Switching Entire Library to separate external drive?

I just got a new external hard drive and I want to put all my music on that but I want to make sure I don't lose any of my playlists or tagging on my files. What is the safest way to go about doing this? Thanks in advance for any help.

You might find these articles useful:
iLounge - Managing your iTunes Library on an External Hard Drive
iTunes for Mac - Moving your iTunes Music Folder

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Moving my entire library to an external drive

What is the best way to move my enite itunes library to an external drive? I want to keep all my album covers/artwork and not lose anything. Thanks in advance

You might find these articles useful:
iLounge - Managing your iTunes Library on an External Hard Drive
iTunes for Windows - Moving your iTunes Music Folder

ITunes keeps creating a new iTunes Library instead of going to my actual iTunes Library on my external drive.

My old computer died.
Luckily, my iTunes library is stored on an external drive.
My new machine is Windows 8 and my old machine was Vista, but I don't think that should cause any problem.
When I run iTunes, it comes up like a fresh install on a new machine... every time. By default, it creates an iTunes folder in my local drive and as such, has no music in and is a 100% blank slate.
When I point it to my external drive, and then import the library, it does it. All my music shows up -- after a long time, but it all shows up.
If I shut down iTunes or reboot, everything goes back to zero again.
The most disturbing thing about this is that I can't back up properly, because -- although in Preferences it's pointed at my external drive -- it's backing up my iPhone 5 to the local drive in Windows.
Any idea what's going on here?
I've gone through this process 5 times already and it's always the same.

There are two main components to the iTunes library. The media folder which you can adjust via Edit > Preferences > Advanced, and the database file iTunes Library.itl which is normally found in <User's Music>\iTunes. You can choose or create a new iTunes library by holding down shift as you launch iTunes.
In some cases third party software can interfere with the way iTunes updates its files meaning that either iTunes forgets the previously chosen location, or that the active database is deleted. AVG anti-virus and Sony VIAO Entertainment Platform typically interfere with the database. McAfee has been implicated in the corruption of iTunesPrefs.plist.
See Empty/corrupt iTunes library after upgrade/crash for more details on how you might recover after the library vanishes.
You may get some improvment by hosting your entire library on the external drive not just the media. E.g. Create a library at X:\iTunes where X: is the drive letter, then move the media into X:\iTunes\iTunes Media before adding it to the library. This will make it easier to backup the library to a second drive and move it between computers when the time comes.
tt2

How do I move my itunes library to an external drive to free up space on a Macbook?

Hi, I'd like to free up some room on my Macbook and was thinking of moving all my music library to an external drive. I hardly ever use my computer to play music, more I download an album and then sync it to my iphone to play from that. I use itunes and back up with time machine, but would like the music folder separate entirely, is this possible?
Thanks in advance.

Drag it from the Music item of the Finder's sidebar to an external drive, launch iTunes with the Option key held down, and point it there.
(59635)

I would like to know if you have to back up a macbook hard drive, can I use a external hard drive that has been previously used to back up several pc 's, or is it best to have a separate external drive for the Mac?

I would like to know if you have to back up a macbook hard drive, can I use a external hard drive that has been previously used to back up several pc 's, or is it best to have a separate external drive for the Mac?

In the Mac side of things, backups usually come in two flavors: clones or incrementals.
A bootable clone is a bit-for-bit copy of all essential files in the startup volume. If using the Lions, clones can be made using CarbonCopyCloner or just plain old Disk Utility. These backups represent the safest protection of your info, but take the longest to do. Recovery is an inverse process: you copy the clone back into the internal drive.
Incremental backups start with a complete backup of the startup volume and only copy whatever changed from the previous run. OS X includes the fully integrated Time Machine backup utility to do this. It is extremely easy to do and takes the least amount of time. Recovery is another matter altogether since you have to start with a freshly installed instance of the OS and have to apply all intervening backups to bring the result to the latest saved version.
As for where the backup takes place, the recommended media is an external dedicated drive or drives connected via the fastest interface available on your Mac: Thunderbolt, USB3, Firewire, or USB2. Network-based backups, wired or wireless, are attractive but may not offer the same performance and hence take longer. Also important to note that the entire drive need not be completely dedicated to a single backup. The Mac's EFI firmware infrastructure allows for an unlimited number of partitions on a hard drive and each can be used for either type of backups.
Holler if you need specifics on how to do each. This was just an executive summary.

