Move Itunes Library From Mac To External Hard Drive

  1. How To Move Itunes Library From Mac To External Hard Drive
  2. Move Itunes Library To External Drive
  3. Move Itunes Library From Mac To External Hard Drive Driver
  4. Transfer Itunes Library From Pc To Mac External Hard Drive
  5. Save Itunes To External Hard Drive
  6. How To Move Itunes Library From External Hard Drive Back To Mac
  7. External Hard Drive Itunes Transfer

Jul 28, 2017 Once the iTunes folder has fully copied over to the external drive, point the iTunes program on the PC to the library’s new location. Hold down the Shift key (or the Option key on a Mac) as you.

Tips

Mar 01, 2019  iMusic - Best iTunes Alternative to Move iTunes Library to External Hard Drive Windows 10/Windows 7/Mac Move/Back up iTunes Library to External Hard Drive on Windows 10/Windows 7/Mac with Simple Clicks. Copy Files to iOS/Android Devices. Put music, photos, playlists, videos, audiobooks and more from Mac/PC to iPhone, iPod touch or iPad. Nov 14, 2015  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. Jan 17, 2011  This is how to transfer your itunes library to an external hard drive. This is just a simple mac tip. It is always good to back up your music, or anything on your computer really. Moving (or backing up) all that data may seem difficult, but it’s actually very fast and easy. You can even turn a hard drive full of music into a server to stream tunes to all the computers and devices in your household. Move Your iTunes Library to an External Drive. Mar 18, 2020  Drag your library to its new location on the external drive. If you see an error, select your external drive's icon in the Finder, then choose File Get Info. If the information under Sharing & Permissions isn't visible, click, then make sure the 'Ignore ownership on this volume' checkbox is. Sep 24, 2019 That's not entirely a good thing. If you're not paying attention, your iTunes library can quickly take up more than its fair share of drive space. Moving your iTunes library from its original location to another internal or external drive can free up some room. It can also give you more space to grow your collection.

By Malcolm Owen
Monday, March 05, 2018, 10:51 am PT (01:51 pm ET)

A user's music and video collection can be one of the largest consumers of hard drive space on a Mac, and is typically overlooked in favor of other items when it comes time to free up drive space. This guide explains how to shift where iTunes stores all of the content to an external drive.

How To Move Itunes Library From Mac To External Hard Drive



Users looking for ways to reduce the amount of things they store on their Mac usually steer clear of doing anything to iTunes and their precious music collection. Even at a time when there are many popular streaming services available to use, deleting these files is not viewed as an option, making iTunes itself an obstacle for salvaging a Mac's drive.
Moving iTunes to an external drive is one compromise, one which still keeps the music available, but off the primary storage drive completely. Though daunting to users, possibly due to the sentimentality associated with music collection, moving an iTunes Library is a relatively simple procedure that is also quite safe to perform.

Before the move


Transferring gigabytes of files between drives can take a considerable amount of time, with that length depending on a number of different variables.
First, make sure to select an external drive with a fast transfer speed, typically one that connects over USB 3.0, USB-C, or Thunderbolt. Using an older technology, such as USB 2.0, can severely prolong the amount of time it takes, purely from its slower transfer rates.
Once you have your selected drive installed, make sure it has enough storage capacity to hold your library, and for future expansion. Right click the desktop icon for the external drive and select Get Info, and make sure the Available listing has enough to cover the library's size.

The size of the iTunes library also dictates the length of the transfer, so it may be worth doing a little pruning beforehand. For example, check your podcasts to see if there are old and listened-to episodes that can be safely deleted.
If you are running iTunes 12.7 or later, there may be an archive of apps that are no longer usable within iTunes, that you may wish to remove. If you do, this AppleInsider guide will tell you how.

While it may be tempting to reuse an external drive already used for Time Machine backups, it is recommended to use a different drive completely. Backups are meant to be separately stored from the data it is duplicating, and keeping some of that data on the same drive as a backup effectively defeats the object of the exercise.
Now would also be a good time to make an up-to-date backup of your Mac before transferring any files.

Moving the library


We first need to collect together all of the content iTunes manages into one folder before making the move. Open iTunes, click File in the Menu Bar, then Library, then Organize Library.


