Importing music, artwork and data base from external hard drive

I purchased a MacBook to use primarily as a music server. I have an external hard drive with over 300GB of music files ripped from CDs in Apple Lossless with a computer using Windows XP. I also have another external hard drive formatted for the Mac. My goal is to attach both drives to the MacBook via USB and transfer the music files, album art, and iTunes data base from the Windows system hard drive to the new Mac formatted hard drive. Then I am going to reformat the Windows system hard drive to the Mac format and use it as a back up for the other hard drive. Has anyone ever done something similar? If so, I would appreciate some guidance. If possible, I want to do the above so that the file names and artwork from the Windows itunes system do not get changed or left out when making the transfer to the Mac system. All music files will still be in ALAC. Thanks to all for your help.

Lots of programs out there from which to choose. In the meantime, don't access the drive.
18 Free Data Recovery Software Tools
-Jerry

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If you want to use the old iTunes library that you have from the ext HD then just drag the iTunes folder to the new Mac.
By default the iTunes folder Is Located - HD>Users>Your Account>Music>iTunes - if the internal HD has no iTunes library then just replace the iTunes folder with the one from the ext HD.
Launch iTunes with the 'option' key down and point iTunes to the iTunes Library that you want to open. It will remember the next time.
MJ

I able to copy and paste files from external hard drive to mac, but not the other way around. Please suggest. Thanks

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Vijay Raymond Daniel wrote:
The only thing is we need to buy this software. if there is a free solution to inter change files between NTFS and HFS it would be better,
Don't use NTFS, remove your data off it first and change the format to something the Mac and PC can read, but doens't cost money or require software.
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I have been backing up via Time Machine to a 500 Gig external hard drive. I will be adding a 1 TB external hard drive and switch the Time Machine backups to that unit. I want to then use the 500 Gig unit to store photos, music and video, to free up space on the iMac. I have found the tutorials/threads that explain how to move the photos and music. I have two questions.
First, will moving video from iMovie work basically the same as moving the photos and/or music?
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I can help with number two. There are two things you can do, one quickly, the second more securely.
Both can be done with Disk Utility in the Apps/Utilities folder. Open DU with the HDD attached to your Mac and highlight the HDD in the left hand pane and choose Erase for the right hand pane. Press the Erase button. It should happen pretty fast, but because it is a big drive it may take a couple of minutes. But this does not really erase the data, and some recovery software could do a good job of getting a lot of you data back.
Since you want to store media libraries on this drive perhaps a better way to condition the drive is to select a Security Option and write zeros to the drive. After this any bad sectors on the drive will be locked out and not used in the future. Because this is a big drive this could take a few hours.
Dah•veed

Time Machine and Powerbook away from external hard drive

According to Apple's Web site:
+"When your mobile Mac is connected to your backup drive, Time Machine works as you’d expect. When it isn’t connected, Time Machine also works as you’d expect. It keeps track of which files have changed since the last backup and backs them up accordingly."+
except this doesn't seem to be happening for me.
Everything is exactly as I'd expect when I'm in the office connected to my external hard drive - hourly backups during the day. However, if I'm away from my desk for a few hours and then come back to the hard drive and plug it in I'd expect (from the description above) to see the hourly backups appear in time machine for when I had my Macbook switched on. If I'm away for a couple of days I'd expect to see one backup per day.
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David.

You are welcome.
Also keep in mind that while the drive is connected you can initiate a Back Up Now at any time (right click the Time Machine icon in the dock). So if you are about to try something worrisome or complex with your system or your data files, you can trigger a backup, do your task, and know the backup is there to recover from so long as it's still the same day. I.e., you can make the incremental backups happen more frequently than hourly by explicitly requesting them when you want them.
The thing that confuses most people is probably this idea of hourly backups becoming daily and then weekly. They are not merged when that happens. Of all the backups taken in a given day, only one survives. And of the seven of those in a given week, only one survives, even though there is still plenty of room on the drive. And when the drive runs short of room the oldest backups start getting deleted (although you are asked before that happens, just in case you want to start afresh with a new drive). So the backup that survives as the daily backup is a complete snapshot of your file system at that specific point in time, without regard to changes that might have been captured in other hourly backups during the same day.
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--Bob

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Hi FNM
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Lots of programs out there from which to choose. In the meantime, don't access the drive.
18 Free Data Recovery Software Tools
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Hi there this is my first question here!
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http://www.howtogeek.com/104298/sync-your-ios-device-with-a-new-computer-without -losing-data/
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http://www.apple.com/support/ipad/assistant/itunes/
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http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1591
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 Cheers, Tom

I'm having some difficulty with Time Machine. It appears to be deleting backups from random dates on my external hard drive. I am not deleting them. Are they hidden and how do I prevent this from happening? Can I retrieve them?

I'm having some difficulty with Time Machine. It appears to be deleting backups from random dates on my external hard drive. I am not deleting them. Are they hidden and how do I prevent this from happening? Can I retrieve them?

... I didn't know that Time Machine was more a last resort back up instead of main back up.
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Time Machine deletes ("thins") files from the backup disk as follows:
Hourly backups over 24 hours old, except the first backup of the day
Daily backups over 30 days old, except the first backup of the week
Older backups get deleted when Time Machine requires space and you deleted them from the source disk.
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http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1427

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That would be mounted as an internal drive and hence the corresponding option is not checked during Import.
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Hi Everyone
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This might be worth a shot - basically seeing if Vista permissions could be the culprit.
Give yourself FULL control and ownership of the exHD, let's call it M:
How to Take Ownership and Grant Permissions in Windows Vista
Take control of the top level folder and ALL subfolders.
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Importing music, artwork and data base from external hard drive

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