hi folks, need some assistance. I had a macbook pro but my wife needs it for her photography so i bought a macbook air for myself. Now, what is the easiest way to move my iTunes stuff to this air? Space isn't an issue but the migration part says it needs to move around 50gb or more and its going to take 10hrs. That is nuts. Is that my only option?
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moved from pro to air......
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If you have a USB HDD, I would use that to copy the music etc... then you can just copy the itunes library files as well.
Otherwise, you might have to just let it copy overnight...
Otherwise, you might have to just let it copy overnight...
i have tried trying to copy stuff via a HDD and i can't figure it out. I tried to copy/paste the folder into the HD but it won't let me.
In what way won't let you?
If the drive is formatted as NTFS and you don't have an NTFS driver installed, you won't be able to write.
Otherwise, you might need to creat a media folder and copy it album by album... or at least the folders in the User->Music->Itunes Media->Music folder.
If the drive is formatted as NTFS and you don't have an NTFS driver installed, you won't be able to write.
Otherwise, you might need to creat a media folder and copy it album by album... or at least the folders in the User->Music->Itunes Media->Music folder.
I tried installing a ntfs driver and it dies when I try to plug in the drive. The exact issue i'm having is that I have no problems 'copying' the itunes folder but i can't paste it into the external HD. The paste function isn't highlighted so what you say is probably the case. I probably dont have the right driver installed. I have a seagate external drive.
I'm guessing since the MBP was your machine, you probably have other stuff on there as well, no?
If that's the case, just use an external HD and use Time Machine to do a backup of the MBP and then use Time Machine again on the new MBA to restore the backup to the new machine. Voila - everything will be just as you left it on the MBP - all your music, playlists, and everything else as well.
If that's the case, just use an external HD and use Time Machine to do a backup of the MBP and then use Time Machine again on the new MBA to restore the backup to the new machine. Voila - everything will be just as you left it on the MBP - all your music, playlists, and everything else as well.
I can't go that route because time machine wants to erase everything on that HD and format it for use; that external is our primary backup HD and has a lot of files on it. I would have to get another external drive I guess but your route sounds like the best way to go. thanks guys. There's no way i'm leaving both machines on all night.
Applications>Utilities>Disk Utility. Select the external drive on the left and click the partition tab in the middle. Then click the plus sign select what size you want. Just make sure the partition is as big as the drive you are backing up. Click apply and you should be good to go.
You should get another external. They are cheap and that way you and your wife can both have their own time machine backup.
You might as well just follow the instructions above to create the OS X Extended, Journaled partition and then copy/paste the iTunes folder from the old computer to the new one.
If you want all of your files and settings then open Finder>Mac HD>Users and drag the whole user home folder over to the external drive.
If there are multiple users on the old MBP and you want all of them on the new MBA then Time Machine is a good idea (and it's a good idea to back up both computers once set up so you might consider getting another external just to use as a Time Machine backup for both).
Hey guys, thanks, really i only care about the itunes folder, and any photo's in iphoto. I'll try the partition thing out tonight and see how that goes. thanks all. i will report back.
Why didn't you just let the migration asst do its job? It's possible that the time estimate was wrong, but even if it was right, you made your first post about this 12 hours ago so you would be all done by now. 
Dont do it over wifi, plug both into a network and then turn off wifi or make sure you disconnect, it should be faster than 10 hours.
finished
thanks for all the suggestions folks; i ended up just letting the migration assistant run over the night and it finished.
thanks for all the suggestions folks; i ended up just letting the migration assistant run over the night and it finished.