Moving entire iTunes library to external USB hard drive

My internal hard drive is nearly full. I need to move the entire current 10 GB iTunes library of songs, podcasts, album art, etc. to a 300 GB external USB hard drive with plenty of space. Within a few weeks I'll get a new replacement computer with a much larger internal hard drive and will want to relocate the iTunes library again onto the new machine. The iTunes Help Forum had some tips but explained "From now on, new songs & other items are stored in the new location. Songs you've already imported stay in their current location." That doesn't help. I won't be importing anything new until I've gotten my new computer and am running iTunes on it. Any help is very much appreciated.

Copy /Music/iTunes/ folder to the external.
To use this folder, hold Shift and launch iTunes.
Select *Choose library*.
Select the iTunes folder you copied to the external.
Make sure the external is connected and ready before launching iTunes.
When you get your new computer, copy the entire iTunes folder from the external to /Music/ on the new computer.

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Moving my itunes library to a removable hard drive.

I have moved my itunes library to a removable hard drive. Every time I try to trash my old itunes file and access the removable HD, I cant find it from iTunes. the only thing I can get it to do is to reload (duplicate) the entire 30gb library on the HD I want it off of. Now I have 2 duplicate versions of my library, but still can't get it to keep the files on the HD. Can someone help?
Mark

Hey Mark -
I think it's helpful to understand how this whole process works, and along the way, maybe we'll find where things went wrong for your situation.
iTunes can take as much or as little control of your library as you like, and different settings may be turned on or off for you as it's not always standardized.
If you'd like your entire iTunes Library to be transferred to one centralized, organized location (wherever - a local directory or an external drive, whatever you like), here's what you need to do (and if it's not too late, here's what you need to go "back" and do to make this transition smoother).
- Open iTunes with the default library (where you had it).
- Select iTunes, Preferences, Advanced, and ensure that "Keep iTunes Media folder organized" and "Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library" are both checked. This ensures that your music files are actually going TO the iTunes folder (and not, for example, just being referenced in a downloads folder which you'll probably move or delete later, breaking all those links) and that iTunes will sort your media by Artist\Album\Track Number Song.xxx instead of just moving the file as-is to a different spot.
- Select File, Library, Organize Library and check "Consolidate files" and "Reorganize files in the folder 'iTunes Media'". These two marks take anything up-to-this-point and consolidates them into the one location, then uses its sorting structure to file it all away.
Then, Mark, I think it's appropriate to exit iTunes, take that entire library folder (YourUsername\Music\iTunes\) and put it wherever you'd like it to go. To tell iTunes where your new library is, hold the Option key and click on the iTunes application, then "Choose Library" and reference your new location.
I think it's important to follow the preliminary steps first. I've run into instances with customers where they've moved their Library file, referenced it by Choosing the new Library, and then thought everything was fine, only to find two weeks later when they try to play an audio file that the file isn't found - and this happens because the user moved the library FILE but didn't have a consolidated library TO move - the files were spread out all over the computer.
I hope that's helpful to you. I know it may be too late to "undo" yourself back to the beginning and do those organizational steps, but it's at least useful to know the process and how it might help you in the future.
Best of luck.

HT4972 I am unsure of this update. Do you recommend putting my entire itunes library onto a separate hard drive while i do the latest update? I was told everything in my itunes library as well as my ipod touch would be lost if i do the latest update. Plea

Im unsure of this update. Do you recommend putting my entire itunes library on a separate hard drive while i do this update? I was told everthing in my itunes library as well as my ipod touch would be lost if i update it. Please help.

Who told you that?
I would stop listen to him if he is providing that kind of advice.
Allan

HT1386 I use Windows Vista.I moved my itunes library from the vista hard drive to data hard drive because of low memory remaining on vista. I can no longer sync my ipod to my library.how can this be fixed. Willy

I use windows vista. I moved my itunes library fromvista to data hard drive. Very little available memory on vista. I cannot sync my ipod to library anymore.
how can I fix this problem. Willy.

Go to Settings>Preferences>Advanced and make sure that the location of your media library is correct.

