Transfer library to external drive

My hard drive on my imac desktop is full. How do I transfer my itune and iphoto libraries to an external drive?

Type "move itunes library" into the search bar at the top of this page by "Support" and you will find:
iTunes for Mac: Moving your iTunes Media folder

Similar Messages

Transferring iPhoto Library to External Drive/Time Machine

Hi LarryHN and Terrence Devlin (and any others who can answer my questions);
I have successfully transferred my iPhoto Library for the first time to an new external drive (thank you LarryHN and Terrence Devlin for your awesome threads). Would I be able to do this again when my iPhoto Library on my laptop requires another transer without changing the first transfer?
However, another part of LarryHN's thread is that the iPhoto Library transfer to an external drive is not a back up, why is it not considered a back up? I am trying to utilize Time Machine (also for the first time) but they are recommending I use an external drive with nothing on it (as they would be wiped out). Luckily I haven't wiped out my iPhoto Library on my laptop and am willing to re-do that after I set up Time Machine.
I appreciate your recommendations!

If you're running the library on the EHD as your working library then it's not a backup, it's your working copy.
To have a backup you must have two copies of the the working library on different hard drive. so to use Time Machine you need a dedicated HD just for it. When set up TM will backup your MB Air hard drive and any other EHD connected to it.
If you need to run your library from an EHD because your MBA doesn't have enought room and you want to use TM to backup your files including the iPhoto Library you'll need to have 2 EHDs.
So where do you want to run the library: on your MBA or on the EHD?
If you intend to run the library on your MBA make sure it's up to date and then reformat the EHD as OS X Extended (journaled) with Disk Utility. Connect it to the MBA and launch TM. It will ask if you want to use that drive for you backup and click yes. From there it's automatic. The first backup will take a while so have your MBA plugged in to a power outlet and let TM do it's thing.
This website has the best information on TM available: Apple OSX and Time Machine Tips
An alternate solution would be to use a backup application that can make incremental backups like Synk Pro. It will copy only those new or modified files from your working library to the backup copy on the EHD. I use it and have it configured to do the copy as soon as I quit out of iPhoto to keep the writing to disk at a minimum. Synk Pro will backup any selected file or folder you select so it doesn't have to be the entire hard drive if you don't want it. Personally I think TM would be a better solution for you as it will backup other files that may be important to you, i.e. music, documents, movies, etc.
OT

Can't read iPhoto library from external drive

I suddenly can't can't read iPhoto library from external drive. I have talked to WD and nohing is wrong with the network drive. I can open images and files from it. But, I can't read in iPhoto Library.

Network Drive? a NAS?
iPhoto needs to have the Library sitting on disk formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Users with the Library sitting on disks otherwise formatted regularly report issues including, but not limited to, importing, exporting, saving edits and sharing the photos.
Basically, you need to move the library to a correctly formatted disk.

Can't show User/Library in external drive

I can set my Mac to show Library in Users on the main drive (terminal or keystroke) but NOT on an external drive...
How can I access User/Library on external drives?

Check that you’re in the correct folder and entering the exact text posted.
If you’re using the Go to Folder command and providing Library, it’ll open the one in the current folder. If you provide ~/Library/, it’ll always open the one in your home folder.
If you’re using the chflags command, the path will look like /Volumes/volumename/Users/username/Library/ and not /Users/username/Library/.
(115061)

Transfer itune library to external drive then back to PC

In preparation for the re-install of Windows on my machine I would like to save my itune library on an external drive then to reimport it. I have more music than my current iPod can store so can't use it for the transfer and my Pc can only burn CDs the external drive option looks the best...if only I'd know how to!

Be careful you don't make the mistake I did, if your operating system is changing (e.g. XP to Vista) this will only partially work as the paths will be different, you will end up losing your playlists at the very least.
I don't really know any way around this, a couple of people did give me some tips in a previous post that I wrote but Apple deleted it because it was critical, so they are now lost too.

