iTunes Media on an external HDD?

HappyChappy84

I formatted my mid 2009 MacBook Pro yesterday but before doing that I transferred almost 200GB of iTunes content (movies, music, apps etc) to an external HDD. When doing this I copied over the entire iTunes folder.

Now that I've formatted my MacBook Pro I want to leave the iTunes content on the external HDD which is plugged in to an Airport Extreme.

My question is, how do I get iTunes to recognise where the content is?

I have tried going to iTunes Preferences>Advanced and changing the location under 'iTunes Media folder location' but that hasn't worked. Infact when I quit iTunes and restarted it this setting had returned to the default setting.

I have also popped in to my local Apple store and asked a genius there and he suggested what I have already done. When I told him I had tried that and it hadn't worked he told me to hold down the cmd whilst opening iTunes and that would give me an option to choose a library. When I try this my App folder is opening instead.

Any suggestions?

Mr_Toad

HappyChappy84 wrote: »

I formatted my mid 2009 MacBook Pro yesterday but before doing that I transferred almost 200GB of iTunes content (movies, music, apps etc) to an external HDD. When doing this I copied over the entire iTunes folder.

Now that I've formatted my MacBook Pro I want to leave the iTunes content on the external HDD which is plugged in to an Airport Extreme.

My question is, how do I get iTunes to recognise where the content is?

I have tried going to iTunes Preferences>Advanced and changing the location under 'iTunes Media folder location' but that hasn't worked. Infact when I quit iTunes and restarted it this setting had returned to the default setting.

I have also popped in to my local Apple store and asked a genius there and he suggested what I have already done. When I told him I had tried that and it hadn't worked he told me to hold down the cmd whilst opening iTunes and that would give me an option to choose a library. When I try this my App folder is opening instead.

Any suggestions?

It's dead easy to sort out.

Open iTunes then from the menu select Preferences. Go to the advanced preferences, the Cog icon on the right.

The top box is iTunes Media Folder location. Click on the Change button to the right of the box and enter the location of the external drive.

Done.

HappyChappy84

masonn wrote: »

It's dead easy to sort out.

Open iTunes then from the menu select Preferences. Go to the advanced preferences, the Cog icon on the right.

The top box is iTunes Media Folder location. Click on the Change button to the right of the box and enter the location of the external drive.

Done.

I've tried that and it doesn't do anything.

I ended up creating a new folder that way though and then I dragged the iTunes Media folder in to iTunes and it transferred everything to the new folder and now everything displays in iTunes. It took all night though.:eek:

Mr_Toad

I'm glad you have it sorted.

I did exactly the same with my iTunes library, I keep mine on a network drive so I can access it from both my iMac and my MacBook Pro and I think I may have missed a step out of the instructions.

Once you've pointed at the new location you have to go to the menu select file > Library > organise library.

Forgive me but it's been a while since I did it.

HappyChappy84

masonn wrote: »

I'm glad you have it sorted.

I did exactly the same with my iTunes library, I keep mine on a network drive so I can access it from both my iMac and my MacBook Pro and I think I may have missed a step out of the instructions.

Once you've pointed at the new location you have to go to the menu select file > Library > organise library.

Forgive me but it's been a while since I did it.

Yeah, I tried that too and it still didn't work. I then went to the Apple store to ask them and that's when I was told to hold cmd whilst opening iTunes and that would give me the choice of choosing a library. Only that didn't work as holding down cmd and clicking on iTunes opened the applications folder:doh:.

It's a bit slower being on the network, i.e. when I right click on something then elect 'get info' to increase the volume it takes slightly longer. Any tips on speeding up my network? My network is secure and only I use it.

Just hoping the slight lag doesn't effect the Apple TV.

Mr_Toad

HappyChappy84 wrote: »

It's a bit slower being on the network, i.e. when I right click on something then elect 'get info' to increase the volume it takes slightly longer. Any tips on speeding up my network? My network is secure and only I use it.

Just hoping the slight lag doesn't effect the Apple TV.

Hmm. I don't have that problem on my network. I'm using the Airport wireless network in my Time Capsule to access my iTunes library on the NAS.

I live in a 600 year old manor house with stone walls that are 3 foot thick. My wireless access point is on the top floor in the tower. My sitting room is 2 floors below where I have a wireless repeater and my study is 1 floor below in tower where there is no repeater but I get a good signal.

That said the first time I access anything can take a little longer as the NAS drive takes a second to spin up. Once playing though the response is very good with no obvious lag.

HappyChappy84

masonn wrote: »

Hmm. I don't have that problem on my network. I'm using the Airport wireless network in my Time Capsule to access my iTunes library on the NAS.

I live in a 600 year old manor house with stone walls that are 3 foot thick. My wireless access point is on the top floor in the tower. My sitting room is 2 floors below where I have a wireless repeater and my study is 1 floor below in tower where there is no repeater but I get a good signal.

That said the first time I access anything can take a little longer as the NAS drive takes a second to spin up. Once playing though the response is very good with no obvious lag.

Yep, same here, just getting that initial slight delay.

I don't suppose you have a solution for my other little problem? I switched off my MacBook Pro and I had to tell iTunes through to 'Preferences' > 'Advanced' and pointing it in the direction of the iTunes Media Folder. Is there anyway of getting iTunes to remember this so I don't have to wait 20 minutes while it figures things out every time I switch on my laptop?

Mr_Toad

HappyChappy84 wrote: »

Yep, same here, just getting that initial slight delay.

I don't suppose you have a solution for my other little problem? I switched off my MacBook Pro and I had to tell iTunes through to 'Preferences' > 'Advanced' and pointing it in the direction of the iTunes Media Folder. Is there anyway of getting iTunes to remember this so I don't have to wait 20 minutes while it figures things out every time I switch on my laptop?

That's a new one on me, mine remembers the settings and I have no idea why yours isn't. Sorry

HappyChappy84

masonn wrote: »

That's a new one on me, mine remembers the settings and I have no idea why yours isn't. Sorry

No worries. Guess I better go and ask on the Apple Discussions pages.

Thanks for your help.:)