Moving to external drive

I have set up another external drive to keep my working files on and moved all my photo files onto it. I thought that if I kept the same folder structure that it would be easy to tell Lr where one photo is and it could find the rest. I am having to tell it where every folder is. Is there an easier way?

That's what I had thought. I copied the folder "PhotoLibrary" from my C: drive to my M: drive. Inside that folder are folders for each year, under that each month, then each date/shoot. I pointed Lr to the first photo in 2004 hoping that it would recognise the rest of the folders. It did find the subfolders of 2004, but not 2005-2007. It also showed up as "2004 on M:MyWork" instead of just 2004. I wasn't expecting that, but I think that would be quite handy for those who reference CD/DVDs or multiple HDDs.
It's going to work out for me, I just wish that the simple route had worked instead of having to do it several times or reimporting to a new catalog.

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I have saved a large number of cd on an extermal drive via my laptop. I have now moved my external drive to my desk to but I tunes does not find all the CD i have saved on the external drive

I have saved a large number of cd on an external drive via my laptop. I have now moved my external drive to my desk to but I tunes does not find all the CD i have saved on the external drive

Depending on which email client software you use
the files should be in 'your home folder' library, esp.
if you use Mail application.... ~/Library/Mail
Since you don't specify what mail application,
that would most be associated with the file.
I notice there are some items to the right of your post
where it says "more like this' so that may be worth a
look to see if similar issues were answered. Also, the
Help viewer in your system is a searchable database.
Seems that google also brings up fair information, too.
Do you have a complete bootable clone of your entire
Mac system on an externally enclosed hard disk drive?
Good luck & happy computing!

ITunes library help - moved to external drive and now my apps are gone?

I moved my iTunes library to an external drive, but now my apps are gone? I do have iTunes match and iCloud, so my songs are all on the cloud, but none of my apps are showing...
I copied everything over, consolidated, but I must have messed something up as I think I have too many library files on the external drive now. I can see all my files on the external drive, but they are not showing up when I open itunes. It looks like it linked to a new copy of a library as only my most recent apps are showing, nad none of my existing ones are on itunes. What should I do to fix this? How do I know which files to delete?
Thanks.

I followed the instructions from Apple support to move itunes to an external drive, did what it said (obviously I messed something up). I then started itunes and missed the part where it says to tell itunes where the library was, and consequently itunes created a new library with none of my apps or anything in it.
All of my music is on icloud and I als ohave itunes match, so all of my music is on the cloud.
I have read some of the other postings to delete the newly made (and missing apps) itunes library file and ithen point it to the correct library file, but I am now paranoid I would delete the wrong one.
Thanks in advance for your help.

Consolidating Trial Libraries and Moving to External Drive

Okay, as usual, I am here because I want to do this right, and you folks usually know the best way!
Here's what I am trying to do:
1. Consolidate libraries: Currently, in Aperture (v. 3.0.3), I inadvertently have 3 libraries. They are the most current library, labeled "Aperture 3 Trial Library," which contains every picture I have taken since upgrading to Aperture 3, and two other libraries, labeled "Aperture Trial Library" and "Aperture Trial Library (1)," which are libraries from my initial trial of Aperture 2, which occurred about a week before the debut of Aperture 3. (Great timing on my part!) These last two libraries contain imports of my iPhoto library, which I have not used since.
I am not sure if the iPhoto libraries are managed or referenced in Aperture. I believe they are referenced, but don't know how to check. All other photos were imported directly into Aperture, and are stored in its library.
I would like to consolidate these libraries into one. And it would be great if it didn't have to be called "Aperture 3 Trial Library!"
2. Relocate Masters to an external drive: I have purchased a LaCie 1 Tb d2 Quadra external drive (understanding after the fact that there may be associated power cord issues). I would like to relocate ALL of the masters to this drive. I am unsure what this will mean for my previous iPhoto pictures, which is why I want to consolidate the libraries first.
I am not worried about using iPhoto at this point, and am willing to re-import the entire library to iPhoto if I ever need to switch back.
Right now, all I want to do is get one, clean library that has all of my photos in it, and all of the masters in one place on an external drive so that I know where everything is.
What is the best way to go about this? I'd like to get it done today, if possible.
Thanks.
Laura

Laura-
I have not personally moved Masters much so I will let others comment, or if you search old threads you should find info.
You did not discuss Referenced versus Managed Masters. IMO *create a Referenced-Masters-Library with the Library on the MB and the Masters on the external drive.* Separately fully back up original images prior to importing into Aperture.
Note that Vaults back up the Library but a Referenced-Masters Library does not have the Masters in it, so Masters must be separately backed up.
Good luck!
-Allen