Exporting an Apeture library to external USB hard drive

1st step:
I can copy the library (25 GB)from the laptop to external USB hard drive (80 GB empty), but I can't use it.
I can't import any other project into the library.
The message is: there is not enough space on the disk. After that when I try to use the library the message is: the library is locked.
2nd step:
I open the library from the laptop, I change the preference and put the new library on the external USB hard drive (same 80 GB empty).
I work with the new library and I try to import the folder into a new project but after few moments the program stacks.
I have another external hard drive (fireware) and I have not the same problems.
Powerbook G4 1,67 Mhz Mac OS X (10.4.7) 1,5 Gb Ram

The fastest external option would be a new SATA solution from FirmTEK.
http://www.barefeats.com/hard71.html
Currently they are the only provider of this type of solution.
17" MBP 2.16 Ghz/2 GB Ram/120 GB HD, G5 dual 2 Ghz/ 4 GB RAM / Radeon X 800XT / Mac OS X (10.4.6)

When I try to direct my iTunes library to my USB hard drive, it stays in 'connecting' status. Why?

I have an airport extreme that has a USB hard drive. I had my iTunes on my MacBook pro directed to the hard drive. It stopped using the hard drive and now I can't direct it to the hard drive. The Airport utility can see the hard drive and I didn't change any set ups. I have tried powering down and powering up the Airprot extreme. I have tried disconnecting and reconnecting the hard drive.
My husband was able to see the hard drive on his PC lap top and now he can't either. When he tries to connect the hard drive directly to his PC, it asks him to reformat the drive, which we don't want to do (won't that erase everything on the drive?)
What should I check?
Thanks...

Thank you for your response. I have done this...when I open the iTunes folder copied from my old computer, each song appears only once. When I open iTunes each song appears twice. Should I uninstall the iTunes folder from my old computer and reinstall it? It make no sense that I have 2 of everything in iTunes. Thank you for responding - I really appreciate it, as I don't want to have to delete each duplicate song

HT1751 How do I move my entire iTunes library from my iomega hard drive to my new Mac Book Pro? I no longer want to keep my music on the external drive.

Because of a lack of enough memory on my old Mac Book, I put all my music on an external hard drive. Now that I have a new Mac Book Pro with lots of memory, I want to move the music onto this new computer but I haven't been able to yet. I tried the migration assistant but that didn't work. Any suggestions?

I may sound like a real rookie here, but on my new MacBook Air there isn't a "Pictures" folder under "Users/kendallwilson" like there used to be on my old MacBook Pro (Early 2011). I'm still working out the new software on my MB Air, so where exactly should I open this new window to start following the steps you just provided me.
Thanks again!

Backing up Itunes library to external backup hard drive

May have missed this... but I just bought an external hard drive for use as a backup. It didn't come with backup software. For now, I just copy and paste personal folders. What do I copy to backup my itunes library? Itunes internal backup apparently only backs up to CD or DVD. Can I not back up some weird voodoo protected version of my music to an external hard drive wthout having to copy to DVD? I mean, that would go through a lot of DVDs over a year wouldn it?
Mike

Hi, Mike.
Assuming you haven't changed any of iTunes' default settings, everything you need to back-up - the iTunes Music folder, the Album Artwork and the iTunes Library files - is found in the iTunes folder at C:\Documents and Settings\ user name \My Documents\My Music\iTunes .
So, again assuming you haven't changed the defaults, all you have to do is copy the iTunes folder to your external.
If you've changed the defaults, it can be a bit more complicated.

How do I copy my entire iTunes library to a USB Flash Drive?!

I'm trying to copy my iTunes Music Library to a Flash Drive, and having difficulties copying the entire library to the flash drive.
Any help?!

How big is the flash drive? How big is the iTunes folder? If there is enough room it should just be a case of copying the folder from <User's Music> to the flash drive.
tt2

Moved iTunes library to an ext hard drive to make space on my int drive... Followed steps from apple. Now I cannot access my music... It says: "File could not be used because the original file cannot be found. Would you like to locate it?"

Moved iTunes library to an ext hard drive to make space on my int drive... Followed steps from apple. Now I cannot access my music... It says: "File could not be used because the original file cannot be found. Would you like to locate it?"
I moved my iTunes library to my external hard drive some time ago and I followed the directions listed here on the apple support page. It did copy my library and now is on my hard drive... I can open iTunes and use it to sync all of my devices but I would like to play my music... I can see all of my music files but can not play them if I click on an album or song it says the following: "(file name) could not be used because the original file cannot be found. Would you like to locate it?" I click locate but do not know where to go from there? I need a way to access all files and not to hunt down one at a time on my hard drive... I am pretty sure I deleted the original library to make space on my internal drive which was the reason for moving it. I have tried and tried to fix it and do not have a lot of time to do so with a one and two year old at my house who do not like it whenI sit down at my computer. What to do??? Any help is much appreciated!!!

