ITunes Library on external hard drive used on both Mac & PC?

I currently have my entire iTunes library on an external hard drive as the library took up too much space on my MacBook Pro. This works out fine, except for when I travel for work (almost weekly). I use a Windows machine for my development work and would like to know if I could simply plug in that external drive and use that on the PC laptop?
My biggest reason for wanting to do this is to be able to sync my iPhone while traveling, but not having to sync, consolidate or copy my music & movie files every weekend between the two machines is another reason.

christopher rigby1 wrote:
You must maintain the actual library files separately on the Mac and PC as they are different formats, and use different file paths for each song.
That is what I was hoping to avoid. That means I would not be able to sync my iPhone on both machines. It also means I would have to sync my libraries on a regular basis.
My primary goal was to be able to put a movie or two and/or a couple of training videos on the iPhone and when I get through them, be able to update the iPhone with new ones to use on the flight back home.
What about keeping the library files for both machines on the external drive, in addition to the actual library. Would that solve my problem?

Similar Messages

External hard drive use with both Mac and Windows

I know that you can't use an iPod (through iTunes) with both Mac and Windows, but can you still use it as an external hard drive with both operating systems?

Yes, if the iPod is in Windows format. Mac OS X can read and write Windows formatted iPods, but Windows can't access Mac formatted disks unless special software is installed.
(9844)

Backup and restoring itunes library from external hard drive?

is there a way to backup and restore my itunes library to external hard drive and not through the internal itunes backup utility cos i have over 20gbs of music and i want to keep my album art and renamed songs etc. because i will be reformating my pc and dont want to go through painful task of manually adding stuff again.

Try this...
*Fast backup for iTunes library (Windows Only)*
Grab SyncToy 2.0, a free tool from MS. Use it to create a backup copy of your iTunes library & any other media folders onto another hard drive or network share. After making the initial backup copy use SyncToy to periodically synchronise the backup copy with your library and only the changed files will be copied saving lots of time.
When the time comes to reformat your PC, do a final sync, then open iTunes & deauthorise the PC, reformat & rebuild Windows, copy the backup folders back to the same location as they were previously, install iTunes and it should all work perfectly.
tt2

ITunes Library to External Hard Drive...and iTunes Match???

So, my iTunes library is getting too large for my computer's storage capacity. I'm thinking of moving some of my library to an external, USB hard drive. However, I've never done iTunes through an external hard drive before and I have some questions.
Can I copy new discs (import) straight onto the external hard drive? Or do they need to go onto my computer first then get transferred to the hard drive?
Can I still use iTunes Match and pull songs from the library on my hard drive and from the main computer?
To partition a library between a computer and an external hard drive, do I need to activate sharing or anything special? Or will the computer/main iTunes library just consider the external drive to be a different location for some of the tracks?
How would I backup the external hard drive? Would Time Machine (running off a separate hard drive) back up another external hard drive if they were both plugged in?
Can you burn the entire library to data discs anymore? Or do you need to make a playlist of your entire library? If the latter, is there a way to turn off the message about iTunes in the Cloud playlists only accepting songs matched or uploaded? I have some songs that erroneously did not get matched or uploaded. If I try to put them in a playlist and burn it to a data disc for backup, iTunes won't do it.
Please help!

I recommend you keep everything inside the iTunes folder.
Quit iTunes.
Copy the entire /Music/iTunes/ folder from internal to external.
Hold Option and launch iTunes.
Select Choose library... and select the iTunes folder you copied to the external.
This is all you need to do. Everything will work normally.
You can delete now /Music/iTunes/ folder on the internal.

How to run itunes off an external hard drive using the new itunes

I have windows 8. I installed the new itunes and I want to know how to run itunes off an external hard drive.
thank you for your help.

Same way as before, hold down shift as you start iTunes, Choose or Create a library.
tt2

Migrating iTunes library from external hard drive to new laptop

Hi there, I am wondering if anyone can help me please? I am a complete newbie to this forum thing, I am just getting into this cosmic sharing world but find myself utterly frustrated with iTunes and my new laptop - with little help on the Support pages, so i am venturing into the unkown and seeking help from anyone out there.........slightly scary for me, this really is my first post on a forum - so be gentle with me :0)
On my old steam driven laptop I had to move my iTunes library to an external hard drive, my 250MB hard drive just wasn't enough (I know pathetic wasn't it). All ok there and I have been using it no problem. I have now upgraded (finally!!) to a new wonderful laptop (with webcam and all sorts!)but I am at the end of my tether trying to get my iTunes library from my external hard drive to appear in the Library on the laptop. boo hoo.
I have tried changing the file location in the Advance section of preferences, i have tried choosing the library after holding down the shift key on start up (you see not a complete numpty). They all appear to work as i don't get any error messages, but the songs just don't appear in the library. Am i being a complete numb nuts here? what am i missing?
If anyone can help i would be really grateful as this is spoiling the euphoric feeling i have of my lovely new laptop!
cheers Latte

tonybassplayer wrote:
Thank Chris I have just done that. How do I now get them in to Itunes ?
If you simply copy the iTUnes folder to /Music/ and launch iTUnes, everythign will be there. No need to import anything.
This will work the same with iPhoto.
Simply copy the Photo library to /Pictures/ folder and launch iPhoto.

