Moving iTines to an external drive

I want to take iTunes and move it in its entirety to an external drive. So far, I've only been able to copy the program and my music, not move it. Any ideas?

The iTunes applcation must be on the boot (C:) drive.
To move your iTunes files to an external drive...
Quit iTunes.
Move the entire iTunes folder (My Documents/My Music/iTunes on XP and /Music/ iTunes on Mac) including music to the external drive.
Click on the iTunes icon to start it, then immediately press an hold the Shift key in Windows, Option key in Mac.
iTunes will ask to Create new library or Choose existing library. Select Choose existing library and select the library in the folder you just moved.
Move the old iTunes folder to the trash but do not empty it.
Restart iTunes normally and verify the songs work. If they do, empty the trash.

Similar Messages

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    Last night i needed more room on my C drive so i stupidly moved the remaining itunes folders from my C drive to my F drive - unfortunately, when i opened itunes it was blank.
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    *Can anyone possibly suggest how to best handle this and walk me through it in painstakingly basic and specific detail? I would be forever grateful.*
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    iTunes uses the iTunes Library files - in particular the iTunes Library.itl file - to keep track of where your song files are located as well as playlist and related information.
    Most likely in moving your folders around iTunes has been confused to such an extent that it created a new Library file. With a bit of luck you might still be able to find the old file which would restore your old Library.
    So the first thing you want to do is look around your computer and make a note of any iTunes Library.itl files you can find. Generally speaking you'll find them in the iTunes folders on your system and depending on how you've been moving the folders - i.e. whether you "cut" them or "copied" them - you may still find at least one one on your F: drive and some on your C: drive.
    Having noted where they are you know want to check each of them out as described in this article in the Apple Knowledge Base. In following those instructions you want to select the Choose Library option and use the pop-up window that appears to zero in on the various .itl files you've located.
    Remember that each Library file will show a different Library in iTunes - perhaps slightly different, perhaps completely different - and if the first one isn't what you're looking for you'll have to close iTunes and repeat the procedure by selecting one of the other .itl's.
    Post back for any clarification.

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    Found out how to do it. Simply export playlist as HTML file from the original library then import to the new!

  • Moving Files to an External Drive

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    if you don't want to move your entire home folder, then the easiest way to do this is by using symbolic links.
    Use my [post|http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=7044223&#7044223] for instructions. It explains how to do it for the Documents folder but you can do the same with your Music or Movies folders.

  • Moving songs to an external drive

    Hi,
    I know this may sound like a stupid question, but I'm not an iTunes user, my husband is... My hard drive is completely full because he has downloaded too many songs. We have a huge external drive. How do I physically move the songs to my external drive so that they can play in iTunes?
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    Thanks in advance to whomever answers my questions! Happy July 4th!

    The simplest way to move itunes on to an external drive is:
    Close iTunes
    copy your iTunes folder onto the external drive. (That's My Music\iTunes)
    Start iTunes with the shift key held down and when asked to choose a library navigate to the itunes folder on the external drive and choose iTunes Library.itl.
    If everything works OK, rename the iTunes folder on the internal drive and make sure everything still works.
    Once you are ABSOLUTELY certain everything works OK you can delete the old iTunes folder, which you renamed.
    Most peope's recycle bin is not big enough to hold all the music so don't delete things until your are sure everything is working OK on the external drive.
    It is also a good idea to have a separate backup of your music.
    Note that this procedure only works if you have a standard set up with all your music in iTunes\iTunes Music.

  • Moving iTunes to an external drive

    Can anyone walk me through how to relocate my iTunes software from my full C drive to an external drive?  I can't update the iTunes software or my iPhone, because my C drive is so full.

    I typed "move itunes library to an external drive" into the search bar at the top of this page by "Support" and found:
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    to move the iPhoto library you need to move it as a single entity -
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  • Question about moving itunes to wd external drive?

    i found the page where it says u can move itunes music to external drive but will that include my tv shows also and if so can i delete it from my laptop after i move it to other drive?

