Moving playlists between hard drives

I recently bought an external hard drive for my music. Moving the music was fine, but I lost ALL of my playlists! I see from the forums that this happens a lot - is there any way to get them back without entering them manually? Thank you!

Ok I have read through all of these articles and forums too and this doesn't specifically address anyhting about playlists. I am using the same external hard drive with a new computer and have the same playlist problem, so there is no real issue on moving the database. I reinstalled itunes, added my folder to the library, it shows up fine but no playlists.
Do you have any specific information regarding playlists? Even searching the iLounge site brings up nothing specific. Can you provide further help?

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Modification dates change when moving/copying between hard-drive and flash

I use a flash drive to store most of my work-related documents on. That way, I have them when I'm at school (on a Windows XP computer) and at home on my Mac OS 10.3.9. I
try to occasionally back-up my flash drive by dragging it's contents to my Mac. Copying in this direction USUALLY retains the appropriate modification date.
However, if I move things from the Mac to the USB drive (I occasionally make changes to a file on the Mac when my flashdrive isn't handy), the modification date changes to the copy/move date. Is there a way around this? It alters the information about the file and sometimes makes a version look newer than another version of a document. When in reality, it’s older--it’s just been moved/copied and the date changed.
I often move things back and forth for backup purposes, but if it keeps changing the dates on it’s own, it’s impossible to tell which is REALLY the
most current copy/version.
Is there a fix so that copying and moving files between volumes does NOT change the modification date of the file?
Powerbook G4--12 in.--1.33 GHz Mac OS X (10.3.9)

Hi, teacher. When my Lexar JumpDrive Secure is formatted as a MS-DOS volume so a PC can read it, the last-mod dates of files that I copy to it are changed to the date and time of copying. When it's formatted as a Mac OS Extended volume, the original last-mod dates are copied to it unchanged. Looks like you can thank Bill Gates for the inconvenience: apparently it's a DOS file system "feature". Don't you wish you could use Windoze all the time?
On second thought, the files really are changed when you write them to a DOS volume, because the DOS file system has no place to store the metadata about your files that a Mac pays attention to and a Windoze box doesn't. So when you write Mac files to a DOS volume, that metadata — which is part of each Mac file — is simply discarded, causing the last-mod date to change.
Message was edited by: eww

I've moved an internal hard drive with all my music and library files to a new computer --- how can I get itunes to import the whole library while keeping my metadata?

I've always kept all my music on its own dedicated internal hard drive. Now I've got a new PC, finally made the switch to Windows 7 from XP, and I've moved my internal hard drive over to the new machine.
I installed iTunes, but I'm having a heck of a time getting it to import the music and library files, keeping all my playlists and metadata. Why is this so hard?

If your New to You Used Mac is froom mid 2012 and originally came with Lion installed on it you will need to Reinstall that version using the Online Internet Recovery system and then at first boot of the new install use the Setup Assistant system to copy over all the data from your wifes old hard drive.
To access the Online system at startup hold down the Command + Option/alt + r keys and keep them held down until you see a globe on the screen. From the resulting screen that cames up, Mac OS X Utilities, select Disk Utility and then the top most entry for the hard drive, left hand panel, drive model number and size, and then the Partition tab. Repartition the drive as One Partition, You Must do that to get ride of the Mavericks Recovery HD partition which is hidden. Name the partition Macintosh HD with a format of Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
Once that is done exit disk utility and select Reinstall Mac OS X.

I'm moving an internal hard drive from an old computer to a new computer. How do I transfer the catalog data to my new computer so the Organizer of Photoshop Elements 6 will find the data on the hard that has been moved to the new computer?

I'm moving an internal hard drive from an old computer to a new computer. (My new compute runs Windows 8.1) How do I transfer the catalog data to my new computer so the Organizer of Photoshop Elements 6 will find the data on the hard that has been moved to the new computer? Is this possible or do I have to use the procedure of copying the catalog along with the photos to a back up hard drive and then restore them on the new computer?

