Moving iTunes library from macbook pro to external hard drive

I need to move my iTunes library to my external hard drive.

Drag it there, launch iTunes with the Option key held down, and choose it.
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How do I restore iTunes library from Backup files on External Hard Drive?

How do I restore iTunes library from Backup files on External Hard Drive and keep the new iTunes library on the External Hard Drive. I have all the media and playlist and .xml .itl files, just want the iTunes to recognise the content.
I backedup my iTunes content by dragging to External Hard Drive. Formatted and reinstalled OS. My iTunes content is so large, that I wish for the Library and content to remain on the External Hard Drive. I have all the music files and playlists, I just cannot get the iTunes application to display all the content. Hoping to Not have to drag and drop all the content to be recopied into new iTunes organised files.
Troubleshooting this by researching other conversations on the web, I have come stuck for a solution. One Troubleshoot told me to hold down the Command key and then lauch iTunes and a dialogue box will appear to Choose a new library, however when I try this, no Dialogue box appear to give me the option!?

It sometimes has that funny switch symbol on it too.
tt2

Transfer photos/videos from MacBook Pro to External Hard Drive (not iPhoto)

I've read all the other threads regarding how to transfer photos from iPhoto to an external hard drive (i.e., format your EHD to Mac OS Extended (Journaled)), however, I do not believe my situation applies.
In short, I download new photos/videos from my iPhone to my MacBook Pro twice - in two distinct methods. The first method (and the one I favor) is to use the Preview Application to download photos to the MyPictures folder. Once this is done, I revise the name of each photo so that I can tell not only the date but also the event. Once this is done, I then also download the same photos to my iPhoto Library via iPhoto but I don't make any revisions to the file names (I don't know why I continue to download photos into my iPhoto Library since I don't like iPhoto, but I guess I feel like it is a "backup" of sorts).
My problem now is that my internal hard drive is filling up and I must transfer some photos to an External Hard Drive (EHD). I thought the simplest solution was to transfer my iPhoto Library since I don't really use it anyway and many people advise to simply format my EHD to Mac OS Extended (Journaled). However, if I do that, my understanding is that I will not be able to then transfer the files to a PC, if I decide in the future to do so. The solution, as suggested by others, was to then format my EHD as "ExFAT". However, if I do that, my understanding is that iPhoto will not function properly.
So my questions include the following:
1. Is there any harm in simply deleting my entire iPhoto Library from my internal hard drive to free up space since I believe I have been downloading all my pictures in a separate location anyway (MyPictures folder)? Or will deleting my iPhoto Library somehow delete these other photos (even though they are not named similarly)?
2. If I decided that transferring my iPhoto Library to a Mac OS Extended (Journaled)-formatted EHD was the best solution, what would my options be if in the future I wanted to transfer the photos to a PC? Is that option lost forever? Or could I somehow transfer the photos from the EHD to the MacBook Pro, then re-format the EHD to ex-FAT, copy back the photos from the MacBook Pro to the ex-FAT-formatted EHD and then transfer the photos/videos to my PC? Is there an alternative better solution?
3. Any other suggestions?
Thank you

1 - no - if you do not like or use iPhoto then yu have no need for the iPhoto library - it is sefl contained and deleting it will not affect anything except iPhoto
2 - you can export photos form iPhoto to any format drive - it is only the iPhoto library that has drive format restrictions
Reformatting a drive totally erases it so you can not simply change the format of a drive without removing everything on it
3 - deciede what you want - if you use iPhoto then it has no cross platform capability and nothing you do in iPhoto is directly of use on a PC - you have to export from iPhoto to a volume that a PC can read
Since you do not like or use iPhoto and it will not do what you want I have no idea why you are messing with it at all
LN

File transfer from MacBook Pro into external hard drive

I can't copy files from the MacBook into an external hard drive.
In the 'Get Info' section, it says read-only. However, the hard drive have just been recently bought.
I had the same problem with our previous hard drive. Although the previous hard drive was 'read-only' I was able to copy and paste files in our old HP laptop.
What can I do in order to copy and paste files from the MacBook into the hard drive?
Hard drive = Toshiba
Capacity = 1TB

