On my mac I have my downloads from i tunes. I have previously transferred thousands of songs onto an external hard drive. How do I show these songs and albums in my i tunes on my mac without adding them to the computer as there is insufficient space ?

PLEASE HELP ME. I transferred my music library onto an external hard drive as it contains about 30 000 songs. I got a second hard drive as extra security and loaded the songs onto that as well. Both hard drives now contain my music library however when I click onto my i tunes on my mac I am only seeing the music that I have downloaded from the i tunes store that has been kept in the cloud. How do I get my music from the hard drive to be recognized on my mac? Please, please, please help!!!

To import music into your iTunes library on the computer go to iTunes>Help>iTunes Help>Add items to iTunes and follow the instructions
Delete the "songs" that do not play in your iTunes library and reimport them.

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I did an upgrade and lost all of my music. i had most of the songs (1400) on an external hard drive. how do i put these songs in my itunes library.? i was able to get them on my ipod some how but i cant play from just the itunes

i recently did an up grade on my ipod touch and lost all of my music (1700 songs). all of my music wason my ipod. i have an external hard drive with most of my songs (1400 songs) on it. through playing around and just trying to fiquire it out, i managed to get the music from the external hard drive to my ipod touch. the problem that i just found out is that i cant play those songs from my computer unless my iopd is connected to the computer. when i try to play a song, it gives me thiserror message " THIS SONG CAN NOT BE USED BECAUSE THE ORIGINAL FILE COULD NOT BE FOUND. WOULD YOU LIKE TO LOCATE IT. please help.what did i do wrong?

To import music into your iTunes library on the computer go to iTunes>Help>iTunes Help>Add items to iTunes and follow the instructions
Delete the "songs" that do not play in your iTunes library and reimport them.

Can you save your itunes and songs onto an external hard drive so that incase your computer crashes you will still have all your music?

Can you save your itunes and songs onto an external hard drive so that incase your computer crashes you will still have all your music?

The procedures below are for "moving" your library but as long as you don't delete it from your internal drive you are basically backing up.
iTunes: How to move your music to a new computer [or another drive] - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527
Simple answer: Copy your whole iTunes folder to the external drive. For subsequent backups you might want to learn about cloning and using a tool that only does incremental backups of recently changed items rather than copying all your files each time.

I have Mountain Lion OS Install CD downloaded onto my external hard drive, how do I use this to upgrade from Leopard

Current computer that I just bought used is operating on Leopard 10.5.8
I have Mountain Lion OS X CD installation files downloaded on my external hard drive from another Mac that I have owned.
How do I use my external HD to download and Install Mountain OS X wizard.
Is the only way to do this to buy a copy of snow leopard and then once upgrading to that, plug in my external HD and then access the Mtn install file as I would if I had the installation CD?
When I try to access the install file from my external HD, i get to the installation window and then when I am to select a hard drive to install it on I receuve a red exclamation mark error that says it can not be written to the HD. Why is this? Because I'm not on snow leopard but rather leopard?

As you have the installer on a DVD, you can do a trick that consists in formatting the hard drive, and then, install Mountain Lion.
First, make a backup of your files with Time Machine > http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1427 I recommend Time Machine because it will be easier to restore your files later.
Then, insert the DVD with Mountain Lion and hold the C key while your Mac is starting, so you will see a window with different options. Open Disk Utility, choose Macintosh HD in the sidebar, go to Erase tab and erase the drive.
After erasing the drive, you can install Mountain Lion. Close Disk Utility and install it. During the initial setup, it will ask you to restore your files, so plug the external drive with the backup and follow its steps. Note that PowerPC apps aren't compatible

I have transfered all my music onto an external hard drive from my old computer and itunes wont recognize the songs in my library...help!!

