Using external SSD to store iTunes on Windows 11

You can store your iTunes media library on the external drive, but not the actual iTunes Application.

You will need to make sure your iTunes Library is consolidated and portable.

click here ➜ Make a split library portable - Apple Community

Once that is done, drag the iTunes folder in the Music folder of your user profile out to the external drive and into a folder there.

Then from the new computer, hold down the shift key while opening iTunes, and a new dialog box should open allowing you to navigate to the location of your iTunesLibrary.itl file on the external drive. Select it, and iTunes should open the library from the external drive.

click here ➜ Move your iTunes library to another computer - Apple Support

flyfishtx wrote:

Thank you for the response. Your response is helpful to a certain degree. I need a little more detailed info. I am not a computer wizard like a lot of people are.

What more detailed info do you need exactly? Read through the provided links and if you have questions or issues, post back with specifics. The process is fairly straight forward.

Also, will I be able to plug in my iPhone or iPod to back them up and to change music or movie selections as I can when everything is on computer storage?

Yes. iTunes will continue to work normally for backups and data sync to the devices. There will be no functional change to iTunes by having the library on an external drive.

The iOS backups are not affected by where the iTunes Library lives. They will continue to be stored on the internal drive unless you move them out to the external drive. If you also want to move those out to the external drive, it will take a bit more computer knowledge to do. The process is explained at the bottom of the "Make a split library portable" link provided above.