Storing music on external hard drive

I would like to move my saved music off of my mac and onto my external hard drive. I am currently running time machine backups on the external drive.

Do the following:
1. Quit iTunes
2. Drag the iTunes folder from your internal hd - located in ~/Music folder - to your external hd. DO NOT delete the original one from your internal hd... yet!
3. When the transfer is complete, press and hold the Option(alt) key and fire up iTunes.
4. A "Choose iTunes Library" window will come up. Click on the "Choose Library" button.
5. Navigate to where the iTunes folder is located in the external hd.
6. Within the iTunes folder, select the iTunes Library file and click Choose...
That's it. iTunes will now display all your playlists, songs, movies, podcasts etc. At this point, should you wish, you can delete the iTunes folder from the internal hd to free up space.

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Problem storing music on external hard drive and iTunes recognising the music.

Hi hope someone is able to help.
I've set up iTunes on my parents windows Laptop to store all the music on an external hardrive. In preferences and in advanced I altered where the music was located. But unfortunately when they removed the external and went to use it a few days later, iTunes did not recognise where the music was stored.
There is no music in the iTunes folder on the laptop only on the external.
I deleted all the music that could not be located...all had exclamation mark.
Added folder to library, which was from the external hardrive.
Music re added and they were able to put music on their ipod. However the same has happened again when they removed and reinserted their external. Should I just cut my losses and reput all the music back on the Laptop (makes it very slow, quite alot of it) or am I missing checking or deselecting something in itunes, with it being on an external hard drive.
Hope to hear back from someone to help.

If you've split the media folder out to an external drive and then start iTunes while the drive is disconnected iTunes gets out of sorts. It will reset the media folder to the default internal path. Depending on what other devices have been connected the external drive letter may also change from time to time which also confuses iTunes. What works best is to create your iTunes library at the root of the external drive, with the media folder inside. In this confuration if the drive isn't connected or has changed letter, iTunes will stop with an error. You can either cancel, connec the drive, and restart, or in the case of a changed drive letter, simply browse to X:\iTunes\iTunes Library.itl to open it, where X:: is the current letter for the external drive.
See make a split library portable for details of how to rearrange your library if you've got it working. Alternatively press and hold down shift as you start iTunes, keep holding until asked to choose or create a library, then click create and make the library at X:\iTunes. Move all the media inside X:\iTunes\iTunes Media, then use File Add Folder to Library to import it.
tt2

I have my iTunes music folder stored on an external hard drive. I recently purchased a new Mac. After attaching the external hard drive, all the songs imported without any problem except my Playlists. Any clue about where they are or how to revive them

I have my iTunes music folder stored on an external hard drive. I recently purchases a new Mac. After attaching the external hard drive, all songs imported without a problem except my playlists. Any clue about where they are or how to revive them for use on my new Mac?
Thanks!

Rysz wrote:
To retain your playlists, artwork, play counts, etc, you need to move the entire iTunes folder, not just the music files..
Correct.
After that just select the new folder location in iTunes> Advanced settings.
Incorrect.
Hold Option and launch iTunes.
Select Choose library and select the iTunes folder.
This will read the iTunes library.itl file in this folder and the library as it was previously will be opened.

TS1717 I cannot get iTunes to automatically launch at startup in Windows 7. I need it to do this so my Apple TV 'finds' my Music Library, which is stored on an external hard-drive, connected to my Windows 7 PC.

I cannot get iTunes to automatically launch at startup in Windows 7. I need it to do this so my Apple TV 'finds' my Music Library, which is stored on an external hard-drive, connected to my Windows 7 PC. Anyone know how I do this? I cannot seem to find anything on Google, which is surprising.
iTunes helper launches OK, but not iTunes itself. Am I being dim?
Thanks

The iTunes application should be installed on the system drive. You may need to repair iTunes to fix that error regarding a missing .exe.
To organize your library properly see Make a split library portable.
If you don't have a working version of the library that can be transformed into a portable shape I have tools and techniques that can repair the broken links.
tt2

HT4914 My music is stored on an external hard drive. All music that I buy, whether from itunes or some other provider, automatically gets loaded onto my external drive. There is some music on my computer drive as well. Will match work in this circumstance

My music is stored on an external hard drive. All music that I buy, whether from itunes or some other provider, automatically gets loaded onto my external drive. There is some music on my computer drive as well. Will match work in this circumstance?

I followed all the instructions for consolidating my music into one folder on my external hard drive. (I'm struggling with this because my ext HD was renamed when I synched my iPod shuffle last night. The "E:" drive has now become the "F:" drive and all my songs have those dreaded exclamation points next to them. Exploring my computer, I found "My music" folders in two place on my C: drive and one place on my external hard drive... and the song list in each place is different.
Argh.
So... following the directions in the article reference here, I attempted to consolidate all of my songs into one folder on my external hard drive.
But.. I checked the song list when the "consolidation" was complete... and MANY songs are missing. They're still on the C: drive, but don't appear to have been copied to the new folder on the ext HD.
I would appreciate any suggestions.
Thanks so much!
Edit: I tried to reassign the ext. HD a permanent letter, but my Control panel does not appear to offer the option of Administrative tools. Is there an easy way to get to this, as this seems to be the root of the problem?
Thanks.
Message was edited by: hbdivegirl

ITunes cannot locate purchased music. It was stored on an external hard drive that has crashed. How can I recover the songs?

iTunes cannot locate purchased music. It was stored on an external hard drive that has crashed. How can I recover the songs?

