How To Transfer Itunes Library To External Hard Drive Mac

11.04.2020
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Launch iTunes→ Connect external hard drive→ Open Mac’s hard drive→ Click music folder→ Select iTunes, drag it to your external hard drive→ click authenticate if. Mar 16, 2020 How to Transfer iTunes Library to New Mac via External Hard Drive or USB Drive Step 1. To find the location of your iTunes media folder, launch iTunes on your old computer Then click “Edit” (PC) or “iTunes”(Mac) on the menu bar Preferences Advanced Here you will see the “iTunes Media folder location” in your computer.

By Stephen Robles
Tuesday, February 03, 2015, 09:17 am PT (12:17 pm ET)

When trying to free up drive space on your Mac, one of the first things you can do is move the iTunes Library to a portable hard drive. Here's a detailed guide on how to back up your music, movies and more to reclaim your hard drive.



All the music, podcasts, movies and TV shows you've downloaded to iTunes are most likely taking up a good amount of hard drive space and can easily be moved.
Before starting the process, we suggest making an up to date Time Machine backup of your computer to an external hard drive or Time Capsule. Be sure the external hard drive you use to perform this backup is different than where you will move the iTunes Library should anything happen.

How To Transfer Itunes Library To External Hard Drive Mac



To begin moving your library, open iTunes, click File in the Menu Bar and select Library > Organize Library


Check the box that says Consolidate files and click OK. This will make sure all the music, movies and other files are actually located in the iTunes Media folder that will be moving to your external drive.


If you moved your iTunes Media folder in the past, it is best to double check the folder iTunes is actually accessing for your library files. To do this, go to iTunes in the Menu Bar > Preferences and click the Advanced tab.
Under the iTunes Media folder location you will see a path to the files you are about to move. By default, this should be located in the Music folder of your Home directory.


Quit iTunes by going to iTunes in the Menu Bar > Quit iTunes or press Cmd + Q. Connect the external hard drive that you will use to copy the iTunes library. You should see it appear on your desktop.


Open a new Finder window and click Music in the left sidebar. Click and drag the iTunes folder onto the external hard drive icon on your Desktop.


Depending on how large your library is and the connection speed of the external drive, it may take several minutes or longer to complete the copy process.
Once the copy is completed, hold the Option key on your keyboard and open iTunes from the Dock or Applications folder again. A new window will pop up asking you to Create Library or Choose Library. Click on Choose Library.



In the browser window that appears, navigate to your external hard drive, click the iTunes folder there and choose the iTunes Library file.


iTunes will then open and as long as the external hard drive is connected, iTunes will reference the library on the external drive and not on your computer's drive.
Quit iTunes once again and eject the external hard drive holding your new iTunes Library. Open a new Finder window and navigate to the Music folder in the left sidebar again.
Right click or Ctrl+click on the iTunes folder and move it to the Trash.


Finally, to free up the space on your internal hard drive, open the Trash from the Dock or Finder window and click Empty Trash in the upper right corner.


Your iTunes Library has officially been removed from the internal drive. You can now reconnect the external hard drive you used to copy the iTunes Library, open iTunes and use it as normal.
If you open iTunes without your external hard drive connected, iTunes will give you an error message saying the 'Library cannot be found.' Quit iTunes, connect the external hard drive and reopen iTunes to fix.
You may want to copy your iTunes folder onto a second external hard drive as a backup as well. iTunes Match for $25 per year will also backup all your music to Apple's cloud service.

Where to buy an external drive at discount


Choosing a high-quality Mac-formatted external hard drive instead of an Apple-branded Time Capsule will often save you hundreds of dollars. Of all the Apple Authorized Resellers who deal heavily in storage devices, B&H Photo, Adorama, and Amazon offer the best mix of brand options, discounted pricing, availability, and cost-free shipping. Below are some quick links that jump to the available Mac-formatted storage options currently available from these resellers:
1TB to 6TB External Hard Drives (Mac Formatted) from $95.99 @ B&H
1TB to 6TB External Hard Drives (Mac Formatted) from $119.00 @ Adorama
750GB to 6TB External Hard Drives (Mac Formatted) from $65.00 @ Amazon
500GB to 6TB Portable Hard Drives (Mac Formatted) from $99.00 @ B&H
500GB to 6TB Portable Hard Drives (Mac Formatted) from $56.99 @Adorama
500GB to 6TB Portable Hard Drives (Mac Formatted) from $58.00 @ Amazon

If you are confused about transferring music from external hard drive to iTunes, you can take 5 minutes to get 2 alternative methods in this guide to help you out.

iTunes Backup & Transfer Tips

Transfer from iTunes
Transfer to iTunes
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iTunes Backup Content

iTunes can be our good helper in managing and listening to music on computer. You may like to add some non-purchased music to iTunes from external hard drive. In this way, you can listen to your own music on the computer and also sync songs to your iPhone, iPad or iPod. Here in this guide, we will show you two solutions for you to choose from. Let’s begin.

Also Read: How to Backup iTunes Library to External Hard Drive >

Part 1. Transfer Music from External Hard Drive to iTunes Directly

iTunes supports users to directly add music from external hard drive. But one thing needs to be mentioned is that you can only transfer iTunes-supported music format, such as MP3, AAC, M4A, WAV, M4R, AIF, AIFF and M4B. Here are the detailed steps of how to transfer music from a flash drive t your iTunes.

Step 1: Open iTunes > Plug in your external hard drive.

How To Copy Itunes Library To External Hard Drive Mac

Step 2: Click on File menu in iTunes > Choose Add to Library.

Step 3: Select your external hard drive > Choose the music or music folder > Click on Open.

Transfer Music from External Hard Drive to iTunes Directly

If you cannot find Add to Library option, you can go to Preferences > Advanced > Select Keep iTunes Media Folder organized and Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library > Click on OK to enable it.

Part 2. Transfer Music to iTunes with AnyTrans for iOS

Users who are familiar with iTunes would known that this tool is pretty tricky. All kinds of iTunes errors happened with no sign, and you don’t know whether the transferring is success or not because iTunes will send no notice. Luckily, many third-party tools can be helpful. For example, AnyTrans for iOS could help you put music into the iTunes. Let’s check what AnyTrans can do. How to change the photo library location on mac.

AnyTrans for iOS – iPhone Music Transfer

  • Transfer music to iTunes with no quality/data loss.
  • Support sync iTunes music to iPhone/iPad/iPod.
  • Support managing other content like ringtones, photos, messages, etc.
  • Support all iPhone models and both Windows and Mac.

Free Download100% Clean & Safe

Free Download100% Clean & Safe

Step 1: Launch AnyTrans for iOS > Plug in your external hard drive to the computer > Click iTunes Library on the homepage.

Tap on Device Manager and Choose Music

How To Transfer Itunes Library To External Hard Drive Mac Download

Step 2: Click on “+” button > Select your external hard drive > Choose the songs you want to transfer > Click on Open.

Transfer Music from External Hard Drive to iTunes with AnyTrans – Step 2

Step 3: Select the songs that have been transferred from external hard drive > Click on To iTunes.

Transfer Music from External Hard Drive to iTunes with AnyTrans – Step 3

Note: You can delete the songs by clicking the Delete button if you do not like the songs stored on your device after the transfer.

The Bottom Line

How To Transfer Itunes Library From Pc To Mac Without External Hard Drive

Hope this guide can help you transfer music from external hard drive to iTunes successfully. If you are interested in AnyTrans, just click here to have a free trial to explore more！

How To Transfer Itunes Library To External Hard Drive Mac Mini

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