Can't transfer iPhoto library to external drive

Hi guys,
Need some help here.
My hard disk ran out of space and I am trying to transfer all of my photos in iphoto library into my external hard drive, which I have been using for my PC. I tried dragging the library icon to my external drive icon, but I kept getting the "block" sign and it simply would not allow me to transfer the library.
I've attached the screen shot of this to help you better understand what's going on.
Can you PLEASE help?
Thanks!

what format is the external drive? If you used it with a PC it is incorrect for iPhoto - iPhoto must be on a drive 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
LN

How to transfer itunes library to external drive and keep playlists and ratings

I don't have much space on my laptop. I have attached an external drive. I want to access my Itunes library from
the external drive. All attempts to move the library now result in me losing my "playlists" and even more importantly
my ratings and genre information.
How can I move the library with all my associated data intact such as the playlists, ratings, genres?
I want this external drive to be the main location where I access my Itunes library.
Once that is done I will work on backing it up, as that will be the only place that the data exists.
Also, will my Apple TV be also be able to access my Itunes library with playlists. thus far I have not been able to do this.

Start by consolidating your library. When you consolidate, any songs in the iTunes Library that are not in the iTunes Music Folder are copied to the Music Folder and the Library is updated to point to those new files. Files already in the iTunes Music Folder have no changes made to them: Consolidating your library - Windows
Then copy the iTunes Folder to your external drive. Copying the whole folder brings with it the iTunes Music folder and also the iTunes Library (iTunes Library.itl in Windows) database file which holds all the information about your songs (Playlists, Ratings, Play Counts, Last Played, Date Added, etc). You'll get more information including the Folder/File structure in this article: What are the iTunes library files?
Disconnect your external drive and connect it to your new computer, copy the iTunes folder to the new pc. When you copy the iTunes folder make sure you put it into the default location on the new computer. On a PC this is \Documents and Settings\Username\My Documents\My Music\ (or C:\Username\Music\ in Vista). You should also use the same version of iTunes on both computers.
Once you have copied everything over hold down the Shift key in Windows when opening iTunes. In the resulting dialogue you will get the option to create a new library or navigate to an existing one. Navigate to where you placed the copy of the library file and open it up: How to open an alternate iTunes Library file
If you have any iTunes purchases in your library don't forget that you'll need to authorise your new computer to play them. Also if you are disposing of the old one remember to deauthorise it so you don't use up one of your allowances: About iTunes Music Store Authorisation and Deauthorisation

How to transfer from one external drive to another?

I am trying to move files from one external drive to another. I can write to both drive from my Mac. When I do a large transfer using Finder, I only get a few files and an error code 50.
I'm using two Seagate drives, one formatted for Mac only and where I'm writing to, and one formatted for PC and Mac. I have written and read successfully to both drives.

I moved some movies and some seldom listened music (coped the files) into a folder on the Lacie drive. Then I reimported them to the main itunes library while holding down "option". This created a link to those files to the external. the files show up in my itunes but cannot be played unless i have the Lacie connected to them.
See this link.
http://www.maclife.com/article/howtos/how_split_your_itunes_library_across_multi ple_locations

Moving library to external drive

I am helping a client that has an iMac G4 with OS X 10.4. She has a LOT of photos in her iPhoto Library, around 25000 of them, and she is almost out of space on her internal hard drive. She has a new external drive that I would like to move her iPhoto library to.
I found instructions on the iPhoto information page. However, when I drag the iPhoto Library over to the external drive, it starts copying but then after a while I get an error about not being able to copy an alias file and it stops copying.
Also the copy procedure seems very slow, it was showing that it would take 9 hours to copy those photos. While I was watching the file transfer it was only moving about 100MB every minute. Does this model just have the older slow USB connection?

Hi, Techserv. Any iMac G4 built before September 2003 has USB 1.1, not USB 2.0 ports. With such a machine it makes no sense at all to use a USB-only external hard drive. Your client should have a FireWire-capable drive enclosure instead. It would be many times faster.

JPEG Corruption post transfer over USB External Drive (usb2.0)

Hello
I have two external drives, both support firewire400/800 and USB2.
On the firewire 400 settings no issue at all.
Previously on PPC powerbook, I used firewire 800 and no issues at all.
While waiting for my expresscard34-firewire800 to arrive this week, I am using the USB2 port on the macbook pro to trasnfer a jpeg library (c24gb) to and from, using either the internal 7200rpm sata drive on the machine, or also from the connected firewire 400 lacie 1tb bigger disc.
Whichever solution I use to copy from, all JPEG's that go via the USB2 port on the macbook, any usb2.0 port, get corrupted. I can open in aperture/bridge, or even testing in vista beta or xp and the files are corrupt. But if I transfer via the firewire 400, all is fine.
I can switch around the external drives, I have deleted all partitions and reformatted, and even gone through both fat32/osx-journaled options to no avail. Weird or what?
My only thinking option here is to create a .dmg 24gb file of the whole folder, and move that across, but that is just daft.
P.s. transferring any other type of data works perfectly fine, e.g. .mp3/.doc.xls etc.
Any thoughts on this weird one.
thks in advance!
MacBook Pro Mac OS X (10.4.6)

