Save Itunes music on internal or external drive?

My new G5 has plenty of free space in it's internal drive, and it seems natural to save the Itunes songs there since it's selected as the default drive. Yet, I've always been told to save all my media on an external drive, so that the computer processing power isn't slowed down. Does anyone have any thoughts on whether I should keep my Itunes library on my external drive or my internal drive?
Thanks, and Happy New Year.

I have had my music on the boot drive, a second internal drive and an external hard drive, and have found that with a G5, having the music on the boot drive results in the least amount of lag time from track selection to play, since that drive is almost always active.
However, since I have a very large music and video library, keeping it on the internal drive was not a good idea, so I moved it to an external drive. Although this was a 10,000 rpm firewire EIDE drive, there was still considerable lag time from selection to play. I ended up with a second internal SATA drive that has some lag time, but much less than the dedicated external.
I have never heard that having music on an internal drive slows down the processing power. I've never experienced any degradation of performance when iTunes was merely playing music, but if I was playing and managing music (creating playlists, importing tracks or adding art) at the same time, there was some slowdown between tracks until I added more memory (from 1 gb to 3 gb).
Good luck,
Lita

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I have just over 100gig of music in my iTunes library plus what ever else I add in the future. Because of the amount I had to save my music library on an external drive as my laptop did not have the memory to hold it all. I want to back up my iTunes libra

I have just over 100gig of music in my iTunes library plus what ever else I add in the future. Because of the amount I had to save my music library on an external drive as my laptop did not have the memory to hold it all. I want to back up my iTunes library and save it on a different external drive, one I store all my back ups on. Is this possible? If so how can I do it?

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.

Error Code -36 When Copying iTunes Music folder to an External Drive

_*"The finder cannot complete the operation because some data in "NAME.mp3" could not be read or written. (Error code -36)_"*
This is the error message I get when trying to copy my iTunes music folder to an external drive. I am following Apple's knowledge base article, so yes, I have consolidated my library, have closed iTunes and there is plenty of room on the external drive. For what it's worth, I am also getting this error when trying to do the same thing with my iPhoto library.
Would be grateful for some insight,
With oodles of appreciation in advance,
Joe

I was getting the same "-36" error while trying to backup to a Lacie firewire external drive.
I had a lot of people telling me to re-format, erase, reinstall, run utility programs ... yada, yada, yada.
First off, test to see if it is the connection type (firewire). I reconnected the offending external drive via USB, restarted the drive and ... BINGO! ... all transfers went perfectly.
Once i knew it was the firewire connection and not the drive itself i simply unplugged my iSight camera (the only other firewire device connected to my machine), reconnected my external drive via firewire and the problem is now corrected.
Firewire buses seem to be very finicky things ... i would suggest eliminating all firewire devices from the machine (except, of course, the external drive you're trying to transfer to) and see if the problem goes away.
Like i said, i simply unplugged my iSight camera and the transfer to my external drive went perfect and my transfer rates went from an average of 4MB/sec to over 19MB/sec.
P.S. BTW - prior to the error and after i corrected the error by unplugging the iSight camera, my internal and external drives all checked out 100% on Disk Utility, Disk Warrior and TechTool Pro.

Please help me move my iTunes music from PC to external drive to laptop.

Okay, please, please help me!
And please know that I'm VERY computer illiterate and VERY frustrated right now. I've searched through dozens of answers to this questions and don't understand any of them. I don't know what a file is or what a folder is and I don't know how to "find" my iTunes folder. I have about 100 albums on iTunes and want to transfer them over to my laptop. I bought an external hard drive today don't know how to use it and the manual is useless.
I've looked at countless posts on here and most of them are riddled with terminology I don't understand. When you tell me to "find" my iTUNES folder...I don't know what that means or how to do that.
Please help me and keep in mind that you'll need to explain everything NOT LIKE I'M A 3 YEAR OLD....3 YEAR OLDS KNOW HOW TO DO THIS CRAP! Talk to me like a very, very computer illiterate adult. The PC(where the music is now)runs Windows XP and the laptop(where I want the music to be) is running Windows Vista
I will be forever grateful!
Thank you!
S-

Ok. Update. I think I have my iTunes library on my external drive. Now, I need to know how to get it onto my laptop. When I "import" into iTunes, it only lets me bring over one album at a time. Even then, when I unplug the external drive, it says that the file cannot be found and won't play. However, if the external drive is plugged in, it will play the album.
Thanks!

