Moving library to external drive

I am helping a client that has an iMac G4 with OS X 10.4. She has a LOT of photos in her iPhoto Library, around 25000 of them, and she is almost out of space on her internal hard drive. She has a new external drive that I would like to move her iPhoto library to.
I found instructions on the iPhoto information page. However, when I drag the iPhoto Library over to the external drive, it starts copying but then after a while I get an error about not being able to copy an alias file and it stops copying.
Also the copy procedure seems very slow, it was showing that it would take 9 hours to copy those photos. While I was watching the file transfer it was only moving about 100MB every minute. Does this model just have the older slow USB connection?

Hi, Techserv. Any iMac G4 built before September 2003 has USB 1.1, not USB 2.0 ports. With such a machine it makes no sense at all to use a USB-only external hard drive. Your client should have a FireWire-capable drive enclosure instead. It would be many times faster.

Similar Messages

Moved Library to external drive and can't get my library!

Someone please help me! I have moved all my photos to an external drive but do not understand how I can get iPhoto to automatically recognize this and grab my photos into the library on startup. I did the same thing in iTunes and had no issues!
I'm sure its an easy fix....I just have no clue how to do it. Any help would be appreciated.

Welcome to the Apple Discussions.
Quit iPhoto. Hold down the Option key as you launch iPhoto. A dialog box will ask you to Choose or Create a library. Select Choose, then navigate to the iPhoto Library folder on your external drive. It should open in exactly the same condition as before you moved it.
Regards.

Moved library to external drive ... now can't reconnect files HELP

Hi all. I've searched this forum for answers to my problem but to no avail.
In effort to free-up hard-drive space on my iMac, I decided to move my entire Aperture library folder to my external g-drive. Then, when I started Aperture up again, I opened preferences and pointed to the new library location on the external. I thought it would be that easy...
At first, it seemed to have worked--the files were all showing up in Aperture. However, when I tried to edit or export any of the images, I got a warning message:
"Versions with unavailable master images cannot be exported. The selected master image is either offline or not found. Please reconnect it and try again."
Also, there's a little yellow yeild icon with an arrow above on the images... I guess this indicates that there's a connection problem?
What should I do? I tried right-clicking the main "Library" icon in Aperture and clicking "Relocate Masters for Library..." but that resulted in another error message:
"Unavailable master images cannot be relocated. One or more of the selected master images are unavailable. You can relocate all available masters, or cancel, connect the required drives, and try again."
I have no idea what to do next? How do I fix this? I have a shoot today and I will need this resolved.... If anyone has any idea, please take me thru this. Oh, one more thing--I have over 11,000 photos so forget manually connecting each one.
One more thing: I am downloading Aperture 3 and will definitely migrate. Will it be easier to connect these files to Aperture 3?

OK, I couldn't figure it out so I set everything back to how it was before the move. Everything is working now and all the files are still in the original location.
Now, I want to move the entire library to the external drive. I've looked into this...please correct me if I'm wrong with the steps to move entire library from my computer to a external drive (note: I don't want to use the computer HD to store/process the photos--I want it all done from my external HD)/. Here's what I found in Aperture help...this is the closest thing I could find for directions on moving the entire Aperture contents from one location to another permanently. Will this work?:
"Transferring Projects from Another System
If you work with several computers, or work on projects with other people, you may find it necessary to transfer projects from one Aperture system to another. Transferring projects is a simple import process.
To transfer a project from one computer to another:
1 Select the project you want to transfer, then choose File > Export > Project.
2 Enter a name and choose a location for the exported project.
3 If your project contains referenced images, select the “Consolidate images into exported project” checkbox to transfer the original masters as well as the previews and metadata as a self-contained project that another Aperture system can use.
If you are transferring projects with referenced images to another computer and want to transfer just the referenced image previews and not the masters, don’t select the “Consolidate images into exported project” checkbox.
4 Click Save. The project file is exported to the location you chose.
5 Connect or network the two computers together. For more information, see the documentation that came with the computers.
6 Open Aperture on the computer to which you want to transfer the project.
7 In the Projects inspector, select Library.
8 Choose File > Import > Projects.
9 In the Import dialog, navigate to the location on the other computer where the project you want to transfer is stored, select the project, then click Open.
The selected project appears in the Projects inspector."

