Moving iTunes library to EHD

My MacBook HD is at capacity. If I move my iTunes library over to my EHD I will free up at least 14 G of space. How do I move it without screwing it up? Can I just drag and drop it onto the EHD? Can anyone give me steps for how to successfully move my iTunes library from my macBook to an EHD? Thanks in advance!

Hi,
A friend of mine recently asked my advice about transferring iTunes to an External HD so that he could access his music from both his old eMac and his new Macbook. The approach I took was to copy the Music folder and iTunes library file directly to the HD, change the preference to show where the new music folder was and put an alias to the library file into the original home location on his eMac(trashing the original). The idea was that he could do the same on his Mac book and see the same playlists etc on both machines. This seemed to work for a while but he now complains that his library is now 'out of sync' with his music (his words). Any ideas for putting things right?

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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

HT203167 Moved iTunes library from one computer to another using external hard drive. Cannot play many files. Says they are missing but locates them in an archive file but still won't play them. Are the files themselves part of the .itl files?

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I'm the same as you with this one.
I had to move my itunes library to a new hard drive because it was taking up too much space. Now my imovie projects can't find my itunes library. One sound track when I right clicked in imovie I had the option to find media so I just located the same file but in a new location. This, however, doesn't work for all audio in my many projects.
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How to activate or import playlists from newly moved iTunes library on an external hard drive?

I have just moved my whole iTunes library from my notebook to an external HDD, due to space constraints. I followed the Apple steps to do so, and finally got all my songs and the rest to appear in the player.
However, my custom playlists do not appear in the playes. All my devices have a combination of various playlists loaded onto them. I have also just got the iPhone 5s and want to load similar playlists onto the new phone.....but my playlists are missing....
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Sorry, by mapped i meant what you described above...changing my designated media folder to the one on the new EHD.
I did try holding in the option/alt key as suggested by apple elsewhere in the forum but only opened the a window indicating where the shortcut file is located i.e. the iTunes.exe properties window. I tried the shift key too as well as several other but could not get the window asking me to choose a library.
Tried to copy a screen grab in but it doesnt allow me to.
When i opened the player after moving the folder there was nothing in my libraries except for a few purchesed songs and movies saved on icloud. I got my music in by going to file>add folder, and selected the music folder on the new drive. This "imported" my music to the player.
I must mention also i am using Win8 and the latest version of iTunes, but i live is South Africa and ive noticed my laptop keyboard keys/functions on the HP are different from previous computers i have used.
Where should the playlst files reside when using an EHD? Still on the main computer or on the new EHD?

Downside to moving iTunes library to external HD ?

I am using Leopard. I have an iPod and an Apple TV. Both of their hard drive capacities exceed my 3-year old PowerMac desktop. Thus, I am always battling with "Your startup disk is almost full."
I am curious about the performance implications if I moved the iTunes library to an external HD drive.
Does anyone have any experience with this? If so, do you think firewire or USB 2.0 is best?
Thank you!

I've been using an EHD for my media library for several years. I've used both Firewire and USB 2.0. I've never noticed any particular difference between the two. It has no impact on my Apple TV but I sync my Apple TV; I never stream.
The only downside is that you have to make sure that your hard drive is own and showing in the Finder before starting iTunes. If you don't, iTunes will default back to the boot drive and get confused. For travel, I sometimes create a second, smaller library on my laptop but mostly, I just use my iPod.

Moved iTunes library to Vista PC but iTunes 'can't find music files'. Help!

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I'm running iTunes 7.1.1 on a new Vista PC and I
followed the instructions on this support site for
transferring the library using an iPod.
All songs (with artwork) are showing in the new PC's
iTunes library, BUT all have a '!' symbol to the left
and refuse to play. It offers to let me find them,
but this would take hours for the thousands of
tracks. I've tried consolidating but to no effect.
All the music files are in the iTunes library folder,
so why can't iTunes access them?
Can anyone help?
hi i to have a similar problem, i moved my music file for another problem i had and now it has removed all my files from itunes, albums and playlists as well, they are still on the pc and i have moved them back but i seem to have to start again, this will take weeks to do, i hope someone can help us.

Moved iTunes library, but iTunes can't find it

I followed the online instructions and moved my iTunes library from one external hard drive to another. The music is all there on the new drive, but iTunes is looking in the wrong folder and the music doesn't show up in iTunes.
I tried changing to the correct folder in Preferences/Advanced, but that doesn't change anything.
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If you see a file called library.itl in the folder on the other drive that means it is likely your whole library is there. Copy that entire folder (do not import, do not export, do not change preferences, do not...) to the other drive. Start iTunes with the option key held down and guide it to the library file on the new drive.
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This is the one you probably needed to follow, except it is confusing:
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.
Do not confuse moving your whole folder and library with moving just media files as in
iTunes for Mac: Moving your iTunes Media folder - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1449

Moving iTunes library from one external hard drive to another, playlists

Here's my question. I keep my iTunes library on an external drive. My 250GB extrernal drive is full, so I'm moving my entire library to a new 500GB hard drive.
What do I have to do so my hundreds of playlists (most mixes with dozens of songs) still function once I've moved the music over?
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Thanks!

I DON'T MIND DRAGGING THINGS OVER; TH PROBLEM IS, WHEN I TRY TO PLAY PLAYLISTS AFTER MOVING STUFF TO THE NEW DRIVE, EVERY SONG WILL ASK "FILE NOT FOUND--WOULD YOU LIKE TO LOCATE IT?" WITH 50,000 mp3s, it will take forever to rebuild all my playlists. Is there a way to have iTunes search a new drive and recognize the songs as being the same as the ones on the old drive, so you don't have to do this manually?
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Moved iTunes Library to External Hard Drive - having trouble - HELP!