In my last paragraph, I said
"Note that Windows PCs cannot write natively to an HFS drive, so if you need to exchange files between Mac and PC, we need to talk about different options."
Windows cannot read Mac Extended (HFS) formatted drives; the Mac cannot write to Windows (NTFS) formatted drives.
The only formats fully compatible between Mac and PC are FAT32 (largely deprecated) and exFAT. If you need full read-write compatibility between Windows and Mac, and you can erase the drive (ie, it's a new drive or you have confirmed backups), reformat to exFAT using Disk Utility.
If you have a drive with files on it and you cannot erase them at the moment:
- if the drive is formatted for the Mac, you can purchase MacDrive for the PC
- if the drive is formatted for Windows (NTFS), you can purchase Paragon NTFS for the Mac.
Matt

How can I move my itunes library from pc onto an external hard drive for use on a mac

I have a large itunes library on my PC (roughly 200gb) and I want to transfer this to an external hard drive to then use on my new mac. I have tried this before using software which converts from NFTS to mac, but this didn't work properly (songs kept disappearing), so I also want the external hard drive to be mac formatted. Any suggestions? It seems much harder to do this than I expected.

Yes you can go to > Music > iTunes folder and copy the whole iTunes folder and drag the folder to your external and then on the new Mac click and highlight the iTunes folder and then in iTunes click on the button at the top (add folder to library) and you should see all your songs transfer from the external to the Mac and all songs start filling up in your iTunes library on the Mac.
This is the easiest method all songs and other media such as songs, movies, apps will be transferred over however you may not be able to keep ratings & last played counts using this method.
To keep all metadata including ratings & play count use the Apple method exclusively for this if you have to have your metadata, play counts and ratings saved.
I used scenario one above because it one of the simplest methods and I was just satisfied enough just to transfer all media over.

Backed Up from macbook pro to external hard drive for use on PC--how to restore to macbook pro?

Good evening,
My college student daughter uses her macbook pro, 13" Mid-2010, for ALL her school work. A few days ago it stopped working for her. Blank screen. Turned it off and on, blank screen with the gear spinning. She took it to a place named MacExperience in Indy for diagnositcs. The tech got it working and said it was OK now ($90 later). Two hours later, same thing occurred. She returned to the tech and he indicated it is in fact the logistics board that needs repair/replacement.
She purchased an external hard drive (G-Drive 500 GB mini FW800/USB 2/FW400 7200 RPM)--that is the description from the receipt she scanned and sent to me. The tech backed up her files from the MBP to the External HD so that the files are usable on a PC until the MBP is repaired.
Will her files be intact on the MBP once it is repaired? More importantly, since the back-up was made from the MBP to use on a PC, how do we restore the files from the external HD back to the MBP so that she can use MBP with all her files, school work, etc.?
The tech said he will do it, but of course for another $90. My point is, she needs to know how to do this in the event something like this occurs again (I sure hope not!!). Furthermore, she will from now on back-up her files to the external HD, which she needs to learn to do, as well.
Thank you for your helpful replies.
Message was edited by: fmwhelp

I may be wrong, but I believe the format has something to do with it - note the sizes here (from the Help in Disk Utility on how to format a drive for Windows):

HT4889 Migrate from MacBook Pro to external hard drive

I have a MacBook Pro with no video, external monitor won't work, it's the nvdia chip. Before working on it, I want to back up the Apps, Settings etc. I have the data backed up. I tried to migrate to my mac mini but it doesn't have enough space so I thought I could migrate to my external hard drive, but I can't see the external... Here are my 3 inital questions:
Can you Migrate from Macbook to external drive....if so, how...migration asst. or disk utility????
When you Migrate from one drive to another, does it overwrite the files on the new drive, in this case my Mac Mini
Can you clone or disk image to an external hard drive, if so, how?

A clone should work.
SuperDuper
Carbon Copy Cloner

How to transfer large files from macbook pro to External Hard Drive?

I want to transfer a file from my Mac to an external hard drive, it says "The item “File name” can’t be copied because it is too large for the volume's format."
I am trapped, if there is any way you could suggest me to overcome this problem I will be grateful.

I may be wrong, but I believe the format has something to do with it - note the sizes here (from the Help in Disk Utility on how to format a drive for Windows):

I tried transferring my iphoto library from my old macbook onto my new macbook pro (via external hard drive), but when i open the new iphoto, it seems to have transferred ALL images ever used on my old macbook. so i tried to just del

i tried transferring my iphoto library from my old macbook onto my new macbook pro (via external hard drive), but when i open the new iphoto, it seems to have transferred ALL images ever used on my old macbook. so i tried to just delete all those images so i could try a different approach to transferring, but the new iphoto won't let me do anything and every time i try to delete anything it crashes (since the image amount is so high). please help!!
MacBook Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2), iphoto '11, version 9.4.2

To move an iPhoto Library to a new machine:
Link the two Macs together: there are several ways to do this: Wireless Network,Firewire Target Disk Mode, Ethernet, or even just copy the Library to an external HD and then on to the new machine...
But however you do choose to link the two machines...
Simply copy the iPhoto Library from the Pictures Folder on the old Machine to the Pictures Folder on the new Machine.
Then launch iPhoto. That's it.
This moves photos, events, albums, books, keywords, slideshows and everything else.

