ITunes external drive- how to sync

I have a macbook and because the hard drive is only 150GB, I've always had my iTunes music on an exernal drive. I had to blow away the OS and rebuild it because of some problems and now, I can't get my music to show up in itunes. I've changed the media file location to the external drive and I've tried t consolidate but nothing is showing up in itunes.
What am I leaving out?

Ah, yes - i see the Compilations folder. Thank you. How do I now clear out the iTunes library on my office hard drive so that I can clear up a significant amount of disk space on office hard drive thereby being able to add more music to the iTunes library to sync manually to iPod and move over for storage to external?

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My MacBook Pro hard drive is almost full and I wish to store my Aperture Library on an external drive, how do I do this and is the use of USB2 suitable or do I need to use a Firewire external hard drive?

My MacBook Pro hard drive is almost full and I wish to store my Aperture Library on an external drive, how do I do this and is the use of USB2 suitable or do I need to use a Firewire external hard drive?

You'll get better performance if you use a Firewire hard drive (especially if you buy a 7200 RPM drive). Firewire's IO speed is significantly faster than USB 2. USB 2 has a theoretical max speed of 480 Mbps except that it has extremely high over-head. The fastest speeds you can typically get are about 300 Mbps. Firewire, on the other hand, has very little overhead. The fastest speeds you can get are very nearly 800 Mbps. You will typically be constrained by the maximum read/write speed of the drive, not the speed of the I/O on the Firewire bus. Now if you had one of those nice shiny new Macs with the Thunderbolt I/O and a Thunderbolt drive (Light Peak) ... I think they alter space and time so that your data arrives before you know you want it.
Also... unless you want to buy a solid state drive (very expensive), try to keep your hard drives from becoming much more than about 60% full if you want great performance. A nearly "full" hard drive is, on average, only about half as fast as the same hard drive when nearly empty.
USB 2 will work perfectly fine... just not as fast.
Also... it's much safer to move the entire Aperture library than to "relocate masters". Your images must be managed. You can Aperture manage them, or you can manage them. But someone has to manage them. If you "relocate" them so that they are no longer stored inside the Aperture library then you'll need to work out a system of how you decide to organize things and it's critically important that you don't start moving files around or deleting things without Aperture's knowledge. If you do, you'll break the links to your masters and start having problems with missing masters. If you have Aperture manage the library then you don't need to worry about any of that stuff.... it's safer.
Do make backups (use the Aperture Vault or use some other backup program, but make sure you back up your work if you care about it.) There are only two kinds of hard drives in the world: (1) those that have failed and (2) those that are going to fail. There are no exceptions to this rule. Hard drives are cheap. Backup software is built into Aperture and into your Mac.

How do I use Itunes from external drive as main sync for Iphone 4

I apologize if this is obvious but I have searched for quite awhile without finding result.
I currently have my iTunes synced to my Macbook Pro. I purchased a Macbook Air for ease in travel. I would like to move sync of my material on iTunes to my Air as I carry it more with me.
I was told at an Apple Store to purchase a Time Machine and an external hard drive. Both I purchased. I then read for a few hours how to move my itunes to the external drive. The only way I could finally get it to work was to physically connect a USB between the MacBook Pro and the External Drive. Once my Pro recognized the External Drive I dragged my Itunes and watched it copy all the data.
Unfortunately, when I am on the Air I cannot locate within Finder the External Drive. I do see my time Machine but cannot figure out how to get my itunes data from the external drive through the time machine.
You still with me?
So, can someone help me understand how to go the next step. As I understand from reading this forum I would then go into my Advanced Properties in Itunes (on the Air) and choose to relocate where the iTunes sync occurs. Then I can use my Air for syncing as it wont be dependent on the limited space and once I've changed the properties location for where to find my iTunes data I wont be dependent on the Pro.
PS: Yes I've downloaded all of the newest product software updates (iTunes, iPhone OS, Macs) as of the date this is posed 3/20/2011

try this:
hold the option key and launch iTunes. at the prompt, click on +choose library+ and select the iTunes folder you copied to the external.
obviously, the external holding your library must be mounted on your desktop for iTunes to find it.
if the drive is connected but doesn't show up on the Air's desktop, go finder > preferences > general and check if +external disks+ is check marked under +show these items on the desktop+.

HT4527 I have a new laptop/PC, and I want to keep content of iTunes on an external drive, how do I set this up?

I have a new laptop/pc, and I am trying to set up iTunes on it; but I want to keep content on an external drive (lots of movies/books/etc.). I know I will not be able to see when not hooked up to that drive, or sync with out it. What is the best way to go about setting this up.

Hi drnels,
Are you saying you still have access to the backup? If you do, you should take a look at [[Backing up your information]]. It will show you where all of your personal information is stored in Firefox and how you can copy it to a new install.
Hopefully this helps!

