ITunes tutorial on exporting and importin tunes to and from an external drive

Can anyone direct me to a tutorial to learn how to export my iTunes to an external drive. I thought I had done it but I just got a folder and no music. I have music on an old desktop. G4 Quicksilver - And I have music on my MacBookPro. I want to transfer or export to an external drive. To have it all at one location. Then i want to send from the external drive just certain songs and/or artists to my laptop.
Any help will be appreciated.
thank you!

In your case the drive could be internal........
The advantage to use several disks stands in the fact that the program and the OS will access at the first disk, the loops and samples will be read from the second and the audio data flow will have the third disk completely dedicated to that job.
But this arguments are right only if you work with lots of tracks, sampled sounds and loops, otherwise it's pretty useless to have all those HDs.
The effects must stay where they are (/Library/Audio/Plugins/Components)!
cheers
rob

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[Guide] Install and run Windows 7/8 from an external drive without using bootcamp (works for late 2012 iMacs with 3TB drive)

This is a copy of a post from my blog, you can also Read it on my blog...
Introduction
After I received my new iMac with a 3 TB Fusion Drive, I was disappointed when I realized that Bootcamp was not running on this model and prevented me from installing Windows on it. I wanted to take advantage of the powerful iMac hardware to play games but I couldn't.
There are a few ways of working around this limitation, but I found most of them quite complex and most of the time they required formatting the internal hard drive or repartitioning it and go for a brand new installation of Mac OS X. I was not comfortable with that.
But there is another way, and that is to install Windows on an external hard drive, using either USB or Thunderbolt. Personally I used a Lacie Rugged 1 TB drive that has both USB3 and Thunderbolt connectors. Both work very well.
This guide may interest you if:
You have an internal hard drive of more than 2TB and you can't run bootcamp at all (like late 2012 iMacs with a 3TB drive)
You have limited space or you don't want to dedicate disk space on your internal hard disk drive to a Windows installation
What this guide will make you do:
It will make you erase all your data from your external USB3/Thunderbolt hard drive
It will make you install Windows on your external USB3/Thunderbolt hard drive
It will make you install bootcamp drivers
What this will not make you do:
It will not make you modify anything on your internal Mac hard drive
It will not make you use or install the bootcamp assistant
It will not activate the Preference Pane for the default boot drive. You have to boot by pressing the ALT key to manually select your boot drive each tome you want to boot Windows.
What you'll need
An external hard drive with a USB3 and/or Thunderbolt connector. This drive will be formatted so ensure you saved your files before going further. You can use either an SSD drive or a classic hard drive.
A Windows 7 or 8 install DVD or ISO (check whether to install 32 or 64 bits versions based on your Bootcamp drivers) and the corresponding Windows serial number.
One of the following:
Mac OS X with a Windows 7 or 8 Virtual Machine (use VMWare Fusion or Parallels Desktop for example. Note: VMWare Fusion seems to have some issues with Thunderbolt and USB3. Plug your drive to a USB2 enclosure or hub to work around this -it worked for me-, or use another VM software) → Read the important note below
A PC running Windows 7 or 8 → Read the important note below
Windows AIK (free) running on your Virtual Machine or on your PC, or just the imagex.exe file (the rest of the Windows AIK package is not needed)
Download imagex.exe
Download Windows AIK (this download and installation is not required if you have already downloaded imagex.exe)
Bootcamp drivers for your Mac. You can get these either by running bootcamp from your Mac (Applications > Utilities > Bootcamp) or, if like me you have a 3TB drive and can't run bootcamp at all, use the direct download links here.
A USB stick to store your bootcamp drivers
IMPORTANT: If your Mac has a 64 bits processor, your Windows Virtual Machine on OSX, your Windows installation on your PC and your Windows DVD/ISO must also be in 64 bits!
Step by Step guide
Step 1: Get the install.wim file
If you have a Windows ISO file:
Mount the ISO
If you're on OS X: double click on the ISO file
If you're on on Windows 7: Use a software like Virtual Clone Drive (free)
If you're on Windows 8: double click on the ISO file
Open the mounted drive, then go to the "sources" folder and locate the "install.wim" file. Save this file to C:\wim\ on your Windows installation or virtual machine.
If you have a Windows DVD: open the "sources" folder on the DVD and locate the "install.wim" file. Save this file to C:\wim\ on your Windows installation or virtual machine.
IMPORTANT: If instead of a "install.wim" file, you have "install.esd", you can not continue this step by step guide. And an ESD file can not be converted into a WIM file. So you must get a version of the Windows installation DVD/ISO that has an install.wim file.
