Transfer songs from external drive to iPhone 11

Question

Transfer songs from external drive to iPhone 11

Is there a way to transfer mp3 music that I have saved on an external hard drive to music on my iPhone 11?

In the transfer process to the new phone I lost a significant percentage of my music and some with foreign language custom lyrics.

Because my devices aren’t running the same iOS or OS, for reasons including advice from Apple, I can’t sync through iTunes without losing files.

The missing music now only exists on an external drive and my iPad running iOS 12.4.

I can’t upgrade the iPad until this gets sorted out on the phone.

thanks.

iPhone 11, iOS 13

Posted on Feb 17, 2020 9:04 AM

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Answer 1

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Phil0124

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Feb 17, 2020 1:41 PM in response to barrieberkshire

barrieberkshire wrote:

If I’m understanding you correctly, the music on the MacBook OS Sierra, disappeared when the iPhone 11’s incomplete music was synced to the computer’s complete music folder. Meaning the music library on the iPhone took precedence over the music folder on the computer and not the other way around.

No, direct Syncing works only one way. Computer to iOS device. The iPhone can never take precedence over the computer and will never erase anything from the iTunes library on the computer.

If tracks were removed from the computer, it was not due to syncing with the iPhone, it must have been something else.

The base library is always the computer, which is why you need to extract music from all sources, and consolidate into a single library on the computer. That then can sync to the iOS devices.

If by "iCloud Sync' you mean the iCloud Music Library, and the Sync Library option in iTunes Preferences, then it must be off to let you directly sync with iTunes via a USB cable.

iCloud Music library lets you match tracks in your own iTunes library to the Apple Music catalog , and upload unmatched tracks so they can then be downloaded to another device from iCloud.

It is not a destructive sync, it does not delete content on other devices, it only makes the matched and uploaded content available for download.

If you had the Sync Library option turned on, it would have prevented direct syncing with iTunes on a computer via a USB cable and would need to be turned off if that is what you want to do.

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Answer 2

Feb 17, 2020 9:13 AM in response to barrieberkshire

Nor directly, no.

If you have things on the iPhone, that are no longer in iTunes on a computer, if you try to sync, they will be erased from the iPhone.

The best thing you can do is consolidate all the music from all sources in a single iTunes Library on a computer, that you can then sync to the iPhone 11, so you do not lose anything.

You will need to extract the music from the iPhone first, and import it into iTunes along with the music in the external drive, so that all can then be imported back onto the iPhone.

To extract the music from the iPhone you'll need a 3rd party app running on a computer. I can suggest Macroplant's iExplorer: https://macroplant.com/

Star here: Recover your iTunes library from your iPod or iOS device - Apple Community

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Answer 3

Feb 17, 2020 1:13 PM in response to Phil0124

Thanks for the suggestion.

I’m reasonably tech savvy for a non pro, but this is a bit too advanced for me to attempt on my own.

Before the iPhone 11 purchase, I started with everything complete and mirrored on the computer and the old phone, as well as the iPad.

Songs, collections, all the same. — The iTunes libraries including the mp3 files, in all my devices, MacBook OS 12.4 Sierra, iPad iOS on 12.4, old iPhone iOS on 12.4. All my music synced beautifully.

It was the transfer to the iPhone 11 and iOS 13.3.1 that created the problem.

Not everything came through from my old phone iOS 12.4, and when the techs at Apple tried to unearth the missing music, and even tried a transfer from my iTunes computer files through a ‘neutral’ computer, only some but not all, of the music came through. Then the library on the computer lost music to mirror the iPhone likely because iCloud sync was still on.

My music sources with the original iTunes music folder, populated completely as before, are now the iPad and the external drive

If I’m understanding you correctly, the music on the MacBook OS Sierra, disappeared when the iPhone 11’s incomplete music was synced to the computer’s complete music folder. Meaning the music library on the iPhone took precedence over the music folder on the computer and not the other way around.

So if I reinstall iTunes music on my computer from the folder in the external drive, am I understanding correctly that the iPhone 11 will destroy it again unless I start with an empty iTunes folder on the iPhone? And that’s only done with a third party app?

And during this process the iCloud sync should be turned off?

sorry for all the questions. I want to be sure I’m understanding everything you’re suggesting.

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Answer 4

Feb 17, 2020 2:13 PM in response to Phil0124

Clearly written, and I think I understand how the computer iTunes library, the base library, was affected, even though technically it shouldn’t have been.

I’m comfortable trying to rebuild the iTunes music library on my computer from either the external drive backup or the time machine backup folders.

Integrating the other devices is a bit too much for me, and I’m due to go to the Apple store soon with all my devices. I plan to bring this post, and watch and question before anything is done.

Right now the iTunes sync is off.

I'll leave the extracting and integrating to the Geniuses (or find an outside tech)

thanks again for taking the time with this.

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Answer 5

Feb 17, 2020 2:26 PM in response to barrieberkshire

Good luck. Glad I could help.

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Transfer songs from external drive to iPhone 11

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