How to transfer iTunes Music stored in an External Drive that I use for my Windows PC and use it in iTunes on Mac?

Hi just bought my first Mac (a 2013 13' MacBook Air). Before I owned this computer I used (and still use) a Windows Desktop. My Windows Desktop (which runs Windows 8.1) has a 1TB Hard Drive that was getting pretty full so I moved all of my iTunes Music, Movies, and TV Shows onto a 2TB external hard drive. This meant that iTunes would open/work even if the external hdd was not plugged in, but only when the external HDD is plugged in do I see all of my downloaded/ripped music/movies/tv shows. Now that I own a Mac I would like to do the same thing - have all of my media on an external drive that is plugged in via USB. So my question is (A) how do I make my itunes media stored on this external HDD accesible to the iTunes on my MacBook, (B) do I need to partition the external HDD to do this, and (C) because I fully intend to keep using the drive with my Windows PC (it stores a complete backup as well as a ton of Steam videogames), will I need to totally erase the drive in order to create such a partition?

Before we can help you, you must tell us how you are backing up your data.
Allan

Can I backup my iTune music library to an external drive and install on a new computer?

Can I backup my iTune library to an external drive and reinstall on a new computer? To use disks I need 29 to do this.

Hi Niel. Can you be move specific for those of us not tech savy? 1 - Can you provide steps to back up the library? 2 - How do you organize the library? 3 - When you move the entire iTunes folder, does it include iTunes paid for music along with downloaded music from CDs? Thanks

My iTunes music is on an external drive.

Since upgrading to iTunes 11 numerous songs could not be played "because original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it?" It gives me the string to find the file within the media files which are all on an external drive and if I click directly on the song, it plays fine. However, it still will not play if I select the song title from the menu on iTunes itself. I would estimate that at least a third of my library is affected. It can be either a purchase song or something from a personal CD loaded onto iTunes. Two questions: (1) what do I need to do to get the song launching again from the iTunes menu itself and (2) is there something that can correct the problem globally, i.e., all songs similarly situated will be "locatable" again?

Thanks, Limnos,
Worked perfectly.

How can I move my local iTunes music library on an external drive ?

I have imported some of my personnal music CD's on the local drive of my Macbook. But now, how can I move those on an external drive ?

Just those few things or your whole library? Very different processes depening upon details you have not yet provided.

Linking music files on an external drive to a new mac

Hi,
I have recently bought a new macbook, replacing my old ibook, all my music tracks are on an external hard drive, I want to keep them there, but I want to be able to play them on my new macbook, how do I do this?
I have changed the folder so itunes is looking at the right one, but my new itunes is empty. do I need to copy the track listings somehow into the new library?
I can only find instructions for physically moving the media, which I don't want to do.
I had wanted to be able to hook up the hard drive to both computers, is that possible?
thanks very much
vbw

You should be able to do a File -> Add and then point to the iTunes music folder on your external drive and it should fill in the iTunes library for you. Since you are already telling iTunes to use that location, there shouldn't be any copying or moving of files about.
As to hooking it to two different computers, while you can probably get away with it, each iTunes treats the library as its own, so you could end up in trouble when one library alters the library somehow that the other one might not be happy about.
Patrick

