Keeping my iTunes Library on an external hard drive

I just don't have enough space anymore for my iTunes songs and videos and podcasts, etc. I would like to get a TB or a 1.5 TB external hard drive with a USB connection and move my library to the external hard drive. I have two questions. Will this work as well as the library being on my system hard drive (in terms of not having any slowdown, esp with videos) and is there anything special in the specs of an external hard drive I should look for for optimal performance?

The simple answer to this is no, your iTunes will be significantly slower if your media files are stored on an external HDD connected by USB. If your computer has an eSATA socket then get an external HDD that has an eSATA connection option as this is much faster than USB 2. If you are stuck with USB make sure you get a desktop external HDD with its own power supply. The small portable drives which are powered via the USB cable from the computer/laptop are much slower and really are not suitable to be the location of your library.

Similar Messages

  • Is it possible to keep my iTunes library in an external hard drive?

    I have just noticed that my fairly new iMac computer's hard drive is almost completely full.
    Is it possible to transfer my iTunes library to an external hard drive (that I have plugged constantly into my iMac computer), and still have full functionality of all of my purchased songs in iTunes?

    br121 wrote:
    I have just noticed that my fairly new iMac computer's hard drive is almost completely full.
    Is it possible to transfer my iTunes library to an external hard drive (that I have plugged constantly into my iMac computer), and still have full functionality of all of my purchased songs in iTunes?
    absolutely, yes.
    follow these instructions

  • Can I keep my itunes library on an external hard drive and still use it??

    Hello,
    I recently purchased a new laptop because my old computer wwent on the fritz.  Luckily I backed up my library on my external hard drive. My question is can a) connect my itouch and ihone to my nex computer and b) run my library strictly from my hard drive and not import everything to my new computer?
    thanks for the hep!!

    tothatc wrote:
    Hello,
    I recently purchased a new laptop because my old computer wwent on the fritz.  Luckily I backed up my library on my external hard drive. My question is can a) connect my itouch and ihone to my nex computer and b) run my library strictly from my hard drive and not import everything to my new computer?
    thanks for the hep!!
    On Windows, hold Shift (not alt), launch iTunes and select Choose library... and select the iTunes folder you copied to the external drive.

  • How do I migrate my itunes library from an external hard drive to my mac mini's internal hard drive?

    I have my iTunes library on an external hard drive because my macbook pro's internal hard drive didn't have enough room.  I would like to migrate or transfer the itunes files while continuing to keep my playlists.  Is there a way to do that with the migration software?

    Thank you for your help.  My biggest concern is losing all of my sorted music into playlists. I have 124GB of music and resorting it will very difficult.  When I moved the itunes library with the help of a supervisor at apple tech to the external HD I had to resort it.
    Will it move the entire library and setting as they are now?

  • 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 two apple id's one from my old laptop and one from my iPhone. I saved my iTunes library to my external hard drive and then tried to transfer it to my iMac. My music skips like a scratched cd now and I can't add any to my iPhone. Help please!

    I have two apple id's one from my old laptop and one from my iPhone. I saved my iTunes library to my external hard drive right before my old mac laptop died and then tried to transfer it to my new iMac. Now when I try to play my old music it skips like a scratched cd. Also, now I can't add any music to my iPhone unless it was purchased recently through itunes and downloaded through icloud. I tried to "Organize" my library in hopes of correcting the problem but my iMac just ejects my external harddrive part way through. Please help!

    Ejects the harddrive?
    Of what did your old Mac die?
    It sounds to me like you have some file corruption somewhere.  Either in the transfer of your library to the external or the external itself is flaky if it keeps ejecting.

  • I moved my iTunes library to an external hard drive. It re installed itself on the PC and there is now no more room. I cannot sync with the external version. My wife has is a user on the same computer and we have the same iTunes account. Can I uninstall

    I moved my iTunes library to an external hard drive due to lack of space on the PC. I uninstalled it from the PC at the time to increase space. My wife is a user on the computer and shares the same apple account. I discovered that iTunes was back on the PC hard drive when I tried to sync my iphone and it would not for lack of space on the PC. If I uninstall I tunes from the PC where I am the user will it affect my wife's itune account which is still on the PC?

