Moving iTunes library to external drive without using changing preferences

Question

Moving iTunes library to external drive without using changing preferences

Hi everyone,

I'm running out of hard drive space on my laptop so I've now got a 500GB LaCie external hard drive. I would like to move my iTunes library over (currently at 14GB but I still have about 70 CDs to import, plus I want to buy more music). I was at the Apple store this afternoon and the guy there told me that I can move my iTunes library folder into the external drive, and then from that drive, create an alias and drag it back into iTunes. The concept as I understand it is that when I launch iTunes, it will look for the music files in the iTunes Music alias folder on my internal HD, which then knows to look for the iTunes Music folder in the external drive. If this is correct, then I need some help with steps to take to make this all happen.

Q1: Right now, I think all of my music is sitting in different artist folders under Music in my Finder. Within that list, I see an iTunes music folder. Is there a quick way to tell if I've got duplicate music files? The Music folder is at 25.6gb, and the iTunes music folder is at 13.4gb. When I launch iTunes, it shows 13.4gb, but I'm not sure if I've missed importing 1/2 of my library or if I've got duplicate files.

Q2: Once I figure out Q1, do I simply drag the folder (either all of the folders within Music or the iTunes music folder) over to my LaCie drive? Then do I delete all of the files in the music folder to recover space on my internal HD?

Q3: If I create the alias folder from the LaCie drive, where exactly am I to drag and drop this within iTunes?

The guy at the store told me this was a better way to do it if I plan on adding to my library (which I will via the iTunes store). He said by using the Preferences setting, it doesn't automatically update new additions, which would mean I would have all of my new music sitting on my internal drive which would add to the confusion.

My larger goal is to have all of my music and photos organized so that I can drag it into iMovie to edit all of our home movies. I don't know if this will impact what I should do with my iTunes library. Right now, when I click on "media", I can see the photos and music files from iMovie.

Thanks so much for everyone's help!

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.4.9), PC Desktop with WinXP

Posted on Jul 8, 2007 9:08 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

stephencaver

Level 1

10 points

Jul 8, 2007 10:14 PM in response to karentam6600000

Regarding Q1: You can check for duplicates in your iTunes library by going to View > Show Duplicates. Delete duplicates from there till your hearts content.

Regarding Q2: I just dragged my "Music" folder from the home folder to my external drive. Once you've done that you can go into your iTunes folder and delete those files .

Regarding Q3: I don't know if an alias folder would work well in this way. I have a suspicion it would though. I'd back up your files and experiment. The way I do it is just to go into the advanced pane in the preferences and change the default location of my music folder to the iTunes folder on my external drive.

If you do this way and have your default folder changed in the advanced preferences any files you add through the iTunes store or through the edit menu will go directly onto your external hard drive. If your external isn't available (if it's disconnected, etc) it will default back to your regular iTunes folder on your internal hard drive.

If you have files on your internal drive you can get them copied over to the external (make sure your default folder is correct before doing this) by simply going to the advanced menu and consolidate library. Delete any left over copies from your internal drive after you do so.

Hope that helps.

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Answer 2

Chris CA

Level 10

82,434 points

Jul 8, 2007 10:46 PM in response to karentam6600000

To move your iTunes music...

Quit iTunes.
Move the entire iTunes folder including music to the external drive.
Click on the iTunes icon to start it, then immediately press an hold the Shift key in Windows, Option key in Mac.
iTunes will ask to Create new library or Choose existing library. Select Choose existing library and select the library in the folder you just moved.
Move the old iTunes folder to the trash but do not empty it.
Restart iTunes normally and verify the songs work. If they do, empty the trash.

iTunes will now use the external drive for everything.

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Answer 3

Jul 8, 2007 11:00 PM in response to karentam6600000

I can't say that I understand the Apple store guy's point.

On Q1, by default, the Music folder contains the iTunes folder, which in turn contains the all-important iTunes Library file plus the iTunes Music folder, in which artist folders containing albums containing songs reside. You're saying you have artist folders right inside the Music folder, and you also have an iTunes Music folder in there, too. Is that folder full of artist folders? Sounds like you have a couple levels of music folders, and there very well might be duplication. If they're all entered into your iTunes Library, you'll be able to use iTunes to identify the duplicates, per Stevencaver's instructions. However, they might be just sitting on your hard drive taking up space and not in the iTunes library. It should be a simple matter using the Finder to get a rough idea of how much duplication you have.

Q2. The orthodox method would be to use iTunes to do this. Set the iTunes Music folder location (Preferences/Advanced) to your desired folder on your external drive. Then use the Consolidate Library command. iTunes will copy all song files in the Library over to your external drive. (This will take a while.) After that, you can toss out the music files on your internal drive.

Steven says he just dragged his music folder onto the external drive. I'm not sure that's guaranteed to work, although I'm not surprised that it works sometimes. You could try this with one album and see if iTunes is able to keep track of it even after it moved to another volume.

Q3. I don't get this alias thing. It's not necessary. Your iTunes Library file, which is the database engine that holds iTunes together, is still in its original place on your internal drive. It automatically tells iTunes to find the music files in its library out on the external drive. When you add new music, the song files will be placed in whatever location you have designated in iTunes Music folder location--in this case a folder on your external drive.

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Answer 4

Chris CA

Level 10

82,434 points

Jul 8, 2007 11:11 PM in response to karentam6600000

If you have music elsewhere besides directly inside teh iTUnes music folder (you wrote you have Artist folder directly int he Music folder), once you move the iTunes flder per my previous response, onpen iTunes then menu Advancd -> Consolidate library.
This will copy all the music in iTunes into your current iTunes music folder shown in iTunes prefs -> Advanced.
Then you can delete the music which is not in the iTunes music folder.

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Answer 5

DRob

Level 1

5 points

Jul 8, 2007 11:50 PM in response to karentam6600000

I did the same thing recently - finally purchased a 320 gig WD mybook external. I thought that all you had to do was copy the itunes folder into external and didn't know what to do after that. After much time spending trying different things, and after reading this, what I'm now doing is this
a) got all the music that I wanted into one folder and am copying that onto external.
b) changing default music folder location via pref>advanced
c) crossing fingers/putting internal itunes music in trash, then testing.

hope this helps.

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Answer 6

Chris CA

Level 10

82,434 points

Jul 9, 2007 8:44 AM in response to DRob

a) got all the music that I wanted into one folder and am copying that onto external.
b) changing default music folder location via pref>advanced
Then be prepared for either your music to all have an exclamation mark or have duplicates of everything.

To move it properly, add it to iTunes, change the default music folder location then menu ADvancved -> Consolidate music.

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Answer 7

lilljim

Level 1

25 points

Sep 11, 2007 10:56 AM in response to Chris CA

that is the best itunes tip ever ....thank you .........sweet deal

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Answer 8

wunder

Level 1

9 points

Oct 8, 2007 9:48 PM in response to lilljim

I'm sorry but this is bs about Apples iTunes app. I followed the rules above and I can't get iTunes app to read the external drive's music. Why is this so lame? I can't believe that Apple, the make-it-easy for the rest of us, makes an version 7 app that can't more easily handle how to get its app to find the music on an external hard drive? Again, is there anyone who has a fail safe process for getting your iTunes app to read your music files on an external drive?

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