How Do I Move My iTunes Library To External Hard Drive?

You might find this link helpful:

<<Locate and organize your iTunes media files - Apple Support>>

See the section "Find and change the iTunes Media folder location" especially.

See Make a split library portable.

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The user tip is meant as an overarching guide for all problems relating to the correct library structure. If you have media outside the designated media folder and/or that folder isn't the direct child folder then your library isn't portable and things will break if you attempt to move it between operating systems. The simplest solution would be to move or copy your current iTunes folder to the root of your external drive, access it there, reset the media folder if required to \iTunes\iTunes Media (it would normally happen automatically), then consolidate any remaining media that wasn't inside the original library folder. When it comes to the Mac you will either need to install an NTFS write driver or port the whole library over to an HFS+ formatted drive.

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If you are a novice then it is unlikely that you've changed any of the default settings. Enable the menu bar in iTunes if hidden with Ctrl+B, then use Edit > Preferences > Advanced to look at some options that control what happens when media is added to your library. I would expect to see the media folder listed as C:\Users\<User>\Music\iTunes\iTunes Media and for the two options Keep... and Copy... to both be ticked. If so that is a good start as it means your library is in the standard layout which is portable.

With iTunes closed you can copy the entire iTunes folder from C:\Users\<User>\Music\ to the top level or root folder of an external drive to make a working copy of the library. You can access this new copy of the library by holding down shift (Window) or Option (Mac) as you launch iTunes. You keep hold the key until a prompt appears asking you to choose or create a library, the browse to an open the iTunes Library.itl file that is inside the iTunes folder.

A complication arises when switching from Windows to OS X in that most external drives for Windows come formatted as NTFS which OS X can read, but cannot write to without additional software. iTunes needs to be able to write to the drive in order to update the library. The options for getting around this obstacle are to download an NTFS write driver, or copy the iTunes folder to a second external drive formatted as HFS+ which is the default Mac filing system (and which Windows won't read or write). Once you've made the copy onto HFS+ and made sure that your library works properly there, and you've migrated any other data that you want to copy over from the Windows system, you could reformat the NTFS drive for use with the Mac and copy the data back to it so that you have a backup.

Another option is set up your external drive on the Mac to begin with, connect both computers to the same network, share the Music folder in Windows, and copy the iTunes folder from the Windows system over the network directly to the external connected to the Mac.

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Drives are generally pre-formatted for Windows. You can connect it to your computer, see if it will open, and check the properties of the drive.

Both Windows and OS X have utilities for reformatting drives.

The Keep option isn't so important, this tells iTunes to rearrange files inside the media folder as you update tags. I would generally leave this option turned on unless you are really picky about having your media arranged the way you want it, and are prepared for the extra effort that entails.

The Copy option ensures that anything added to the library is copied into the media folder rather than accessed at some original location elsewhere. This helps make sure that if you add some albums from a memory stick, for example, they can still play in iTunes when the stick is removed. iTunes has a feature called consolidation that copies in any files that are currently located outside of the media folder. To consolidate the library enable the menu bar if hidden with Ctrl+B then use File > Library > Organize Library > Consolidate files. This will copy in any files that might be referenced in alternate locations such as the desktop. Don't do this if the bulk of you library is stored on an external drive and copying in the files would take more room than you have. If that were the case you should look at Make a split library portable in more detail.

Once you've consolidated the library the iTunes folder should be in a portable shape and you can proceed as outlined earlier.

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I'm not sure why you mentioned the XML. The library is the entire iTunes folder, in particular the core database in iTunes Library.itl and all of the media files.

If your library is in the portable shape copy the iTunes folder to an external drive in NTFS format, e.g. as X:\iTunes. Use the shift-start iTunes method to open X:\iTunes\iTunes Library.itl and confirm that the library works properly on that external drive when attached to Windows. (You may already be at this point.)

Close iTunes and safely eject the drive. Now connect it to the Mac and copy the entire iTunes folder either to Mac's internal drive if you have room, or another external drive formatted for use with OS X. You can then option-start iTunes on the Mac to open the correct library there.

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Exporting the library as XML makes a text based snapshot of the library database. It doesn't make anything that can be transferred as a working library to a new machine.

You should never rely on one disk to hold your content. Drives are cheap. I just bought a portable 3TB for £110.

Please read the user tip Make a split library portable. Where is your active library file? What is the path to your media folder? I can give detailed advice if I know where things are.

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