    Close iTunes. Click the icon to start it, then press and hold down the left shift key. Keep holding until asked to choose or create a library. Choose the iTunes folder on your external drive. That should bring back all your playlists, ratings, play counts etc. You may have to settle for removing and reloading the media onto the device again. That's not too bad, but what you don't want to have happen is your apps being removed and reloaded as then you can lose settings and data. If that looks likely backup and then restore the device rather than sync it.
    If for some reason rebuilding the library the way you did has moved files around then the restored library may have trouble finding things. If so post back and I'll explain what to do...
    tt2

  • I recently transferred my itunes library to an external hard drive. Now I get the error message 'the original file could not be found. Could you like to locate it' when i try to open songs. My iPod syncs ok.

    I recently tranferred my iTunes library to an external hard drive. Now I cannot open songs and get the error message ' The song "***" could not not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it'. This applies to all 9742 songs!!. My iPod still syncs ok, but I can't play songs on the PC. Can anyone please help.

    It would help to have more background about your iTunes collection such as if you keep it on an external drive, or if you have moved or renamed anything recently.  iTunes is very sensitive to you renaming or moving files or folders involved with your media.  iTunes only keeps a reference to where a media file is located  and then goes to look for it when you try to play it. If you have changed things since it was added to itunes then it's like me sending you to look for a friend in my addressbook but that friend has moved.
    The other possibility is your computer is starting to lose files.  Again, the computer uses a reference database to tell it where on the drive to look for a file. If that database gets corrupt then it starts losing files.  Use Dsk Utility's first aid to verify your hard drive.

  • Backing up iTunes Library to New External Hard Drive

    I need to move the location of my itunes library as my external hard drive has become full.
    I have been backing up my "computer" (i.e. internal hard drive) and the itunes library stored on the external hard drive with TM.
    Once I move the library, I will be backing up the new music library. As I understand it, TM will treat this as a completely new backup. Once this is done, I would no longer need or want the older backup on TM -- what's the best way of deleting the older backup since it takes up an enormous amount of space -- i.e. it's 250 gigs -- and then the additional 250 gigs for the NEW music library backup.
    Thanks

    Helen Berman wrote:
    I need to move the location of my itunes library as my external hard drive has become full.
    I have been backing up my "computer" (i.e. internal hard drive) and the itunes library stored on the external hard drive with TM.
    Once I move the library, I will be backing up the new music library. As I understand it, TM will treat this as a completely new backup. Once this is done, I would no longer need or want the older backup on TM -- what's the best way of deleting the older backup since it takes up an enormous amount of space -- i.e. it's 250 gigs -- and then the additional 250 gigs for the NEW music library backup.
    Hello again, Helen!
    First, see this: moving your iTunes Music folder
    Are you moving the iTunes library from one external to a new, larger one? If so, give the new drive a different name than the old one, even if only slightly different (this is for you, not TM!)
    Once the data is moved, eject and disconnect the old drive, and leave it alone for now.
    Go into Time Machine and delete all backups of the old drive. You'll need the procedure in #E3 of the Time Machine - Troubleshooting *User Tip,* also at the top of this forum, to see them. Select the folder representing the old drive, click the "gear" icon in the Finder window's toolbar, select the +*Delete all backups of <folder name> option.+* You'll get a confirmation prompt, then one for your Admin password. Make a large pot of coffee, as that will take a while! If you exit from the TM display, you'll probably see a progress bar for the deletion.
    Be sure the new drive isn't listed in the +Do not back up+ box in TM Preferences > Options. If it is, remove it. Then run a backup, and TM should back-up the new external in full, along with any changes to your internal. Make another pot of coffee!
    Once that's done, be certain everything was backed-up properly: check sizes, and messages, and browse the backups.
    If I were you, I'd keep that old one around, "just in case," until I really, really needed it for something else.

  • Itunes library on an external hard drive for the Ipad?

