How to transfer itunes to an external drive

How to transfer itunes to an external drive

Yes it is possible. To transfer the iTunes, you first have to consolidate (it means organizing the music, videos on iTunes into one folder) your iTunes library into a new folder after which you copy this to your external drive. To accomplish this follow the following steps:

1.        Check whether all the files in the iTunes library are in one folder. To do this:

2.        Open iTunes preferences (if using Mac: Click on iTunes, preferences else if Windows: Click on Edit, Preferences)

3.        Click advanced after which a pop-up window appears.

4.        From the pop-up window, check to see whether the option “Copy files to iTunes media folder when adding to library” has been selected. If not, select it then click on Ok. This option ensures that when you add any files to iTunes, iTunes copies the original files into the iTunes media folder and the originals are left in their original locations but can be deleted to save on disk space.

Note: if this option had not been selected before, iTunes will copy files that are not in the iTunes media folder from their locations into the folder.

5.        Click on File and from the drop down menu, choose library then Organize library.

6.        From the window that appears, select the option “Consolidate Files” and in case you are using iTunes 9, also select the option “upgrade to iTunes media organization” which enables the creation of subfolders in your iTunes media folder in terms of genre i.e. music, videos, TV shows, podcasts and so on.

7.        Then click ok.

Therefore, to copy the iTunes media folder to your external drive:

1.        Close the iTunes window.

2.        Open your external drive by:

3.        Going to the desktop displayed or from the Finder Sidebar- for the Mac OS.

4.        Going to my computer and double clicking on the drive- for the Windows OS.

5.        Locate your iTunes folder which is usually in the following location:

a.        Mac OS: Drive C: Users/username/music.

b.        Windows: Drive C: Users/username/music.

6.        Note: if the iTunes folder is not located in the above folder, open iTunes then click on:

a.        iTunes then preferences –Mac Os

b.        Edit then preferences – Windows.

7.        Click on Advanced and you will see the location path of the iTunes folder which will be listed on the iTunes media folder location box after which you will be able to locate it.

8.        Right click on the iTunes folder and select the copy option from the Context menu that appears.

9.        Open the external drive by double clicking on it then press the (ctrl+v) keys to paste the iTunes folder onto the external drive or choose the paste option by right clicking on the external drive and the folder will be successfully copied onto the external drive.

To transfer music that you may have on the hard disk drive of the laptop to the external drive:

         i.            Open the location where you have saved your music and organize it all in one folder.

        ii.            Open the external drive by double clicking on it.

      iii.            Copy the folder you created in step (i) and paste it in the external drive’s memory.

By following the above steps you’ll have successfully copied music from your iTunes and laptop onto the external drive.

Regards,

Lucy