I no longer use iTunes because it is much easier to stream content from iCloud and to use Apple Music.
If you use iTunes to manage music not in iTunes or home video files, then you really have no choice but to store the content locally. In this article, I’m going to show you how you can easily move your entire iTunes library to an external drive.
Prerequisites
In iTunes Preferences, click on the General tab and then the Storage tab. In the Storage section, make sure that you have a location for your music files set up. If you don’t have a location set up, you can create one by clicking on the New Location button in the top left corner of the window and then enter a name for your new location. If you want to move your music files to another computer, you can do that by clicking on the Move Music Files button in the top left corner of the window and then selecting which computer to move them to.
If you have not set the iTunes Media folder location to the default path, then you must do so before continuing. The default path is Users/Username/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media.
In Mac OS, click on File from the navigation bar, then Library and choose Organize Library. In Windows, you have to press CTRL + B or press the ALT key to see the navigation menu appear first.
When you consolidate all your media files, you should also check the box to consolidate them. This will make sure everything is stored before we move.
To consolidate your library, check the box and click OK. Now that you have completed these two tasks, you can move on to the actual process of moving your library. ..
Move iTunes Library
If you have an iPhone or iPad, you can use iTunes to manage your music. Connect your device to your computer and open iTunes. In the left-hand column, click on Music. You can now drag and drop songs into the appropriate folders on your computer. ..
To use iTunes on your computer, go to the location listed in the Advanced tab, which should be C:\Users\UserName\Music. Inside, you should see a folder called iTunes. Go ahead and copy this folder to the root of your external hard drive. Then open iTunes and connect your iPod or iPhone. ..
If you have an iTunes library of over 100,000 songs, the process of copying it will probably take up the most time. However, if your network connection is slow or you have a large iTunes library on your computer, the process may not take as long. To complete the copy, we need to open iTunes in a special way.
On a Mac, hold down the OPTION key and then click on iTunes from the dock. On Windows, hold down the SHIFT key and then double-click to open iTunes. When you do this, you’ll get a dialog before iTunes loads. ..
You can choose to open the iTunes.itl file located on an external hard drive or in the iTunes folder on your computer.
If all goes well, iTunes should load with your entire library intact! You should be able to see all your media files and play them. At this point, we can remove the local copy of the iTunes library. To do that, you should first close iTunes and then eject the external hard drive. Now delete the entire iTunes folder stored on your computer. ..
If you open iTunes without reconnecting the external hard drive, you’ll get an error message stating the library could not be found.
The process of connecting your Apple device to the network and opening iTunes is simple. If you have any problems, please connect your device to the network and then open iTunes. If you have any problems with connecting or opening iTunes, please connect your device to the network and then open a support ticket.
Everything worked fine until I imported new media into my library and then some files got copied to my local computer. If you have any questions, feel free to comment. Enjoy!
