iTunes, select Choose Library, and select the other library file.
iMac G4 17; iBook G4 1.33 Mhz 14; iPod 3G 20GB Mac OS X (10.3.9)

Should I create a partition on external drive for iTunes music?

...or will it create it's own space outwith my backup stuff?
(Secondary question: would moving my iTunes music from internal to external drive noticably improve performance of my Mac? I'm using about 135GB of a 250GB drive, 60GB of which is in iTunes Music folder)

Should I create a partition on external drive for iTunes music? or will it create it's own space outwith my backup stuff?
I see no good reason to create a separate partition unless you're backing up with Time Machine. TM prefers to have it's own volume, so in that case partitioning would probably be a good idea.
would moving my iTunes music from internal to external drive noticably improve performance of my Mac? I'm using about 135GB of a 250GB drive, 60GB of which is in iTunes Music folder.
No, probably not. As long as you're not getting the drive too full - opinions vary but about 20GB remaining should be plenty for most uses - you probably won't see any overall change in performance just from moving the iTunes content.
Message was edited by: Dave Sawyer

Using both internal and external drives for iTunes

Hi
I know this is a basic question . I did a few searches and my head started spinning .
I've been using an external drive for my music but it only has 3GB left .
My internal drive has 12GB so I would like to start to use it for storage of music along with the external . (I'll be getting a new mac soon)
In Importing I have >Create file names with track number
Advanced>Keep iTunes Music folder organized
This is on my Panther eMac with iTunes 4.7.1
thanks in advance for any help
----------bob
Powerbook Mac OS X (10.4.6) Panther eMac

The only thing you have to do is to click the 'Reset' button in Preferences>Advanced>General.
Your 'iTunes Music folder location' will be reset to the default location on the internal disk.
All new imported music will be stored there.
New added music will be stored there if you have the checked 'copy files to iTunes Music folder location when adding to library' in Preferences>Advanced>General.
When your new Mac arrives and you want to transfer the library, first copy the entire 'iTunes' folder (in ./Users/YourUsername/Music) from your eMac to the exact same location on the new Mac.
To transfer the iTunes folder, you can burn it on CD or DVD, but a lot easier is to put the eMac in Firewire target mode.
This article tells you how to do that:
How to use FireWire target disk mode
After the transfer of the iTunes folder is completed, connect your external drive and run iTunes.
The new Mac will have a newer iTunes version and it will take some time to convert the old library format to the new format.
Once all works OK and If you want all your music on your new Mac, use the 'Consolidate Library...' command from the Advanced menu in the menubar.
All music from the external disk will be copied to the internal disk.
Hope this helps.
M
17' iMac fp 800 MHz 768 MB RAM Mac OS X (10.4.6) Several ext. HD (backup and data)

Use external drive for Time Capsule backups AND file storage?

I have an external drive formatted by my MBP. I'm using it to store my iTunes music library and iPhoto pics. Can I use the drive for Time Capsule backups as well?

Yes, but that is not recommended. Storage and backup should be kept separate to reduce the chances of a disk failure. This is especially important because you cannot even partition a Time Capsule drive. Go get a separate drive for your storage needs. Get another drive for a second backup and use a different method of backup than Time Machine

Case Sensitive External Drive for iTunes

My iTunes Library is currently stored on a case sensitive external drive. I am moving it to another drive that I found out is formatted as a non-case sensitive (both areJournaled). When I tried to move my iTunes Library, it would not copy because there are apparently some duplications that are different in case and this causes a problem when duplication to a non-case sensitive drive.
I figure I have two options:
1) Reformat the new drive to be Journaled and Case Sensitive
2) Go through the tedious process of identifying which files in the iTunes Library would be duplicates in a non-case sensitive drive. There could be just a few or hundreds (or even thousands).
What is the disadvantage of using a Case Sensitive drive for iTunes (option #1)? I may also store some other files on this drive.
I noticed that all my other drives, on both my desktops and external are formatted as non-case sensitive.

If you can get to the two metadata files that iTunes keeps on the old PC, then you have several options. See: What are the iTunes Library files?
1) Use the 'iTunes Library.itl' file on the old PC to completely recreate your Library. You will have to place all the music files/folders in the exact same location on the new PC as they were on the old PC. That drive letter and directory path. Then copy the older ITL file over the current one on the new PC. Open iTunes and you'll have a clone of the old PC's Library. As you have been using an ExHD to store the music, this would be my preferred choice. It's easy to remap the drive letter of an ExHD, if needed.
2) The other way is to 'File=>Import' the XML file and recover the Playlists from there. They will not be in any folder structure as they were in the previous iTunes. Also, any playlists that depended on ratings, play counts and last played will be changed, as those attributes have not been carried over using this method.
Post back if you have questions.

Same external drive for iTunes and Zune?