See Make a split library portable. Move all of the bits of the library together in the the correct shape and it should work. Or undo exactly what you did and then start over.
If you're a former Windows user don't try merging two folders together that have the same name by dropping one into the same folders as the other, as that goes badly on a Mac.
tt2

Transfering iTunes files to new computer using external USB hard drive

Thought this could be useful:
If you want to transfer your complete iTunes library to a new computer preserving all your playlists and library information, but without using your iPod as a hard dive, or without burning a CD or DVD, you can do it by using an USB external hard drive following these easy steps:
1) Quit iTunes
2) Connect your USB external hard drive to your computer and acccess it thru My PC or Windows Explorer.
3) Create two new folders in your external hard drive (you can name them LIBRARY Backup and PLAYLISTS Backup).
4) Open the LIBRARY Backup folder.
5) Open another Windows Explorer or My PC window; open the iTunes Music folder (usually located in C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\My documents\My music\iTunes).
6) Copy all of its contents (only the contents, not the whole folder) to the LIBRARY Backup folder you created in your external USB Hard Drive.
7) Close both the LIBRARY Backup folder from your USB external hard drive and the iTunes Music folder.
8) Open the PLAYLISTS Backup folder from your USB external hard drive
9) From your iTunes folder, copy the iTunes Music Library.xml to the PLAYLISTS Backup folder.
10) Close all the windows and extract your USB external hard drive from your PC ()
11) Install iTunes in your new computer.
12) Using Windows Explorer open the iTunes Music folder (usually located in C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\My documents\My music\iTunes).
13) Connect the USB hard drive to your new computer and open it using another Windows Explorer window.
14) Open the LIBRARY Backup folder and copy all of its contents (only the contents, not the whole folder) to the iTunes Music folder in your new computer. After the copying is complete, close this folder.
15) Copy the PLAYLISTS Backup folder to you new computer’s desktop.
16) Close Windows Explorer and extract USB hard drive.
17) Open iTunes
18) From the File menu, choose Import. Navigate to the iTunes Music Library.xml file on the Desktop and click Choose. The imported playlist will show only songs located on the computer's hard disk or external media.
19) You can now delete the xml. file from your new computer’s desktop if you wish.
PC Windows XP Owner of 5th Generation iPod

Type "move itunes library" into the Google search bar.
Type "ipod touch not recognized by itunes" into the search bar at the top of this page by "Support"

ITunes library on external USB drive connected to Netgear R7000 router

I have my iTunes Library on an external USB hard drive. When the drive is connected directly to my iMac, I access the library by Option-Launching iTunes at which point I am asked to choose or create an iTunes Library. I choose the library on the external HD and everything is fine,
However when I connect the same HD to the USB3 port on my R7000, I am not able to choose the library successfully. When I Option-launch iTunes and select the iTunes library I get an error that says, "The iTunes application could not be opened. An unknown error occurred (13008)"
Curiously I am able to navigate to the Readyshare iTunes library. For example I can get too this file...
Jazz>iTunes Media>Music>Acoustic Alchemy>The New Edge> 01 Oceans Apart.m4a
and when I do a "quick look" on my iMac by pressing the space bar on that file, it plays. However when I double-click on that file, I get the same error that "The iTunes application could not be opened. An unknown error occurred (13008)"
Anyone have any idea what the problem is?

Oh groan, not another conspiracy theory. No, it's a lot more likely Apple and Netgear and the dozens of other manufacturers haven't gotten together with the thousands users who have come up with hundreds of thousands of ways of rigging things up and tested each and every one of them. I am confident if Apple were out to mess things up for you they could have come up with something a lot more devious.
Did you do a web search for this? With a Google search specifying Netgear with this error I found:
ReadySHARE USB Hard drive access issue from a Mac Computer (Time Machine or iTunes not working properly)
- Able to see USB hard drive content but unable to write to USB hard drive connected to router's Readyshare port from Mac computer.
- Error that says "The iTunes application could not be opened. Unknown error 13008"
http://kb.netgear.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/22763/~/readyshare-usb-hard-drive- access-issue-from-a-mac-computer-%28time-machine-or
In fact it is almost certain that it is an issue of that particular model router and the drive formats it can use.

