User profile for user: stevemack
stevemack Author
User level: Level 1
9 points

Move itunes music files to a new external HDD

Hi, my music files are saved to an external HDD (F: drive) and I've run out of space on the original HDD. I've installed a new external HDD (H: drive) and I'm trying to move all of my files stored on F: to H:.


Ideally, I'd like every file on F: copied to H: so that the version shown in itunes is from H: I'd like to copy the itunes library file to H: as well.


I've manually copied all of the music files on F: to H: I have tried changing the itunes media file location in Preferences to H: I have also tried to consolidate the music files using File > Library > Consolidate hoping that would copy the files to the new location. This create copies in the H: drive but if I look at the location of file in itunes, it is still showing the original file on F: rather than H:


The itunes library file is still the original on F: - I haven't copied that over to H: yet.


Looking for advice to move all existing files to H: so I can delete the files on F:

Windows, Windows 10

Posted on Feb 18, 2024 9:54 AM

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User profile for user: stevemack
stevemack Author
User level: Level 1
9 points

Posted on Feb 21, 2024 11:46 AM

I managed to eventually figure this out by myself using trial and error.


The steps that worked for me

  1. Create folder on new HDD - H:\itunes\itunes media
  2. Change itunes media folder (under edit / preferences / advanced) to the newly created folder (H:\itunes\itunes media). Make sure that "Keep itunes media folder organised" and "Copy fies to itunes media folder" are both checked.
  3. Answer yes to "Move and rename" prompt.
  4. Then consolidate files (using File > Library > Consolidate files). I couldn't do this by selecting all albums in the albums view. Instead, I used the song view, sorted by artist. I then highlighted artists starting A-C and then consolidated those songs before moving onto D-F. This gets all the files shifted to the H: drive and into the correct subfolders.
  5. My itunes library is still the original one on my F: drive. Take a copy of the library and paste into H:\itunes\itunes media.
  6. Close itunes.
  7. Open itunes by holding down Shift. Select the new library saved to the H: drive.


This all seemed to work fine albeit with a few missing album covers which I just added back in by hand.


Hope this helps.

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply
User profile for user: stevemack
stevemack Author
User level: Level 1
9 points

Feb 21, 2024 11:46 AM in response to stevemack

I managed to eventually figure this out by myself using trial and error.


The steps that worked for me

  1. Create folder on new HDD - H:\itunes\itunes media
  2. Change itunes media folder (under edit / preferences / advanced) to the newly created folder (H:\itunes\itunes media). Make sure that "Keep itunes media folder organised" and "Copy fies to itunes media folder" are both checked.
  3. Answer yes to "Move and rename" prompt.
  4. Then consolidate files (using File > Library > Consolidate files). I couldn't do this by selecting all albums in the albums view. Instead, I used the song view, sorted by artist. I then highlighted artists starting A-C and then consolidated those songs before moving onto D-F. This gets all the files shifted to the H: drive and into the correct subfolders.
  5. My itunes library is still the original one on my F: drive. Take a copy of the library and paste into H:\itunes\itunes media.
  6. Close itunes.
  7. Open itunes by holding down Shift. Select the new library saved to the H: drive.


This all seemed to work fine albeit with a few missing album covers which I just added back in by hand.


Hope this helps.

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Move itunes music files to a new external HDD

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