Help with iTunes.. Hard drive..

[garlad]

Hi!

Ok, I like using iTunes, so I hope to be able to do so. What I am trying to do is the following;

I would like to have ALL my music on my external hard drive..

I would like to make sure any music I buy from iTunes goes to a folder on my external hard drive and not on a default folder on my laptop.. (I realise I would have to have my hard drive plugged in when buying music)

I obviously then want to import all my music from my hard drive to iTunes Library so that I can use it for playing music, getting art work and connecting my iPod etc..

Is all of this possible?!

[Propellarhead9]

I'm not sure if you can with stuff you bought from iTunes but any cd that ripped you shouldn't have a problem with. You'll just want to wipe out the library and re-import everything. Otherwise you'll be going through song by song locating everything.

A work around for stuff you bought on itunes is that you can burn it to a cd and re-rip and do it that way.

[garlad]

Originally Posted by Propellarhead9

I'm not sure if you can with stuff you bought from iTunes but any cd that ripped you shouldn't have a problem with. You'll just want to wipe out the library and re-import everything. Otherwise you'll be going through song by song locating everything.

A work around for stuff you bought on itunes is that you can burn it to a cd and re-rip and do it that way.

yeah I see what you mean thanks. So everything you download from iTunes MUST go on to the laptop hard drive? Bit annoying..

[Propellarhead9]

i think so just because of the liscensing crap

[garlad]

Right, I'm importing everything again.. Let's see how it goes!

I might have more questions, but this will take an age..

[Yautja]

Don't think you can save your music files into an external hard-drive, im pretty sure I tried to do it myself but to no avail, having said that if you are successful then please let us know

[crackinhedz]

I do not use iTunes enough...but...couldn't you go into:

Edit - Advanced - iTunes Media Folder Location - Change

...and select the location of your External Drive?

[garlad]

Originally Posted by crackinhedz

I do not use iTunes enough...but...couldn't you go into:

Edit - Advanced - iTunes Media Folder Location - Change

...and select the location of your External Drive?

Yes, I think I have done that, but even still when I buy music it default iTunes to a folder on your laptop. I'll check again once I have everything imported. That is what I want to happen!!

[scweb13]

All of my iTunes library is on my external HD. Both ripped and down-loaded songs. I don't remember how I set it up, but it is possible

[garlad]

Originally Posted by scweb13

All of my iTunes library is on my external HD. Both ripped and down-loaded songs. I don't remember how I set it up, but it is possible

You cant leave me hangin' like that!! That is EXACTLY what I want!!

[crackinhedz]

Back up your iTunes library by copying to an external hard drive

...pretty much what I said earlier.

[crackinhedz]

not sure how iTunes will act when you don't have the drive connected while using.

[garlad]

I'm not sure that is what I want to do. I want to be able to save anything I buy straight to my external hard drive without it ever being saved in the default iTunes folder on my laptop..

[garlad]

Originally Posted by crackinhedz

not sure how iTunes will act when you don't have the drive connected while using.

Yeah, will always have to have it connected, that's for sure

[crackinhedz]

Originally Posted by garlad

I'm not sure that is what I want to do. I want to be able to save anything I buy straight to my external hard drive without it ever being saved in the default iTunes folder on my laptop..

...garlad, make a folder called "iTunes" on your external drive...

go into Edit - Advanced - iTunes Media Folder Location - Change

select the location of your new iTunes folder on your external drive...this will become your default folder.

In other words...your music downloads should go directly into the external drive folder.

But as I said, if you have iTunes running and no external drive connected, I don't know how it will react? Ive read others say if iTunes cannot locate your external drive it will create a new iTunes folder back onto the laptop....


so, keep the external drive connected whenever you use iTunes.

[Propellarhead9]

I also think that there might be a folder option right when you first install iTunes as well but I can't remember. It's been too long since I did it.

[crackinhedz]

you might also need to put a check mark next to this option:

copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library

[garlad]

Originally Posted by crackinhedz

...garlad, make a folder called "iTunes" on your external drive...

go into Edit - Advanced - iTunes Media Folder Location - Change

select the location of your new iTunes folder on your external drive...this will become your default folder.

In other words...your music downloads should go directly into the external drive folder.

But as I said, if you have iTunes running and no external drive connected, I don't know how it will react? Ive read others say if iTunes cannot locate your external drive it will create a new iTunes folder back onto the laptop....


so, keep the external drive connected whenever you use iTunes.

Yes, that's what I want.. Sorry.. it's late over here

It's almost finished getting the artwork for everything I have imported now so will try make those changes, and buy something to see if it works!

Thakns crackinhedz! (for being patient!)

[Hammie]

The biggest concern I would have is if your external drive ever changes letters. You may get some error messages or may create a new file local on your computer without you realizing it.

I have a network based external hard drive where I have everything saved, including my .itl file. This way, no matter which computer I use, I can open the same library file and everything is organized just the way I want it. Makes this very user friendly.

I know this is not the situation you are looking for, but is how I have mine setup and it works flawlessly.

[Galley]

1. Select your external HDD as your library location.
2. Consolidate your library. Everything in your library is now in one location on your external HDD.