I have had quite the ordeal...upgraded my Mac iBook G4 from os 9 to os x 10 Tiger.
Bought an external hard drive to back up my 30 GB of music
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I moved my iTunes library to the external hard drive. Everything seems to be jim dandy...except that when I go to play a music file...the computer does not recognize the file.
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Thank you!!!

With iTunes 7.x you can transfer iTS purchases from the ipod back into iTunes.
To prevent your iPod from syncing - hold down the 'option' and  keys at the same time when plugging in your iPod. Keep the keys held down until the iPod show up in iTunes.
MJ

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I can copy the rest of the music to the new hard drive manually using finder. However, the music is not recognized in the new location only the old location.
I have tried many things including moving music to another hard drive and naming it the same as the old hard drive and then trying to consolidate it. That does not work. I have tried the method of changing the library.xml file to reflect the new folder. That does not work. I am at a stand still. I have invested much time rating the music and I do not want to lose that.
Any suggestions?
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tonybassplayer wrote:
Thank Chris I have just done that. How do I now get them in to Itunes ?
If you simply copy the iTUnes folder to /Music/ and launch iTUnes, everythign will be there. No need to import anything.
This will work the same with iPhoto.
Simply copy the Photo library to /Pictures/ folder and launch iPhoto.

Moving iTunes library from PC to Mac using iPod as external disk drive

O.K. I read the tutorial on this website on this topic and found it helpful though I haven't tried it yet. My question is - the tutorial examples assumed I would be using 2 macs. But, I am moving the iTunes library from a PC to a Mac (using the iPod as an external disk drive). Is that possible?

Thanks Erik. O.K....one more question... My PB obviously came w/ iTunes installed, and I have already added to it's library. So, is it possible to move my old iTunes library (on the PC) onto my new PB and keep the all of the songs from the PC's library and the Mac's (basically consolidate both libraries into one)? Or will it replace the Mac's library with the imported library from my PC? Thanks for your help.

Moving iTunes library to an external drive.

My startup disk is full so I would like to move my iTunes library to an external drive to fee up space. What is the best way to do this?

Our iTunes guru Terence Devlin advises the following:
1. Quit iTunes
2. Drag the iTunes folder from your internal hd - located in ~/Music folder - to your external hd. DO NOT delete the original one from your internal hd... yet!
3. When the transfer is complete, press and hold the Option(alt) key and fire up iTunes.
4. A "Choose iTunes Library" window will come up. Click on the "Choose Library" button.
5. Navigate to where the iTunes folder is located in the external hd.
6. Within the iTunes folder, select the iTunes Library file and click Choose...
That's it. iTunes will now display all your playlists, songs, movies, podcasts etc. At this point, should you wish, you can delete the iTunes folder from the internal hd to free up space.
More info:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1751
Or if you prefer a more complicated explanation:
http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/moving-your-itunes-library-to -a-new-hard-drive

Moving iTunes Library to an external drive. My itunes cant connect to the library

I have tried to move my iTunes Library to an external drive. When I open the iTunes app i can not get the app to read the library on the external drive. I have gone into iTunes preferences and redirected the app to read the external file and I still look as though I have a "New iTunes program" with no music, apps, videos etc.
Thanks all!

If you moved the entire /Music/iTunes/ folder, hold "Option" and launch iTunes.
Select "Choose library" then select the iTunes folder you moved.
You do not need to change the iTunes media folder location in iTunes prefs > Advanced.

Moving iTunes library to an external drive converting to different format

I want to move entire iTunes library to an external drive. I've found several Mac 101's to help but those helps makes no sense. I should be able to move music to another drive and give iTunes the path to find it but that does not work.
All files are iTunes Plus including everything from Amazon but I want to convert everything to a mp3 or other format so all files are independent of iTunes. Lots of old music from CDs I imported and lots from iTunes as well as Amazon. I guess i could sit and burn everything to a physical cd but that would take months and hundreds and hundreds of cds. Can someone advise how I can convert these files and then move to an external drive?
I'm running mountain lion and version 10.7 of iTunes. Two external drives and 145 gigs of music. Any guidance will be most appreciated.
Thanks.

HI Limnos,
Thanks for the reply. Something I forgot (age) to mention, this quest to move the library is precipitated by the Mac drive is running out of space. While I still have about 50 gigs of room left, I was thinking I should just plan on opening up the space by moving the iTunes library.
The other reason is, I read an article about how upon ones death one can not bequeath ones digital music or book files to loved ones. IE; If all of the music was on LP's, tapes, cd's then this physical format can be left in ones final will. But according to what I read and trying to read the user policy by Apple, Amazon etc when one downloads music or a book or whatever that use policy says we don't own the material we only can read it or listen to it. When we die it dies with us. Several people in the article as well as myself believe this is crap. At one time I was purchasing content and then burning it. I stopped because I thought how silly to burn it, I have back ups on an external drive. Man was I wrong. If I have to I'll sit here in my last days and burn hundreds of cd's.
So realizing this, I want to take all my music files and save them to another drive as though this drive was hundreds of cd's. That way all those files in some other format can be played independent of iTunes or transfered to one of my kids PC's or a Mac if they get with the program. If the conversion process destroys the integrity of the file then I have no choice but to burn cd's.
In my estimation, I'm doing nothing wrong. I bought downloadable music just as if I'd bought cd's. I should be able to throw it away or give to my kids upon my death. The kids can decide what they want to do with it once I'm gone. I now no longer buy any music or books in a digital download. All content is purchased with a physical copy. That said, more content providers are moving towards downloads only or like Amazon and Apple towards the cloud and streaming. I realize all this gets into the fair use act but I think most people are unaware of this issue.

Moving iTunes library to EHD

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