How to reconnect my music after consolidating library?

I consolidated my iTunes library to an external drive, and it moved all the songs over there. Seems to have worked properly.

(I went through Preferences > Advanced > Change > select new folder on external drive > OK; then, File > Library > Consolidate)

Now, before I throw my library away on my HD, I wanted to make an extra backup on another drive. With my first external drive (the now-consolidated iTunes) no longer plugged in, I thought iTunes would be able to read the entire library on my laptop's HD, but it won't recognize any of the songs. So I did Preferences > Advanced > Change > and selected the current iTunes library... and that didn't work. So I rebooted iTunes holding down the option key and chose the Library file on my HD, and *that* hasn't worked either.

This isn't a huge deal. But hopefully I didn't screw everything up. Should I simply copy/drag the iTunes folder to the 2nd external drive? Or should I consolidate the iTunes library from my 1st HD to the 2nd HD?

My dilemma is that I want the 2nd HD to be the backup, and the 1st HD to be the music I read from or update my iPod from every so often. I'm wondering now if I shouldn't have done this in reverse order (consolidate to 2nd HD first, then 1st HD second).

What can I do to reconnect my iTunes to either my HD or my 1st external HD without have to find each and every song?

Using iTunes 10