I had to move my iTunes Library

and want to be sure I'm doing it right. I have my iPad and my iPhone as devices linked to it == the Library however has lots of missing/dead tracks [not sure why since I don't delete things and am very careful but in any event that's an issue] - I don't mind creating a new Library and actually am doing it now, re-downloading the Apps from the Appstore that I purchased. But before I move music and other items or do anything else, how can I best merge the old Library [which is on an external drive] with the new one that, I hope, is all cleaned up. I have spent some time already backing up all my music etc. to yet another drive just in case - so I have the old Library [which has lots of stuff in it but lots of dead tracks too] to which my iPad and iPhone are connected, the new Library which will at least have the Apps in it but so far nothing else, and the backup of ALL my media, just in case???

Hey Victoria Herring,
Thanks for the question. It sounds like you would be interested in Part 4-6 of the external drive section of this article:
iTunes: How to move your music to a new computer
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527
Thanks,
Matt M.

Similar Messages

I need to move my itunes library from a pc to a laptop in a different home, can I do this? help!

I had set up my original itunes library on a pc in my previous home. I have left this home due to a marriage split up and now live somewhere else.
I have a new lap top which I am desperate to update my ipod nano on.
I have set up home sharing, and authorised my laptop. Unfortunately, I no techno whizz, and I'm really struggling now with this.
I have plugged in my nano to my itunes on my lap top and it is offering to either delete everything off my nano for what is held on as purchased songs from itunes - a total of approx 30 songs, from approx 1400 songs on my nano, or just update to show my purchased songs.
Help!! I'm getting to the end of my tether with this. Yes, I have read the tutorials and help through itunes.
Nothing is making sense or working.
Can someone please explain this to me like I'm a 3 year old?
I'd appreciate any help anyone can give me!!
Thank you!!

A PC cannot read a Mac formatted drive without using special software (MacDrive).
iTunes: How to move [or copy] your music to a new computer [or another drive] - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527
Macworld - How to transfer iTunes libraries between PC and Mac - http://www.macworld.com/article/46248/2005/08/shiftitunes.html
Move an iTunes library from a Windows PC to a Mac - http://www.macworld.com/article/1146958/move_itunes_windows_mac.html

Can I move an iTunes library from Comp1 to Comp2 through Home Sharing? What happens with the first sync? What happens to 3rd party app data (specifically, game scores/levels)?

I need to move an iTunes library from Computer 1 to Computer 2. Can I do this through Home Sharing, by dragging and dropping library items from one to the other? The library consists of iTunes purchases, home shared items and music/movies from our personal collection. Both computers have had all the accounts authorized, so I don't anticipate an issue there. I'd like to do this so that my son's ipod is impacted as little as possible -- specifically, his game scores/levels and other 3rd party data remain intact after the 1st sync and the organization of his icons remain intact.
Is there a way to do this smoothly and easily, protecting his ipod data/organization?

Sorry, I obviously wasn't clear. If you replicate the library from Computer 1 to Computer 2 by copying it, then all will be well. I routinely sync my iPhone and iPad both at home and at work using a single library that I migrate between the two locations via an external drive which is kept up do date using SyncToy.
Backup the iPod touch on Computer 1.
Copy the entire iTunes folder from Computer 1 to Computer 2, replacing any existing iTunes folder on Computer 2.
Check that content is accessible in the migrated library. (Won't be a problem for a standard iTunes library where all the content is inside the iTunes Media folder which in turn is inside your iTunes folder).
Connect iPod touch to Computer 2.
Sync.
In the unlikely event that something goes wrong (it won't) then you can connect the device back to Computer 1 to restore it.
Note device backups are not stored within the iTunes library and stay on the machine on which they were created. It is theorectically possible to migrate them but there isn't really any point. Once you have synced the iPod with the copy of the library on Computer 2 then Computer 2 will make its own backup of the device.
tt2

How do I move my iTunes library (palylists and history) from PC to Mac?

I want to move my iTunes library (playlists and history - not just the files) from my Windows PC to a new Apple Mac.
I have an external hard drive and I have moved all the song files over to the MAC. How do I load up the library with playlists and history?
Thanks for any help.

