Moving iTunes music folder on another hard drive

My hard drive is getting full but I want to download more music. Is there any way to move the folder to another hard drive?

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1449
http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/moving-your-itunes-library-to -a-new-hard-drive/
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1449
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1751

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Error message when moving iTunes music folder to External Hard Drive

I have followed the instructions in Apple support to move my iTunes music folder to an external hard drive. During the consolidate library step, only half of my music is transferred before I get the error message "Copying music failed. The disk could not be read from or written to."
Has anyone gotten the same message, and what was your experience correcting the issue?
15" Powerbook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.8)

In Windows, you go through File >> Library >> Organize Library. here you can choose to consolidate your library. this should do the job.. alternatively you could take a look at this blog..
http://www.tuaw.com/2006/09/19/how-to-keep-your-itunes-library-on-an-external-ha rd-drive/
Even though its step by step on mac you should be able to figure it out from there.
Message was edited by: MuldVarp3N

Moving a shared iTunes Media Folder to another hard drive

For many years our family has been sharing our iTunes media on a single computer. Currently there are 3 of us. We each have our own iTunes Library in our ~/Music/iTunes folders, but all the shared media is in /Users/Shared/Music.
We have outgrown the current internal hard drive, and I now have a big external drive ready to go, but I can't figure out how to move the media files without the need for 2 out of the 3 of us to rebuild our iTunes library from scratch.
I tried first using the technique described in many different articles of having the first user change the media folder location preference and then use "Consolidate library" to actually move the media files to the new location. But then when I do the same for the second user, it makes a second copy of every file in the new location.
Is there a way to get the second user to simply update the locations of all the files in the Library, and not make copies?
Alternately, is there a way to rebuild the 2nd and 3rd users Libraries, but to keep the existing playlists working. The need to recreate these playlists is the main task that we are trying to avoid.
Thanks in advance,
-steve

If your library files are on the current external drive, with the media folder inside the main library folder, then simply copy this folder to the new drive and use the hold option/shift when starting iTunes method to open the library in its new location.
If your media folder is on the external but the library files are on the internal drive then start by copying the contents of your iTunes folder, *iTunes Library, iTunes Library Extras.itdb, iTunes Library Genius.itdb, sentinel, Album Artwork* folder etc. to the parent folder of the media folder on the external. (You can leave the .xml file behind, it will have a slightly different name in the new location and will be recreated automatically.) Use the option-launch-iTunes method above to open the library on the external drive. Make sure it all works properly then close it and proceed as outlined in the first paragraph.
iTunes uses the folder name for the folder holding the *iTunes Library* file as the window title, so you may get odd results if your library files are now in the root of the drive. As long as the media folder is stored as a sub- folder of the library folder you can move everything to a new folder or path and use the option-launch-iTunes method. E.g. if your media was at *\iTunes Media* then move the libray files to the root folder \ - open, test and close iTunes - create a folder called iTunes - move the libray files, Album Artwork and iTunes Media folder into the new iTunes folder then open the library in the new location.
tt2

How to transfer iTunes library & folder to another Hard Drive

My iTunes library and all data (music, video, apps, podcasts) are stored on an external 250 GB hard disk that is now getting almost full.
I wish to transfer everything on a 500 GB external HD and be able to launch my library from this new HD without losing anything or getting all my files with the dreaded "!".
Can someone advise me where to look for instructions on how to proceed?
Many thanks.
Frederic

If your library files are on the current external drive, with the media folder inside the main library folder, then simply copy this folder to the new drive and use the hold option/shift when starting iTunes method to open the library in its new location.
If your media folder is on the external but the library files are on the internal drive then start by copying the contents of your iTunes folder, *iTunes Library, iTunes Library Extras.itdb, iTunes Library Genius.itdb, sentinel, Album Artwork* folder etc. to the parent folder of the media folder on the external. (You can leave the .xml file behind, it will have a slightly different name in the new location and will be recreated automatically.) Use the option-launch-iTunes method above to open the library on the external drive. Make sure it all works properly then close it and proceed as outlined in the first paragraph.
iTunes uses the folder name for the folder holding the *iTunes Library* file as the window title, so you may get odd results if your library files are now in the root of the drive. As long as the media folder is stored as a sub- folder of the library folder you can move everything to a new folder or path and use the option-launch-iTunes method. E.g. if your media was at *\iTunes Media* then move the libray files to the root folder \ - open, test and close iTunes - create a folder called iTunes - move the libray files, Album Artwork and iTunes Media folder into the new iTunes folder then open the library in the new location.
tt2

Moving iTunes Library folder to External Hard Drive?

