Playing Music off of Portable Hard Drive

I have all my music on a portable hard drive which I use as a main storage location. I hook it up to my computer through USB. I've not had trouble playing until I downloaded the latest version of iTunes. All my drivers are current.
The problem is that I've been playing through a list of songs, and part way through the songs, music stops coming out of the speakers. iTunes still is playing something, but the music isn't coming out. The music will pick back up when it gets to the next song. It always picks back up on the next song.
Anyone having similar issues?
Thanks,
Jon

Actually, what I've realized is when I have a VPN connection open, it has the problem. I tried disabling searching for shared music and sharing my music, and I still had the same issue with my VPN connection open. When I close the connection, everything is just dandy, but if I open it, music stops playing. Anyone know of a way to get around this? The VPN client I am using is Cisco Systems VPN.

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Playing music off and external hard drive

I've been thinking about getting another hard drive whos sole purpose will be house my (somewhat large) CD library. Though I'm not sure if I import the CDs and drag their files to the other HD that i'll be able to just hook up the hard drive and open iTunes and they'll be there if I should disconnect the HD because I have a laptop.

I agree with William about a firewire drive.
Just moving the library, and changing the location in the preferences will not work however.
Recent iTunes versions can track moved music on the same drive, but not when moved to another drive.
iTunes: Moving your iTunes Music folder tells you the correct way.
One thing to keep in mind is, that iTunes will reset the 'iTunes Music folder location' when the external drive is not connected. After connecting it, set the location again to the external.
Failing to do so will not effect the playback of songs, but new ripped CDs will be stored on the internal disk.
The song locations (and some other info) are stored in the 'iTunes Library' file (more info here)
M
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I have two separate iTunes libraries on two separate Computers. I need to consolidate them so I can play them on a brand new computer. How do I do this so I can play them off an External Hard Drive on my brand new computer?

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Assuming you have a default installation i.e music files in the iTunes Music folder, just close iTunes and copy the iTunes folder to the external disk.
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http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=1522195&#1522195

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I have a portable hard drive with music on it. I have been successful in Importing Files from that external drive to my iTunes library and can play the music on my PC. However, when I sync my iPhone in an attempt to load those new songs, those songs get the little !exclamation point! next to them and the message "Original File Cannot Be Found". What do I need to do to get these songs from the portable drive onto my iTunes library as permanently recognized files that will be sync'd to my iPhone. Any guidance is greatly appreciated....thanks

Connect the external drive and choose Consolidate Library from the Library section of the File menu, or open the Advanced section of the iTunes preferences and tell it to copy music to the iTunes music folder for future imports.
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Can i show and play music from my external hard drive in iTunes without adding it to my Mac hard drive?

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Hello B3NN13,
If you would like to add the music from your external hard drive to iTunes without copying it to the iTunes Library on your internal hard drive, you may find the following article helpful:
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When you add an item already on your computer to your iTunes library, iTunes places a copy of the file in your iTunes folder. The original file remains in its current location.
You can change this setting so that files are added to your iTunes library without being added to the iTunes folder. You might want to do this, for example, if you prefer to store video files on an external disk but still want to view them in iTunes.
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Deselect the checkbox next to “Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library.”
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iTunes 12 for Mac: Change where your iTunes files are stored
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I recently purchased a external hard drive for my mac for my movies and music, as my disc was almost full.
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Pondini: Formatting, Partitioning, Verifying, and Repairing Disks... - http://web.me.com/pondini/AppleTips/DU.html
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Is it possible to play music from my external hard drive on my ultrabook? I don't want to take up space in the internal drive.

I recently bought an ultrabook (windows) and transferred all of my music (from itunes) onto an external hard-drive. I don't want to transfer all the music onto my new laptop because that would take up too much space. So is it possible for me to add new music or log on to home share by using my external drive plugged into my new ultrabook? How do I play music through my computer using music held on the itunes in my external drive?
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I have a laptop computer with a 100 GB hard-drive. I have my music files on an external hard drive. I don't want to copy the music files to the laptop because the laptop drive's capacity is too small. I can't figure out how to configure Itunes to look to the external drive for the music files. I've tried to change the location of files under the "advanced" tab under "preferences" but I tunes won't scan the external drive for media. There's probably a really easy answer to this question but i'm sorry but i'm not seeing it. Thanks for any help.

Make sure the Advanced preferences for "Keep..." and "Copy..." are both not checked.
Then add songs from the external using File > Add File (or Folder) to Library. iTunes will add them, but will not copy or move the file from the external.
Try it with a few songs on the external so you can see how it works. Once you are comfortable, you can add more.

Playing Music off of Portable Hard Drive

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