Move PC iTunes library to external hard drive and consolidate with iMac

Hi, I have a PC that I'm not using much. I have a ton of iTunes music files on it so I went through the process of copying these files to my networked external hard drive. I have my iMac connected wirelessly to this same hard drive. I went into the System Preferences on the iMac to tell it where it could find the new library and I pointed it to the iTunes folder but there is not an iTunes Media folder like many of the articles state, like this one: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1449
Do I need to create an iTunes Media folder? Note this is an iTunes Library that was on a PC, moved to a networked external hard drive and will be used on my new iMac.
Thanks.

kneedragger101 wrote:
Note this is an iTunes Library that was on a PC
you might want to read these articles: one and two.
why not move your media files using _*Home Sharing*_ ?

Backing up entire iTunes Library on external hard drive?

I have recently purchased an external hard drive to backup all media on my computer (photos, music etc).
However, having searched apple.com for backup advice, the only instructions available refer to creating backup discs on an a CD.
I have already copied my Itunes Library to the external hard drive. However, please can someone confirm that this is sufficient and if, in the event that everything goes wrong, the $800 of music that I have from iTunes won't disappear.
Thanks for you help

Unfortunately the iTunes backup only works with DVD/CDs.
You can simply copy your iTunes directory to the external disk, or you can use backup software outside iTunes to manage it for you. If you have XP pro you already have a backup program. If you have the home edition, it has to be installed from the Windows CD if you got one with your PC.
There is a good article on backup here:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=1522195&#1522195

Re: Best Way to (Continuously) Back up iTunes Library to External Hard Drive

Hello friends :
My iTunes music library is getting rather large and I feel it's time to "properly" back it up to an external hard drive.
I understand that you can back up your iTunes music folder to an external hard drive by the simple old "click and drag" approach using Windows Explorer.
What I'd like to know is ... after intially copying the entire iTunes music folder onto the external drive, how can I achieve regular back-ups where only the files, playlists, etc. that have changed since the last back up are then added to the external drive . . . rather than having to copy the entire rather large folder all over again (and again)?
Hopefully, you know what I mean! Thanks for your help.

The first time I backed up my iTunes on an external drive, it took a 1 hour +. Do I basically need to start over on my external hard drive? Or is there an easier/faster way?
Yes there is a faster way.
Check this out -> Backup your iTunes for Windows library with SyncToy
Don't change the library location or hold Option to update the backup on the external.

How to get ITunes library from external hard drive to new PC

have ITunes folder from dying PC saved on external hard drive. PC now dead. New PC has Windows7, and have loaded ITunes.
Now need to know exactly what to do to get all that lovely music from the external hard drive onto the new Windows7 PC. The ITunes folder has the following inside it:
ITunesMusic folder in it, which looks like all the music is in there.
Album Artwork folder
ITunesLibrary.itl
ITunesMusicLibrary.xml
ITunesLibraryGenius.itdb
ITunesLibraryExtras.itdb
What do I do, and in what order? I'm thinking I should NOT need to plug in the ipod, since everything is saved on the external drive. (I don't want to accidentally wipe the Ipod, since I'm pretty sure it is set to automatically sync.....)
the whole point of doing frequent backups was to not lose anything. Note: did NOT use apple for backups, just regular backup program. Can see the files and folders, just need to knkow what to do.
Thanks in advance for the help!

Drag and drop the whole folder into the iTunes application.
The iTunes application meaning your library once iTunes is open

Need to move iTunes library from external hard drive to Mac desktop.

I moved my iTunes library from my Mac desktop to an external hard drive. I needed to do this so the Apple Store could do maintenance work on my computer and I didn't want to lose my files. How do I move the iTunes library back to my Mac desktop?

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 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.)

Can't restore itunes library from external hard drive

Prior to my hard drive crashing, I dragged my entire itunes folder (with all sub folders) to a firelite external hard drive. I replaced the power book HD, and I want to put my backed up library on the new HD. I dragged the folder from the firelite to the music folder (in place of the itunes folder that was already there). Unfortunately, the itunes library is still empty. Am I missing something?

