I have all my movies on an external hard drive. I want to be able to access them without copying everything to my iTunes. How can I do this?

I think DebinSC might mean using the movies without copying to the iTunes library?
Maybe the solution is to uncheck this box?
Or am I barking up the wrong tree?

Similar Messages

I have just purchased my 1st mac and want to start my iTunes fresh. I have all my music on an external hard drive and want iTunes stored on it. How do i do this

I have just purchased my 1st Mac Mini,
I haven't imported any music yet except from purchased music.
I have 100gb of music on an external hard drive (already formatted to Mac OS Journaled.
I want my iTunes to be store on the External Hard drive, and to update my External Hard drive with new music I add to iTunes.
I also want to know the best way of adding my music on the Ext Hard drive e.g.: "add folder to library" or "import"
I plan on buying a Macbook Pro soon, and want to be able to use the same iTunes library.

Launch iTunes with the Option key held down, click on Choose Library, and specify it. If the external drive doesn't contain the iTunes database files, create a new library there and import that music.
If the library contains any rented movies, they won't play on a different computer.
(109334)

How do you transfer iTunes music and movies from an old PC to a new PC. I have all data svaed on an external hard drive.

How do you transfer iTunes music and movies from an old PC to a new PC. I have all data svaed on an external hard drive.

This article should outline the options
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527

I have all my music on an external hard drive. I just transferred all my files to a new hard drive . How do I sync all my files with my itunes library without losing all my playlists etc and keep everything intact?

I have all my music on an external hard drive. I just transferred all my files to a new hard drive . How do I sync all my files with my itunes library without losing all my playlists etc and keep everything intact?

Launch iTunes with the Option key held down, click on Choose Library, and specify it. If the external drive doesn't contain the iTunes database files, create a new library there and import that music.
If the library contains any rented movies, they won't play on a different computer.
(109334)

I have all my music on my external hard drive when I try to add it to iTunes it is automatically added to my MacBook Pro's hard drive. How do I stop this from happening? I just want the music to stay on the external hard drive. Thanks!

I have all my music on my external hard drive when I try to add it to iTunes it is automatically added to my MacBook Pro's hard drive. How do I stop this from happening? I just want the music to stay on the external hard drive. Thanks!

This is true of course, but doesn't cover the situation where some files are in the iTunes Media folder and others are on an external drive. In my case I keep my music in the Media folder and all my films on an external drive (there are too many to have on the internal drive). In iTunes 11, and before, it was easy to add those external files by holding down the alt/opt key while dragging to the sidebar. In iTunes 12 this is no longer possible. There are several workarounds: use TuneSpan to move the file after it's been added; delete the file from the Media folder and empty the trash then use iTunes Get Info which will report the file is missing and allow you to locate it; constantly switch the Add to iTunes toggle on and off as required. All of these require a lot more work than just holding down the alt/opt key while adding.
It constantly gets harder.

I have vlc player movies on my external hard drive; can i watch these on the apple ipad?

i have vlc player movies on my external hard drive; i normally watch them on an windows laptop; can i watch these on the apple ipad?

<edited>
There's a vlc streamer app in the app store, but you would need to also install the streamer helper on the device where the movies reside. This works between my macbook and my ipad, but if you cannot access the external drive and install the helper file, then probably not

My PC computer was wiped (virus) including itunes. How do I transfer the many playlists and music to the new re-installed itunes?? Ipod is synced to old itunes. I have all original music files on external hard drive. Please help?

My PC computer was wiped (virus) including itunes. How do I transfer the many playlists and music on my ipod to the new re-installed itunes?? Ipod is synced to old itunes. I have all original music files on external hard drive. Please help?
New itunes is trying to wipe the ipod. But have many many playlists (many hours making) which I want to save. Any help would be appreciated.

If you want to just extract the playlists from your iPod, plug it in iTunes. When it appears under devices, right->click on it and choose Export Playlists. Save them to a location such as your desktop and them import them into your library once you have copied and imported all of your music back into it.
See this older post from another forum member Zevoneer covering the different methods and software available to assist you with the task of copying content from your iPod back to your PC and into iTunes.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2452022?start=0&tstart=0
B-rock

If I move the oldest 2/3 of my iPhoto library to an external hard drive, will I still be able to access those older photos? I assume that I will be able to select the source (internal hard drive or external hard drive)?

If I move the oldest 2/3 of my iPhoto library to an external hard drive, will I still be able to access those older photos? I assume that I will be able to select the source (internal hard drive or external hard drive)?

