Moving Music Collection to External HD (iTunes Question)

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I have about 84GB of music on my HD right now and i figured it would be a great time to invest in another external HD exclusively for these files. Is there any way to move all of my music to my HD without having to go behind in iTunes and retag everything? Or is everything really copied into the iTunes music folder.
 

chscag

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Use this procedure from LifeHacker. Or you can access the Apple KB and use the method they give.
 
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thx man. This is something i really needed to do. This is going to save me a ton of space. Right now i think i have the iTunes Library + the original folders i've extracted them from. I love this site!
 
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1. Move entire iTunes folder (located in "Music" in your home folder) to external drive.

2. Open iTunes holding the option key down. It will ask to choose a new iTunes library.

3. Point it to the iTunes folder's new location.

Done.
 
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I have another question. Before the last couple of iTunes updates i used to only import the .m3u playlist file and the music would also populate inmy library. With this being said, does iTunes move the actual music file into my iTunes Music folder? Or, is it simply pulling it from the source folder? I just wanna double check.
 
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Depends on the setting under iTunes > Preferences > Advanced: "Copy files to music folder when adding to library"
 
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if this wasn't switched on from the beginning would i have to manually add all of my music to the music folder, or would iTunes pull it automatically?
 
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I'm pretty sure it's on by default, but if you had it off, then run "File - Library - Organize Library… - Consolidate Files"

That will pull in all the files that are spread around your system and will store them in the same place as your iTunes library.
 

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