Yes, the relative location is the same, the user account has the same short and long lame as before.
I did try to use the preferences to point to the backed up itunes folder. Once when it was on the eHD and once when I put it in the music folder. Unfortunatley no luck.
I will try your idea about using "Consolidate Library"
One other interesting thing I tried a few days ago was to follow the procedure outlined in the apple support section about restoring the library. It has you move the libray xml file to the desk top, trashing one of the other files (I forgot which) and then choosing the xml file placed on the desk top upon starting itunes. I thought it was kind of odd to select the very xml file I was having trouble with so I chose the backed up xml file. It put all of the playlist folders back in duplicate, but the library was still empty (probably becuase the xml file is just a reference file and I hadn't loaded any actual music files) If the consolidate doesn't work, mabye I'll try that again, but also put the folder with the actual files on the computer as well
I'll let you know how "Consolidate" works, thanks for your suggestions!

How to transfer itunes library via external hard drive?

How do I transfer my entire itunes library to a new pc via an external hard drive? I want to also keep the library on my old pc. Because my library is about 30gb I thought that getting an external hard drive would be the easiest way to do this. Are there any other options?

Start by consolidating your library. When you consolidate, any songs in the iTunes Library that are not in the iTunes Music Folder are copied to the Music Folder and the Library is updated to point to those new files. Files already in the iTunes Music Folder have no changes made to them: Consolidating your library - Windows
Then copy the iTunes Folder to your external drive. Copying the whole folder brings with it the iTunes Music folder and also the iTunes Library (iTunes Library.itl in Windows) database file which holds all the information about your songs (Playlists, Ratings, Play Counts, Last Played, Date Added, etc). You'll get more information including the Folder/File structure in this article: What are the iTunes library files?
Disconnect your external drive and connect it to your new computer, copy the iTunes folder to the new pc. When you copy the iTunes folder make sure you put it into the default location on the new computer. On a PC this is \Documents and Settings\Username\My Documents\My Music\ (or C:\Username\Music\ in Vista). You should also use the same version of iTunes on both computers.
Once you have copied everything over hold down the Shift key in Windows when opening iTunes. In the resulting dialogue you will get the option to create a new library or navigate to an existing one. Navigate to where you placed the copy of the library file and open it up: How to open an alternate iTunes Library file
If you have any iTunes purchases in your library don't forget that you'll need to authorise your new computer to play them. Also if you are disposing of the old one remember to deauthorise it so you don't use up one of your allowances: About iTunes Music Store Authorisation and Deauthorisation

Help with iTunes library on external hard drive

Hi!
I have a new computer and I don't want to put anything in it but the programs I need. When it comes to movies, music, etc. I have an external hard drive.
Now, I want my iTunes to read the music from that hard drive, and, when I download something (more music, podcasts, apps, etc.) I'd like them to go straight to the folder "iTunes" that I created in that hard drive.
I had a look at a few pages and people where only talking about creating back-ups, but I don't need that, because I have a second HD that I'll use for that.
Someone told me to do this:
Go to the File Menu, then choose Add Folder to Library. Then navigate to your external drive and folder where your music is to add it. Then all you have to do is download your new stuff to that folder.
I did that and the podcasts I had in the external HD showed up there, but when I downloaded a new one, it downloaded onto my computer. What I want to do is have my iTunes library on an external HD and when I download from iTunes I want it to go straight to that external HD so I don't clog up my computer.
I have iTunes 10.6. something =)
Thank youuuuu very much!!!! =)

As long as you don't have an existing library that is synced with a device or holds oodles of carefully crafted playlists, ratings etc. then...
Hold down shift as you start iTunes. You should get an option to choose or create a library. Click create, browse to root of the external drive and click save so that your library is say X:\iTunes where X: is the letter of your external drive. All new content downloaded to the library will stay on the external drive.
See this user tip for a backup strategy.
tt2

ITunes library on external hard drive that nots always connected.....

Can anyone help please?
I have a laptop running Win XP and i have the latest version of itunes. I want to keep all my music on an external hard drive because i can't fit it on the laptop. This in itself isnt a problem - i have all the files on the external HDD and have set iTunes up and everything is fine HOWEVER because i have a laptop, i'm not going to lug my external drive with me everywhere. So i am getting problems where when i do plug the external drive in and run iTunes - it comes up with question marks against EVERYTHING and i have to effectively add the library file again. Surely there is some other way round this?! can i not keep all my music on the external drive then just connect when i need to? why is itunes not happy with this? i dont use itunes unless i am connected to the external drive.
Many thanks for any help!

As long as you don't launch iTunes until after the external hard drive is mounted, you shouldn't have a problem. I've been using such a set up for years.

ITunes Library on external hard drive used on both Mac & PC?

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for