Moving songs to an external drive

Hi,
I know this may sound like a stupid question, but I'm not an iTunes user, my husband is... My hard drive is completely full because he has downloaded too many songs. We have a huge external drive. How do I physically move the songs to my external drive so that they can play in iTunes?
Also, can I delete the songs after they are exported? HOw will I know they were moved successfully? How do I open the songs from the external drive in iTUnes?
Thanks in advance to whomever answers my questions! Happy July 4th!

The simplest way to move itunes on to an external drive is:
Close iTunes
copy your iTunes folder onto the external drive. (That's My Music\iTunes)
Start iTunes with the shift key held down and when asked to choose a library navigate to the itunes folder on the external drive and choose iTunes Library.itl.
If everything works OK, rename the iTunes folder on the internal drive and make sure everything still works.
Once you are ABSOLUTELY certain everything works OK you can delete the old iTunes folder, which you renamed.
Most peope's recycle bin is not big enough to hold all the music so don't delete things until your are sure everything is working OK on the external drive.
It is also a good idea to have a separate backup of your music.
Note that this procedure only works if you have a standard set up with all your music in iTunes\iTunes Music.

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Moved music folder to external drive, how do I get Match/ITunes to recognise it?

Hi guys,
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How to download all songs from my external drive into my itunes library

I have enough Gbytes to not use an external drive for my music.
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Hello there, Laetidela.
The following Knowledge Base article offers up some great steps on how to move your iTunes library from an external hard drive to your computer:
iTunes: How to move your music to a new computer
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4527
External drive
This option requires more work than Home Sharing, but it creates a backup of your iTunes library on the external drive in addition to moving your content.
Notes before you start:
You can use most iPods as an external drive.
Windows operating systems don't recognize Mac OS-formatted disks (HFS or HFS Plus formats). Because of this, you can't use a Mac-formatted iPod or external drive to move your music to a Windows PC. See iPod: How to determine iPod's hard disk format if you're not sure how your iPod is formatted.
Mac OS X can read Windows-formatted iPods and drives. This means there are many ways to migrate your information from your old Windows-based PC to your new Mac.
Mac OS X: To be sure external drives appear on your desktop, choose Preferences from the Finder menu. Be sure the options for "External disks" and "Hard disks" are enabled.
Part 1: Locating and consolidating the iTunes Media folder
Part 2: Copy iTunes folder from the old computer:
Part 3: Get iTunes ready on your new computer
Part 4: Back up any music that's already on your new computer
Part 5: Copy music to your new computer
Part 6: Add preexisting music that was on the new computer back into the library
Thanks for reaching out to Apple Support Communities.
Cheers,
Pedro.

Migration Assistant problem? : New iMac's iTunes doesn't see the catalog or playlist of my old Mac's songs on an external drive

So I just migrated from a 10.7.5 iMac 27" from 2009 to 10.9.4 on a 2013 27" iMac with Fusion Drive.
I don't use Time Machine. There are no backups involved here.
Used Ethernet. Only took 20 hours... (BTW, it stayed on "less than 1 minute left" for like 12 hours but luckily I was away and just left it going in hopes it would work... and it did!)
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I've done this before so I know it's possible. I remember upgrading a long time ago and got iTunes to see my old library... even though some of the music was no longer there. It just puts "!" marks wherever there is no link. I was hoping that that's what I would find when I launched iTunes, but no luck. Even connecting the old hard drive to the new Mac (via USB) doesn't make iTunes all of a sudden "see" the old library. That data doesn't seem to be there. It didn't transfer over. Did it not transfer over because the songs weren't on the internal volume? Should I have left my external hard drive on?
So.... now that I've spent almost 3 days total trying to get this to work, and everything is running... I don't want to have to start over in order to get iTunes to work. Is there a way I can just drag over some XML files or something from the old computer? I don't want to lose all of the ratings and personal notes and everything.
I should add also that I have like only four songs I've ever actually bought through iTunes. I'm still a bit old fashioned and buy CDs and rip them to Apple Lossless. So I hope it's not an authorization / reauthorization issue because I have like 1400 albums ripped.
Thanks in advance for any help.
--Jeff

iTunes does not use the .xml it uses the .itl
If you are sure your old library file migrated across (does the file size and modification dates suggest it has?) start iTunes while holding down the option/alt key and guide it to the .itl file to get it to use that one.

