What is the best way to move part of my iTunes library to an external drive?

By legal, I mean copying movies through iTunes to another hard drive. So I'm not able to play it off a USB stick on XBOX 360 or a Kodi Media Box? And is it just locked to iTunes?

Yes, the copying is legal, whether you use iTunes, Finder, TuneSpan, or some other script or utility to do the copying. You're allowed to make backups and copy or transfer the media to any computer or device that you own. DRM will mean that you can only playback using iTunes or an Apple device that is authorized to your Apple ID. You can play the content from a USB stick, external drive, or across a network, but DRM will limit you as intended, so it won't play on XBOX/Kodi.

tt2

Hello, I tried performing the steps you provided and for some reason it did not do it after it started the process. I received an errors message stating iTunes could not moved the times due to error -1309. I am not sure what else to do.

There is a hint from this old thread regarding that error. iTunes -1309 Filesize copy error?

What format is the target drive in?

tt2

As far as losing your only copy of movies, this doesn't have to be a major concern. There's nothing stopping you from creating backup copies. Especially with the relatively low cost of media today.

Hello Thanks so much for the response. I am not understanding your question or post. All i want to do is save all the movies i have purchased througout the years to an external drive. I have a 2T EXTERNAL medica storage drive but it will not let me save the movies on the drive. It keeps giving me the error I stated on my post. I dont know what where are you trying to get in expressing your view about the "low cost of media today comment". I just dont want to keep filling my mac with movies i dont use daily.

hello TT2

Thanks so much for your response and post.

I am looking at my advance options on my MacBookPro and i dont reallly quite see that option you are referrring to click off. I do have an option that states Copy files to itunes media folder when adding to library, is that the one you are referring to.?

Also, I have two 2T for storage devices to save my media to. One it is being used as my back up time machine. but the other one is the one I want to try to save all these movies. Would you please repeat the steps to perform the steps to move this movies into an external drive. For some reason, when trying to follow the steps from some of the discussions, it is not doing it. I think i am missing one step and i am not figuring it out. For example, I just click on that box copy file to itunes media foldier when adding to library, but when i go ahead and click on the change medial itunes media folder it brings me the itunes media folder where all my files are in(movies, music, tv shows, podcast, ringtones, etc etc, when i choose a file for example the movie file, the movies are all grayed out and i dont know what to after that . Am i supposed to chose a file and then what? click open? If doing so, it does not bring me to any windows to save my media to the external storage drive.

I apologize for the question, I get confused easily and the steps provided on the several discussions are not coming through to fix the issue.

Thanks again

ADR

I was focusing more on your error message rather then Chris' instructions. When you opt to change the media folder it starts by showing the current location. You need to browse to an alternate folder which is probably why files are greyed out in that view.

Personally I don't like moving the media folder in this way as it complicates moving the library to a new drive or computer in future. What generally works is to copy the entire iTunes folder to the root of the external drive and then option-start-iTunes to connect to the new copy. Once you're happy it all works properly, and ideally after you've made a backup on yet another drive, you can delete the original copy on the internal.

If you really want to move some specific content, but not everything, then Doug's script Re-Locate Selected might work for you.

tt2

But i do want to move everything... I was just trying to explain that it is not letting me. I would rather move everythingo to have a clean computer anyway... im just still not able to figure this out.

If you want to move everything then do it using Finder, not iTunes. That error number you mentioned may indicate that you're trying to copy large files onto a file system that cannot support them, which is why I asked what format the drive was in. For a Mac you would normally want a drive formatted as OS X extended, journaled, case insensitive.

tt2

Hello TT2

Thanks so much again for responding. My MacBookPro is running OS X El Capitan for software is that what you meant?.. My 2 external drives are by Western Digital(WD). One of them is call My passport for Mac... which is where my Time Machine backs up daily... and the other is just Wester Digital external storage drive. I dont know if etiher of them are journaled or case sensitive ? I dont know what that means.

Select the drive in Finder, right-or-ctrl-click and Get Info. You should get something like this:

tt2

During step 2, how does one find the /Music/iTunes/ folder on their Mac?

In the earlier post to "easily move some of your iTunes Library," can you specify if you mean to check or uncheck the boxes for steps 3 and 4 please.

Open Finder, your user's home folder has an image of a house against it. Music is inside that, iTunes is inside Music.

Tick is the same as check.

tt2