Make sure the Consolidate Files checkbox is ticked, then select OK. Wait for iTunes to complete its consolidation before continuing.

How to move itunes library from external hard drive back to mac
Check the path for the folder within iTunes by going to Preferences within the iTunes Menu bar and selecting Advanced in the new window. The iTunes Media folder location section at the top details where the file collection is located.

Close iTunes, then bring up a Finder window and navigate to the iTunes folder.
If the external drive you wish to move it to is already empty, click and drag the iTunes folder from the Finder window directly onto the icon for the external drive. Alternatively, copy the iTunes folder, navigate to the place in the external drive you want to use to store iTunes in a separate Finder window, then paste.


At this point, the iTunes folder will be copied over to the external storage.
Depending on the bandwidth of the connection, the size of the iTunes folder, and if the Mac or the drive are being accessed by other tasks, this could take a long time to complete. For extremely large collections, or if the Mac needs to be used during the day, it is recommended to wait for a period of time when the Mac is left alone, as it can take multiple hours to move to its new home.


Once the transfer has completed, iTunes needs to be told where to find the files.
Hold the Option key and open iTunes. This will bring up a Choose iTunes Library window with three options. Select Choose Library on the far right.

Move Itunes Library To External Drive



In the next window, navigate to the external drive and enter the iTunes folder. Find and select the iTunes Library file, and click Open.


At this point, iTunes will open up from the new location, and will be accessing files from the external storage instead of the Mac's storage. If you are unsure, you can check the path again by going to Preferences in the iTunes Menu Bar, selecting Advanced, and reading the iTunes Media folder location.


If you wish, you can close iTunes and disconnect the external drive. To reuse that iTunes library, you will need to reconnect the drive to the Mac before opening iTunes again, else it will offer a 'Library cannot be found' error.

Saving space


Once the iTunes library is confirmed to be working on the external drive, and possibly backed up too, you now have the option of deleting the initial iTunes library from the Mac to save space. Navigate to the original Move Itunes Library From Mac To External Hard DriveiTunes folder, and either drag it to the Trash or right-click the folder and select Move to Trash.


To fully reclaim the storage after this, either enter the Trash and select Empty, or right-click the Trash and select Empty Trash. If you have the Trash to automatically delete files after 30 days, doing this will free up the storage occupied by the iTunes folder in the Trash far earlier.

iTunes

1. iTunes Tips
2. Download iTunes Music
3. iTunes Library
4. Transfer iTunes
5. Others

Puzzled by hundreds of songs in your iTunes library, plus podcasts, TV shows, and Movies that you downloaded from iTunes? Want to know how to move itunes library to external hard drive? Follow the following guide to explore more solutions to move itunes library to external drive.

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Part 1: How to Transfer iTunes from Computer to External Hard Drive

External hard drives have become very necessary tools for those who use laptops or desktops for school or business on a regular basis. Not only are they used to store information that might fill up your hard drive too much, as in the case of movie files or photos, they are often used as backups for the information stored on computers.

iTunes is no exception to this. Computers glitch on occasion, and one of the worst things for many people to go through is the loss of their music and entertainment files because something goes wrong with their iTunes account for whatever reason. This, however, does not need to happen. A simple backup to an external hard drive can be exactly the workaround that many need to prevent the stress of being potentially unable to recover the iTunes library as it appears on their computer, should something go wrong. Many people transfer their iTunes library to the external hard drive as a way of ensuring they never lose their iTunes library in the event of a hard drive glitch. While the risk of something of that nature occurring is low, there is still the potential of that occurring. Here’s how to transfer the iTunes library over:

Step 1. Open iTunes > Preferences

You need to go into iTunes and make sure all your iTunes music files are together, just as you have done with the other modes of transferring your iTunes library over. For Windows-based systems, once you have gotten into iTunes, go to Edit > Preferences.

Step 2. Click Advanced

This will bring you to a series of checkboxes that you need to tick off in order to successfully consolidate your iTunes media library. The box you need to have ticked off is “Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library.” Click OK.

>Step 3. Go to File > Library > Organize Library

iTunes then ensures that copies of the original media files are placed in your library. If you like, once this step is completed you can then delete the originals off your hard drive.

