Music stored on external drive to new Itunes

Hello folks
Been flicking through some some posts in this section, but can't find any quite the same as the query I have:
I recently had my internal hard drive die on me, so my itunes library information has gone for good, but I do still have all my itunes, ipod, and iphone media on an external drive. What is the easiest way to link the now newly installed itunes to these external files?

andyrh68 wrote:
my itunes library information has gone for good
... unless you have a backup copy of your *iTunes library file*. do you use time machine or any other means of backing up ?
What is the easiest way to link the now newly installed itunes to these external files?
if the answer to above question is no, you will have to start from scratch, i.e. no playcounts, ratings, playlists, etc. from your old library will be there.
assuming you have *copy files to ... when adding to library* checked in preferences > advanced, option-drag the folder containing your media files into an open iTunes window. iTunes will index the path to the location of the original files, but won't copy them physically.
btw, pointing *iTunes media folder location* to another spot will only tell iTunes where to put newly added content, not where the current content is.
JGG

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    andyrh68 wrote:
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