Playing a library from an external hard drive

I recently got a new lap top. I have backed up my Itunes library from my desk top to my external hard drive. Is it possible to play my library from my external hard drive on my laptop without downloading all the songs directly on m laptop and taking up all of my free memory?

Yes it is possible. To prevent having iTunes make duplicate copies, go to Edit > Preferences > Advanced > General and make sure that "Keep..." and "Copy..." are *both not checked.*
Then, make sure the external is connected, and add the songs to the iTunes library. To start, add one or two to the library, and play them, and see for yourself that the files are not on the main hard drive. When you are comfortable, you can add the remaining 5000 (or whatever!) songs.

Similar Messages

Use iPhone 4 to play iTunes library from an external hard drive without computer

Hello all-
I use iTunes for playback of my music library. My library is too large to be stored locally on my MBP so I use an external hard drive. I was wondering if anyone knew of a way to use / setup an iPhone 4 to be able to read the iTunes library files and access the music stored on the external hard disc for playback WITHOUT the use of my MBP or any other computer. I may be asking too much but essentially it is just code that is written into iTunes that allows this to happen, between computer and external hard drive as well as iPod and it's hard disk. Of course I would need to be able to connect my iPhone to the external hard drive. I figure the dock to usb cable would suffice.
Any help is appreciated!
r

thanks for the quick reply! I was hoping to not only access the individual files, but use an actual user interface that could read the iTunes library files that I already have created via iTunes on my MBP, and provide me with an iTunes like playback experience, similar to how the Remote app works or the iPod app. Thanks though, I might use NetPortal for other applications though.
r

I transferred my iTunes library from one external hard drive to another and added more music on the same day. How do I get rid of my duplicate files without going through them one by one which would take forever?

Please help. I have transferred my iTunes library from one external hard drive to another plus added additional music now I have duplicates of the same music in many albums. How do I delete the duplicates without going through them one by one which would take forever? I understand how to get the "show exact duplicate" feature up on iTunes but, because they were added to the library on the exact day I can't seperate them I'm that manner. So each duplicate is right next to eachother in the exact duplicate screen.

My DeDuper script is designed to help clean up. See this thread for background.
tt2

How do I move my iphoto library from one external hard drive to another?

how do I move my iphoto library from one external hard drive to another?

Drag it there in the Finder and then launch iPhoto with the Option key held down. Point it to the new instance of the library.
(58012)

How to move mt itunes library from one external hard drive to another

I would like to move my itun4es library from my external hard drive H to external hard drive M; how do I go about this? without losing items

Short version: use the itunes consolidate command
Long version: read this
http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/moving-your-itunes-library-to -a-new-hard-drive/

How do I move my iTunes library from my external hard drive back to my computer?

Just wondering how do I move my entire iTunes library from my external hard drive back to my computer? It was moved to an external hard drive a few years ago, and now I'm wondering how to move it back to my iMac to increase performance.
Where does it belong in the computer?
Any suggestions?

The library itself is the /Home/Music/iTunes/ folder in its entirety. Did you also change where preference files were stored? Normally, they would be in the /Home/Library/Preferences/ folder.

How do I transfer/copy my itunes library from 1 external hard drive to another one?

How can i transfer/copy my itunes library from 1 external hard drive to another one?

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1449

How do I move my old iPhoto library from my external hard drive to my new Mac?

Hi guys!
I recently bought a new MacBook Air as my MacBook Pro was on its last legs... I have my backup for my old MacBook Pro on an external hard drive and I'm trying to put a selection of albums from my old iPhoto onto my new MacBook Air iPhoto. I can't simply click and drag it over as I get an error message "The iPhoto library is a Time Machine backup, and so cannot be used as the main library...". I've tried to reopen iPhoto while holding option and selecting my old iPhoto library from my external hard drive to open... AND I get the same message.
If anyone could help me out that would be amazing!
FYI: The hard drive I am using is a G|Drive mobile with Thunderbolt 1 TB.
Thank you very much in advance!
Cheers,
Kendall

I may sound like a real rookie here, but on my new MacBook Air there isn't a "Pictures" folder under "Users/kendallwilson" like there used to be on my old MacBook Pro (Early 2011). I'm still working out the new software on my MB Air, so where exactly should I open this new window to start following the steps you just provided me.
Thanks again!

