Why won't iTunes recognize my iPod, ever since I got an external hard drive

I got an external drive and store my library there on the external drive. Ever since, iTunes will not recognize my iPod so I cannot update anything. Any suggestions?? Do I need to store the music on my hard drive and only use the external drive for back up?

If you want to make another drive (direct or portable) on your PC the main music location for iTunes, move all song files there, as well as any future imported music from CDs, here is one method (see the links below):
You will maintain your playlists, ratings, comments, etc. This will only move your music folders location, NOT your iTunes program files. It is my opinion that programs (i.e. – iTunes) work better when installed on your main hard drive. At the very least, it makes it easier to manage all your programs if they are centrally located on one hard drive (the Windows default standard).
See these links for some step-by-step info:
iLounge: Moving your iTunes Library to a New Hard Drive
MacMuse: iTfW: Move iTunes music/Library to new drive
iTunes: Moving your iTunes Music folder
If you are moving the music to an external hard drive or network drive, after the transfer, and to work correctly, the drive must be running prior to your opening iTunes. If not, iTunes will reset the location of your music folder location to the default.

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Ipod touch will not connect to itunes @ work computer, but will connect to itunes @ home computer? why won't itunes see my ipod at work?

ipod touch will not connect to itunes @ work computer, but will connect to itunes @ home computer? why won't itunes see my ipod at work?

Try here:
iPhone, iPad, iPod touch: Device not recognized in iTunes for Mac OS X
Mac OS X v10.6 or later: iOS device not recognized in iTunes after restart

I had an HP laptop with Itunes on it and kept my library on an external hard drive. I had a 160gb classic Ipod. My computer died and i am buying a new one (mac is out of budget) When I get my new computer, obviously I will download Itunes. My Ipod s

I had an HP laptop with Itunes on it and kept my library on an external hard drive. I had a 160gb classic Ipod.
My computer died and i am buying a new one (mac is out of budget)
When I get my new computer, obviously I will download Itunes. My Ipod still has all the music on it and the external hard drive is ok.
I don't want to "erase" or lose any information when I sync with a new itunes that is "empty"
What are the steps? After I download Itunes and set the folder location to my external harddrive what is next? Will Itunes recognize my IPOD? Will it load the music/list from my ipd or external into itunes?
Thanks in advance

The following user tip is worth checking through:
Recovering your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device

My PC computer was wiped (virus) including itunes. How do I transfer the many playlists and music to the new re-installed itunes?? Ipod is synced to old itunes. I have all original music files on external hard drive. Please help?

My PC computer was wiped (virus) including itunes. How do I transfer the many playlists and music on my ipod to the new re-installed itunes?? Ipod is synced to old itunes. I have all original music files on external hard drive. Please help?
New itunes is trying to wipe the ipod. But have many many playlists (many hours making) which I want to save. Any help would be appreciated.

If you want to just extract the playlists from your iPod, plug it in iTunes. When it appears under devices, right->click on it and choose Export Playlists. Save them to a location such as your desktop and them import them into your library once you have copied and imported all of your music back into it.
See this older post from another forum member Zevoneer covering the different methods and software available to assist you with the task of copying content from your iPod back to your PC and into iTunes.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2452022?start=0&tstart=0
B-rock

How to sync iPod without losing music? (Lost external hard drive, which I used as a source)

I stored my iTunes library on my external hard drive, which held music purchased through iTunes, other sources, and personal music files.
My external hard drive recently broke. I will have to rebuild my library, but I have some things I'd like to add to my iPod. If I sync it now (the songs still show up in my library on iTunes, but there are no files to support them), will I lose all those? Previously, there have been times where I synced my iPod without my external hard drive and it kept them as long as I didn't delete them from the library or uncheck them. The only thing was that if I did remove them, I wouldn't be able to put them back. Does it still work like that?
I'd rather not risk all my music to put 4 songs on, if it won't work, you know?