How to save music tracks onto an external drive

Thank you for helping me with this question...
How do I save my music files onto an external hard disk drive? It seems that there is no way to avoid having to save my tracks onto the C: drive, yet I am quickly running out of room. I would like to transfer all of my music to the D: drive and set up iTunes to automatically save all future music onto the D: drive, but I lack the technical knowledge to do this myself.
Thank you,
-Will
dell Windows XP external hard drive

If you want to make another drive (direct or portable) on your PC the main music location for iTunes, move all song files there, as well as any future imported music from CDs, here is one method (see the links below):
You will maintain your playlists, ratings, comments, etc. This will only move your music folders location, NOT your iTunes program files. It is my opinion that programs (i.e. – iTunes) work better when installed on your main hard drive. At the very least, it makes it easier to manage all your programs if they are centrally located on one hard drive (the Windows default standard).
See these links for some step-by-step info:
iLounge: Moving your iTunes Library to a New Hard Drive
MacMuse: iTfW: Move iTunes music/Library to new drive
iTunes: Moving your iTunes Music folder
If you are moving the music to an external hard drive or network drive, after the transfer (and to work correctly), the drive must be running prior to your opening iTunes. If not, iTunes will reset the location of your music folder location to the default location (usually: ‘C:\...My Music\iTunes\iTunes Music’). If this happens, you need to manually change the path back to your external location, or future CD ‘Imports’ will be deposited on your internal HD.
Also make sure that the new drive always loads as the same Drive Letter, otherwise you will lose the references within iTunes.

ITunes Music Folder Missing on external hard drive after changing iTunes Media Folder Location from MacBook Hard Drive. Not deleted...just missing?

I store my iTunes media folder on my external hard drive and can no longer find it there. It seemed to becomd lost after I re-designated the default iTunes media location. I had downloaded some things from iTunes without my external hard drive plugged in and when they downloaded they downloaded to the default location on my Macbook Pro. In recognizing that, I wanted to move those files from the hard drive on my MacBook Pro to the external hard drive. When I re-selected the location as the external hard drive a copy process began. I cancelled the copy process fearing the small number of files from my Macbook Pro would over-write all of the files on my external hard drive so I quit the copy process. Now I do not see my "iTunes Music" folder on my external hard drive. I fear that I have somehow lost the path but I believe the content is still on my external hard drive although I no longer see the "iTunes Music" folder on my external hard drive. I know I didn't delete it, but it isn't there. Is there a way to make it re-appear? I would really appreciate any guideance anyone has.
Thank you.
Best,
Matt

When you change the location in preferences it tells iTunes to start, from this point on, storing new media files in the new location. It then presents you with the option to move any old files in their current locations to the new location. It doesn't move the library files which are not media files. Read the links below to understand how iTunes works because you are the one with the computer in front of you and are in the better position to understand how it stands as regards to iTunes files.
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
Now, did you keep the whole library on the external drive, or did you keep just media? From your description of the situation it sounds as if you kept the whole library there and when the external was not attached it returned to default location on the internal drive. What you should have done then was plug in the external drive, hold down the option key, and guide iTunes to the library file on the external. At this stage you could have dealt with the mislocated new files on an individual basis.
I guess the key question is, did your trying to move the couple of new media files to the external drive overwrite the iTunes folder there, which because you then canceled may have also just resulted in it being deleted. I am not going to test the theory on my system.
How big was your library on the external? If it was 40GB do you now suddenly have 40 GB free?
Look for any iTunes folders on the external drive. In view options turn on "calculate all folders sizes" and see if there are any big ones.

