Is it possible to save an iTunes media library on an external hard drive that is connected to a wi-fi router?

The external hard drive is connected, through USB, to a wi-fi router. So, can I save my entire iTunes library on that external hard drive and access the files wirelessly and also use that library to sync my iPhone 4S? I have a limited hard disk space on my MacBook Air and don't want any itunes media on my computer, so would it be possible to have it all on the external hard drive while maintainig the ability to sync/play those files saved on the external hard drive without the original files being on the MacBook Air? Sorry for the long question I just want to make everything as clear as possible. Really thanks guys!

Unfortunately, I don't see a solution to your problem.

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HT1151 I have my iTunes library on an external hard drive that was connected to a PC, now I want to connect to my new iMac and load the iTunes library onto that computer, can I do that?

I have my iTunes library on an external hard drive that was connected to a PC, now I would like to connect that hard drive my new iMac and load the iTunes library onto that computer, can I do that? Looking for a solution that keeps me from re-ripping my CD collection.

Here are the official Apple Support instructions:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527
Ciao.

I have my itunes media stored on my external hard drive. On this external drive I have a folder called "TV shows". How do I incorporate this folder back into the itunes library?

I have my itunes media stored on my external hard drive. On this external drive I have a folder called "TV shows". I previously cut and pasted itunes TV shows to this folder to free up some space. How do I incorporate this folder (TV shows) back into the itunes library?

assuming the copy files ... when adding option is checkmarked in preferences > advanced, drag the folder into an open iTunes window while holding option (⌥).

Can you save your itunes and songs onto an external hard drive so that incase your computer crashes you will still have all your music?

Can you save your itunes and songs onto an external hard drive so that incase your computer crashes you will still have all your music?

The procedures below are for "moving" your library but as long as you don't delete it from your internal drive you are basically backing up.
iTunes: How to move your music to a new computer [or another drive] - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527
Simple answer: Copy your whole iTunes folder to the external drive. For subsequent backups you might want to learn about cloning and using a tool that only does incremental backups of recently changed items rather than copying all your files each time.

Can I move my itunes media folder to an external hard drive without having Itunes managing the media folder

Hi all....I have spent weeks tidying up my music collection. I moved it all to Itunes media folder. Since I don't like how Itunes manages this folder I manually organised it myself so that albums where together etc. I am wondering if there is a fool proof way to move my media folder to an external hard drive without letting itunes manage and consolidate files as this will reverse all the work I did in organising. Im not sure if Im posting to the right place but fingers crossed:)
Thanks in advance

Just one more thing puhlease:) This is the list of things that are in my iTunes folder. Album artwork, Automatically add to iTunes, iTunes media, Mobile apllications, podcasts, previous itunes libraries, voice memos. Then it has files itunes preferences, itunes libary extras, itunes libarry genius, itunes libraary, itunes music library......Is there stuff in there that doesnt need to be there as some are repeated in itunes media folder which contains....automatically add to itunes, books, downloads, home videos, mobile applications, music, podcasts, tones, voice memos and itunes preferences. Any thoughts on deleting some folders??? Thankyou so much for your time on this

2nd destination folder for iTunes media appears in my external hard drive ?

I've been having trouble with my external hard drive that houses my iTunes media (33,000 songs).
I've solved that issue, but during the course of it, because the external was flitting in and out,
I believe the destination for media in iTunes preferences went from : /Volumes/iomega/iTunes Media to
simply "/Volumes/iomega"
Now I have a new external hard drive folder named "Music", and all activity in it is just from yesterday.
My guess is when all this was happening, I'd get the "do you want to organize your media" question from the advanced preferences.
One time I pushed "yes" and a lot of files started buzzing. I didn't want to wait for 33,000 songs so I stopped.
Am I right in guessing iTunes was reorganizing my stuff to the new folder "Music"? Less than 1,000 songs are in the file, and
those are no longer in the old "iTunes Media" file. There's really no consistency to what shifted...it might be a single
song shifted over while five others on the same album stayed behind. I can't just shift the folders back because it will replace
the original artist folder with the new one, which will lose a lot of songs. I tried manually to shift some back song by song and
it worked OK. But it would take forever to shift them back in that fashion.
Is there a way to get everything back in a single folder? If I do the "organize" thing thru iTunes and let it run, will it
eventually shift everything from my old "iTunes media" folder to the newer "Music" folder that appeared yesterday?
And will iTunes then recognize that as the active media folder and I'll redirect new media to that folder??