Hello, nwestpha.
Thank you for visiting Apple Support Communities.
You may find this article helpful in locating your missing media.
iTunes: Finding lost media and downloads
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1408
Cheers,
Jason H.

Splitting music between external hard-drive and laptop?

I've just bought an external hard-drive for my ageing Powerbook, and am wanting to split my iTunes collection so I have all of my music on the external drive, and a selection (30Gb or so) on my laptop, for when I'm on the move or disconnected.
There are several posts on this topic, but they all seem confusing and contradictory. Most people seemed to suggest using the Multiple Libraries function in iTunes, so this is what I did. I set up a small library file for the music on my laptop, and a larger one for the music stored on the external drive, which I can switch between by using the Option/Alt key when loading iTunes.
The problem is, iTunes doesn't seem to allow you to have different Music Folders for each of these libraries. So if I change the destination for my Large Library so that music is sent to/stored on my external hard-drive, it also changes it for my Small Library - and vice versa. So iTunes is constantly loading up with the wrong default settings, and if I try to correct it, it starts laboriously re-labelling my entire library. It's now telling me half the music I know is on my laptop can only be found on my external.
I realise I could just unselect the "Keep iTunes folder organised" and "Copy to iTunes Music folder" options, but this would mean having a mass of music labelled on my laptop that's not actually there when I don't have my hard-drive plugged in, with the Missing Excalamation Point Of Death taking over my screen. I do not want this.
Is there no simple way to have music separated into two places, and my computer show me what's actually there? It ain't rocket science, is it?
All assistance gratefully recieved.

There is a KB doc from Apple: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304447. The KB doc shows how to add a second (or third, etc) to your iTunes app. This is what I've done so I now have a library that uses my external drive for normal usage at home and syncing my iPod and iPhone. The second library is used for just music when I'm on the road. Hope this helps.

ITunes library stored on an external hard drive which is connected to my airport extreme, I wish to share my iTunes library over my network, I can do this with my laptop, but not with my iPad, can anyone tell me if it is possible

I have my iTunes library stored on an external hard drive which is connected to my airport extreme, I wish to share my iTunes library over my network, I can do this with my laptop, but not with my iPad, can anyone tell me if it is possible

You can't connect directly to the external drive, but should be able to use iTunes Home Sharing via the laptop.
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH1453

I have my itunes media stored on my external hard drive. On this external drive I have a folder called "TV shows". How do I incorporate this folder back into the itunes library?

I have my itunes media stored on my external hard drive. On this external drive I have a folder called "TV shows". I previously cut and pasted itunes TV shows to this folder to free up some space. How do I incorporate this folder (TV shows) back into the itunes library?

assuming the copy files ... when adding option is checkmarked in preferences > advanced, drag the folder into an open iTunes window while holding option (⌥).

I have just bought a hdmi tv and would like to view very high quality images, using apple tv, stored on my external hard drive. I also have blue ray movies stored on my external hd. will i be able to stream these to my tv and view them in 1080p?

I have just bought a hdmi tv and would like to view very high quality images, using apple tv, stored on my external hard drive. I also have blue ray movies stored on my external hd. will i be able to stream these to my tv and view them in 1080p?

sorry, why isn't correct?
i try convert video with quick time to apple tv, import in itunes( that's ok) but is impossible to synchronize my apple tv ( unsupported file).
where I wrong?
please could you explain me the correct procedure?
i have some video ( holiday movie an photo movie in mpeg2 full HD) to convert for apple tv, and from 2 years some video editing with imovie.
normally I prepare my video with Imovie, create a file .mov full hd (like master) and with roxio convert file for apple TV.
apple world is new for me, after 25 years with microsoft!
thank so much
mauro

After iPhoto upgrade i can no longer access the photos stored on my external hard drive, after iPhoto upgrade i can no longer access the photos stored on my external hard drive

I was just about to order a photo book, using photos stored on an external hard drive. I organised the book and pressed 'buy'. IPhotos instructed me that I needed to upgrade and so I went on the ASpp store, bought the upgrade and installed as directed. I then used the iPhoto Library upgrader as directed.
After the iPhoto upgrade I can no longer access the photos stored on my external hard drive. I am able to access the photos stored on my internal hard drive - the remainder (including the photo album) seem to have vanished into thin air.
Any suggestions please?

What format is the external drive?

I opened my iPhoto library today which was stored on an external hard drive and several of my videos now will not play. The weird thing is that each file shows a duration of 1 second and when I open them it just shows one frame. What the

I opened my iPhoto library today which was stored on an external hard drive and several of my videos now will not play at all. The weird thing is that each file shows a duration of 1 second and when I open them it just shows one frame. What the !&%$#@ Where did my original video files go?