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I use an external drive as my iTunes library. I have a bit more than 5,000 songs in the library. If I sync (to charge, get photos from the phone, or sync on a podcast) without the external drive plugged in iTunes removes about a thousand songs from the phone, as far as I can tell it is the same group of songs each time. Then when I sync WITH the drive in place, it replaces those songs. Why are those songs different from the others which stay in place? Is it a setting, some peculiarity about the file types? What can I change to keep all songs synced?

Your iPhone is attempting to sync with your iTunes Library every time you plug it in and iTunes cannot find the songs on the external drive when it is unplugged, so it assumes they have been deleted. You should be able to select "Manually Manage Music" and make it so that your iPhone does not automatically sync music every time. By doing this, however, you will need to manually drag songs to your iPhone when you want to add new ones.

Transfered all songs to an external drive and now cant access them

I thought I could move my songs to an external drive and still access them the same way I did when they were on my PC. I have the external drive plugged in Itunes gives a message "the song could not be used because the orriginal file could not be found. Would you like to locate it." I can then search and find it on the external drive one song at a time. I wnat the Itunes to work as if the song were in their orriginal location. Can this be done with out mooving them one by one back to an almost full hard drive?

Yes you could move everything back to your computer start over with a new a new library if you wish. Just so long as you aren't concerned about things like ratings or playlists or the number of times something was played etc. If the songs are all in one folder you could add that folder to your new library and it would bring all the songs with it just go to Edit>Add Folder to Library. To create or access a second (or more) library, hold down the Shift key in Windows when launching iTunes. In the resulting dialogue you will get the option to create a new library or open an existing one: Using multiple iTunes libraries -Windows

Itunes can't locate songs stored in external drive

i had created playlists and added songs to the playlists in itunes 7.02. these songs are stored on an external drive. i did not sync my ipod immediately but tried it a few days later. despite the external drive being connected to my laptop, when i tried to sync the ipod with itunes, for 90% of the songs there was an exclamation mark next to the song & i had to manually double click on a song name in itunes, and locate it in the external drive, in order for itunes to be able to sync it.
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Hi there,
I'm having the same problem, I'll list it in case I'm somehow different from the other case but unfortunately directing iTunes to that folder doesn't seem to do the trick...?
Have bought a Seagate 320GB external drive, copied my iTunes library (that was located in my /Users/Shared folder) to a new location on my external drive and redirected iTunes to the new location. It said it was updating the folder which took a while and I assumed was a good sign due to my 8948 songs but alas the dreaded exclamation mark has appeared next to every track. If I redirect one to the new location it works fine but f*ed if I'm gonna do that for the other 8947. If I quit iTunes and reopen it, it's still directed to the same correct place and the previously located still works but the rest don't. Is there a) some reason this may not be working correctly; or b) a quick way to redirect every song to their location? Thanks so much for your help.

Moving Song folder to external Hard drive

I'm new to Logic Express, and just starting my initial setup. What's the smartest way to move all my song folders to an external hard drive. I tried just dragging and dropping it which moved the folder, but when I try to save any new work it doesn't automatically like to the external drive. Sorry for the silly question I'm just getting started.
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Hi Sheba,
Welcome to the forum!
Save as a Project!
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Okay So I just copied my iTunes library to an external harddrive, and I set my music folder in my iTunes preferences to be the new music folder on my external drive.
If I play a song now in iTunes it says it can't find it and asks me to manually locate it, which I do. It seems like if I find one, iTunes would be smart enough to find the rest but NO! I have to find EVERY single song, even if they're on the same album.
There has to be a way around this. I have a 50gb+ library and would hate it if I had to find every single song.
Thanks a lot!

