Q: How do I Migrate 500GB to 128GB?
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Jul 2, 2016 12:06 PMby Esquared,OK, 1 step at a time. Putting the music on the external is simple. Quit iTunes if necessary. Drag the entire iTunes folder of the internal to the external. Open iTunes while pressing the Shift key. Select the new location of the Music (the external). Presto.
(You can use the same procedure for iPhotos/Photos btw.)
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Jul 2, 2016 12:12 PMby theratter,This is pretty simple. Open iTunes, select Preferences from the iTunes menu, click on the Advanced icon in the toolbar. You will see in the top area the path to your iTunes library. You need to change that path to your external music storage disk.
There are more possible ways to handle the situation as it affects all your data. The following is for users who have just installed an SSD, but it works for you if you just think of the new SSD as what is in your new computer. The process assumes you have a working copy of your old computer's HDD cloned onto your large external backup disk. If you do not, then you need to make a copy of your old Home folder and put it onto the external disk. The procedure outlined would require that the external drive would need to be connected to the new computer at all times.
You may want to consider that if you are within the 14 days from date of purchase grace period you exchange the model you have for one with a larger SSD.
How to use an SSD with your HDD
If you are going to use an SSD as a boot drive together with your existing HDD as the "data" drive, here's what you can do.
After installing the SSD you will need to partition and format the SSD using Disk Utility. Then, install OS X on the SSD. After OS X has been installed boot from the SSD. Use Startup Disk preferences to set the SSD as the startup volume.
Open Users & Groups preferences. Click on the lock icon and authenticate. CTRL- or RIGHT-click on your user account listing in the sidebar and select Advanced Options from the context menu. You will see a field labeled "Home dir:" At the right end you will see a Change button. Click on it. In the file dialog locate the Home folder now located on the HDD (HDD/Users/account_name/.) Select the folder, click on Open button. Restart the computer as directed. When the computer boots up it will now be using the Home folder located on the HDD.
Another more technical method involving the Terminal and aliases is discussed in depth here: Using OS X with an SSD plus HDD setup - Matt Gemmell. This is my preferred approach because I can select which of the Home's folders I want on the HDD and which I don't want. For example, I like to keep the Documents and Library folders on the SSD because I access their content frequently.
Be sure you retain the fully bootable system on your HDD in case you ever need it.
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Jul 2, 2016 12:37 PMby gblunt99,Thanks, guys. Very helpful. I believe I now have my complete iTunes library on the external drive.
How do I ensure that it has everything? (Under Songs, it shows identical figures: 3,988 items, 10.4 Days, 27.14 GB) Is there some other way I can ensure that I've got it all?
Related question: How come my System Profile shows 162 GB audio, but iTunes shows only 27.14 GB songs? (I have two audio books, but they're not that big.)
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Jul 2, 2016 1:56 PMby theratter,Select the /Home/Music/ folder on the external disk. Press Command-I to open the Get Info window which should show the aggregate space used for just that folder. If you see the number of tracks is the same, then you are A-OK.
That display will only be accurate immediately after re-indexing the disk: Spotlight- How to re-index folders or volumes - Apple Support. Hence, why it is so inaccurate most of the time.
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Jul 2, 2016 2:12 PMby theratter,There isn't anything for you to do but drag the item into the Privacy list of Spotlight Preferences. Wait about 30 seconds. Select the item and remove it from the list. You must then wait for Spotlight to re-index which could take hours.
There is no OK button involved.