Try syncing using the manual method
Try syncing using the manual method
Managing content manually on iPhone, iPad, and iPod
However, the rebuilding you did may have resulted in the iPod seeing the library as a new library. You can only sync with one library/computer. In that case:
Syncing to a "New" Computer or replacing a "crashed" Hard Drive: Apple Support Communities

Itunes from PC to Mac but kept on an external hard drive

Afternoon All,
I would appreciate any help I could get on the following query. After owning PC's for years that gave me nothing but trouble I finally upgraded to a 21" Imac two weeks ago.
I'm not a massive user of computers (Itunes and the other half has a load of photos) but given that this thing is so slick looking I've decided to pay more attention to the maintenance of it. So as not to clog up the hard drive I've decided to keep all my photos and music on an external hard drive (the same one I used to transfer from my PC in the first place). It seems relatively straight forward for the photos but not so for Itunes unfortunately.
I thought it was just a matter of changing the location of the Itunes files on the preferences tab in the program but afraid not. When I did this no music was comming up when I opened Itunes (I could however play them straight from the external hard drive but not via Itunes if you know what I mean). So what I have done since is actually copy them all onto my Mac's hard drive hence not accomplishing what I initially set out to do.
Excuse my ignorance if this is something that is straight forward but I am new to Mac's(And loving it !) and like I said I wouldnt be the biggest computer user anyway so would need it spelt out for me.
Cheers guys
Shane

Thanks Kappy and Allan. I had a feeling it was something to do with formatting the external harddrive all right, so I'll give that a go and let you know how it works.
Now for my next question - any idea how I would go about formatting a hard drive?
Regards
Shane

HT201269 I have my iTunes library on my Windows 7 machine on an external hard drive. I purchased a new Macbook and would like to point my new machine at my iTunes library without losing anything and then deactivate iTunes on the Windows machine, help ple

I have my iTunes library on my Windows 7 machine on an external hard drive. I purchased a new Macbook and would like to point my new machine at my iTunes library without losing anything and then deactivate iTunes on the Windows machine, help please

Sorry, but this does not seem to be an iPad question. I'd therefore suggest you ask in the iTunes for Mac forum.
Regards.

Old laptop died, got latest itunes on new laptop and recovered all music from external hard drive but ipad not recognised as device when plugged in? Do i reset my ipad2!!!

Old laptop died, got latest itunes on new laptop and recovered all music from external hard drive but ipad2 not being recognised as a device when plugged in so can't sync? Do i reset my ipad2?!!!! Its only taken 7 months to get to this point.
My ipad is set to sync via wifi but it is still trying to look for my old laptop which has been trashed..but i have deauthorised it and removed it from my account and still not recognised.
Please help (an extreme novice to Apple products)

Sync Your iOS Device with a New Computer Without Losing Data
http://www.howtogeek.com/104298/sync-your-ios-device-with-a-new-computer-without -losing-data/
iPad not appearing in iTunes
http://www.apple.com/support/ipad/assistant/itunes/
iOS: Device not recognized in iTunes for Mac OS X
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1591
iOS: Device not recognized in iTunes for Windows
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1538
IOS: Syncing with iTunes
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1386
Apple - Support - iPad - Syncing
http://www.apple.com/support/ipad/syncing/
 Cheers, Tom

How do I get iTunes Match to upload my music library from my external hard drive? It only got some of the music and not a lot of it at that.

I'm trying iTunes Match and not having a great time of it so far. It only got a fraction of my music from my music library. I contacted support and they told me that it would recognize my external hard drive and take all of the music. My collection is all from CDs with the exception of a few from iTunes. I just want more of my collection to be available.
Can anyone help with that

The issue is not related to the external drive. iTunes Match has difficulties matching tracks ripped fom CDs because they may differ slightly from the versions on sale in iTunes. You can try the match again. Otherwise do a search of this forum. There are already many discussions on this subject here that may help you.

Running Itunes library on a new computer off of an external hard drive

Hello, I've recently purchased a Macbook and an external hard drive. I transferred all my files from my old Mac onto my external and would like to try to run my itunes library from there through my new laptop as opposed to putting all the files onto the new computer.
Is it possible to have the files exclusively running off the hard drive and never going onto the new macbook? How might I go about doing this?
I've tried following some of the video tutorials but that just seems to route you to do it from your old computer off of a external hard drive, and nothing to do with using it on a new computer.
Basically what I want to do is get everything running off the external (all the old computer's data) and none of it ever to set foot on my new Macbook.
Thank you all in advance for your help!
-Rob

