Move Your iTunes Library to an External Drive (The Simple Way)

[137Paradise]

I want to know why my itunes wont locate my music in my exsternal hard drive please? cheers Danny

[chamthebam]

THANK YOUU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[r3tr0G4m3r666]

how can i move my library to windows media player?

[Glimma]

Can someone tell me if this same method will work if I don't have anything in my regular Music dropdown in iTunes, but am instead trying to take the music from the Music dropdown under Levi's iPod in iTunes when my iPod and external hard drive are plugged in? I hope that makes sense.

[jebzino]

This might be the problem. When I go to delete my songs off Itunes it prompts me "do you want to remove these items into the recycling bin or keep them in your Itunes folder" I have been deleting them into the recycling bin and then my "music" folder has been disappearing. Maybe I need to chose the other option and keep the file in the Itunes folder? I take it that is the new linked folder?

[jebzino]

Should I add the "music" and "movies" folder to the "automatically add to Itunes" folder and then try to link that folder with my Itunes and see what happens?

[jebzino]

Something weird is going on with mine. When I delete everything off Itunes just my music folder on the external hdd disappears? I now also have a file called "automaticall add to itunes"? Nothing is in it. The folder thats linked to my Itunes is called "Itunes Library" and inside is a "movies" folder and "music" folder. When I start Itunes I have to use the "add music from home" function to re-upload my stuff. Where did I go wrong? Thanks.

[jebzino]

Itunes isn't automatically downloading my music from the external hard drive when I open Itunes. What could be the problem? Thanks!

[MegaJabawokie]

Very good tutorial... Thumbs up. Way up!

[inogi339]

Why LIBRARY can not be opened?

[BekahCat]

Cam you then do that entire process backwards to transfer the iTunes library from the Hard drive to a new computer or is there an easier way to do that?

[ciavarella1292]

@BekahCat You just have to make sure on your new computer that you're putting it onto, that in the Preferences menu that you have the location that the music will be loaded from onto the new computer from your External drive. Worked for me.

[1Muggleman]

thank you soo much .. also if anyone is finding problems with WD my passport portable drive like i did i have quite a few solutions please message me !

[AtodaZ23]

how can i just move a MAP not my entire itunes content?

[bigbang68]

I did this process on my old computer and it worked perfectly, but now I have a new computer and I want to continue to keep my i-tunes library on my external drive. I have downloaded Itunes 10 on my new computer. Under Preferences/Advanced, I changed the I-tunes media folder location to my hard drive Itunes folder, then I went to library and tried to organize, but it will still not read the files on my external hard drive, I want to avoid loading all my songs on to my new computer. HELP plz..

[evenia]

Does this method retain all playlists, edited info and play counts?

[circaboy]

@evenia yep it does

[luckygirl2u]

I am trying to make a picture video and add i tunes songs to it. do you know how i could do that??

[louiscarr899]

240p

we meet again...

[LouVelarde]

Thanks, yo.

[jweze08]

i love you...

no really i love you.

i was running on 200gb of songs.

question is there anyway to make the songs play without the hardrive in?

i am guessing i am asking is there anyway to replicate the library making itunes think its still there without the hard drive being plugged in?

help.

[icingsquid1]

thanks, this worked without any problems, you video was clear and to the point

[jweze08]

@icingsquid1 did it hold all your playcounts and ratings?

[SSBBify]

Thank you so much!

[jamescarlson806]

i did everything this video said and when i check the advanced options it saiz that it is set up at the external hard drive but every time i open itunes it still makes a folder on the pc and askes to look for music

[kenan01yt]

Itunes is a poorly thought out program that will result in many wasted hours, should you ever wish to move your songs to another computer. Why aren't song files just like all other files? itunes has complicated music storage beyond belief.

[booksandvideos]

Thanks! This works great!

[stephenBWilly]

what if i only want to add my ipods library

[cliffe98]

My itunes library does not show up in my new folder. Does anybody know what i've done wrong. I'm running on vist 64 bit

[cliffe98]

Thanks alot, this was simple and straight to the point unlike many other videos.

[panaboy44]

ok I followed the instructions and it worked! Now how to a run my itunes from my internal hard drive again on my old computer? I don't want to connect my hard drive every time I wanna listen to my music so how can I run my itunes with my PC without my external hard drive?