So, I have just about had it. For nine days now, I have valiantly tried to move my library to an external drive. At first, I attempted to move it to my 2TB Time capsule, iTunes didn't like its new home though and moved home without telling me.

So, I have just about had it. For nine days now, I have valiantly tried to move my library to an external drive. At first, I attempted to move it to my 2TB Time capsule. iTunes didn't like its new home though and moved home without telling me. So then there were two libraries. I meshed them back together reluctantly and iTunes in a silent revolt, absolutely refused to use its own 'Keep Library Organized' criteria and may as well have thrown my music against the wall. Seriously, my 5 year old nephew has his computer files better managed. Then I bought a 3TB Time Capsule and you may ask yourself why??? Well, iTunes doubled in size- although when I ran apps that are designed to find duplicate iTunes files, it deleted the music I actually bought from iTunes. So then I watched as iTunes got it back. How you ask; I run a MacBook Air, iMac and Mac mini in my house - as soon as one powered up it hit the net like a sailor on leave and re-downloaded it all without abandon. I tried to keep the libraries separate, no success there. I tried to keep them unified; iTunes response was to ask me if I wanted to join iTunes Match every time I logged on to my computer and on any computer - my iTunes match song number has been as high as 24,367 and as low as 11,112. And I can't simply refuse iTunes. No one refuses iTunes. Refusal to allow iTunes Match to run through all 24000 songs again was to revoke my rights to the songs that were once part of my library. If I took a long time to decide or was visibly impatient while iTunes did its little 3 hour scan it would arbitrarily decide that music I bought from iTunes was ineligible for iTunes Match. How could that possibly be??? I am missing music, or at least iTunes tells me so by showing me that lovely exclamation point. I have tried backing up my computer to do a full system restore and start all over. Time Capsule claims I have 979 GB of data and takes its sweet time to even back up one gig (about 18 minutes) even though I can transfer files to my Time Capsule at about 1 GB every 40 seconds. I guess though performing back-ups are somewhat like government jobs; it will get done, when it gets done. The back up requirement of 979 GB is surprising though, my Mac claims that I currently occupy just about 25% of my 2TB drive. The discrepancy, who knows, but I think the solution lies somewhere in iTunes. But maybe iPhoto. But that is for another time.

After admittedly only a quick read the one thing you don't say is how you are trying to make this move. Most people with moving library issues do it the wrong way. Plenty of web sites tell you how to do it the wrong way.
If the iTunes application is started before the drive with the library is fully mounted and awake iTunes will revert back to the internal drive.

How do I move an iTunes library from one external drive to another?

I need to move my iTunes library from one external disk to another, because the original disk is about to fail. So, I went into iTunes Perferences --> Advanced, and set the library to a new, empty folder on the new drive.
Nothing changed. I expected all my music to vanish from iTunes, so that I would have to re-import it. However, all the music remained, still on the old disk. At this point, if I were to recreate the library on the new disk, I would have all of my music twice.
Is it possible to move an iTunes library from one external drive to another, or am I stuck with my original choice until I buy a new machine? If I can move it, can one of you clever folks explain how it could be done?

Paul Seymour1 wrote:
However, those are all dealing with old versions of iTunes that still contained the Advanced --> Consolidate Library command which is no longer part of the app. (I'm on iTunes 10.6.1.)
Consolidate is still part of iTunes.
It is in iTunes menu File > Library > Manage library > Consolidate.
The article you linked to is old and it is (and was) a hacky way of doing it.
Just copy the entire /Music/iTunes/ folder to new location, hold Option (Mac) or Shift (Windows) when launching iTunes.

How can I download my iMac iTunes library to an external drive and reload the library to iTunes on a PC?

How can I download my iMac iTunes library to an external drive and reload the library to iTunes on a PC?

