I'm having a problem with using an external drive for my iTunes media

I recently switched to using an external drive for my iTunes library and I was able to switch everything fine. I was able to get iTunes to download and new TV shows, videos, and music that I purchased from the iTunes store to the iTunes folder on my external drive but I can't get it to do the same for applications. All my applications are still being used through the iTunes folder on my internal drive and new ones that I download get put in that folder too. How can I set it to get iTunes to put new applications and use the existing application files from my external drive?

There is a Windows based utility that will allow one to change the location of the 'My Music' folder, but you appear to be running a Mac.
You may find more appropriate help in the iTunes for Mac Discussions.
If you are running Windows, post back and some info can be provided.
Best of Luck

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How Do I use my External Drive for my iTunes Library without adding anything to my Mac's HD?

I have a new MBP and have transferred all of my music off my old pc (250+ gigs) to a Lacie 1TB thunderbolt external drive. How do I use the external as my primary itunes library with out using any of my Mac's HD? I'm new to mac so I have a few more questions...
1. The initial question above
2. will this work or will there be extra steps every time I disconnect and connect the external (other than ejecting)?
3. Will I be able to access it remotely / home sharing?
4. Would this work with itunes match?
Thanks All !!!

DevonC wrote:
I haven't set up Time Machine yet because it wants me to completely format my external hard drive, and it seems to want to use it for TM backups exclusively?
However, I would also like to use it to store stuff that I don't want to keep on my computer, eg tons of photos, videos, stuff from my sister's computer, etc.
Is there a way to do Time Machine but also use the external hard drive for storage? I don't mind temporarily copying the photos etc that are on there to my computer while I format, so that's not the issue. I just don't want my EHD rendered completely useless to everything else.
Thanks!!!
There are several ways to do exactly this.
If you partition the external drive, you can use one partition for TM and the other for anything else.
Even if you do not partition the drive, you can safely store other data in folders on the drive. Just to not use the folder that TM creates for anything. And it's best not to put files directly on the drive, in my opinion, but use folders for storage.
Just remember that whatever you put on the drive takes up room from TM and when the drive gets nearly full, TM will start automatically deleting older files from it's own folder.
I have my Tiger clone on my external TM drive in a separate partition and everything works fine.

Using an external drive for my iTunes Library

One post, many questions.
Sometimes I inadvertently open iTunes with my external drive turned off. It holds my library contents.
iTunes however, with no warning or message, just reverts the library location to my internal drive and throws whatever it wants to download there (usually a few podcasts).
My bad, I know. I leave the drive turned off because I often don't need it for up to a week at a time. My iPod charges in the car as I drive around.
I end up with my library split, all but a tiny bit of content over on the external drive hooked to my airport extreme, and that drive removed as the library location in iTunes.
So I change the location, let iTunes reorganize my library, and go on my merry way. I'd like to make it not happen. No, leaving the drive on is not an option. The answer to the question "Do all your little light up boxes REALLY need to be on all the time?" is no. It's easier to turn some off, believe me.
I moved the contents of "user"/music/iTunes/iTunes Music to the external drive. Downloads, Podcasts, and TV Shows folders live in there amongst the content. It works great unless I drop my iPod in the dock or otherwise start iTunes with that drive switched off.
Is it safe to go into the original location and delete enough of the file structure to make iTunes at least say "hey! where's the library" rather than changing my set preferences and filing things where I don't want them?
If I delete user/ Music/iTunes/*iTunes Music* from my internal drive will iTunes a. work? b. not see it, so just make a new iTunes Music folder and keep doing what it has been? or c. ask for a library location? (prompting me to turn the drive on)
Should I recreate that naming structure to/on the external drive? Right now the path to the content is shared/airport extreme/OWC Media Storage, with the content then on the dedicated drive. When I send iTunes down this path what shows up as the library location is just OWC Media Storage: . The default iTunes loves so much does show the whole path Travelstar 200GB/user/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music. Is part of the problem my just throwing the content on a drive I gave a non iTunes specific name?

I noticed this is getting views so, I'm posting answers to myself if case it's helping someone else.
I turned the external drive off and started iTunes on purpose to see what it's reaction would be.
It does redirect itself to the original location, remake the iTunes Music folder on my internal drive, and start to download Podcasts.
Is it possible to stop this? Can the path to the iTunes Music folder be locked? I'd actually rather iTunes crashed than reset itself this way.

Are you having problems with the Lacie external drive after upgrading to the new operating system

Are you having problems with the Lacie external drive after upgrading to OS X Mavericks?