I see where I was going wrong now.
The PC and the Mac are shared resources in this house, so both have their iTunes folder in "shared" places so that all users can get to them.
After consolidating the library, I noticed that the itunes library held in the itunes directory where the music lives had not updated.
A quick find for files updated today and bingo! there is a set in my user directory under windows. Copied that across and imported it and now everything is just fine. All songs, all playlists and associated play counts etc are all correct.
Now the only problem I have is that I seem to have 5 computers authorised for iTunes despite only having 3 physical machines.....
Off to the forums me thinks.
Ta

How do i move my itunes library to a different drive

i underestimated the space i needed for my itunes library. at the time, i thought 75gb is more than enought for my 60gb ipod, then the videos and movies came along. although i cannot put them on my 4th gen ipod, but i did downloaded a bunch of free tv shows and video podcasts.
i thought i was simply gonna delete some already-viewed files as i push the limit, but then the recycle bin on my ipod specific drive screwed up. i can no longer delete anything off that drive. since the partition i had earlier was kind small for my ipod drive, i think i want to reformat the drive to a different partition.
of course, i need to move my itunes library first. can someone please teach me how to move my itunes library to a different drive? thank you very much.

When I added a second drive internal drive I used this guide: Moving your iTunes Music Folder

Can I move my itunes library to icloud so i'm not using my computers memory?, can I move my itunes library to icloud so i'm not using my computers memeory?

I currently have my itunes library saved to my hard drive but my computer is super slow because of my library. I purchased itunes match so I can share my music which i think is great, but I thought that it would keep my library in the cloud and not on my computer. So the question is can i save my library to the cloud only? My library use to be on an external which died and I lost so much music that I had and was only able to recover from the CD's I still had. I don't want to rely on an external again.
Any suggestions would be much appreciated!!
Thanks,
Reds74

Hello dreid20,
Indeed, you can move your iTunes Library to a network volume. The only stipulation to keep in mind is that you'll need to be connected to this volume before launching iTunes for it to function properly.
iTunes for Windows: Moving your iTunes Media folder
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1364
Cheers,
Allen

How do I delete movies from iTunes library? I have moved them to the iCloud and now only seem to have the option to hide the icon in iCloud. I am sure I chose poorly at the 'keep file' window. Please help. My Brain hurts- 18 movies need to go-.

How do I delete movies from iTunes library? I have moved them to the iCloud and now only seem to have the option to hide the icon in iCloud. I am sure I chose poorly at the 'keep file' window. Please help. My Brain hurts… 18 plus movies need to go…. Thank you.

Instead of removing the music from the cloud or the iTunes library why not shuffle your music using a Smart Playlist which excludes the holiday music, or tracks that are not checked. For example, use this very simple Smart Playlist:

New MacBook Pro (first Mac). I need to move my itunes library from my pc to a networked external hd (wd passport for mac). I have an ipod with all my media (including video) and i have itunes match. What is the best way to do this? PC to Mac HD ...

Can I just consolidate and copy to the journaled hard drive over the network? Will a pc recognize a Mac formatted hard drive? I have searchd the forum and online for hours and can't seem to find anything that specifically address this. Does anyone know the best solution?
Itunes library on PC -> WD Passport for Mac (connected via airport extreme to new MacBook Pro). I plan to use this as the default location for my library because the new Pro only has 256 GB onboard.
Any help is greatly appreciated.

A PC cannot read a Mac formatted drive without using special software (MacDrive).
iTunes: How to move [or copy] your music to a new computer [or another drive] - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527
Macworld - How to transfer iTunes libraries between PC and Mac - http://www.macworld.com/article/46248/2005/08/shiftitunes.html
Move an iTunes library from a Windows PC to a Mac - http://www.macworld.com/article/1146958/move_itunes_windows_mac.html

How to move my itunes library from my PC to my iMac

Hi, I need to move my iTunes library off an old Windows laptop and on to my new iMac. The library is approx 100Gb in size. I searched and searched and can't believe Apple don't have an app for this. I found a third party app called CopyTrans TuneSwift which i read rave reviews about so paid my $15 USD for it and gave it a go. The backup worked well. Then came the part of downloading the Mac restore file. Once I tried to run this on the iMac, I recieved an error saying that the developer is not registered with Apple and could be a dangerous file.
I paid $4000 US for this iMac and yes I don't want to screw up the op system on day one. I can hold down the Control key and clicking to run the CopyTrans App to bypass the Apple security but I never want to do things like this... I want to keep the iMac clean and stable.
What to do now.
How can I move the iTunes library safely from my Windows laptop to my iMac.
Can anyone help.
Kind Regards

