Sharing an iTunes library between two computers from an external HD

[partyboy2306]

OK I'm having a problem when trying to access my library on both a mac and pc from an external HD. My library was originally on my mac powerbook. Because it has only two low powered USB ports, I can't have my HD and iPod plugged in at the same time. To be able to sync my music to my iPod, I want to use my windows desktop. It was easy to get all the content onto the external HD, and my mac iTunes is all set up for it and works perfectly. I also transfered the two .itl and .xml files that contain all the data. When I plug my external HD into the windows desktop and select the .itl library file, all the songs show up in the library, but around half of the songs or so cannot be found by iTunes. Instead I just see a little exclamation point. The windows iTunes is configured to look in the right folder for all the music. For some albums, it can play some songs but not others. I need to figure out how I can make iTunes recognize all the songs on the external HD so I can sync them all to my iPod. I know all the songs exist on the HD because if a certain file cannot be found by iTunes I can easily locate it myself. All the music is organized in the way iTunes does it. Please help!! Thanks in advance.

 

[Michael CM1]

OK I'm having a problem when trying to access my library on both a mac and pc from an external HD. My library was originally on my mac powerbook. Because it has only two low powered USB ports, I can't have my HD and iPod plugged in at the same time. To be able to sync my music to my iPod, I want to use my windows desktop. It was easy to get all the content onto the external HD, and my mac iTunes is all set up for it and works perfectly. I also transfered the two .itl and .xml files that contain all the data. When I plug my external HD into the windows desktop and select the .itl library file, all the songs show up in the library, but around half of the songs or so cannot be found by iTunes. Instead I just see a little exclamation point. The windows iTunes is configured to look in the right folder for all the music. For some albums, it can play some songs but not others. I need to figure out how I can make iTunes recognize all the songs on the external HD so I can sync them all to my iPod. I know all the songs exist on the HD because if a certain file cannot be found by iTunes I can easily locate it myself. All the music is organized in the way iTunes does it. Please help!! Thanks in advance.

1) What the heck does power in your USB ports have to do with an external hard drive? I don't know if I have ever seen an external HDD without a power supply.

2) Your better idea than copying the XML file is simple (if EVERYTHING you're storing is on the external HDD). First, clear out your iTunes library on the PC. Then select "Add to Library" from the File menu. Then select whatever folder all the junk is on the external HDD. Copying that XML file probably screws it all up since Windows and Mac OS use different file systems.

 

[partyboy2306]

It's a small portable hard drive that came with a USB-Y cable so that it can hook up to two USB ports at once if one doesn't supply enough power. Thanks for your suggestion, I'll be trying that out today!

EDIT: The one thing I didn't realize until now is that my whole library is too big to fit on my iPod so I have songs checked/unchecked depending on whether or not they should be there. If I just add all the songs like you suggested, it will just check all the songs. Any ideas?