ITunes hangs with external drives; Genius is totally impossible to setup

iTunes very frequently hangs when I am using tracks on my external hard drive. I have verified the correct xml of the library files, and the drive's permissions are good. I also recently defragged it. However, oftentimes if I am editing the tags on or simply playing a track, the beach ball comes up and does not go away. When I force quit, I cannot reboot iTunes because it remains in the dock, with an arrow under it, even though it no longer is running.
After much trial, error, and grief, I found that when I physically disconnect the firewire drive (improperly, as it's still running, and won't eject due to having its files allegedly in use), the hang magically goes away. I can then sometimes replug it back in and work again, at least until iTunes hangs once more. I am sure this is not good for the drive and its files.
This did NOT happen under previous versions of iTunes and using previous system versions (I'm on iTunes 8, 10.5.5). It is a VERY. BIG. PROBLEM.
One of its many effects is that I have not been able to get the Genius function to work on my machine, as it always hangs. The Genius setup is so slow that I've never made it much past the first step. I have an 800GB or so library, and there MUST be a way to get this to work.
Are there any quick fixes to this drive issue? If not, can Apple PLEASE correct it ASAP? Not everyone has a little bitty iTunes library that fits on the internal disk.

Bummer that this remains a problem. I suspected it was the external drive I was using and from what I read here it seems confirmed. My library is much smaller that both of the ones listed here so I wonder if it's not so much size but the external drive. I thought maybe I just had a crappy network but iTunes has been uncooperative ever since moving my files to the external drive. And I've only got about 50 gig of files. Well, I guess I don't feel so bad now. But it's still crappy.

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I redirected iTunes to an external drive and moved my iTunes library and folder, but my hard drive is still low on space. How can I be sure that my music is all on the external HD ONLY, especially with the new iCloud technology?

I redirected iTunes to an external drive and moved my iTunes library and folder, but my hard drive is still low on space. How can I be sure that my music is all on the external HD ONLY, especially with the new iCloud technology? It doesn't look like I created any more space by doing this, AND I totally lost all my iTunes playlists. I'm not sure if because I added old library materials manually if this messed up my playlists, or if the new location is just not reading my moved library. In any case, I followed step by step instructions and found a few holes and thought I'd just "figure it out" but I guess I'm not as smart as I thought since I'm still scratching my head many hours later.
Thanks for any support ;-)
Eaglerocker

Quick answer if you use iTunes' default preferences settings: Copy the entire iTunes folder (and in doing so all its subfolders and files) intact to the other drive. Open iTunes and immediately hold down the option (alt) key (shift on Windows) so you get a prompt to select a library, then guide it to the 'iTunes Library.itl' file in the moved iTunes folder.
If this is to a new computer and you put the copied iTunes folder in the default location of Macintosh HD > Users > *User Name* > Music then you don't even need to start with the option key held down, iTunes will automatically look for it there. (Make sure there isn't anything already in the iTunes folder there that you want to keep since you will be replacing it with the one you are moving.)
iTunes: How to move [or copy] your music [library] to a new computer [or another drive] - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527 - a somewhat bewildering and not always easily understandable set of options.

ITunes Match songs on library with external drive

Hi,
I have all my music on an external drive (and my library files on the internal drive). I activated iTunes Match so I can listen to my music when the drive is not present. iTunes Match activated succefully and I see all my music on my iPhone. But when I launch iTunes without the external drive present and I try to play a song it just prompts me to locate the missing file and it doesn't give me the option to play it from the cloud. Is this fuctionality not supported or am I doing something wrong? Thank you in advance.

As Jim says not all DRM-restricted tracks will be eligible to be "matched." If you bought them from the iTunes Store then they will still be "purchased" and the only way the DRM can be removed is to burn them to an Audio CD and import them to the iTunes library again. However, this does not guarantee they will then be "matched" either.
To see the iCloud Status of any tracks switch to Song view in iTunes and pull down View > View Options and select "iCloud Status" then close the small window. The tracks that are still DRM-restricted will most likely be either "purchased" or "uploaded."

Question about moving itunes to wd external drive?

i found the page where it says u can move itunes music to external drive but will that include my tv shows also and if so can i delete it from my laptop after i move it to other drive?

\Music\iTunes\ folder is the main iTunes library location. It contains the library files, music files and everything else.
I have all of my music files already stored on an external HD. But for some reason when i moved it all
What exactly does "moved it all" mean? What did you move?
in other words in the old drive I still have the following files:
itunes library genius
-itunes library extras
-itunes library
These three are all the same type of files. I don't know what type of files they are
The iTunes library.itl file is the iTunes database file. Without that, iTunes is empty.
Since i already have all of my music files on my ext. HD can I delete these files without messing anything up?
Only if you want iTunes to be completely empty and you want to start from scratch.
Moving the music file syourself is not the correct way to do it. iTunes will lose everything.
If you want to move everything, copy the entire \Music\iTunes\ folder to a new location.
Hold Shift and launch iTunes.
Select *Choose library* and select the iTunes library.itl file in the iTunes folder you moved.