There's a failry discriptive guide on how to use TuneSwift to transfer iTnes from PC to Mac here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbl8PDuMJJ8

I am trying to move my itunes library from my old pc to my new imac, home sharing is on and I can see the shared library. My problem is that when I check the shared library to import it to my imac I cannot import it. Can anyone help me?

I am trying to move my itunes library from my old pc to my new imac, home sharing is on and I can see the shared library. My problem is that when I check the shared library to import it to my imac I cannot import it. Can anyone help me?

You need to transfer the iTunes Library from the most recent backup you made before the hard drive was replaced.
You can't transfer the full iTunes Library from the iPad back to iTunes.
There are third-party Windows applications that will transfer data from an iOS device, but they don't re-create the iTunes Library exactly as it was before.

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 do I properly move an iTunes library?

I wanted to move my iTunes library from my hard drive (which is full) to my external Time Capsule drive. When I created a new iTunes folder and saved it on my Time Capsule external drive and then re-imported into iTunes, I either have duplicate copies of each file or there is an exclamation point next to the file in iTunes stating that the location of the file can't be found. I have over 4300 files in iTunes prior to this mistake. What did I do wrong and how can I correct this situation?

iTunes: How to move [or copy] your music to a new computer [or another drive] - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527
Quick answer if you let iTunes manage your music: Copy the entire iTunes folder (and in doing so all its subfolders and files) intact to the other drive. Start iTunes with the option (shift on Windows) key held down and guide it to the new location of the library.

HOW TO MOVE YOUR ITUNES LIBRARY TO AN EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE

Read these directions before actually doing anything, just so you can do this right. I've messed things up before, it can get ugly...
That being said, here's what you've gotta do if you're running on a Mac:
Have all your music on the external hard drive. It should be organized in folders the way iTunes set it up
The folders should be organized something like this:iTunes Media (Top folder, everything is inside of this folder)
Audiobooks
Automatically Add To iTunes
Books
Downloads
iPod Games
iTunes U
Mobile Applications
Music
Podcasts
Ringtones
TV Shows
Voice Memos
Those folders are what I have in my 'iTunes Media' folder on my external hard drive. You don't necessarily need to have all of these folders. (I happen to just have a lot of things in my iTunes.)
Finding your iTunes Library Files
The way iTunes works is there are two parts to make what you see in iTunes work right. There's your media (songs, video, iPod games and Apps, etc) and there are your library files. They tell iTunes what your playlists are, where your 'iTunes Media' folder is located, and a lot of other important things. Here is how to find the iTunes Library files (there will probably be more than one!)
Look in (yourusername)/Music/iTunes
There will be a few things in here:
Album Artwork (It's a folder)
iTunes Library Extras.itdb
iTunes Library Genius.itdb
Itunes Library.itl
iTunes Media (a folder)
iTunes Music Library Backup.xml (this file might or might not be here. If there is no file with this name, it's okay.)
iTunes Music Library.xml
Some "temp" files (maybe, maybe not -- they are not important for this)
Anything in the list that is BOLDED needs to be placed in (yourusername)/Music/iTunesIf you copied these files to your external hard drive, you will need to copy them back onto your internal hard drive. These library files do not need to be in the same place as your iTunes Media folder.
Telling iTunes Where Your Music Is
Now that your iTunes Media folder is on your external drive, and your Library Files are in place in "(yourusername)/Music/iTunes", we need to open iTunes.
On the top bar of the screen, go to iTunes>Preferences.
In preferences, go to the farthest right tab, titled "Advanced" with a picture of a gear.
The top section says "iTunes Media Folder location" and underneath that you see a filepath ending in the 'iTunes Media" folder.
This path is probably wrong, not leading you through the external hard drive.
If it is incorrect:
Click "change" on the right and then locate the folder in the prompt that shows up. Once the "iTunes Media" folder on your external hard drive is highlighted blue, click "Open" in the bottom right corner of the window.
Give iTunes a moment or two (depending on the size of your library) to re-locate all of your songs. Voila!
If it is correct:Do nothing!
While you're in the advanced section, let's check to make sure you have a few important 'housekeeping' things checked off:
"Keep iTunes Media folder organized" (CHECK THIS BOX!)
"Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library" (CHECK THIS BOX!)
At this point, iTunes should be all ready to go. Before I get into any troubleshooting, note a few things:
If you ever unplug/disconnect the external hard drive from the computer, you must first make sure that iTunes is NOT running.
Also, if the hard drive is unplugged and you open up iTunes, all of your songs will have little symbols next to them. Until you plug/reconnect the hard drive, the songs will stay like this and will be missing.
TROUBLESHOOTING:
Not having permission to access the external hard drive:
In Finder (or on your desktop), right-click the external hard drive (if you don't have right-click, control-click will also work).
Click on "Get Info"
A thin, tall window will appear on the screen.
Part One:In the "General" section, make sure that "Locked" is unchecked. If it IS checked, uncheck it.
Part Two:
We are now focusing on the very bottom of the window, where it says "Sharing & Permissions"/
In the bottom right corner of the window there is a small padlock icon. Click it. When asked for an administrator password, type it in, and click "Ok".
You will now notice that the bottom section of the 'get info' window is not greyed out anymore. Make sure your user name (it says in parentheses "(Me)" so there is no going wrong here) has "Read & Write" privileges.If not, click on whichever privilege you currently have, and a drop-down menu will appear. Click on "Read & Write".
If you have any other issues, I will add them to the troubleshooting list to help you out. Hope this was helpful!

