Why is external hard drive freezing on iTunes upload?

I have been having problems with uploading music from an external hard drive into iTunes for about a month and I do not know what to do. I recently purchased a HP Envy 15 running Windows 7 64bit home edition. I decided to scrub my iTunes library and start new with uploading selected CDs and purchases from both Apple and Amazon onto the external hard driv e (Western Digital 1TB). Putting the music on the external hard drive is not an issue as I see that all of my music files are there. However, when it comes to adding all my music folders into iTunes the problem starts. The upload will get to song 200-300 and both the hard drive and program will freeze. When I first purchased the laptop I tried the same thing and connecting my iPod classic to the laptop and had the same issue causing my whole computer to freeze following by the blue screen of death. Concerned, I sent my laptop to HP to fix thinking my USB drives were bad. I just received back a week ago and I am having a repeat issue minus the blue screen of death. Again, putting my CDs onto the external hard drive was not a problem at all, but when I want to add my Amazon MP3 files, other iTunes music and other folders my external hard drive freezes.
I have my external plugged into the USB 3.0 port while attempting the upload and not sure if this is the issue. I am also unsure if enough power is getting to the hard drive during upload as I have read about this being an issue for some users. Can anyone provide any assistance on this? I am trying to avoid putting all 5000-7000 songs on my main drive to get my music back on my iPod and find this super annoying. Any assistance would be great, thanks.

Nope, one of the selling points of the drive was that it came ready to work with both Mac and Windows (the product description says there is an NTFS drive installed for use on Mac). No hacking or installing on my part.
But I think I figured it out. Apparentely, Mavericks comes installed with something that does not allow it to write NTFS no matter what (well, unless you go through a whole bunch of technical stuff to rewrite the software). My old MacBook was Leopard.
I'll just reformat the external hard drive for Mac, and if I ever need to use it on a Windows, I'll install HFS+ Explorer on the Windows. Oh well.

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External Hard Drive problems with iTunes and iPod

I recently purchased a 320 gig external hard drive for my computer, hoping in part to load my iTunes library onto it. Obviously I'd have much more room on disc than my actual iPod, so I was going to manually manage my music (an option I didn't have selected on my iPod before).
I followed all the online help topics which have all been helpful so far. I organized my music files, changed my directory, consolidated my library, and now everything is on the external hard drive and is working just fine.
The problem comes when I connect my iPod. iTunes barely even seems to recognize my iPod all of a sudden, saying that it has been corrupted and needs to be restored. When I try restoring it, nothing happens, and I can't seem to do a thing about it through iTunes. Of course, there's actually nothing wrong with the iPod at all, since it still works fine and plays music exactly the same as before. It simply won't update or do anything at all when hooked up to my computer.
I know this has something to do with the new hard drive, since everything was just fine a few hours ago, I just can't figure out why I can't get my iPod to sync all of a sudden. Like I said, my iPod is working fine otherwise, iTunes is playing music through the external hard drive without any issues, and I haven't touched any files other than music files (I haven't even deleted them off my original hard drive yet, so all the original fines remain unchanged, even though I switched the directory).
To the best of my knowledge, all my software is up to date, and the iPod is a 30 gig photo. Any ideas?
pc Windows XP

Yeah, I gave the new drive the letter Z, so there shouldn't have been any conflicts there. I also tried your other suggestion, and while the computer recognized my external hard drive, it didn't seem to make any difference once I plugged in the iPod again.
I've been wrestling with this for days now. I've tried changing the drive letters for both the external hard drive and my iPod several times (but no matter what, the iPod always seems to take F when it's unplugged and then plugged back in). I've tried restoring the iPod on multiple occasions. I've tried reinstalling all my USB drivers. I've consolidated my music library on several occasions (I now have two identical libraries on my external hard drive), yet annoyingly, iTunes seems to keep switching file paths away from the external hard drive and back to their original locations on the C drive. I'm trying to free up internal hard drive space, not house 30 gigs of media on it. That's what this new external hard drive is for.
Somehow, I was able to get them both to be recognized at the same time, but it never lasts long. I'll start iTunes with the external hard drive disconnected, plug in my iPod, wait for the iPod screen to come up in iTunes, then plug my external hard drive back in. Then, I can miraculously start to transfer music back onto my iPod, but iTunes doesn't seem to want this to happen for some reason, and will usually cut off the transfer. So far I've managed to put three whole songs on my iPod.
So now I'm trying to do two things. One, the same as before, get my computer and iTunes to recognize both my iPod and my external hard dive at the same time. And two, get iTunes to stop changing the file paths back to the C drive. These files are already on my external hard drive and don't need to change.
(As a side note, I should comment on how helpful people are on this discussion board. The Apple representitives I called on several occasions seemed totally unwilling to help, acting more like pushy salesmen than anything, while people here seem to be much more friendly and knowledgeable. Just thought it needed to be said.)
pc Windows XP

HT2518 How do I transfer music from an external hard drive to my itunes on my mac? I have put the files into the itunes media, but they are not showing up in iTunes!

