New Macbook, old external hard drive

Hi all,
I just bought my first Macbook, but I have all of my old files (including my iTunes folder) on my external hard drive. It's formatted in Fat32, so I think it should work on my mac.
My problem is that when I tried changing my music folder in the iTunes advanced preferences, nothing happened in iTunes. Also, I'd prefer to keep my iTunes folder on my external hard drive (not on my macbook's hard drive) to save space. How do I use iTunes from my external hard drive?
Thanks for any help or tips!

When I use an ext HD I keep all the files nested in the iTunes Folder on the ext HD.
Launch iTunes with the 'option' key down and point iTunes to the Library file on the ext HD. Once the the Library on the ext HD is open then try the iTunes prefs>Advanced tab.
Yes it will work with FAT32.
MJ

Similar Messages

  • Hi, ive been backing up my computer to an external hard drive (with time machine). When i buy a new macbook will that hard drive put all my info on to the new computer?

    hi, ive been backing up my computer to an external hard drive (with time machine). When i buy a new macbook will that hard drive put all my info on to the new computer?

    When you boot the new machine for the first time, you'll be prompted to import your data from a Time Machine backup.

  • How do I replace my old external hard drive with a new larger external hard drive and move my music so itunes can find it?

    How do I move music from an old external hard drive to a new external hard drive and have itunes find it? 

    If you have a time machine back up of your current drive you can do this
    Shut down your computer, install the new drive. While the computer is off plug in the external hard drive that you have your time machine back up on. Hold Option key while the computer turnes on, let go of the option key once you get a grey screen. Shortly after you'll see  a list of bootable drives, select the one that has your time machine back up on it and boot into that drive.
    From there go into disk utility, format your new drive too, osx extended journaled ( I think, double check that, its been awhile since ive had to do this), hit format
    Exit disk utility and then you can use time machine to copy all your exisit data to the new hhd and then your pretty much done.
    There is also a program called Carbon Cloner that will do esentially the same thing however I've never uesed it.

  • HT1338 I was backing up my MacBook with Time Machine on my new (correctly formatted) external hard drive.  It was going fine when my 2 yo knocked the hard drive.  Now TM said "failed" and the Mac refuses to recognize the external hard drive.  Help please?

    I was backing up my MacBook with Time Machine and using my new (correctly formatted) external hard drive.  All was going well when my 2 yo knocked the disk leading to a "failure" by time machine (Latest Backup:  Failed).  Now the MacBook will not even recognize the hard drive.  I have rebooted, tried all I can think of, but no acknowledgement of the drive.  The drive itself makes noise and vibrates as if working, but nothing from the Mac.  Please help or $100 down the drain...  Thank you.

    You may have already done these resets in the "tried all I can think of " portion of your post.....if not then here they are.....
    PRAM
    support.apple.com/kb/HT1379
    SMC
    support.apple.com/kb/HT3964
    .....hopefully that is all that is required.....

  • Can I use my old external hard drive?

    I have my old external hard drive from my old PC computer. Is there a way to convert my files on my hard drive without deleting them. Or do I just need to get a new hard drive?

    Depending on how old the hard drive is, it may be fine. If it's a USB hard drive and formatted correctly, then you may be able to use some of the files if they're cross-platform. For example, Microsoft Word and Excel files will work on both Windows and Mac.
    Best to just plug it in and see what happens. If your iMac can't read the drive format, then you can either get a new drive or re-format the old one (which will erase all your old files). But if the drive shows up on the desktop, then you may be able to use the old files.
    If the drive doesn't show up, you could use a Windows computer to put the files on a CD-R or something to transfer them to your new computer.
    Lots of options, really depends on how things are formatted.

  • Using old external hard drive as iTunes library on new macbook pro

    Recently purchased new macbook pro with 256 GB of memory.  I have an older external Passport for Mac hardrive with close to 1 TB of music.  I would like to use this external hard drive as my itunes folder.  I opened itunes on new computer, went to preferences - advanced and chose new location /Volumes/JP KAF/Itunes Media/Music and select OK but no music is available.  How do I connect my external hard drive and direct my new computer to use it as my music library.  I tried the starting itunes and holding Left shift key but that does not open an option of creating a library - Again, this is the newest macbook pro with retina screen.  Please help.