Step 2: Clean, partition and format your external hard drive
On your Windows installation or virtual machine, plug in your external hard drive (can be plugged using USB2, USB3 or Thunderbolt at this stage)
Open the command prompt in administrator mode (cmd.exe). To run it in administrator mode, right click on cmd.exe > Run as admin.
Type the following and hit enter to open the disk partitioner utility:
diskpartType the following and hit enter to list your drives:
list disk
This will display a list of disks mounted on your computer or virtual machine. Make sure your drive is listed here before you continue.Identify the disk ID of your external hard drive. Replace # by your real external disk ID in the command below:
select disk #Clean all partitions by typing the following (warning: this will erase all data from your external drive!):
clean
Create the boot parition by typing the following followed by the enter key:
create partition primary size=350
This will create a 350MB partition on your external driveFormat the partition in FAT32 by typing the following:
format fs=fat32 quick
Set this partition to active by typing:
active
Assign a letter to mount this partition. We will use letter B in our example. If B is already used on your PC, replace B by any other available letter:
assign letter=b
Windows will detect a new drive and probably display a pop-up. Ignore that.Create the Windows installation partition using all the remaining space available on the external drive by typing the following:
create partition primary
Format the new partition in NTFS:
format fs=ntfs quick
Assign a letter to mount this partition. We will use letter O in our example. If O is already used on your PC, replace O by any other available letter:
assign letter=o
Windows will detect a new drive and probably display a pop-up. Ignore that.Exit the disk partitioner utility by typing:
exit
Step 3: Deploy the Windows installation image
Still using the command prompt in admin mode (you didn't close it, did you? ), locate the imagex.exe file mentioned in the "What you'll need" section and access its folder. In our example, we have put this file in C:\imagex\imagex.exe
Type the following and hit enter (remember to replace o: with the letter you have chosen in the previous step):
imagex.exe /apply C:\wim\install.wim 1 o:
This will take some time. The Windows installation image is being deployed to your external driveOnce done, type the following to create the boot section (remember to replace o: and b: with the letters you've chosen in the previous step):
o:\windows\system32\bcdboot o:\windows /f ALL /s b:
If you get an error message saying that you can't run this program on your PC, then most probably you are running on a 32 bits installation of windows and you're trying to deploy a 64 bits install. This means you did not read the important notes in the beginning of this guide
If you get an error message on the options that can be used with the BCDBOOT command, then it's because you're installing Windows 7, and the /f option is not supported. If that is the case, remove /f ALL from the command and retry.
Step 4: Boot from your external drive and install Windows
Plug in your external drive:
If you've done all the previous steps from a Windows PC, unplug your external drive from your PC and plug it to your Mac, either on a USB3 or a Thunderbolt port.
If you've done all the previous steps from your Mac using a Virtual Machine, ensure the external drive is plugged in to a USB3 or Thunderbolt port. Using USB2 should also work but you'll get very poor performance so I don't recommend doing that.
Reboot your Mac and once the bootup sound is over, immediately press the ALT (option) key and release it only when the boot drives selection screen appears. If you did not get the boot drives selection screen, reboot and try again. The timing to press the ALT (option) key is quite short. It must not be too early or too late.
On the boot selection screen, choose "Windows" using the arrow keys on your keyboard, then press enter.
The Windows installation starts. Follow the on-screen instructions as normal. The installation program will restart your computer one or 2 times. Don't forget to press ALT (option) right after the bootup sound, and boot on Windows again each time to continue the installation.
Step 5: Install bootcamp drivers
Once the Windows installation is complete, plug in the USB stick where you stored the bootcamp drivers (see "what you'll need" section), open it and right click on "setup.exe" and select "Run as admin". Follow the on-screen instructions.If you have an error saying that you can't run this program on this PC, obviously you have installed a 32 bits version of Windows and the bootcamp drivers for your Mac are made for a 64 bits version. You have to restart the whole guide and make sure to get a 64 bits version of Windows this time!
Once the bootcamp drivers are all installed, reboot and press ALT (option) after the bootup sound to boot on Windows again. And Voilà, you have Windows installed on your USB3/Thunderbolt drive running on your Mac.
Now each time you want to boot on Windows, press and hold the ALT (option) key after the startup sound and select "Windows", then press Enter.

