Using external hard drive for music files NOT in iTunes music folder

Hi there. Due to lacking disk space on my computer I have all my music files (that I had before using iTunes) on an external HD. I can easily import these drives to iTunes (v.8) without copying them to the iTunes music folder. But when I want to synchronize my iPod the next time, iTunes cannot find the files on my external HD and I have to import them all again, delete all the duplicates and - worst of all - do all the playlist sorting again! Is there a solution to this without putting all my music into the iTunes music folder (I would like to keep it separated)? Thanks in advance!

I use an external firewire drive to store my iTunes library on. One thing to be aware of...
You need to go into your iTunes preferences, then to "Advanced", then select the location where you want to store your iTunes Music folder. In my case it is in a folder titled "Music" on my external firewire drive. The iTunes "Library" file is stored on your internal hard drive.
The thing that can cause you problems it that....if you forget to turn on the external drive before you boot up your Mac, the iTunes library file will look for your music folder and won't be able to find it. So a new iTunes Music folder will be created on your internal hard drive, with nothing in it. You'll see all of your songs listed in your iTunes program...but if you try to double click on any of the songs to play them, you'll get an exclamation mark saying "cannot find file".
If this happens, you need to delete the new iTunes Music folder on your internal drive (but not the iTunes Library file!), then quit iTunes, turn on the external drive, then relaunch iTunes....and it will find the original music folder.
It's a hassle that I have had to go though many times, I keep forgetting to turn on that drive before launching iTunes.
Oh, one other thing....about the way you worded your post. You aren't running short on "memory", you are running short on "storage"....they are two different things. Hard drives are storage, RAM chips are "memory" that run your programs.

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