Yes, if you have a second library.
Here's one way to do what you want:
Make sure the drive is formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
1. Quit iPhoto
2. Copy the iPhoto Library from your Pictures Folder to the External Disk.
Now you have two full versions of the Library.
3. On the Internal library, trash the Events you don't want there
Now you have a full copy of the Library on the External and a smaller subset on the Internal
Some Notes:
As a general rule: when deleting photos do them in batches of about 100 at a time. iPhoto can baulk at trashing large numbers at one go.
You can choose which Library to open: Hold down the option (or alt) key key and launch iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Choose Library'
You can keep the Library on the external updated with new imports using iPhoto Library Manager

I made a bootable disc on an external hard drive, with Yosemite on it. I am running Snow Leopard on my iMac. How can I open the Yosemite disc from the desktop on my iMac? Does the external hard drive need to be connected to my iMac by firewire to

I made a bootable disc on an external hard drive, with Yosemite on it. I am running Snow Leopard on my iMac. How can I open the Yosemite disc from the desktop on my iMac? Does the external hard drive need to be connected to my iMac by firewire to do that?

kahjot wrote:
Snow Leopard's Startup Disk pref can’t see Yosemite volumes. So the only way to switch from Snow Leopard to Yosemite is to do what Niel mentioned. Doesn't matter whether it's connected by USB or Firewire, although performance via FW would be faster.
Are you saying that Yos/10.10, as a volume located in a mounted external drive won't appear as an option in Snow Leopard's Startup Disc, in Sys Prefs? I've never heard this one before. AFAIK any mounted volume, regardless of OS, should appear there. I would think that, if it appears in the Boot Picker/Startup Manager it would also appear and could be booted to from Snow's Startup Disk. I can't test this myself, since I don't have Yos. Is what you are saying documented somewhere?

How do I move all my movies onto an external hard drive and still run imovie

My Mac hard drive is full due to 300GB's of movies. I don't want to lose the movies and still want to work on them/create projects etc.
I've bought an external hard drive so have copied and pasted all the movies across from MAC hard drive to external hard drive.
I want to delete the movies off the MAC hard drive but still ensure Imovie picks up the movies from the external hard drive (continuously plugged in).
Can anyone let me know how I can do this?
Thanks

Hi
In regard to some versions of iMovie - and to ALL Video workings on a Mac
All - iMovie - all versions, FinalCut, Adobe Premiere etc etc
External Hard Disk - MUST BE - Mac OS Extended (hfs) formatted - Else broken files and all kinds of trouble
and rather a FireWire or Thunderbolt connected ext. drive - as USB/USB2 performs badly to me and especially when filling up, and when I use HD-Material (for SD-Video quality it may work better - but to a severe quality loss)
iMovie'08 and '09 and '11 ( Don't have iMovie'13 version 10.0.x)
DO not move or alter ANY video material - On DeskTop/Finder and in any folders named anything like
iMovie Event's - or -
iMovie Project's
If moved to e.g. another hard disk - the link back to iMovie app is broken - and this can be anything from HARD to IMPOSSIBLY to mend !
BUT instead.
Connect new (hfs-formatted) ext hard disk
Start iMovie
Move Event's and Project's - within the application
and now links to material is preserved - and space gained on the Start-Up (Macintosh HD) Hard Disk
Yours Bengt W

I bought an external hard drive and now use it as time machine. I copied my photos to it. Can I now delete my iphotos?

My photo library is full. I bought an external hard drive and am using it as time machine. I copied my photo library to the external hard drive and burned all of my pictures onto DVD's. If I delete my photos from my computer, will the photos still be on the external hard drive and saved in time machine? I am parinoid about losing my photos (memories).

I think you mean Your Hard Disc is Full as opposed to iPhoto.
agrech21 wrote:
My photo library is full.
With regard to your iPhoto Library... you can Move it to another External Drive and use it from there and then you can use TM to Backup that Drive as well as as your Mac.
1) Move iPhoto Library to External Drive
See > iPhoto: How to move the Library to an EHD
First... Make sure the EHD is Formatted Mac OS Extended (journaled)...
Format, Erase, or Reformat a drive
Quit iPhoto if open.
Open your Pictures folder and select the iPhoto Library.
Drag the iPhoto Library to the External Hard Drive.
To Use iPhoto on an External Drive...
Hold down the Option key on the keyboard and open iPhoto. Keep the Option key held down until you are prompted to create or choose an iPhoto Library.
Click Choose Library.
Locate and select the iPhoto Library in its new location.
And also make sure that all is working to your Satisfaction before Deleting anything.

