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backing up itunes to external drive

Frawley

Frawley

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 19, 2008
71
43
Los Angeles, California
Hello,

I am thinking of moving my itunes files to an external had drive in order to open space on my laptop.
The process of using itunes to choose a different save location is easy.
I will then have to backup to a second drive for safety and I was wondering if anyone has done this and what the best way to go is.

Or...Should I get over my lameness and start using Timemachine?

If I do use time machine, I still want to open up space on my laptop by moving my itunes library to another Hard drive. (and maintain functionality)

THANKYOU in advance for any help.

J
 
I have done this got 2 500Gb hard drives connected to AEBS, use one for my itunes library and the other to back up using the backup app. Access time seems slower doing this, there may be a longer pause than you are use to before your music or video begins planning through iTunes.

I also use time machine to back up everything else as it has already proved quite useful in restoring calenders and other things I didn't think to include in a backup schedule.

Hope that helps
 
baldspot07 said:
I have done this got 2 500Gb hard drives connected to AEBS, use one for my itunes library and the other to back up using the backup app. Access time seems slower doing this, there may be a longer pause than you are use to before your music or video begins planning through iTunes.

I also use time machine to back up everything else as it has already proved quite useful in restoring calenders and other things I didn't think to include in a backup schedule.

Hope that helps
Click to expand...

Thanks,

So to clarify...You have your itunes based on one drive and use time machine on the other?
So no music (itunes) live on your computer hard drive?

thanks again.
 
I have a blackbook with an upgraded 250gb HD and I store my iTunes on an external MyBook Pro 2TB drive to free up space.

I created an alias to the itunes library file on my external drive, and when itunes starts, it goes right to the external and grabs the library.

I use iBackup to backup my itunes library and other important files to another drive. iBackup is freeware that lets you selectively backup any files or folders to any location.

Hope this helps.

-mf
 
Frawley said:
Hello,

I am thinking of moving my itunes files to an external had drive in order to open space on my laptop.
The process of using itunes to choose a different save location is easy.
I will then have to backup to a second drive for safety and I was wondering if anyone has done this and what the best way to go is.

Or...Should I get over my lameness and start using Timemachine?

If I do use time machine, I still want to open up space on my laptop by moving my itunes library to another Hard drive. (and maintain functionality)

THANKYOU in advance for any help.

J
Click to expand...

I have my iTunes library on a 500Gb external drive. I have a second external drive used for Time Machine. TM does a fine job of backing up my iTunes library. I notice that if a rip a new CD that TM pickit it up and copies it within an hour automatically.

Periodically I also snapshot the library to third drive and then unplug this third drive and put it back in the fireproof media safe.

The system works well. I must have 1,000 CDs ripped to Apple Lossless format.
 
Frawley said:
Thank you very much to everyone
Click to expand...

OK,

I have followed these steps and they work...
But...now every time I pick a song in the new location itunes is telling meme that the original file can not be found.
Then when I locate the file in the external drive it plays perfectly fine.
Am I going to have to do this for every song?

HELP
 
Ok,

I think I solved it.
What I did was to delete the files from itunes and then copy them over from their new home on the external Hard drive.
It seems to be working fine now, if only a tiny bit slower.
Deleting the files from itunes was scary as hell.
 
Frawley said:
OK,

I have followed these steps and they work...
But...now every time I pick a song in the new location itunes is telling meme that the original file can not be found.
Then when I locate the file in the external drive it plays perfectly fine.
Am I going to have to do this for every song?

HELP
Click to expand...

I think you do, i had to do that with my old PC. Downside was that after a few weeks, it completely forgot where all my music was:(. but then i got a mac. i dont know if there is an easier way to do it (i did the file find for about 300 or 400 songs)
 
pachyderm said:
i hope this is a related topic.... what happens when you use the advanced settings and "consolidate" your music?
Click to expand...

Consolidating for me is when I combine two itunes music locations into one. As I now have my itunes media living on a firewire drive the problem arrises as to what itunes does with things it downloads when the firewire is not connected (ie. podcasts etc).
Itunes automatically saves these things in the regular music section.
Consolidating then combines them once the firewire is hooked up.
You will have to manually delete the new files once you have consolidated though.
Hope that helps
 
Frawley said:
Consolidating for me is when I combine two itunes music locations into one. As I now have my itunes media living on a firewire drive the problem arrises as to what itunes does with things it downloads when the firewire is not connected (ie. podcasts etc).
Itunes automatically saves these things in the regular music section.
Consolidating then combines them once the firewire is hooked up.
You will have to manually delete the new files once you have consolidated though.
Hope that helps
Click to expand...

it does, thanks.
 
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