Transferring iTunes Metadata from one internal drive to another

I recently added a new hard drive to my G4 and loaded it with Leopard. My old drive (with Tiger) is still resident in the system. When I used the Migration Assistant to transfer over my data, my iTunes Library transferred just fine, but none of the metadata (playlists, ratings, play counts, bpm) came with it. Everyone keeps telling me just to copy over the whole iTunes folder from one drive to the other, but there are at last count three different iTunes folders on both systems. Could someone please be more specific? Is there not one or two files somewhere that holds this metadata that can be copied from one drive to the other? I had over 50 playlists and had spent HOURS adding bpm info to my library... I'd hate to lose all of that time and effort.
Thanks!

Firstly are you intending to keep your Windows installation on the current drive? Is your iTunes data on the same drive?
If so you don't want to reinstall the iTunes program.
There are basically two ways of moving iTunes to another drive, method one just moves the iTunes Music folder:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=305451
Method 2 involves moving your iTunes folder so that everything, music and library files is on the other drive:
Close iTunes.
Copy the iTunes folder from My Muisc to your chosen location on the other drive.
Hold down the shift key and start iTunes, when asked to choose a libary, navigate to the iTunes folder in the new location and choose iTunes Library.itl. This assumes all your music is in the iTunes Music folder, there is another step if it isn't.
Without knowing exactly how you have things set up at the moment and how you want things to be after the move it's hard to choose between the two.
If you intend to reinstall Windows, of course it is completely different.
OOps I posted a link to a Mac method, link changed
Message was edited by: polydorus

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Moving iTunes library from one internal drive to another

tl;dr somewhat - cloned iTunes folder from one non-boot internal to another; changed Media Folder Location in Preferences, both boxes below checked; iTunes still plays music off old location. Help!
First off, I have a Mac Pro in which I have a 1TB drive separate from the boot drive simply to house my iTunes media folder. I have been running out of space on the drive, so I purchased a 2TB drive to move my iTunes media folder to. I had been allowing my iTunes Library files to stay on my boot drive in their default location, but after reading more about how the library files + media folder work, I decided to copy all of the library files to the 1TB drive iTunes folder, to mirror the boot drive's. I used Option + open iTunes and selected the copied library file and everything worked perfectly - I mention this in case this has created the problem I'm now having.
I used the Apple endorsed method of having iTunes do the copying/consolidating of files to the new location on the 2TB drive but it failed - and I know I followed the directions perfectly, I even tried it twice. It copied over ~100k of my 134k songs, and the missing songs weren't just albums that had strange symbols (which I've had issue with before) - it would simply not copy some artists; or copy six of an artist's seven albums. This was not going to be an option for me in terms of how to move my media.
I had wanted from the beginning to use Carbon Copy Cloner (which I use every day and trust) to simply clone the 1TB to the 2TB drive and then change the location in the iTunes preferences. I unchecked 'Keep iTunes Media Folder Organized' and 'Copy files...', then changed the location and clicked OK. I then went back in, checked those two boxes and iTunes started into "Updating iTunes Library", which lasted a few minutes. However, even though the new location is set to the 2TB drive, when I play a song (to make sure it works) and then click to see info, it's still reading it off the 1TB drive.
So I remembered the whole Option + open iTunes thing, did that and selected the iTunes Library.itl file on the 2TB drive - nothing changed. I read some more on various forums about it and thought that maybe I should Option + open iTunes and then select the iTunes folder itself - nothing changed.
So I'm stuck with the media in the right place on the 2TB drive but iTunes still trying to read it off the 1TB, even though the location in Preferences has been set to the 2TB. I feel like I'm just missing something simple here. WHAT DO I DO?! I'm guessing it's not as simple as removing the 1TB, renaming the 2TB and letting iTunes look where the 1TB used to be.

Thank you so much for replying! I'm not sure I quite understand, though. The media folder is in (2TB) /iTunes/iTunes Music/Music currently, cloned from (1TB) /iTunes/iTunes Music/Music. If I copied the /iTunes/ folder from 1TB to the 2TB, I'd be doing the exact same thing as when I cloned it, which I'm willing to do if I'm understanding you correctly.
Or are you asking me to copy all of the files (minus the /iTunes Music/ folder) in the (1TB) /iTunes/ folder and replace all of those files in the (2TB) /iTunes/ folder?

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 do I transfer itunes library from one hard drive to another.

I want to transfer all my itunes music from one external hard drive to another. How can I do this without disrupting itunes. Thanks.

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How do you switch your library from one internal drive to another?

I have a computer with two 500GB internal drives. My C: drive is becoming very full with my programs and iTunes library. However, the E: drive is essentially empty. How can I transfer my whole iTunes library to the E: drive and still have iTunes know where to look for it when I open the program?
Any help would be appreciated.
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If you have iTunes 7, then you can just drag the entire iTunes folder to your desired location (and I mean the entire iTunes folder, not just the iTunes Music folder). Then hold down the Shift key while launching iTunes. You'll be given a dialog box where you can select the iTunes library you want to use. Navigate to and select the iTunes folder in it's new location. Everything should then work just as it did before the move. Make sure you confirm this, though, before you delete the tracks from your first drive.

How to move a file from one internal drive to another

I have a Mac Pro with 10.6. My main drive is a 240 GB SSD. I would like to move files from it to another internal drive to free up space on the SSD. The only way I can figure out to do it is to copy a file to the other internal drive and then move it from the SSD to the trash and empty the trash. Is there a better way? TIA.

That's the way I would do it.

What is the best way to move an iPhoto library from one internal drive to another internal drive?

the drive where my iPhoto library is store is just about full. I have a second internal SSD that I'd like to move (not copy) the library to. What is the best way to do that and still ensure that iPhoto will access the library in its new location?

