Move Itunes Library From External Hard Drive To New

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Here are some things to know

Your iTunes library, a database that's made up of all of the music and other media that you add to iTunes for Windows, is organized into two iTunes library files and an iTunes Media folder.

Before you back up your media:

  • Consolidate your iTunes library.
  • Redownload any previous purchases, like music, movies, TV shows, and more. The only way to back up your purchased media is to download your purchases to your computer.

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If you have a Mac

If you plan to move the external drive between copies of iTunes running on a Windows-based computer and on a Mac, make sure the drive is set up in a format like exFAT that works with both systems.

In macOS Catalina or later, your previous iTunes media library is now available in the Apple Music app, Apple TV app, Apple Podcasts app, and Apple Books app. And when you back up your Mac, your media library is automatically included in that backup.

Consolidate your iTunes library

  1. Open iTunes.
  2. From the menu bar at the top of your computer screen or at the top of the iTunes window, choose File > Library > Organize Library.
  3. Select Consolidate files.
  4. Click OK.
Move Itunes Library From External Hard Drive To New

When you get a new computer or hard drive, you can move your iTunes library, enabling you to run iTunes on a new machine, and keep the links to these music files active. Before you begin. Make a new backup of your iTunes library, or update your existing backup before you move it. This may not be the answer you are looking for but if you simple want to move you entire itunes library contents onto an external harddrive the simplest, best way in my opinion, is to move your entire /Music/iTunes folder onto the external drive then point iTunes to open the library in that location. Its as simple as closing iTunes, moving. In the iTunes app on your PC, choose File Exit. Locate your external drive (in File Explorer), then drag the iTunes folder you backed up earlier from your external drive to your internal drive. Important: It’s highly recommended that you put the iTunes folder back in User folder Music iTunes iTunes Media. Connect external hard drive to computer with USB cable. Launch iTunes and make sure iTunes is the latest version. Click 'File' in the menu bar, then go to 'Add File to Library'.

When you consolidate, copies of any files that were outside of your iTunes Media folder are added to your iTunes Media folder. To save space on your hard drive, you might want to delete the original files after you make sure that the copies are in your iTunes Media Folder.

Find the iTunes Media folder

By default, your iTunes Media folder is in your iTunes folder. To find it, go to User > Music > iTunes > iTunes Media.

If you don't see your iTunes Media folder in the above location, here's how to find it:

  1. Open iTunes.
  2. From the menu bar at the top of the iTunes window, choose Edit > Preferences.
  3. Click the Advanced tab.
  4. Look in the box under 'iTunes Media folder location' for the location of your iTunes Media folder.

Back up your library and media files

After you consolidate your media files, you can back up your library and media files to an external drive.

Move Itunes Library From External Hard Drive To New Mac

  1. Quit iTunes.
  2. Find your iTunes folder.
  3. Right-click on your iTunes folder, then choose Copy.
  4. Go to your external hard drive, then right-click and choose Paste.

Restore your library from a backup

You can restore your iTunes library from your external drive to your computer. If you're restoring an iTunes Library from a different computer, make sure that your new computer has the latest version of iTunes.

  1. Quit iTunes.
  2. Go to 'This PC,' then click your external drive.
  3. Select your iTunes folder, then right-click and choose Copy.
  4. Go to the location on your computer where you want your iTunes library, then right-click and choose Paste.
  5. Hold down the Shift key while opening iTunes.
  6. When you see a message that asks you to Choose iTunes Library, click Choose Library.
  7. Choose the location where you copied your iTunes folder.
  8. Choose the iTunes Library.itl file inside.
  9. Click Open.

Here is the usual way to get iTunes to work from an external HD.

On your computer's iTunes, go to Preferences / Advanced / and for 'iTunes Media folder location' set it to Users/Home folder/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media. Check the boxes for Keep iTunes Media folder organized and Copy files to iTunes Media folder. Back up your computer on Time Machine or in some other way. Quit iTunes

Now you can move the entire iTunes folder from your Home folder / Music to the external hard disk.

With the external HD connected, restart iTunes while holding down the Option key. You will get options to Create a library or Choose a library. Go for Choose a library and in Finder navigate to the iTunes folder on the external HD. Select that and iTunes should open with all your music there.

Move Itunes Library From External Hard Drive To New Computer

Aug 1, 2017 5:44 PM