MP3's on external drive-how to link to itunes

Hi
I have all my mp3 files on my external hard drive. How do I view them in itunes, so I can then sync them with my ipod. They used to be on my Mac, but re-installed the hard drive so lost the library files

Use the Add to Library command (under the File menu). If you don't have the preference for the location of the iTunes Music folder set to the external and don't want the tracks moved to the internal drive, make sure that the option to "copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library" is not set in the iTunes -> Advanced preferences.
Regards.

, I-tunes can no longer 'locate' my library , after a botched cut & paste attempt to back-up onto an external drive. Still syncing with i-Pod but playlists lost , podcasts no longer syncing, Can't play music .. how to restore back to original state .

I-tunes can no longer 'locate' my library , after a botched cut & paste attempt to back-up onto an external drive.Cant play any music as it "can't find" the library Still syncing with i-Pod but playlists lost , podcasts no longer syncing. How to restore back to original state . I have tried re-installing - with no change

I do the same thing as you do...
My music is on an external drive as to not use up gigabytes of storage that need not be used for media.
There are a couple basic principles to iTunes that I believe you should know.
1. iTunes is not a media storage program. It does not store your media "in iTunes". It simply is an organization tool for your media already on a hard disk.
2. As iTunes is not a storage mechanism, it has no way to "know" whether or not the media that is listed is actually there. This is where the "design" of iTunes comes into play.
I like to think of iTunes as a bread-crumb trail. The "music" in iTunes, isn't actually there. The bread crumb is the location on the external hard drive.
If that bread crumb trail disappears (in this case the external drive you use). If said external drive is not plugged in, that bread crumb trail is not able to be followed. iTunes is "lost" and unable to find the media. The only way to remedy this is to place the media on your local drive.
To address your issue of the library. If you hold down shift, you can select your library on your external drive. It will be a file with an .itl extension. The folder name will be your external drive.
I go into edit > preferences > advanced and set my library to the correct location. Make sure you check the box "Copy to iTunes Folder when importing" (or whatever it says).
You can't fix the issue of iTunes not seeing the media if your drive is unplugged unless you physically move the content to your OS HDD...Or any other HDD you use.

Itunes library on external drive - won't sync

Recently my computer crashed and I had to restart the whole system. Luckily i backed up my itunes library to an external drive. I restarted the system and downloaded itunes and now i am unable to connect to my tunes.
Each time i connect my ipod, it advises me that i can either sync it to this library (blank) or transfer the purchases - neither of which i want to do, as i will loose my music tracks.
I have tired to follow the steps on the help, but it only added the names of the playlists, but none of the content.
Any ideas how i can sync my ipod to my itunes???

sorted it

Itunes music on external drive - how to get it back onto mac.

hi - some time ago I transferred my growing itunes library to an external hard drive. The database remained on the mac. My mac was an old powerpc imac. So far no problem. Things moved on and I have just bought a new imac i3 etc. I would now like to transfer my itunes content to the new mac as it has loads of space. Alternatively I would be happy to keep the music on the external drive. I transferred the contents of the old mac to the new mac without any difficulty. The database on itunes arrived seemlessly on the new mac. I plugged in the external hard drive and nothing worked. I had forgotten that the old mac was power pc and the new mac was of course intel.
My question is now, how do I get the library on the external drive back onto my old mac so that I can transfer it to the new mac? Any ideas. I am sure it is simple, but am not the best on computers. I can follow instructions.

mdockrell wrote:
will make sure both machine are running the same version and try again
again, the version shouldn't matter - the worst that could happen is that the newer version would need to update the library (which may take a while).
if you still have access the the PPC, try copying its iTunes folder once more to the intel. you can use a thumb drive or connect the two Macs with a firewire cable, boot the source Mac in _*Target Disk Mode*_, and copy the entire iTunes folder from <MacintoshHD>/users/<yourname>/music on the source to <MacintoshHD>/users/<yourname>/music on the target (overwriting the iTunes folder in place there).
connect the external to the intel and wait for it to mount, then launch iTunes.
what happens ?

ITunes library on external drive erased after syncing.....

Here's the scoop....Been running itunes 7.0.2 on Windows XP w/ no problems at all. I ran out of space on my internal drive so I added a WD My Book usb external drive last night. I want to use it for my main drive for the library, so I changed my library directory and then consolidated it all to the external drive, according to the directions here. Everything seemingly went ok.
Everything works just fine, until I sync up my ipod. It does the typical "slow way down, and maybe occasionally lock up" that I've read about so much here. Sometimes it will "finish" syncing after about 2-3 hours. That's not the big problem though. The main issue is that the library in the ext drive disappears as soon as I plug in my ipod. After syncing, my ipod is still unchanged, no songs added or deleted, and the ext drive is empty. The songs appear to be in my itunes library, but if I try to play any of them w/ the itunes player, it says they can't be found. And when I search the ext drive w/ windows explorer, it shows up empty. I have to run system restore to get them back. After that, everything is back to normal until I plug my ipod in again, then the whole vicious cycle starts over.
So far I have tried 4 of the 5r's. I'm afraid to do a restore on the ipod quite yet, cause I don't wanna risk losing it all. I've searched the forums a bit, but can't really find anything addressing this issue. Not really sure where to go from here, so any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!!
Emachines Pile-O-***** w/ Celeron D Windows XP
Emachines Pile-O-***** Windows XP