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Back a few years ago I put my itunes music library lived in a NAS drive. If the drive was not mounted however when you launched iTunes the library would reset resulting in a blank iTunes.
This was such a deal breaker for me in the end I ditched the nas.
Now I have my itunes library on an external USB Harddrive. If for some reason the drive is not attached when launched, all that happens is you see your library of music but when you select anything a little alert icon goes next to it with a warning the music could not be found. When you attach the harddrive all is well again.
A friend has an extreme base station with his music folder on. And has just explined to me the self same issue as I used to have.
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Your iTunes folder on your Startup Drive (in your USER>MUSIC>ITUNES folder) contains a file that is the roadmap to all of your songs, ratings, playlists, etc. Your iTunes application (in the applications folder on the startup drive) is, well, the application (like an engine) that runs iTunes.
By default, your iTunes Library (where all your actual MP3 files are stored) is in that iTunes folder (in your USER>MUSIC>ITUNES folder). However, when you store it on an external drive, you usually change it's location (in Preferences) so that iTunes knows where the Library is located.
So.....what's probably going on is that you have iTunes set up right for an external drive and it will run properly when that drive is plugged in. iTunes knows where everything is because all that info is contained in the file I mentioned. When you start iTunes and your external drive is not plugged in, iTunes will default to the iTunes Library in the folder on your Startup Drive (USER>MUSIC>ITUNES folder), which is probably empty. It knows where all your songs are on that external drive, but can't access them b/c the drive is off or disconnected.

Serious problems after Mavericks installation with External Drive Lacie P9220.

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Thanks very much for your reply.
Unfortunately I couldn't find a solution because the article refers to whom have configured the drive with included software and drivers that came with the drive.
This is not my case, I never used any third party soft ...only OS X disk utility ...
best
marco

Backing up iTunes located on external drive to another external drive

Greetings,
I'm on iTuens 11.3 and in preferences have chosen an external drive to keep all my music. I would like to back-up the contents of my iTunes to another external drive.
I have NOT chosen: iTunes - File - Library - Organize Library
Perhaps this is my problem…?
The external hard drive that has my iTunes library does not have a single iTunes folder. Instead, each artist has a folder within which are multiple albums, single albums or songs.
It seems there should be a single file folder somewhere that I can copy to another external hard rive in order to make a back up.
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If desired, you can move the iTunes folder to the first drive, launch iTunes with the Option key held down, and choose it before organizing the library.
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got to the part about moving the old iTunes folder to the recycle bin.
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In my message above, I tried to include a .png file of what my internal hard drive has in the music folder, but that did not work, so I am trying to paste it in here. I am wondering if I should manually copy these files to the music folder on my external hard drive. There is no folder on my external drive names "iTunes".

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Want to run iTunes from an external drive, how?

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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?
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Hi eduarda,
Whilst you should leave the iTunes application in the default location, you can move the iTunes Media folder to an external hard drive. Please read the following support article:
iTunes for Mac: Moving your iTunes Media folder
Regards,
Acros-Krik

Finder crashes with External Drive on Sleep Mode

I purchased my new iMac 21,5" less than a week ago, and I haven't had a problem with it except for one that it's been bugging me a lot.
I have a LaCie 1TB Quadra d2 external drive that I use to store footage (since it's HD, the filesize won't fit in my 500TB internal hard drive), but I noticed that sometimes when LaCie external drive enters in Sleep Mode, the Finder freezes and the only two ways around this, is to force reboot, because the Finder won't answer and won't open again, or unplugging the external drive without ejecting him first, which it's not safe for me to do, because I'm afraid of hurting the device, and the files in it are pretty important.
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I tried to transfer itunes onto an external drive, now have serious probs.

I tried to transfer itunes onto an external drive, then i deleted the itunes folder from the computer. This completely emptied itunes......oops... then i put back the music saved on the drive back onto itunes, but its only put on a small amount, all of my playlists are gone and most of the album artwork....aaaahhhh..... I havent synced my ipod yet, is there any way of replacing all of the lost data transferring it back onto itunes from the ipod itself?

Copying from iPod to Computer threads...
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1300144
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=797432&#797432
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=809624&tstart=0
Also these somewhat dated but still useful internet articles...
http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/copying-music-from-ipod-to-co mputer/
http://www.engadget.com/2004/11/02/how-to-get-music-off-your-ipod/
http://playlistmag.com/help/2005/01/2waystreet/
Good luck!
Patrick

ITunes hangs with external drives; Genius is totally impossible to setup

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