Storing my library on an external hard drive

I have a computer with a tiny hard drive that's running out of space for my iTunes library. Is it possible to use an external hard drive to store my music and video in? and if it is, which HD would you reccomend? I only have a 30 GB iPod so I dont need anything too roomy. Thanks for the help

It is possible to store your iTunes library on an external hard drive, assuming you have at least 2 USB ports on your computer.
In terms of which drive to purchase, that's pretty much up to you. You might want to stop in at a computer or office supply store (Best Buy, Staples) and see what they have. You might also want to look into the warranties offered by the manufacturer of the drive.
CG

Similar Messages

Storing iTunes Library on an external hard drive

I have been considering moving my iTunes Library (and iPhoto Library) to an external hard drive. I think that would make it easier for me if I decided to start downloading TV shows and movies. Right now they are too big for my powerbook's 80gb hd to store many. I think I have that part down, but I do not know what to do when I do want to temporarily put a playlist of songs or a couple videos on my laptop and play them in iTunes (or the same for iPhoto). Does anyone have any advice for me? Also, can anyone recommend a good FW800 external HD for the purpose I've described.

Well that will certainly teach you not to delete your original before you CHECK your new location copy, right?
So, here is the deal. Set the location back to the way it was before you made the move. Close iTunes. Now copy all your stuff back from the external back to the internal the way it was before. Now before you do anything else, open iTunes and CHECK (!!!!!!) that they now play ok back in their original place. Do they?
If they do, now close iTunes and copy the entire "iTunes" folder (not just the iTunes Music folder found inside it) to the external hard drive. Now use these instructions to open the library from this new location...
How to open an alternate iTunes Library file or create a new one
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304447
Actually now that I think about it, you might be able to get away with just moving the database file to the external then using the above instructions. In other words, say you copied the "iTunes Music" over originally. On the external create an "iTunes" folder. Drag and drop the "iTunes Music" into that folder. From your internal drive, in the iTunes folder, drag and drop any other files that are not yet on the external drive like the two database files ("iTunes Library" (database file), iTunes Music Library.xml, Album Artwork folder, etc.). Once all over on the external so you have basically recreated your internal folder on the external, NOW try the instructions above to open the library from that location.
Patrick

Storing music library on an external hard drive troubles

I recently purchased an external hard drive to store my itunes library to for I was filling up my C drive on my PC. I moved all my music to the external hard drive. I have also backed it up to another far larger external drive just in case. I changed the settings under Preferences - Advanced - General to show that the library was now in Drive K:iTunes.
Before I deleted the music of off my C hard drive I purchased a single song to see if it would act correctly. It did. I synced my ipod (Classic 160 Gig)and it added that song to the K drive and to my ipod. I then deleted it from my C drive.
The next time I turned on my computer and opened iTunes it pulled up an empty library. My music is still on the K drive under iTunes and it is backed up on the larger external drive.
I checked the preferences, etc. again and it still says K:iTunes but it doesn't "go there" to pull up the library. It just pops up like I've never purchased or put any music in it. Help!

If you drag the files around through Windows Explorer, iTunes loses track of them. So, to remedy the situation...
Click Edit > Preferences > Advanced tab > General sub-tab
UN check "Copy files to iTunes Music Folder when adding to library" if selected and click OK
Then click File > Add Folder to Library and add your K:\iTunes\ directory.
Going forward, make sure you always have your external drive connected to your PC and showing in My Computer prior to launching iTunes.
Also, when you purchase music from iTunes or import CD's in the future, they should go directly to your K: drive if you have that set as your default folder location in your Advanced preferences.
If you notice that you have files scattered around on your hard drives, you can go to your Advanced preferences and verify that your K: drive is still your default folder location, and the select the option to Copy Files to iTunes Music folder when adding to Library. Then, from the Advanced menu of iTunes, click Consolidate Library. This basically looks at the files in your iTunes library, and if it finds any that are not stored in that default location, it copies them there.
CG

Help storing itunes library on an external hard drive

Hi,
I have put all my music on an external hard drive (Lacie) and deleted it from my Mac Book Pro. I have gone into preferences - Advanced in the itunes menu and changed the location of my itunes music folder to my external hard drive. Then when I go to click on a song in itunes it comes up with a message saying "the song ... Could not be used because the original file could not be found. Would you like to locate it?".
The file is definitely on my eternal drive because I have checked many times, and its in the folder that I have specified when I go into the itunes - preferences - advanced pane.
Do you know why this would be happening? I have deleted all the music from my computer and it is only on my hard drive now.
Any help would be greatly appreciated, I have spent hours trying to figure this out!