[cliffe98]

@panaboy44 Make a new folder on the internal drive then do what the video says except with that new folder as the selected folder

[aargume1]

@panaboy44 I have that same question :/

[darrouken]

Thankzoo!!! I was going to painstakingly cut and paste every individual music file to my hardrive then locate the file in iTunes. You really saved weeks, if not months of my life.

Thanks again @redz220 for uploading.

[LBamber07]

I Had the same problem as koryan and TheLakenGroup please help!

[antwonza]

NOW how do you extract them?

[koryan]

does it mean I have to have HDD connected to BOTH my PC and Laptop to listen to my music!? What if the portable HDD got lost then im stuffed...

I thought by doing this I could still listen to music as per normal on my PC but would also have it available on the portable HDD so that I can listen on my laptop too when its connected..

[koryan]

wtf! I transferred it all onto external 500gb HDD and now when I try to play it on the computer I transferred them from, it says original file cannot be found and I have to locate it.. wtf!??

Im sure they will all work on my laptop when the HDD is connected but what happened to them on my PC?

[theLakenGroup]

@compaqsr1610nx I thought I had it all done and successful, but when I went to click on a song, nothing was there. I exported all of it to external drive, then placed all the songs on my laptop in iTunes. but the titles are the only thing there, no songs. So something went wrong it seems.

[theLakenGroup]

I just tried this, moving 14GB worth to a iOmega external with 290GB available, and when I clicked Consolidate, a pop-up said not enough space on External Hard Drive. Now what?

[swdw973]

The problem I have is iTunes started copying file that were not even in the library, including huge video files that are awaiting editing and not ever meant to be on the ipod

[chrismacq2]

thankyou....worked perfectly, a few teething problems with missing albums but iTunes eventually found them.....cheers.

[rockthefakey]

how do i only copy some music and not all of it because it says i dont have enough room

[snipeandpurplebob]

Noob question. Does this just copy the existing library? How do I transfer to an external drive and not take up space on the ''C drive?

[Nimes4512]

How can I do this in reverse? My hardive was set up as the location where all my music went, but something happen. I get a meesage stating that was cannot be used because the original file could not be found. The hardrive is plugged in turned on! What can I do to fix this?

[benthemiester]

Mine doesn't say consolidate library it says export library. I hope that mean the same.

[GabzSerrano]

I want to move all my videos but not my music. How do I do that?

[skwurlgurl]

I followed your instructions and everything moved to my external drive. When i go to play a TV show, however, I get an error message that says "Windows Media Player encountered a problem while playing the file." What have I done wrong and how can I correct it? Help please! Thanks a lot.

[alcamopuss]

Thank you, that helpped alot :o)

[InvaderSlusk1994]

well what if my itunes brings up the message if i want it to move and rename the files?

[jconn0403]

why does mine arbitrarily revert back to my original iTunes Library folder instead of the new "iTunes2" folder that I chose as my media folder location?

Is it because I haven't gotten rid of it yet and the computer chooses that before the external is completely up and running? Must I totally commit and pull that original folder to the trash so the computer can't find it first?

[peppermintnic]

Ok nevermind my previous comment. I figured it out. I had to re-format my Iomega HDD to read and write for Mac OSX. Maybe this will help someone else. :-)

[peprmintappl]

On the consolidating itunes library part I got the error message "Copying files failed. You do not have the privilege to make changes." Someone please please tell me what to do next.

[Dutchess907]

My itunes is now a external hard drive (from a pc) like the video demonstrates, but I want to play music on a new macbook pro...How do I do that?

[wizkidd001]

is there any way to transfer itunes if i did not do the steps on itunes ? or will i have to go back and transfer again ?

[iBallen09]

cool i was missing that last step. thanks so much for this video

[marvelrocks11]

Is there any way to move the entire iTunes app (iphone apps, music, tv shows, movies, pictures) to an external hard drive?

[STCL24]

Does this bring all your songs in your itunes library to the hard drive... even the songs that you didnt purchase off of itunes, such as cd's?

[jvroach]

Hey good vid, but i just want to copy all of my songs to an external hard drive and keep all of my fully functional songs on my computer. I have enough space on my computer for my songs, i just want to have something in case something happens to my computer. I don't want to have to plug up my external hard drive in order to listen to my music though. Can you help?

[msquibby]

all i got in my hard drive is a massive list of gobbledegoop????

[thatBoymathi]

Hi. Can you do the same trick with the Time Capsule? So that you can play through a WiFi connection?