    No not do it changing preferences.  That does as it says; it just relocates media, not the whole library which is more than media.
    Quick answer if you use iTunes' default preferences settings:  Copy the entire iTunes folder (and in doing so all its subfolders and files) intact to the other drive.  Open iTunes and immediately hold down the Option (alt) key (shift on Windows), then guide it to the new location of the iTunes Library.itl file in the moved iTunes folder.

  • New to Macbook Pro, External hard drive question.

    I've just made the swirch to an Apple Macbook Pro from a PC.  I've used the PC since the early 90's and all I know is Windows.  However I'm finding myself more at home in Lion.  My question is probably a simple one so I'll get to it.  I have a 1TB Seagate Mac/PC external usb powered hard drive that I've used on my PC for all my iTunes media, 95% of which was purchased from Apple (who the **** knows if that matters but information could be crucial and besides I saw someone else say that in a post, only he found his music, whatever that means, anyway....).  Now I have added all files to the library of my iTunes on the Mac while still running them from the external hard drive and everything transferd smothly (see not a complete idiot) but for some reason I can not write to the hard drive.  If I try to update an app, delete a fie, rename or otherwis change the file in itunes I get an error claiming I don't have permission to do so.  When I look at the drive itself, sure enough it says I may read only.  Now the drive was formatted and used on a Windows PC prior to today.  What do I need to do on the Mac end to make it read and writable (is that the right word?) so I can enjoy updating my apps or plain getting rid of some old things?  Thanks in advance for any help.
    New Mac User

    Your external harddisk uses the NTFS file system which is common for Windows PCs.
    Mac OSX can read from NTFS harddisks but cannot write to them.
    For full access you need a third-party helper tool like the free NTFS-3G or Fuse4X or the commercial ones from Paragon or Tuxera NTFS for Mac.
    In the long run and when you don't need a "Windows-PC-compatibility" of the external harddisk anymore you should consider reformating/repartioning the external harddisk using the Mac OSX native partition and file system formats. (GUID and MacOS Extended (Journaled)).
    But such an action would delete everything that is on that external harddisk so it is not that easy.
    Stefan

  • New to MacBook Pro - External hard drive advice

    I just ordered a MacBook Pro last night which will be my first mac computer and would appreciate any insight on external hard drives. Here are the specs for the MacBook:
    2.6Ghz Quad-core Intel Core i7, NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M with 1 GB GDDR5 memory
    8 GB 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x4GB
    750 GB Serial ATA Drive @ 7200 rpm
    Right now, for my PC I have a WD My Passport Essential SE 1 TB Ultra Portable external hard drive. This drive works but I've had a few hiccups with it (although I can't tell if its the drive or the PC) and figured I should just start fresh with a new external hard drive for the new MacBook. In terms of my use, here's what I'm looking to be able to do with the hard drive:
    would prefer something portable (although doesn't have to be)
    would like to be able to insert old hard drive into mac, insert new hard drive, and transfer all files from old hard drive onto new hard drive without having to temporarily store on mac
    i don't really use the hard drive to back up the computer, i use it more to store all my files (pics, videos, movies, word/excel/pdf, etc.) and only keep certain files on computer (i use another hard drive to back up this hard drive)
    i'd also like something fast that would work well with the MacBook's specs
    price wise, would defintely like to be under $300 if possible
    Again, just looking for any advice anyone might have that would help me out in making a decision! Thanks!

    Any brand name external drive will work.

  • Got a new MBP and old external hard drive is too full for backup

    I just got a new MBP and got all my data migrated and everything. I plugged my external hard drive in to run a backup, and it apparently is too full to run a backup of the new computer.  Even though all the files are the same (mostly), I guess it's not going to overwrite anything because it's a new computer.  Should I just get a new backup drive and start fresh for this computer.  Should I reformat my old backup drive (and if so, how?)?  Advice?