Simply copying the iTunes library to your new drive may not be enough. If, when you added your recordings to the original library, you didn't have the "Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library" checkbox checked in the Preferences->Advanced tab, or you did not do a "Consolidate Library" action before copying the library to the new drive, your actual recordings are probably still on your old drive.
To fix this, you'll need to copy these to your extermal drive and then add them to the library that is also on your external drive.
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Help - moved itunes folders to external drive and now my itunes is totally

A few months ago, in order to free up space on my c drive, i had to purchase an external drive - everything i installed via itunes since that date has been on the hard drive and everything was fine.
Last night i needed more room on my C drive so i stupidly moved the remaining itunes folders from my C drive to my F drive - unfortunately, when i opened itunes it was blank.
i've tried a few things - including adding the folder from the F drive - and that retrieved about 80% of my music/videos and the last playlists i had - however, they were all missing songs - even if all the songs that should be included remained on my itunes
i began the tedious process of manually adding files back in but soon realized this doesn't help itunes consider this the same ipod as what's still on my actual ipod.
*What I'd like to do (if possible) is to wipe itunes clean and somehow restore everything on my ipod into itunes so that i retrieve not only the songs and videos but also the playlists that i've spent way too much time building. At this point i fear that the various components to my ipod are in too many files on my external drive to be easily restored another way (though if i'm wrong please let me know)*
sadly (as this story might suggest) I am borderline computer illiterate - I've read a few posts suggesting some sort of software online (something the apple help line also made an "off the record" remark about) - but I can't for the life of me figure out which i would use or how to do this without risking the contents of my existing ipod (which has the playlists and songs/video I want to reestablish).
*Can anyone possibly suggest how to best handle this and walk me through it in painstakingly basic and specific detail? I would be forever grateful.*
Thanks

iTunes uses the iTunes Library files - in particular the iTunes Library.itl file - to keep track of where your song files are located as well as playlist and related information.
Most likely in moving your folders around iTunes has been confused to such an extent that it created a new Library file. With a bit of luck you might still be able to find the old file which would restore your old Library.
So the first thing you want to do is look around your computer and make a note of any iTunes Library.itl files you can find. Generally speaking you'll find them in the iTunes folders on your system and depending on how you've been moving the folders - i.e. whether you "cut" them or "copied" them - you may still find at least one one on your F: drive and some on your C: drive.
Having noted where they are you know want to check each of them out as described in this article in the Apple Knowledge Base. In following those instructions you want to select the Choose Library option and use the pop-up window that appears to zero in on the various .itl files you've located.
Remember that each Library file will show a different Library in iTunes - perhaps slightly different, perhaps completely different - and if the first one isn't what you're looking for you'll have to close iTunes and repeat the procedure by selecting one of the other .itl's.
Post back for any clarification.

Why can iTunes NOT FIND songs on an EXTERNAL DRIVE

I've read many posts regarding the use of external drives for iTunes data storage. Here's my situation:
I've just restored my computer to it's factory settings, then installed iTunes 9.2.1.5 My iTunes consists of songs only and they reside on an external drive following this path: E:\iTunes Music\(artist)\(album)\(song[s])
iTunes Music, artist name, and album name are all folders. The songs appear in numeric order (01, 02, etc.), and are individual MPEG files.
I have tried changing the iTunes Media Folder location to: E:\iTunes Music (by following: Edit-Preferences-Advanced) Indeed, I have attempted all possible folder paths...right down to individual songs...nothing works. iTunes simply does not see the folder(s)/songs. What's up?
The frustrating thing is that this very same external drive worked just fine before this whole affair! ??? What am I missing? Please provide a detailed answer. Many of us out here would like to know the secret.

