Trying to move iPod library to an external hard drive

Okay I am totally confused and hope that some of you can help me. I have a 60GB iPod and a few months ago I tried to move my library to an external portable hard drive (so it wouldn't take up so much room on my computer hard drive) using the instructions in the manual for iPod. Moving the library using the instructions in the manual did not include my playlists and play count and etc. Then I realized that when I opened iTunes the file names were there but the songs wouldn't play. So I came to the message board for help. Someone gave me links to info on how to move the music from iPod to iTunes including play count and etc. Well I tried that but all of the songs were not transferred (I have over 7000 on my iPod now) and some songs are being transfered more than once when I try to run the program again to add the songs that were missed. This whole process has been a mess!!!! So I just stopped working with it. So now I really just need to start from the beginning. I want to rebuild my library from my iPod to iTunes but I want the iTunes library to be on an external hard drive so that it is not taking up all the extra room on my laptop. Can this be done? Can someone help me please!!!! I am in desperate need of help!!! Thanks!!!
HP notebook Windows XP

Usually, I set up my ExHDs to be a letter that is farther down the alphabet. Try 'M:' for Music, or 'T:' for Tunes. That way, anything else you add will not take up that drive letter inadvertently.
Remap you ExHD to another letter. See the instructions below:
-- Click on 'Start'
-- Right-click on 'My Computer'
-- Select 'Manage' from the drop down box
-- That will launch the 'Computer Management' utility. From there, select 'Disk Management'
-- If you right-click on the ExHD drive letter, you should be able to 'Change Drive Letter and Path'
-- Change only one drive letter at a time
-- Reboot after the change, for it to take effect.
-- Repeat for additional drives
Also see: How to change drive letter assignments in Windows XP

Similar Messages

Trying to move iTunes library to new external hard drive

I'm trying to move my iTunes library to a new, second, external hard drive and I'm not having much luck. I have two G-Tech 500 GB external drives. One is my Time Capsule and the other one I plan to use to house my iTunes and iPhoto libraries -- I want to free up space on my internal drive.
The iPhoto library moved over to the new disk with no problems. iTunes, on the other hand, keeps hanging up, with the "beach ball of death" and a lot of file error messages. I began moving my iTunes library onto the external drive by following these steps:
• Open iTunes
• Go to Itunes Preferences
• Click the Advanced Tab
• Note where the Music Library's located under iTunes Media folder location
• Navigate to the folder and drag the library onto the external HD.
The plan was to then go back over to iTunes and input the folder location in the iTunes Preferences so iTunes can find the library again. However, the simple drag-and-drop just isn't working. My iTunes library is about 10,000 songs and videos; if I have to do this album by album (which seems to be working, but I'm still having the occasional hang-up and freeze) it will take weeks! Has anyone had this problem before, and if so, did you find a fix?
Any advice is greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance for taking the time to look -- Tom

the support article Dennis pointed you to would consolidate your media files to the external but keep the iTunes folder on your startup disk.
another approach would be to copy the entire iTunes folder to the external and run your library from there (this assumes that all your media files are currently in <MacintoshHD>/users/<yourname>/music/iTunes/iTunes music).
so, if you're willing, start over yet again. before you proceed, erase the external using disk utility and make sure it is formatted for Mac (make sure the partition map scheme of the drive is GUID and the volume is Mac OS extended (journaled)).
now copy the entire iTunes folder (not just the iTunes music folder) to the external using the finder. when the copying has finished, launch iTunes while holding the option key, click on +choose library+ when prompted, and select the iTunes folder on the external.
once you're satisfied everything worked as expected, you can delete the contents of your local iTunes music folder.
JGG

I was trying to move my itunes to an external hard drive and I have now lost all music not purchased with itunes

I was trying to move my music to an external hard drive but now I have lost all music that was not purchased with itunes. I never hit delete so its still somewhere on my imac. How do I find it?

