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Q: Move iTunes library to external hard drive?

I want to free space on my hard drive by moving my iTunes library to an external harddrive any suggestions? Warnings?  I have bought a Lacie 1TB  portable for this.

MacBook Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Dec 11, 2012 8:57 AM

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Q: Move iTunes library to external hard drive?

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  • by sethsak,

    sethsak sethsak May 18, 2014 11:08 AM in response to mac4mark
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 18, 2014 11:08 AM in response to mac4mark

    Hey there,

     

    I have a mac mini that's getting full so wanted to move my 65gb itunes library to an external hard drive.  I followed the Limnos post at the beginning of this discussion and just copied the whole itunes root folder over to the external hard drive and selected the alternate library on startup.  That seems to work fine.

     

    I had forgotten though that a while back, i had moved the itunes media folder to Mac HD>Users>Shared>Shared Itunes Library so both my wife and i could access the same media library from our respective user profiles.  Remembering this, i then also copied the "Shared Itunes Library" media folder to the external hard drive and used Preferences>Advanced>iTunes media folder location to redirect to the external hard drive.  Both the "Keep iTunes Media Folder Organized" and "Copy Files to iTunes Media Folder when Adding to Library" boxes are checked. 

     

    Everything seems to function well, when i restart iTunes the library consistently goes to the external drive library and the path for hte media folder remains on the external hard drive.  However, when i select 'show in finder' for any given song in the library, it keeps going back to the file in the "shared" root folder on the startup drive.  I havent deleted the original library yet b/c i've gone through the headache before of needing to delete and reimport the whole library and losing all of the ratings, song counts, etc.....  I'm hoping to avoid that.

     

    I'd like to see, when i select 'show in finder' on a song in the library, that it is showing the file on teh external drive.  at that point i'll feel confident i can delete the files on the startup disk without trouble. 

     

    Any thoughts or advice?

     

    thanks.

  • by fthomas21,

    fthomas21 fthomas21 May 30, 2014 6:36 PM in response to mac4mark
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 30, 2014 6:36 PM in response to mac4mark

    I read through part of this thread and several others closely related.  I think there is probably two different processes that may be confused into one.  Most people replying are confusing "moving" a library and "repointing" to a library.

     

    My example:  I have an old Mac Mini that I use solely as an iTunes server on my home network.  I have a small portable Seagate 4TB external drive that I had setup to store all of my media.  I traveled out of the cournty for a month and grabbed my Seagate to take with me in order to setup my laptop as my portable iTuners server.

     

    I thought I could just open iTunes and go to Preferences=>Advanced=>iTunes Media Folder location and point the library to the Seagate iTunes folder.  No go!  Tried all of the suggestions in many threads.  Still no go.

     

    Simple solution:  I went to the original iTunes folder on the Mac Mini server (on the computer drive) and copied the default files in the iTunes root directory (there are 5 - two are .itdb; two are .xml; and one .itl).  I copied to the root directly on the hard drive of the laptop.  Voila!  Everything came right up as normal.

     

    I guess that when you go into preferences and point the media folder to an external drive, the databases that iTunes uses to "point" to everything is still saved in the local drive in the iTunes root folder.  Just wanted to throw that out there, because I wanted just point my iTunes to a new folder and everything I found on the help groups only addressed "moving" the media to a different folder.

     

    This method save me hours a messing around.

  • by blackrockguy,

    blackrockguy blackrockguy Jun 29, 2014 10:53 PM in response to Limnos
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jun 29, 2014 10:53 PM in response to Limnos

    HI again,

    JUmping in this post with a question, my iTunes library is stored on external drive which is now full before I try and screw things up again can I use the link method to move from one external drive to another?

