Transferring Itunes Library WITH Playlists from PC to Mac but files are in ExternalHD

Hello guys, new to the forum and I have searched and tried reading other similar threads but can't seem one to fit exactly.

Here is my set up:

On my Sony Vaio
I've got 26 gigs worth of music on an External Iomega 160gig hard drive under the Folder H:\Music

In that folder are other sub-folders namely, Music, Music 2, Music 3, Music 4
etc.

Now when I moved from my old vaio to my recent vaio, all I had to do was copy the library itunes .xml file to my new vaio and just make sure that the external was reconized as H:\ drive and it kept my library just as before with all my playlists over the years.

Now here is my question, since I like keeping my files off computer (to keep it from slowing down), how do I transport my library from my Sony Vaio laptop PC, to my Macbook or Macbook Pro while still keeping the playlists?

Macs apparently don't use the drive designations that PCs use. This would be of great help.

mad jew said:

With the drive connected to the Mac, open iTunes whilst holding OPTION and it should give you the choice of opening this attached library. 🙂

Click to expand...

I tried this, but it just says that it could not find the xml library file in the folder "music".

In my PC, before swapping the external to the mac, I made sure the iTunes folder was set to H:\music.

Hero33 said:

I tried this, but it just says that it could not find the xml library file in the folder "music".

In my PC, before swapping the external to the mac, I made sure the iTunes folder was set to H:\music.

Click to expand...

Oh, by the way both systems are using the most up to date version of iTunes.

rockstarjoe said:

First, keeping your music on your mac won't slow it down. But if you still want it on the external drive, copy the Itunes Library.itl file and .xml file from your C: programs \ itunes directory into the Music > iTunes folder on your mac (overwriting the ones that are there). Now when you open iTunes it should see your library (but not your music). Now connect your external drive and go to iTunes preferences > Advanced and change the music location to your external drive. That's it, everything should be as it was on your PC.

Click to expand...

cool, thanks. Now can I do that option+click to make two libraries, one with the files on the computer and 2nd sourcing from the external?

why won't having files on my mac slow it down? won't any hard drive bog down if filled to the brim?

mad jew said:

Yeah, OPTION whilst opening iTunes will let you choose separate libraries. Filling a hard derive to the brim will slow it down, but if you've still got plenty of free space then you shouldn't notice any speed difference.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the help. Apparently it was a lot simpler than I thought it would be.

For those with similar situations in the future, this is what I did:

First I made sure that both PC and Macs used the same version of itunes.

I copied the .xml and .itl/data file from my itunes folder on the PC to my external.

I then hooked the external to the mac.

On the mac, I held down the option key and clicked on itunes.

I then clicked create new library.

I added the H:\Music folder or the External hard drive folder containing the music.

I then imported the .xml library.

Now I have all my playlists on the mac but sourced from my external.

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I also have two libraries, one sourced from the Mac hard drive and one from the external.

I made sure to unclick "copy files to itunes music folder" on the options screen to make sure i didn't get redundant files on the computer when using the external library.

When I want to add files to the internal library I just hold option then click on itunes again and select the original library, make sure the "copy files to itunes music folder" is selected and starting clicking on songs.