Restoring itunes from external hard drive

-I used WD backup program to store itunes on external hard drive
-hard drive on mac pro crashed, replaced hard drive
-trying to restore itunes songsa from external drive and when I copied songs from external hard drive to new internal hard drive which has itunes program, only song titles appear and track number for songs I ripped from CDs. All info is present for songs I purchased from itunes (why is there a difference in the way these two are restored???)
-Can I restore itunes from external drive so that artist and album are associated with each song title I ripped from CDs?
Much appreciate all assistance. Thanks.

I know MP3 and AAC save tag data, and I believe AIFF does as well (if you want to keep them in full-quality but space-greedy format). I don't think WAV supports tagging which is why they were lost. Read:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=9558241&#9558241
This time make sure you have a complete backup of your itunes folder (which, in fact you may still have). That way you can recover your complete library and everything intact (as long as you keep your backups up to date).
Here is a related topic
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=9267109&#9267109

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Can this file be copied directly back onto the new hard disc - or does re-importing need something else - and if so what?
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See Empty/corrupt iTunes library after upgrade/crash. If you restored the entire iTunes folder then you ought to have everything unless the .itl file was corrupted when it was first opened and upgraded. Double-clicking other .itl files in the Previous iTunes Libraries folder doesn't actually open them so I suspect they are "all empty" because in truth you've only been looking at the one corrupt library.
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How do i restore iTunes from external hard drive?

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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) so you get a prompt to select a library, then guide it to the 'iTunes Library.itl' file in the moved iTunes folder.

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How do I copy iTunes from external
Hard drive to iMac?

if your main library is on your external, then when not connected, you wont have access to it.
so first decide, where do you want to keep the files.
E.g. In my case, I keep my files on "C:\iTunes Music".
I have a backup on external "Z:\iTunes Backup". If I format my laptop, this is how I restore everything.
Edit -> Preferences -> Advanced.
The iTunes music folder in selects as "C:\iTunes Music"
I have checked Keep iTunes Music Folder Organized, and also Copy Files to iTunes Music folder when adding to ibrary". Click OK to save and close preferences.
My iTunes list is now empty. I go to file, and select "Add Folder to Library". From that window, I select "Z:\iTunes Backup". iTunes then copies everything from the backup to "C:\iTunes Music". For me, backup is backup, I dont need it to play music.
Now decide this. If you do not want to keep music on C:, but want to only connect the external to update music on your ipod, do this:
In preferences, set iTunes Music folder as "Z:\iTunes Backup", and uncheck Copy files to iTunes Music folder, since they are already there. Then in files, select Add folder to library again to build and update the list.

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How do I run itunes from external hard drive. I only have ssd on PC and media is too large to fit

You do not.
iTunes, like all programs is installed on the C drive.
You can store the media on another drive.
Assuming you are moving an existing library from another computer:
Move or Copy the ENTIRE iTunes folder from the old computer to the new computer and put it where you want it.
Install iTunes using the default options.
Hold <SHIFT> while launching iTunes. It will prompt to create a new library or locate an existing library.
Select the option to locate an existing library.
Point iTunes to the iTunesLibrary.itl file in the iTunes folder that was moved from the old computer.

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http://web.me.com/pondini/Time_Machine/14.html
See especially C.

How do I get my itunes from external hard drive onto new laptop?, how do I get my itunes from external hard drive onto new laptop?

A few years ago I was running out of room on my Windows laptop so I followed instructions on how to move all of the music to an external hard drive and then had all music added to the always connected external hard drive instead of the laptop. That old laptop has now died and I have a new one and need to get the music added to the new one. Is it as simple as just plugging the external hard drive into the new computer and importing or is there more I need to do? I'm just really not sure what to do and nervous about doing the wrong thing. The old computer was running Windows XP and the new one has Windows 8. I have downloaded iTunes to the new laptop. Please note that I am not super savvy so if anyone could provide easy to follow steps that would be great. Thank you!! Please let me know if you need more information. Thanks again!

See Here > Restoring your iTunes Library backup
From here > http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1751

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How can I transfer Itunes from external hard drive to a new computer?

Hello,
I had a Dell laptop with Windows XP on it recently crash, but I have everything saved to a Seamagine external 1 terabyte hard drive. I have about 250 gigabytes of media on it, mostly CD's and audiobooks. The setup I had on the XP computer was my Itunes folder saved on the C drive, but I kept all the actual music and audiobooks on the external hard drive, which was labeled the F drive.
After the crash, a relative sold me their three year old Compaq laptop, with Windows 7 instead of XP as the OS. My relative already had Itunes downloaded on it, but when I opened the Itunes on the new (new to me) laptop, Itunes only recognized their (my relative's) account. So, I uninstalled their Itunes and then I re-downloaded Itunes for 64-bit Windows 7. I then opened the Windows Explorer folder so to drag and drop my backed up Itunes folder and library information from the old C drive to the new Itunes folder in the new C drive. But, it wouldn't do anything. It still wanted the password info from my relative's account. It wouldn't recognize my account, even though I had uninstalled and then reinstalled a newer version of Itunes. Dragging and dropping my backed-up Itunes folder from my external hard drive to the new C drive didn't work because it said it didn't have certain permissions or something like that. I think I might have downloaded a newer version of Itunes, different from what I had saved a couple of days ago, which might be one of the problems here, not to mention that I switched OS's from XP to Windows 7.
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Hmm, I think we should start over...
Here are the typical layouts for the iTunes folders:
In the image above the red outline denotes the "media folder", that is the folder listed under Edit > Preferences > Advanced. In the standard layout where the "media folder" is inside the "library folder" the iTunes library has the advantage of being self-contained and portable. Since you've lost the "library folder" from your old computer you're going to have to start over so you might as well get organized properly.
If the folder curently holding your media files is called G:\iTunes then rename it as G:\Media.
The support doc How to open an alternate iTunes Library file or create a new one explains how to create a new iTunes library where you want it. In short click the icon to start iTunes and immediately press and hold down the shift key. Keep holding until asked to choose or create a library, click Create and browse to G:\, make sure the folder is going to be called iTunes and click save.
Move the folder that actually holds the media inside the folder G:\iTunes\iTunes Media. We're going to let iTunes reorganize everything (unless you have a collection of .wav files in which case stop and tell me because they require a different approach).
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Restoring itunes from external hard drive

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