How can I reduce iTunes Library size?

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Landshark2007 Author

Level 2

220 points

How can I reduce iTunes Library size?

I have a 2TB drive for iTunes and nothing else (it's on a TimeCapsule). The library is now over 1.2TB in size and I cannot find a reliable way to reduce the library's size in such a way that its data integrity remains the same.

Ideally I would like to take apps that I no longer use frequently out of the main library, but be able to reinstate them later if needed. (The Mobile Applications folder alone is 311GB).

This would be the same for TV Shows (which is over 500GB).

I have looked at removing duplicate music, but this is a little difficult if the song is on different albums. In any case this is small compared to other folders.

I am sure that others have experienced similar issues and I would like to get some advice if possible. Does anyone have a good app that can sort the mess out? Is there a simple way of clearing things out without losing the ability to bring an archived item back at a later date?

The last time I had to do a full restore of iTunes, it took 4 days to copy from one of the backups to the main drive and I really don't want to go through that again.

Thanks for reading

Posted on Feb 9, 2016 8:32 AM

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Answer 1

Limnos

Level 10

411,175 points

Feb 9, 2016 8:38 AM in response to Landshark2007

No simple way. Days of Star Trek, "Computer, clean up my iTunes library for me; I will be back in 10 minutes," are not yet here.

You can delete items from iTunes but tell it not to delete the actual files. Copy the files to two different drives for archiving and backup, then delete them.

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Answer 2

Feb 9, 2016 8:45 AM in response to Landshark2007

TV Shows and Movies purchased from the iTunes Store takes up a lot of space. And if they are purchases, you can download them again (except for items that are no longer sold). And you can stream them from Apple's servers, so you don't need to download them again to watch them again. I wouldn't worry about songs, since they take up so little space (comparatively).

Or are you asking about archiving them to another local hard drive, and making your official iTunes Media folder smaller.

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Answer 3

Landshark2007 Author

Level 2

220 points

Feb 9, 2016 8:50 AM in response to Kenichi Watanabe

You've pretty much nailed it on the head. I want to make the "Daily Use" library smaller without losing the "Main Library" items. This is mainly down to Apps and TV Shows which account for over half of the iTunes Library's size.

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Answer 4

Feb 9, 2016 8:55 AM in response to Landshark2007

Do you have your entire iTunes folder (with the iTunes Library database file) on your current external drive, or only the iTunes Media folder on the external drive (with your iTunes folder on the Mac's internal drive)?

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Answer 5

Limnos

Level 10

411,175 points

Feb 9, 2016 9:00 AM in response to Landshark2007

You could set up different libraries for different groups of items. A movie library, a daily library, etc. The only drawback is if you activate automatic downloads from the iTunes Store because then you'll be missing whole groups depending upon which library you are using.

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