Here are the typical layouts for the iTunes folders (albeit Windows images):
Older versions of iTunes would put artist folder inside the media folder, newer versions inside <Media Folder>/Music. I'm guessing that your library was in the older layout, even if the main folder was called iTunes Media, instead of the new one. There is an option to move from the old layout to the new one. Moving from the new one back to the old one can be achieved by tweaking a hidden preference file in the media folder. There are however good reasons for preferring the newer layout when it comes to moving your library to a new drive or computer. Details in Make a split library portable.
Have I understood the issue? If you really want to force the old layout edit the file .iTunes Preferences.plist in your media folder and change the integer from 1 to 0 then turn the "Keep media folder organized" preference off, then back on again.
tt2

HT5085 I bought a new computer. I backed up my old computer and put my itunes library on an external hard drive, that I then uploaded to the new computer. However, how do I access my Itunes account and use the $25.00 or so credit that Ihave and purchase

I bought a new computer, I backed up my itunes library on an external hard drive from the old computer. I then uploaded the external hardrive to my new comupeter Windows 8 - How do I access my apple store account to purchase additional music and use the $25 or so dollars I have in credit. ?
Thanks - Patti

You should be able to log into your account via the Store > Sign In menu option - if the drop-down menus aren't showing the control-B should them to show.
Your balance should be accessible wherever you are signed into the account. My account's balance shows at the top left of the store's page on my computer's iTunes, and by logging in to view my account via the Store > View Account menu option (that option will only show after you've signed in).

Opening iTunes 10 Library on an External Hard Drive from iTunes 9.2.1

Hi All,
I backed up my iTunes library on an external Hard Drive using;
'Machine A'- Powerbook, PowerPC, 1.25 GHz
OS - Leopard
iTunes - 10.1
This Aluminum G4 is undergoing repairs so I am now using an older Powerbook which works fine.
Configuration on this is
'Machine B'- Powerbook, PowerPC, 400 GHz
OS - Tiger / 10.4.11
iTunes - 9.2.1
My question is,
'Is there any way for me to run iTunes 9.2.1 using the 'Music Library' from the external Hard Drive'
and not loose any metadata (all the Tags/Ratings/Comments/Art Work)
that I have painstakingly undertaken for the last 8 to 9 years.
Tried opening iTunes with the <option> key & pointing to the library but got the error:
"The file iTunes Library cannot be read because it was created by a newer version of iTunes"
It is likely that I will be using Machine B for a few months,
so I really hope you experts out there can help me with a nice and easy solution.
Cheers,
Matt.

The iTunes application should be installed on the system drive. You may need to repair iTunes to fix that error regarding a missing .exe.
To organize your library properly see Make a split library portable.
If you don't have a working version of the library that can be transformed into a portable shape I have tools and techniques that can repair the broken links.
tt2

I can't copy iTunes media files from one external hard drive to another.

Hi, I am running the latest iTunes and Mavericks software on my MacBook Pro. My iTunes library is stored on an external Seagate 2tb hard drive and it is almost full. I want to transfer the files to a WD Elements 3tb external hard drive and have made that new volume the destination folder for my iTunes library. However, even though I have enabled read/write on both volumes and made the iTunes media folders on both shared folders, I can't copy all the files from the Seagate drive to the WD drive. It comes up with an error message that says "The operation can't be completed because an unexpected error occurred (error code -8058)". I can transfer files from my MacBook hard drive to the new volume, but can't copy files from the old Seagate volume to my MacBook hard drive; it makes the "boing" sound that indicates it is copying but nothing transfers. Files that won't copy include all music files, some video files and all podcast files. Some transferred with no problem. Any ideas out there?

