iTunes on multiple external hard drives

Question

iTunes on multiple external hard drives

I hope someone can answer this question for me. I presently have all my iTunes files on a 1.5TB Seagate external hard drive. I'm getting close to running out of room on this drive. I would like to add another external hard drive instead of moving all my files to another larger hard drive. Is it possible to have my iTunes files spread across multiple hard drives? If it is, how can I direct iTunes to put my new media files on the new drive but still be able to access my older files on the older hard drive. I want to keep everything in iTunes. Thank you all for your assistance.

24" 2.4 GHz iMac (Aluminum); 4 GB RAM, Mac OS X (10.6), 1.5TB Seagate external HD

Posted on Sep 9, 2009 6:13 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Sep 9, 2009 6:29 AM in response to Gregory Shadley

Hi,
yes you can, and it's a simple process.
Attach the new drive, and in iTunes Preferences/Advanced/iTunes Music Location - select your new drive. When you close preferences you will be asked "Do you wish iTunes to Move and rename your files..." say NO.
iTunes will update your library.

Anything new added to iTunes will be placed on the new drive, but iTunes will still remember the location, and be able to play the files on your old drive.

I have been using this method for years without a hitch. The only potential problem can occur if you disconnect the new drive, and open iTunes - it will default to using the iTunes Music Folder in your Home/Music/iTunes folder on your computer's hard drive. If that happens you can simply set it back again as described above.

Regards

Reply

Answer 2

Chris CA

Level 10

82,513 points

Feb 28, 2014 6:15 PM in response to ianfromsittingbourne

ianfromsittingbourne wrote:

I get that you cannot.

...

in the vain hope that someone who can improve it might actually be reading!

To tell some, who may be able to fix it, post here -> http://www.apple.com/feedback/

Reply

Answer 3

Sep 9, 2009 6:47 AM in response to Gregory Shadley

Let me ask another question related to this. When I change the location of the iTunes library in iTunes preferences, should I leave the "Keep iTunes Music folder organized" and the "Copy files to iTunes Music Folder when adding to library" checked or unchecked? I have always had them checked. Thank you.

Reply

Answer 4

Sep 9, 2009 6:55 AM in response to Gregory Shadley

should I leave the "Keep iTunes Music folder organized"

Yes, this command simply tells iTunes to organise it's files on your new hard, in the same way it does on your original drive, i.e. it will create Folders of artists and place albums for those artists in these folders.

"Copy files to iTunes Music Folder when adding to library" checked or unchecked?

Make sure it's checked - sorry this is important, and I should have mentioned it in my original post.

Regards

Reply

Answer 5

Sep 13, 2009 6:48 AM in response to Josef Kowalewski

That's a great tip. However, is that possible to use one drive for the music, one for the movies, and so on? What I'm really missing in iTunes is a way to organize my media in multiple folders/hard disks.

My ideal would be to have the option to have multiple media folders, and when importing to be asked in which location I actually want to store the the media imported in the library. Is it science fiction?

Reply

Answer 6

Feb 25, 2014 8:54 AM in response to Gregory Shadley

I have a similar issue, which it seems to me iTunes as it is really does not have an adequate solution for. In short I have a Western Digital My Cloud NAS drive and I have connected to this a USB hub and 4 2Tb portable hard drives. I use the main MyCloud drive for TV series and the others are dedicated to other specific media such a movies, music etc.

All I want to be able to do in iTunes preferences is be able to point each type of iTunes media (music, podcasts, movies, TV series, home movies, books etc) to a specific location. Therefore when you drag a new item into iTunes it would automatically add that media to the appropriate location.

However the only option seems to be as I'm currently doing - keeping unchecked the "keep iTunes Music folder organised" and "Copy files to iTunes Music Folder" options and manually placing files where I want them to be; not exactly ideal.

Reply

Answer 7

Chris CA

Level 10

82,513 points

Feb 25, 2014 9:13 AM in response to ianfromsittingbourne

ianfromsittingbourne wrote:

All I want to be able to do in iTunes preferences is be able to point each type of iTunes media (music, podcasts, movies, TV series, home movies, books etc) to a specific location. Therefore when you drag a new item into iTunes it would automatically add that media to the appropriate location.

You cannot.

Reply

Answer 8

Sep 9, 2009 6:43 AM in response to Josef Kowalewski

Thank you. This solves a potential problem for me.

Reply

Answer 9

Sep 28, 2009 10:20 AM in response to Michelasso

I would like to do this as well. Keep the media organized in different locations. I am thinking of keeping Movie files close to the home theater mac, and music on a remote server.

Reply

Answer 10

Feb 28, 2014 1:46 AM in response to Chris CA

I get that you cannot. I was expressing a perceived weakness in the iTunes software based on how I'm using it, in the vain hope that someone who can improve it might actually be reading!

Reply

Answer 11

Mar 1, 2014 1:06 AM in response to Chris CA

I will do that then, thank you for the link

Reply