I get an error message when I try to empty the trash in order to clear up an external hard drive. I had been using it for time machine, have shifted that to a larger external hard drive, and want to free up the space for photographs. Any suggestions?

What should I do when I get an error message (error code - 8003) when I'm trying to empty the trash to clear up additional space on an external hard drive?

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

HT1751 when I try to drag my Itunes into my external hard drive, I get the "no way" symbol, circ;e with a line thjrough it. How can I back up? I have lost a fortune in purchased items because I cannot back up despite following the Unhelpful help.

I cannot drag my Itunes folder to my external hard drive, despite following the unhelpful help exactly. I get a "no way" sign Circle with a line though it. I have lost a fortune in purchased goods (audio books) because I cant do it. Itunes have said they cant reimburse me and they dont have those books anymore, so cannot redownload them for me. Please remind me NEVER to buy apple products again.
I am scared I am going to lose more money seeing I cant BACK ANYTHING UP.

If you used the hard drive with another Mac then it is likely Mac formatted. It was because you posted in the iTunes for Windows forum (kind of the equivalent to taking a VW to a Ford dealership for service) I thought you might be using a Windows formatted drive.
Thumb drives are not universal. There isn't a "universal" drive format. Some work partly with both systems but are not fully compatible.
Click once on the hard drive icon on the desktop. Fo to File then Get Info. It will say the drive format.
Frankly I have never had your problem with a drive so I can't help too much except in general experience. The prohibitory sign is pretty universal and for some reason you are not allowed to copy to that drive.
I think if you had a Windows computer you'd be unhappy with it too and probably be posting on a forum that your machine was virus ridden and crashing and you didn't know anything about registries... To be honest, I was doing a presentation on a friend's Windows computer and wanted to get it to display a simple image file. There was no way we could get the .jpg image file to open with anything but Windows Explorer which is a web browser! I mean, that's really bad, and of course he was so used to using it without knowing anything about computers that he could not help me. I did my presentation in front of 30 people using Explorer.

I moved my iTunes to an external hard drive and now everytime I try to access it I get the error "folder iTunes is on a locked disc..."

Help. I moved my iTunes account (set up on a computer running on a school network) to an external drive, because I was out of network drive space. I changed my iTunes shortcut to point to my external drive. I am upable to pull music from a CD and copy it to the iTunes folder on the external drive. But when I try to open iTunes or use a previosuly set up device I get the following error message... "The folder iTunes is on a locked disc or you do not have write permissions for this folder." I have gone in and unchecked the read only on the folder and given my self all rights in my iTunes properties. Still I can't get in, and iTunes will only open to the folder on the external, it won't even open the iTunes page so I can see what I have. Help I need to be able to access those old files.

davidfrombillings wrote:
I thought I could just drag and drop my iTunes library to an external hard drive.
it'll work ... if done properly ☞
copy the entire iTunes folder (not just the iTunes music or media folder) from <MacintoshHD>/users/<yourname>/music on your Mac to the external, then launch iTunes while holding the option (⌥) key, click on choose library when prompted, and select the iTunes folder on the external.
if I already have my iTunes going to the incorrect files how is it going to find the correct files again.
you could try if this script helps:
iTunes Track CPR v1.3
This script attempts to locate the files of so-called "dead tracks"--iTunes tracks designated with (!)--that you assume are not actually missing but are still located in the iTunes Music folder in their "iTunes File Order" (Music -> Artist -> Album -> file.xxx)."
Eric Ross wrote:
When you moved the file back did you go back into iTunes in your preferences and select the advance tab and then selected the location again or where your files are
the iTunes media folder location in preferences > advanced tells iTunes where to put new additions to your library, not where your content currently is.

I have all my music on an external hard drive. It is on iTunes on my old Mac mini, which cannot support the new OS, which in turn means I cannot get iTunes match. I have a new Air. What is the best way to get my music where I want/need it?

anybody have any idea how I should get that music from the hard drive to the air without having it docked all the time?

If you have iTunes Match, you don't need to use Home Sharing.
Can I get that to work through Home Sharing?
No. iTunes Match gets your music from the cloud. You upload from one computer and you can then downlaod to the other computer.

I have all my movies on an external hard drive. I want to be able to access them without copying everything to my iTunes. How can I do this?

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for