Moving iTunes from external drive on PC to external drive on Mac

Hi can anyone help getting totally confused with all the different help topics!
My iTunes currently runs of an external hard drive (I://) via Windows 7.
I've changed to an iMac and want to move my iTunes to here using a new PC & Mac compatible external HD (J:// via the PC/Samsung via the Mac).
I've followed the instructions on here but iTunes doesn't seem to be picking up the library or playlists, and not sure where I've gone wrong.
Can anyone help at all please?

Those instructions tell you how to move media (as they say). A library is more than just media. For people using regular iTunes settings it is everything in the iTunes folder which includes the critical iTunes Library.itl file. This file generates the structure you see in the iTunes application. You need - Moving a library: Quick answer if you use iTunes' default preferences settings: Copy the entire iTunes folder (and in doing so all its sub-folders and files) intact to the other drive. Hold down the option (alt) key (shift on Windows) and open iTunes. At the prompt to create or choose a library choose the copied iTunes folder.
Note, I am leery about your "PC & Mac" compatible drive, whatever that is. While it is possible to use a FAT formatted drive with a Mac you have to realize that it has file size limitations and cannot be repaired with any Mac based tools.
What are the iTunes library files? - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1660
More on iTunes library files and what they do - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITunes#Media_management
What are all those iTunes files? - http://www.macworld.com/article/139974/2009/04/itunes_files.html
Where are my iTunes files located? - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1391
iTunes 9 [and later]: Understanding iTunes Media Organization - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3847 - plus supplemental information about organizing to new structure https://discussions.apple.com/message/26404702#26404702
Image of folder structure and explanation of different iTunes versions (turingtest2 post) - https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-7392 and making an iTunes library portable.

Similar Messages

Copying or moving video from your Event Library to an external hard disk

I have a Network Drive where I'm used to putted all my iMovie08 files.
I'm start using iMovie09 and i'm no longer able to have my *files/library in a network drive*. Did apple remove this functionality? If this is true this is unbelievable because now a days everything goes to network storage. On iTunes i can have my library virtually anywhere. I need to have the same behavior when i'm using iMovie.
Can someone help me?
with my best regards,
Paulo
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Copying or moving video from your Event Library to an external hard disk
If you want to save space on your computer’s hard disk, you can move your stored video in your Event Library to a compatible external hard disk connected to your computer with a FireWire or USB 2.0 cable.
You can also copy Events to another hard disk. You might do this, for example, if you want to create a duplicate copy of your video library or an Event on a friend’s hard disk.
NOTE:When using an external hard disk with iMovie, make sure it has been formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

- If i understood correctly, the solution you propose will replace completely my hard disk library with NAS location.
- What i need (because when i'm travelling i dont have my NAS) is to have both. My hard disk library and the ability to copy/move (drag & drop within iMovies09 ) events and projects to my NAS at my description as i use to do on iMovies08.
And yes all my NAS locations appears with and yellow flag on iMovies09.
best regards,
Paulo

I want to transfer movies I have downloaded from iTunes from my iPhone 5 to a flash drive to be able to use when I have no wifi on my iPad,when power is out etc ?

I want to transfer movies I have downloaded from iTunes from my iPhone 5 to a flash drive to be able to use when I have no wifi on my iPad,when power is out etc ?

If you have iTunes 11 on your computer then you can enable the left-hand sidebar on it via option-command-S on a Mac, control-S on a PC - when connected (and if your computer's iTunes is up-to-date) your iPad should then appear on that sidebar under a 'Devices' heading :
If you select the iPad on that sidebar you can then use the Movies tab on the right-hand side of the iTunes screen to select and sync that film to your iPad's Videos app.
Has your iPad been synced to the computer before ? If not then you might find this page for syncing to a new computer useful : https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3141

Moving Itunes From one computer to another

HI,
Can anyone offer advice for moving Itunes from one laptop to another? The original laptop that has my itunes on it, has broke, it froze and will not operate. Rather that lose all my purchased music and playlists i would like to swap it to another laptop. Can anyone advise if this will be possible and how to do it? Both laptops have windows XP installed
thanks
Arlene

Hi
I am having a similar problem- when I record from Itunes to a cd it only works in "Data cd" format in the advanced tab. That's okay, but when I re-insert the cd and try to import it, it doesn't show anything- it plays in Itunes okay. There aren't any little boxes to check for selecting any songs and if I try to use the import function, it shows as blank.(file type shows as .txt) I am using Itunes 6- would Itunes 7 help this?
thanks- I have a lot of music to transfer and this is a problem.
Max

I'd like to transfer all of my songs from iTunes from my old laptop (windows) to a newer laptop (mac). Is it possible to do this? If so, how?

