12-27-2008, 03:46 PM

hey guys, i have a macbook pro and just bout out of space. got 3gb of space left. but i have a maxtor 500gb external harddrive connected to my macbook via usb right now. which i will use firewire soon. anyways,, i have old pics and movies and music on it from my imac from before. and dont wanna loose the info.

my question is, how can i setup my external harddrive to work like the harddrive in the macbook pro?? i read i have to partion the harddrive but that will erase it and i dont wanna lose my info on it. any other way to do it?

thanks all

12-27-2008, 03:55 PM

well I can help you with the itunes music and videos

Here is the answer

Keeping your iTunes collection on an external

The following assumes you want to keep all your iTunes music and movies on an external disk and ensure new music is always stored on the external drive.

First, you need to consolidate your iTunes Library to a folder you have chosen on the external drive.

Select the command consolidate library from the Advanced Menu. This will copy all your iTunes media to the external folder and link the iTunes library file to it

The files will now be on the external while the library.xml file (the index as it were) will still be in the Users > Me > Music folder of your mac.

If you want this file on the external as well as well, copy it to external iTunes folder, start itunes with the alt key pressed and you will have the option to select the library file now on the external



Select the library file you just copied and now both your music and the library are on the external

You can now delete the old iTunes folder off your mac

You can also use the choose library dialogue to switch between a large music collection on the external and a smaller music folder on the mac if you wish

12-29-2008, 05:40 PM

thanks for all your help, problem solved. one last thing, when adding to the library, how ..? lol