Moving 1000's of music files to a new hard drive

I have a good amount of songs and I have them all on my external hard drive for my laptop. I want to put the files on the laptop hard drive because my laptop uses all it's memory when connected to the external hard drive, plus whenever i want to carry my computer around, i can only listen to my music if i bring my external hard drive(which can be a hassel). The thing is, if I were to cut and paste all of my music files from my external hard drive, and put them on my laptop hard drive, the saved playlist for itunes would not be able to locate the files at all. I really dont want to have to individually locate these thousands of files after i transfer hard drives. I tried going into the itunes library files with notepad, but the text was all jibberish and in computer terms. Does anyone have any ideas to be able to accomplish this task in less time than having to individually locate each file after i move the files over?
Sony Vaio Windows XP

Thank you for that. It all looks like it should work except for step 12:
From the Advanced menu, choose Consolidate Library. A message appears that says: "Consolidating your library will copy all of your music into the iTunes Music folder. This cannot be undone."
There is no button that says consolidate library. Not even on the example picture they have.

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Pointing iTunes at the music files on a new hard drive

I've upgraded to a new, bigger external Hard Drive for Leopard and placed iTunes' Music folder onto it.
Now possibly I've done things in the wrong order but I'm left with iTunes not 'knowing' where the source files are for all my tunes - I'm having to go through the tracks manually double-clicking on them and being prompted to locate the mp3 file.
This wouldn't be so bad if iTunes said "+Hey Hurt off the Johnny Cash Album American IV is in here, I can match that up with those other Johnny Cash tunes that are unallocated - ****, I can see all of this dudes music in these folders+"...
Ho no, I have to 'find' every single track.
Is there any way I can 'show' iTunes where the music is living now, I don't want to do a raw re-import and lose all my playcounts and ratings.
cheers

Hi there,
Open up iTunes while holding down the option key. That gives you a menu asking whether you want to create a new library or choose an existing one. You'll need to create a new one on your external disk, since that builds the basic files that are needed.
Finally, you'll need to add all the songs on your external with one huge:
File > Add to Library
That should get everything hunky-dory. Next time you start iTunes, it will remember the last library you opened so you shouldn't need to press the Option key in future.
Hope that helps.
Pete

HT1473 Help I just moved my music files to a external hard drive and am using the new crappy version ( i know my opinion) of itunes and cant add the files to my libray it gives me the add file to library option but not the add folder to library option wha

Help I just moved my music files to a external hard drive and am using the new crappy version ( i know my opinion) of itunes and cant add the files to my libray it gives me the add file to library option but not the add folder to library option what am i doing wrong?

In iTunes 11 uncheck the preferences setting in in the iTunes Preferences panel "Advanced > Copy Files to iTunes Media folder when adding to Library"

I have all my music on an external hard drive. I just transferred all my files to a new hard drive . How do I sync all my files with my itunes library without losing all my playlists etc and keep everything intact?

I have all my music on an external hard drive. I just transferred all my files to a new hard drive . How do I sync all my files with my itunes library without losing all my playlists etc and keep everything intact?

Launch iTunes with the Option key held down, click on Choose Library, and specify it. If the external drive doesn't contain the iTunes database files, create a new library there and import that music.
If the library contains any rented movies, they won't play on a different computer.
(109334)

I am a long time iTunes user but a new MacBook owner! :) I keep the majority of my music files on an external hard drive. I'm trying to view all those files on my MacBook through iTunes. With windows you would go to : File/Add To Library, and iTunes w

I am a long time iTunes user but a new MacBook owner! I keep the majority of my music files on an external hard drive. I'm trying to view all those files on my MacBook through iTunes. With windows you would go to : File/Add To Library, and iTunes would add all your selected files to your music library BUT WOULD NOT COPY THEM TO YOUR HARD DRIVE. In other words, if the external hard drive was connected, you could listen, drag/drop, and edit the files. When I tried the same thing with my new MacBook... it actually started coping the files to my MacBook harddrive. I don't want that, it's millions and millions of mp3's that I don't want to keep on my computer, only my external hard drive. Can anyone help? I'm sure it's something easy, I'm just so new to the Mac world. Being an iPhone owner for many many years I'm picking up things fast, but this is getting the best of me! Help !

In iTunes 11 uncheck the preferences setting in in the iTunes Preferences panel "Advanced > Copy Files to iTunes Media folder when adding to Library"

How can I store my music files on an external hard drive and listen to them through iTunes that way?

