Transferring library to new laptop

I know there're loads of posts on this subject but feel I need extra help, being such a complete novice and technophobe!
Have an old sony viao on its last legs running windows xp and have just purchased a Dell running windows 7. I obviously want to transfer my itunes library to new laptop so I can sync my old nano and recently purchased Iphone4. Previous posts suggest transferring using "media folder" Where would I find this? Also, do I need to purchase an external hard drive to transfer? Surely theres got to be an easier way?
Any help would be gratefully appreciated as feel Im sinking into an itunes nightmare!!

I am researching this right now as I just got an new computer and I do not think it is that easy. I do not plan to follow the previous person's advice anyway. I am going to try this freeware program that is supposed to work really well from some reviews on Cnet.
Freeware http://www.copytrans.net/copytranstuneswift.php
I'll let you know, but do not rely on transferring your stuff from your iPod to the new computer. If that were the case people wouldn't be researching it so hard to figure out how to do it right! Besides that would make it way too easy for people to give their friends the music and apps that they've purchased if it was as easy and plugging it in to a different computer ...
AC

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Hello Alex,
in addition to John's hint: Nevertheless it could be of interest whether you can have multiple users or computers.
Again and again refers Adobe on this page: http://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/help/install-apps.html >>> How many computers can I install on >>> You may install software on up to two computers. These two computers can be Windows, Mac OS, or one each.
On the other hand, you could have a look here: http://www.adobe.com/products/cs6/faq.html
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Transferred my Library to new laptop, but how to associate/sync iPhone with new laptop?

I got a new laptop. The old laptop is still working. I transferred my library using the Home Sharing method and all of my items were moved except my apps. I plugged in my iPhone to the new computer and used "Transfer Purchases from iPhone" option and all of my apps were added to the library. But, now I don't know how to associate the iPhone with the new computer. When I plug in my iPhone to the new computer. It starts to sync. It says steps 1 through 3, spins for 20 seconds and says complete, but nothing was done. I do not get the "this iPhone is associated with another library" message when I plug it in to new computer, perhaps because I've authorized both computers. All I can find in my searches is how to avoid losing all of your data and how to transfer your library, but none has dealt with this exact situation. I am stumped as to how to get iPhone associated with new computer. Can I transfer my backup from the old computer and restore from backup? Other thoughts? Sorry if the answer is somewhere (I'm sure it is), but I have spent two days looking.

Randers4, so I carefully followed the directions (only one that confused me was about adding a fake address/calendar entry, is that for Macs, I'm using a PC?.) I restored it from the backup and everything looked good. I had hope, the final step says to sync it and when I did, I had the exact same problem. It spun, went quickly through only 3 steps (even though there were 7 sync steps with my old laptop) and nothing changed. It clearly didn't sync.
So, I had an idea that I would back up everything by right clicking in the left pane and forcing a back up on the new computer, and then erasing the entire phone and then restoring from the backup I just made to see if that would make a difference. So, after I tried that and it restored, it was weird. All of my settings were there. Some folders were there, my pictures were there, but all of my apps, folders, music and video was missing and it still wouldn't sync. So, then I had to plug it back into my old laptop and do a restore from there to get that stuff back.
Shouldn't I get a message when I plug the iPhone into the new laptop saying this phone is connected to another computer? I tried "Reset Warning Messages" but it doesn't do anything. At this point, I don't care if I lose some of the stuff from my iPhone (texts, etc)...but I want it to sync to the new computer because my old laptop is on its death bed.
So frustrating, all of my iTunes content is on the new computer, the only piece that is missing is getting it to "talk" to the iPhone. Times like this I wish I wasn't a poor teacher and could afford to get a nice Mac laptop.

HT2305 Transferring music library to new laptop?

Hi there
I recently bought a new laptop and on the old one I had my account and ipod music library on my desktop. How do i download it again onto my new one?? I've tried logging in to my apple account to do this but not having any luck. I'm not very technical so any basic points most welcome! thanks!

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I have a new laptop and have managed to move all my music to it and install iTunes and all the albums are correct and present, but it was a bit complicated. I'm not sure if we missed a step in moving everything via a larger hard drive, but my playlists were not transferred and even though my iTunes recognises my iPod 5th gen it won't actually sync. I have run the diagnostic test, it says it's all fine. It won't sync new purchases and I can't copy playlists from my iPod back into the iTunes library. I have 15 playlists and I don't want to do it all over again. Does anyone have any ideas?
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I did find that if I bought new songs from iTunes that I could transfer them to playlists on my iPod, but otherwise when I connect the iPod, under settings (on the left under the device icon) if I select music, it brings up the tick box for sync music. If I try to tick that box, it asks if I am sure if I want to remove existing music and sync with this iTunes library.