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 to make sure a backup copy works and still want to use the internal location, 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. Otherwise you are all set to use the library from the external location.
When you move the external drive to another computer, use the same start up instructions above to point your iTunes on that computer to the library on the external drive.
Additional info...
Back up your iTunes library by copying to an external hard drive
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=307074
Cheers,
Patrick

Itunes with 10.3x not transferring large files to external hard drive

I have been unable to transfer any large files, basically anything over over two artists or so from old external hard drive for my old windows xp computer to my new external hard drive (both iomega and western digital have been tried) without the transfer cutting out and popping up a message to effect of itunes can not copy or add file to folder...something like that. am i missing something that i need to be doing? ive got about 33,000 items, and the thought of doing them 10-15 at a time really isn't something i want to do. But as of this point, i can't find a way to simply xfer the whole itunes library from the old external to the new one. Thanks for any help.

You can transfer purchased content ONLY! Unfortunately, you have no choice as to what gets transferred. Here are some work arounds
1. Delete off iPod Touch/iPhone/iPod then transfer
2. Transfer all content then delete from computer

How do i get itunes to display my library (which is on an external hard drive)? It worked OK on old PC, but not new my new laptop. They are M4A files. are

My itunes library used to be on a PC - but shortly before the PC went to PC heaven I transferred the library onto an external hard drive. It worked fine. Now I have a laptop - but I can't get itunes to pick up the library location. I have changed in advance preferences, but the library does not display. I have tried holding down shift when starting itunes - but when I do that it looks for *.itl files, and all my files are M4A files. What do I do next?

chevalierdurufle wrote:
My itunes library used to be on a PC - but shortly before the PC went to PC heaven I transferred the library onto an external hard drive
You mean you transferred the media, not the library...
Now I have a laptop - but I can't get itunes to pick up the library location
The library location is in your /Music/ oflder.
Your media files (not yet in your new iTunes library ) is on the external drive.
I have changed in advance preferences, but the library does not display.
Because you have not yet added anything to your library.
Quit iTunes.
On the external, create a new folder named My iTunes library (or something).
Hold Shift and launch iTunes.
Select Choose library... and select My iTunes library on the external.
Go into Windows Explorer and move all the media files on the external into /My iTunes Llibrary/iTunes media/Automatically add to iTunes/ folder.

How can I keep iTunes on my Mac but the Movies on an external hard drive and still have them accessible to my Apple TV etc through Home Sharing?

I have a 2TB external hard drive that I want to store my ripped movies on and free up space on my Mac. How can I do this?

Is there a reason you don't want to keep your entire iTunes folder on the external.
Everything will work just fine and it is simpler if everything in iTunes is in one location (the iTunes folder).
Copy entire /Music/iTunes/ folder to external.
Hold Option and launch iTunes.
Select Choose library... and select the iTunes folder on the external.
That is all you need to do.

Can I transfer new photos on my iPod touch 4th generation to an external hard drive?

I have a 4th generation iPod Touch. I have less than 1 Gb of memory left so I want to transfer my entire photo library (5000+ photos) onto an external hard drive. I don't want to import it directly on to my iMac because of the amount of hard drive it will take on my iMac. Can this be done? If so, how?

Likely with a thrid-pary program like TouchCopy or PhoneView
You should also be able to do it by changing the the location of your photos library in iPhotos to the external disk and then importing them via iPhoto
iOS: Importing personal photos and videos from iOS devices to your computer

Itunes is not picking up the library on my external hard drive although I have mapped the drive in preferences? Can anyone help please? Thank you.

Hi,
I have been rebuilding our iTunes library on a external hard drive, no problems to start with. The pc crashed the other day and I lost some of the files.
I can see the music files on the external hard drive, but I haven't been able to get iTunes to pick them up as being the library despite following the instructions to map the drive under 'preferences' in iTunes. I have added new songs, these are being saved in the folder on the external hard drive and are showing in the library pane on iTunes, any suggestions how I can get the other files to show in the library? Would be very grateful for any help! Thank you.

The fix for the exclamation marks is: Adobe Lightroom - Find moved or missing files and folders
The proper way to use backups is to restore the photos to their original location, but you probably don't want to do that as you said your old hard disk was almost full. Thus, the solution given above will solve the problem.

Why won't iTunes recognize my iPod, ever since I got an external hard drive

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