I'd like to transfer all of my songs from iTunes from my old laptop (windows) to a newer laptop (mac). Is it possible to do this? If so, how?

See Here...
Move iTunes Library from PC to MAC
http://www.macworld.com/article/146958/2010/03/move_itunes_windows_mac.html

Moving iTunes from external hard drive to new iMac

I will be receiving a new iMac soon. Currently my iTunes is on an external hard drive.
What are the steps I take to move the iTunes from my external hard drive to my new iMac's hard drive?

The PC to MAC move complicates a few things, but this article seems to solve them.

Moved iTunes from C Drive to D and now no songs on iTunes?

I'm trying to make space on the laptop C Drive and have been transferring stuff to the D Drive, when I did this with iTunes it doesn't have any songs in the Library, Im not sure where these songs are and am too scared to sync my ipod as the only options it gives me is to transfer purchased songs (which is ony about 4 as the other 1500 have come from my CD's) or it offers to copy the blank Library to my ipod ..... Noooooooooooo.....So is there a way of making the songs on my ipod become my Library, sort of back to front?
Please help I am not the most technically advanced (as you may have gathered).
Sarah x

Hey parlorsoldier,
Could you please elaborate the same on how have you moved Acrobat from C to D drive.
Did you completely uninstalled the software and then performed custom installation for the C drive location.
Let me know your workflow, please.
Regards,
Anubha

Moved iTunes from 'C' to 'E' drive - won't run!

A while back I had my kids move itunes from the 'c' drive to the 'e' drive. I don't think they really knew what they were doing, they lost alot of music, but at least it was running.
Yesterday, I went to upgrade it, by clicking upgrade from itunes while it was running. I thought it would automatically update it in the 'e' drive. It did not. I probably should have stopped there, but I didn't. I did an iTunes search and tried to manually move files from the 'c' to the 'e' drive. It isn't working. There is an itunes version still on the 'c' drive - it's running, but it is empty with no music. The itunes on the 'e' drive won't run at all. I have downloaded it, installed it, restarted the computer several times, but it continues state that files are missing and it won't run.
I sure hope I didn't lose their music! OMG!
Please help!
One frantic mom,
Thank you!

You can move your music wheresoever you desire on your computer but the iTunes application itself - the program - is much happier when it stays on the C: drive. It sounds like you've tried moving the program which may well be the cause of your problems.
You are still able to start iTunes on the C: drive though, right? But the Library display is blank?
In that case, the easiest way to get back on track is to start all over again with your iTunes Library by by following the instructions in the Add to Library section of this KB article .
This will update iTunes with a list of all the files you add but will not maintain any of your playlists or related information (playcounts, dates added, dates last played, ratings, comments, etc.)

Moving Itunes from External HD to new imac HELP!

HELP!! Kept my iTunes on an external Hard Drive as eMac had little space! Need to move all my iTunes from the External drive to iMac - but it ain't working - any suggestions or solutions easy to follow instructions would be great
Any help appreciated!

1 - if you are upgrading form iPhoto 6 then you can not go ofrward until you complete the upgrade - and with all versions of iPhtoo when you upgrade you can not go back - do always upgrade on the new system keeping the original in case of peoblems
2 - I have no idea how you transferred the iPhoto library - but the best way is to drag the iPhoto library from the old system to the pictures folder of the new system, run the iPhoto library upgrader and launch iPhoto
LN

Moving Itunes from 1 hard drive to another same computer.

I am trying to move itunes from my "C" hard drive to a new "H" hard drive to clean up my "C" drive. I was wondering if any one could tell me how to do this? I have tried to copy and paste but with no luck.
I know it must be simple bit I can seem to make it work

As noted above, change the pres.
Then go to menu Advanced -> Consolidate libary.
iTunes will copy the music to the new location.
Then delete /My Documents/My Music/iTunes/*iTunes music* folder.

Moving iTunes From PC to Mac keeping play counts etc.