How do you transfer movies from macbook to a external hard drive it won't recognise

how do i transfer movies from macbook to a external hard drive? it just wont recognize

So your MacBook Pro is a 2012 model (I'm assuming since you only bought it a week ago!)?
There are some known issues with the USB 3.0 ports on the 2012 models where they do not recognize USB external drives. This tech note may be of some help - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5172#12.
Some people that are using pre-release versions of Mountain Lion, to be released in the next couple of weeks, have written here that their USB 3.0 port problems are 'fixed' with the new version of OS X 10.8.
Try the Apple FAQ first and if that doesn't solve your problem, you may have to wait a couple of weeks to see if 10.8 does.
Sorry,
Clinton

Using Carbon Copy Cloner which is quicker firewire 800 Macbook Pro to external hard drive or Macbook Pro to same via Airport Extreme?

Using Carbon Copy Cloner which is quicker firewire 800 Macbook Pro to external hard drive or Macbook Pro to same via Airport Extreme?

Firewire 800 is the fastest and most reliable. Also it's bootable if you hold the option key down on a wired or built in keyboard. Not bootable via Airport obviously or if Filevault is used.
It's only your first clone that's usually takes the longest, it's shorter when it updates as you only do the changes which you can control to keep a pure clone if you wish.
Most commonly used backup methods

If i previously had my iTunes library set up on an external hard drive, how do I get my iTunes on my new mac pro to operate off of the same hard drive?

I recently bought a mac pro. I previously had a macbook that I had set up for iTunes to run off of an external hard drive. How do I set up my mac pro to run off of this hard drive? I have been trying to figure it out for the last hour and have had no luck.
I have tried to move my itunes folder on my mac pro to my external hard drive but am having no luck. Any help will be appreciated. Thanks.

If you had the entire library running from the external drive it should be a matter of holding down option as you start iTunes and browsing to the library on the external drive.
If you'd followed the advice to move the media folder only then ideally you need to recover the library folder from your Macbook with a view to making the library portable on the external drive.
Otherwise you're going to have to simply import the content into a new library, losing rating, playlists, play counts. etc.
If you have any devices that sync to your library see Recover your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device.
tt2

Ooops...I manually moved iTunes music folder to my new external hard drive

So I thought I was smart and manually moved my iTunes music folder to my new external hard drive. I've changed the location in Preferences but can't locate my music through iTunes. What do I do now? My library is on my external hard drive, but I read I should have done this through iTunes. Any advice?

Is it still possible for you to temporarily return the iTunes Music folder to its original location?
If so you should be able to see your music in iTunes again and then follow the instructions in this article in the Apple Knowledge Base.

Recently moved itunes/iphoto libraies to new, larger external hard drive...

Had large itunes/iphoto libraries that had resided on an external hard drive connected to my imac. These were backing up to a time capsule. Recently moved both libraries to a new, larger external hard drive. When Time Machine goes to back up, it is now trying to back up everything again, not just anything that is new. This is about 300 GB of music/movies/photos that were already backed up, and it is now trying to completely backup all this again. 2 300 GB backups will take up a lot of my TC. Should I just let it go? Do I have a possible issue with space? Just want to be sure I do the right thing....

lisacooney wrote:
I have recently moved all of my files to a larger external hard drive
How did you move these files?

How do i transfer my itunes library from macbook pro to my imac

how do i copy or transfer my itunes library from my macbook pro to my new imac, i would like to have the library on both computers

assuming all your media files are in the default location, do this:
reboot the MBP into target disk mode
connect MBP and iMac with a firewire cable
drag the entire iTunes folder (not just the iTunes music - or media - folder) from ~/users/yourname/music on the MBP to ~/users/yourname/music on the iMac.
since an iTunes folder will be present there already, you will be prompted to confirm if you want to replace that with the one you're moving. click ok.

Moving iTunes library from macbook pro to external hard drive

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