archiving my music in itunes

[allaboutears]

hey all,
I have a silly question regarding archiving. I use an ibook G4 with 60 Gb HD, i have about 25 gb of music on this machine. I wanted to create an archive of this music and other stuff, in order to backup data and also to increase hard disk space. Can anyone suggest what i should do to backup and "remove" the music from my laptop. I am afraid that if i remove my music, the next time i try to sync my iPod, itunes will have a ministroke.
i tried looking up past threads but couldnt find anything, please help me.
thankx

[mac_yrons]

yep have same qustion + id add iphoto archiving..

[Neo]

Here is an admittedly inelegant hack-way to redo iTunes:
1) COPY the whole iTunes Music file structure from your old location to your new location.
2) DO STEP ONE BEFORE PROCEEDING--Then within iTunes, select all the music in your Library and delete it (don't worry). iTunes will ask you if you're sure (you are), then will ask if you want to Trash files too (Keep Files, for now).
3) In iTunes Advanced Preferences tab, change the iTunes Music location to the new folder on your external drive.
4) Go to your new external folder with all your music in it, select all the files and drag it in to the iTunes app (or press Command + O in iTunes). Double-check that your files work there.
5)Finally, manually delete the files in your old iTunes folder. Don't forget to empty the trash when you're done.

EDITED order of operations and to double-check file copy.

[Neo]

mac-yrons,
You can back up your iPhoto library (User: Pictures:iPhoto Library) by dragging it to an external drive...but if you want to redirect iPhoto to use an external Library, I can't help you at this time. I see no way to specify to where iPhoto refers. I just don't get iPhoto.

[mac_yrons]

thanks..hope itll work

[bobtomay]

Make sure you verify that you're backed up files work, before you go deleting the originals.

[iLindzo]

Make sure you verify that you're backed up files work, before you go deleting the originals.

Great point!! Do a double check!!

[Neo]

EDITED: Double-checking is now in the protocol above (post #3)