**** YOU ITUNNES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi,
I did the same XP to Windows 7 upgrade about 18 months ago. I decided to keep iTunes permanently on the external drive than the c drive to save c: drive space.
ITunes database has pointers to MP3 files located in Artist's directories. If you want to use a different location than the default C:\ drive for iTunes, then you need to recreate the Itunes database by deleting all songs in iTunes, then change the default location for iTunes files to your external drive. Then import the MP3 files from the external drive into the empty iTunes database through the iTunes import facility.
If you screw up the timing of the import and find you have multiple iTunes directories (instead of just the default location), then iTunes has a new feature to consolidate all iTunes MP3 files back into the central default location. In iTunes, FILE, LIBRARY, ORGANIZE LIBRARY, then CONSOLIDATE FILES.
To change the default directory for MP3 files, in Tunes go to EDIT, PREFERENCES, ADVANCED and then CHANGE the location to where you want the Itunes MP3 files to be located (including the iTunes subdirectory under which all the artist directories are held. Mine are on the F: drive or whatever your computer states is your drive assignment for the external drive.
Note iTunes 10.5 has many problems that Apple hopefully are working on....we seem to have gone backwards on working components in this iCloud based release. So maybe keep on using old computer until 10.6 is released.
Enjoy
Steve Mc (Sydney AUSTRALIA)

I have recently purchased an iMac from the Apple store. I previously had a windows computer and I transferred all my important files and music from the old computer onto an external hard drive. I've plugged the hard drive in and I can't seem to locate it!

Hi everyone,
Before I set up my new iMac, I transferred all my important files from my old windows computer (pictures, documents, iTunes etc) onto an external hard drive. I had no trouble using and locating my hard drive on my old computer, however I'm having great difficulty finding it on my iMac. The external hard drive is plugged in with all wires connected and correct. I've tried all the USB ports and I still can't locate it!
I just want to transfer everything from my hard drive to the iMac!
If anyone could help me locate and guide me through the process of using an external hard drive on an iMac, then that would be brilliant!

Try using Migration Assistant following this guide:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4413#3
There is advice in this document for using Migration Assistant from Time Machine or other hard drive.

From a Imac i made a home movie and want to get it onto a external hard drive?

From a Imac I made a home movie and want to get it onto a external hard drive, how do I do this?

Do you mean you want to continue editing it with the media transferred to an external drive? Which version of iMovie are you using?
With iMovie 10 see: http://help.apple.com/imovie/mac/10.0/#mov3fa25bae7
Geoff.

How do I download all my photos onto an external hard drive intact without loosing iPhoto's features, important info and details? I need to delete pictures and files to make room in My mac's memory which is currently full.

Hi
How do I download all my photos onto an external hard drive intact without loosing iPhoto's features, important info and details? I need to delete pictures and files to make room in My mac's memory which is currently full.
Maro

So you want to move the iPhoto Library?
Make sure the drive is formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
1. Quit iPhoto
2. Copy the iPhoto Library from your Pictures Folder to the External Disk.
3. Hold down the option (or alt) key while launching iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Choose Library' and navigate to the new location. From that point on this will be the default location of your library.
4. Test the library and when you're sure all is well, trash the one on your internal HD to free up space.
Regards
TD

How do i repair or recover data from a corrupt USB external hard drive that does not show up on my Mac desktop or disk utility

How do i repair or recover data from a corrupt USB external hard drive that does not show up on my Mac desktop or disk utility?
Last night i was using my external hard drive, for some reason the folder just closed and i couldn't find it on my desktop.
After googling solutions, i found it in the disk utilities, i clicked on the 'repair' button many times, but it said the 'error...' message.
So i ejected it to try again, now when i connect the USB external hard drive it doesn't show up on my desktop or disk utilities.
I really just want to either repair or recover the data on it because it literally has everything (documents, work files, photos etc) on it,
I downloaded an application to recover my files but it needs the USB to at least show up.recognise it which mine doesn't.
I know i should've backed it up on another USB, this definitely teaches me for next time to back up all my files.
Are the files lost forever or can i recover them by going to a shop or using a software?

Thank you for responding.
This might sound stupid since i'm not really knowledgeable with Macs,
but since all my files were moved from my mac computer to the external hard drive,
is it possible to recover those files through my Mac - like recovering deleted files?

HT201250 If time machine puts all of my photos onto my external hard drive using time machine, can I then delete the photos from my computer put view them again from the external hard drive? Basically, can I free up space on my mac but not lose years of p

If time machine puts all of my photos onto my external hard drive using time machine, can I then delete the photos from my computer but view them again from the external hard drive? Basically, can I free up space on my mac but not lose years of photos?

