Best way to store large (>600GB) iTunes library

[dizmonk]

So here's my dilemma. I've got a very large audio library. Right now it's stored on my 3TB Fusion drive iMac. I've thought about paying $25 a month for iTunes Match so I could not worry about my music, if I ever sold the iMac.

Do you have any advice as to what would be the best way to store this large a collection (and still make sure it gets backed up, regularly)? Thanks.

 

[casperes1996]

Do you have any advice as to what would be the best way to store this large a collection (and still make sure it gets backed up, regularly)? Thanks.

Does it change frequently, since you want regular backups? – I mean, I'm personally not a big fan of continuous payments, and would therefore prefer just to buy a bunch of hard drives myself, but iTunes Match is good

 

[Tulani]

I have a similar large music library.

I have since transferred my iTunes library to an external hard drive to free up the iMac storage space.

And then each time I update the library I use a Mac app called “sync folders pro” to copy the iTunes folder to a second external hard drive Incase anything happens.

 

[Fishrrman]

What I'd do:

1. Buy an external drive of 1tb capacity.
2. Initialize (erase) it to HFS+ with journaling enabled.
3. Copy the iTunes folder to the external drive (I would use CarbonCopyCloner to "selectively clone" that folder by excluding EVERYTHING ELSE in the CCC window).

Now you have a finder-mountable volume with an exact duplicate of your iTunes folder on it.

For a library of that size (which represents a good amount of effort to create and perhaps $$$ as well), I'd REPEAT what I just did above with a SECOND drive as well. Now you have the data backed up in TWO places should things go wrong. I'd take steps to protect this second backup from disaster (store it in a location other than where you live, or at the very least consider a small waterproof/fire-resistant lockbox to be stored in the basement).

WHY CCC is preferable for creating the backup:
CCC "will not quit" if it encounters a corrupted file during the backup process. It will just "mark" the damaged file (you can check which files won't copy later on), and will "keep on going". Thus, CCC will copy as much as it can, even if the source files aren't 100% good.

If you used the finder instead, and if the finder encounters a bad file, it will abort the entire copying process. NOT GOOD when you're trying to copy over 600gb of data!

I --WOULD NOT-- pay $25 per month for online backup, when I can do it myself.

 

[Boyd01]

My iTunes library is about 1.2 TB (although most of that is video). I use a base model 2014 Mini as an iTunes server (just runs iTunes 24/7 with homesharing). All my media is on a 4tb external disk that is cloned nightly to another external disk. I also have a second backup disk and rotate between the two regularly. Last summer my primary media drive failed after over 3 years of continuous use. Just plugged in the clone and was back up and running in a couple minutes like nothing had happened.

You could use almost any old Mac or PC as an iTunes server and set it up similarly to backup the media drive nightly with Carbon Copy Cloner.