How do i import my library from an external hard drive. Exported it as had to wipe pc and reinstal windows but when i try to import nothing happens

How do i import my library from an external hard drive. Had to export it as had to reinstal windows due to a conflict between windows and i-tunes. Wen i try to import nothing happens despite selecting the file. Can you import from an i-phone to i-tunes?

What do you mean bye exported the library?
There is nothing to export or import.
The correct process to backup the iTunes library would be to copy the ENTIRE iTunes folder from the computer to the external drive.

HT1386 I have a new computer. I have copied Itunes library from an external hard drive. Itunes now tells me I cannot sync with my Ipod as it thinks the 20gb on the computer are different to the 20gb on my Ipod touch! What have I done wrong? How can I fix

I have a new computer. I have copied Itunes library from an external hard drive. Itunes now tells me I cannot sync with my Ipod as it thinks the 20gb on the computer are different to the 20gb on my Ipod touch! What have I done wrong? How can I fix it? Alan

See:
Syncing to a "New" Computer or replacing a "crashed" Hard Drive: Apple Support Communities
Sync Your iOS Device with a New Computer Without Losing Data - How-To Geek

If I've downloaded my music to an itunes library from an external hard drive and I have several duplicate songs, is there an easy way to delete the duplicate songs? Or, do I have to go through my entire library song by song to delete duplicates?

If I've downloaded my music to an itunes library from an external hard drive and I have several duplicate songs, is there an easy way to delete the duplicate songs? Or, do I have to go through my entire library song by song to delete duplicates?

In iTunes, File>Display Duplicates

I am not able to delete a backup copy of iphoto library from my external hard drive.

I want to delete a copy of my iphoto library from an external hard drive. This drive is connected via my Apple extreme router. I drag the file to the trash but it just runs and does not seem to delete anything. 39 GB file. It is an older file and I want to clear up space on my external drive.

I figured it out just now.
I unplugged the drive from Airport Extreme and connected directly to the Imac via usb. Dragged the file to the trash and now it is gone.

Any suggestions for running an iTunes library from an external hard drive on two computers?

I have two Mac computers: an iMac and a MacBook Air. My iMac has 1TB of storage space (plenty enough for my 200+gigs of music) but my MacBook Air only has 250gigs of storage space. I know I can access all of the music from my iMac on my MBA with HomeSharing. But that doesn't work when I take my MBA out of the house for work. I was going to switch over my iTunes library to an external HD but I don't know if I can access the library on the hard drive from my MBA, when the main library is on my iMac.
Any suggestions as to how to get two different computers to access an iTunes library from an external hard drive?
Thanks.

I am confused as to what you had or have where and when. The bottom line is, your library (for the standard user) is everything in the iTunes folder. As far as iTunes' organization and display is concerned, your library is a file called "iTunes Library.itl" which points to all the other host of files and folders normally in the iTunes folder which all work together.
What are the iTunes library files? - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1660
More on iTunes library files and what they do - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITunes#Media_management
What are all those iTunes files? - http://www.macworld.com/article/139974/2009/04/itunes_files.html
Where are my iTunes files located? - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1391
iTunes 9 [and later]: Understanding iTunes Media Organization - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3847 - plus supplemental information about organizing to new structure https://discussions.apple.com/message/26404702#26404702
Image of folder structure and explanation of different iTunes versions (turingtest2 post) - https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-7392 and making an iTunes library portable.
If you kept everything together in one place then you need to put the whole iTunes folder on the drive where you want it, start iTunes while holding down the option key and guide it to that .itl file. If things were split up and you had media on the external and the rest of the library on the internal you need to get them back to exactly where they were before. If you can't find that iTunes folder holding the critical .itl file anywhere then you have a bunch of media tracks and no organization and will need to rebuild the organization from ground level.