Consolidating in iTunes once iTunes has been moved to external drive

Hi there,
I am hoping somebody will be able to advise me. I followed the instructions on this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbGmDJtQTGQ
to move my iTunes folder to an external hard drive so that I can free up space on my internal hard drive. I have also told iTunes in Preferences to look for the iTunes Media Folder location on my external hard drive:
Volumes/MacBook Air Backup Drive/iTunes/iTunes Media
iTunes now works when my external drive is connected to my laptop (and doesn't work if my external drive is *not* connected); all that is fine. I have now saved space on my internal drive by deleting the iTunes folder that was on my internal hard drive.
However, my Q is:
When I consolidate files in "Organise Library"-does this get saved onto my *internal* hard drive, and if yes, does it take up space? Does it matter that my iTunes library is now located on my *external* hard drive?
I'm not sure how consolidating will work now that my library is on my external drive, or does this not matter? Can I consolidate on my external hard drive or am I missing the point as to what consolidating means/does?
Many thanks!

Hey guys,
Yes, there is the portable library as well. I worked with Kirk at Kirkville (Mac expert dude), and I basicallly had a portable setup, but he said the portable library left you open to functionality problems over time and I notiece that I didnt't get the "Script," dropdown menu in iTunes wihen it wasnt' set up like I suggested. Also, from time to time you'd possibly lose files, run into sync issues. He's a pretty knowledgable guy about iTunes, IMO he' the best but it's debatable, and he recommeneded highly leaving the library files on the local HD.
Initially I didn't have it set up this way, all my library files were in my external. But I was starting to run into functionality, and like once a week I was having to locate a file or two and it was just a pain. I"d try to delete or move the library file to the local, but they'd show back up on the external. Finally, he had me delete iTunes, download it fresh and then all the library files were forced into the local drive. As I understand it, most of the "right way," "wrong way," descriptions of how to move your files to extternal follow this method. I suppose it's personal preference though, if you're not having any problems.
I like this way, because it functions just like it would on an HD. Since my media is on an external anyway, if I ever need to move it, I can connect the new client or drive to the extternal wirelessly or cabled, and simply transfer them. As long as the media is on an external, moving should be the easy part.
Psych, I'm going to suggest if you like, message me and I can help you via email. Then I can forward my correspondence with Kirk, and you can see exactly what he suggested and walked me through. You may have already done much of it, but it's a good failsafe, as after I was done with his help....man the files now work just like they would if all on local.
Those plist files should be on the local. Did you look in your library? Click on "Go," whle holding option. You'll see library added in as an option (other ways to access, but i use this one). Then go down to your ituens foflder and rummage around in there, see wha'ts all around.
I just double checked my external, and the only library file I have there is the iTunes Music Library.xml.
Psych, did you perhaps drag or copy your library initially, before realizing there was a "proper," way to move the library? I ask this, because I did.....and it was the root of a ot of my problems. I moved it all back, then used the prooper way, but it never fully worked properly until I uninstalled iTunes and reinstalled. And hte big issue was teh library fiiles kept going to the external. What happens, is that iTunes is built to work with iMovies, preview, and many, many other applications that may use music or othher media. Those apps don't know to look on the external, but will look in the user file, where their taught to find iTunes. Having all the library files in the local, creates liek a "mirror," that tricks these apps into thinking they're accessing the media files, and functioning as if it was located llocally and not on external. If library files aren't on local drive, then you're going to have problems.
To be honest, what I thnk consoldiate does, is just organizing the files. For example if you had a media file of all your music, but it was created manually, and eadch file was in the file loose. "Consolidate," creates an "artist," file and then puts the songs in subfiles. I think under artist is album befor song. If your external is doing this....then it's consoldiating.. That's the best thing I can suggest to verify it andput your mind at east.

Unable to locate folders on mac moved from external drive

Hello Experts,
I purchased a Macbook Pro 15 days back(MD102). On 18th Aug, I connected my External HD(Buffalo) accessible only on Windows to my Windows 7 and created a LAN connection between MAC and Win7 so that I can access the files of HD and Move them from HD connected on my WIN to MAC.
Now, all the files and folders were moved and the HD was empty, but I saw them grayed out in the folder on MAC where I copied the,. I cannot open the files and folders.
I read somewhere on forums to make alias, which didn't worked. Then I read somewhere that moved those folder to a new folder, I did that and still not able to access them and I did and UNDO, now the folders are not there in the previous folder and not in the new folders and they disappeared.
These are very important folders for me. PLEASE HELP!!!
Thanks,
bg_16

No, the files are not on windows or on HD. I moved the files i.e. cut and paste from the HD connected on Win and directly copied them to MAC as the HD was not readable on MAC.
I notice that the files and folders were there but they were grayed out, but when I copied them to new folder on MAC and did UNDO they disappeared.
I assume they are somewhere on the MAC drive as I haven't moved anything to Trash and not yet emptied the trash once since I got this MAC.