How do I transfer music from an external hard drive to my itunes on my mac? I have put the files into the itunes media, but they are not showing up in iTunes!

Hi, did you try iTunes>File>Import?

I recently reset my computer and copy my music from an external hard drive to my itunes library. When I click on a song to play i get an error message that says " the song could not be used because the original file could not be found". need help

I recently reset my computer and copy my music from an external hard drive to my itunes library. When I click on a song to play i get an error message that says " the song could not be used because the original file could not be found". But when I have my external hard drive plug in the song will play with no problem. What do I need to do to play my music without having the external harddrive plug in ???????? Please help

Because the location for each song in your library is on your hard drive. If the hard drive isn't there, how can iTunes play it?
You'll have to move/copy the music from your hard drive to your computer's hard drive.
Basically, EASIEST way to do all this, if you don't care about your play counts, etc...
-Delete EVERYTHING from iTunes, so that your library is now empty.
-Go to "Advanced" inside of the "Preferences" window, found in the "Edit" drop-down. You can also access Preferences by pressing Ctrl+, (Press Ctrl and the comma key)
-Change your iTunes Media Folder Location to something simple, but on your computer. I use C:/iTunes. Make sure "Keep iTunes Media Folder Organized" and "Copy files to...." are both checked. You can close Preferences now.
-Now, drag and drop your music from your hard drive into your iTunes library. iTunes will automatically add the music to your library, as you would expect, and also creates a copy of each file to place into that iTunes Media Folder you just created.
Shouldn't have any more problems...

I have an old iPod Classic with 80 GB (I think) of space. I saved all my songs in an external hard drive, but the iTunes library resided in an old computer (no longer working). Can I get the libray from my iPod and use it in my new computer (Windows)?

I have an old iPod Classic with 80 GB (I think) of space. I saved all my songs in an external hard drive, but the iTunes library resided in an old computer (no longer working). Can I get the library from my iPod and use it in my new computer (Windows)?

You might want to check your process for moving your iTunes music against this: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527.

Can I move my itunes media folder to an external hard drive without having Itunes managing the media folder

Hi all....I have spent weeks tidying up my music collection. I moved it all to Itunes media folder. Since I don't like how Itunes manages this folder I manually organised it myself so that albums where together etc. I am wondering if there is a fool proof way to move my media folder to an external hard drive without letting itunes manage and consolidate files as this will reverse all the work I did in organising. Im not sure if Im posting to the right place but fingers crossed:)
Thanks in advance

Just one more thing puhlease:) This is the list of things that are in my iTunes folder. Album artwork, Automatically add to iTunes, iTunes media, Mobile apllications, podcasts, previous itunes libraries, voice memos. Then it has files itunes preferences, itunes libary extras, itunes libarry genius, itunes libraary, itunes music library......Is there stuff in there that doesnt need to be there as some are repeated in itunes media folder which contains....automatically add to itunes, books, downloads, home videos, mobile applications, music, podcasts, tones, voice memos and itunes preferences. Any thoughts on deleting some folders??? Thankyou so much for your time on this

I am using a T61 ThinkPad with an external hard drive and my itunes library keeps disapearing but remains on the external drive. Any idea how to fix this so my music doesn't disapear all the time? It's a real drag pulling music back into iTunes each week.

I am using a T61 ThinkPad with an external hard drive and my itunes library keeps disapearing but remains on the external drive. Any idea how to fix this so my music doesn't disapear all the time? It's a real drag pulling music back into iTunes each week

In iTunes 11 uncheck the preferences setting in in the iTunes Preferences panel "Advanced > Copy Files to iTunes Media folder when adding to Library"

HT2292 After installing iTunes 11.1.5, my external hard drive holding my iTunes music cannot be acccessed

After installing iTunes 11.1.5, my external hard drive holding my iTunes music cannot be acccessed. Attempting to open the iTunes folder location locks up the computer and requires a cold reboot to restore.

Hello, LoudenFam.
Thank you for the question. Try the steps in the article below as they may help you resolve the issue that you are experiencing with iTunes becoming unresponsive.
iTunes for Windows Vista, Windows 7, or Windows 8: Fix unexpected quits or launch issues
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1717
Cheers,
Jason H.

Ok here goes. I have so much music I don't want to store it all on my computer and would like to store on an external hard drive. So if all my music is on the external hard drive, how will iTunes see it in order to play the music. Thanks

ok here goes. I have so much music I don't want to store it all on my computer and would like to store on an external hard drive. So if all my music is on the external hard drive, how will iTunes see it in order to play the music. Thanks

This article might help you moving/relocating your library :
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1449
Cheers AF

How do I get my external hard-drive recognised by iTunes?

