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Helpful answers
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Aug 10, 2014 8:54 AM in response to glorth2by Limnos,I have never used Migration Assistant.
Depending upon what exactly you have on the external drive (a complete iTunes library/folder versus only the media files) some or all of the collection may be on the external and you just need to set up iTunes on the new computer to use the things on the external. Tell us what exactly you have on the external in terms of iTunes things.
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Aug 10, 2014 9:05 AM in response to Limnosby glorth2,Thanks Limnos. Right now I just have the media on there. I tried it again being logged into the Administrator profile on the laptop that MA wants to look at and it basically just wants to pull from the Windows "My Music" folder and then docs and stuff that I don't care about. As such, it seems that I'll have set everything up new. It would be no big deal to copy my whole iTunes folder into my external. Just not sure if that does the trick.
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Aug 10, 2014 9:44 AM in response to glorth2by Limnos,Your library is not ideally portable (see links below). Your media files are just songs/movies. Everything else in the iTunes folder is what gives it the structure you see when you start up iTunes. Copy the entire iTunes folder on the PC to the Mac. If you put it in the default location of Macintosh HD > Users > *User Name* > Music then iTunes will automatically look for it there. (Make sure there isn't anything already in the iTunes folder there that you want to keep since you will be replacing it with the one you are moving.) If you want to put it elsewhere, start iTunes on the Mac with the option/alt key held down and select the iTunes Library.itl file in the moved folder.
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
Where are my iTunes files located? - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1391
iTunes 9 [and later]: Understanding iTunes Media Organization - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3847 - plus supplemental information about organizing to new structure https://discussions.apple.com/message/26404702#26404702
Image of folder structure and explanation of different iTunes versions (turingtest2 post) - https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-7392 - and making an iTunes library portable.
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Aug 10, 2014 10:05 AM in response to Limnosby Limnos,Word of warning. If drive was used with a PC then likely it is NTFS formatted. Macs can only read NTFS, not write to. Various options include buying software to enable NTFS use with Mac, or (best) reformat drive to Mac format. This involves erasing whole drive.
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Aug 10, 2014 10:55 AM in response to Limnosby glorth2,Sounds good. So, if all I'm doing is taking the iTunes folder and copying it to the Mac HDD, I'm not really writing to that NTFS drive, right? Or will all of those files be somewhat useless?
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Aug 10, 2014 12:25 PM in response to glorth2by Limnos,Should be okay except you said you had your media on the external drive. I guess it will continues to play okay but if you should wish to edit track information then the edit will not be written to the media file. Or is it your intention to move everything to the Mac?
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Aug 10, 2014 1:50 PM in response to Limnosby glorth2,Limnos, I have my media backed up on the external. I am running iTunes from the Windows 7 laptop right now but can easily copy that whole folder onto the external and then over to the Mac, unless it just won't work. I just want to be able to move the iTunes over and maybe some photos but that should be easy to import to iPhoto from an external, nothing else. Thanks again!
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Aug 10, 2014 1:56 PM in response to glorth2by glorth2,I should mention that I primarily use iTunes from my iPhone 5S and I want to pair that with the Mac Mini, hence the desire to move iTunes over.