Moving iTunes library from internal HD to External HD

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I am moving my song library from internal iMAC HD to external and then deleting off internal. I wish to keep my playlists the same and not have to update.

Any suggestions on the best way to do this?

Running MAC OS 10.4.11
iTunes 9.0.2

Thanks in advance.

DW
 
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15-inch Early 2008; Processor 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo; Memory 4 GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM; 10.7.5
I've found that this process is anything BUT straightforward. Especially for someone who already has all their music on an external HD *which I always do*. I have never kept music files on the internal HD and this has always posed a problem for me, especially considering how much of an anal retentive guy I am in terms of what my folder structure looks like and is arranged.

I have every band in their own folder (as you'd expect) and have 5 root folders which hold them. The root folders are alphabetical. A-E ; F-J and so on. Doing things the way in which is explained in that tutorial, TOTALLY messes up the file and folder structure, as it moves everything around in what I consider to be a nonsensical way. It sometimes even takes an album an splits it up into two different folders. This is all because one tag might be different from all the rest. Crazy.

Then there's the issue of wasting time due to copying everything. First it has to copy all your stuff and put it in its own "logical" place, and it leaves YOU to delete the files which it copied from. Not efficient and not clean at all. Why can't iTunes operate like almost every other media player out there ? Just add the existing songs to a database and boom, finished ?

This also speaks to another inherent flaw. The fact that the database will not refresh its self automatically when songs are added. You have to actually tell it that new songs are being put in there by means of 'importing'. Sure, this may seem natural, but every other media player I know of, queries its own database and seeks out new folders and files upon opening it. So that if you simply put a new ripped music cd folder in the external drive, you don't have to manually import anything. It just reads the current SQL database and compares it with what is in the target folder. In other words, it has a watched folder, which iTunes does not, and is its biggest flaw.

I personally do NOT check the keep iTunes music folder organized, nor do I consolidate. I simply have to remember to drag new music folders into iTunes or manually import them. Pretty archaic but it has to be. Otherwise I end up with an external HD full of illogically scattered music files and folders. Totally the opposite of how I need and want it to be.

doug
 
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This also speaks to another inherent flaw. The fact that the database will not refresh its self automatically when songs are added. You have to actually tell it that new songs are being put in there by means of 'importing'.

Excellent point especially for content that you generate yourself rather than content retrieved from the iTunes store.
 
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D
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Thanks all! I am working fine with old playlists and all. All I did was export music and playlists and then open iTunes + alt key, pick the new folder and all set. Very easy...

Thanks again!

DW
 

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