Move Itunes Library From Mac To External Hard Drive Driver

Step 4. Quit iTunes and locate your external hard drive

You need to quit iTunes before you back it up. Your computer will not let you back it up otherwise. If you are on a Mac, you need to go to your Finder. On a PC, go to My Computer.

Step 5. Find your iTunes folder

On a Mac, you will find your iTunes folder through Finder > username > Music. Depending what system of Windows you are running, here’s where you will find your iTunes folder:

Transfer Itunes Library From Pc To Mac External Hard Drive

Windows XP: Documents and SettingsusernameMy DocumentsMy Music
Windows Vista: UsersusernameMy Music
Windows 7 or 8: UsersusernameMusic

Step 6. If you can’t find your iTunes folder

Wt library download mac. Open iTunes and locate Preferences. On Mac, you go to iTunes > Preferences. On Windows, go to Edit > Preferences. Click Advanced. Your iTunes folder will be in the “iTunes Media folder location” box.

Step 7. Drag the iTunes folder to the external drive

Mac

If you have many files, you will find that this takes a while. However, when this is done, your iTunes folder is successfully copied to the external hard drive.

Where users of both systems need to know exactly how to transfer iTunes from one system to another – or, for that matter, between systems – it is important to remember that this is a very step-by-step process where if one step is missing, you may find yourself troubleshooting a range of issues with your iTunes library. However, it is a relatively simple process regardless of the system you are starting from, and it should be remembered that most of what you need to remember lies in the Preferences menu. While some individuals may become stressed and wonder how to transfer their iTunes library over, believing it to be a cumbersome process where they will end up quite stressed by the end of it, it is important to remember that it really is not a terribly challenging process.

It is important to note that copying your iTunes library from one computer to another, regardless of whether you are going with the same system (be that PC or Mac) or going across systems, is not that complicated a process and that it can save you a great deal of stress in the long run, particularly if you find that your computer appears to be glitching from time to time. One of the most stressful experiences many today seem to go through is losing their entire music library on iTunes, particularly if that library is hundreds or even thousands of songs long. Whether you copy your iTunes library from one system to another or copy it to an external hard drive, it is a process that is rather easily done, while it may take some time to accomplish depending on the size of your library. It is, however, important to remember that the steps need to be followed in order to ensure that you get the copy made properly. In addition, it is also important to remember that while iTunes is an easy program to use, it may indeed take some time to make a copy of your entire library for copying from one system to another. The best advice is to be patient and let the computer do its work – the results will be worth it in the end.

Part 4: Must-Know Best iPhone/iPad/iPod/Android Phone Manager

iMusic is a all-in-one music manager and downloader for you to easily manage, record and download music. What's more, you can use it to transfer music between iPhone/iPad/iPod/Android phones and iTunes/Mac/PC. Among it's manage function, you could easily move or back up the whole iTunes library to external hard drive.

iMusic is a great tool that integrates all the features you need for getting and managing music. It is able to download and record music from music sharing sites, transfer music between computer and iTunes Library, iPhone, iPad, iPod, and Android devices. Here are its main features.

  • Transferring itunes library to external hard drive with simple click.
  • Download music from more than 300 music sites to totally free.
  • Transfer music between Mac, Windows, iTunes Library and iPhone/iPad/iPod and Android devices
  • Record music from music sites, software that can play music on computer.
  • Backup music from iPhone, iPad and Android phone to Mac/PC

Guide to Move the iTunes Library to external hard drive with iMusic

Step 1. Go to iMusic's official website:https://imusic.aimersoft.com/ to download the latest version of iMusic then launch it.

Save Itunes To External Hard Drive

Step 2. Connect the external hard drive to the computer, no matter the windows 10 , windows 7 or Mac .

How To Move Itunes Library From External Hard Drive Back To Mac

Step 3. Before use it's 'music library', you need to download iTunes from Apple official site, then the music library will become what you see'itunes library'on the interface, just Click 'ITUNES LIBRARY' on the main interface of iMusic, you will enter the Music page by default, and then click the 'playlist'icon at the top-left corner, choose the music you want to export to external hard drive, next click the export mark at the top-right corner to open the external hard drive.

External Hard Drive Itunes Transfer

That's it, super easy right ? You have finish the whole process to move the iTunes library to externatl hard drive.