Storing on external drive

Can the music for itunes be stored on an external drive and ran off that?

I have 2 externals... one for music and one for videos. Both are working fine!!!
Make sure that you point to the folders within itunes by adding the folders.

Similar Messages

Itunes won't play music stored on external drive after upgrade to 10.5.3

I updated to 10.5.3 with music files stored on external drive. iTunes shows all music, but will not play. I did have the library file stored locally-I'm not sure if this is why the files all show in Itunes. Music files are about 40gb so I don't have space on my MBpro to store files locally without lag.
When I click a song to play nothing happens. I've read a bunch of other discussions but the only option I've seen is to delete the library and start over. I have a bunch of playlists so I don't want to lose that data and I would rather not have to go to each playlisty and export and import again. Suggestions?
I use match and also store everything in the cloud-but that isn't showing up either

Okay, found the reason in another tread...

I cannot download the update for itunes - music stored on external drive - download error state invalid "H" drive ? anyone have any ideas ? Cheers

I cannot download the update for itunes - music stored on external drive as computer got full up - download error state invalid "H" drive ? anyone have any ideas ? Cheers

See "Invalid drive X:\" install errors.
tt2

Viewing video stored on external drive

I have an external drive with all my video stored on it. How do I set up iMovie to view those videos without storing them on my Mac's internal drive?

First, you need to make sure that the drive is formatted as Mac OS Extended (journaled). FAT 32 will not work.
If they are in a format that iMovie can edit, such as DV, HDV, h.264, Apple Intermediate Codec, Apple Animation, MP4, Motion JPEG, etc., then you can create a folder at the top level of the drive named "iMovie Events". Then drag your folders of video into this folder.
The next time you open iMovie, it will generate thumbnails and cache folders, and you can edit them in iMovie.

How to Time Machine backup iPhoto library stored on external drive

Hi Mac users.
Can you kindly teach me how to backup iphoto library stored on an external drive to my external time machine drive. My internal drive is full so I moved my iPhoto library to a separate drive and deleted the library to create space. Thank you.

Actually there's nothing to do. TM backs up all connected volumes automatically. One has to exclude a volume or folder(s) to keep them from being backed up in the TM preferences.
If you find that the EHD is not being backed up exclude it and the "unexclude" it and force a new backup.
OT

Automatically syncing with music stored on external drive?

I most of my music on an external drive. The drive isn't always connected to the PC. Prior to iTunes 9.1 I could have iTunes automatically sync the music to my iPhone. If the external drive was disconnected iTunes would simply ignore the missing files and leave them on the phone.
With iTunes 9.1 (and 9.2) I now check the "Convert higher bit rate songs to 128 Kbps AAC" option. When I first used this I found that if I synced my phone with the external drive disconnected, it would remove all the music files from the phone that were stored on the external drive and had been converted to 128 Kbps. That was extremely annoying to say the least so I set iTunes to sync manually to prevent that from happening. I read there was a bug in the original iTunes 9.1 that caused iTunes to always try and sync 128 Kbps converted files every time which could explain why they were being deleted, but I never tried again after upgrading.
Yesterday I clicked to sync books to my iPhone, not realizing that it would wipe out all music, movies and TV from my iPhone. Again very annoying. I went to manually sync them back and noticed my Genius mixes won't sync and I read that they only sync if auto-sync is enabled.
My question is, is there an easy way to keep my music files on an external drive, automatically, sync and have them covert to 128 Kbps without having to worry about all my music being wiped off the phone if the drive is disconnected at the time iPhone syncs?

I don't believe you can do that. The convert to 128 bit only converts the songs being written to the iPod. Every time you play a song it changes (the play count goes up) so iTunes is going to go try to find those and update them every time it syncs.
I am able to disconnect my external that holds my movies and the movies remain but those are not being converted. I think that is where the problem is.
Good luck!