Hello,
The iMac G4 17" 1GHz only has USB1.1 so it doesn't matter that the MyBook is USB2.0 you'll only transfer at USB1.1 speeds (1.5MBps). As there is no way to add USB2.0 to the iMac G4 ≤1GHz you need to look at a Firewire drive like the MyBook Pro/Premium; incidentally, both of these come with back-up software too.
The iMac G4 can't boot from USB so if your internal drive fails you can't boot the iMac like you could on a Firewire drive.
Personally I do have my MyBook Pro partitioned in to a back-up space which matches my internal hard drive and a separate media file partition.
BTW you have posted in the Intel iMac forum. The users here will be less familiar with the specific issues that iMac (Flat Panel)s may suffer. I'd advise that you post future queries in the iMac G4 forum:
G4 (aka Flat Panel): Intel:
Click image to go to correct forum
regards
mrtotes

How to get itunes library from external drive to new computer

i recently purchased a new computer w/the windows vista platform. there were posts regarding how to transfer the library w/playlists on this board, which i followed to the point of hitting shift while opening itunes, and choosing a library. however, when selecting such from my external drive, which has the itl and xml on it as well as the itunes music folder, it gives me an error noting it is locked or that i dont have write permission to use it. my external drive on my old computer was the G drive, now it is the F drive on new one. can anyone please advise what to do other than copy all music over and have to completely recreate all playlists?

polydorus, this was the response/post that i found and it was posted by sweepea on 9/4/2007. and all my music is now from the external drive to the itunes music folder on my laptop and it let me keep all my playlists. thank you again for your help!
I had that problem too. I tried to remove iTunes from my computer and then download it again, but that did not make any difference. Then I tried polydorus' answer ("starting iTunes with the shift key held down, when asked to choose a library, navigate to your iTunes folder and choose iTunes Library.itl"), but that did not work either and that same message about the library being locked appeared again.
Then I had a brainwave. I deleted that iTunes library.itl file. (To find it, go to My documents, then My Music, then iTunes, and there is the itunes library file). I now tried to open iTunes by clicking on the iTunes icon on my desktop, nothing happened, as if I had not clicked on it at all. I restored the file from the recycling bin to where it was before. But that also returned me to where I had been before, i.e. I got that locked-library message again. So I deleted that file again. Then I tried right-clicking on the iTunes icon. On the little menu that appeared, I clicked 'Open' and hey presto, suddenly the iTunes set-up assistant appeared and everything went smooth from then on. When I checked, there was a file called iTunes library.itl again and this one worked OK.
By the way, I did not lose any of my music downloads or podcasts when I deleted that file, so it's definitely worth a try.
custom built Windows 2000

How to Recover Playlists when Transferring iTunes Library from External Drive to New Computer

iTunes library copied to external drive and then loaded to new computer. All songs are there but all of the playlists that I had set up do not appear. I cannot figure out how to retrieve/recover them. The back-up was not done by me so I'm not sure of the steps that were followed. Is there something special that needs to be done when backing up to external drive in terms of saving playlists? Help!

Hello TNCGRCT,
It sounds like the library was successfully transferred to the new computer, but the songs were imported into a new iTunes library. If you still have access to the external drive, or better yet the previous computer, we will want to transfer the iTunesLibrary.itl file and open it with iTunes:
iTunes: How to open an alternate iTunes Library file or create a new one
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1589
More helpful information...
Where are my iTunes files located?
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1391
iTunes: How to move your music to a new computer
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527
Thanks,
Matt M.

Unable to copy iphoto library from external drive to internal drive

iPhoto '09 8.1.2 (424)
I have a very large iPhoto library (282GB, 34k photos) spread between multiple computers, which as been consolidated on a single external drive now (1 TB Western Digital Mac OS Extended (Case-senstive, Journaled). I'm trying to get the big library on the external drive back on my Mac Pro so I can break the merged libraries into smaller libraries in a safe fashion.
There is nothing on the internal drive, but I keep getting an error about 62GB into the copying that reads: "You cannot copy "[Library Name]" to the destination because its name is the same as the name of an item on the destination, except for the case of some characters." ... But there's nothing on the internal drive!!!
I've renamed the library on the external drive, then tried copying it -- no dice. I've created a new folder on the internal drive and tried copying it to the new folder -- same error at exactly the same spot in the transfer. I've even reformatted then zeroed out the internal drive -- same error, same spot. Anyone know a solution or have ideas about what I'm doing wrong?
Many thanks!