How to reuse old Itunes library in new laptop?

Hi,
I'm kind of new to Itunes. Here is my scenario: I have old computer with Windows XP. I think i have Itunes library installed in My Music folder in the internal HD. All of my music (WAV, MP3, AIFF) are in external HD.
Now i want to move all to the new laptop and still want to use external HD. Also, i have an Ipad 2 which i have been using new Itunes to sync movies. I recognize that new Itunes has folder called Itunes Media and it's different from what i have in the old computer
My question: how can i move from old computer to new computer without going thru all the steps of creating library, playlist again without changing structure in new computer? Do i need to put all in external HD or just the physical music files?
thanks.

Sofrina Hinton wrote:
okay, i found my problem. i had not changed the name of Itunes folder on the new comp so the transferred folder was called Itunes Music.
That was not the problem. Don't rename the iTunes music folder.
The iTunes music folder is inside the iTunes folder.
The /Music/iTunes/ folder is the entire library.
You need to copy the entire /Music/iTunes/ folder from the old computer.

Transferring Music To New Laptop

Hi
I know theres already a lot of discussions about transferring music to a new laptop, but I think my case is a little bit different.
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See this migrate iTunes library post.
tt2

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I had my iTunes musical library on an ext. drv. WD 2TB, ‘MY BOOK ESSENTIAL'. Three weeks ago, my computer was infected by a virus that fried it. It did not affect the external drive. I bought a new computer: a laptop, Dell XPS, Intel Core i7-2630QM CPU, Windows 7 Home Premium. I have been able to connect the WD external drive; however, I am not able to see the musical library in my iTunes or Explorer. ‘My Computer’ shows the external drive as ‘G:’ 95% full. It reads, 32.1 GB free of 1.36 TB. When I click on the drive to see its contents, it shows nothing. The library in iTunes also shows nothing. Can anyone help, please? How can I reconnect my old musical library to my new laptop and iTunes? Many thanks.

Hmm, viruses don't generally "fry" drives. They can make bootable operating systems not bootable, hide data, and corrupt executable files. Software can potentially wipe all the data from the drive but it shouldn't be able to physically damage the drive. Bah! What's done is done.
As to unhiding your files assuming they are just hidden....
Hit Start > Run, type in CMD and press enter. Type the following at the prompt and then press enter:
attrib -h -s -r g:\*.* /d /s
This tells windows to clear the hidden, read-only, and system flags from all files on the drive, assuming of course your profile has the power to "see" the files and change them.
If that doesn't work then you may need to take ownership of the drive first. The drive may have security settings that make it "belong" to an account on your old system. Right-click on the drive in Windows Explorer and click Properties. Click the Security tab, the Advanced button, the Owner tab, then the Edit tab. Make yourself the owner, then you can make any other changes to the security settings you want to back on the Permissions tab. (If you can't change the owner log out and log back in as Administrator). For iTunes your account (or everyone) and SYSTEM need full access to all files. Any changes you make should be applied to "This folder, subfolders and files", should be inheritable and you should also replace the permissions on all child objects.
tt2

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Depends on whether you had your complete library (including the iTunes database) on the external drive, or just your media files and folders. If the former, you can just hold down shift as you start iTunes, and when you get this is prompt:
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When you copied the music from your old computer you should have included the iTunes database (iTunes Library.itl) as well as your media files - this is the structure (normally in C:\Users\username\Music) that you should copy from old to new:
If you only copied the media, and not the database file, try doing so now (without iTunes running) - the files and folder structures should be the same on your new PC as on your old one.
Then hold down SHIFT while starting iTunes; you'll get this prompt:
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Transferring playlist to new laptop from external hard drive and old laptop

I've seen similar topics before but none exactly describing my situation. I currently have itunes installed on my work laptop, but have the majority of my music on my external 120GB hard drive. When I add songs to itunes, I add them from the music folder on my external hard drive, thus the external hard drive must be plugged in to be able to play my music. However, if I import a cd it gets saved to my C drive on my work laptop under the itunes music folder and gets played from here.
I recently purchased a new personal laptop and would like to export my entire music library and all playlists from my current work laptop and external hard drive so that I would be able to have all my music in itunes on my new laptop without having to manually adding songs and changing the song info again. I worried that if I copy my itunes music folder to my new laptop it will look for the E drive (external hard drive) to play them rather than my new laptop hard drive. What's the easiest way to accomplish this task?? Please advise.
Thanks..

