help with Itunes massive library consolidation

i have my itunes library spread over 3 hard drives - most of it on an external 1tb hard drive and the rest spread over my 2 internal HD's (because the 1tb drive was full, i had to add music to the other drives).

lately the western digital external has been randomly unmounting and acting crazy, and this is causing me great concern. so i went ahead and got a LaCie (who i have found very reliable with macs in the past) 1.5 TB drive that i intend to use for my ENTIRE itunes library now.

so my question is this - what is the best/safest way to have Itunes treat my new hard drive as the ONLY place any music is? should i move everything manually and THEN consolidate?

Since i was afraid that my 1tb drive was about to die i have already started moving the entire itunes music folder (not library files) from my western digital to my new Lacie, but now i am wondering if a library consolidation is what I should have done from the start. I have read the directions but want to make sure this is what i should do:

1) in Itunes preferenes, tell it that the location of my itunes folder should be ON THE NEW DRIVE, then consolidate??

2) move my main itunes library file to the new hard drive//tell itunes this is where my library location is then consolidate to new drive (?)

any help appreciated

thanks

Message was edited by: oleus