I think the error report is bogus and the issue is not on the receiving volume but a locked or damaged file within the library.
Try rebuild the library: hold down the command and option (or alt) keys while launching iPhoto. Use the resulting dialogue to rebuild. Include the option to check and repair Library permissions.
FWIW, I don't see what you gain by a: splitting the library at all and b: copying it back to the MacPro to do it.
Regards
TD

Managed LIbrary and External Drives

I want to transfer my Aperture library to an external drive, continuing to operate on a 'manage' basis, as I'm rapidly running out of room on my internal drive.
This external drive will be exclusive to Aperture and I wish to back this up to another external drive (again only to be used for Aperture back up) using time machine.
Currently I'm backing up to a 1TB drive which I wish continue to use via time machine for everything else.
Am I asking too much? If not can anyone advise how to do.
Many thanks.
F S
Aperture 3.2.4

The previous discussion at the link may be of interest:
https://discussions.apple.com/message/17064093#17064093
Currently, I do my primary editing on my rMBP, with a dedicated Thunderbolt drive as the host of the Managed Library (about 2 TB current). I now do my first clone backup to a USB3 drive, which can then be used as a source to further clone back to a dedicate drive in my old Mac Pro.
Hope this helps.
Ernie

Moved library to external drive ... now can't reconnect files HELP

Hi all. I've searched this forum for answers to my problem but to no avail.
In effort to free-up hard-drive space on my iMac, I decided to move my entire Aperture library folder to my external g-drive. Then, when I started Aperture up again, I opened preferences and pointed to the new library location on the external. I thought it would be that easy...
At first, it seemed to have worked--the files were all showing up in Aperture. However, when I tried to edit or export any of the images, I got a warning message:
"Versions with unavailable master images cannot be exported. The selected master image is either offline or not found. Please reconnect it and try again."
Also, there's a little yellow yeild icon with an arrow above on the images... I guess this indicates that there's a connection problem?
What should I do? I tried right-clicking the main "Library" icon in Aperture and clicking "Relocate Masters for Library..." but that resulted in another error message:
"Unavailable master images cannot be relocated. One or more of the selected master images are unavailable. You can relocate all available masters, or cancel, connect the required drives, and try again."
I have no idea what to do next? How do I fix this? I have a shoot today and I will need this resolved.... If anyone has any idea, please take me thru this. Oh, one more thing--I have over 11,000 photos so forget manually connecting each one.
One more thing: I am downloading Aperture 3 and will definitely migrate. Will it be easier to connect these files to Aperture 3?

OK, I couldn't figure it out so I set everything back to how it was before the move. Everything is working now and all the files are still in the original location.
Now, I want to move the entire library to the external drive. I've looked into this...please correct me if I'm wrong with the steps to move entire library from my computer to a external drive (note: I don't want to use the computer HD to store/process the photos--I want it all done from my external HD)/. Here's what I found in Aperture help...this is the closest thing I could find for directions on moving the entire Aperture contents from one location to another permanently. Will this work?:
"Transferring Projects from Another System
If you work with several computers, or work on projects with other people, you may find it necessary to transfer projects from one Aperture system to another. Transferring projects is a simple import process.
To transfer a project from one computer to another:
1 Select the project you want to transfer, then choose File > Export > Project.
2 Enter a name and choose a location for the exported project.
3 If your project contains referenced images, select the “Consolidate images into exported project” checkbox to transfer the original masters as well as the previews and metadata as a self-contained project that another Aperture system can use.
If you are transferring projects with referenced images to another computer and want to transfer just the referenced image previews and not the masters, don’t select the “Consolidate images into exported project” checkbox.
4 Click Save. The project file is exported to the location you chose.
5 Connect or network the two computers together. For more information, see the documentation that came with the computers.
6 Open Aperture on the computer to which you want to transfer the project.
7 In the Projects inspector, select Library.
8 Choose File > Import > Projects.
9 In the Import dialog, navigate to the location on the other computer where the project you want to transfer is stored, select the project, then click Open.
The selected project appears in the Projects inspector."

Transfer library to external drive

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