ITunes cannot find music files, confuses inodes, external drive

I have all my music on an external drive, which is not always connected to the Mac. When I start iTunes w/o the hdd connected iTunes occasionally marks some of the songs as not found. Which is ok so far. BUT if it finds the same inode (of the original file on the external hdd) on the internal hdd it changes the location of the songs to the internal hdd. In my case to files like /Previous System/<some path>/Info.plist. So iTunes thinks the files are still there and cannot play them. After deleting all the Previous Systems files iTunes marks all those files as not found, that is, it does not search for the inode on the external hdd again. Very confusing.
Yesterday I started from scratch with an empty iTunes Library (I moved the original one) and the problem reoccurred instantly after I imported all my music, quit iTunes, disconnected the external HDD and started iTunes again. So some of my songs are lost, iTunes will never find them again w/o me reimporting them. Also the problem might occur anytime in the future and I seem to not be able to cure it, because iTunes tried to be intelligent. But how it can confuse inodes w/o looking at the device ID and why the songs did not return after I removed the /Previous Systems folder I cannot image.
I checked the inodes on the internal and external hdd for some of the songs and they were indeed identical. So iTunes seems reset the path/location in the Library DB if it can find the inode of a song which it cannot find by path. Why it does not look at the device id in combination with the inode# is a mystery.
Some additional details:
iTunes Music Folder Location: on external hdd
The Library files are on the internal hdd at ~/Music/iTunes.
I hope someone can answer that. I do not want to start from scratch every week. I hope my iPod which holds all the songs synchs meta info like play count and rating back as well.
Kind regards, soryu2.

And further....
I went into iTunes to try to download all my purchased music. Some, but not all, is showing up under iTunes>iTunes Media>Music. It looks like the library thinks some if the music is there, but it actually is not.
Seems like my library is corrupted (or something).
Since I have to upload all music from CD anyway, should I delete my iTunes library and start over, first by downloading all purchased music.

Adding Music when away from external Drive where Itunes Library is stored

I have a macbook and an Ipod 60gb. I have come across a slight frustration in Itunes. I have limited space on my internal drive and as such have my iTunes music stored on an external hard drive. I frequently am away from this drive when I import a cd into itunes. The problem, itunes switches where my library is stored from the external drive to the internal drive. Is there an option that someone knows about that would keep this from happening?
I have a suggestion for itunes, why not make an option to add music to a briefcase folder, and when connected to the external drive add it to the main library. This would allow for music to be imported to the computer and then be added to the main storage source when available.
If anyone knows a way I send a product suggestions to apple please let me know, as I have a few that would like to suggest.

mattbeardall wrote:
Is there an option that someone knows about that would keep this from happening?
no, if iTunes can't find its drive/folder, it defaults to creating one within your Home directory's Music folder.
If anyone knows a way I send a product suggestions to apple please let me know, as I have a few that would like to suggest.
under the iTunes menu choose the Feedback menuItem.

Itunes cannot see the itunes music folder on my external hard drive

I recently put all of my music on an external hard drive to free up space on my computer,
However, when I am in itunes and trying to point the library to the music folder, itunes still cannot see it. Instead all it can see is the E drive WD Passport, and folders named autorun, WD Sync Data Wd Windows Tools.
Can anyone tell me how I can see my itunes music folder on my external hard drive while I am in preferences, advanced, library location, change??

I don't know enough about iTunes for Windows to help you with this. But if you post your question in the Using iTunes for Windows forum you will get help from people who know more about this.
(This is the forum for Apple's Mac OS X web browser, Safari.)

HT1751 Just installed itunes on my new computer. My music is on an external drive. How do i get newly installed itunes on new computer to recognize the music on the external drive?

I just got a new PC, thank goodness. All my music is on an external drive (F). i installed Itunes on my new computer. Now want to get itunes to recognize all the music on my external drive. Don't want to put music on new computer, but keep on external drive. Can anyone help me - thanks

Was the media solely on the external library? If so, it is likely that iTunes was started at some point with the external drive unaccessible. Simply point iTunes to the correct library location. To do this, close iTunes. Hold <SHIFT> and launch iTunes. When prompted to find library or create a new one, select the find option and point iTunes to where the iTuneslibrary.itl file is at on your computer (or external drive).

Save Itunes music on internal or external drive?

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