Music stored on external drive but doesnt appear on new computer

I store my music on an external drive and in a folder E:\ Hugo's Tunes because my laptop drive is too small. Recently laptop died and I have installed itunes on another laptop also with a small drive. I cannot see my content on the new itunes. I have set location in preferences to E:\Hugo's Tunes without any benefit. Clearly I'm doing something silly but don't know what. Help please

Hi Hugo. If the content was stored on the external drive but the library files were stored on the internal then you have lost all your original library information such as date added, ratings and play counts. Having pointed iTunes to the external drive already you still need to import the content into your new empty library. If, on the other hand, you had successfully put your library files on the external then you need to hold down shift when starting iTunes and browse to the library on the external drive.
Assuming my first guess was correct I'd actually recommend that you use the hold-down-shift-when-starting-iTunes method to create a new empty library at <External>iTunes, then move the existing media files into *<External>\iTunes\iTunes Media* and finally import *<External>\iTunes\iTunes Media* into the library. This will make moving the library between machines much easier in future.
tt2

Itunes can't locate songs stored in external drive

i had created playlists and added songs to the playlists in itunes 7.02. these songs are stored on an external drive. i did not sync my ipod immediately but tried it a few days later. despite the external drive being connected to my laptop, when i tried to sync the ipod with itunes, for 90% of the songs there was an exclamation mark next to the song & i had to manually double click on a song name in itunes, and locate it in the external drive, in order for itunes to be able to sync it.
i can't do that for 3000+ songs. why can't itunes recognise and locate these songs when they have been stored in the itunes library from the external drive? isn't there a way to tell itunes to locate songs in the external drive? especially when they had been added from there in the first place?

Hi there,
I'm having the same problem, I'll list it in case I'm somehow different from the other case but unfortunately directing iTunes to that folder doesn't seem to do the trick...?
Have bought a Seagate 320GB external drive, copied my iTunes library (that was located in my /Users/Shared folder) to a new location on my external drive and redirected iTunes to the new location. It said it was updating the folder which took a while and I assumed was a good sign due to my 8948 songs but alas the dreaded exclamation mark has appeared next to every track. If I redirect one to the new location it works fine but f*ed if I'm gonna do that for the other 8947. If I quit iTunes and reopen it, it's still directed to the same correct place and the previously located still works but the rest don't. Is there a) some reason this may not be working correctly; or b) a quick way to redirect every song to their location? Thanks so much for your help.

I cannot copy or transfer mp3 files stored on external drive back into itunes so i can listen to book again

Hi,
I mostly use itunes for listening to audiobooks which I have been collecting for years. Have hundreds of them. A few years ago when computer too full and my itunes library too big I carefully copied the books onto an external hard drive as mp3 files and then removed them from itunes. (At that stage I really wanted a non itunes library backup as I had already lost library a couple of times....now I understand the itunes back up a bit more and can use it.)
However I have lots of my favourite books on an external drive and I want to listen to them again. I cannot go to the folder holding a book, select all the the mp3 files that make up the book and drag them into my itunes music file as I can with a mp3 disc. There are 73 files on the first book i want to move!
Itunes has been selected as the default player and will play the files but I cannot transfer them.
Under details on a file it reads NOT PROTECTED
I am the administrator of my computer, indeed am its only user.
Cannot think of anything else that might be useful.
hope you can help
Elizabeth

luckily that is also backed up on the external drive too so I'll try looking there, but do you have any thoughts on why I can't get the backed up files to stay on the PC correctly ? because until they are back on my PC I can't use it or get the rankings back right?

Can't see "albums" when reviewing photos stored on external drive

Goal: I'd like to be able to rapidly hook up my external hard-drive, find 6 photos previously sorted into an album (as when they were originally sorted by me in my computer's iPhoto) and copy those back onto my computer for my use.
Problem: When I go to review my backed up iPhoto library on the external hard-drive the photos are only organized in folders by year or by roll name. I can't seem to see the previous very extensive album list in which I'd originally sorted my photos. To look them up by date again would be very time consuming especially considering I've already taken time to created hundreds of albums and manually alpha sorted these albums!
My photo collection is too extensive to import the entire library back onto my computers hard-drive.
A professional Mac troubleshooter had shown me once how to do this but I've forgotten. It was something like putting my computer's current iPhoto library in the trash, and then open iPhoto. When iPhoto asked "what library to use" click on the one on the external drive. This revealed the previous album list in the Source column of the iPhoto window.
However I'm a little afraid to try this, as then I'm only one click away from trashing current photos that I may not have backed up?
Thanks for your help.

Welcome to the Apple Discussions. It looks like your other post was deleted. That often happens with duplicate posts, but they usually try to remove the one that was not answered.
To switch libraries, Quit iPhoto. Hold down the Option key as you launch iPhoto. At the dialog, select "Choose Library" then navigate to the iPhoto Library folder that you wish to open. You can do this to open the library on your external hard drive, select the albums you want, and Export those photos to your Desktop. Then Quit iPhoto, Option-Launch again, open your regular library, import the photos from your Desktop, then delete the Desktop copies.
If that sounds inconvenient, you can use iPhoto Library Manager to transfer the albums from one library to the other.
Regards.

