Playing music from external HD via itunes..help!!

[trés charme]

evening!

Help me before I throw my little mac out the window, please!

I have transferred my itunes music on to my external HD. The music is there and that is fine. I then deleted the old itunes folder from my actual HD. I have now wanted to access the music on the external HD, and have attempted to select the new music file location on the external HD via the itunes/preferences/advanced window,selected the new file path and it will just not show in itunes!

I have trawled the internet and have read so many blogs and cannot figure it out.. so if anyone can please help I would be so grateful

Sara.

i heart

 

[GoCubsGo]

I've noticed that unlike earlier times with iTunes when you select a new location for your library you kind of need to manually rebuild it. Meaning, if you select it and close iTunes. Reopen it and it doesn't update the library, you may need to delete all songs from the library and re-add. I know this isn't ideal, but I've had similar issues. I've noticed the more updates iTunes gets the more fineckey it is about things.

That's just my experience and my 2 cents.

 

[Jolly Jimmy]

Did you copy the whole iTunes folder? If not and you have deleted the rest you will have to create a new library and import all your music. When moving your library always make sure to copy the complete iTunes folder, and you should not have to rebuild or anything.

 

[BENI]

I think you have to re-import your itunes music folder (delete everything and then re-import it from your exHD) this will sadly bu**er up your playlists but it worked when I did it (on my iPod) after that you will definitely be able to use it from the exHD.

there might be a freeware playlist saver somewhere so if you are very attached to your playlists you could try looking for something like that.

Good luck and hope it works

 

[trés charme]

I've noticed that unlike earlier times with iTunes when you select a new location for your library you kind of need to manually rebuild it. Meaning, if you select it and close iTunes. Reopen it and it doesn't update the library, you may need to delete all songs from the library and re-add. I know this isn't ideal, but I've had similar issues. I've noticed the more updates iTunes gets the more fineckey it is about things.

That's just my experience and my 2 cents.

i really am a complete rookie.. so very sorry if this is painful!

you may need to delete all songs from the library and re-add

Where would i delete these songs from exactly, as they only exist on my ext HD.. and then how rebuild?

 

[trés charme]

Did you copy the whole iTunes folder? If not and you have deleted the rest you will have to create a new library and import all your music. When moving your library always make sure to copy the complete iTunes folder, and you should not have to rebuild or anything.

I would like to think I did (most positively sure i did) , however if what your saying is true i must not have..!

 

[trés charme]

I think you have to re-import your itunes music folder (delete everything and then re-import it from your exHD) this will sadly bu**er up your playlists but it worked when I did it (on my iPod) after that you will definitely be able to use it from the exHD.

there might be a freeware playlist saver somewhere so if you are very attached to your playlists you could try looking for something like that.

Good luck and hope it works

thanks beni! actually i did this, and when i imported the music back from the HD to itunes on my internal hd (?) it came up with a exclamation mark ! beside each file and said it could not find the file, asking me to locate it...

 

[Jolly Jimmy]

This screenshot shows all the files you need to copy. I have copied/moved my library multiple times by simply copying the whole folder, and I have never had a single problem, even my playlists and view settings remained intact.

 

[GoCubsGo]

^ You would think this would be the case, but god forbid my NAS isn't connected yet (woken up) and I launch iTunes. It will sometimes resort to moving back to the original location and I'm back at the beginning. I have fewer problems than I used to, but overall, it's still a PITA sometimes. I blame iTunes mostly.

 

[BENI]

OK
1. open iTunes.

2. select all your media in itunes (music, videos but not podcasts)

3. delete. - if it asks you if you want to keep the original files then press yes.

4. make sure you have copied everything you want to your new itunes folder (on the exHD).

5. open itunes prefs - avanced - make sure keep Itunes folder organized is ticked and copy files to itunes music folder is ticked. also select your new itunes music folder as the default folder (as you tried before).

6. select your new itunes folder in finder and drag and drop it on to the itunes window. (it may be better to select everything inside your new itunes folder rather than just the folder its self)

7. now you can rebuild your library - playlists etc...

if this doesn't work then I really can't help cos I have done exactly this on windows and mac and it worked fine.

try not to open itunes without the exHD connected as itunes might reset you default music folder.

don't worrie about movies as they are stored in the itunes music folder in a folder called movies. Podcasts will be sent to the podcast folder as long as you followed 5 properly.

don't copy the actual library file as that will not help you run it on another computer (itunes is not a portable app!) and it won't free up that much space - basicaly it just complicates - all you need it the folder called "itunes music" and nothing else.

it really is very simple when you understand it but I know just how you feel cos I did it too and it is very confusing.

 

[trés charme]

Thanks Beni & everyone for your comments I have finally got it right...
Thanks again really appreciated

 

[0007776]

glad you have it working, but incase anyone else finds this thread instead of going through all of the steps other people have posted, it's a lot easier. just copy the entire iTunes folder, and then open iTunes while holding option then select choose library and find where you moved the iTunes folder to. that's what I've always done and never had a problem.

 

[Matt-Man-Plus]

Thanks Beni & everyone for your comments I have finally got it right...
Thanks again really appreciated

Been thinking of doing this for a while now. How well does it work>