craigdenham1
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Q: iTunes match work with external hard drive

New to mac. All my music is on an external hard drive, not in itunes library and mostly ripped from CD. will itunes match find and sync with the external hard drive?

 

thank for any help.

Posted on Feb 21, 2012 12:57 PM

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craigdenham1

Q: iTunes match work with external hard drive

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  • by Michael Allbritton,

    Michael Allbritton Michael Allbritton Feb 21, 2012 1:02 PM in response to craigdenham1
    Level 6 (16,832 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Feb 21, 2012 1:02 PM in response to craigdenham1

    If the music is not in the iTunes library, then, no iTunes Match can not find it. The music must be in the iTunes library, but where the files are actually store is not important.

  • by craigdenham1,

    craigdenham1 craigdenham1 Feb 21, 2012 1:46 PM in response to Michael Allbritton
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 21, 2012 1:46 PM in response to Michael Allbritton

    Thanks for this.

    They are in a folder called ITunes Music on the hard drive. But many were imported via iTunes, several just copied drag and drop straight into this existing folder from mps3 CDs of multiple albums so there file name looks like this:

     

    D:\iTunes\iTunes Music

     

    A song looks like this:MPEG Layer 3 Audio

     

    Lastly there is 139 gb of music how much would get in?

     

    I appreciate you taking the time to help me learn.

     

    Thanks again,

     

    Craig

  • by Michael Allbritton,

    Michael Allbritton Michael Allbritton Feb 21, 2012 1:51 PM in response to craigdenham1
    Level 6 (16,832 points)
    Photos for Mac
    Feb 21, 2012 1:51 PM in response to craigdenham1

    Ah, so, you're saying the music is in the iTunes library. It's just stored on an external HDD. No problem. iTunes Match doesn't care where the physical files are.

     

    As long as your library does not exceed 25,000 tracks, and all the tracks meet the eligibility requirements all of it will go through the scan, match and upload process. There is no GB limit; only a track number limit.

     

    You will find this KB article helpful: <http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4914>.

  • by DebraLP,

    DebraLP DebraLP May 16, 2013 3:45 PM in response to Michael Allbritton
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 16, 2013 3:45 PM in response to Michael Allbritton

    Does this mean that if you external hard drive crashes is all of your music gone or will it go back to the ITunes Match?  If you can't use the ITunes Match with the external hard drive, I guess you don't need to buy and own the ITunes Match anymore?  Little confused. Sorry,

    Deb

  • by Michael Allbritton,

    Michael Allbritton Michael Allbritton May 16, 2013 8:08 PM in response to DebraLP
    Level 6 (16,832 points)
    Photos for Mac
    May 16, 2013 8:08 PM in response to DebraLP

    DebraLP wrote:

     

    Does this mean that if you external hard drive crashes is all of your music gone or will it go back to the ITunes Match? 

    Yes and no. If the external HDD crashes and is not recoverable then the files on it will be gone if you do not also maintain another backup of the files. However, if you have iTunes Match enabled then it will be possible to download the tracks from the cloud. Keep in mind that iTunes Match is not a backup service and should not be relied on as such. It is your responsiblity to backup your personal data, including your music files.

     

    DebraLP wrote:

     

    If you can't use the ITunes Match with the external hard drive, I guess you don't need to buy and own the ITunes Match anymore? 

    I'm afraid I don't understand the question.