itunes and multiple hard drives....

[crazychile]

I have a Mac Mini that I use mainly for my music library and iTunes. In the past I used a 250GB external for the music library and then another 250GB drive for back up. I ran out of hard drive space and bought a 500GB external drive that I would like to use for back up.

I want to use my two old HD's for the music library but don't know how to instruct the mac to look in both drives for my music. I would like the iTunes program to show the content of both drives (as if the music wasnt in multiple locations if possible) Can anyone tell me the proper way to do this?

Thanks in advance,
crazychile

 

[elfin buddy]

It should work just fine as long as you don't have iTunes set to copy all its music to one central location. Keep whatever music you want on whatever drive, and use the "Add to Library..." button under the iTunes' File menu as you normally would.

 

[crazychile]

I've been told it will work, but what I'm asking is HOW do I do it.

For example, in itunes it has me specify the location of the music library. I guess i would like to specify two locations but I havent figured out how to do it. I'm probably using the wrong approach.

So basically I want to have my music library on two hard drives and then use another big hard drive for back up. OR if it somehow makes a difference, I could use the Big HD as the source for the library, but then could I use the two small hard drives for back up?

Either way, I'm clueless and need some help as I'm a total Mac newb.
Thanks again,
crazychile

 

[Plumbstone]

If your iTunes library is currently being read off your 250Gb drive then it already knows where all those files are. All you need to do is set up an iTunes folder on your new drive and tell iTunes that that is its default location. This is done in preferences/advanced (tab)/General. Just direct it to your new folder. It is a good idea to check "copy files to itunes folder...." so you know they all go there. All your original files will still be where they were but any new rips you do will go to the new location.

Also if you have less than 500Gb worth of tunes in total it is probably a good idea to keep them all in one place as it makes finding stuff and backing up a load easier. To do this , once you have selected a folder on your new drive as itunes default , go to the advanced menu and click on "consolidate library" This will copy all the tunes in your entire Library to this one location. Once it's done you can go and delete all the originals on your 250Gb.