[Gilky115]

i need to reinstall my windows since it is corrupt. if i transfer this to my external hard drive once i reinstall my windows will i be able to just drag the music over to the computer. or will i have to install itunes again and then go that route?

[lotabegterrace1999]

Followed your instructions and worked perfectly.Thank you.

[84Fish48Fish]

I followed everything and everything went accordingly.

It wasn't until I plugged in my external hard drive that some problems rose.

So after I finished transferring the music, I decided to delete the songs that were already backed up. I re-plugged the external drive, but the songs didn't appear in the library again. I saw the files in the external drive, though.

Am I supposed to transfer the music back into my library again?

[niher1]

@84Fish48Fish

Did you ever get this resolved? I'm having the same problem

[84Fish48Fish]

@niher1

Even though you probably got this resolved already, I'll tell you anyway. The last step is to close everything. Hold shift and press on your Itunes icon. It'll tell you to choose a library. Browse to your external. Go to the file and you should see another Itunes library. Select that. Unplug your external and try opening your library. If it's unable to find it, good. Delete your old library and pray that everything goes accordingly. The external library will work only when plugged in.

[RaulDuke97]

after transferring music from itunes to external hdd , can i now transfer from the external hdd to new computer ? and if so, how? much thanks.

[redz220]

@RaulDuke97 I don't see why not highlight all the files from the external hdd and drag them over into your itunes library. Hope this helps :)

[VideoFletcher]

@RaulDuke97 Just go on new pc. Open itunes add folder, the shift select them all and add/

[DaEvilGenius2008]

i'm using a PC and under Library, i don't have a "Consolidate" option. Need Help

[redz220]

In itunes 9 to consolidate the library. You can find that option on File > Library > Organize Library > Consolidate Library > OK

[Chris385261]

OR.....connect external hardrive......make a folder, go into itunes, cntrl C.....then CNTRL V lol

[redz220]

@Chris385261 It's not that simple if you want to keep ur ratings,play count,artwork,registry,etc

[Chris385261]

yea it is....lol cuz i did it.

[tom1980uk]

show us how to do it on pc, not a mac, only rich people own macs

[redz220]

Well my dear sir I'm sorry to inform you you that I only use MAC's.......

But in the video you will REALIZE that i does also tell you what to do if you OWN a PC

(it's Basically the same principles)

[salbarjr]

@tom1980uk wow r u serious, don't be hating just because you can't afford to buy one, even though deep down you really want one. Your probably one of the many people who say fuck mac im sticking to pc because of it.

[vietnamesegalz]

amazing

[johnstongoogle]

Nice Vid but have a problem. Running Vista & itunes 9, I followed your instructions to load all my music which went well but I am unable to drag n drop any tracks into playlists; cursur remains a black circle - any ideas?

thanks

[paulallen34]

nice tutorial is it possible to just change location to save my videos rather than move music,tv shows etc,i have a lot of HD video movies and want to save all my future movies to my new external 1tb hard drive.

[psxdumy]

a lot of music is in other folders than the itunes folder, will it still get transferred to the new folder when i consilidate?

[joedagamer1]

Thanks for the help. Just did it on my new 500 gig seagate external harddrive.

[gunsnhalen]

Thank you SO SO Much bro God Bless Ya:D

[souths1defrank]

have managed to find consolidate option (its under organise library) but after copy to external folder when I plug in external hardrive I can see all films, podcasts etc everything except music. I can go to the external and play music there but would ideally love to be able to play them through my itunes library? any further ideas? many thanks.

[Madd4the24]

I'm with souths1defrank, with the new itunes update, there isn't a consolidate option. Obviously that's a problem. Do you have a solution?

[souths1defrank]

almost all steps completed, but new itunes update (LP) doesn't have the option to consolidate library - can you help?

[souths1defrank]

I've completed most of the steps on your video but the new itunes update (LP) doesn't contain consolidate library as an option - can you help?

[willyt83]

Absolutely perfect. Moved 40 gigs of music from my laptop to an external drive with ease. Was a little scared to empty the trash bin after the move, but no troubles ensued.

[finalxuprising]

Awesome, thanks for the help, I couldn't have done it without you :)!

[redz220]

Your welcome i'm happy that i could help you :)

[jegerhode9]

It worked! Thank you! Everyone who want to do this, follow THIS video. Easy, simple, THE BEST!

[redz220]

I'm glad it helped you ,your welcome