I just need to know how you get an iTunes library off the original hard drive of a mac and onto an external hard drive and still have it work normally?

I just need to know how you get an iTunes library off the original hard drive of an imac and onto an external hard drive and still have it work as it normally would?

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1449

Move the iBooks library to external/different hard drive?

Hi! Is it possible to move the iBooks library from its default location on the boot drive (where the iBooks-application also resides) to a different hard drive?
Currently all my ebooks and PDF’s are kept in the default „Books“-folder in the home-library on the SSD-boot-drive of my Mac where the iBooks application is also kept by default (path: Users/„username“/Library/Containers/com.apple.BKAgentService/Data/Documents/iBo oks/Books). Space is getting narrow on my SSD-boot-drive so that I would like to free up approximately 20 GB by moving the entire iBooks library to a second internal HDD-drive of my Mac or to an external USB-drive.
I have not been able to find any instructions on the internet on how to move the iBooks library nor have I been successful in any of my experiments to move the „Books“-folder. What I have tried is the following:
1. I moved the original PDF-files away out of the „Books“-folder to a different drive and placed aliases from these files in the „Books“-folder. The result is that the iBooks-application will simply re-create a full size copy of the original PDF file in the „Books“-folder. I.e. no saving of disk space!
2. I copied the „Books“-folder from its default location in the user library on my internal SSD-boot-drive to a second internal HDD-drive, erased the „Books“-folder at the original location and instead placed a hard link at the original location. I verified that the hard link is working and pointing to the right location on the second drive. The result is that the iBooks-application will not recognize/show any of the PDF-files at the new location. Trying to re-import the missing PDF-files into iBooks results in the message „This book is already in your library. Do you want to replace it with the one you’re adding?“. By clicking on „Yes“ the same message returns infinitely often. I.e. no successes!
3. I repeated the same procedure as described above under 2. using the „iBooks“-folder which encloses the „Books“-folder (along with three other folders) with the same results as before. I.e. no successes!
(path: Users/„username“/Library/Containers/com.apple.BKAgentService/Data/Documents/iBooks)
Does anyone know how to successfully move the iBooks library to external/different hard drive?
Does anyone have links to internet discussions about this problem?
Regards BJB

I was in on the Mavericks beta, when iBooks was introduced. You can not believe me if you want but it isn't currently possible to store the iBooks library on external storage at this time. The ebooks must be on the path ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.BKAgentService/Data/Documents/iBooks/Books for iBooks to function properly. Any other method you may find to accomplish what you want will be unapproved and could break at any time.
You may submit your polite feedback to Apple here: http://www.apple.com/feedback/ibooks_ios.html

How to use iPad (4th gen) to edit with iMovie - but using an external source such as a USB stick or external USB hard drive

Want to use my iPad (4th gen) to edit a movie using iMovie - easy enough if the movie file is on the iPad - but what if it's too large - can I keep the source file on a USB stick or external USB hard drive and edit from there? How can you do this?

You can't export any type of file using the camera connection kit, so a USB flash drive or SD card won't work.
There are some wireless external hard drives that can be used with the iPad.
The Kingston Wi-Drive, which costs $50 for the 16 Gigabyte, and then $30 more for every 16 gigs more. It works by you turning it on and then accessing the files on it from an app that you download on your iDevice. You can access music, movies, and other stuff. No connections or anything, it works like a WiFi connection, you connect to it from the setting on the iPad under wireless networks.
Then there is the Seagate GoFlex, which some would recommend over the Wi-Drive. But this one costs $199 and had 500 Gigabytes of storage. It works the sameway as the Kingston: no wires, runs over its wireless connection. You can actually fit up to 300 HD movies on it.
Another option:
Expand your iPad's storage capacity with HyperDrive
http://www.macworld.com/article/1153935/hyperdrive.html
On the road with a camera, an iPad, and a Hyperdrive
http://www.macworld.com/article/1160231/ipadhyperdrive.html
 Cheers, Tom

Moving entire iTunes library to external USB hard drive

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