See here for everyone discussing the issue you are having:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5475136?tstart=0

I would like to use an external drive for the iPad I just purchased for my husband? How can I accomplish this is there an accessory that would allow me to use a USB

I would like to use an external drive for storage on the ipad I just purchased. How can I do this?

You can't attach drives to any iOS device.
Having said that, there are some drives with built-in wifi routers that a device can connect to. These would behave like a cloud device in which some of your apps might be able to connect.
Try googling to find some brands.

I have the G Drive 1 TB (GEN4 1TB) external drive purchased in 2010. I need to connect to my new MacBook Pro. I'm using the external drive for media storage of my video editing projects. Will a 800fw to thunderbolt adapter cable work?

I have the G Drive 1 TB (GEN4 1TB) external drive purchased in 2010. I need to connect to my new MacBook Pro. I'm using the external drive for media storage of my video editing projects. Will a 800fw to thunderbolt adapter cable work? I understand that using a USB port connection is not fast enough for video editing. I read somewhere the G Drives don't connect well to MacBook Pro.
thanks
larry

I doubt this can be relocated or moved so you might want to just repost in the macbook pro area.
MacBook Pro
https://discussions.apple.com/community/notebooks/macbook_pro
https://discussions.apple.com/community/mac_os?view=discussions
Can you afford a new Thunderbolt case and cable? any case with FW800 is going to be slow 72MB/sec and less, and any new 1TB drive is capable of 75MB/s minimum up to 125MB/sec.
Thunderbolt storage can of course when setup properly reach 100's of MB higher using multiple drives.
Use what you have for a system backup or for secondary backup storage.
you might be able to take the drive - most cases allow you to open and swap drives - and use this:
G-Technology 1TB G-DRIVE mini High-Speed Portable Hard Drive
or this:
http://store.apple.com/us/product/HB137VC/A/g-technology-4tb-g-raid-professional -high-performance-dual-drive-hard-drive?fnode=5f

Using an External Drive for Time Machine and Other Things

I have a 2TB external drive which I use for Time Machine Backups on my 2 macs. The macs have HDs of 500GB and 160GB so the external drive has ample space for backups.
Is it okay to use the external drive for other things that I don't care if they aren't backed up (like digital copies of DVDs)? i.e. Will Time Machine cause any issues if a drive is used for more than just Time Machine backups?

rgraves wrote:
I have a 2TB external drive which I use for Time Machine Backups on my 2 macs. The macs have HDs of 500GB and 160GB so the external drive has ample space for backups.
Maybe. See #1 in [Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions|http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/FAQ.html] (or use the link in *User Tips* at the top of this forum).
Is it okay to use the external drive for other things that I don't care if they aren't backed up (like digital copies of DVDs)? i.e. Will Time Machine cause any issues if a drive is used for more than just Time Machine backups?
It's best to put such things in their own partition. See #3 in the FAQ.
You may also want to make separate partitions for each Mac's backups, if you're backing-up either one directly (ie, not over your network). See #4 in the FAQ.

I've used an external drive for time machine which has important files on it. After trying to back up my computer, it suddenly needed to be "repaired" by utilities. Now it's not being "seen" at all! How do I recover my important files off the drive?

I've used an external drive for time machine which has important files on it. After trying to back up my computer, it suddenly needed to be "repaired" by utilities. Now it's not being "seen" at all! How do I recover my important files off the drive?

If the external drive can be seen at all in Disk Utility, follow the instructions for repair here.

HT3275 I am using an external drive for backup. I am now getting a message that the drive needs a disk repair, but when I run disk repair it just seems to freeze.

I am using an external drive for back up. Yesterday the backup failed and I received a message that the external drive( a passport drive) needed a 'disk repair", when I ran disk repair nothing happened it seemed to freeze. Suggestions? should i simply erase the external drive and start over-my computer is fine.

Get a different drive for backup.
In the meantime, once you are backed up some drive safe, then you can attempt to repair the backup drive using the repair the directory link.

Going from xp to windows 7 64 bit using an external drive for music storage

Greetings Techies!
I hope you all are well.
I need to move my iTunes from an XP machine to Windows 7 64 bit. On the XP machine I am using an external drive for music storage and the iTunes database is stored on the internal drive. I am looking for advice on how to transfer all of this over to my new Windows 7 64 bit machine. I know iTunes can be picky about everything and I don’t want to take and chances and loose my playlists or music.
Any help would be much appreciated.
Blessings,
paul

You are right about it being picky. I just upgraded from Vista to Windows 7 and was forced to format my drive. I had all the music backed up, but when I imported it, I have 2 or 3 copies of some songs, art work missing, and have lost my playlists. I hope someone responds to your question, because I could use similar help! Best of luck to ya . . .