    \Music\iTunes\ folder is the main iTunes library location. It contains the library files, music files and everything else.
    I have all of my music files already stored on an external HD. But for some reason when i moved it all
    What exactly does "moved it all" mean? What did you move?
    in other words in the old drive I still have the following files:
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    Since i already have all of my music files on my ext. HD can I delete these files without messing anything up?
    Only if you want iTunes to be completely empty and you want to start from scratch.
    Moving the music file syourself is not the correct way to do it. iTunes will lose everything.
    If you want to move everything, copy the entire \Music\iTunes\ folder to a new location.
    Hold Shift and launch iTunes.
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  • Can't find previous itunes file after moving info to an external drive to move library to new computer!!!  HELP

    I have moved my itunes files numerous times to new computers as I get one.  This last time I had everything running off an external drive, to conserve hard drive space on computer and hopefully from computer failure.  I need to move library over to new computer and get away from old computer that has Windows XP to the computer with windows 7.  After installing itunes on new computer and plugging in external to new computer, it finds all music and movies, etc., however, I can't seem to find the file that has the playlist info, play count, and to see where the backups of my iphone(s) are.  I have been working at this for days to no avail.  It may be right in front of my face but can't see where to find it.  HELP!!!!

    Hi mechellr!
    Here is an article for you that explains in depth how to move your iTunes library from one computer to another:
    iTunes: How to move your music to a new computer
    http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4527
    Thanks for coming to the Apple Support Communities!
    Cheers,
    Braden

  • Moved music folder to external drive, how do I get Match/ITunes to recognise it?

    Hi guys,
    I've been rather stupid in restoring my computer. I moved all the music to an external harddrive before I restored my PC but forgot to bring the Itunes library file with it. I've got ITunes Match so I can stream all my songs, but is there anyway to get it to recognise the songs on my external drive? I've tried re-importing them into ITunes but it adds each song as a duplicate, so I have the Match version and then my harddrive version, I really don't want duplicates of all 7000 odd songs! Likewise I'd like to try to avoid having to download everything from Match as this will take ages and be a bit of a pain! The only reason I care is so I can use my Sonos system with my laptop, otherwise I'd just leave them all on Match. Any ideas?
    Thanks, Luke

    You will need the iTunes Library.itl file which generally lives in ~/Music/iTunes/. You can recover this from the backups you were making before the HDD died. Otherwise, you cannot recreate the library.

  • Moved ITunes folder to external drive now can't get Ipod to sync

    I have moved my ITunes folder from laptop to external drive. Had to move each album folder individually to ITunes and when I went to Sync my Ipod, says its in Restore mode and can't get out of it as it stays in Restore mode over and over and over.

    As a best practice, you should move your content to an external drive and import references to into iTunes rather than moving the whole database and app files. In iTunes > Preferences > Advanced, uncheck "Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library". This will keep all your music and movies on the external drive, but iTunes and all references to the content on your desktop.
    I know that's not what you wanted to hear as a fix, but this is how I have my MacBook Air setup and it works fine with the iPad. My son tried to move the whole app and database to a hard drive and we had endless problems with it.

  • Moved Itunes to an external drive.  When prompted to update versions, the download would not install, now I get an error message indicating file msvcr80.dll  is missing.

    I moved my ITunes to an external drive.  Whe I was prompted to run the update for a new version of Itunes, It downloaded but would not install.  now when opening Itunes I get an error message indicating the file msvcr80.dll is missing.  How can I restore this, and e

    Try the following user tip:
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  • Moved iTunes media to external drive but...

    Hello all,
    I followed the instructions for moving my iTunes media folder to an external drive (it had taken up most of my mac book's memory) and at first I was able to access the DVDs and CDs I had ripped but no longer. I can go into the external drive and they are still in their respective folders but only the music and movies I have purchased from the iTunes store show up in my library. Does anyone know how to get my iTunes to accept these into my library without re-importing the into my hardrive?
    Thanks much,
    Nick

    Which instructions? There's lots out there and some are flat wrong.
    Close down iTunes.  Turn on the external drive and start iTunes again.  Does it work?  If not try to play a track.  When it asks you to find the file it should play, find that file on the external drive.  It should ask if you want it to find the rest.
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    Unless you have to keep only media on the external drive it is much better to keep the whole library together.  Make a split library portable

  • Moved iTunes Library to external drive- now can't move iPad purchase to Mac

    I moved my iTunes Library to an external drive because I didn't have enough internal HD space to move a movie purchased on the iPad to my Mac. Now iTunes won't sync my iPad - and wants to reformat it - because it says it was formatted on another Mac.
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    This is a really crappy position to be put into. If I could re-download the movie I'd just reformat my iPad and be down with it. Unfortunately, this is not an option.
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    As a best practice, you should move your content to an external drive and import references to into iTunes rather than moving the whole database and app files. In iTunes > Preferences > Advanced, uncheck "Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library". This will keep all your music and movies on the external drive, but iTunes and all references to the content on your desktop.
    I know that's not what you wanted to hear as a fix, but this is how I have my MacBook Air setup and it works fine with the iPad. My son tried to move the whole app and database to a hard drive and we had endless problems with it.

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