Music stored on external drive

I have moved my itunes library from my c drive to an external drive (f:). How can I direct my itunes icon to open my library on the external drive? (My c drive was full, thus the move.)

Hello Stained Glass,
And welcome to Apple Discussions!
Head to the Edit drop down menu and choose "Preferences." Then head over to the Advanced tab. You will an option that says *iTunes Media folder Location*. Go ahead and click the change button. From there, navigate to your folder on your F drive and make the appropriate selection.
B-rock

Music stored on external drive to new Itunes

Hello folks
Been flicking through some some posts in this section, but can't find any quite the same as the query I have:
I recently had my internal hard drive die on me, so my itunes library information has gone for good, but I do still have all my itunes, ipod, and iphone media on an external drive. What is the easiest way to link the now newly installed itunes to these external files?

andyrh68 wrote:
my itunes library information has gone for good
... unless you have a backup copy of your *iTunes library file*. do you use time machine or any other means of backing up ?
What is the easiest way to link the now newly installed itunes to these external files?
if the answer to above question is no, you will have to start from scratch, i.e. no playcounts, ratings, playlists, etc. from your old library will be there.
assuming you have *copy files to ... when adding to library* checked in preferences > advanced, option-drag the folder containing your media files into an open iTunes window. iTunes will index the path to the location of the original files, but won't copy them physically.
btw, pointing *iTunes media folder location* to another spot will only tell iTunes where to put newly added content, not where the current content is.
JGG

How to get new iTunes install to recognize library stored on External drive

iTunes was installed on Computer Alpha. Library was kept in external hard drive (External). The library on External was not a backup; it was the primary, one and only library used by iTunes on Alpha. All music purchased from iTunes Store downloaded directly into the library on External. Hard drive on Alpha was too small to contain the library.
Alpha died. Kaput. No chance of opening iTunes on Alpha any more.
New computer acquired, Computer Bravo. Windows 7. iTunes 9.2.1.5 for Windows downloaded/installed on Bravo. Bravo is authorized.
External connected to Bravo via USB. Windows explorer, viewed on Bravo, indicates the Library on External is still in place.
iTunes opened on Bravo. iTunes finds three music files on Bravo hard drive and adds them to the "music" view of iTunes.
I go to Edit/Preferences/Advanced and change the iTunes library location to Extenal/iTunes_library. Save.
Nothing happens. I can't get iTunes to load the "music" list in iTunes with the songs contained in Extenal/iTunes_library file.
iTunes closed. I hold shift key and open iTunes, thereby prompting the "choose library" dialog. In the dialog, I select "choose library" and once again select the External/iTunes_library directory, but when that directory is chosen, all the individual files within the library are displayed, and the dialog is waiting for me to choose one of the hundreds of individual files within the Extenal/iTunes_library file. None of those files is the library; only the entire collection of them together is the library, yet the dialog will not permit me to select External/iTunes_library file in its entirety as the library. I abandon the dialog.
iTunes uninstalled from Bravo. Wondering what to do next.

