iTunes Library on Macbook- Media on External Drive?

GratefulDean · Jul 19, 2012

Hey gang! Day two on the Mac and very pleased. So now that I have successfully moved my data from my old NTFS external hard drive to the new HFS+ external I need to know how to manage iTunes with it.

Specifically:

I would like to keep my +\- 400GB of music and +\- 100GB of video on this external drive but also, on occasion, have music and or movies on the laptop.

(not to confuse the issue but we each have a copy of a "Master File", mine will reside on this external drive, that contains music we (family) have dolled out to each other and a "New Music Folder" that we each individually add to as we purchase new stuff. Every once in a while we get together and pass around our "New Music Folders" to add to our "Master Files". The "NMFs" then get cleared out until the next round.)

How do I do this? I have tried several things and each ends up with my library being copied whole.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Dean

louishen · Jul 19, 2012

here you go

Keeping your iTunes collection on an external

The following assumes you want to keep all your iTunes music and movies on an external disk and ensure new music is always stored on the external drive.

First, you need to consolidate your iTunes Library to a folder you have chosen on the external drive.

Set the new iTunes folder location to the external in iTunes preferences > Advanced

Select the command consolidate library from the Advanced Menu (or from the File Menu > Library > Consolidate library _ in Itunes 8). This will copy all your iTunes media to the external folder and link the iTunes library file to it

The files will now be on the external while the library.xml file (the index as it were) will still be in the Users > Me > Music folder of your mac.

If you want this file on the external as well as well, copy it to external iTunes folder, start itunes with the alt key pressed and you will have the option to select the library file now on the external

Select the library file you just copied and now both your music and the library are on the external

You can now delete the old iTunes folder off your mac

You can also use the choose library dialogue to switch between a large music collection on the external and a smaller music folder on the mac if you wish by having an external library.xml and a separate local library.xml listing your startup disks smaller library l

GratefulDean · Jul 19, 2012

Almost there...

louishen said:
here you go

Thanks! But...

So on my external my music is stored in the "G-Drive>Music Mac" folder within alphabetized folders (G-drive>Music Mac>A>ACDC etc.), and the above recommendation added a "G-Drive>iTunes" folder next to that. Ok, we are half way there.

But when I went to File>Add to Library and pointed it to my "G-Drive>Music Mac" folder iTunes began to copy the 400+gb from that folder to the newly created "G-Drive>iTunes>Music" folder thus doubling my music. So I corrected the mistake and began again.

I then moved my "G-Drive>Music Mac" folder to the iTunes folder (G-Drive>Itunes>Music Mac). When I went to add that to the library it just copied the music again to a newly created "G-Drive>itunes>Music" folder.

Finally I renamed the Music Mac folder with in the iTunes folder to just "Music", in the hopes iTunes would just add the info and not worry about the music. It did nothing.

So, I would like to avoid re-copying all this music over, it never did in on my Windows laptop.

Any ideas?

Thanks again,
Dean

louishen · Jul 19, 2012

You never said you are not using the keep my iTunes folder organised feature

You are going to have to turn that off and manually copy over the files and create a new blank library on the external, then add your copies files into the new library

You are going to have to the keep your old library file and edit its own library down manually to achieve 2 libraries with manually managed folders

GratefulDean · Jul 19, 2012

louishen said:
You never said you are not using the keep my iTunes folder organised feature

You are going to have to turn that off and manually copy over the files and create a new blank library on the external, then add your copies files into the new library

You are going to have to the keep your old library file and edit its own library down manually to achieve 2 libraries with manually managed folders

Edit: See Below

I think I may have neglected to clarify another point. This is a clean install with no pre-existing iTunes Library. This is a brand new computer with a brand new iTunes.

Regarding the iTunes org feature: In Advanced Pref it is checked as is Copy files to iTunes media folder when adding to libra... wait... wait....

...yea, once I unchecked the "Copy files to iTunes..." under the organize button it seems to be adding the music without doubling up.

I guess I can try this with my Movies as well.

Once this is done adding, which will probably be tonight sometime, I will eject the G-Drive and see if the library remains in iTunes.

Thanks for your help. I think we did it!

Edit: in Finder, under Music there still exists an iTunes folder. Within that folder resides what I think are the various database files? "iTunes Library.itl", "iTunes Music Library.xml", "iTunes Library Extras.itdb "and "iTunes Library Genius.itdb" These do not appear in the iTunes folder on the external drive so I assume it is the data that shows up in iTunes?

In addition to these files is an iTunes Media folder with Automatically add to iTunes, Music and Podcasts folders. Can this be deleted? I'm looking to minimize confusion.

iTunes Library on Macbook- Media on External Drive?

GratefulDean

louishen

GratefulDean

louishen

GratefulDean

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