Hi Limnos, thanks very much for your reply.
both external drives came preformatted for Windows but I erased each and reformatted them for Mac before using them.
i made the destination folder on the new WD drive the new iTunes folder using Advanced preferences in iTunes.
my original iTunes folder on the first drive contained all my iTunes files, as that, also, was the destination folder that was linked via Advanced preferences.
If I download new content now with the new drive attached, iTunes has no trouble finding where to place the files.
in Preferences I have both boxes checked (copy files" and "organize") that deal with copying iTunes files.
When I first attempted to copy all iTunes files from one media folder to the other on the external drives, I just did a drag and drop of the whole iTunes media folder from one to the other while both were mounted on my desktop. It started copying immediately with no problems, but as it progressed it started skipping files, each time displaying the error message I reported earlier. that included my entire Music folder. When I open, for example, a season folder that contains files that would not copy, eg, Modern Family Season 5, the episodes that won't copy are there and visible but any attempt to drag and drop them into the correct folder on the new drive results in the error message. There is no pattern to it; it will choose some episodes from some seasons but not others, and no music at all.
when I look at the "missing" files in iTunes they have the small exclamation mark that indicates the file is missing, but when I locate it through iTunes it doesn't copy the file on the old external drive to the new one. It just plays it having found the file on the old drive.
originally I had to make the iTunes folder on the old drive into a shared folder using the Get info window after either a software upgrade or an OS upgrade (I can't remember which, it was several years ago). For some reason the upgrade changed the preferences of that folder to a Read Only folder and after researching the problem found the only way to keep using the drive was to make the folder a shared one. I can't remember why and I apologise for that but it was a long time ago.; I can tell you that at the time it was necessary.
thanks again for your time; I have a good working knowledge of iTunes and Macs in general so I truly believe I have done everything according to how it should be done,, but clearly I've done something wrong!

If I move my iTunes media folder to an external hard drive, will Time Machine still back up that externally-located iTunes library?

To be precise, I've moved my iTunes Media Library to the same external hard drive where my TM backups are stored, although there's plenty of free space on that drive for both.
As I write that, however, it strikes me that if that external drive fails, I've lost my entire iTunes media directory AND my TM backup. So I suppose I should use a separate external HD for each, right?
But my main question is whether or not TM will still back up that iTunes media folder even if it's no longer located on the same boot drive as my main machine, which is a Mac Mini.
The whole reason I'm doing this is because my MM has a 250GB solid-state drive that is rapidly filling up because my iTunes library is 150+GB.

mende1 says:
I recommend you to store the library on another partition on the external disk and keep the first volume only for Time Machine backups.
and you say:
As I write that, however, it strikes me that if that external drive fails, I've lost my entire iTunes media directory AND my TM backup. So I suppose I should use a separate external HD for each, right?
From what people report here I'd say more people lose collections through whole drives failing and not just individual volumes becoming corrupt. A drive failing will take out all volumes on that drive.
Whatever the scenario, you will need multiple external drives. For convenience you could do as mende1 suggests and partition the TM drive. Keep TM on one part and your library on the other. This would be convenient because then you would only have one external connected to your Mac most of the time. However, then you should do as you observe and back up the partition used for iTunes to another external drive as often as you deem necessary. Basically you always want two copies of everything on two different drives, but they don't all have to be on the same two drives. Your TM drive acts as the backup for your computer and the primary for iTunes. Your computer acts as the primary for what's on TM and the second external acts as the backup for iTunes.

I am trying to move my iphoto and itunes to an external hard drive to free up space on my macbook...i have followed the steps to the change itunes media folder location (chosen external hard drive) but my new folder is greyed out so cant continue ?help?

I need to free up space on my macbook pro as hard drive is full!! So with 20 000 photos/video clips and itunes I would like to move this to a external hard drive!
I have followed steps on apple support but when i get to the Change itunes media folder location and chosen external hard drive it will not let me access the new folder option ?? help?

errrrrrrm!
Yes external drive shows up in finder on desk top and can change to in the media folder location thing!
My external hard drive is a WD Elements. I have no idea about permissions to the external? Do i Have to format external hard drive to a mac?
I am trying to follow the steps on the apple support page to transfer files (consolidate library etc) just cant get further down steps as the new folder option is greyed out!
Thanks for you help

Need to move (consolidate) my iTunes files (media/library) from my external hard drive (i use time capsule as an ext hd) back to my main iMac where my iTunes is located.