Well that will certainly teach you not to delete your original before you CHECK your new location copy, right?
So, here is the deal. Set the location back to the way it was before you made the move. Close iTunes. Now copy all your stuff back from the external back to the internal the way it was before. Now before you do anything else, open iTunes and CHECK (!!!!!!) that they now play ok back in their original place. Do they?
If they do, now close iTunes and copy the entire "iTunes" folder (not just the iTunes Music folder found inside it) to the external hard drive. Now use these instructions to open the library from this new location...
How to open an alternate iTunes Library file or create a new one
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304447
Actually now that I think about it, you might be able to get away with just moving the database file to the external then using the above instructions. In other words, say you copied the "iTunes Music" over originally. On the external create an "iTunes" folder. Drag and drop the "iTunes Music" into that folder. From your internal drive, in the iTunes folder, drag and drop any other files that are not yet on the external drive like the two database files ("iTunes Library" (database file), iTunes Music Library.xml, Album Artwork folder, etc.). Once all over on the external so you have basically recreated your internal folder on the external, NOW try the instructions above to open the library from that location.
Patrick

How do I move my iTunes library from my external hard drive back to my computer?

Just wondering how do I move my entire iTunes library from my external hard drive back to my computer? It was moved to an external hard drive a few years ago, and now I'm wondering how to move it back to my iMac to increase performance.
Where does it belong in the computer?
Any suggestions?

The library itself is the /Home/Music/iTunes/ folder in its entirety. Did you also change where preference files were stored? Normally, they would be in the /Home/Library/Preferences/ folder.

Using my iTunes library from an external hard drive to a brand new Macbook.

This seems to be such a simple thing to be able to do but I'm fearing it's not. Basically I've had an iMac for 3 years and during that time have built up around 165gb in my iTunes folder. So I learnt off the net how to move my library onto an external hard drive so that I can free up the space on my iMac and play my iTunes library from the external drive. So far so good. My iPhone 4 is obviously connected to my iMac and thats how I get my media on and off the phone. Here's where my problems begin.
I've just bought a Macbook Pro. Its obviously empty and has no media on it. I have paired my iPhone 4 with the new Macbook but obviously the iTunes library on my new Macbook is empty. I downloaded a couple of podcasts onto my new machine and tried to put them onto my phone but got a message saying that the podcasts I currently have on my phone (that are on there from my iMac iTunes library) were going to be deleted and the new ones would be put on. Still with me? So, if I could get my original 165gb library thats now on my external hard drive to be seen on my new Macbook that would possibly solve my problems. But I cant see a simple way of doing this. I've pointed the iTunes Media Location folder in the preferences on my new Macbook to the same folder on my external hard drive as is on my iMac but iTunes on my Macbook is not showing up my library. Do I really have to open every album into iTunes on my Macbook seperately? It seems such a stupid, laborious way of doing it. As if you cant have two Apple computers and run one iTunes library off an external hard drive so that its the same on both machines.
Help!
Message was edited by: Eels290776

Eels290776 wrote:
if my external hard drive is not connected to either of my machines, and I download something onto my iMac and then something different onto my Macbook, where are my machines going to be storing the new downloaded media
when the drive is not connected, +iTunes media folder location+ will default back to <MacintoshHD>/users/<yourname>/music/iTunes/iTunes music (or media)
and when I next connect the external hard drive how will I easily get the newly downloaded media onto the external HD
you'd have to point +iTunes media folder location+ back to the external via preferences > advanced > iTunes media folder location, then file > library, organize library > consolidate files
and essentially, to have it easily readable on both machines?
in that case it might be best to copy the entire iTunes folder to the external. then, on each machine, launch iTunes while pressing option on your keyboard. when prompted, click on +choose library+ and navigate to the iTunes folder on the external.
note only one iTunes can access the iTunes library @ a time !
also, make sure the external is mounted on either machine before launching iTunes.
JGG

I've copied my itunes library onto an external hard drive. Is there any way I can do this and delete songs from my PC without also deleting from the external drive? Already lost two songs!!!