HT204318 moving library from external drive to new computer

I have an HP laptop, running Windows 8- I have loaded all of my music into the "automatically add to itunes" folder, and by everything I have read, it should evaluate and load automatically, but it isnt doing it. How do I get it to load the music into iTunes?

If everything on the external drive is in WMA format then that method would work, otherwise you are likely to get duplicates, which is why I suggested you work with the Not Added folder.
Different audio formats have different ways of compressing and storing the information from the original source. Most software and hardware will only work with a limited range of formats. iTunes cannot play WMA directly, but can convert it to one of the formats it will play. Given this is a clean install of iTunes that format is likely to be AAC if you haven't changed it. MP3 may be a better choice if you might want to put the media on some non-Apple device in future, otherwise ACC is supposedly slight more efficient, i.e. a smaller file for the same quality.
The main factor affecting file size is bit rate. The more original data that is kept, the larger the file and the more closely the reproduced music will match the original source. WMA is a lossy format typical bit rates are 128kbs and 256kbs. Conveting a 128kbs file to, for example, a 256k AAC file results in a file larger than the original, but no better quality.
If you put Windows Explorer in details view you should be able to enable a bitrate column and scan through to see what the current values are. You can adjust your import settings as given. You may want to import in more than one batch if there is a mix of bitrates.
tt2

External HD full, moving library to new drive?

I have my iTunes library on a 500GB external drive, which is now full. So I need to move it to a new, larger external drive. I've found lots of articles about moving the library from the internal drive to an external, but haven't found anything that talks about moving from one external drive to another. Is the process basically the same, or is there anything I need to be aware of when moving between external drives? I was think the easiest way would be to name the new drive the same as the old one and copy all the files over from my back up drive. Unfortunately, I gave the old drive the descriptive name "Lacie 500GB", but if it makes things much easier, I might be inclined to use the same name on the new drive even though it will be much bigger.
Thanks.

If you want to make another drive (direct or portable) on your PC the main music location for iTunes, move all song files there, as well as any future imported music from CDs, here is one method (see the links below):
You will maintain your playlists, ratings, comments, etc. This will
i only
move your music folders location,
i NOT
your iTunes program files. It is my opinion that programs (i.e. iTunes) work better when installed on your main hard drive. At the very least, it makes it easier to manage all your programs if they are centrally located on one hard drive (the Windows default standard).
See these links for step-by-step info:
Moving your iTunes Library to a New Hard Drive
MacMuse, "Move iTunes music/Library to new drive", 12:34pm Oct 12, 2004 CDT
If you are moving the music to an external hard drive, after the transfer and to work correctly, the ExHD must be running prior to your opening iTunes. If not, iTunes may reset the location of your music to the default.

Moving music from external drive to new computer, not showing music

Hello,
I was running iTunes 7 or 8 on Windows XP on a laptop. I ran out of room on the laptop and followed Apple's doc to move library to external drive and point iTunes to the new location. It's been working that way for over a year.
Old laptop crashed and I purchased a new laptop running Windows 7. The external drive is fine, and I was able to restore info and pics backed up to that drive on my new laptop. I installed iTunes 9 on the new laptop and tried several things to get it to see the music folder on the external drive, but it doesn't see the music at all. I even copied everything to the iTunes Media folder on the new laptop, but nothing shows up at all. I assume it has to do with what library files are available and where they're located. There are no library files on external drive, only a My New Music Folder. The old laptop can be on for about 10 minutes before it crashes, so I could try to retrieve the old library files if I knew what I needed and where to find them, but I hope I can do it without having to turn on old laptop. Any help is much appreciated. Are my playlists gone? Help!

If everything on the external drive is in WMA format then that method would work, otherwise you are likely to get duplicates, which is why I suggested you work with the Not Added folder.
Different audio formats have different ways of compressing and storing the information from the original source. Most software and hardware will only work with a limited range of formats. iTunes cannot play WMA directly, but can convert it to one of the formats it will play. Given this is a clean install of iTunes that format is likely to be AAC if you haven't changed it. MP3 may be a better choice if you might want to put the media on some non-Apple device in future, otherwise ACC is supposedly slight more efficient, i.e. a smaller file for the same quality.
The main factor affecting file size is bit rate. The more original data that is kept, the larger the file and the more closely the reproduced music will match the original source. WMA is a lossy format typical bit rates are 128kbs and 256kbs. Conveting a 128kbs file to, for example, a 256k AAC file results in a file larger than the original, but no better quality.
If you put Windows Explorer in details view you should be able to enable a bitrate column and scan through to see what the current values are. You can adjust your import settings as given. You may want to import in more than one batch if there is a mix of bitrates.
tt2

Can't read iPhoto library from external drive

I suddenly can't can't read iPhoto library from external drive. I have talked to WD and nohing is wrong with the network drive. I can open images and files from it. But, I can't read in iPhoto Library.