Hi i'm trying to follow your guide, I installed windows 8 on bootcamp to do it planning to remove it after the operation is done, but i get stuck at part 3: every command i give to imagex i get a pop-up ftom windws asking how do I want to open this kind of file install.wim and imagex does nothing, what do i have to do to stop those pop-ups?

How can I merge music from an external drive and my iMac.

Well, I've made progress. I have a set of tunes on my external hard drive that contain some, but not all the tunes on my iMac in addition to tunes not on my iMac. I just replaced my hard drive on my PowerBook. I'd like to have all my Tunes on it. All the music on my iMac plus the non-duplicated music on my external hard drive. Is there a simple way to do this. In my question yesterday I had transfered all the music from my iMac. I then took and transferred the music folder from my external drive to my desktop and tried to import it into iTunes. What a mess. I finally got everything deleted so there is now nothing in either my music folder or iTunes. Can someone help please.
Thanks
Carl

File > Add to library and select the folder on the external.

I'm a new MAC user and I'm trying to transfer my iTunes music files to my Mac, however when I attach the external drive that contains the music files, they aren't visible on the MAC (but they are visible on my old PC). How do I get my music loaded?

I'm a new MAC user and I'm trying to transfer my iTunes music files to my Mac, however when I attach the external drive that contains the music files, the music files aren't visible on the MAC (but they are visible on my old PC). How do I get my music transferred? I have already exported the purchased music from the iTunes library, but I have thousands of songs from my private CD collection that I had previously loaded through iTunes.

Paragon Software has the most reliable NTFS driver for Mac
tips on importing and organizing, transferring from Windows etc
http://www.apple.com/support/itunes
http://www.ilounge.com

Steps to put itunes (50 gb) on external drive and delete from imac. How would I update my ipods and ipad from the external drive if I do this

I am planning to put itunes library on external hard drive. My Imac is running out of room and itunes is 50+ gb of music.
What steps do I take to do this. Also, if I do so, how do I update my ipods and my ipad 2. I do back up my files with time machine. This would be a completely separate new external hard drive. Thanks in advance for any help.

Two ways:
1. After transferring to the external drive create an alias to the iTunes Music folder on the external drive. Copy the alias into your Home folder. Rename the alias to "iTunes Music." Delete the alias from the external drive.
2. In the iTunes preferences click on the Advanced icon in the toolbar. You should see a field labeled, "iTunes Media Folder Location." Click on the Change button and select the /iTunes Music/ folder on the external drive.

I am having trouble keeping the quality of my video when exporting to my external drive. I change the kind to "original" but when I view the video from the external drive once exported, the sound and picture are distorted.

I am having trouble keeping the quality of my video when exporting to my external hard drive. I have tried to export from iphoto with changing kind to "original" but when I open the video from the external drive the quality is effected. I have also tried copying the video to my desktop and then dragging and dropping onto the drive...same problem. Any suggestions? I would like to save everything to my external drive so that I can delete all of iphoto library and then reimport to correct a few things.

The file sizes are identical. In the finder I did a search for all .mov files. Then when they came up, I went through them and named each one so that they would be easier to find. I am a new mac user and am used to windows. I realized later that I should not have done this....with a mac files should be named within iphoto app...not finder....When I went to open the videos in iphoto, it wouldn't allow me. I had to go into finder, copy to desktop and reimport into iphoto. Then the videos worked again. However, I had the problem with the poor video quality when copied to external drive before that. Actually the first problem I had was when I copied to ext drive...videos were copying as an image...so I learned that you have to change "kind" to original before exporting....then that problem was solved...now they are videos, not images but not of a great quality. Skips, sound and images are not in sync...etc...