    THanks. blackrockguy

  • by flobbyblob,

    flobbyblob flobbyblob Sep 15, 2014 3:17 AM in response to mac4mark
    Level 1 (27 points)
    Apple Music
    Sep 15, 2014 3:17 AM in response to mac4mark

    Hi,

     

    I am in a similar position as the thread - I have too many Gb of legal iTunes media on my PC's hard drive.  I therefore want to move it off.  I also want the media to be accessed and 'enjoyed' by the seven of us in the family.

     

    So my plan is to attatch a powered USB hard drive to the Router, move MOST of our iTunes media onto it, and allow each family computer to be able to access any of the family's iTunes media. 

     

    However (being somewhat of senior years) I thought I would just run through an outline of my plan - in case you guys can spot a mistake I am going to regret.

     

    I would appreciate comments before I do a thing.

     

    Thanks

     

     

    My 'Plan A' 

     

        1. Backup any iTunes library files and iTunes media on all the family's computers before I start

            Reason: In case I mess it up, and can therefore restore it 'how it was'

     

        2. Format my 3Gb WD MyBook external hard drive to exFAT. -

            Reason : I would like both PC and the one Mac we have to have  write/read access the media on this external drive


        3. Plug the external drive in the router and configure computers to access the drive.

     

        4. Somehow create 7 iTunes areas on the external drive.

            Reason: One area for each of the family, but all can listen/watch

            This will minimise arguments of "You've messed up my iTunes library by putting your stuff in it."

     

            ( Note: Only 4 at present are serious iTunes users, but I want to allow for all seven of us in the future. )

     

         5. MOVE the iTunes files that people don't mind sharing from our computers into one of the 7 areas.

             Still retaining some files on our computers. i.e. Each computer has access to iTunes files on their own computer AND on the external drive.

     

         6. Configure each computer to access any of the 7 iTunes areas on the Hard drive which will be plugged in the router.

             Reason: That's the end result. To be able to watch and listen to our media, and be able to add media to our own areas.

     

     

     

    Plan B

     

    If Plan A is not workable / possible, I would want to just move MOST of my iTunes stuff across ato the external drive and let others in the family access it.

     

     

    A 'Fly in the ointment' to take account of

     

    My own iTunes was installed to the usual C drive defaults without putting any media on it.

    I then altered the root location of  all the media to D:\MyiTunes

    Example:

    D:/MyiTunes/books; D:/MyiTunes/Mobileapplications; D:/MyiTunes/Movies; D:/MyiTunes/Music; D:/MyiTunes/TVshows;


    Reason: When using the default C:\Users\Me\Music\iTunes\ ...plus adding the usual Tunes Media and the tune name etc... the length of the path was too long. D:/MyiTunes seems to work fine as the root.


     

    I would appreciate any advice even before I start anything!

     

    Flobbyblob

  • by splenule,

    splenule splenule Oct 12, 2014 1:25 AM in response to Limnos
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 12, 2014 1:25 AM in response to Limnos

    Thanks so much Limnos!  Your instructions worked perfectly.  Why is the official Apple method so convoluted??

  • by equest,

    equest equest Oct 16, 2014 1:48 AM in response to splenule
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 16, 2014 1:48 AM in response to splenule

    Some more instructions on moving media. Interesting read (I hope) if you do not let iTunes manage your paths.

     

    http://cojabo.blogspot.de/2014/10/moving-itunes-media-moving-your-itunes.html

  • by James King-Holmes,

    James King-Holmes James King-Holmes Oct 22, 2014 10:07 AM in response to equest
    Level 1 (14 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 22, 2014 10:07 AM in response to equest

    I haven't read every post on this thread but I haven't seen any mention of emptying the trash before the extra space on the hard drive becomes available. I've just gained an extra 70Gb after following the early posts to move the iTunes library (Mac), deleting the original library on my hard drive THEN emptying the trash.

  • by turingtest2,

    turingtest2 turingtest2 Oct 22, 2014 10:11 AM in response to James King-Holmes
    Level 10 (87,068 points)
    Apple TV
    Oct 22, 2014 10:11 AM in response to James King-Holmes

    James King-Holmes wrote:

     

    I haven't read every post on this thread but I haven't seen any mention of emptying the trash before the extra space on the hard drive becomes available.

