If I move my iTunes content such as movies to an external hard drive will I be able to delete the content off my iTunes on my computer?

I have a macbook air and I am having an issue with space.
When I rent a movie most times I rather just buy it because its sometimes only a few extra dollors more but im having the space issue.
If I transfer my itunes files to an external hard drive will I be able to delete the movies off my computer after so I dont have a 100% full hard drive, and if I delete the files off my itunes on my computer will I come to a problem when I plug in the external hard drive and go to watch them?
please help!!
thank you so much!

If you have a router with a USB port (I have the AirPort Extreme with a USB port, for example) you can hook up just about any hard drive to it and have it recognized on the network. But first I would consider what you want your backup scheme(s) to actually do... personally, I use three backup schemes - I've two Time Machine drives to backup my internal drive, I've three clones of my internal drive, I've one clone of my Thunderbolt 2TB 'working' drive, and I regularly backup to dual-layer DVDs (not full backups, just archived material).
So you need to use one or more backup schemes - at least two for your internal drives (Time Machine and a clone) and one for archival purposes. A Time Capsule would be perfect as a wireless Time Machine backup and you can purchase a small (well, at least the size of your internal drive) external drive to make a clone copy. Time Machine offers incremental backups (a plus when you want to go 'back in time' - at least to a time within the space limitations of your Time Capsule) while a clone gives you a 'snapshot' of your internal drive from the last time you cloned. Both have their advantages, which is why I suggest using both. For purely archival purposes, however, I use DVD - I've been doing this for over a decade now and haven't had one fail yet.
So those are your basic options - a Time Capsule would work great for wireless Time Machine backups, but i would also keep a clone and use DVDs for archiving data.
Good luck,
Clinton

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I can only access the itunes library if i plug in my external hard drive. is there a way to add the music to my internal hard drive?

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When the drive is connected, use the Organize Library command in iTunes. If the entire library is located there, drag it to the internal drive, launch iTunes with the Shift key held down, and point it there.
(59363)

I have purchased itunes tv series, movies and music and have transferred them onto an external hard drive and tried to play them on my tv on a media hub. The file will not load. Is there some form of blocking by itunes or another p[roblem and how d

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You can't fix it. iTunes bought content is DRM protected. so it can only be played on authorized devices. i.e devices associated with the apple Id used to purchase the content. Its copyright protection that the rights owners demand.
Circumventing it, is illegal in most countries, and as such cannot be discussed here. If you want to play the content you'll need to connect your computer directly to your TV, or use some other device you can authorize for iTunes content such as an iPad, iPhone , iPod touch or Apple Tv.

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I run my iTunes via a external hard drive, however it has lost all it's contents and I haven't backed up! What can I do?
My iPad contents probably 75% of my iTunes library, but I'm scared to sync just in case in wipes the entire contents. I know I should of backed up but it was one of them jobs I never got round too (will def do now if my problem is solved)
Can anyone help with a solution?
Many thanks
Cobwebs73

If all of your media is from iTunes, don't worry about it. You can either transfer everything on your iPad from your iPad to your commputer; and/or you can redownload from iTunes all music and apps, and most of everything else.
If any of your media is from other sources, that's not so easily recoverable. If it's on your iPad, you can transfer it to your computer via a third-party application such as Senuti. (There are many alternatives to Senuti, some work just as well and are free.) Anything from non-iTunes sources and not on your iPad is completely gone, unless you have CDs or other physical media from which you obtained it stored somewhere.
At least now you know how important it is to have a backup.

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Several issues of which I can find no answers.
I have 600 CDs I have ripped. Due to space constraints, I have them all on an external hard drive. I can view all the contents of the hard drive through Windows. Yet when I click the song in Itunes library, Itunes can't find any of them. If I open up the song through windows, Itunes displays a duplicate song title in the library, and plays that, but no others. I've tried restarting Itunes with the external hard drive on. I've tried restarting the computer with the external hard drive on. I've verified my "Itunes Music Folder Location". When my Ipod syncs, it deletes EVERYTHING, since Itunes can't find these files. Every time I want to add a CD to my Ipod, I have to re "add folder to library" for 600 cds worth of music. This takes days to accomplish, after Itunes analyzes song volumes. Then I have to manually upload album art because about 80% of the CDs I have, Itunes can't find it. It takes me about 3 days of hard processor crunching and adding album art just to sync my Ipod to add a new CD.

I had the same problem. I had to move my iTunes and all my music from my main HD to an external. Even when I pointed iTunes to the external HD it messed up the whole lot. It said that it couldn't find any of my tracks and there where (at the time about 9,800) so I wasn't too chuffed. The only way I could get round it was to delete iTunes from my main HD and reinstall it on the external HD. That has worked for me. I am not saying it will work for everyone. Thankfully I haven't had a problem since, plus I've backed up my external to DVD's just in case.

ITunes isn't saving songs to my external hard drive like I want.

Hello,
This might be a simple problem.
I have my iTunes set-up to download directly to my external hard-drive. However, when I inport a CD....it's not showing-up in my external hard-drive?! Since I am assuming the songs are being stored somewhere, I would liek to know how to get them on my external hard-drive and then make sure they're actually NOT on my PC.
Many thanks for anyone that can help this not-so-tech-savy individual though this!
THANKS!

If you go to Edit>>Preferences>>Advanced, you will see the location of the iTunes Media folder. The default location is My Music\iTunes.
This is where iTunes will store imported CD and purchases from the iTunes store.
You can change the location to your external drive, but this only produces an effect in the future. Anything already added, stays where it is.
If you want to move stuff, you have to consolidate your library. File>>Library>>organise.
But be aware that this copies things into the iTunes Media folder,leaving the original intact.
If you use an external drive you must have it working when you start iTunes or iTunes will go back to the default location for the iTunes media and then you will have to reset preferences again.

How do i make itunes find my music library on an external hard drive?

OK. So i got a new PC and ive downloaded itunes. Ive authorised itunes. However, no matter how hard i try, i cannot get it to find my existing itunes library which is situated on an external hard drive.
I know ive done it before with my last PC but cannot remember how...and itunes made sense back then rather than the nonsense it is now.
Any tips?
Cheers

Hi there,
You may find the information in the article below helpful.
iTunes: How to open an alternate iTunes Library file or create a new one
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1589
-Griff W.

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tt2

Can I move all my photo that I can see on iPhoto from my Mac hardrive and put them on an external hard drive and still be able to see them as thumbnails in iPhoto? Thanks! The reason, I need to know if I can do this is b/c I am running out of HD space!sp

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Make sure the drive is formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
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4. Test the library and when you're sure all is well, trash the one on your internal HD to free up space.
Regards
TD

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Thanks!

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http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1848?viewlocale=en_US
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http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/copying-music-from-ipod-to-co mputer/P2/

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How do I move files from a broken Mac Book to an external hard drive

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You may find these Links of Interest...
Moving iTunes Media Folder
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1449
http://macmost.com/moving-your-itunes-media-to-an-external-drive.html

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If I move my iTunes content such as movies to an external hard drive will I be able to delete the content off my iTunes on my computer?

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