Just drag the iPhoto Library package from the one drive to the second disk. Launch iPhoto with the Option key held down and select the library in it's new location on the second disk. Once you're satisfied that it is working satisfactorliy you can delete the copy on the first disk.
OT

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Hello,
Hope someone can tell me an easy way to do this.
I have a massive itunes library which is presently split between my macbook and my external Lacie. I would like to transfer the files from the Lacie to a new external drive without reimporting all the files into itunes. I essentially would like itunes to recognise the path of the new drive instead of the files on the Lacie.
Any ideas?

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

Move iPhoto '11 library from one internal drive to another internal drive?

Hi everyone!
My wife and I just received our lovely new 27" iMac, which we had custom-configured with both a 256GB SSD and a 2TB drive, both internal. I have created a fresh user account for myself, and used Migration Assistant to move her account over from our old MacBook Pro. Of course, Migration Asst. assumes you want everything stored on the boot drive (the SSD in our case), but we want to store the "big stuff" on the 2TB drive (for obvious reasons).
In my wife's account, I created a folder on the 2TB drive (we call that drive "Vault") for my wife's big files. Inside that folder, I made a "Pictures" folder, and dragged her (~110 gig) iPhoto library into that folder. After taking ages to copy, starting iPhoto with Option held will let us select that newly-copied library on the Vault, but it will be missing tons of images and thumbnails, even as the "original copy" on the SSD is working exactly as expected.
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PPS The new iMac is running Lion and iLife '11, with all updates, while the MacBook Pro was running Snow Leopard and iLife '11 with all updates

If the Library works correctly on the SSD but the copy on the Vault is "missing tons of images and thumbnails" then that suggests that the copy has gone wrong, no? Try the copy again.
Other things to consider: is the Vault formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled)?
Set the Vault to ignore Ownership and Permissions - which you can do in the Get Info window
Regards
TD

Itunes library tranfer from one hard drive to another on the same computer

Hello I have two hard drives on my mac g4 and the first has 80gig and i only have 10 gig of memory left to fill in my ipod library so... I want to move the itunes library/song data from one hard drive to another, how do I do this? the ipod has the ability to hold 40gig of songs etc. so I know the main hard drive will be full before my ipod will be... I'm new to apple and have had a pc for several years but had too many problems with viruses and like what I've learned so far on my mac thanks for your help out there... you can email me at [email protected] thanks again for any help out there

For the record, hard drives don't hav ememory it is just storage space.
Anyway, in your user folder you would want to drag the Music folder to the other hard drive. Once that is finsihed copying in the iTunes preferences you would want to point iTunes to the new drive and folder for the music folder it should be using.

Get 8004 error when using copy past command transferring pictures from one USB drive to another, why ?

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There is no problem if the second drive is empty.

mumbles27 wrote:
one is MS-DOS
would that be in FAT32 or NTFS ?
mac OS extended (case sensitive)
i'm not 100 % sure but i have a fancy such a combination may not play well together.
nothing bigger than 2GB for one file
i was asking because FAT3 has a limitation in that it will not allow you to copy files larger than 4 GB.
JGG

I can not transfer date from one hard drive to another, I keep getting an error because I have two of the same file names and one file name is in caps and I cant change the file name

can not transfer date from one hard drive to another, I keep getting an error because I have two of the same file names and one file name is in caps and I cant change the file name. My original external has an error and needs to be reformatted but I dont want to lose this informations its my entire Itunes library.

Sounds like the source drive is formatted as case sensitive and the destination drive is not. The preferred format for OS X is case insensitive unless there is a compelling reason to go case sensitive.
Why can't you change the filename? Is it because the source drive is having problems? If so is this happening with only one or two or a few files? If so the best thing would be to copy those over individually and then rename them on the destination drive.
If it is more then you can do manually and you can't change the name on the source you will have to reformat the destination as case sensitive.
Btw this group is for discussion of the Support Communities itself, you;d do better posting to Lion group. I'll see if a host will move it.

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

How to move Startup Disk clone from one external drive to another?

I thought this would be a question easily answered on the WWW and easily found via search engines, but so far no luck, hence this question.
Prior to upgrading from Lion to Mountain Lion I followed some very good instructions from Tom Nelson on ask.com (http://macs.about.com/od/backupsarchives/ss/diskbackup.htm) related to using Disk Utility to clone my internal Macintosh HD drive to an external hard drive, making it a bootable drive. I cloned to a very nice LaCie external FW drive that had far more room than that needed for the clone. This drive booted just fine as a startup disk, so mission accomplished:   I have now a bootable clone of my Lion system prior to upgrading to Mountain Lion.
The upgrade to Mountain Lion went well, and now, before I put any additional apps or much additional data on the original internal Macintosh HD drive, I want to use Disk Utility again to clone the drive so I'll have a snapshot of the system right after the upgrade to Mountain Lion.
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Good info Csound1, and thanks.
So my final question (I think): How does one move/copy a startup disk clone from one external drive to another, and still have it bootable on the new external drive?   I'm still considering freeing this LaCie drive up for more dynamic storage and getting another drive for the bootable startup disk clones IF I can move this Lion startup disk clone to a new external drive.
I guess the summary question is:   how does one clone a startup disk clone? As I think about this, and recall the Disk Utility screens, couldn't I simply select the Lion clone on the LaCie FW external drive and do the same operation I did with the original internal Lion drive? Basically the same steps as before but this time the source is the LaCie FW external and the destination is a new external drive?
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Backing up from one USB Drive to Another

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SOLVED
Once I got Time Machine to perform totally new backups it picked up the new external drive containing my images.
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Transferring iTunes Metadata from one internal drive to another

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