Shifting media files between external hard drives

Hi
I need to shift all my TV and Movie files from one external hard drive to a new bigger hard drive. I tied just copying them, but iTunes couldnt find any of the files when I went to play them. I have found a few threads dealing with cpoying to an external hard drive but none that actually explain how to shift between external hard drives.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers
Pete

Don't import anything and don't move it yourself. This will simply allow iTunes to lose it all.
peteflynn wrote:
Hi
I need to shift all my TV and Movie files from one external hard drive to a new bigger hard drive. I tied just copying them, but iTunes couldnt find any of the files when I went to play them. I have found a few threads dealing with cpoying to an external hard drive but none that actually explain how to shift between external hard drives.
iTunes prefs Advanced. Set the iTunes media folder location to the new drive.
iTunes menu File > Library > Organize library - Consolidate.
This will copy all iTunes media to the new location you set in step 1 and use this location from now on.

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Hello bbryson68,
Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.
From your post I understand you're wanting to move iMovie project and event data to another drive. I found the following information in the iMovie help that answers your question.
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I have huge high definition video files on a 2TB external hard drive (and its clone). The external hard drive is maxed out. I would like to move many of the video files to a new 3TB external hard drive (G-drive, and a clone) and leave a sub-group of video files (1+ TB) on the original external hard drive (and its clone).
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Here is a very good writeup on de-fragging in the OS environment that I borrowed
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http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1375 which states:
You probably won't need to optimize at all if you use Mac OS X. Here's why:
Hard disk capacity is generally much greater now than a few years ago. With more free space available, the file system doesn't need to fill up every "nook and cranny." Mac OS Extended formatting (HFS Plus) avoids reusing space from deleted files as much as possible, to avoid prematurely filling small areas of recently-freed space.
Mac OS X 10.2 and later includes delayed allocation for Mac OS X Extended-formatted volumes. This allows a number of small allocations to be combined into a single large allocation in one area of the disk.
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Most users, as long as they leave plenty of free space available , and don't work regularly in situations where very large files are written and rewritten, are unlikely to notice the effects of fragmentation on either their files or on the drives free space much.
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Some people will tell you that "OSX defrags your files anyway". This is only partly true. It defrags files that are less than 20 MB in size. It doesn't defrag larger files and it doesn't defrag the free space on the drive. In fact the method it uses to defrag the smaller files actually increases the extent of free space fragmentation. Eventually, in fact, once the largest free space fragments are down to less than 20 MB (not uncommon on a drive that has , say only 10% free space left) it begins to give up trying to defrag altogether. Despite this, the system copes very well without defragging as long as you have plenty of room.
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If you look through this discussion board you will see quite a few complaints from people who find that their drive gets "slow". Often you will see that say that "still have 10 or 20 gigs free" or the like. On modern large drives by this stage they are usually in fact down to the point where the internal defragmentation routines can no longer operate , where their drives are working like navvies to keep up with finding space for any larger files, together with room for "scratch files", virtual memory, directories etc etc etc. Such users are operating in a zone where they put a lot more stress on their drives as a result, often start complaining of increased "heat", etc etc. Most obviously, though, the computer slows down to a speed not much better than that of molasses. Eventually the directories and other related files may collapse altogether and they find themselves with a next to unrecoverable disk problems.
By this time, of course, defragging itself has already become just about impossible. The amount of work required to shift the data into contiguous blocks is immense, puts additional stress on the drive, takes forever, etc etc. The extent of fragmentation of free space at this stage can be simply staggering, and any large files you subsequently write are likely to be divided into many , many tens of thousands of fragments scattered across the drive. Not only this, but things like the "extents files", which record where all the bits are located, will begin to grow astronomically as a result, putting even more pressure on your already stressed drive, and increasing the risk of major failures.
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In the "first phase" (with your drive less than half full), it doesn't matter much at all - probably not enough to even make it worth doing.
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I am having the same issue as well...

Shifting media files between external hard drives

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