How can I store my music files on an external hard drive and listen to them through iTunes that way? At the moment they're both on the external hard drive and also stored on the computer but I'm quickly running out of memory on my iBook G4 so I'd like to only keep them on the external hard drive and, if possible, delete them from my computer's hard drive. At the moment, when the hard drive isn't plugged in a lot of the files won't play and I get the exclamation mark next to the particular song in iTunes, but everything plays fine when the hard drive is plugged in.
Thank you.

Sounds like your files are playing from the external drive already. To check go to iTunes - Preferences - Advanced and check the Media Folder Location. Change it to the external drive if you need to.

Does iTunes match need to locate the actual files or just see its record in your library database? I am currently traveling in US and I have US and Australian iTunes accounts. But all my music files are on a hard drive in Australia.

Does iTunes match need to locate the actual files or just see its record in your library database? I am currently traveling in US and I have US and Australian iTunes accounts. But all my music files are on a hard drive in Australia. Can I start using itunes music match while I am travelling without the actual music files attached to my itunes?

In your situation I strongly recommend you read over that KB article. The international iTunes Stores are not cross-compatible.
My understanding of how it would work is that when activating iTunes Match on your US Store account, any songs you have in your iTunes Library that were purchased from the AUS Store account will NOT be matched. As I understand it, those files will be uploaded (which means you need the files on a local HDD). I also do not think it is possible to have iTunes Match active on more than one store ID on the same computer. But since iTunes Match is not available internationally yet, that point is moot for the moment.
To be honest you might want to wait until the service is available internationally so you can guage how will it will serve you.

How do I load iTunes on a new computer and keep my music files on an external hard drive?

I keep all my iTunes music files on an external hard drive. I am going to buy a new computer and want to load up iTunes on that computer whilst keeping my music on teh external GD. How do I do this? Nothing seems to specifically deal with this.

Hi,
See this Support Article:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1751
Restoring your iTunes Library backup
These Links may also be of Interest:
https://discussions.apple.com/message/12803190#12803190
https://discussions.apple.com/message/12699828#12699828
Cheers,

How do I extract my music files from a evternal hard drive and put them on my itunes?

how do I extract my music files from a evternal hard drive and put them on my itunes?

If you used the Finder to move the files, iMovie will have lost track of them. iMovie holds the locations of the Event files, and Project files contain references to those locations. If you move the files, iMovie has no way of knowing where they are.
If you can, first move all the files back to their original locations. Plug in the external drive. Open iMovie and move the files in iMovie's interface (help explains how, but basically, just drag and drop in the event pane).
Then you can connect the drive to the new computer, and iMovie will see them.

I had to install a new hard drive because my old hard drives boot files became corrupted, and i want to get all of my music files off the old hard drive and regain all my play counts/ratings/playlists

Greetings everyone
as the title says, ive had to install a new hard drive and i want to transfer my old itunes library onto the new drive, maintaining all playlists/play counts/ratings etc, album artwork if possible. The old hard drive is installed as a slave drive and is completely acessible, but due to the boot files being corrupted i cannot use it as the main drive and therefore operate my old itunes. Also, my ipod no longer contains my music library as itunes synced without my permission and wiped it.
The only thing i have tried is copying all of my old music files from the old drive by selecting 'add folder to library' and then the old drive, then replacing the new itunes library.itl file with the one from my old itunes. This restores all my playlists and playcounts but when i try to play any of the songs it says that the files could not be found, and i dont fancy locating 8500 music files individually!
Thankyou for taking the time to read my post, any help will be greatly appreciated.

