Using an external drive as an iTunes library. Is it possible?

[nnkd]

Hi,

I'm currently using nearly half (37 GB) my hard drive (80 GB) on music files. I was wondering if it's possible to somehow move the files to my G-Drive and play them from there (freeing up space). Basically, I have iTunes set up (or it's set up by my computer) so that when I add new songs, they're copied to my iTunes library folder. I just want to if it's possible to play songs from the G-Drive without being copied to my iTunes folder on my tiny, little hard HD? And how?

 

[DMBGuru]

Yeah, it's possible. That's what I do.

1) Move the music to your new drive.
2) Delete the music off your computer and clear your iTunes library (delete it)
3) Go into iTunes preferences and set your library directory to the new hard drive.
4) "Add to library" the new music folder

That should be it.

I have 23,000 songs, I make sure to keep at least 1-2 thousand on my computer though, because I might not always have the ability to use my external hard drive. You might want to do the same.

 

[Loge]

This describes how to do this and preserves play count data and ratings.

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301748

 

[eRondeau]

Piece of cake! Just hold down the OPTION key whilst starting iTunes from the dock. You'll have the opportunity to create a new library anywhere on any connected drive, or switch between existing libraries.

 

[nnkd]

You guys are amazing, thanks.