mac to pc

hello all,
Im guessing this is a common thing, but I couldnt find it in the forums. Couldnt figure out what to search for. Anyway, I want to use my iPod on my new mac. It is currently formated for Windows. I know it will have to be re-formated, but I want to make sure I do not lose anything. All of my music is stored on an external hdd. My files are all in the same place, but a lot are in different folders. If I purge all of the music on the hdd will it go back into folder form on iTunes? Also, I want to continue to store my music n the external, so I am wondering how to do this without having to re-transfer all of the music to the macbook? Sorry for the length, I happen to be mac retarded. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks all

So you have an iPod that syncs with iTunes on windows and that iTunes Library is on an external drive.

You want to use your iPod with iTunes on your mac but still use your external drive to hold your music.

Is that right or am I barking up the wrong tree?

edit: if my guess above is correct this article will help.

mrplow

hey

You will loose all your files if you re-format but look for a program on the net called "share pod" (i think) that is what i used, Basically it takes all your music off, because you know apple puts all the music in weird folders.

Here mate try this.
http://www.getsharepod.com/

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danny

Surely it doesn't matter what's on the ipod? Everything is held in iTunes(on the ext HDD in this case), except any files you've put there in 'disk-mode' but these can be copied from the iPod without extra software. Format it then just re-sync with iTunes.

The only reason I can see for needing to recover the files from the iPod is if you don't have the original files (HDD crash etc).

Thanks for the help. I'll see what I can do. Sorry for the location.

squirellz said:

hello all,
Im guessing this is a common thing, but I couldnt find it in the forums. Couldnt figure out what to search for. Anyway, I want to use my iPod on my new mac. It is currently formated for Windows. I know it will have to be re-formated, but I want to make sure I do not lose anything. All of my music is stored on an external hdd. My files are all in the same place, but a lot are in different folders. If I purge all of the music on the hdd will it go back into folder form on iTunes? Also, I want to continue to store my music n the external, so I am wondering how to do this without having to re-transfer all of the music to the macbook? Sorry for the length, I happen to be mac retarded. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks all

Click to expand...

Why in the world would you have to reformat your iPod for the Mac? Macs can use either format when it comes to the iPod (FAT-32 or HFS+).

The ONLY drawback of using a Windows formatted iPod on a Mac is the Mac will be unable to perform iPod software updates.

As for your music, what is the format of the external drive? If it's NTFS you will need to either reformat it to FAT-32 or HFS+, both of which can be done on your Mac. Using FAT-32 will allow you to still use the drive on the Windows box as well if desired. The Mac can read NTFS drives but not write to them so reformatting or purchasing software to allow the Mac to write to NTFS are your options.

You do not need to transfer your music to the Mac if you are using FAT-32 (or HFS+), you simply need to tell iTunes that the Library is on the external drive and then add your music to the library on the Mac, making sure the box for copying the music files to the Mac is unchecked.

baggss said:

Why in the world would you have to reformat your iPod for the Mac? Macs can use either format when it comes to the iPod (FAT-32 or HFS+).

Click to expand...

Are you sure about that baggs? I might be wrong, but I could swear that when I first plugged my iPod into my Mac, it prompted me to reformat as "Mac format" before it would sync. Maybe it was optional, but I could have sworn it preempted me before I could use it.

Yes. It will prompt you, but it you don't have to. If it is a new iPod it needs to be formated either way first, but after that it will work. If the iPod is already Windows formated, it should work fine on the Mac. All of the iPod Shuffles come in and can only be formated as FAT-32.