I used my time capsule (1st gen) as an external hard drive to store my iTunes files and my iTunes app is on my main iMac. Now, I've decided to move those iTunes files from my external hard drive (TC) back to my iMac where my iTunes app is located. What is the best way to do this?

Is the Time Capsule the right piece of kit for the job?
Not really, no.
TC is a dumb as board hard disk in an airport extreme router. It has no media servers.. no backup.. it is slow and designed for TM target for laptops. The major one here is lack of backup. Any files you put on the TC can and will be lost at some point.. and to backup you need to have a computer connected to it with an external hard disk.. and a 3rd party backup because TM is too dumb to back up network drives.
TC is designed to spin up slow and spin down quickly at the end of backup. You will have issues when you stream media from it.
ATV needs to connect to itunes server.. not the library. You will still need a computer running. Same for lots of things.. since apple designed their system to be dependent on itunes.
The best idea is a media computer.. a mac mini is ideal. Don't need the latest greatest.. but an actual mac running itunes. Unfortunately it doesn't have large internal drives.. so it is still a bit kludgy in needing a fast external drive.. but at least you have automatic backups.

How do I move my iTunes media folder to an external hard drive on my iMac with OS 10.6.8?

I am running out of space on my iMac hard drive so I bought an external hard drive. I want to transfer my iTunes music library onto that drive. I think I have to do it through iTunes, but I can't even see the hard drive on iTunes like I can see other devices. The drive is definitely connected. I can transfer files on my iMac drive directly to the external drive using the Finder.

Quit iTunes.
Copy the entire /MusiciTunes/ folder from internal drive to external drive.
Hold Option & launch iTunes.
Selelect Choose library... and select the iTunes folder you copied to the external.
After you make sure everything works, you can delete /MuusiciTunes/ folder.

HT1364 I used these instructions to move my i-tunes library to the external hard drive that two different home pc's access. My playlists do not show on both Is it possible to have one i-pod synch amid two different computers that use the same library?

I have a sole i-pod and two pc's, used the instructions for "iTunes for Windows: Moving your iTunes Media folder" in the hope that I could synch my one i-pod between two different computers that are sharing the same library. Is it possible to have two seperate computers that only share an external hard drive (one wireless, one not) ? When I am looking at a shared library should it appear the same on both machines (ie: playlists/ purchased list etc)?

If it is moved correctly, playlists will display on both computers and it should be possible.
Close iTunes.
Hold <SHIFT> and launch iTunes.
When prompted to create a new or open an existing iTunes library point iTunes to the iTunesLibrary.itl file on the external drive.
The entire library should now show up with all playlists and playcounts.
Do this on both computers.
Keep in mind that only one computer can access iTunes at a time, otherwise errors will occur when each computer attempts to write to or update the iTunesLibrary.itl file.
Syncing may work seemlessly with both computers, but honestly syncing is designed to work with one and only one computer.

Moving iTunes files/library to an external hard drive

Hello,
My music library has outgrown my MacBook, so I've purchased an external hard drive which I'll use to store all my music. I've been able to find information on the apple site about consolidating and moving my iTunes folder to another location, which I've done. But this hard drive will not be hooked up to my MacBook, but to a MacBook Pro that will remain on my desk, mounted to the hard drive, while I access the tunes through iTunes on my MacBook.
The problem is uploading the transferred files into the iTunes software on my MacBook Pro. When I do this, I lose a lot of the tagging (numbers appear before song names, I lost information about track and disc numbers, and sometimes much more) and I certainly don't have my user ratings or play statsitics. How do I preserve this information while moving the files from my MacBook to an external drive and then uploading the library into iTunes on a different computer?
It's this last step of successfully uploading the files with all their correct data that I'm having trouble with.
Thanks

I just bought a new hard drive, since my old 250 GB drive was maxed out (mostly music - I have 50,000 songs). I tried to do the standard consolidation method to move the songs over, but after 10 long attempts I kept getting an error. I'm going to try this method though - seems to be much more straightforward - I don't have ratings for my songs, so all I care about is getting the songs onto the new drive and having them play in itunes.

Is it possible to save an iTunes media library on an external hard drive that is connected to a wi-fi router?

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