I keep my itunes library on an external hard drive. My macbook died, so i bought a macbook pro retina. 🙂 How do i get the new macbook pro to access the itunes library on the external? I have the same issue with iphoto also. I do have an additional external that i was using for time machine backups also.
thanks
MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)
Start iTunes and immediately hold down the option (alt) key. Point it to the library on the external.
It's probably the same for iPhoto.
just tried this and i get a window that says "itunes library file could not be found in the folder. choose a different folder." But I can see all my folders for music and apps and everything else on the external.
Sound like you have just the media folder, not the entire library in a self-contained form. You may be able to extract the library folder <User>/Music/iTunes from the Time Machine backup and then persuade it to connect to the external drive. If possible the external drive needs the same volume/device name it had on the previous system.
tt2
That sounds like it may be too complicated for me. Can I just transfer everything from the external to my itunes folder on my macbook? Then possibly transfer it back to the external if i decide that i want to keep it on the external? What would be the steps to do that?
thanks to everyone who has responded so far.
That won't get your your "library". Your library, in essence, is (was?) a file called library.itl in your iTunes folder. This is a database with a listing of which media files you have and where they are, long with playlists, ratings, and a bunch of other things (which artwork goes with which album). If all you have on the external drive are the media files then when your old computer died it took the library.itl file with 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
Image of iTunes folder structure Dec. 2011 - https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3547807?answerId=16923545022#16923545022
see also:
Image of folder structure and explanation of different iTunes versions (turingtest2 post) - https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2741246?answerId=13025536022#13025536022 and https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3700206?answerId=17457605022#17457605022
If you want your full library listing back then you will have to recover it from your bakup drive (which is why you have it). Alternatively you can create a brand new library file, add the media to it, and start new.
This worked for me. I had tried changing the iTunes preferences to point to the time machine directory where my iTunes content was, but it was not finding the library. Holding the Alt key on iTunes startup allowed me to select the same directory where my content was, and iTunes found the library. Thanks.
How to get my new macbook pro to access my itunes library from an external drive without using migration assistant