Chris CA wrote:
You mean the *iTunes media folder* was kept on the external.
Yes, I believe you are correct, and that I used the wrong terminology. By "library," I was referring only to the directory on External where the actual .mp4 music files are stored.
The iTunes library consists of the iTunes folder (default in \Music\iTunes\
and all contents as well as everything in iTunes.
So, in my case above, it seems you are saying that "library" ought to refer to the following:
1. The c\my music\iTunes directory and all its component files on the Alpha hard drive, AND
2. the iTunesmusicfiles directory on External
Is that correct?
If yes, then I am left scratching my head about something:
Before Alpha died, I went to Edit/Preferences/Advanced and, in the window where iTunes asks me to specify the location of my iTunes LIBRARY, I specified External\iTunesmusicfiles.
And it worked. Thus, I am left with the impression that "library" is a term referring only to the directory where the actual .mp4 files are stored. (Thus, iTunes itself provided a very good reason for me to think of the "library" in this limited, incorrect, way).
If I understand you correctly, the reason why that maneuver worked is because of the presence of the library.itl file that was located in Alpha\c\my music\iTunes, and because the .itl file was populated with some kind of data specific to the contents of External\iTunesmusicfiles, and because the contents of the .itl file pre-dated the transfer of the iTunesmusicfiles directory to External. And that every time a subsequent change occurred in External\iTunesmusicfiles such as the addition of a new music file via iTunes purchase/download, a concomitant change occurred in the .itl file on Alpha, thereby keeping the iTunes player on Alpha synced up with the warehouse of music over there on External.
Do I have it right so far?
Now, with Bravo, I am trying to establish the same setup I had on Alpha. And because Alpha is dead, I need to attempt this using a fresh installation of iTunes on Bravo. And a fresh installation of iTunes on Bravo means a virgin .itl file on Bravo.
Again, if I understand you correctly, you're saying that if iTunes on Bravo is going to work just like iTunes on Alpha did, then the .itl file on Bravo must contain the same data that the .itl file on Alpha did.
To accomplish this, I have two options:
1. Obtain a copy of the .itl file from Alpha and transfer it to the same directory location on Bravo
2. Build the .itl file on Bravo manually.
Again, am I getting this right?
If so, I don't think No. 1 above is an option. I'm left with No. 2.
If I have to click individually on all the files in External\iTunesMusicFiles, I guess I can deal with that. Not a huge problem. But what I want to prevent is transferring the .mp4 files to the Bravo hard drive. I want only one copy of each .mp4, and I want each of those .mp4s to reside on External, not on Bravo.
Doable?
Thanks to all who have taken time to respond to my issue. I do appreciate it.
Message was edited by: 2muchcoffeeman

New computer, files always stored on external drive, will not transfer

Forgive me for this question if it's been answered before, but I've searched through the forums and have not found an answer so I hope you can help this clueless newbie.
My old computer crashed. All my music files have always been stored on an external hard drive so I thought, no problem, right? I installed iTunes on my new computer but I cannot figure out how to transfer and synch my iPod. I thought I had successfully transferred all my purchases, but now I get an error message that my iPod is synched with another iTunes library and all I get are error messages when I tried 'erase and synch.' Only half the music I had previously now shows up on iTunes, and only old playlists that I don't have on my iPod anymore. At this point, I'm willing to start all over as long as I don't lose my purchased items. I can reload everything else. Is there hope for me?

+my iPod is synched with another iTunes library+
What that message means is, your iPod is synced to the old ITL database file from the crashed PC.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1660
+Only half the music I had previously now shows up on iTunes+
That means either
a) all the music was NOT on your exHD when you rebuilt the ITL database on thenew PC
b) or all the music WAS on your exHD, but it hasn't been added to itunes yet
You can start with a new blank itunes library using these directions
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=iTunesWin/8.0/en/15502.html
Make sure the preference to copy files to the itunes folder is turned off, so you don't create tons of duplicates.
Drag the top-level music folder from the exHD over into the itunes Window.
Are all your songs, there now? If so, it would be safe to erase and sync your iPod to this new library database

Sharing Library Stored on External Drive

I have an iTunes library stored on a firewire 800 drive attached to a new Mac Mini. The Mac Mini sees and plays all songs.
I can select the Mini as a shared library on another Mac and all of the metadata appears, but none of the songs play when clicked. After I've clicked on one song that doesn't play and then select another, I get an exclamation point next to the first track, but no exclamation points next to any tracks until I've tried to play them.
I've deleted all songs from my library and added them back, I've consolidated several times and I've tried holding option down while starting iTunes to select the library file located on the external disk. None of this has helped at all.
Both machines are running 10.5.6 and iTunes 8.1.
Any thoughts?
Thanks.
Brad

I'm having a similar problem.
I've set up two different user accounts on my iMac to separate my iTunes libraries, one ripped in AAC that I use for my iPod (stored on a partition on my internal HD) and one ripped in ALAC (stored on an external HD) that I use to wirelessly stream music to my main music system. Both are set up to share the library.
When I access them from my MacBook, both show some exclamation marks, but the are almost exclusively not the same songs. Go figure.
I have a SqueezeBox linked to my Lossless library, and it plays everything fine.
I've also installed Simplify Media (http://www.simplifymedia.com/) which restores the sharing iTunes over the internet feature that Apple dropped from iTunes a few versions ago. This too plays all the songs in my Lossless library just fine.
This seems to be iTunes sharing specific, and I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one to have this problem.

Storing on external drive

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