Moving iTunes Library to 2nd Hard Drive?

[alexf]

Hi Everyone,

My brother just bought an external hard drive to store his iTunes music on, since his internal was full.

He wants to store all of his music on the external drive. The question is: how can he transfer his iTunes library over to 2nd drive and have iTunes then find it and then play music from it? Does he have to move any preferences, etc.?

Thanks in advance.

 

[spinne1]

Very simple. Step one: physically copy the entire "iTunes Music" folder over to the new hard drive by a simple drag and drop. [the folder is located at: boot drive-->users-->"user name"-->music-->iTunes-->iTunes Music]

Step two: open iTunes. Go to Preferences-->Advanced and change the location of the iTunes Music Folder to your new location. Make sure that "Copy files to iTunes Music Folder" is unchecked (just because).

Step three: in iTunes, select all your songs [Edit-->Select All] and clear them from your library by going to Edit-->Clear. If it asks you whether you want to put the files in the trash, just say no.

Step four: in iTunes, go to File-->Add To Library and select the iTunes Music folder on the new hard drive that you just copied over. It will rebuild your library. [keep in mind that the location of your library file has not moved. It is still on your original hard drive in the folder that had your iTunes Music folder in it before you copied it to the new hard drive.]

Step five: go back to the Finder and throw away the file iTunes Music on your original hard drive [MAKE SURE THE NEWLY COPIED FOLDER IS THERE ON THE NEW DRIVE AND COMPLETE AND NOT CORRUPT OR ELSE YOU LOSE ALL YOUR TUNES]

Step six: if there were any songs in your library that did NOT originate from your iTunes Music folder, re-add them by going back to iTunes, then to File-->Add To Library and manually selecting the files or folders that reside elsewhere on your system.

 

[alexf]

Thanks spinne1,

This was very helpful.

 

[EasyB]

Hey spinne1,

By doing that it sounds like you would lose your rating info, is that so?

 

[jholzner]

I would just like to say there is a slightly easier way to do this. First, change the default locatino of your music library (I think it is under advanced). Then, choose "consolidate music library." This will automatically copy all of your music to the new location. Then, simply delete the files from the old location. At least, that's how I did it when I added a second drive last week.

 

[Eastend]

I would just like to say there is a slightly easier way to do this. First, change the default locatino of your music library (I think it is under advanced). Then, choose "consolidate music library." This will automatically copy all of your music to the new location. Then, simply delete the files from the old location. At least, that's how I did it when I added a second drive last week.

You know I've done this 3 times in the last couple of years and everytime I forget how I did it. However, your way sounds good, probably the best way.
At work it's on a external Maxtor drive and at home it's on a LaCie drive, everytime I forget, so I pasted your explanation into a text file the next time I do it, so thank you.

Brian

 

[spinne1]

EasyB: Yep, you would lose your ratings, but then again I don't rate my music, so for me it would not hurt.

jholzner: Your way is definitely better, so Eastend, forget what I said.

That is one reason I like these forums, I always keep learning. I just learned a new iTunes trick. Thank you.

 

[elevenpower]

How to move and keep all settings?

I just purchased an external hard drive, and want to move all my music to it. I think i'm going to use the consolidate funtion, but I was wondering, if I move all my music to the new hard drive, will all my settings (i.e. album photos, play lists) stil be there?

If not, how would I go about moving my files and keeping my settings in tact?

Thanks.

 

[musicpyrite]

Things like Artist, Album, and Name are stored in the ID3 tags on the actual MP3/AAC file.

Things like custom play lists, favorites, ratings, etc are stored in the "iTunes Music Library.xml" file.