Hi all,
I have an external drive that holds all of my music, which is for iTunes and my iPods. I used to have Zune players, and recently found them in a box. I tried to set up Zune on my brothers PC, but it doesn't read my external drive. I just saw that my external is formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Is there a format I can use that would work on both a Mac an a PC?
If not, I can format another drive I have so it would work on the PC. I would then like to transfer my music from my Mac OS Extended (Journaled ) to the other drive. Will it work, or will the music files also still be M OE E (Journaled)?
Thanks for any help...

Figured it out. I just formated a seperate external drive to DOS Fat and copied the music from the Mac OS Extened external drive. I was able to put the music on my Zunes and it worked, even as MP4's.

Using external drive for MacBook that was previously used for PC

I can't be the only person who'd had this issue...but I can't seem to find anything about this problem.
I have an external drive that I was using for my iTunes library on my PC. I recently upgraded to a MacBook. I was hoping to continue using my external drive for my iTunes library. When I plugged the external drive into the MacBook, it characteristically made my life very easy by quickly setting up itunes for me. It wasn't until the next day I realized that my entire library had been copied from the external drive onto the MacBook hard drive. This was not my intention.
It seems, however, that though my nifty new MacBook can easily read and use any files from my old external drive, it absolutely will not write to the external drive. In fact, even though I've repeatedly changed my iTunes settings to use the external drive for the iTunes library, it continues to write CD's onto the Macbook hard drive.
sigh
I'm very worried that:
1. I've now used 4 of my 5 "authorized" machines
2. I've used another move that I can make with the music I've purchased on iTunes and I will now have to use yet another move in order to make this right
3. I fear if I back up my music now, because of 1 & 2 I will lose my rights to some of my music.
If anyone has any help for any of these issues I would be very grateful! This is my first Apple in about 20 years, so be gentle!

martinifontaine wrote:
It seems, however, that though my nifty new MacBook can easily read and use any files from my old external drive, it absolutely will not write to the external drive.
i'm guessing this is a NTSF formatted drive. in order for your Mac to write to it, you need to install e.g. NTFS-3G
In fact, even though I've repeatedly changed my iTunes settings to use the external drive for the iTunes library, it continues to write CD's onto the Macbook hard drive.
above will probably take care of that
I'm very worried that:
1. I've now used 4 of my 5 "authorized" machines
you can deauthorize the PC if no longer in use. also, once you've reached the "5-computer" limit, you get the option (once per year) to *deauthorize all*, then reauthorize those in use. click here for information.
2. I've used another move that I can make with the music I've purchased on iTunes and I will now have to use yet another move in order to make this right
not sure what you mean by move.
3. I fear if I back up my music now, because of 1 & 2 I will lose my rights to some of my music.
no. you can transfer purchased content between authorized machines as much as you want. see _*iTunes for Mac: How to copy purchases between computers*_.
JGG

Use external drive for windows and mac

Hello,
I just bought a external 320Gb Western Digital Drive. I would like to use
the drive for windows and mac.I will not like to make partation on the drive
to use it on both operating systems. Is there any formating system with which i can use in both operating systems? I would like to use time machine feature on that drive also.
Thanx.

If you want to use a disk for both PC/Mac file storage and Time Machine, you will have to create two partitions. Partitioning is sort of like creating multiple virtual disks on the same physical disk. One partition should be formatted for PC (which the Mac can also use) and the other should be formatted for HFS+ (Mac only) which is what Time Machine requires. The Disk Utility application makes partitioning and formatting very easy.

Apple TV sync problems when using external drive in iTunes

I have my iTunes library on an external drive in order to save HD space. Unfortunately the external driver some times get disconnected and I need to mount it again.
Since iTunes can not find the songs when the drive get disconnected, all songs are marked with an exclamation mark . So far no problem as the song will play immediatelly when i click on it.
The problem is now with the Apple TV. It seems that as soon as a song get an exclamation mark it get removed (!!!) from the Apple TV playlists. I would expect that the song is still available in Apple TV although in iTunes is marked with an exclamation mark, as this is only a temporary non availability.
The consequence is that one song in Apple TV may or may not be available for playing in dependency of the availability of the original song and its external drive in iTunes.
may be "its a feature", but a very annoying one..
Alex

I believe you created this problem at the very beginning by not letting iTune to manage your iTune folder. When this occurs iTune can only play songs when your external HD is connected.
You mentioned you want to save HD space. The better solution will be to put the most played songs in your HD and let iTune manage the folder and backup all the other songs to your external HD. Best way to find out is to check out the most played from your list and backup the least played to your external HD. Better yet, backup all songs.

Use same external drive for itunes in mac and windows?