Moving TM external drive to a new computer

I have a new mini server and would like to use it to host my current 4TB fw800 time machine external via the network, so I want the mac mini to recognize the files that have allready been backed up. Is this possible to continue with the existing TM external backup, but controlled from a different computer?
I originally started the TM external backup on my laptop MBPro Snow Leopard via fw800.

I tried consolidating and still have the same problem. The songs are not available from the library unless I plug in the thumb drive.

After moving iTunes, external drive sometimes becomes read-only after reboot

I had some system corruption a few weeks ago, and had to restore my system. As part of that prolonged effort, I decided to move my iPhoto Library and iTunes Library to external FW800 drives.
I had terrible problems initially with these drives mounting read-only. I found a relatively quick work-around, and that seemed to fix the problem. But I still have them periodically mount read-only, and I can't D/L iTunes updates, etc.
Why do they keep doing this on a reboot? Very frustrating, as I need to reboot as part of the fix, and I'm always in the middle of something else, and can't reboot at that time.

Oh, as part of this, not sure when the change was made, OSX used to keep the mounted volume name in /Volumes, even if the volume was ejected. Would cause an occasional problem - but very rare. I notice now that ML seems to create/delete these mountpoints automagically - and that's part of the problem. They get incorrect permissions when the volume mounts, and I (user I'm logged in as), can't write to the volume without some background shenanigans.
My process is this:
Unmount problem volume
Drop to terminal, and "sudo mkdir /Volumes/<mounted_volume_name>"
Remount volume via Disk Utility (you now get a "<mounted_volume_name> 1" - with CORRECT permissions)
Unmount the volume again
Remove the created directory (i.e. undo step 2)
Remount the volume - 99.9% of the time that seems to fix it.
Reboot to be sure - and it stays for a while - then at some point becomes a problem again.
Not sure if it's something in ML that's an issue - or something in iTunes or iPhoto (but can't see how they would affect the permissions when the system reboots and you login)

Time Machine backups were moved from external drive to HD Trash

I've since learned that I cannot delete these from the Trash and should not have moved them there however, now what do I do? They are preventing me from Emptying anything from the Trash.

You can delete them but it may take days or weeks to complete. Backup your files.
Clean Install of Snow Leopard
Be sure to make a backup first because the following procedure will erase
the drive and everything on it.
     1. Boot the computer using the Snow Leopard Installer Disc or the Disc 1 that came
         with your computer. Insert the disc into the optical drive and restart the computer.
         After the chime press and hold down the "C" key. Release the key when you see
         a small spinning gear appear below the dark gray Apple logo.
     2. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue
         button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu.
         After DU loads select the hard drive entry from the left side list (mfgr.'s ID and drive
         size.) Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window. Set the number of
         partitions to one (1) from the Partitions drop down menu, click on Options button
         and select GUID, click on OK, then set the format type to MacOS Extended
         (Journaled, if supported), then click on the Apply button.
     3. When the formatting has completed quit DU and return to the installer. Proceed
         with the OS X installation and follow the directions included with the installer.
     4. When the installation has completed your computer will Restart into the Setup
         Assistant. Be sure you configure your initial admin account with the exact same
         username and password that you used on your old drive. After you finish Setup
         Assistant will complete the installation after which you will be running a fresh
         install of OS X. You can now begin the update process by opening Software
         Update and installing all recommended updates to bring your installation current.
Download and install Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1.

Moving from directly connected external drive to a network share.

I've looked around and can't find a page on how to do this. I have an external drive hooked up to my iMac. I am using it for TM backups, so I have this directory on it (Backups.backupdb). There are also 2 sparsebundle images due to 2 other people in the office using this drive for TM backups.
I am going to be moving this external drive to a mini we have here, which would mean I now need to take the Backups.backupdb directory and convert it into a sparsebundle image, since I'll now be backing up over the network.
Is there a way to do that? I would really like to preserve my backups since it's pretty important for my work.
Thanks.

the_0ne wrote:
I've looked around and can't find a page on how to do this. I have an external drive hooked up to my iMac. I am using it for TM backups, so I have this directory on it (Backups.backupdb). There are also 2 sparsebundle images due to 2 other people in the office using this drive for TM backups.
I am going to be moving this external drive to a mini we have here, which would mean I now need to take the Backups.backupdb directory and convert it into a sparsebundle image, since I'll now be backing up over the network.
Is there a way to do that?
no, there isn't. you'll have to start a new backup sequence using a sparse bundle when you move the TM drive to a remote computer.
I would really like to preserve my backups since it's pretty important for my work.
Thanks.