     

    Perhaps because move (as opposed to copy) implies that you don't leave anything behind on the source drive that needs to be trashed.

     

    tt2

  • by leighwdwtravel,

    leighwdwtravel leighwdwtravel Nov 30, 2014 4:24 PM in response to Limnos
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 30, 2014 4:24 PM in response to Limnos

    You seriously just saved me I don't even know how much time, thank you!

  • by Duncan Alldridge,

    Duncan Alldridge Duncan Alldridge Dec 17, 2014 10:00 PM in response to mac4mark
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 17, 2014 10:00 PM in response to mac4mark

    I have read though all on this post. Really really useful. So I'm nearly there I think. I have a new library and have copied iTunes library and media files to an external drive as described in the early post. Then used the option method. Great. But I'm new to OS and my confusion is an insurance really.

    Should I now delete the entire original iTunes folder under Users or just the media folder within it?

    My intention is not to create a clone, but to store all the audio on the external drive as well as other future media.

    It also appears to be difficult to recognise which is the internal and which is the external drive when I open them as they appear to be identical. In Windows they are named by their drives.

    As a test - I have just imported an audio track, which now seems to be standing within the music folder/ media files on both the internal AND external drives. It would seem to me that deleting the whole media folder on the internal drive is now the step I need to take.

    Many thanks!

  • by supermicide,

    supermicide supermicide Jun 18, 2015 12:13 PM in response to Limnos
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 18, 2015 12:13 PM in response to Limnos

    @Limnos.  Worked a treat and super easy too!

  • by mahikun,

    mahikun mahikun Jun 30, 2015 1:33 PM in response to Limnos
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 30, 2015 1:33 PM in response to Limnos

    Thank you SOOOO much for this answer!!! It worked perfectly!

  • by tylerfromcamp hill,

    tylerfromcamp hill tylerfromcamp hill Jul 21, 2015 9:37 AM in response to mac4mark
    Level 1 (13 points)
    Apple Music
    Jul 21, 2015 9:37 AM in response to mac4mark

    so here's my issue: I don't want to put any music on my new macbook cause I have a ton of it and it takes up so much space. So, I backed up my itunes library to my external hard drive and am using the location of the external as my itunes library. The only kicker is I cannot seem to manually drag and drop songs from the library to my iphone - I have to do a manual sync and can only sync entire artists, or albums, and not individual songs.


     

    This is super annoying because there are lot of albums that I don't want all the songs on, and whenever I go to sync again, it always throws back on all the songs on the album even after I delete them on my iphone.


     

    Anyone have any idea why I can't just drag and drop songs or if there's a way around this going through the external?

     

  • by ziffos,

    ziffos ziffos Sep 22, 2015 9:52 AM in response to JasonWright92
    Level 1 (74 points)
    Sep 22, 2015 9:52 AM in response to JasonWright92

    Yes - delete the original.

  • by arthurvandeley,

    arthurvandeley arthurvandeley Sep 22, 2015 10:34 AM in response to mac4mark
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 22, 2015 10:34 AM in response to mac4mark

    So here's my problem: I have this massive (1.2 TB) itunes library (Windows Vista). I got a new computer and moved the "C" drive from the old Vista machine and installed it as the "E" Drive in the new Windows 10 computer. I SHIFT-OPEN Itunes on the new computer and point to my latest itl library file. All the songs and playlists show up, but they want me to "Locate" them each time I play them. (If I go to 'get info' on the song I see that it is still thinks the file is on the "C" drive). I can manually browse for it and correct it.. but I dont see anyone else describing this in their process so I'm wondering if I am doing something wrong.

     

    It allows me to try to find other files based on where I find the first file, but that doesnt seem to work, or it seizes itunes.

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