The 'normal' procedure is to do a PSE organizer backup (not a copy or a backup from external tools) to an external drive, then a restore to the new location.
The advantage is that you have a backup of both catalog and media files and you don't have all disconnected files, which would happen with external backup tools. Also, if you restore with a more recent elements version, the catalog will be automatically updated to the new format.
The drawback in your situation is that you'll have either to overwrite all your files or restore to a custom location, creating a duplicate photo library (which supposes you have enough free space).
It would be possible to simply use the organizer in the old PC to move the catalog to a new 'custom' folder just under your C: root drive. The catalog would be accessible once the drive will be installed in the new PC. Then you would have all files 'disconnected' due to the fact that all your media files are now on a drive with a different letter. Reconnecting a whole library is a hard job with PSE6, less so with PSE11/PSE12.
If the idea of fiddling with the sqlite database with external sqlite manager tools is ok for you, I can describe the process more in detail. You only copy your catalog folder (as suggested above) to another location. Instead of trying the 'reconnection' way, you install the sqlite utility on the new computer. When the old drive is installed in the new computer, you simply edit a given record in the catalog database, catalog.psedb, and start the organizer with your copied catalog by simply double clicking the 'catalog.psedb' file.
Even if the last solution is much, much quicker, I would still create a new PSE backup : you have never too much safety .

Have a MacBook Pro running Lion and an IMac running Snow Leopard. Want to Back up both images and restore on opposite machine. Essentially swapping images between hard drives. Is this possible and any "gotcha's" to look for? Thanks

Have a MacBook Pro running Lion (10.7.9) and an IMac running Snow Leopard (10.6.8). Want to Back up both images and restore on opposite machines. Essentially swapping images between hard drives. Is this possible and any "gotcha's" to look for? Thanks

If the MBP came with Lion, it most likely won't boot with SL. Easiest thing to do is create a bootable backup/clone of each to an ext HD, partitioned to hold each on a separate volume, ensure that the original machines can boot with their respective clones, and finally, try booting the other machine with the other clone. Images are useless since you can't boot with them to test them out.

How do I choose between hard drives on iTunes start up?

How do I choose between hard drives on iTunes start up?

If i hold options and click the iTunes icon on the dock it still just opens iTunes no option to choose between external and internal
hard drives. Also when I try to import a cd I get a error message that says, Error occurred while converting file (cds name) the required disc can not be found.

ITUNES MUSIC NOT PLAYING AFTER BEING MOVED TO EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE

I moved my itunes library to an external hard drive a long time ago no problem. Now i bought a 1TB to transfer it because i was running out of space on the other one so i transfer the folder itunes music everything went okay.But now when i turn off the other hard drive to make sure my music came to this new hard drive and play it doesn't. Unless i go one by one and find the file in the new hard drive it won't play. So what can i do? I just move the itunes music folder everything else is where it was. I followed all directions i found on the internet they all say just moved the music folder which i did. So where did i go wrong? Any help is greatly appreciated!!

It depends on what you want. If you want everything to be on the external drive, and all of your music is in the iTunes folder now, then you can just drag the entire iTunes folder (the entire folder, not just the iTunes Music folder) to your desired location. Then hold down the Option key while launching iTunes. You'll be given a dialog box where you can select the iTunes library you want to use. Navigate to and select the iTunes folder in it's new location. Everything - playlists, ratings, etc. - should remain intact and all future purchases and imports should go to the new location on the external drive. Once you're certain that everything is working as it should from the external drive, you can then delete the iTunes folder from your internal drive.
Caution, though: once you do this, make sure the external drive is connected and mounted before launching iTunes. If the drive isn't mounted, iTunes will automatically switch back to using the default location on your internal hard drive and will of course show a blank library. This won't be a problem, though; just quit iTunes and relaunch using the Option key and select the folder on the external drive once again.