I've copied my itunes library onto an external hard drive. Is there any way I can do this and delete songs from my PC without also deleting from the external drive? Already lost two songs!!!

I've copied my itunes library onto an external hard drive. Is there any way I can do this and delete songs from my PC without also deleting from the external drive? Already lost two songs!!! I just want a back up - using a work PC and don't want others accessing my songs. Hope someone can help. Thanks!

I see. To get a better idea of what is being stored where please download and run the script iTunesInfo which should output something like this:
I'm interested in the block of 4 results starting ITL location. If your profile name shows up somewhere replace it with <Name>. It is also worth checking under Edit > Preferences > Advanced to see where iTunes thinks your media is supposed to go. My script estimates the setting based on the location of the first media file it can actually find.
tt2

HT1751 Hi, I tried to restore my itunes library from an external drive and did everything that's written here step by step.when I chose the itunes library to import itunes just said that its accessing the itunes store but nothung happened. I'm working on

Hi, I tried to restore my itunes library from an external drive and did everything that's written here step by step. when I chose the itunes library to import itunes just said that its accessing the itunes store but nothing happened. Does anyone know how to do this so that all my playlists are also imported and not just the music itself?

When I have done this, all I did was network the two machines and copy the contents of the iTunes folder to the other machine, and that's it.
My understanding (which may not be 100% correct) is that the one file that is absolutely necessary is iTunes Library, and that the XML file is actually a copy auto-generated from the iTunes Library, appearing in a different format only for non-iTunes apps that take advantage of the iTunes Library data.
As far as I know, if you simply have the Library (database) file and all your original music files, iTunes on that computer should operate as it did on your old computer. I believe that the Album Artwork, Genius Data, and XML files can be regenerated from the Library file. Not sure about the Extras file.

I seem to have a corrupted iTunes library. I can't transfer the library to an external drive. The transfer hangs up on a specific tune. Anybody have any ideas. I am running OS 10.6 w/ a 2Ghz Duel core processor.

I seem to have a corrupted iTunes library. I can't transfer the library to an external drive. The transfer hangs up on a specific tune. Anybody have any ideas. I am running OS 10.6 w/ a 2Ghz Duel core processor.

Old Barry wrote:
via a usb connestion
So you are copyinbg the entire /Music/iTunes? folder to another drive by copying in a Finder window?

How do I move an iTunes library from one external drive to another?

I need to move my iTunes library from one external disk to another, because the original disk is about to fail. So, I went into iTunes Perferences --> Advanced, and set the library to a new, empty folder on the new drive.
Nothing changed. I expected all my music to vanish from iTunes, so that I would have to re-import it. However, all the music remained, still on the old disk. At this point, if I were to recreate the library on the new disk, I would have all of my music twice.
Is it possible to move an iTunes library from one external drive to another, or am I stuck with my original choice until I buy a new machine? If I can move it, can one of you clever folks explain how it could be done?

Paul Seymour1 wrote:
However, those are all dealing with old versions of iTunes that still contained the Advanced --> Consolidate Library command which is no longer part of the app. (I'm on iTunes 10.6.1.)
Consolidate is still part of iTunes.
It is in iTunes menu File > Library > Manage library > Consolidate.
The article you linked to is old and it is (and was) a hacky way of doing it.
Just copy the entire /Music/iTunes/ folder to new location, hold Option (Mac) or Shift (Windows) when launching iTunes.

My computer recently crashed. I had everything on an externa drive. I'm trying to reload my music into itunes from my external drive. I do not have an itunes library document for some reason. How do I get my library back onto itunes?

I'm trying to figure out how to access my music library from my external drive. I do not have a media library document and believe that I would have to create one based on the music that is on my external drive. Can someone help?