Ah, my reply was based on the assumption that you had a default installation of iTunes.
i.e you had all your music in the iTunes media folder inside your iTunes folder.
If your iTunes folder is so small compared to the amount of music you have, you must have a different arrangement.
This complicates you situation considerably.
iTunes can cope with moving around as long as all the music is in the iTunes media folder, not not if it isn't.
Your first step should be to get iTunes working on the old drive. This will involve editing the xml library file so that the drive letter is correct and then rebuilding the library from the xml file.
Then you will need to consolidate your library which moves everything into the iTunes media fodler. After that you will be able to use my first suggestion.
Step 1
Find the iTunes folder on the old drive and copy the two library files somewhere else so you can find them again. That's iTunes Library.itl and iTunes Library.xml.
Now open the copy of iTunes Library.xml with WordPad.
Look for lines starting:
Location
These contain the paths to tracks.
You will need to use a find/replace to change the drive letter so that it is correct.
Make sure that you include enough in the "find" so that you only change the right thing.
Maybe /c:/ and replace with /d:/ or whatever.
After that, tell iTunes to use the library on the old drive with a shift key start.
Hold down the shift key and start iTunes, keep holding the shift key until you are prompted to choose a library. Navigate to the iTunes folder on the old drive and choose iTunes Library.itl.
Then use the method in the following article to rebuild your library;
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1451
Unfortunately the date added will be today for all tracks.
If iTunes works correctly after this, consolidate your library
File>>Library>>Organize>>consolidate
This copies all tracks into to iTunes media folder and could create a problem if you do not have disk space so don't do it if you are unsure about free disk space.
Check that iTunes works OK and then use the first method.
Message was edited by: polydorus

Can i keep my music files on an external hard drive and somehow sync the songs from there?

I have just purchased a new mac book pro, but don't want to fill up all it's memory with music files that i have on my external hard drive. Is there a way that i can keep the files on the external hard drive without having to upload them onto my computers drive, and still play them in iTunes ?

Yes. Just in iTunes>Preferences>Advanced specify the external drive as the location of your iTunes media library. To move an extisting library
iTunes for Mac: Moving your iTunes Media folder

How can i copy specific music files to an external hard drive?

I'm trying to copy selected artists from my itunes music library to an external hard drive. I don't want to relocate any of my files to the external hard drive for regular use with itunes, I simply want to back up my files.

Open Finder. Go to Music>iTunes>iTunes Music. The folders are organised by artists. You can copy and paste them to your external hard drive.

Transferring Purchased Music from iPhone to new hard drive

Hard-drive burned up and has been replaced. Most music was backed up, but not all. And most of the new music (that hasn't been backed-up) is on the iPhone. But I can't copy the files on my iPhone back to my new hard drive. Obviously there are security measures to keep folks from transferring files all over the place. But it seems that if it's on my iPhone, I must have obtained it legally, and there must be some accommodation for a dead hard drive.
Same question for my iPhone apps. I'd rather not pay for apps twice, and iTunes won't let me copy them from my iPhone back onto my 'puter. As soon as I sync apps, they'll all disappear, unless there's some way to convince the phone that it's looking at the old, pre-burned-up-hard-drive.
File>Transfer Purchases sort of worked, but not completely. I have about 600 songs on my iPhone, and it copied about 200 of them to my new hard drive. I have music purchased from iTunes, music copied from purchased CDs, and free downloads (Starbucks, Paste, etc). And there's no trend in what got copied and what didn't. Some of each category was copied, but not all. Very confusing that I can't find a pattern.
OS X 10.5.8, iPhone 3G with 3.1.3

Apps issue solved. Or, more accurately, it's a non-issue. iTunes prompts you that you already bought the app and can download it for free. Not so with music, I'm afraid.

How to restore music on computer after new hard drive installed?

had new hard drive installed and am not able to retrieve/find music that was backed up on my computer before new hard drive was installed. Only music that was in the "cloud" was able to be retrieved. Any idea where it could be?
Thanks!

Did you reinstalled iTunes ? It looks like you had a newer version of iTunes with the corresponding database, and now your iTunes seem to be an older version. If you are a little patient, you might easily fix this with iTunes 10.5 which should come out very very soon since iOS 5 has been annonced for tomorrow.

How to move files after installing new hard drive

I am considering the installation of a new 80 or 100 GB hard drive. I purchased the new iLife 06 program but I do not have enough space to install on my present 60 GB unit. I only have 3 GB available. I've read all the posts involving the possible brands, downloaded the instructions how to swap out the units. My question is how to backup and install my files and applications so I may reinstall onto the new drive. Can I just copy my hard drive volume onto my external Lacie storage unit and then drag the volume back to the new hard drive after booting off my OS disk? Any advice on how to move my apps and files? Do I need to purchase cloning software?

The easiest way is buy an external firewire enclosure and put your new drive in it. Then format your new drive. then use Carbon Copy Cloner to copy your internal drive onto your new drive. Then install your new drive and put your old one in the enclosure. You are now in business with an external backup on your old drive.

Moving 1000's of music files to a new hard drive

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