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

Can't switch iPhoto Libraries to use external drive

I'm using iPhoto 4.0.3 on an old iBook G3, and I keep my photos on an external drive, but right now I can't access it, because my computer seems to have created its own imaginary version of the external drive, which I can't access. (I'll explain it better below.)
In other words, if I open iPhoto, there are photos there (165 of them, all fairly recent), but if I try to find an iPhoto Library on my hard drive, or any record of the photos in it, I come up empty. I must have accidentally imported photos when my external drive wasn't connected, but now I can't figure out where my computer actually put those photos, so that I can delete that iPhoto Library and go back to using the iPhoto Library on my external drive.
Here's what I've found so far:
If I open Finder and search for iPhoto, there is no iPhoto Library.
If I search for the name of one of the photos that's displayed in iPhoto, I get 0 results.
If I search for all files with the .jpg extension, none of the photos that's showing in iPhoto shows up.
If I create an album and put some photos in it, and then search for that album name, I get 0 results.
BUT, if I try to EXPORT a photo from iPhoto, I get some clue to where these photos are hiding - the default location to export photos to is XXX's Computer/Macintosh HD/Volumes/FANTOM/Pictures/iPhoto Library. That's the location of the iPhoto Library on my external drive.
Also, based on an answer to another forum question, I opened Libraries/Preferences/com.apple.iPhoto.plist in Text Edit and searched for key>RootDirectory, and the directory it gives there is /Volumes/FANTOM/Pictures/iPhoto Library. The only problem is, I've disconnected my external drive and restarted my computer, and iPhoto is still displaying 165 pictures in my photo library.
So it seems like my computer THINKS it's looking on my external drive, but actually it's looking at some 'volume' that's on the hard drive - and even when the external drive is connected, the only photos it shows are the ones in this volume, not the ones in my actual iPhoto Library. I want to be able to switch to my normal photo library, but the only way I can do that is if I figure out where this mystery photo library is located, and rename it. Does anybody know how to do this?
Thanks for your help.
iBook G3 Mac OS X (10.3.9)

You don't say whether you've restricted your search, or where you are searching. If you haven't renamed your iPhoto Library folder and it doesn't show up in a search, then it isn't there.
I'm not clear on what you mean by "imaginary version of external drive". Disconnect the drive, and there should be very little left to it's imagination. If iPhoto launches, then it's not looking for the iPhoto Library folder on the external drive -- nothing imaginary.
The destination to which a photo is exported has nothing to do with where iPhoto might have its library (real, or imagined). An "exported" photo is, by definition, not a part of your iPhoto library -- all you're doing is drawing conclusions from unrelated information.
Quit iPhoto if it's running, disconnect your external drive, and delete the "com.apple.iPhoto.plist" file from your user's Library >Preferences folder. If iPhoto starts without any unusual prompts, then it is (and likely, has been all along) using the iPhoto Library folder from your start-up drive's Pictures folder.

My MacBook Pro hard drive is almost full and I wish to store my Aperture Library on an external drive, how do I do this and is the use of USB2 suitable or do I need to use a Firewire external hard drive?

My MacBook Pro hard drive is almost full and I wish to store my Aperture Library on an external drive, how do I do this and is the use of USB2 suitable or do I need to use a Firewire external hard drive?

You'll get better performance if you use a Firewire hard drive (especially if you buy a 7200 RPM drive). Firewire's IO speed is significantly faster than USB 2. USB 2 has a theoretical max speed of 480 Mbps except that it has extremely high over-head. The fastest speeds you can typically get are about 300 Mbps. Firewire, on the other hand, has very little overhead. The fastest speeds you can get are very nearly 800 Mbps. You will typically be constrained by the maximum read/write speed of the drive, not the speed of the I/O on the Firewire bus. Now if you had one of those nice shiny new Macs with the Thunderbolt I/O and a Thunderbolt drive (Light Peak) ... I think they alter space and time so that your data arrives before you know you want it.
Also... unless you want to buy a solid state drive (very expensive), try to keep your hard drives from becoming much more than about 60% full if you want great performance. A nearly "full" hard drive is, on average, only about half as fast as the same hard drive when nearly empty.
USB 2 will work perfectly fine... just not as fast.
Also... it's much safer to move the entire Aperture library than to "relocate masters". Your images must be managed. You can Aperture manage them, or you can manage them. But someone has to manage them. If you "relocate" them so that they are no longer stored inside the Aperture library then you'll need to work out a system of how you decide to organize things and it's critically important that you don't start moving files around or deleting things without Aperture's knowledge. If you do, you'll break the links to your masters and start having problems with missing masters. If you have Aperture manage the library then you don't need to worry about any of that stuff.... it's safer.
Do make backups (use the Aperture Vault or use some other backup program, but make sure you back up your work if you care about it.) There are only two kinds of hard drives in the world: (1) those that have failed and (2) those that are going to fail. There are no exceptions to this rule. Hard drives are cheap. Backup software is built into Aperture and into your Mac.

