Want to set up another copy of my 24 GB itunes music to a 32G thumb drive.Do I drag into the whole itunes folder into the drive or open itunes folder and only drag the file named Library.iTl ? I only have music in itunes and its all my copied cds. thanks
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
What do I drag from iTunes to a thumb drive to copy iTunes music
- Thread starter mattg3
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Google for "Moving iTunes to external hard drive". The best and easiest way can be found here:
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/easiest-move-itunes-library-external-drive/
It doesn't. You'll have a backup of your music, which is surely useful, but not a working iTunes library.
Hmm, I guess I misunderstood the OP. I thought they just wanted what was essentially a backup copy.
Actually what i wanted was a backup copy of my Itunes music library.Im a bit confused when you say it will not be a working Itunes library.Could you explain please?If I just copy the itunes folder and something happen to my Imac could I not just plug in the thumb drive to a new Imac and put my cds into itunes on a new machine?
Copy the entire iTunes folder and you'll have a full backup. You can then copy that entire folder onto a new computer and the full library will be restored.
I think gnasher's point was simply that iTunes will still be looking at the copy on the hard drive. When you restore your backup, just copy it back into the Music folder and iTunes will automatically look in the right place.
I think gnasher's point was simply that iTunes will still be looking at the copy on the hard drive. When you restore your backup, just copy it back into the Music folder and iTunes will automatically look in the right place.
For more detailed instructions, use the "external drive" method from this article on support.apple.com:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527
There have been some people posting, usually with an MBA and a small(ish) SSD drive, who want to remove their iTunes library from their computer - typically onto a thumb drive.
If you just copy the music folder, all the music is on the thumb drive. You can take it to another computer, start iTunes, and use "Add to Library" to add all or parts of the music. However, all your play lists, ratings, play counts etc. will be gone.
The instructions on that website move your music to the thumb drive, and change your library to look for the music on your thumb drive, so you can delete the music on your computer.
Thanks,that clears it up.Im going with the folder to thumb drive since anything but the music is not that important to me and playlists can always be created again.
One more question,do i have to do anything to my thumb drive to accomplish this task?Do I need to format it using disk utilities?If I do what do I format it to among the choices given?thanks again.
One more question,do i have to do anything to my thumb drive to accomplish this task?Do I need to format it using disk utilities?If I do what do I format it to among the choices given?thanks again.
Last edited:
Your drive is likely already formatted, probably FAT32. This is fine for your purpose as long as you don't have files > 4GB. If for some reason your drive is formatted NTFS, you can reformat to HFS+ (won't be windows compatible), FAT32 (fully compatible with windows and osx), or exFAT (patchy compatibility with windows).
Surely GGJstudios will be by shortly to post this:
Format A Hard Drive Using Disk Utility (which is in your /Applications/Utilities folder)
Choose the appropriate format:
HFS+ (Hierarchical File System, a.k.a. Mac OS Extended (Journaled) Don't use case-sensitive)
NTFS (Windows NT File System)
exFAT (FAT64)
FAT32 (File Allocation Table)
Surely GGJstudios will be by shortly to post this:
Format A Hard Drive Using Disk Utility (which is in your /Applications/Utilities folder)
Choose the appropriate format:
HFS+ (Hierarchical File System, a.k.a. Mac OS Extended (Journaled) Don't use case-sensitive)
- Read/Write HFS+ from native Mac OS X
- Required for Time Machine or Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper! backups of Mac OS X system files.
[*]To Read/Write HFS+ from Windows, Install MacDrive
[*]To Read HFS+ (but not Write) from Windows, Install HFSExplorer - Maximum file size: 8EiB
- Maximum volume size: 8EiB
- Mac OS X: Mac OS Extended format (HFS Plus) volume and file limits
- You can use this format if you only use the drive with Mac OS X, or use it for backups of your Mac OS X internal drive, or if you only share it with one Windows PC (with MacDrive installed on the PC)
NTFS (Windows NT File System)
- Read/Write NTFS from native Windows.
- Read only NTFS from native Mac OS X
[*]To Read/Write/Format NTFS from Mac OS X, here are some alternatives:- For Mac OS X 10.4 or later (32 or 64-bit), install Paragon ($19.95) (Best Choice for Lion and Mountain Lion)
- For Mac OS X 10.5 and later, including Lion, FUSE for OS X
- For 32-bit Mac OS X, install NTFS-3G for Mac OS X (free) (does not work in 64-bit mode)
- Some have reported problems using Tuxera (approx $36), which is an enhanced version of NTFS-3G with faster performance.
- Native NTFS support can be enabled in Snow Leopard and later versions, but is not advisable, due to instability.
- AirPort Extreme (802.11n) and Time Capsule do not support NTFS
- Maximum file size: 16 TB
- Maximum volume size: 256TB
- You can use this format if you routinely share a drive with multiple Windows systems.
exFAT (FAT64)
- Supported in Mac OS X only in 10.6.5 or later.
- Not all Windows versions support exFAT. See disadvantages.
- exFAT (Extended File Allocation Table)
- AirPort Extreme (802.11n) and Time Capsule do not support exFAT
- Maximum file size: 16 EiB
- Maximum volume size: 64 ZiB
- You can use this format if it is supported by all computers with which you intend to share the drive. See "disadvantages" for details.
FAT32 (File Allocation Table)
- Read/Write FAT32 from both native Windows and native Mac OS X.
[*]Maximum file size: 4GB. - Maximum volume size: 2TB
- You can use this format if you share the drive between Mac OS X and Windows computers and have no files larger than 4GB.