I am trying to move my iTunes from a PC ( XP ) to a Mac ( OS X ). I have moved the entire iTunes folder which contains the XML file and music folder to the mac using an external hard drive. The PC was consolidated before the copy. On the Mac I found and replaced the PC file location to Mac file location (text editor). I then corrupted the iTunes Library.itl ( I believe that was the file). I Then dragged the edited XML file into iTunes without opening it (dragged it over the icon on the dock). It then started to rebuild the library. I thought i worked great. Which it did.
Problem: I am missing about 400 out of 3000 songs. There is no reference in the Mac iTunes XML. The Library is 32GB. I have all the movies, which is a large chunk of that. It is very very important that i keep the data related to those song ( play counts, ratings... ).
The songs are in the iTunes Music folder
I've looked at guides by Lifehacker, Macrumors,
Please help. Thank you!!

I am trying to move my iTunes from a PC ( XP ) to a Mac ( OS X ). I have moved the entire iTunes folder which contains the XML file and music folder to the mac using an external hard drive. The PC was consolidated before the copy. On the Mac I found and replaced the PC file location to Mac file location (text editor). I then corrupted the iTunes Library.itl ( I believe that was the file). I Then dragged the edited XML file into iTunes without opening it (dragged it over the icon on the dock). It then started to rebuild the library. I thought i worked great. Which it did.
Problem: I am missing about 400 out of 3000 songs. There is no reference in the Mac iTunes XML. The Library is 32GB. I have all the movies, which is a large chunk of that. It is very very important that i keep the data related to those song ( play counts, ratings... ).
The songs are in the iTunes Music folder
I've looked at guides by Lifehacker, Macrumors,
Please help. Thank you!!

Moving iTunes from PC to Mac

I just bought a new used iMac and am trying to move my iTunes from my PC to the Mac. I followed precisely the Apple Support directions on using my iPod to move the iTunes folder from my PC to the Mac. The folder is where it is supposed to be on the Mac but the iTunes software does not list the songs.

Choose Consolidate Library from the Advanced menu or the Library section of the File menu in iTunes, find the iTunes library location from the iTunes preferences, and move the folder to the new computer using any method necessary, such as an external drive, optical disks, or a network connection.
(38205)

Moving iTunes from PC to Mac - problem...

When moving my iTunes folder from PC to Mac (via hard drive), the following error message appears: The operation can’t be completed because you don’t have permission to access some of the items". Anyone come across this before?

My feeling is there isn't much you can do about it since standard things such as changing file permissions won't work if you can't write to the drive. You could try formatting the drive to FAT so both the PC and Mac can use it (as long as you don't have any huge files). Alternatively, if you have a smaller flash drive formatted FAT you can move the library in groups of folders as long as you make sure it all goes back together properly again.
Here's my standard post on moving libraries:
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 select a library, then guide it to the 'iTunes Library.itl' file in the moved iTunes folder.
If 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.)
Longer answers if for any reason you do not think all library files are inside your iTunes folder (changed preferences settings at some point):
iTunes: How to move [or copy] your music [library] to a new computer [or another drive] - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527 - a somewhat bewildering and not always easily understandable set of options.
For the record there's this reference for iTunes 11 but it really doesn't strike me as having the specifics you need. iTunes 11 for Mac: Move your library to another computer - http://support.apple.com/kb/PH12168
2011 ilounge article: Transferring your iTunes library - http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/moving-your-itunes-library-to -a-new-hard-drive/ - An article with good background information (similar to the links above), particularly if you are not sure your media files are all grouped for quick answer above. Unfortunately under the single term "transferring library" it describes two very different moves; relocating just your media (not really transferring your library and not recommended unless you really need this configuration), and relocating media+database (really your whole "library"). Make sure you understand the difference before electing to move only media.
Windows users see tip at: https://discussions.apple.com/message/18879381

HT1933 Moved ITunes from one lap top to another, and some audiobooks were lost??

Moved iTunes library from one lap top to another, and some audiobooks were lost!

Sorry to hear that.
Do you have a question?
Copy the audiobooks from the old computer, or your backup copy of your old computer to the new one.

Moving iTunes from PC to Mac with another itunes already on it!

I have a click wheel ipod (approx 2 years old) and it has died on me. I'm going to get a new ipod but I want to know how I move my itunes from my PC to my boyfriend's Mac. He already has itunes (and a photo ipod) on his mac but we want to dedicate his computer to music and have both of our ipods (his current one and my new one) associated with his mac.
How do I do this without losing either one of our itunes libraries?
Would really appreciate some help if someone can.
Thanks
Beeb75

This page may be of some help: How to move an iTunes library from a PC to Mac (and back)

Moving iTunes from external drive on PC to external drive on Mac

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for