To add to Niel's comment bear in mind that if you have a backup copy on an external HD and later delete the orignals on your Mac HD you will then only have one copy - so no backup.
If the pictures are precious you should have at least two copies, and ideally another copy kept off site,

I had all photos on a Windows desktop. Got a mac laptop, installed LR5, and put all images from Windows onto an external hard drive. When I go to import them into LR on the Mac, they are all locked. Help, please. Thanks

I had all photos on a Windows desktop. Got a mac laptop, installed LR5, and put all images from Windows onto an external hard drive. When I go to import them into LR on the mac, they are all locked. Help, please!

"I plugged the external into the Mac and moved a folder of images onto the desktop. It looks like it went from read only to not locked. Is this possible?"
Yes, that's exactly what happened. If you buy another drive, you could copy from your existing drive to the new and your files will be read/write. The new drive will have to be formatted as an HFS drive (that's the Mac's format). If you need to format it, you use Disk Utility which is in the Utilities folder on your Mac. Be careful with that -- it wipes out whatever is currently on the drive. Make sure you format the right drive.
I keep all my images on an external drive, too. In fact, I have two matching drives and sync them so I always have a backup.

I did backup from my Imac to external hard drive, how can I unzip that backup to my mac

I did backup from my Imac to external hard drive, how can I unzip that backup to my mac again

It may be Time Machine, but Time Machine doesn't store backups in .zip folders. Open Finder and select your backup external disk in the Finder sidebar, under "Devices". If you are using Time Machine, you should see a folder called "Backups.backupdb".
If you are using Time Machine and you want to restore a full Time Machine backup, there are different methods depending on the Mac OS X version you are using. Open  > About this Mac, see Version and tell me what version you are using

Can I download music and pictures from 2 different MacBooks onto one external hard drive?

I have looked around for the community, but have not found an answer here. Both my wife and I have 2 seperate MacBooks, but we wanted to put all of my pictures and music and all of her music and pictures onto one external hard drive. I read on another board that we can, but only if we purchase a Mini. Is it possible to do that without having to purchase a Mini? Or is purchasing a Mini the only way to be able to do that? Thanks in advance for any replies!

There is no reason that you cannot use a common external HDD for your communal data. Naturally you would have to disconnect it from one MBP and then connect it to the other when you wish to access the data or perform a download.
Any compatible external HDD will do, but make certain that you format it in Disk Utility to Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
Ciao.

I have an external hard drive that was formatted by a PC and has files and directories etc. I want to format it and use it on my IMAC for backup but I can't seem to write to it nor can I delete current content. How do I initialize it for use with the MAC?

I have an external hard drive that was formatted by a PC and has files and directories copied to it etc. I want to use it on my IMAC for backup. I see it on my my IMAC . I can open files etc. But I can't seem to write to it nor can I delete current content. I don't care if I lose current content. How do I initialize it for use with the MAC?

You can't write to it because it's formatted as NTFS which OS X will read but not write to. If you want to continue using the drive with both a PC and OS X you will need to download and install NTFS-3G so you can then write to it from your Mac. You can get NTFS-3G at:
http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/24481/ntfs-3g
If you want to use the drive exclusively with your Mac then move the data off it and reformat it in Disk Utility (Applications - Utilities - Disk Utilities) as Mac OS Extended (Journaled.)

HT201269 I have my iTunes library on my Windows 7 machine on an external hard drive. I purchased a new Macbook and would like to point my new machine at my iTunes library without losing anything and then deactivate iTunes on the Windows machine, help ple

I have my iTunes library on my Windows 7 machine on an external hard drive. I purchased a new Macbook and would like to point my new machine at my iTunes library without losing anything and then deactivate iTunes on the Windows machine, help please

Sorry, but this does not seem to be an iPad question. I'd therefore suggest you ask in the iTunes for Mac forum.
Regards.

On my mac I have my downloads from i tunes. I have previously transferred thousands of songs onto an external hard drive. How do I show these songs and albums in my i tunes on my mac without adding them to the computer as there is insufficient space ?

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