    You should always have two backups of all vital data in any regard. A good 1TB Toshiba USB is $65
    If there is NOTHING on the external HD you cant lose, format in disk utility > erase > format MAC OSX extended journaled.
    then apply a Time Machine backup to the old HD of your new computer. That will free of a great deal of space.
    However you should still have a 2nd backup of data.  2 backups is 1, and 1 is none.

  • I am trying to move my old external hard drive (time machine ) to a new one

    I have tried to move my old external drive time machine to a new external drive:
    1. have formated the new time external hard drive
    2. I have unlocked and ignored the drives ownership
    3. I have turn of the new hard drive and them tried dragging the file (backups.backupdp) to my new external hard drive
    when I do that a message come up that says "this volume has that wrong case sensitivity for a backup"
    What does this mean and how do I fix it?
    Thanks
    Denise

    Although the documentation says you can copy Time Machine backups in the Finder, it's very slow and sometimes doesn't work at all.
    Launch Disk Utility, open the built-in help, and search for the term "Duplicate." Follow the instructions. All existing data on the destination volume will be erased. That shouldn't be a problem, because you don't want to mix backup and non-backup data on the same drive anyway. Turn Time Machine OFF in its preference pane while copying the volume.

  • How to load files from old external hard drive to new PC

    Copied files from old PC (Windows XP) to external hard drive. Purchased new PC (Windows 7). Paid technicians to transfer files from old PC to new PC. Some files were lost in the process.
    Please walk me through (step by step) on how to load spicific files from an external hard drive onto my new PC.
    Thanx, rp1

    Click anywhere on the open desktop so that the Finder menus are displayed at the top of the screen.
    Click Go > Network
    Double click the Time Capsule icon, then double click the icon representing the drive to mount it on the Mac's desktop. It is named "Data" unless you have changed it
    You can drag/drop files to the "Data" icon on the desktop
    235 GB is going to take forever if you try to do this using wireless. If at all possible, connect an Ethernet cable from your Mac to one of the LAN <-> ports on the Time Capsule.
    Even using Ethernet, you are probably looking at 10-12 hours for the file transfer.  All bets are off with wireless only, but a guess would be several days....or even more.

  • Can I Use an Old External Hard Drive to Back Up my MacBook Pro?

    I am currently using a 2010 MacBook Pro with Snow Leopard (Mac OS X 10.6.8) and I am thinking of upgrading to Mountain Lion when it comes out. So that means I should really back up my Mac. I have never backed up my Mac before nor have I ever backed up any of the PC's I owned in the past. With this being my first Mac and my first time backing it up I want to make sure I do this right.
    So my question is can I use my old exteral hard drive (Got it back in 2004 for University. Used with a PC) to back up my MacBook Pro with out running into any issues if I have to restore my Mac??

    tokine wrote:
    So my question is can I use my old exteral hard drive (Got it back in 2004 for University. Used with a PC) to back up my MacBook Pro with out running into any issues if I have to restore my Mac??
    yes.  connect it to the usb port, open disk utility, erase the disk and format to Mac OS Extended (Journaled).  That is the most common format.  Then backup as necessary.

  • Migrating old iMac to new one via external hard drive with Time Machine

    I was led to believe this was going to be easy!  Using the migration wizard in Utilities I was hoping to copy everything over via my external hard drive however it told me that it couldn't do it because the name already existed so muggins here gave it a new name.  It all ran smoothly, even all my email stuff etc etc.  Then Time Machine told me it couldn't back up any more because there wasn't enough space on the hard drive.  What I now have is two computers on one which I don't want and I don't know how to get it back and then solve the problem of having the same name on the back-up as the computer - not sure if this is making sense.  Can anyone help me please?
    thanks

    Have a look at Pondini's Time Machine guide that might help you get back on track:
    http://pondini.org/OSX/MigrationProblems.html
    I know hindsight is a wonderful thing but Setup Assistant is the better option for transferring your data.
    If all else fails, you can always erase the drive, re-install the OS as if it's new out of the box and use Setup Assistant. Hopefully that won't be necessary and Pondini will see you right.

