Pointing iTunes on new Mac to my music on external drive?

[kat.hayes]

I have my iTunes music on an external hard drive and am setting up a new Mac. In preferences for iTunes I changed the iTunes Media folder location to the place on my hard drive where all of the music is stored, though iTunes does not seem to see it. I quit iTunes and reopened and it still does not see it. Is there something specifically I should be doing to make this work?

Thanks.

 

[chscag]

That doesn't work unless you create a library on the external drive. Next time when you start iTunes, hold down your option key and create a new library on the external drive. You can them move all your music to the library on the external drive. Afterward, as long as you have the external drive attached and mounted, iTunes will open to the new library on the external drive.

 

[chrfr]

I have my iTunes music on an external hard drive and am setting up a new Mac. In preferences for iTunes I changed the iTunes Media folder location to the place on my hard drive where all of the music is stored, though iTunes does not seem to see it. I quit iTunes and reopened and it still does not see it. Is there something specifically I should be doing to make this work?

Thanks.

With iTunes not running, move your entire iTunes folder, including the library files, to where you want it. Then start iTunes while holding the option/alt key, and you'll be prompted to choose a new location for iTunes to open. Select the folder in its new location and then iTunes will use that location until you change it again.

 

[Attonine]

There are 2 ways to do this. As described above you can have the media and library files on the external.

You can also have the library files (just data files) on your internal and the media files on the external. Simply open iTunes preferences>advanced. Uncheck “copy files to ITunes media folder when adding to library” (this is a very important step)and point the media location to your media on the external. Drag the media folder into iTunes and wait for iTunes to populate itself. Once this has been done recheck “copy files to iTunes media folder” and your done.

Both methods will achieve your goal. You just need to decide whether you want the library files on your Mac or the external. If you have a desktop, perhaps the first method is easier, for a laptop the second is probably preferable.

 

[1 iron]

I have my iTunes on an external drive and use Mountain to mount/dismount the drive when I want to use it. That way the drive isn't spinning all the time. Also use it for Photos and Time Machine.

http://appgineers.de/mountain/

 

[kat.hayes]

the app lets you mount and dismount without having to unplug and plug it back in?

 

[1 iron]

the app lets you mount and dismount without having to unplug and plug it back in?

'Yes it does. Works well.