    Does anyone know of a way that I can access an iTunes library through an external hard drive on the ipad?  Currently, I have an external hard drive connected through an airport base station.  From my ipad, I can connect to this hard drive and see all my media files (using the FileBrowser app); however I cannot create playlists or let the music play on a loop.  Is there a way I can import this library of music into itunes and still have it reference the external hard drive location? 
    I have this setup on my computer to keep the hard drive clean and am trying to do the same with the hard drive. 
    Any suggestions?

    I have my iTunes library on my hard drive, but keep a number of mp3's on an external hard drive..but here are some things I looked at to get an idea how to best manage this:
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1473 ( adding content on your computer to iTunes section..important to avoid duplication)
    https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2723211
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1364
    Hope this helps. 

  • How do I Play videos from external hard drive on Apple TV2?  Can I just move the iTunes Library to the External Hard Drive?

    I have several HD videos stored on an external hard drive and would like to bring them into iTunes and play them via iTunes on my Apple TV2, but I am not sure how to go about it.  I don't want to store the movies on my iMac hard drive because it would eat up to much space...so do I just move the iTunes Library to the external hard drive?  And, if so...will the Apple TV2 find the iTunes Library on the external hard drive?  Thanks for any help anyone can suggest.

    iTunes content on an external drive isn't a problem.
    The simplest method is to just move your library to an external drive.
    If you wanted to keep just movies on an external drive, that's a little more difficult. You'd need to put the movies where you want them to reside on the external drive and add drag and drop them onto iTunes while holding down the option key. Obviously any movies already in iTunes would need moving from their current location and removing from iTunes first.

  • Transferring iTunes Library to an external hard drive - help needed

    I recently moved my iTunes library (aka all of my 32 GB of music) onto an external hard drive so as to save space on my laptop, but I messed up somehow and now I can't add songs to my iPhone. The chain of events went something like this:
    1. I copied my iTunes library onto my external hard drive.
    2. I changed my iTunes library location (in the itunes settings) to it's new spot on the external.
    3. I deleted the songs off my laptop.
    This worked fine at first, but then I think I opened iTunes with my external NOT connected and I got a blank library. I plugged in my external but my itunes was still blank. Then I decided I'll just add everything back to my itunes library. I did that, but I lost all my playlists and whatnot, but I didn't really care - all my music was there.
    Now I just tried to add new music to my iPhone and it won't let me. When I try to turn manual music management it gives me an error saying "this iPhone is synced with another itunes library".
    Is there some way I can retrieve my original itunes library from before I did all this stuff? Help much appreciated.

    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 choose a library, then select the copied 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.)

  • HT1751 I am trying to backup my iTunes library onto an external hard drive but it won't complete due to 'insufficient privileges for some of the items'. Am I doing something wrong and is there a solution to this problem?

    Hi All,
    I am currently trying to backup my iTunes library onto an external hard drive so that I can copy it onto my new Macbook Pro. I have been following the steps posted on the Apple website however each time I get a dialogue box stating:
    'The operation cannot be completed because you do not have sufficient privileges for some of the items'.
    Is this because I have items that were bought under another persons iTunes account? If so, is there a solution to this problem? Or am I doing something completely wrong?
    Thanks in advance,
    Sbrooks19

    Go through the below forum with similar issue and follow the process mentioned by "Macjack" in the beginning.
    https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4499820

  • How can i back up my itunes library onto an external hard drive?

    I can seem to figure out how to back up my Itunes library onto my external hard drive. Any advise?

    A quick search provides the answer, see the following:
    http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1751 for backing up to an external drive.
    http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1382 for backing up to optical media.

  • I transferred my iTunes library from one external hard drive to another and added more music on the same day. How do I get rid of my duplicate files without going through them one by one which would take forever?

    Please help. I have transferred my iTunes library from one external hard drive to another plus added additional music now I have duplicates of the same music in many albums. How do I delete the duplicates without going through them one by one which would take forever? I understand how to get the "show exact duplicate" feature up on iTunes but, because they were added to the library on the exact day I can't seperate them I'm that manner. So each duplicate is right next to eachother in the exact duplicate screen.

    My DeDuper script is designed to help clean up. See this thread for background.
    tt2

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