  • How do I copy email database from my old computer to my new computer using external hard drive

    I have an external hard drive I want to use to copy the mail database from my eMac 10.5.8 and then move it to my MacBook Pro 10.8.2.

    That's what happens when you rightclick on a Mailbox, what happens when you do it?
    Post a screenshot.

  • Transferring playlist to new laptop from external hard drive and old laptop

    I've seen similar topics before but none exactly describing my situation. I currently have itunes installed on my work laptop, but have the majority of my music on my external 120GB hard drive. When I add songs to itunes, I add them from the music folder on my external hard drive, thus the external hard drive must be plugged in to be able to play my music. However, if I import a cd it gets saved to my C drive on my work laptop under the itunes music folder and gets played from here.
    I recently purchased a new personal laptop and would like to export my entire music library and all playlists from my current work laptop and external hard drive so that I would be able to have all my music in itunes on my new laptop without having to manually adding songs and changing the song info again. I worried that if I copy my itunes music folder to my new laptop it will look for the E drive (external hard drive) to play them rather than my new laptop hard drive. What's the easiest way to accomplish this task?? Please advise.
    Thanks..

    Hi dalbatross,
    Welcome to the Support Communities!
    Did you set up your new computer by creating a Time Machine backup and restoring from it?
    If so, the Events and Projects that were on your internal Macintosh HD would copied to your new computer.
    Here is another way to copy the events & projects to the new computer from the external drive:
    iMovie Help: Work with multiple libraries
    http://help.apple.com/imovie/mac/10.0/#mov3fa25bae7
    Copy or move projects, events, or clips between libraries or hard disks
    Connect a hard disk that contains the target library to your computer, or copy the target library to your computer.
    Choose File > Open Library, and choose an option from the submenu.You can choose from recently opened libraries at the top of the submenu, locate an existing library on your computer, or create a new library.
    The selected library is opened in the Libraries list, with the first event selected and its contents displayed in the browser.
    In the Libraries list, select the event that contains the item you want to move or copy.
    In the browser, select the item you want to move or copy.Note:  To select multiple items, hold down the Command key as you click the items you want to select, or drag a selection rectangle around the items.
    Do one of the following:
    To move items between events or libraries: Drag the clip or project to another event or library.
    To copy items between events or libraries: Option-drag the clip or project to another event or library by first starting to drag and then holding down the Option key as you drag.
    Cheers,
    - Judy

Maybe you are looking for

  • Recommendations for a Docking station for Classic?

    I'm looking for recommendations: I have a Ipod classic and would like to connect it to my Onkyo home stereo receiver; I basically want to replace my old 200 disc CD changer Note: The docking station must also charge the ipod. Any assistance will be g

  • RFC Desitination

    My BW is connected to ECC6, and working fine. In BW ->SM59, I have accidentally deleted the RFC that use to connect the BW and ECC6. In RSA1 ->SAP Source System ->Check, and it says: RFC destination ECC6CLNT800 does not exist. I have created another

  • BOM explosion for component in ECC which are relevant for planning in APO

    Hi , as we assign materials the MRP type X0 with the MRP procedure X (without MRP, with BOM explosion) which are relevant to APO, so if i have BOM under this item then how this below level Items will be plan in ECC....? as we are excluding the compon

  • Macbook air 11" blacks out takes minutes to start back up again.

    I have had this problem on and off since last November. First started when I using a LCD projector and I thought that was the issue. Last time it did it was last night...did it a number of times in succession. Now I am flipped out because this the my

  • Mount -o users doesn't work as intended, why not?

    I'm trying to modify some of the udev rules in the Arch wiki to work better for my setup. So I have this as /etc/udev/rules.d/11-media-by-label-auto-mount.rules: BUS!=usb, KERNEL!="sd[a-z]*", GOTO="media_by_label_auto_mount_end" # Import FS infos IMP