It sounds like your itunes is getting confused in the drive letter of the ipod since the new external hard drive was added you might want to change the drive letter of the ipod.....
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93499

I refreshed my windows 7 and lost my itunes on my computer. I have my music on my external drive, how do I get everything back? HELP

I need help reseting my itunes after I refreshed my windows 7 on my pc. I have my music on my external drive & my ipod. How do I set up again?

This question has to do with how to restore your computer drive if you backed up the computer to an external drive. Did you use backup software or did you just copy the data from the old computer to the new computer? If you just copied, then you need to just copy over the Music folder which should contain the iTunes folder.

300 gig of music on external drive how do I access from Itunes

I bought a new 500 gig external drive and it came loaded with 300 gigs of music. It was supposedly installed with itunes, but I cannot access it when I install itunes on my machine. How to open an alternate iTunes Library file link, but it does not recognize the files. Am I going to have to create another folder on my external drive and then import the music into it a bit at a time (since I don't have enough room to do it all at once), or is ther a way to just index what I have into iTunes?
Thanks
Doug

I did an add file to library with the entire music library and after all day of processing it is now showing up and did not duplicate the setup. I had changed the save location to the music folder under preferances first. Thanks for the help. I guess it is time to figure out playlists next. Then go buy the iPod.
Doug

Want to run iTunes from an external drive, how?

I want to run iTunes from my external drive, I have already made back ups of my library and media files but I can't figure out how to save iTunes to the external drive? When you download itunes it just automatically downloads to the computer. Can you even do this? If not, how can I use the saved info on my external drive (library and media files) with my itunes on the computer. The problem we are trying to solve is a lack of space on our computer and we want to free as much space as possible. Thanks!

I want to run iTunes from my external drive, I have already made back ups of my library and media files but I can't figure out how to save iTunes to the external drive?
Drag the iTunes library to the external drive, launch iTunes with the Shift key held down, and point it there.
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ITunes music on external drive how to get iTunes to see them

Hi
I am using iTunes 9 and I have had to archive and install, but the problem now is that iTunes on my hard drive can't see the tunes on an external drive.
Ta

Open iTunes with the Option key held down, click on Choose Library, and point it there, or drag the songs or a folder containing them into the open iTunes window.
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Moved music folder to external drive, how do I get Match/ITunes to recognise it?

Hi guys,
I've been rather stupid in restoring my computer. I moved all the music to an external harddrive before I restored my PC but forgot to bring the Itunes library file with it. I've got ITunes Match so I can stream all my songs, but is there anyway to get it to recognise the songs on my external drive? I've tried re-importing them into ITunes but it adds each song as a duplicate, so I have the Match version and then my harddrive version, I really don't want duplicates of all 7000 odd songs! Likewise I'd like to try to avoid having to download everything from Match as this will take ages and be a bit of a pain! The only reason I care is so I can use my Sonos system with my laptop, otherwise I'd just leave them all on Match. Any ideas?
Thanks, Luke

You will need the iTunes Library.itl file which generally lives in ~/Music/iTunes/. You can recover this from the backups you were making before the HDD died. Otherwise, you cannot recreate the library.

Can I store only my movies in an external drive and still sync them to iPod

I have an 80GB ipod, and as I began ripping a few DVD sets of TV shows onto my computer I realized that I believe I can rip every single DVD I own and store it onto my iPod. I will be on the road constantly over the next year or more and would like to have them all with me. However, I don't want to take up the entire hard drive of my macbook with these files. I have an external hard drive, but also don't want to store my entire library on the hard drive so that I can still access my music on my laptop if I wish.
Am I doomed to simply keep my ENTIRE library off my laptop, or is it possible to only move the Movie files to an external drive and not have iTunes erase them from my iPod every time I sync it without the drive connected? I know you can create multiple libraries, but if I sync my iPod with the movie library, won't it erase all my music from the iPod and vice versa?

You can have multiple libraries with iTunes.
1. Quit iTunes.
2. Open iTunes and at the same time hold down the option key (if you are Windows press shift and open iTunes)
3. Choose "Create Library"
4. Once you have created the library go to the "Preferences > Advanced > Choose Where Your iTunes folder is stored
5. Choose your external hard drive.
Whenever you import/downlaod a movie use this library.
Repeat the first 2 steps to choose a new library.

ITunes external drive- how to sync

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