Do a Spotlight search or do a logical search along folders that make sense such as looking in the music folder first. Moving a library correctly should not result in any loss, and I can't think of any way to move a library and lost just a select grouping of files. How were you trying to effect this?

I accidentally deleted my media files from iTunes and Trash when I was trying to move the files to an external hard drive. Is there a way to restore the media files from a Time Machine backup or from iTunes Match? What are the steps to do this?

I accidentally deleted my media files from iTunes and Trash when I was trying to move the files to an external hard drive. Is there a way to restore the media files from a Time Machine backup or from iTunes Match? What are the steps to do this?

If you have been backing up on Timemachine.
All you need to do is enter time machine... Then the rest is obvious.
Find the iTunes folder and hit 'Restor'.
If not the only way to get all your iTunes music back is to enter iTunes Store.
On the right hand side you should see 'Purchased'.
Click 'purchased' and there you have it.

How do I move iTunes library to an external hard drive to use less space?

How do I move iTunes library to an external hard drive to use less space?

Our iTunes guru Terence Devlin advises the following:
1. Quit iTunes
2. Drag the iTunes folder from your internal hd - located in ~/Music folder - to your external hd. DO NOT delete the original one from your internal hd... yet!
3. When the transfer is complete, press and hold the Option(alt) key and fire up iTunes.
4. A "Choose iTunes Library" window will come up. Click on the "Choose Library" button.
5. Navigate to where the iTunes folder is located in the external hd.
6. Within the iTunes folder, select the iTunes Library file and click Choose...
That's it. iTunes will now display all your playlists, songs, movies, podcasts etc. At this point, should you wish, you can delete the iTunes folder from the internal hd to free up space.
More info:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1751
Or if you prefer a more complicated explanation:
http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/moving-your-itunes-library-to -a-new-hard-drive

I've tried moving my iTunes library to an external hard drive but it is still on my local C drive?

Hi there,
I am working on PC equipment here, not Apple. I have tried consolidating my my iTunes library and changing the "iTunes Media folder location" to my external hard drive as described on some discussions on this website and at first it seemed to work. But when I disconnect my external hard drive (E: drive) and click my iTunes icon on my desktop, iTunes still comes from my local C: drive, so iTunes is still there taking up all my memory space on C:drive. What I want to do is set up my iTunes to be entirely on my my external E: drive and not on my C:drive at all (it is taking up WAY too much memory on my c:drive). So here are my questions:
1. If I have correctly copied all my iTunes library onto my E:drive - is it just a copy and all the original information is still in C;drive as well? If so, how do I go about clearing my library in C:drive?
2. Do I have to 'unistall' iTunes from my C:drive to get rid of all my memory robbing iTune files. If so, how can I make sure that all my information has been copied onto my external E:drive before I get rid of all my music? I don't want to lose everything?
I just want to clear up my local C:drive on my laptop to get my memory back, what can I do?
Thanks.

Thanks so much for your tip!! I did that, but it says there's no files in the library.
Originaly in Itunes > preferences>advanced>under folder location I put in new path pointing to the Ex HD. made a new folder for my son's library "Nick's Itunes Library". (Keep itunes media folder organized is checked).
Clicked on change.
Then i was prompted ot move the exisiting files over which I did. Went to File>Library>Organize Library>consolidate files>OK
I did all that. I closed itunes, went to the external HD to verify all the files were there. They were. Went back into itunes on the mac mini HD and deleted the files one at a time. I realize that this whole thing is not a deal breaker as it is all in iCloud. And can be downloaded again if necessary. But I want to know how to do this manually.
I just checked the external HD again. The files are there, Itunes isn't recognizing them is my guess.

I have tried transferring my iphoto library to my external hard drive and it's not working.

