Q: transfer my itunes to external

Yes, that's the folder, but copy its enclosing folder (should be called "iTunes" according to what you told me) and the contents in as one item, not all the individual folders you are showing me in the picture.

TT2 will likely be up earlier than me, so for TT2 to pick up I am basically testing step by step moving that working version of your collection to the external drive to see if it is the move that is creating problems, or just the last move that had issues.  The main concern is that with you managing your media yourself you misplaced some items and they did not get included in the move.

Morning (at least for me).

Good to hear the library is working where it is now.

Copying the iTunes folder in its current layout won't work. For a library to survive the move all the media needs to be inside the designated media folder, which in turn needs to be inside the folder that holds the library files. When the library is in this layout the relative path from the library to the media remains unchanged when you move the the library folder and the media is located inside the media folder. If iTunes is connected to any filesoutside of the media folder when you move the library and media folders together then those files have to stay put or iTunes won't be able to find them.

So, provided the library is working now on your old computer, let's have one more go at this.

1. Create a new blank folder called iTunes at the root of the external drive. If needed rename or delete any existing folder that is already there to get it out of the way (please use capitalizations as given).
2. Create a folder called iTunes Media inside iTunes on the external.
3. Copy the file iTunes Library and the folder Album Artwork from iTunes on the internal drive to iTunes on the external drive, don't copy any other files, we're going to get iTunes to do that in a minute.
4. Click the icon to start iTunes and immediately press down option, keep holding until asked to choose or create a library.
5. Click choose and browse to the library file <External>/iTunes/iTunes Library.
6. Check that iTunes can play your files.
   
7. Open iTunes Preferences > Advanced tab, change the media folder location <External>/iTunes/iTunes Media, check the options for Keep... and Copy... then click OK.
8. iTunes will probably offer to consolidate your files now, if not use the iTunes/File menu to consolidate.

This version of your library should survive moving to your new computer. Close iTunes, safely remove the external, connect to the other machine, use the option-start-iTunes method to open it.

Let me know how that works out and I'll walk you through the next steps....

tt2

TT2:  You have the OP create an empty iTunes folder on the external with only an empty media folder and the library copied from the internal drive, specifically saying do not copy any media files. The OP is then told to start iTunes using that library file.  Somehow I think this is where the problem lies because all the media files are still on the internal.  I know iTunes appears to use absolute path names (at least in the xml file) but it looks like it is really using relative.

sturgissos: On my directions from last night, did you copy the whole folder to the external drive?  Does iTunes work with your copied library on the external when tested as I indicated in my last post?

You hold down the option key while starting iTunes to switch between libraries.  Right now you have two libraries that are for all purposes identical, one on your iMac and one on your external.  One side issue though.  It can be very tricky using two libraries and trying to synchronize them, and that goes tenfold for different versions of iTunes.  We can make suggestions about that later because I am trying to keep this simple for you by not trying to tackle too much at one time.

So to make it clear, the iTunes folder you copied last night from the internal to the external works successfully?  If so, I believe your ultimate goal was to put your iTunes collection on your MacBook Pro and get it working with iTunes 10.  Please verify both these.

At step 6 the iTunes should have been using a library database on the external drive, connected to files on the internal drive. This behaviour where iTunes remains connected to files on the same absolute path has worked for me time and again, though my experience on Mac is admittedly more limited and mainly on versions 9 & 10.

From the image it doesn't appear that the steps were performed correctly.

It should have ended up with <root> folder holding folder iTunes

iTunes folder holding iTunes Library (file), Album Artwork & iTunes Media folders

iTunes Media folder holding all consolidated media

Looks like the files were copied a folder deeper than suggested, and then ???

Moving on...

Christian, do I understand that you have the library working when connected to the library database on the external drive on the old iMac?

If so now would be a good time to check the summary tab of Get Info. again to see if the library is connected to the file on the internal drive or the external one. Just pick a single file that plays, press CMD-I, and read off the location from the summary tab. What have you got?

tt2

So it seems that now you have a working copy on your external drive we're pretty much there?!

iTunes 10 will change the format of the library file on your external when you first start it with iTunes 10.  You will not be able to use that file with iTunes 7 any longer.  If you want to use this with both computers you're in a tough spot because the old iMac probably cannot run iTunes 10 (which operating system version is it running?), but you probably don't want to downgrade the MBP to using iTunes 7, especially not if you have any newer i-devices such as a phone.  There may not really be a solution to that.

As I said before, you cannot have a library that will work with both your old and new Mac.   You can  set up a library for the old Mac and a library for the new Mac that would share the media files on the external.  That would take some super-organization on your part to ensure they stay up to date with each other, but if you're supr organized you could do it.

I think you also need to start learning how iTunes works because if you start doing the dual library thing you really need to know how all this works because you're doing things iTunes really doesn't like you doing and you're going to have to coddle it.

What are the iTunes library files? - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1660

More on iTunes library files and what they do - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITunes#Media_management

What are all those iTunes files? - http://www.macworld.com/article/139974/2009/04/itunes_files.html

iTunes 9 [and later]: Understanding iTunes Media Organization - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3847

Start iTunes on your MacBook Pro.

Select the items you want that are now on the external drive.  Hold down the option key and drag those items to the iTunes window on the MBP.  They will now be added to the library on the MBP, but they will not be copied to the MBP.  This will also leave the library file on the external drive unaltered so you can continue to use it with the iMac.

If you add files in the future you will have to repeat the drag to the MBP process.  You will also have to add them to the iTunes library when using the external on the iMac too.

Of course the drive will have to be turned on and attached to whichever computer you are using before you start iTunes.

Read those links I provided!  The above process lets you use two different library versions sharing the same files but it is easy to make a mess of it and things are getting to a complex state now. I don't think I have ever participated in a topic where 3 people took 70 posts to sort it out. Usually it is just a post or two.