Network Drive? a NAS?
iPhoto needs to have the Library sitting on disk formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Users with the Library sitting on disks otherwise formatted regularly report issues including, but not limited to, importing, exporting, saving edits and sharing the photos.
Basically, you need to move the library to a correctly formatted disk.

Can't show User/Library in external drive

I can set my Mac to show Library in Users on the main drive (terminal or keystroke) but NOT on an external drive...
How can I access User/Library on external drives?

Check that you’re in the correct folder and entering the exact text posted.
If you’re using the Go to Folder command and providing Library, it’ll open the one in the current folder. If you provide ~/Library/, it’ll always open the one in your home folder.
If you’re using the chflags command, the path will look like /Volumes/volumename/Users/username/Library/ and not /Users/username/Library/.
(115061)

Moved iPhoto 11 library to external drive and have a iPhoto Library file left on desktop

Hello,
I have a blue file on my desktop labeled iPhoto Library, that appeared during the course of me moving my iPhoto Library ( iPhoto 11) to an external hard drive to make room on the internal disk, my attempts to reopen iPhoto on the internal disk, move selected photos from the iPhoto Library on the external drive over to the newly emptied iPhoto Library on my laptop.
The blue iPhoto Library file contains these items:
AlbumData.xml
AlbumData2.xml
iPhoto.ipspot
Questions: does this blue file belong somewhere or can I trash it?
This is what I did:
1. I opened Pictures, dragged the iPhoto Library from there to the external drive.
2. When I opened iPhoto on my MBP it said it needed a library to open with and the choices already in the box were:
iPhoto Library(default)
iPhoto Library
3. I chose "iPhoto Library" because I thought "(default)" meant restoring the original library.
4. iPhoto opened to the "get started with iPhoto" like a new install.
5.I moved (drag and drop ) some photos from the external drive back into the "empty" iPhoto Library. I tried to move a group of photos but I didn't know how to do it so ...
6. I took the iPhoto Library from the trash and put it back into the "empty" iPhoto Library.
7. I tried to delete all the photos except the ones I wanted to keep in the internal iPhoto Library. I couldn't do it so....
8. I closed iPhoto, went back into Pictures and trashed the internal iPhoto Library again.
9. Reopened iPhoto and it needed a library to open with and I think I clicked
iPhoto Library (default)
10. When I opened iPhoto this time, it was the "get started with iPhoto" but the original photo albums and labels listed but all empty.
That's what I remember so far.
Hope you can help.
Medusa59

It appears you created a new library. Launch iPhoto with the Option key held down and select "Choose Library".
Navigate to the library on the external hard drive and select it. Once you're satisfied that it's the one you want you can delete that folder from your desktop.
OT

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.
I've tried Aiseesoft iPad Manager but the movie - a iTunes+ movie, so I assume it is a package of some sort - doesn't show up in the movie pane.
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.
Help!

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.

I moved my itunes library to external drive and now itunes wont work.

I moved my itunes library to an external drive and now itunes cannot find the library. I followed a youtube video and all seemed to work fine until i deleted the old library and emptied the trash. Prior to deleting and emptying the trash I checked preferences to verify the path of Itunes was to the external drive. It seemed to work even when I moved the original library to the trash.
Now when I launch itunes the song listings show but the songs cant be found. I checked the volume of my itunes that I moved to the external and it was about 4 GB that i moved. I have approx 2000 songs.
Any suggestions?

Hold down the alt/option Key when you start iTunes a dialog box will open
Select Choose Library and select the itunes library on your external drive

Moving iPhoto to external drive; have formatted external disk to Mac OS Extended (Journaled), moved the iPhoto library to external drive; when trying to change the library, the iPhoto file on new external is greyed out can't be selected.What went wrong?