I have a Macbook Pro. I have recently gotten into photography and to save space on my internal hard drive, I bought an external hard drive to keep all of my photos on. It's a Toshiba with 1 TB of memory. I have searched and searched on how to transfer my iphoto library to it and I'm getting the same answer. I open two finder windows, one with pictures open, the other with the external hard drive open. I have tried to drag the iphoto library icon to the second window to the external hard drive and instead of it staying there and loading everything it gives me the circle with a diagonal line through it and floats back up to the pictures finder window. I'm not sure what the problem is, but I really need help!

you need to make sure the drive you are moving the iphoto library to is formatted in the mac OS extended journaled format
you can view and/or change this in the disk utility which is found in the utilities folder in applications within finder.
on the left side select the external HD and then click on the erase tab it will show you the format it's currnetly in, if it's not mac OS extended journaled select that from the drop down and then hit the button that says erase.
after the erase is complete try the article i gave you again to move the location of the lbrary and it should work.
good luck

How do I move iPhoto library to an external hard drive?

I'm Running iPhoto 08 under leopard, and because my old laptop hard drive is just too small, I've cloned it onto an external hard drive. I have relocated my iTunes library to the external drive and would now like to do the same to my iPhoto library so that I can free up much needed space on the iBooks drive.
How should I do this? I also have pictures from an earlier iphoto library on another computer. I would like to bring these into my main iphoto library and consolidate the two. Is this possible?

1. Drag it over, launch iPhoto with the Option key held down, and point it there.
2. Use the iPhoto Library Manager.
(58842)

My Mac is telling me that my disk is full. I have bought an external hard drive and have just listened to a youtube tutorial on how to move iTunes library to the external hard drive. If I do this can I still load new media on my Mac without the external?

my Mac is telling me that my disk is full. I have bought an external hard drive and watched a youtube tutorial on moving iTunes library to external hard drive. Will I still be able to use iTunes on my Mac for new media or will this now only work through my external hard drive?

To do this you need to learn the details of how iTunes works. For example, you just said, "leave my iTunes on my computer". iTunes is the application itself so of course it has to be on your computer. That said, I therefore don't know what you mean when you say leave iTunes on your computer. The phrasing of your question suggests to me, if I may be frank, you don't understand how iTunes works fully and we can't just give you a "do this" answer and have it work out. It would be too easy to make a mess of things.
What are the iTunes library files? - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1660
More on iTunes library files and what they do - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITunes#Media_management
What are all those iTunes files? - http://www.macworld.com/article/139974/2009/04/itunes_files.html
Where are my iTunes files located? - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1391
Yes, you can download media and delete it again (but if it is from the iTunes Store there is the possibility you can't always download it again). Of course if you want to keep a copy you can archive it. I have done that with some files for which I have no room on my computer. I transfer them to an external hard drive and delete the reference to the file (but not the file itself) from my library. If I want a quick listen I go to the file on the drive and use Quicktime player or something else non-iTunes so I don't have to have it added to iTunes and delete again. I don't know if that is the solution you are looking for. I could leave the reference in iTunes but if the file can't be located by iTunes it will tell me there is a broken link = ! I guess I could live with that except I periodically scan my library for broken links and don't want it getting confused with ones I have done deliberately and ones suggesting I am really missing a file somewhere.
Another possibility is to make a second iTunes library for material you are archiving and only use that library when the computer is using the external drive. There are tricky aspects to dong that but it is a possibility too.
The simple solution for most people with computers with tiny drives (as most seem to be these days) is to put their whole iTunes library on an external drive and use it from there.

Using my iTunes library from an external hard drive to a brand new Macbook.

