Managing my library and a folder question

Hello. I have a new computer. I have it set up so that my music downloads to an external drive, and everything is working. My question is about the fact that there is still an iTunes folder on my hard drive. It seems to contain the current library. I have tried to move it, but it does not seem to work.
1. Is it essential to have a folder on the hard drive?
2. If I delete that file, what do I need to keep from it?
3. In the items that I need to keep, how do I get them to work from teh external drive.
I have had 4 computers crash in the last two years, and I am exhausted from doing everything manually aqnd repeatedly.
Any input would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
Kato

I have two iTunes folders on my system. One of them is made by iTunes and is the default library. The other one was made by me, and it is where I keep all my music. It is on an external hard drive. The two main reasons I do this is that in my opinion iTunes does a bad job of organising/naming the actual file structure, and secondly it stops iTunes from managing my music.
Let's be fair, you have gone to the trouble of ripping your collection to your PC, or purchased an online download, you do not want to do it all over again. Why does iTunes assume that by removing a song from the library/iPod you want to delete it off your system all together. Plus make it very easy to do so, I did it a couple of times by mistake, but not any more.
My default library folder is empty except for the stuff iTunes keeps there to enable it to run. I keep this empty because that way iTunes cannot "delete/corrupt/manage" any of my music files. I embed all the artwork myself into the mp3 files, and also keep a backup of the jpg's on my external drive.
iTunes can and does some funny things to your actual files, but only if they are in the default folder. By keeping them seperate, iTunes can have all wobbles it likes, I just delete and reload the library. I very rarely have to do it though.
The library is just a series of shortcuts to the music files, and it does an excellent job as a shortcut manager, player and ripper. It is hopeless as a file manager though, so I let it do what it is good at, and no more.

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