Final Cut Express moving videos off hard drive

So I started capturing some footage on my laptop because I didn't have an external drive available. I finished the project, and now I'm back home with my external drive. My internal drive had 1.5 gigs free now, and I want to move all the footage I captured from FCE onto the external.
I know iMovie has an option to export the project and all the files into a single file. Does FCE have an option like this, or do I need to go through finder to where it saved all the footage and move them like that? How can I do this without losing all the links and having to reconnect my media...
hopefully this all makes sense, I've never really used FCE

Hello Drew,
FCE doesn't have that option. You will have to use the Finder to copy the folders/files to your external drive and yes you will have to Reconnect Media after moving the files.
Be sure your external drive is formatted as Mac OS Extended and is connected via Firewire.
In FCE, close your Project. Then in FCE preferences reset your scratch disk location to the new Final Cut Express Documents folder on your external drive. Then exit FCE.
The default FCE scratch disk location is /Users/yourusername/Final Cut Express Documents. Normally your FCE project file and related material is in this folder. Under it you will find the following folders:
Autosave Vault
Capture Scratch
Render Files
Waveform Cache
Thumbnail Cache
and there may be an Audio Render Files folder too
At this point you should be able to find a Final Cut Express Documents folder on your external drive; it should have automatically been created when you reset your FCE preferences earlier, along with an Autosave Vault and a Capture Scratch folder. Copy the files from your internal drive's Autosave Vault and Capture Scratch folders to the corresponding new folders on your external drive. Don't bother copying the render files or cache files - it will be better to re-render after you move your project. Also, if you have any other source media such as photos or music, copy them to a new folder on your external drive. Keep your FCE project file on your internal hard drive but do make a backup copy of it somewhere.
After copying everything, verify & double check that you have good copies of your clips on your external drive because the next step is to delete the originals of your captured clips that are on your internal drive. Don't delete any folders, just the captured clips themselves ... and all the render files. This is necessary so that when you reopen your FCE project it will be forced to reconnect media and you can point it to the new location on your external drive. Otherwise it will just continue to use the clips that are on your internal drive.
Then reopen your Project File that you left on your internal drive and reconnect media when prompted.

Can't access files moved to external hard drive

I moved my pics to external hard drive using copy function. Then I deleted the files from Iphoto on the hard drive. I see thumbnails on both, but neither photo will open. I get an ! in a circle. What file(s) do I need to restore?

tell us what you did - it is generally not possible to restore the iphoto library in parts - it is a single entity and must be restored as such
When you moved your iPhoto library and tested it was it fine? Did you switch to it (depress the option key and launch iPhoto using the select library option)?
how did you move "your pics" to the external drive - the correct way is
Moving the iPhoto library is safe and simple - quit iPhoto and drag the iPhoto library intact as a single entity to the external drive - depress the option key and launch iPhoto using the "select library" option to point to the new location on the external drive - fully test it and then trash the old library on the internal drive (test one more time prior to emptying the trash)
And be sure that the External drive is formatted Mac OS extended (journaled) (iPhoto does not work with drives with other formats) and that it is always available prior to launching iPhoto
And backup soon and often - having your iPhoto library on an external drive is not a backup and if you are using Time Machine you need to check and be sure that TM is backing up your external drive
LN

Photo files moved to new hard drive, need to re-connect photo tagging

Moved back catalog of photos from an almost full internal hard drive to a new larger external hard drive.
Elements Organizer is now unable to locate tagged photos on the new hard drive
Is it possible to re-connect the photo tagging ?

If you can go back and do a PSE backup/restore that would be your best and easiest approach.

How do i find iMovie file i moved to external hard drive

okay, i'm obviously ********. I moved all of my imovie files to an external hard drive and i can't seem to find them all to move to the main hard drive and be there when i open iMovie. I have to have the external on to see them but I think this may be why i'm having weird issues with the sounds in my project.
is there specific imovie files i need to put back?

in case i wasn't clear. i moved all of my files to external hard drive to reformat the drive. i thought i moved everything back to the main drive but i still have to have the external drive on to work on my project. i am unable to adjust volumes of sound files in my imovie project.

Pictures in iPhoto do not show up after being moved to external hard drive.