This seems to be such a simple thing to be able to do but I'm fearing it's not. Basically I've had an iMac for 3 years and during that time have built up around 165gb in my iTunes folder. So I learnt off the net how to move my library onto an external hard drive so that I can free up the space on my iMac and play my iTunes library from the external drive. So far so good. My iPhone 4 is obviously connected to my iMac and thats how I get my media on and off the phone. Here's where my problems begin.
I've just bought a Macbook Pro. Its obviously empty and has no media on it. I have paired my iPhone 4 with the new Macbook but obviously the iTunes library on my new Macbook is empty. I downloaded a couple of podcasts onto my new machine and tried to put them onto my phone but got a message saying that the podcasts I currently have on my phone (that are on there from my iMac iTunes library) were going to be deleted and the new ones would be put on. Still with me? So, if I could get my original 165gb library thats now on my external hard drive to be seen on my new Macbook that would possibly solve my problems. But I cant see a simple way of doing this. I've pointed the iTunes Media Location folder in the preferences on my new Macbook to the same folder on my external hard drive as is on my iMac but iTunes on my Macbook is not showing up my library. Do I really have to open every album into iTunes on my Macbook seperately? It seems such a stupid, laborious way of doing it. As if you cant have two Apple computers and run one iTunes library off an external hard drive so that its the same on both machines.
Help!
Message was edited by: Eels290776

Eels290776 wrote:
if my external hard drive is not connected to either of my machines, and I download something onto my iMac and then something different onto my Macbook, where are my machines going to be storing the new downloaded media
when the drive is not connected, +iTunes media folder location+ will default back to <MacintoshHD>/users/<yourname>/music/iTunes/iTunes music (or media)
and when I next connect the external hard drive how will I easily get the newly downloaded media onto the external HD
you'd have to point +iTunes media folder location+ back to the external via preferences > advanced > iTunes media folder location, then file > library, organize library > consolidate files
and essentially, to have it easily readable on both machines?
in that case it might be best to copy the entire iTunes folder to the external. then, on each machine, launch iTunes while pressing option on your keyboard. when prompted, click on +choose library+ and navigate to the iTunes folder on the external.
note only one iTunes can access the iTunes library @ a time !
also, make sure the external is mounted on either machine before launching iTunes.
JGG

Keeping my iTunes Library on an external hard drive

I just don't have enough space anymore for my iTunes songs and videos and podcasts, etc. I would like to get a TB or a 1.5 TB external hard drive with a USB connection and move my library to the external hard drive. I have two questions. Will this work as well as the library being on my system hard drive (in terms of not having any slowdown, esp with videos) and is there anything special in the specs of an external hard drive I should look for for optimal performance?

The simple answer to this is no, your iTunes will be significantly slower if your media files are stored on an external HDD connected by USB. If your computer has an eSATA socket then get an external HDD that has an eSATA connection option as this is much faster than USB 2. If you are stuck with USB make sure you get a desktop external HDD with its own power supply. The small portable drives which are powered via the USB cable from the computer/laptop are much slower and really are not suitable to be the location of your library.

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.

I was trying to move my photos from the iPhoto library to an external hard drive. I now have a desktop display of thousands of cascading photos. How do I remove them from my desktop screen?

I was trying to move my photos from the iPhoto library to an external hard drive. I now have a desktop display of thousands of cascading photos. How do I remove them from my desktop screen?

Strangely enough we can not see you so it really helps if you share with use exactly what you have, exactly what you did and details about the problem
what version of iPhoto and of the OS? What exact steps did you do? where are you seeing these "thousands of cascading photos" now and using what software and what exactly did you want to accomplish
The correct way to move your iphoto library to an external drive is to verify the drive is formatted Mac OS extended (journal) and then drag the iphotl library intact as a single entity to is
The correct way to move some or all of your photos is to select them in iphoto and export 9file menu ==> export -- https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-4921 ) to the external drive
LN

HT1229 Tried moving my library to an external hard drive and now when I open iPhoto, there are no pictures there!!!!