I've copied my itunes library onto an external hard drive. Is there any way I can do this and delete songs from my PC without also deleting from the external drive? Already lost two songs!!! I just want a back up - using a work PC and don't want others accessing my songs. Hope someone can help. Thanks!

I see. To get a better idea of what is being stored where please download and run the script iTunesInfo which should output something like this:
I'm interested in the block of 4 results starting ITL location. If your profile name shows up somewhere replace it with <Name>. It is also worth checking under Edit > Preferences > Advanced to see where iTunes thinks your media is supposed to go. My script estimates the setting based on the location of the first media file it can actually find.
tt2

Backing up iTunes Library to New External Hard Drive

I need to move the location of my itunes library as my external hard drive has become full.
I have been backing up my "computer" (i.e. internal hard drive) and the itunes library stored on the external hard drive with TM.
Once I move the library, I will be backing up the new music library. As I understand it, TM will treat this as a completely new backup. Once this is done, I would no longer need or want the older backup on TM -- what's the best way of deleting the older backup since it takes up an enormous amount of space -- i.e. it's 250 gigs -- and then the additional 250 gigs for the NEW music library backup.
Thanks

Helen Berman wrote:
I need to move the location of my itunes library as my external hard drive has become full.
I have been backing up my "computer" (i.e. internal hard drive) and the itunes library stored on the external hard drive with TM.
Once I move the library, I will be backing up the new music library. As I understand it, TM will treat this as a completely new backup. Once this is done, I would no longer need or want the older backup on TM -- what's the best way of deleting the older backup since it takes up an enormous amount of space -- i.e. it's 250 gigs -- and then the additional 250 gigs for the NEW music library backup.
Hello again, Helen!
First, see this: moving your iTunes Music folder
Are you moving the iTunes library from one external to a new, larger one? If so, give the new drive a different name than the old one, even if only slightly different (this is for you, not TM!)
Once the data is moved, eject and disconnect the old drive, and leave it alone for now.
Go into Time Machine and delete all backups of the old drive. You'll need the procedure in #E3 of the Time Machine - Troubleshooting *User Tip,* also at the top of this forum, to see them. Select the folder representing the old drive, click the "gear" icon in the Finder window's toolbar, select the +*Delete all backups of <folder name> option.+* You'll get a confirmation prompt, then one for your Admin password. Make a large pot of coffee, as that will take a while! If you exit from the TM display, you'll probably see a progress bar for the deletion.
Be sure the new drive isn't listed in the +Do not back up+ box in TM Preferences > Options. If it is, remove it. Then run a backup, and TM should back-up the new external in full, along with any changes to your internal. Make another pot of coffee!
Once that's done, be certain everything was backed-up properly: check sizes, and messages, and browse the backups.
If I were you, I'd keep that old one around, "just in case," until I really, really needed it for something else.

Keeping my iTunes Library on an external hard drive

I just don't have enough space anymore for my iTunes songs and videos and podcasts, etc. I would like to get a TB or a 1.5 TB external hard drive with a USB connection and move my library to the external hard drive. I have two questions. Will this work as well as the library being on my system hard drive (in terms of not having any slowdown, esp with videos) and is there anything special in the specs of an external hard drive I should look for for optimal performance?

The simple answer to this is no, your iTunes will be significantly slower if your media files are stored on an external HDD connected by USB. If your computer has an eSATA socket then get an external HDD that has an eSATA connection option as this is much faster than USB 2. If you are stuck with USB make sure you get a desktop external HDD with its own power supply. The small portable drives which are powered via the USB cable from the computer/laptop are much slower and really are not suitable to be the location of your library.

Itunes library both on external hard drive and mac.

Hello.
I wish you could help me. I transfered my itunes library to an external hard drive. However, there are times that I would forget to put it back on. Now, there are some files that itunes can't locate.
How do I back up the new files i have on my itunes to the external hard drive.
Thank you very much.
Patty

update to the question above -- I went into Time Machine and restored my iTunes library, so it is showing what music I have again in there. FYI in advanced settings, I kept the setting that the music is stored in the Seagate HD.
BUT when I click on any music, it still cannot locate the file (all the music media files are still stored on the Seagate ext. HD)
So -- how can I get the iTunes library to re-connect with what is in the Seagate HD?
Thank you!

How do I Play videos from external hard drive on Apple TV2? Can I just move the iTunes Library to the External Hard Drive?

