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Daniel Flynn Author

Level 1

13 points

Moving iTunes Library in Catalina

I presently have my iTunes Library of music and videos located on an external 1 TB drive, which has run out of space. I bought a new 5 TB drive and was planning to move the Library similar to how I moved it in the first place, but with the changes in Catalina the controls to move the library no longer exist. Does anyone know the best way to move the Library and retain my playlists, etc. Do I do a simple Finder copy, or are there other steps necessary?

iMac 27″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Jul 31, 2020 8:59 AM

Top-ranking reply

Timbuktu

Level 3

790 points

Posted on Aug 1, 2020 11:10 AM

Same process, copy entire iTunes folder to new drive. Then hold down option key while opening Music app, then select the iTunes library file within the folder you just moved on the bigger external drive, then select the same iTunes folder to create your new Music library file - be aware that the default location is your Music folder in your home folder, but I recommend selecting the external drive to avoid confusion if you have multiple libraries, and let Music do its thing to load all the artwork into the hidden file on your user/library folder. Main difference is that the artwork is no longer saved within the Music (iTunes) folder which makes it less portable for artwork display. It will take awhile and you'll see at the bottom left corner of your Music app below the side bar a "Loading artwork...." display which can take a while depending on the size of your library.

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Moving iTunes Library in Catalina

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