I am using iPhoto '08 and moved my library to my external hard drive exactly as all the instructions online explained how to do. I renamed the original "iPhoto Library.old" and ,y external hard drive shows a iPhoto library using the same amount of memory as what it shows on my internal hard drive. Here is where is becomes a problem. When I hold the option key and open iPhoto, the only box that comes up does not give me a list of libraries to choose from. It give me the option to "Create new library" or "choose existing library". When I click "choose existing library" I can find the copied library on my external hard drive but when I open it, iPhoto shows No Photos. When I have tried opening the original iPhoto Library (the exact same way using the option key and choosing library) that I have not done anything to, except rename it, it does the exact same thing: No Photos. Both my internal and external hard drives show about 137 GB of space being taken up by photos but I can't access them. My other big problem is that ,y internal hard drive is completely full, which is why I am trying to transfer them to an external, to free up space so I am very limited on what I can do because I have no free space. Also, when I open iPhoto and try to go to the Preferences to change to path under advanced settings, it freezes and I have to force close it.
Ay advice would be greatly appreciated as I am getting stressed out that I can't open my thousands of photos!

My guess is that the library has been corrupted from being run on an overfull HD.
So, try rebuild the Library on the External
Try these in order - from best option on down...
1. Do you have an up-to-date back up? If so, try copy the library6.iphoto file from the back up to the iPhoto Library (Right Click -> Show Package Contents) allowing it to overwrite the damaged file.
2. Download iPhoto Library Manager and use its rebuild function. (In Library Manager it's the FIle -> Rebuild command)
This will create an entirely new library. It will then copy (or try to) your photos and all the associated metadata and versions to this new Library, and arrange it as close as it can to what you had in the damaged Library. It does this based on information it finds in the iPhoto sharing mechanism - but that means that things not shared won't be there, so no slideshows, books or calendars, for instance - but it should get all your events, albums and keywords, faces and places back.
Because this process creates an entirely new library and leaves your old one untouched, it is non-destructive, and if you're not happy with the results you can simply return to your old one.
3. If neither of these work then you'll need to create and populate a new library.
To create and populate a new *iPhoto 08* library:
Note this will give you a working library with the same Events and pictures as before, however, you will lose your albums, keywords, modified versions, books, calendars etc.
In the iPhoto Preferences -> Events Uncheck the box at 'Imported Items from the Finder'
Move the iPhoto Library to the desktop
Launch iPhoto. It will ask if you wish to create a new Library. Say Yes.
Go into the iPhoto Library (Right Click -> Show Package Contents) on your desktop and find the Originals folder. From the Originals folder drag the individual Event Folders to the iPhoto Window and it will recreate them in the new library.
When you're sure all is well you can delete the iPhoto Library on your desktop.
In the future, in addition to your usual back up routine, you might like to make a copy of the library6.iPhoto file whenever you have made changes to the library as protection against database corruption.

I am trying to backup my Itunes onto my external hard drive. I am at the step where I on Itunes, click on File - Library - Organize library. I am suppose to check mark both boxes there, It won't allow me to check mark the second box, why? How to fix this.

I am trying to backup my Itunes onto my external hard drive. I am at the step where I on Itunes, click on File ->Library ->Organize library. I am suppose to check mark both boxes there, the first being "Consolidate Files" & the second being "Reorganize files in the folder 'Itunes Media'. I am able to checkmark the first box but It won't allow me to check mark the second box, why? How can i fix this? Please help!

Well you must have made a mistake somewhere. The last instruction of step four reads:
When you've found your iTunes library folder, drag that folder to your external hard drive. This will begin the iTunes backup. The amount of time the backup will take depends on the size of your library. When the transfer is done, your backup is complete and your external hard drive can be disconnected.
Normally dragging content from to a new location on a different drive will result in a copy action which is what you were supposed to do. At a guess you somehow managed to move the iTunes folder. Then when you started iTunes it created a new blank library for you assuming it had just been installed rather that raising a warning.
Close iTunes. Rename the iTunes folder on the internal drive as iTunes (Empty) then copy the iTunes folder from the external back into the User's Music folder. Start iTunes. All should be well.
When you've made sure it all works please read my User Tip and use that method to backup in future. Since you already have a folder with the backup in place you can skip the "Make New" operation in the fourth step and simply choose the external folder.
tt2

Trying to move iPod library to an external hard drive

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