I have several HD videos stored on an external hard drive and would like to bring them into iTunes and play them via iTunes on my Apple TV2, but I am not sure how to go about it. I don't want to store the movies on my iMac hard drive because it would eat up to much space...so do I just move the iTunes Library to the external hard drive? And, if so...will the Apple TV2 find the iTunes Library on the external hard drive? Thanks for any help anyone can suggest.

iTunes content on an external drive isn't a problem.
The simplest method is to just move your library to an external drive.
If you wanted to keep just movies on an external drive, that's a little more difficult. You'd need to put the movies where you want them to reside on the external drive and add drag and drop them onto iTunes while holding down the option key. Obviously any movies already in iTunes would need moving from their current location and removing from iTunes first.

I consolidated my library to an external hard drive then the drive crashed. How can I restore it?

I consolidated my library to an external hard drive, a few days later the drive crashed. Everything still exists on the local computer in the old locations. How do I tell iTunes to use the old locations again? I don't need to redownload anything, I hadn't purchased anything between the consolidation and the crash.
Due to space contraints, the way it was stored before was not the iTunes default. Most things were in the default location, but the media folder location was on a separate hard drive.

Sort of. My media was on multiple hard drives, some local, and actually some networked, and then I conolidated it to a single external hard drive. Renaming drives and moving files sounds like a recipe for disaster.
When doing a consolidation, files are copied to a new location and the old ones are left untouched. Does iTunes create a backup database of the file locations before doing a consolidation? I could use the backup if that were the case, since everything still exists in the original locations.
I've recieved my replacement hard drive for the one that crashed and I may be able to copy everything back manually if I knew where it went. I looked inside the iTunes Music Library.xml to see if I could figure out the folder structure, but for some reason they all say they're located in the iTunes folder in My Documents. They're not, of course.
Would the Previous iTunes Library.itl be of any use, or is that for another purpose?

I cannot access my iphoto library on my external Hard drive

Hello,
I backed up my iphoto library to an external hard drive. Now when I try to access it, all I get are dotted outlines where the pictures should be and then when I click on a the dotted outline it gives me an exclamation mark in a triangle. Help! I hope I haven't lost all my photos!

i also had to copy the iphoto library to another 2nd external hard drive (because the first one stopped working)
Whatt does "stopped working" mean? If there is damage to a diks then there is a certain risk to material stored on it.
Has it ever worked on the second disk? If not then there are two places this can go wrong: the library damaged when the original disk went down or the process of copying may have not completed properly.

I moved my library to an external hard drive. Now I can't sync photos on my iPad. Can anyone hep?

After moving my library to an external hard drive, I can't sync photos on my iPad. Has anyone had this problem?

William,
Did you move all your photos to the external drive, or your library to the external drive, or both?
I have started wondering if photo sharing works if the source of the photo is an external drive. I.e., what will iTunes do if you try to sync and your library is not accessible, because you stored it on an external drive and it is not plugged in? Will it remove all of the Aperture photos from your iPad, since the source of the photos (Aperture library) is effectively empty, since it is missing? Maybe iTunes takes that into account and just ignored libraries that are not local.
Can you see Aperture library in other application using a media browser, like Desktop & Screen Saver or iPhoto (browse Apertuer library)?
nathan

HT1229 Moving my IPhoto library to my external hard drive Seagate 1.5TB

My computer is an IMac late 2006. She's been running really slow and erratic. My IPhoto has over 5K photos which may be the culprit.
I have a Seagate External hard drive with 1.5 TB capacity with very little data stored. I would like to move my IPhoto library to my external hard drive, to improve the performance of my computer. I am unable to locate my external hard drive even though it is connected to the IMac. Can some one help?
Shaiboy48

Suer as long as it is formatted Mac OS extended (journaled)
Moving the iPhoto library is safe and simple - quit iPhoto and drag the iPhoto library intact as a single entity to the external drive - depress the option key and launch iPhoto using the "select library" option to point to the new location on the external drive - fully test it and then trash the old library on the internal drive (test one more time prior to emptying the trash)
And be sure that the External drive is formatted Mac OS extended (journaled) (iPhoto does not work with drives with other formats) and that it is always available prior to launching iPhoto
And backup soon and often - having your iPhoto library on an external drive is not a backup and if you are using Time Machine you need to check and be sure that TM is backing up your external drive
I am not sure what this mean
I am unable to locate my external hard drive even though it is connected to the IMac
LN

Storing my library on an external hard drive

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