My iTunes Library folder is currently on my (internal) hard drive, which is very low on space. A great deal of my music is on my external hard drive, which iTunes accesses just fine (I've not, of course, chosen to copy the music into the iTunes Library folder). My question is, is there an easy way to change the iTunes Library folder to a directory on my external hard drive and ensure that new things I download such as purchased music or apps will download to that directory? I changed the folder as shown in the Advanced tab of Preferences to my external drive, tried downloading an app, and it still downloaded to the internal hard drive.
I'm starting to get a bit claustrophobic about space left on my main drive, and I'd like to relieve it if possible. Thanks!
EazyCheeze

In Windows, you go through File >> Library >> Organize Library. here you can choose to consolidate your library. this should do the job.. alternatively you could take a look at this blog..
http://www.tuaw.com/2006/09/19/how-to-keep-your-itunes-library-on-an-external-ha rd-drive/
Even though its step by step on mac you should be able to figure it out from there.
Message was edited by: MuldVarp3N

Moving iTunes music folder from hard drive to external drive

I see a couple of topics related to iTunes folder locations and losing track of where the file are. What's the right way to migrate from having the iTunes music files on my hard drive (C:) to using an external drive...without having to re-map everything manually? I'm running out of space on the C: drive!

There's actually hundreds of those topics. It gets asked daily.
Did you still have a specific question after reading several of them?
Here is a very thorough and wordy article on it
http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/moving-your-itunes-library-to -a-new-hard-drive

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?
Do I delete everything from my old drive, then use the 'add to library' function on the entire new drive? If I do that, will iTunes be able to find the tunes in each playlist?
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?
Also, if I do use the 'consolidate library' approach-- what happens if I drag all my other music folders into my itunes folder manually on the old drive, then try consolidate--will it copy EVERYTHING over to the new drive, or only the stuff that was in the iTunes music folder on the old drive from the beginning (since everything else I used "add to library' but not 'copy to itunes music folder'.
iTunes should have some more built in utility options to allow it to find everything in the library when it moves to a new drive, even if one chooses to keep music in a different format than the 'itunes music folder' approach. .

How can I move iTunes music folder to another drive?

I have iTunes version 7.1 running on a notebook with Windows Vista. My iTunes music folder is becoming too large for the C; drive and I am having problems successfully moving it to the D: drive.
I know the folder is in the D: drive because I can see it there. I have followed guidance on how to link it to iTunes: Edit / Preferences / Advanced / General / Change (choosing iTunes music folder on the D: drive) / OK. I have also ticked the "Keep iTunes Music folder organised" box, as well as the "Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library" box. Nevertheless, when I open iTunes my music does not appear in the library.
What am I doing wrong?

Firstly there is more than one kind of iTunes Library file:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93732
Secondly you should consolidate your library:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=iTunesMac/7.3/en/670x.html
The following link will give you the instructions to move iTunes to an EHD. These instructions need to be followed EXACTLY.
The 2 metadata files within the main iTunes folder must stay on the main drive of your system as that is their "home", they can't be moved.
Now read this:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301748

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

Apps don't sync to my iTunes music folder on another HDD, always generates a new My Music folder in My Documents on my boot drive... is there a way to fix this?

Pretty much what i wrote in the title, my boot drive is an SSD so there isn't heaps of free space to play with which i why i want to move my app folder to my itunes music folder on my other drive. I have already changed the setting in itunes so that the HDD folder is my primary media folder. It's just the app folder which is giving me a headache...
Thanks

See this post.
tt2

Is there a way I can use my external hard drive without the files being transferred on to my computer? as like like my iTunes music being on my hard drive without them being copied onto my computers hard drive ?

is there a way I can use my external hard drive without the files being transferred on to my computer? as like like my iTunes music being on my hard drive without them being copied onto my computers hard drive ? because i dont have that much memory and i wanted my external hard drive to be the source for my music files and not my computer.