Hi,
I have a Macbook Air that has bootcamp and I use 99% of my time under Windows 7.
All of my music and movies are on an external hard drive and I have a problem using
it for iTunes under Windows and the Mac at the same time.
Is it possible to have both versions point to the same external drive?
I tried almost everything but it fails as the file paths are stored once and for all in
the iTunes library file.
When booting under OS/X and opening iTunes, it loads the .itl file and shows all music
but of course it doesn't see anything since the path under OS/X has nothing to do with
the one under Windows.
My iTunes lib was created under Windows and all files are stored in a variation of:
J:\Private\My Music\iTunes[Rock | Classical | Soundtracks]
Under OS/X of course the path is totally different:
/Volumes/DRIVE_J/Private/My Music/iTunes/[Rock | Classical | Soundtracks]
Now if I reimport everything in iTunes for OS/X it will change all the paths and then
Windows will not be able to fetch the files.
Isn't there a way to have relative paths so both the OS/X and Windows versions
of iTunes work flawlessly without caring at all about which OS is running?
This is driving me nuts.
I'm not talking about Sharing an iTunes library over a network. I want to share the
same physical folder between Windows and OS/X
Thanks for any help.
Steve

Anyone?

Use of an external drive for itunes library - backup options?

Hi,
I have a dell laptop with 60GB of memory and I just purchased an 80GB ipod classic. I cannot upgrade the storage in this laptop. Originally I was thinking I would just buy a new laptop. But given that all laptops now come with Windows Vista and reading about all the issues that users have had with Vista and Itunes I do not think that would be a good idea. Do you agree that I should just stick with my Windows XP Machine?
So I was thinking I would change my music library so it resides on an external drive. My only concern with this - is how do I keep a backup of this external drive? From reading all the forum posts if this external drive failed it can be done moving the information from an ipod back to another drive using third party software but it sounds risky.
Any thoughts on how others are handling this would be appreciated.
Thank you!
Karen

Karen, most 3rd party software is pretty easy to use. The one thing I need to point out that relying on the iPod can be pretty risky, too. What if iPod is lost or stolen? What if you have an iPod problem that requires a restore? I would suggest that as a secondary backup for the EHD, you either burn data discs or possibly consider a 2nd EHD, since you can buy them pretty cheap these days. Right now, I backup to 2 different EHD's, then burn data discs as needed of my iTunes library, just in case I would be unlucky enough to lose everything.

Want to use external drive for new Mac, fresh iTunes

So I recently got a new Mac and have not transferred any music to it yet. In fact I haven't even launched iTunes. I want to store all of my music and play it from an external drive. I have found articles detailing how to transfer your library from your internal drive to an external one but I don't have an internal library of music on this machine. How do I set up iTunes to play from an external library for the first time? And how do I add my backed up music from my previous iTunes to that external drive's new music library? Do I just drag the files into the folder and hope iTunes will recognize them?
Thanks!

okay, i had to collect my thoughts for a moment
... but I don't have an internal library of music on this machine.
is *this machine* the new Mac ?
How do I set up iTunes to play from an external library for the first time?
the files will have to be added to iTunes. however, with the correct settings, they can be put straight on the external.
in order to set up iTunes on the new Mac, you will have to launch it. with the external drive mounted on your new Mac's desktop, go iTunes > preferences > advanced and point +iTunes media folder location+ to the external. this will cause iTunes to put all newly added content in that location.
also on the advanced tab, check +keep iTunes media folder organized+ and +copy files to ... when adding to library+.
And how do I add my backed up music from my previous iTunes to that external drive's new music library?
did you back up the music to disk ? if so, you should probably authorize iTunes with your iTMS account details, then just pop in the disk(s) and add the content to your library.
if you have backed up to an external HD, use the +add to library+ command from the file menu and navigate to the folder containing your media files.
JGG
edited by the Jolly Green Giant (where Green stands for environmentally friendly)

Using Time Capsule as External Drive for iTunes Music Folder in iTunes 9

First, prior to upgrading to Snow Leopard and iTunes 9, I had my 210 GB of music on a 1TB Time Capsule which I accessed wirelessly through my Macbook Black and I set my path to the "iTunes Music (External) Folder" I created on the Time Capsule as the default path for iTunes to access the iTunes Music (External) Folder. My iTunes Library and Album Art reside on the Macbook hard drive. Unless I opened iTunes when the Macbook was disconnected from the Time Capsule (e.g., not at home), it always remembered the drive path the next time it was opened and would play music fine. If I had to reset the drive path, iTunes would remember it (again, unless I was disconnected from my Time Capsule). Now, under iTunes 9.0.1 and Snow Leopard, iTunes always defaults back to the iTunes Media Folder on the Macbook each time I open iTunes even if I set the path to the Time Capsule. The TC is also used as my airport connection to the cable modem and Home Sharing is enabled. Oddly, iTunes seems to play music just fine even though the drive path to the iTunes Music (External) Folder is not being utilized, which it would not do under the old version of iTunes. A screenshot is below. Anyone know what is going on here?
/Users/seanrichardson/Desktop/Screenshot_1.png

Make sure the Time Capsule is ready and mounted before launching iTunes.
You can add it (the Time Capsule) to your Login items in System prefs -> Accounts.

I am using external drive for iTunes why does it put art on internal

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