I moved an iPhoto library to an external hard drive. When I created this library I did not tick on "Copy items to the iPhoto library" when importing. I wanted to keep the pictures in the folders neatly. These folders were moved to the external hard drive along with the iPhoto library. However, when I tried to go to Find -> Original File/Modified File it said that the picture was not found. When in actuality, the folders of the original files had been moved to the external drive.
I understand one solution is to create a brand new iPhoto library with these pictures in my external hard drive. However, when I do that I loose all the photo albums which were created in the internal hard drive. Is there a way to move the iPhoto to external hard drive and still have the links work, and not lose my albums?

This is the primary reason why experienced users recommend not using a referenced library. Simply, there is no way to move it without braking the path to the photos, and short of hacking the SQL database, there is no way to update the paths except for each photo, one by one.
I wanted to keep the pictures in the folders neatly.
Doing what you have done means more work, moe complexity and no extra power at all. It's uttterly unnecessary. iPhoto keeps the files quite neatly itself. But that simply doesn't matter as you never access the files via the FInder anyway.
Now you need to decide what you want to do.
If you return the Library and the Files to exactly where they were on your internal you can the recreate the Library - but only as a managed library - with iPhoto Library Manager
If that worries you from the point of view of accessing the files then have a read of this:
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-4491
If you purchase Aperture ($70 on the App Store) then you can use it's Relocate Masters command to move the originals and the Library to the external.
Or, if you feel like hacking an SQL database you can read how to do that here
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3216539?tstart=30
Not for the faint hearted, and be sure to back up first.
For my money: rebuild as a Managed Library. It's easier going forward, saves work, and means you never have to face this issue again.
Regards
TD

IPhoto Library moved to External Hard Drive and need help moving library

Hi - Recently I had my hard drive replaced. I purchased Disk Warrior and moved all files to my external hard drive. Now that my hard drive has been replaced, I'm having trouble moving all my photos back to iPhoto. Nearly all of my 8K+ photos are blurry after I import and enlarge. The ones that are fine have dimensions of or more than 1K x 1K. The digital photos that I moved and are blurry when enlarged are 340x360 (hundreds range). How can I correct?
Thanks so much in advance.
Audra

I think I might need to back up ---- So I had a failing hard drive, went to Apple and purchased Disk Warrior. Installed Disk Warrior and tried to recover everything from my hard drive. Then all that was recovered was supposedly moved to my external hard drive. I have now received my computer back with the new hard drive. I plug in my external hard drive and have been trying to move all my images from the external hard drive to iphoto. In both places (external HD and when the photos are imported), the image is at the lower dimensions.
Thanks for your time.

ITunes movies moved to external hard drive

Hi!
I moved my movies that were in iTunes to my external hard drive since my iMac was running out of space. I have a couple of questions for you:
1. Now that they've been moved, do I delete them from my iTunes?
2. Is it possible to watch the movies on Apple TV from the external hard drive? When I pull up a movie to watch it says there's an error loading the content.
Thanks in advance!

Thanks to both of you for your help. I am having a couple of problems, still.
1. I can see the movies there on my hard drive. The problem is now that they open only with Paralells. Their file extebsion is .mv4.
2. Some of the files are in my trash. I can't drag them out because it says "There isn't enough space".
That's what I get for thinking this would be a breeze! I am trying to do a massive delete of over 4,000 duplicate iPhoto pics to free up a lot of space, but no luck so far!

Moving attached TM hard drive to networked server - how?

Hi gang,
I have an external RAID array that holds my time machine backup (currently over 4TB of backups). It was attached directly to my MacPro. Now, I have moved it, and attached it to a headless Mac Mini in our server closet. The drive appears on the MacPro's list of available time machine drives, and when selected it goes into "Preparing Backup" mode. Unfortunately, when it comes our of preparation mode, it has an error stating that the drive has insufficient space (900 MB available, 4 TB required). Time machine obviously doesn't recognize the pre-existing backup in its new location, and wants to start the whole process again.
Is there a way to move a TM backup on an external hard drive to a new physical location on the network, and not have to start the backup from scratch?
Cheers!

network backups work differently than directly attached ones. they use sparse bundles to store the backups and directly attached drives don't. so there is no way to continue your old backups when you move the drive and you need to start a new backup sequence. in this case you should erase the drive using Disk Utility. DO NOT try to delete the backups using Finder.

Moving playlists between hard drives

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