How can I transfer Itunes from external hard drive to a new computer?

There is no top Itunes folder. From Windows Explorer, do you mean go to Backup, then C folder, then Program Files, and then Itunes?

Holding the shift key down when I try to open it does nothing. It won't open.

I think I made the problem worse when I dragged the Itunes folder on my external hard drive to the newly downloaded version of Itunes on my new laptop, since Itunes had been updated since I backed it up. Either way, it won't open now. Would downloading Itunes again work? If I uninstall the one on my laptop now, the Itunes that won't open, wouldn't I lose the Itunes folder that I dropped and dragged earlier (as explained in my initial post)?

Why does it sound like I've lost my library? It is saved to the external hard drive, not just once, but mulitiple times. And I do have a second external hard drive it is backed up to, though the second external drive hasn't been backed up for about a month. The primary external hard drive that I'm trying to restore from, a Seamagine GoFlex 1 terabyte, has the more recent backups.

*********************Where I said "Seamagine," I mean "Seagate" external hard drive. My bad.

Oh, cool! Now things are starting to make sense a bit. I don't care about the ratings, play counts, playlists. Besides playlists, I never paid much attention to the ratings and such. Do I need the *.itl file to get the library listing back? The only thing I really want, besides the actual music, is the library listing of Artist-Song-Album-Genre-Year. You know, the basic info of each song/album. That would be SOOO time consuming to have to go through and listen to each song, manually typing in that data.

I don't see any *.itl folders in my Windows Explorer of the Seagate Backups folder. That might be synced with the Itunes from when I tried to drag/drop (as described in a previous post in this thread, above).

To be honest, right now I'm scared to do anything. I don't want to screw anything up more, LOL! The only other choice I have, though is to go to Geek Squad at Best Buy and pay them $100 to do it for me. I don't want to do that, but if I have to so to have my music back, I will. I bought the external hard drive from Best Buy.

You have helped, though, so I give you props. Any additional info, and especially info that is clear enough for me to not be afraid to attempt alone, is VERY greatly appreciated! Thank you!

Thank you, Turingtest2!

Sorry about the delayed response. Apple has been "read only" all day long today due to website ballyhoo, until now.

Because I'm paranoid about doing this, I'm going to tell you how I interpret what you're saying to do before I actually do anything. Please tell me where I'm wrong, which I'm sure that I am in many places here, LOL. I'm not completely inept, but I'm not very tech-savvy either.

First, let me mention that the external hard drive(a Seagate GoFlex) that has my backups on is now my G drive. Second, this external hard drive, G drive, while it has my entire C drive backed up on it, is the primary and only place that I keep the actual music files on. So, the only backup of the actual (250GB of) music files that I have is on a completely other hard drive that I should probably update more often than I do. I keep the Itunes folder on my normal C drive, but since the C drive cannot fit 250GB's of music, the actual music files are all on my external (G) hard drive. I hope that makes sense.

So, here's how I interpret your directions, which I'm sure is not the way you mean them, LOL:

1. I right-click and choose "Create a new folder" within my G drive. I name the folder "Itunes."

2. I then move the entire Itunes folder that is already in my Seagate Backups folder to this new folder that I have just created. I then name that folder G:/itunes/itunes media.

3. I then click "File" in the G drive and "add folder to library" to import the media from X:/itunes/itunes media.

4. Next, I doubleclick Itunes. [What if, like before, the folder doesn't open? Do I redownload it again? Won't it still want my relative's account password, thus not letting me open it as my own, as I described in my initial post?]

5. After clicking the Itunes icon, I then immediately hold down the shift key until Itunes asks me to choose or create a library. If Itunes opens normally, then I close it out and try again.

6. When it asks to choose or create a library, I then browse to the folder that I just created (G:/itunes/itunes media and click to save it.

A few notes of where I'm confused:

A. Do I use the backward slash mark ("\") or the normal one I see, which I typed above ("/")?

B. I don't see any folder named "media" within the Itunes backup folder.[Note: My entire actual music (the sound files that are the actual songs) is in a different folder, since I keep it on my external hard drive because it has around 250GB of music/audiobooks, way more than is able to fit on my normal hard drive.]

C.Please see my concern in my initial post about Itunes wanting my relative's account info and password when I open it on this computer.

Finally, thank you so very much for your time, patient, and assistance!

TT2, You are the man (or woman, since I don't know your gender)! That worked. I have it all again, and can't express in words how apprecative I am, but, to understate it, thank you! Thank you! Thank you!!!

I will be pulling the other external hard drive out of my desk drawer and backing it up on there too as soon as I finish reassigning some of the album artwork and organizational preferences today. {{Wiping sweat off brow}} Whew!

I do, or did, have the Itunes folder from the C drive backed up, but I did not have the media files backed up, as there isn't enough room on my C drive to hold them, so I have been keeping all the audio (media) files on the 1 TB external hard drive without backup. Well, to be clear, I backed the media files up on my other 500 GB external hard drive many months ago, but do not have anything I've added backed up since then.

To state it more precisely: Itunes folders were all on C drive, and backed up to the external hard drive, with the exception of the audio/media files, which were all kept solely on the external hard drive.

I'll gladly manually adjust and re-playlist everything. That's no big deal.

Your patience has been that of a saint, and I can't express my gratitude, but I'm going to ask you for one more point of advice: Should I leave the Itunes folder, as it is now, on the G (external hard) drive? I had it setup on the old computer so that all my Itunes folders, except media files (i.e., the audiofiles that are what I *really* don't want to lose), were on C drive simply because that's where Itunes always wants to go when the software updates. I kept the actual media files (about 250 GB's worth) *not* on the C drive, but rather on the external hd (now called the "G drive"), simply due to space available. Should I keep them together on the G drive from now on and direct Itunes to go there instead of the C drive when it updates?

Again, I will back everything up on the other external hd I have in my desk after I finish organizing and fixing my organizational preferences. That was too close for comfort! You are my hero. 🙂

BTW, TT2, I think that I might have been on this forum one other time, quite some time ago, and you might've helped me then, too. I say this because your handle, "TuringTest2," sounds familiar to me. So, I might owe you doubly. I have no idea how I can repay you, but if there is anything, just say the word.

I also see you are in London, England, which makes me envious of you. I spent a semester abroad (I'm from the USA, if that isn't obvious or stated in my user info) in college studying at Imperial College London and it was the best six months of my life. London is my favorite city in the world and if I could afford to live there, I would. I have degrees in philosophy and religion, and it is probably obvious that I didn't take any actual technology courses while a student at ICL, LOL!