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Hi, I'm hoping someone can help with this...
I am an obsessive music collector. My music is saved on a 2 TB drive inside my Mac Pro and it's now out of space. Everything is loaded into iTunes perfectly (tags/art/etc.). It's taken years. Now I have a problem though. I have more music and want to keep the library together. The library itself is not managed by iTunes. That's because I divide the music into different folders by musical genre and then have a uniform way of labeling each folder (Artist - Year - Album [type of file]).
I am about to buy a massive external storage device that can save much more than 2 TB. I'd like to keep all of this music together exactly as it is and just move the whole thing over. Problem is, the iTunes won't know where the files have gone and I can't find an automated way to let it know. As an experiment, I've tried moving single albums at a time. As soon as iTunes can't find the tracks, I point it to the right place. Unfortunately, you have to click a file instead of just a new hard drive. After you point it to the right file, it will check that folder automatically for all of the other files currently missing their original data. But because I keep each album in a separate folder, this would require me manually pointing 1,000s of albums on iTunes to their new home.
Has anyone had an issue like this? I'd love to be able to keep expanding this library and not have two separate libraries spread out over multiple drives.
Any help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Tom
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Total posts: 9 (Showing page 1 of 1)
Once you have COPIED all of your music
by mrmacfixit 
- 3/16/12 5:04 AM
In Reply to: Moving a massive iTunes library by tomselliott
AND the iTunes library folder over to the external drive,
launch iTunes while holding down the Option key.
iTunes will prompt you for the location of the iTunes library.
Navigate to the external and choose the library.
Go from there.
Note that the initial step is to COPY the music. If anything goes wrong, then the originals are still intact.
Do not delete the originals until you are satisfied that everything is working correctly from the new drive
P
Thanks
by tomselliott - 3/16/12 1:15 PM
In Reply to: Once you have COPIED all of your music by mrmacfixit
If this works, you will be my savior. I've been researching what to do about this for months. I've been extremely paranoid I'm going to have to end up re-directing iTunes album-by-album. Now I'm going to go ahead and buy the external device (I'd been waiting to ensure this was indeed possible and I would have to just create multiple locations where the files are saved).
Thanks. I'll let you know how it goes.
The recommended way to move your library is
by mrmacfixit - 3/16/12 3:54 PM
In Reply to: Thanks by tomselliott
to consolidate the library into iTunes.
As this makes a copy of your tracks and space is already an issue, this way is the alternative.
Remember, do NOT delete anything until you are positive that all is working correctly.
You "may" have to point a few things out to iTunes though.
p
NAS?
by tomselliott - 3/18/12 10:00 PM
In Reply to: The recommended way to move your library is by mrmacfixit
Will these methods work just as well if I buy a NAS storage unit instead of a direct-attach external? I'd like to buy a ReadyNas device but want to ensure I'll be able to maintain the content that's already loaded into my iTunes library and be able to scroll through music quickly, just as I do now (w/ the music saved locally). I'm a little nervous that the networked connection might be too slow.
Thanks for the advice thus far.
About a NAS.
by R. Proffitt - 3/19/12 10:51 AM
In Reply to: Moving a massive iTunes library by tomselliott
Beware that many complain about the lack of speed. A local drive could be about 1,000 times faster than a NAS so it may be time to find a new system to collect and organize your multimillion dollar investment.
Bob
Hmm?
by tomselliott - 3/19/12 1:43 PM
In Reply to: About a NAS. by R. Proffitt
What do you mean by "a new system"? I have a big computer that has 8 terabytes of internal storage. I'd like to move the media onto something external that can be backed up in a RAID formation. I think that's safer and easier for expansion, as this is a project I plan to continue forever. So I'm therefore just trying to figure out what kind of external system can adequately handle the load.
My music collection is probably worth millions to me personally, but I doubt I've paid more than tens of thousands. I rip all of my music in Apple Lossless and in 24 bit whenever possible, so a single album can sometimes occupy a gig or more.
Because of the size, you may be upset by
by R. Proffitt - 3/19/12 1:48 PM
In Reply to: Hmm? by tomselliott
I find folk are less than happy with network attached storage SPEED. It appears you didn't want to read that and skipped past that and think there is something about handling the load.
ALL NAS, and I mean all handle loads of data. It's the speed that folk complain about.
Bob
Total posts: 9 (Showing page 1 of 1)
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