iTunes and External Hard Drive

[mynameismatt89]

I've done some "googling" and MacRumors Forum searching and am pretty sure I know what I'm doing. I would just like some confirmation from the professionals here at MacRumors.

What I want to do is move my entire iTunes library to my 250GB External HD and have no more music on my ibook's Hard Drive. Since I seldom use my ibook to listen to my music (I always use my shuffle) it will be more convenient and I will now have more room on my ibook Hard Drive. So far, this website seems to be the best and provides the best details although it is for copying the songs to the External HD I believe I can just delete them from my ibook Hard Drive after:

http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/moving-your-itunes-library-to-a-new-hard-drive/

All I want to be able to do is, when I download music put it directly on my External HD and not have it go on my ibook's HD. When I am ready to put more music on my iPod (will be getting a 30GB or 80GB in a couple of weeks) I want to be able to hook up my External HD and then sync up the HD with my iPod.

So if anyone has some advice or tips for this I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks,
Matt

 

[mynameismatt89]

Okay so I did it using the steps I've provided in the link. I then deleted all of the songs listed in my Library on iTunes on my iBook's HD (there weren't any files in the iTunes Music Folder). Then when i plug the External HD back in, all of the music is gone in my library but all of my music is still in the iTunes Music Folder for the External HD. Why does this happen if the two HD's have different Music Library save locations?

Thanks,
Matt

 

[skybolt]

Not understanding your second post. You deleted the music from your internal drive after you put it on your external. Why do yhou think it should be in your library?

All of your music should be on your external, and when that external is plugged in, all will be available. If not plugged in, you will not have access to music.

Here's the Apple KB article on how to move your iTunes library to an external: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301748

 

[rockstarjoe]

Make sure you've changed the music location in iTunes Preferences > Advanced to the external drive. It is probably still looking for your music on your internal drive (giving those annoying exclamation marks).

 

[mynameismatt89]

Yes, when my External is not plugged in, I cannot play the music. BUT, when the External is not plugged i still see the songs on my iTunes (but cannot be played... if i click on one a "!" shows up) and when i check the preferences the music library is mapped to the iBook HD. Then when i plug the External in, its mapped to the External.

When the External is not plugged in should the Music Library still be shown as being mapped to the External and not the iBook's HD?

 

[skybolt]

Yes, that is the way it works. You can see the aliases, if you will, to your music, but it is not available to play until you plug in your external. All is well, it is working like it should.

 

[mynameismatt89]

Alright, thank you. So the iTunes Music folder can be completely removed from my iBook's HD or do I need this still? The Link that you (Skybolt) provided says that yes, I can do this, but to make sure not to delete certain files. Which types of files are these?

 

[rockstarjoe]

NO don't remove all the files. The folder on your internal drive has the actual "library" data (and this is why you still see your songs listed in iTunes even when the external is not connected). But you are free to delete the MUSIC files from within the iTunes folder on your internal drive.