My iTunes library is set up the way I said in the top post and works totally fine.
Yes, and that is the default structure to which I was referring. iTunes will organize it that way automatically unless people do start changing settings (in which case they should know what they are doing and how iTunes works with library files and media structure.)
Both ways work, the advantages of mine would be that should iTunes try looking fo a library, it will always be in the default location.
It makes people think they have to change media location in preferences. They do not unless they want to relocate media only and leave other things on their internal drive (in which case there is no point in copying library files to the external, and you certainly wouldn't want to then delete them from your internal).
Downside is that then should someone move their iTunes library to anther computer they need to remember to get those library files on the external hard drive.
Just copy the whole iTunes folder and it will get the library files to the other drive in one step, along with all the other files.
Your post has good stuff but it makes a move appear intimidating and look like people have to do a lot of organizing to move the collection. It also throws in extra steps (namely altering preference settings) that could cause confusion or even make a mess of things. If people leave iTunes to default preference settings (which most people do) the move summarizes into a short line: Copy a folder and hold an extra button the next time you start iTunes.
Note that the instructions in the link I provided earlier do also include many steps, but those are to ensure that everybody does have it all organized correctly before simply copying the iTunes folder. In the end it is just a simple action.

Can I move my iTunes library from a Mac to a PC? (iOS to Windows 7)?

Hi everyone,
I currently have an 24" iMac, but I'll be traveling overseas and I'd rather not have a MBP (I know, right?!).
I am planning to get a Sony laptop. Is it possible to move my iTunes library over?
Please let me know! =D
My iTunes library is almost 600GB. (not sure if that matters).

Yes.
Type "move itunes library from mac to pc" into the google search bar for instructions.

How can I move my iTunes library from one Mac to another?

I recently purchased a new 13" MacBook Air to replace my older 17" MacBook Pro.
How can I move my iTunes library to my new MBA?
I also plan on purchasing a new iPhone in the next month or so. Can I move my songs from my iPod to that too?

Easy. Copy it from the old Mac to the new one.
There are a variety of techniques including Setup Assistant (as soon as you get your new MacBook Air, it will ask you if you want to transfer information from another computer), Migration Assistant (if you elect to transfer information later), enabling file sharing between the two computers, or copying your music to a flash drive or other storage device followed by importing it to iTunes.
iTunes: How to move your music from one computer to another
Once your music library and everything else you want to transfer from the MacBook Pro resides on the new MBA, sync your iPod to the MBA. Sync the iPhone too when you get it, and they will both have identical iTunes music libraries.

I had to move my iTunes Library

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