Hi dalbatross,
Welcome to the Support Communities!
Did you set up your new computer by creating a Time Machine backup and restoring from it?
If so, the Events and Projects that were on your internal Macintosh HD would copied to your new computer.
Here is another way to copy the events & projects to the new computer from the external drive:
iMovie Help: Work with multiple libraries
http://help.apple.com/imovie/mac/10.0/#mov3fa25bae7
Copy or move projects, events, or clips between libraries or hard disks
Connect a hard disk that contains the target library to your computer, or copy the target library to your computer.
Choose File > Open Library, and choose an option from the submenu.You can choose from recently opened libraries at the top of the submenu, locate an existing library on your computer, or create a new library.
The selected library is opened in the Libraries list, with the first event selected and its contents displayed in the browser.
In the Libraries list, select the event that contains the item you want to move or copy.
In the browser, select the item you want to move or copy.Note: To select multiple items, hold down the Command key as you click the items you want to select, or drag a selection rectangle around the items.
Do one of the following:
To move items between events or libraries: Drag the clip or project to another event or library.
To copy items between events or libraries: Option-drag the clip or project to another event or library by first starting to drag and then holding down the Option key as you drag.
Cheers,
- Judy

Changed itunes library to new laptop - wont open!

Having recently moved home and purchasing a new laptop i have downloaded itunes to my new laptop and copied my library from my old laptop to my external hard drive.
after installing itunes on my new laptop i copied the library to the itunes folder in the programme files folder as instructed to do so from the apple website now once it has completed and i try to open itunes it is telling me the library was created with a newer version of itunes so can not open but i've downloaded the latest itunes software, any suggestions people??

thank you for this it did work and i've managed to open it but once it opened all my music on my playlists has exclimation marks next to them to say the files can not be found. any ideas??

Duplicate library onto new laptop

I just bought a new laptop and want to duplicate my entire itunes library from my main PC, including playlists, onto the new laptop so I will have the same itunes on both. I will continue to sync my ipod with my PC itunes, so ipod being only able to sync with one itunes will not be an issue. My PC uses Windows XP and the new laptop uses Vista.

Epaiteia wrote:
Copy how? Should I be messing about with networks or is there a simple way?
Assuming you use the iTunes default settings where iTunes copied added items to your iTunes folder and organizes your library (meaning - everything is all self contained in the iTunes folder), then all you have to do is drag & drop your iTunes folder (not just the iTunes Music folder you find inside the iTunes folder) to the external drive and copy the entire thing.
If you want to test that it worked or would like to actually start using it from that location instead, use these instructions when you start iTunes to point it to the new location...
How to open an alternate iTunes Library file or create a new one
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304447
If you are just testing, then close iTunes after you verify it works, and restart iTunes again with the same instructions and point it back to your internal drive (original) location.
At this point you can either use the library directly off the external on your new laptop, or transfer the library off the external to your new computer and run it off the internal.
Additional info...
Back up your iTunes library by copying to an external hard drive
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=307074
Cheers,
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How to transfer library to new laptop

Hi all
I am hoping someone can help me!
I have bought a new laptop and installed iTunes onto it. My iTunes library however is on my husbands laptop and I cannot work out how to transfer it from his laptop to my new one. I've tried the "Export" option under File menu but it doesn't seem to work.
Can anyone please explain to me in simple steps (and non techie language!!) how I export my library? I do not have an exernal harddrive either, I only have a small capacity memory stick so if I need to put the music on the stick I may need to repeat the process a few times!
Thank you in advance for any help
Michala

These are two possible approaches that will normally work to move an existing library to a new computer.
Method 1
Backup the library with this User Tip.
Deauthorize the old computer if you no longer want to access protected content on it.
Restore the backup to your new computer using the same tool used to back it up.
Keep your backup up-to-date in future.
Method 2
Connect the two computers to the same network. Share your <User's Music> folder from the old computer and copy the entire iTunes library folder into the <User's Music> folder on the new one. Again, deauthorize the old computer if no longer required.
Both methods should give the new computer a working clone of the library that was on the old one. As far as iTunes is concerned this is still the "home" library for your devices so you shouldn't have any issues with iTunes wanting to erase and reload.
I'd recommend method 1 since it establishes an ongoing backup for your library.
Note if you have failed to move contacts and calendar items across you should create one dummy entry of each in your new profile and iTunes should merge the existing data from the device.
If your media folder has been split out from the main iTunes folder you may need to do some preparatory work to make it easier to move. See make a split library portable.
Should you be in the unfortunate position where you are no longer able to access your original library or a backup then then see Recover your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device for advice on how to set up your devices with a new library with the maximum preservation of data.
tt2

Transferring library to new laptop

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