You'd have had more luck if you'd moved your library files out to your external drive as well as the media. That way, when you'd reinstalled all you would have needed to do was use SHIFT-start iTunes and point it at the library on the external.
Next time you reinstall Windows backup the entire *Documents and Settings* or Users folders from the C:\ drive so that after the rebuild you can restore anything you discover you still want from your old profile.
Better yet do these backups before something goes wrong, say once a month. The following tool is great for general backups of any specifc set of folders, not just iTunes.
<hr>
*Fast backup for iTunes library (Windows Only)*
Grab SyncToy 2.1, a free tool from MS. This can be used to copy your entire iTunes library (& other important data folders) onto another hard drive or network share. You can then use SyncToy periodically to synchronise or echo your library to the backup. A preview will show which files need to be updated giving you a chance to spot unexpected changes and during the run only the new or updated files will be copied saving lots of time. And if your media is all organised below the main iTunes folder then you should also be able to open the backup library on any system running the same version of iTunes.
<hr>
tt2

Moving iTines to an external drive

I want to take iTunes and move it in its entirety to an external drive. So far, I've only been able to copy the program and my music, not move it. Any ideas?

The iTunes applcation must be on the boot (C:) drive.
To move your iTunes files to an external drive...
Quit iTunes.
Move the entire iTunes folder (My Documents/My Music/iTunes on XP and /Music/ iTunes on Mac) including music to the external drive.
Click on the iTunes icon to start it, then immediately press an hold the Shift key in Windows, Option key in Mac.
iTunes will ask to Create new library or Choose existing library. Select Choose existing library and select the library in the folder you just moved.
Move the old iTunes folder to the trash but do not empty it.
Restart iTunes normally and verify the songs work. If they do, empty the trash.

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

MOVING mp3-files from external drive into iTunes automatically

Hi all,
for historical reasons (mainly because I was coming from Windows years ago) I have stored all my mp3-Files (audiobooks, songs, etc) on an external harddrive. My iTunes library is stored on the external drive, too and all media content in my iTunes library is manually linked to the external drive. Today the option iTunes >Setting >"Let iTunes manage your library" ias well as "Copy filed to iTunes Media folders" is UNchecked.
In my iTunes library there is only a subset of all mp3-files included.
Now, I would love to get my library moved to the mac as well as the audio and video-files, and let iTunes manage the storage of the library!
As far as I know once I move the library (manul or automatic) to the Mac and check the option to let iTunes manage the and copy content, then iTunes will COPY the medial files to the Mac.
Given that I have only included a subset of my entire repository in iTunes I will then end up with a mess of mediafiles on my external drive where some are doublicated while others aren't. I will be impossible to figure out afterwards what is included in iTunes and what isn't.
Hence the perfect process would be if iTunes could, while executing the import following the automation-Option (see above) and MOVE the files from the whereever and bring it to the place it want's it to be.
Is there any way to get this automated and get iTunes MOVE the files instad of copying?
That would be a tremendous help!
Many Thanks for your thoughts!
Mattthias

Hi mradvanyi,
For help with adding music files to iTunes I would suggest looking over the steps in this article -
iTunes: About the Add to Library, Import, and Convert functions
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1347
If this does not help, please respond and we will see what else can be done.
Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.
Best,
Brett L

Moved iTunes to an external drive, library files can't be located - help?!?

So ok, I knew it couldn't be that easy...
I copied my iTunes to an external drive to free up space on my laptop - followed the instructions for moving files on a PC - and got to the part about moving the old iTunes folder to the recycle bin. Well, the recycle bin wasn't large enough for the folder, so it deleted everything straight out of MyComputer. Apparently the "library files" went with it.
Now I can see all my songs/movies/videos in folders on the external, but can't get my iTunes to associate with it when I open it.
Is there any way to fix this? I'm tearing my hair out, here. I have a full backup on DVDs - will that help?
Thanks!

got to the part about moving the old iTunes folder to the recycle bin.
There is no part about moving the _iTunes folder_ to the recycle bin.
There is a part about moving th _iTunes music folder_ to the recycle bin.
Did you move them to the external by using iTunes menu File -> Library -> Consolidate?
Or did you move them to the external yourself?
Which folders exactly did you move?

Moving songs to an external drive

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