Must have done something wrong..
1. formatted external disk to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) - required a partition, but that went fine. Entire new external disk was included in the partition formatted to Mac OS Extneded (journaled).
2. moved iPhoto library to new external disk
3. Holding Option key down, opened iPhoto
4. Choose library feature appeared, however when new library function option appeared and "choose library" selected, the iPhoto folder appearing in the new external drive was greyed out and not able to be selected. Therefore the default library remains the original iphoto library on the Mac.
I've moved the original iphoto library to the trash and then tried to start iPhoto. A message comes up that the iPhoto is in the trash and needs to be pulled out before iPhoto can start (clearly the new iphoto library on the external drive is not being seen.
Can anyone suggest where I went awry? Thanks!

Try trash the com.apple.iPhoto.plist file from the HD/Users/ Your Name / library / preferences folder.
(On 10.7 or later: Hold the option (or alt) key while clicking on the Go menu in Finder to access the User Library)
(Remember you'll need to reset your User options afterwards. These include minor settings like the window colour and so on. Note: If you've moved your library you'll need to point iPhoto at it again.)
What's the plist file?
For new users: Every application on your Mac has an accompanying plist file. It records certain User choices. For instance, in your favourite Word Processor it remembers your choice of Default Font, on your Web Browser is remembers things like your choice of Home Page. It even recalls what windows you had open last if your app allows you to pick up from where you left off last. The iPhoto plist file remembers things like the location of the Library, your choice of background colour, whether you are running a Referenced or Managed Library, what preferences you have for autosplitting events and so on. Trashing the plist file forces the app to generate a new one on the next launch, and this restores things to the Factory Defaults. Hence, if you've changed any of these things you'll need to reset them. If you haven't, then no bother. Trashing the plist file is Mac troubleshooting 101.
Then try select it again.

Moving iTunes Library to External Drive

Hey there,
I would like to free up 25GB of space on the hard drive of my computer by moving my music library to my external drive.
I tried once to have iTunes consolidate the library onto the external drive, and by doing that iTunes had difficulty locating the music on the hard drvie and the external drive. I had iTunes reload all of the songs off of my main computer and in doing so, I managed to lose all of the information from each song. Album art, lyrics, comments, some dates and genres were all wiped out. So now I had a huge collection of tunes that had none of that information and they all had the same date of being aquired. I have since repaired the blank-out by readding all of the information. I would still like to have my music folder on the external drive and I want to keep all of the information as well.
I currently have the music files on the external drive as back up incase something happens to my computer. I just dragged and copied the I Tunes music folder onto the hard drive icon.
I am wondering if there is a way that I can have my music library on the external drive, without the danger of having all of the additional information wiped out?
Thanks for your time with helping,
IslandB
Cicero Windows XP

iTunes: Moving your iTunes Music folder
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301748
The above article includes moving the folder to an external drive.
Patrick

HT203167 Moved huge music library to external drive...now iTunes cannot find it

My massive music library was taking up all the room on my hard drive, so I moved everything to an external drive. I then deleted the library from my hard drive.
The music is located in a folder named "iTunes Music" on my external drive. iTunes cannot locate the songs now.
I've changed the media folder in preferences to: volumes/externalharddrive/iTunes Music and it still won't play the songs.
I've also tried selecting "Get Info" by right-clicking on a song, then manually directing iTunes to song. It will play that individual song, and asks me if I want to use the folder to find other songs. I click "Yes", but it's still not working.
Any ideas? I've searched these forums and I'm stumped.
Thanks!

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

HELP: moved library to external HD and now I want it back on original drive

So here is what I did: All my music is on an external drive. Got a new bigger external drive because the other one is now full. Followed the instructions on apple's website for moving music libraries from one drive to another, consolidated and everything. I decided I do not like new drive so I wanted everything the way it was on the old drive. The music is there, but now all I get are those terrible exclamation points. When I try to play a song, iTunes can't find the song. under prefs, I have the music folder location pointed in the right direction. I am sure there is an easy fix, but for the life of me, I can not figure it out. I know somebody out there has the answer. Thanks.

my understanding of consolidate is that it COPIES the files to the new, or pointed, location. The files already exist there, and if it does copy the files there again, there will not be enough space. Maybe I don't understand the consolidate function well.

Moving library to external drive

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