iTunes transfer from working hard drive of dead PC

My motherboard on my PC died and I've decided to make the Mac switch. I'm wondering what the best way is to transfer my itunes music to the Mac. I have pulled the harddrive from the PC and put it in a USB enclosure and can access the files. I assume I can just cut and paste the files to the new machine? Do I need to do something to deauthorize the old PC? Is that even possible since the old machine is dead? Thanks in advance.

safetyfast,

What program did you use to make the backup on your PC? Just use that same program to restore those files. If you can see them as individual files, yes you can cut and paste. Don't forget the iTunes folder in My Documents/Music/iTunes. That's where the iTunes library is located.

You would need to de-authorize the old PC with the iTunes store, if you have purchased any songs or albums from them, otherwise you will lose one appliance you can use your purchased songs on. Remember to authorize your new PC...

To do that, just go to the web site where you authorized it the first time. Use another computer to do that. There should be a list of your authorized appliances.

As for Windows, you will be prompted for activation on your new machine - don't worry about the old one.

Noel

The harddrive is not a back up but is the actual hard drive from my PC that I have pulled out and put in a enclosure so I can access my file. I can see the itunes folder. Can I deauthorize the old PC online from a new machine?

safetyfast,

OK, I'm with you... 2 situations:

1. Building a new computer yourself: Just put the old hard drive (which is now in the enclosure) in your new machine. Use the drive as the primary and it should boot even with a new motherboard and chip set, etc. Then you're back in business. MS will undoubtedly ask for a you to activate your copy of Windows.

2. Buying a new computer: If it's a purchased machine, you can hook the enclosure up to the new computer and it should show up in Explorer - but don't worry, it will NOT boot its copy of Windows in that situation. Then you can move your files at will from the old hard drive and put them where you want on the new machine...

When you ask "De-authorize the old PC..." I'm not sure what you mean. Do you mean "De-activate your copy of Windows?" If so, NO, you DO NOT need to do that - if you build your computer and use the HDD as primary, you will have to do a new activation anyhow because MS will recognize changes in the hardware, unless it's a replica of the old hardware. If it a new buy, it will probably already be activated. But your old copy of Windows is still good - you can use it on another machine or put it away for future use...

Does that answer your question? If not, ask again...

Noel

If you're asking if you can deauthorize PC's in iTunes.. that is, for media purchased on iTunes.. yep you can do that.

thanks for the info

as far as i know a dead PC cannot be Deauthorized in iTunes unless you have taken up all 5 spaces. Then you will be allowed to deauthorize all computers and reauthorize the PC's still being used.

axis3100 said:

as far as i know a dead PC cannot be Deauthorized in iTunes unless you have taken up all 5 spaces. Then you will be allowed to deauthorize all computers and reauthorize the PC's still being used.

Click to expand...

I believe you can deauthorize all prior to hitting all 5 users, but it's been a very long time now since I've done it as I don't purchase much from itunes.