How to use one music library from one external hard drive on two different computers

I have 57 gigs of music in my itunes library on my laptop (Windows Vista). I backed up the library onto an external hard drive. I would like to play the music on a second computer (Windows XP) without putting the music on the second computer, just keeping it on the external hard drive.
I have the latest version of iTunes and Quicktime installed. In iTunes on both computers, under Advanced Preferences I changed the iTunes media folder location to the folder on the external hard drive and checked the boxes for "Keep iTunes media folder organized" and "copy files to iTunes media folder when adding to library". Also under the File tab, "Organize Library", I clicked on "Consolidate Files" and "Reorganize Files in the folder itunes music".
On the second computer I tried holding SHIFT while launching iTunes until the prompt appears asking to create a new library or point to an existing library. While attempting to point to the new location, I am only able to open the music folder, not set it as the location. In advanced preferences when I click "change" for the itunes media folder location, I can locate the folder but the only button I can click on is "open" or "cancel". "Open" will open the folder showing all my music. I tried typing in the location. It shows the correct location.
I was able to see the songs in the library in itunes on the second computer but it won't play the music. There are no exclamation points next to the songs. I am also able to see the playlists but there aren't any songs in the playlists.
There are no problems with itunes on the first computer. Everything works as it should.
Ideally I would like to use the same folder on the external hard drive for both computers if possible. But for now I want to at least get the music playing with the playlists on the second computer from the external hard drive.
Please help.

See this post on making a split library portable.
tt2

Using my iTunes library from an external hard drive to a brand new Macbook.

This seems to be such a simple thing to be able to do but I'm fearing it's not. Basically I've had an iMac for 3 years and during that time have built up around 165gb in my iTunes folder. So I learnt off the net how to move my library onto an external hard drive so that I can free up the space on my iMac and play my iTunes library from the external drive. So far so good. My iPhone 4 is obviously connected to my iMac and thats how I get my media on and off the phone. Here's where my problems begin.
I've just bought a Macbook Pro. Its obviously empty and has no media on it. I have paired my iPhone 4 with the new Macbook but obviously the iTunes library on my new Macbook is empty. I downloaded a couple of podcasts onto my new machine and tried to put them onto my phone but got a message saying that the podcasts I currently have on my phone (that are on there from my iMac iTunes library) were going to be deleted and the new ones would be put on. Still with me? So, if I could get my original 165gb library thats now on my external hard drive to be seen on my new Macbook that would possibly solve my problems. But I cant see a simple way of doing this. I've pointed the iTunes Media Location folder in the preferences on my new Macbook to the same folder on my external hard drive as is on my iMac but iTunes on my Macbook is not showing up my library. Do I really have to open every album into iTunes on my Macbook seperately? It seems such a stupid, laborious way of doing it. As if you cant have two Apple computers and run one iTunes library off an external hard drive so that its the same on both machines.
Help!
Message was edited by: Eels290776

Eels290776 wrote:
if my external hard drive is not connected to either of my machines, and I download something onto my iMac and then something different onto my Macbook, where are my machines going to be storing the new downloaded media
when the drive is not connected, +iTunes media folder location+ will default back to <MacintoshHD>/users/<yourname>/music/iTunes/iTunes music (or media)
and when I next connect the external hard drive how will I easily get the newly downloaded media onto the external HD
you'd have to point +iTunes media folder location+ back to the external via preferences > advanced > iTunes media folder location, then file > library, organize library > consolidate files
and essentially, to have it easily readable on both machines?
in that case it might be best to copy the entire iTunes folder to the external. then, on each machine, launch iTunes while pressing option on your keyboard. when prompted, click on +choose library+ and navigate to the iTunes folder on the external.
note only one iTunes can access the iTunes library @ a time !
also, make sure the external is mounted on either machine before launching iTunes.
JGG

Playing a library from an external hard drive

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