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Moving iTunes Library

K

kabbott1921

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 7, 2011
8
0
Hi

I have a MacAir with the iTunes library stored on an external drive. I now want to move the library to my new Mac Mini. How do I go about this?

Many thanks

Ken
 
K

kabbott1921

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 7, 2011
8
0
Many thanks but I'm not sure this does what I want as doesn't this simply move the location of an existing iTunes library to a new location where what I want is something slightly different.

At present I have an iTunes library on the new Mac Mini which is empty and the one that I want on the external drive. However when I connect the external drive to the Mac Mini the external library isn't connected to an iTunes. So in effect I want to import the external drive library into the empty Mac Mini library (and not connect the Mac Mini iTunes to the external library).
 
Weaselboy

Weaselboy

Moderator
Staff member
Jan 23, 2005
34,133
15,596
California
kabbott1921 said:
Many thanks but I'm not sure this does what I want as doesn't this simply move the location of an existing iTunes library to a new location where what I want is something slightly different.

At present I have an iTunes library on the new Mac Mini which is empty and the one that I want on the external drive. However when I connect the external drive to the Mac Mini the external library isn't connected to an iTunes. So in effect I want to import the external drive library into the empty Mac Mini library (and not connect the Mac Mini iTunes to the external library).
Click to expand...

Just delete the iTunes library on the Mini then follow the instructions in the link to move the external library from the external drive to the Mini.
 
K

kabbott1921

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 7, 2011
8
0
Really sorry but I still don't see how this will achieve what I want. I've followed the procedure described in the link but all it seems to do is move the existing library on the Mac Mini to a new location. At no stage does it ask me for the location of my existing library (which is on the external disk). Isn't this coming at it from the wrong direction? Either I'm missing something here or I fear we may be at cross purposes.
 
chickenwingfly

chickenwingfly

macrumors 6502a
Mar 8, 2012
633
22
This helped me out back in the day, read it and see if you can find a way to achieve what you want.
I know what it is, I just don't know if for instance you have an "ITL" on the external or just the data is referenced in the internal ITL and so on.
 
S

SpetsnaZ99

macrumors member
Apr 27, 2012
69
1
UK
I might be confused, but try this :-

Connect the external drive to the mac mini.
The drive should show up on the desktop.
Open iTunes
Open 'Preferences', then select 'Advanced'
then make sure the tick box 'Copy files to iTunes media folder when adding to library' is checked
Now go to 'File', then 'Add to library' and then navigate to the iTunes library on the external drive (you should now see all the sub folders ('Music', 'Movies' etc))
Select the 'Music' folder and click 'Open'
The music will now be copied to your mac mini iTunes library.
Repeat the steps for 'Movies' etc.
 
Weaselboy

Weaselboy

Moderator
Staff member
Jan 23, 2005
34,133
15,596
California
kabbott1921 said:
Really sorry but I still don't see how this will achieve what I want. I've followed the procedure described in the link but all it seems to do is move the existing library on the Mac Mini to a new location. At no stage does it ask me for the location of my existing library (which is on the external disk). Isn't this coming at it from the wrong direction? Either I'm missing something here or I fear we may be at cross purposes.
Click to expand...

Try this to start. Quit iTunes then relaunch iTunes while holding the option key. This will ask you where your iTunes library is. Point it to the external drive. Then follow the steps in the link to move the library from the external to the internal drive.
 
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