External drives will not reformat to Mac OS Extended

I just moved several external drives from a PC to a Mac permanently and want to reformat them to Mac OS Extended. However, when I attempt to do it, I receive an error message saying that the formatting was unsuccessful after the disk is already erased. I am able to reformat them to DOS on the mac and the drives do work for some functions, but I need them formatted to Mac OS Extended in order to back them up with Time Machine.
The drives are fairly new; one is a Western Digital "My Book" 1TB only a few months old; the other two are LaCie "Big" 650 GB drives about two years old. They work fine, except for this one problem.
Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

You need to do the following:
Extended Hard Drive Preparation
1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder. If you need to reformat your startup volume, then you must boot from your OS X Installer Disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger or Leopard.)
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID (for Intel Macs) or APM (for PPC Macs) then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.

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.

So, I have just about had it. For nine days now, I have valiantly tried to move my library to an external drive. At first, I attempted to move it to my 2TB Time capsule, iTunes didn't like its new home though and moved home without telling me.

So, I have just about had it. For nine days now, I have valiantly tried to move my library to an external drive. At first, I attempted to move it to my 2TB Time capsule. iTunes didn't like its new home though and moved home without telling me. So then there were two libraries. I meshed them back together reluctantly and iTunes in a silent revolt, absolutely refused to use its own 'Keep Library Organized' criteria and may as well have thrown my music against the wall. Seriously, my 5 year old nephew has his computer files better managed. Then I bought a 3TB Time Capsule and you may ask yourself why??? Well, iTunes doubled in size- although when I ran apps that are designed to find duplicate iTunes files, it deleted the music I actually bought from iTunes. So then I watched as iTunes got it back. How you ask; I run a MacBook Air, iMac and Mac mini in my house - as soon as one powered up it hit the net like a sailor on leave and re-downloaded it all without abandon. I tried to keep the libraries separate, no success there. I tried to keep them unified; iTunes response was to ask me if I wanted to join iTunes Match every time I logged on to my computer and on any computer - my iTunes match song number has been as high as 24,367 and as low as 11,112. And I can't simply refuse iTunes. No one refuses iTunes. Refusal to allow iTunes Match to run through all 24000 songs again was to revoke my rights to the songs that were once part of my library. If I took a long time to decide or was visibly impatient while iTunes did its little 3 hour scan it would arbitrarily decide that music I bought from iTunes was ineligible for iTunes Match. How could that possibly be??? I am missing music, or at least iTunes tells me so by showing me that lovely exclamation point. I have tried backing up my computer to do a full system restore and start all over. Time Capsule claims I have 979 GB of data and takes its sweet time to even back up one gig (about 18 minutes) even though I can transfer files to my Time Capsule at about 1 GB every 40 seconds. I guess though performing back-ups are somewhat like government jobs; it will get done, when it gets done. The back up requirement of 979 GB is surprising though, my Mac claims that I currently occupy just about 25% of my 2TB drive. The discrepancy, who knows, but I think the solution lies somewhere in iTunes. But maybe iPhoto. But that is for another time.

After admittedly only a quick read the one thing you don't say is how you are trying to make this move. Most people with moving library issues do it the wrong way. Plenty of web sites tell you how to do it the wrong way.
If the iTunes application is started before the drive with the library is fully mounted and awake iTunes will revert back to the internal drive.

Moving iTunes from PC to MAC with external drive

Need some help moving my iTunes library from my Windows PC to my new MAC. The library is on my external USB drive. I did the consolidate option on my PC first and moved the USB drive to my MAC and changed prefs to point to my USB drive on my MAC. The library doesn't show up on my MAC? The library is 180GB.
Any suggestions?

This page may be of some help: How to move an iTunes library from a PC to Mac (and back)

I moved all my music from c: drive(because it was full) to an external harddrive and now itunes can't find any of my music. Is there a way to get Itunes to find music on external drive without having to place all the music back onto the c: drive? Thanks

I moved all my music from c: drive(because it was full) to an external harddrive and now itunes can't find any of my music. Is there a way to get Itunes to find music on external drive without having to place all the music back onto the c: drive? Thanks

Hopefully you moved the entire iTunes Media (or iTunes Music) folder to a new path on your external drive. Copy your iTunes library folder out to the root of the external drive, e.g. X:\iTunes (where X: is your external drive), then move the media folder inside it. Hold down shift as you start iTUnes and keep holding untila asked to choose or create a library. Choose the library at X:\iTunes\iTunes Library.itl. Should all be good.
Failing that, download and run my FindTracks script and point it at the new location of your media folder.
tt2

Moving to external drive

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