I have 2 external hard drives, but now iTunes 12 will only recognize 1 of them. When I plug in the second for a back-up, it doesn't show up on the screen. This just happened with the latest upgrade to iTunes 12. I have a MacBook with OS X Version 10.7.5.

So there is no itunes 12. You must be having this problem in the future LOL
So you library is on the external? Make sure itunes is set to look on that drive for it, after checking to be sure the drives have different names, do into the prefs/advanced and set the location of the itunes library file/folder
I ran itunes on an extrernal for years its always been very reliable.

I have been using an external hard drive for my itunes media folder. Today, I opened itunes on my PC and all of my playlists were missing, as well as the majority of my hundreds of hours of files. How do I restore?

How do I restore/reconnect my lost USB external hard drive connection to itunes on my PC?

You're welcome.
See also Make a split library portable and Backup your iTunes for Windows library with SyncToy.
tt2

Hello, I just successfully copied my iPhoto (v.9.5.1) library to my WD My Book external hard drive. Then I uploaded photos from my various cameras (Canon Powershot

Hello, I just successfully copied my iPhoto (v.9.5.1) library to my WD My Book external hard drive. Then I uploaded photos from my various cameras (Canon Powershot & Canon SLR) to the My Book iPhoto only. It seemed successful and I was able to move some around & organize my events - seeing the pictures and even sending them through the iPhoto send program. But today when I reopen the My Book iPhoto, many of my pictures are missing (mostly the ones from the Canon SLR). I see the newly made events, but they have 0 pictures! I have shut down, disconnected the drive, reconnected & restarted = same thing. Can anyone tell me how to recover these photos? (They are still on the cameras' memory cards, so all is not lost!)
thank you!

andrea, don't work with your iPhoto libraries at all, until you have freed a considerable amount of disk space on your Mac. Each iPhoto crash due to lack of disk space can leave you iPhoto library corrupted, and you cannot run a library repair with only 7GB of space available.
First free space by moving large media files of your drive, and then continue to trouble shoot your library.
The WD My Book was properly formatted & partitioned into 1TB (a Super Duper backup of my whole MacBook Pro) & 2TB (the place I plan to house all my photos/videos & work from to be able to get them off the computer hard drive).
How are you planning to backup the partition with your media (videos, photos)? Do you have a second drive to back them up also?

Using an external hard drive to store itunes music.

I have recently put my itunes music library onto an external hard drive instead of storing it on my laptop, to save space. I have also told itunes where the new itunes library is on the external hard drive, using the 'preferences' folder.
Whilst the music was stored on both places, the files would play fine in itunes. However now that i have deleted them from my laptop, the songs cannot find the location of each music file, despite me having changed the location of the itunes library in the 'preferences' folder. Can anyone suggest why this is happening and what I can do to fix this?

Can anyone suggest why this is happening
Because you moved your files incorrecty.
iTunes prefs -> Advanced and point you riTunes music folder where you want youer music to gbe located.
Then iTunes menu File -> Library -> Consolidate.
and what I can do to fix this?
iTunes prefs -> Advanced. Make sure the iTunes music folder location is pointing to the iTunes music folder on the external.
Then File -> Add folder to library and select the music folder on the external.

How do I use External Hard Drive for my iTunes Library?

I have a Mac Mini that my iTunes Library has outgrown. I want to use my Mac Air as my primary iTunes "sync" computer using an external hard drive. How do I move my iTunes library to the external hard drive? How do I get MacBook Air to sync iDevices?

Easy method 1:
Move or Copy entire working library from current location to the root of your external drive. Press & hold down shift (option on a Mac) as you click the icon to start iTunes. Click Choose when prompted, then browse to ..\iTunes\iTunes Library.itl on the external. If you copied the library across then test your new library works properly after renaming the original folder, before deleting the original folder to recover space.
Easy method 2:
If you haven't really started to build your library. Press & hold down shift as you click the icon to start iTunes. Click Create. Browse to the root of the external drive. Drag your media into ..\iTunes\iTunes Media\Automatically Add to iTunes.
Complex method:
Required if you've already tried other things and now have media & library scattered around. See the post make a split library portable.
tt2

HT5085 I bought a new computer. I backed up my old computer and put my itunes library on an external hard drive, that I then uploaded to the new computer. However, how do I access my Itunes account and use the $25.00 or so credit that Ihave and purchase

I bought a new computer, I backed up my itunes library on an external hard drive from the old computer. I then uploaded the external hardrive to my new comupeter Windows 8 - How do I access my apple store account to purchase additional music and use the $25 or so dollars I have in credit. ?
Thanks - Patti

You should be able to log into your account via the Store > Sign In menu option - if the drop-down menus aren't showing the control-B should them to show.
Your balance should be accessible wherever you are signed into the account. My account's balance shows at the top left of the store's page on my computer's iTunes, and by logging in to view my account via the Store > View Account menu option (that option will only show after you've signed in).

Why is external hard drive freezing on iTunes upload?

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