Many users keep their iTunes libraries on external drives. You just have to remember to connect and power up the drive before launching iTunes.
iTunes for Mac: Moving your iTunes Media folder:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1449

ITunes Music on an External Hard Drive

Sometime ago I put, or as you will see, thought I'd put, all my itunes music on an external hard drive, I used the instructions as outlined on the Apple website, and it all SEEMED to work fine, except that when I choose "organise library" or as it used to be known "consolidate", itunes copies about 300 or so tracks and thats it, but I have over 10,000 songs, vids and podcasts. Also if I go into Spotlight/Finder, there are a lot of iTunes files on BOTH the external hard drive AND in the itunes folder on the INTERNAL hard drive, now I'm worried about copying one from the other in case I lose some stuff, any ideas?

apple-lovin-it wrote:
Sometime ago I put, or as you will see, thought I'd put, all my itunes music on an external hard drive, I used the instructions as outlined on the Apple website, and it all SEEMED to work fine, except that when I choose "organise library" or as it used to be known "consolidate", itunes copies about 300 or so tracks and thats it, but I have over 10,000 songs, vids and podcasts. Also if I go into Spotlight/Finder, there are a lot of iTunes files on BOTH the external hard drive AND in the itunes folder on the INTERNAL hard drive, now I'm worried about copying one from the other in case I lose some stuff, any ideas?
check if iTunes is pointed to the desired location in preferences > advanced like so

I perviously transfered all my iTunes music to an external hard drive. But now when I connect the external hard drive and try to play a song, I get an error message saying that I need to "locate" my music. I don't how to find it on my external hard drive.

I perviously transfered all my iTunes music to an external hard drive. But now when I connect the external hard drive and try to play a song, I get an error message saying that I need to "locate" my music. I don't how to find it on my external hard drive. Please help for I am not that computer savy and don't want to mess anything up.
Thanks!

I called Apple Support and they walked me through it. They told me to basically copy and paste my music to the external hard drive. (I think.) Or maybe it was they had me transfer a folder to the EHD. I don't exactally remember it was a few years back. But I tried to plug in the EHD before starting and...nothing. Still says same thing, "locate file."

New hard drive on laptop, itunes music stored on external hard drive...

my hard drive on my laptop crashed and I got a new one installed...I kept all my itunes music on an external hard drive, and that is ok. I have reinstalled itunes on my laptop, but how do I get itunes to read the music from my external hard drive??

When you say "when i double click on my itunes files it just opens up this list of music." it doesn't mean anything to me. You need to explain clearly, remember I only know what you tell me.
I need to understand how you have things set up and if you had you iTunes library database on the external drive or the c: drive. That is the iTunes folder containing iTunes library.itl.
What do you see when you open iTunes on the new PC, are your music files there. If not, every time you play a track it gets added to itUnes so you should at least have some files in your library.
What problem are you trying to solve? Is just getting the tracks into your iTunes library, or are you also concerned about ratings, count and playlists from the old PC. If so do you still have access to the old PC?

Error Code -36 When Copying iTunes Music folder to an External Drive

_*"The finder cannot complete the operation because some data in "NAME.mp3" could not be read or written. (Error code -36)_"*
This is the error message I get when trying to copy my iTunes music folder to an external drive. I am following Apple's knowledge base article, so yes, I have consolidated my library, have closed iTunes and there is plenty of room on the external drive. For what it's worth, I am also getting this error when trying to do the same thing with my iPhoto library.
Would be grateful for some insight,
With oodles of appreciation in advance,
Joe

I was getting the same "-36" error while trying to backup to a Lacie firewire external drive.
I had a lot of people telling me to re-format, erase, reinstall, run utility programs ... yada, yada, yada.
First off, test to see if it is the connection type (firewire). I reconnected the offending external drive via USB, restarted the drive and ... BINGO! ... all transfers went perfectly.
Once i knew it was the firewire connection and not the drive itself i simply unplugged my iSight camera (the only other firewire device connected to my machine), reconnected my external drive via firewire and the problem is now corrected.
Firewire buses seem to be very finicky things ... i would suggest eliminating all firewire devices from the machine (except, of course, the external drive you're trying to transfer to) and see if the problem goes away.
Like i said, i simply unplugged my iSight camera and the transfer to my external drive went perfect and my transfer rates went from an average of 4MB/sec to over 19MB/sec.
P.S. BTW - prior to the error and after i corrected the error by unplugging the iSight camera, my internal and external drives all checked out 100% on Disk Utility, Disk Warrior and TechTool Pro.

Moving iTunes music folder on another hard drive

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