Moving iTunes Library to an external drive. My itunes cant connect to the library

I have tried to move my iTunes Library to an external drive. When I open the iTunes app i can not get the app to read the library on the external drive. I have gone into iTunes preferences and redirected the app to read the external file and I still look as though I have a "New iTunes program" with no music, apps, videos etc.
Thanks all!

If you moved the entire /Music/iTunes/ folder, hold "Option" and launch iTunes.
Select "Choose library" then select the iTunes folder you moved.
You do not need to change the iTunes media folder location in iTunes prefs > Advanced.

Moving iTunes library to an external drive converting to different format

I want to move entire iTunes library to an external drive. I've found several Mac 101's to help but those helps makes no sense. I should be able to move music to another drive and give iTunes the path to find it but that does not work.
All files are iTunes Plus including everything from Amazon but I want to convert everything to a mp3 or other format so all files are independent of iTunes. Lots of old music from CDs I imported and lots from iTunes as well as Amazon. I guess i could sit and burn everything to a physical cd but that would take months and hundreds and hundreds of cds. Can someone advise how I can convert these files and then move to an external drive?
I'm running mountain lion and version 10.7 of iTunes. Two external drives and 145 gigs of music. Any guidance will be most appreciated.
Thanks.

HI Limnos,
Thanks for the reply. Something I forgot (age) to mention, this quest to move the library is precipitated by the Mac drive is running out of space. While I still have about 50 gigs of room left, I was thinking I should just plan on opening up the space by moving the iTunes library.
The other reason is, I read an article about how upon ones death one can not bequeath ones digital music or book files to loved ones. IE; If all of the music was on LP's, tapes, cd's then this physical format can be left in ones final will. But according to what I read and trying to read the user policy by Apple, Amazon etc when one downloads music or a book or whatever that use policy says we don't own the material we only can read it or listen to it. When we die it dies with us. Several people in the article as well as myself believe this is crap. At one time I was purchasing content and then burning it. I stopped because I thought how silly to burn it, I have back ups on an external drive. Man was I wrong. If I have to I'll sit here in my last days and burn hundreds of cd's.
So realizing this, I want to take all my music files and save them to another drive as though this drive was hundreds of cd's. That way all those files in some other format can be played independent of iTunes or transfered to one of my kids PC's or a Mac if they get with the program. If the conversion process destroys the integrity of the file then I have no choice but to burn cd's.
In my estimation, I'm doing nothing wrong. I bought downloadable music just as if I'd bought cd's. I should be able to throw it away or give to my kids upon my death. The kids can decide what they want to do with it once I'm gone. I now no longer buy any music or books in a digital download. All content is purchased with a physical copy. That said, more content providers are moving towards downloads only or like Amazon and Apple towards the cloud and streaming. I realize all this gets into the fair use act but I think most people are unaware of this issue.

I just backed up my photos by copying my iPhoto Library onto an external drive. Now the Library on my MacBook won't open. I can only open the photos if the external is plugged in. How can I resolve this issue?

I just backed up my photos by copying my iPhoto Library onto an external drive. Now the Library on my MacBook won't open. I can only open the photos if the external is plugged in. How can I resolve this issue?

Exactly what did you do?
The correct steps are
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
My guess is that that you have not switched iphoto to use the external drive yet - opttion launch and select libary
LN

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

Is it common to keep a music library on an external drive now?

I did this about five years ago, when it was relatively new, and stopped because it was sometimes wonky. Given the popularity of the MacBook Air I'm thinking that perhaps the wrinkles might be ironed out? I have a very large music library (200 gig) and would love to move it to our Time Capsule. Does this make sense with a fleet of devices (iPad, iPod Touch, iPod Classic, Nano) and one main computer (MBP) on a very fast WiFi LAN? One more snowflake detail: Our Time Capsule began exhibiting to exhibit the odd "connection has been interrupted" error when I tried my Calibre Library on it. If you recommend going forward I'll just switch back if this becomes an issue. I mention it in case someone reading this knows of a workaround.
I appreciate any help.

Brilliant; thank you! I hadn't heard about locking in the IP but it makes perfect sense. Should be easy to do in Airport Utility, too.
Only the first part of my question remains. Does keeping a music library on an external drive work well now? Are there any pitfalls to avoid? Should I consider breaking up my collection into two libraries: one for audiobooks and the other for music?

Switching Entire Library to separate external drive?

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