If you're running Windows 8.1, this seems to be a common theme, or some variation there of at least. Myself, I can't even back-up on my iPhone 4S which has iOS 7.1.2 and I'm running iTunes 11.3.0.54 and have resorted to purchased the iTunes Match service to ensure that music on my primary desktop PC (which is paired to my iPhone) will be available on both the iPhone and my Windows 8.1 laptop. Regarding backing up of the iPhone, I'm thinking about going to a third party solution until either Apple and/or Microsoft can figure out why Windows 8.1 is having so many problems with the current version of iTunes (as of this writing 11.3.0.54).

Using an external drive with shared files (iPhoto, iTunes), attached to a Time Capsule, can the contents of the external drive be backed-up to the internal Time Capsule drive? Perhaps a RAID1 mirror to a partition?

Using an external drive with shared files (iPhoto, iTunes), attached to a Time Capsule, can the contents of the external drive be backed-up to the internal Time Capsule drive? Perhaps a RAID1 mirror to a partitioned Time Capsule? I understand that the Time Machine (software) cannot backup a networked drive (the external) and that Time Capsule (the router/wireless hard drive) does not have its own backup software... so it won't backup the connected drive. What I would like is an alternate solution for having an automated backup of a networked drive. A 2TB Time Capsule has more than enough space for Time Machine backups of my family of Macbooks, so I had hoped to mirror a 500GB external drive (with shared media files) to a portion of the Time Capsule internal hard drive. I assume this would require a partition of the Time Capsule drive. If not, would the sparse file from the various computers being backed up need to be copied to the external drive as part of the RAID1 setup? This seems like overkill for the Time Machine backup, but it would cover the media files.

The complexity with this idea is the software has to run from a Mac computer on your network.. so you need a Mac turned on, probably most of the day.
It isn't possible to partition the TC although you can create a image area.
The software would have to copy the material, that means all files to be copied, go from USB drive, back to the Mac, then back to the TC, and written to the drive. In other words you have just added Network congestion, although a proper incremental backup type software will not actually use a lot of capacity.
Finally it will be slow.. network drives are slower than internal drives. Well USB connected drive is much slower than the same drive connected directly to the computer.. and if the drive is connected directly to a computer it can be shared with the network.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4577/airport-extreme-5th-gen-and-time-capsule-4th- gen-review-faster-wifi-/4
Read carefully the speed of the USB drive plugged into the TC.

How do I transfer my iTunes library from an external drive to my new macbook air?

I have an 8 year old MacBook Pro that has a small hard drive. So 8 years ago I put all my songs (35GB) on an external drive. I just bought a MacBook Air that has 256 GB of space and would like to transfer all my songs, movies, etc. to it and stop using the old hard drive. Can anyone help me with how to do this? Thanks.

Choose Go to Folder from the Finder's Go menu, provide ~/Music/ as the folder's path, and drag the entire iTunes library, including the database files, to it.
Alternatively, you can drag the entire library to any location on the internal drive, launch iTunes with the Option key held down, and choose it.
If you only put the songs and not the database files on the external drive, drag it to the internal drive and from there to the library in the open iTunes application window.
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How do I consolidate backed up music from an external drive into itunes?

I had to replace my ipod and am trying to consolidate my old music from an external drive with the itunes library on our home computer. My gf has music there already. I have tried consolidate library, edit/prefereces/change, copied my music in itunes folder BUT nothing works. iTunes just will NOT pick up/recognize my music. Any ideas will be much appreciated. cheers

Consolidate takes what is in the iTunes library (what you see when you open iTunes) & copies it into the iTunes music folder as shown in iTunes prefs - > Advanced.
If you cannot see the songs when you open iTunes, you need to File -> Add folder to library and select the folder with your music.

How do I add music from an external drive to iTunes

I have been trying to add music from my collection on the external drive to iTunes, so that I can further add it on my iPod Touch. Trying to do that I lost a lot of songs that I had on my iPod already. The latest versions of iTunes have made it difficult to understand & not so user friendly. Can somone help

Open up itunes and on that home screen simply drag and drop the songs(from the external drive) to the itunes library and the plug in your ipod, go to the music section and check sync all songs from the library, thats all!

ITunes tutorial on exporting and importin tunes to and from an external drive

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