How do i use an external drive for iphoto library

I am looking to use an external drive to store my photo library.
Tips

Moving the iPhoto library is safe and simple - quit iPhoto and drag the iPhoto library intact as a single entity to the external drive - depress the option key and launch iPhoto using the "select library" option to point to the new location on the external drive - fully test it and then trash the old library on the internal drive (test one more time prior to emptying the trash)
And be sure that the External drive is formatted Mac OS extended (journaled) (iPhoto does not work with drives with other formats) and that it is always available prior to launching iPhoto
And backup soon and often - having your iPhoto library on an external drive is not a backup and if you are using Time Machine you need to check and be sure that TM is backing up your external drive
LN

Can i use my external drive for TM and files i don't want on my mac HD

my hard drive has a total of 232.57g which is not nearly enough space to save all my pictures, movies, etc. i've been using a 300g external drive to save my pictures, movies, etc. which is now full so i bought a maxtor one touch 4 750g to hopefully back up my computer using time machine, my 300g external drive, and whatever new pictures, movies, etc.
if i set up my new external drive for time machine can i still put the pictures, movies from my 300g external drive and whatever new pictures, movies, etc. on my new 750g external drive?
do i need to make a partition? if so can you tell me how?
should i not use time machine?
any information is appreciated

mac HD
capacity: 232.57g
available: 170.29g
iomega
capacity: 298.02g
available: 14.29g
one touch 4
capacity: 698.51g
available: 698.36g
thanks for the quick reply but i need to explain it better or ask, once all is backed up from my mac HD and my iomega external drive to my new one touch 4 i want to stop using the iomega since there isn't much room left on it
will i be able to add files directly to the one touch 4 without having those files saved to my mac HD like i do now?
or will TM remove my files the next time it backs up my mac HD since i won't have the iomega on anymore?

I am using a Hughes Satellite and I am having a problem with using all my bandwidth without even using my computer. Is there a way to shut things off that I don't need running all the time in the background.

I am using Hughes satellie for my internet provider. I am having a problem using all my bandwidth each day. Is there a way from using this bandwidth. I am using even when I am not using my computer. Is there a way to turn off things that are running in the background.

It depends a lot on what you have installed and what apps you run. Here's a suggestion: Get Little Snitch and see what processes are accessing your internet connection.
charlie

Using an external drive for OS, problems with install

Hi
My iMac, 1.8 GHz, OS 10.5.8, PPC's internal hard drive is failing. Rather than replace the internal drive, I had hoped to use an external USB drive to run the OS.
When using the OS 10.5.x install, I am repeatedly told the OS cannot be installed onto my external drive.
I cannot narrow down the isse.
Is it because it is a USB drive?
Is it the format of the drive? It is currently formatted as "Mac OS X Extended Journaled."
Is it indicative of some other problem with the computer?

You need an external Firewire drive to boot a PowerPC Mac computer.
I recommend you do a google search on any external harddrive you are looking at.
I bought a low cost external drive enclosure. When I started having trouble with it, I did a google search and found a lot of complaints about the drive enclosure. I ended up buying a new drive enclosure. On my second go around, I decided to buy a drive enclosure with a good history of working with Macs. The chip set seems to be the key ingredient. The Oxford line of chips seems to be good. I got the Oxford 911.
Has everything interface:
FireWire 800/400 + USB2, + eSATA 'Quad Interface'
save a little money interface:
FireWire 400 + USB 2.0
This web page lists both external harddrive types. You may need to scroll to the right to see both.
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/1394/USB/EliteAL/eSATA_FW800_FW400_USB
The latest the hard drive enclosures support the newer serial ata drives. The drive and closure that I list supports only older parallel ata.
Here is an external hd enclosure.
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/MEFW91UAL1K/
Here is what one contributor recommended:
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=10452917#10452917
Folks in these Mac forums recommend LaCie, OWC or G-Tech.
Here is a list of recommended drives:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=5564509#5564509

HT4623 updated to ios7 on Sunday - I am having major problems with my phone since - keeps freezing - updated itunes first then backed up my phone to my laptop. Is it worth it at this stage doing a restore?

I updated my iphone 5 to ios7 on Sunday and have been having m?ajor problems with my phone since. It keeps freezing and I have to constantly press the home and on/off switch to get it to restart. I had updated my itunes and backed up the phone before doing the update. I'm getting very frustrated at this stage as the phone is practically useless. Is it worth doing a restore? Bearing in mind that I just tried to do that and got a message to turn off the 'find phone' feature in settings and when I tried to get into settings the phone froze again.

I don't have a good answer for you but reading these forums, it seems that network drives can often cause problems with iTunes like you describe.
Patrick

I'm having a problem with using an external drive for my iTunes media

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