Sounds like a good plan, you can never be to safe and having a second External HD is safer than one.
The only thing that I would do different, is setup the 3T as my TimeMachine Backup and then erase and move my Photos, Videos and perhaps even iTunes Media to the 1T. That way you will have room to backup both the Internal Hard Drive and the 1T External Hard Drive to the 3T using TimeMachine.
Take your time, study and use the > Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions if you get stuck or aren't sure how to make the move.
Also see > iPhoto: How to move the Library folder to a new location
iMovie ’08: Storing or moving your video library to an external hard disk
and > iTunes for Mac: Moving your iTunes Media folder

ITunes can not find my music on external hard drive

Had to redo my hard drive; had all music on external hard drive; copied iTunes folder onto external hard drive. Now that my desktop hard drive is clean, and new iTunes downloaded, it can not find my music on the external drive which I have always used. Is there some setting I am missing, do I have to copy music onto CPU?

Hold the SHIFT key while launching iTunes. You will get the option to navigate to the iTunes folder on your external drive. In the iTunes folder point it to the iTunes Library.itl file.

HT203167 I have just downloaded the latest itunes version (11.0.1). All my data cannot now be located, though the library is showing all the correct content.The data is stored on an external hard drive. How do I tell the library where to find it's data?

I have just downloaded the latest itunes version (11.0.1). All my data cannot now be located, though the library is showing all the correct content.The data is stored on an external hard drive. How do I tell the library where to find it's data?

The iTunes application should be installed on the system drive. You may need to repair iTunes to fix that error regarding a missing .exe.
To organize your library properly see Make a split library portable.
If you don't have a working version of the library that can be transformed into a portable shape I have tools and techniques that can repair the broken links.
tt2

All of my imovie events are stored on an external hard drive. How do I backup this external hard drive? If the external hard drive crashes, how do retrieve the imovie events?

I have all of my imovie events stored on an external hard drive in order to save space on my MacBook Pro's internal drive. I currently back up both my MacBook Pro and the external hard drive using a second external hard drive via Time Machine. I have a few questions:
1. How can I be sure that the external drive is actually being backed up.
2. How do I retrieve the imovie events if the 1st external hard drive crashes?
Thank for your help!

Let me give you some thoughts. I can tell you my plan, but ultimately you will need your own plan that makes sense for you.
I do not think that your idea of having two separate Time Machine destinations will work. You can have two external drives as Time Machine volumes, but they will both back up the same data set. You cannot dedicate one to iMovie and one to everything else. They will both have everything, so you may still have a space problem.
One way to overcome this is to back up the iMovie volume by using a tool like SuperDuper! or Carbon Copy Cloner. The good news is that your Event files should be pretty stable and there is no need to back them up every 15 minutes. So something like SuperDuper, which you can set to automatically backup once a day, for example, is probably fine. I am pretty sure that this would work if you kept the Projects on the same external drive. As long as Projects and Events are on the same drive, then the cloning stragy should work (but you should always test.)
Because projects change more often than events, and projects can become corrupted, I would definitely back up the Project Library to Time Machine. You can do this even though it is on an external drive. (And even though you may be periodically backing up the entire drive that contains the projects.)
Here are some thoughts on how I approach backup, copied from an earlier answer...
============================================================
Great question. I think the issue of backup is a important one, and one I always worry about since I have a lot of video footage that is irreplaceable.
For back-up, it is helpful to define the risk you are trying to protect from.
For example,
1) risk of corruption in iMovie --> I use Time Machine
2) risk of hard drive failure --> I use SuperDuper! nightly for bootable backup) and Time Machine all the time
3) Risk of theft or fire --> offsite backup
Here is what I do...
1) I back up my boot disk with SuperDuper automatically each night so I always have a bootable system.
2) I back up my original video files. For my Motion JPEG, VHS-->AIC, DV, and 8MM to DV, the EVENT is the copy I back up. (I keep the tapes, but I never want to have to import the tapes again.)
For my AVCHD high def video, I back up the camera archive of the AVCHD, but I am not currently backing up the Event files, because I would need from 4 to 8 TB to back up these events depending on whether I made one copy or two. I can always re-create the Event from the camera archive.
3) I use CrashPlan for my offsite backup. It costs less than $4 per month, and I seeded the initial backup to an external drive to minimize having to transfer video files over the Internet. I currently have over 2TB of data backed up to CrashPlan, which includes my entire boot drive, and the files described in #2.
4) All of the above is automated, so I don't have to think about it too much. If I have to manually do stuff, I tend to get behind.
You have to consider the value of total multiple redundancy vs. the likelihood that 2 or three unlikely events would all happen at once. For example, CrashPlan could lose my data. My hard disk could fail. I could lose everything in a fire. But it is unlikely that they would all happen at once, except in nuclear war, in which case, who cares?

Storing music on external hard drive

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