External HD

[DJAKO]

I'm in the process of moving all my movies from my MBP HD to an external one I have setup. Once I do this all the movies won't obviously play directly from the laptop HD. So I get that nice message about it not being found...

Is there anyway to point all the movies the new external HD w/o having to go one by one and pointing it to the new file?

Hope that makes sense lol

 

[the_insider]

select all your movies, hit backspace.. then go to settings uncheck "copy files to itunes folder" click on add to library.. add your movies

 

[DJAKO]

select all your movies, hit backspace.. then go to settings uncheck "copy files to itunes folder" click on add to library.. add your movies

Um...lol it prompts me to move them to the trash or keep them when I hit backspace.

You get what I'm saying though right? Let's say I have 20 movies in /itunes/movies and I now moved it to an external drive.

When I try to play the movies it's looking for them in /itunes/movies still rather than the external. I can go one by one and update them, but it's a lot more cumbersome.

 

[orme292]

I think you can just change your default folder in Preferences > Advanced > General and hit OK (as long as "keep my itunes music folder organized" is checked) and it will update the itunes database, and then ask you if you want to move all your media to the new destination to keep it in line with the "keep my itunes music folder organized" preferences. I just tried it out, and it seems like it would work.

Andrew

 

[DJAKO]

I think you can just change your default folder in Preferences > Advanced > General and hit OK (as long as "keep my itunes music folder organized" is checked) and it will update the itunes database, and then ask you if you want to move all your media to the new destination to keep it in line with the "keep my itunes music folder organized" preferences. I just tried it out, and it seems like it would work.

Andrew

OK, I did see that, but I thought it would move everything. And I want to keep my music on here so I wasn't sure.

 

[orme292]

Thats a tricky situation you know. I don't think iTunes can do seperate folders (without you having to manage the folders yourself).

Maybe you can copy (copy, not move) your itunes library movies and itunes library tv shows folders to the external HD, then remove all the references from your itunes library of the tv shows & movies (first check the info to make sure itunes didn't realize you moved them). Then reimport them into itunes (after unchecking the "keep itunes folder organized" and "copy music to my itunes folder"). That's my best guess, the only down side is that when you want to add new music or movies, itunes will keep them in their current location as opposed to moving it and organizing it.

good luck, and if you figure something out, let me know.

andrew

 

[harcosparky]

I " moved " my iTune Library from the main drive to an external drive.

It moves all the Music and Video only.

The process is simple .....

1) In iTunes Preferences you tell it the Library is located on the new drive. Wait until it is done doing whatever it does before moving on.

2) Under " ADVANCED " on the Menu you select " Consolidate Library ".

Now once this is done you have the iTunes Libarary in TWO PLACES but iTune only looks for it where you tell it to look in Preferences.

It sounds like you want movies off the main drive but keep music there, well here is a way to do that. It's a sloppy workaround, but it should work.

Go back into PREFERENCES and tell iTunes the Library is located on the MAIN DRIVE. Once you are certain iTunes is looking at the MAIN DRIVE go into MOVIES and DELETE all movies. If you want to make sure you are only deleting them from the MAIN DRIVE, disconnect the external.

Once this is done you should not see any movies in iTunes, because they are all now on the external drive.

Now connect the external drive and tell iTunes the Library is there. Once done you should see all the movies and music in iTunes. This will let you know you are on the external drive. Now you can DELETE all the MUSIC and will have Music on the MAIN DRIVE and Movies on the EXTERNAL.

You'll just have to tell iTunes where to look via the PREFERENCES window when you want to switch.

I just moved the entire iTunes Library to an external, and tell Time Machine to back up the Main and External to a second External Drive.

My drive config is as follows.....

320 Gig - iMac Drive
500 Gig External - Media Libraries
1 TB - Time Machine to back up the 320 and 500

I was running out of space fast on the 320 .... now I have almost all of it back!

 

[DJAKO]

Great, thanks for the tips. I'll give them a try

 

[lyzrd]

Or you can simply delete all movies from your library and move them onto your external harddrive. Than drag them all in iTunes again while holding down the 'option' key. It keeps them in your directory on your ext hdd but show up in itunes.

I think this should be a bit easier than the other attempts. I hope I was able to help.

PS: On Windows you gotta press the ALT Key.

 

[jbellanca]

Is there anyway to point all the movies the new external HD w/o having to go one by one and pointing it to the new file?

Really was easier than most people think - just move the files to the external drive and Option-drag them into iTunes. That will by-pass the copying to the iTunes folder.

 

[orme292]

that is pretty easy, though if/when you buy movies & tv shows from ITMS you'll have to move them, erase from the library, and option drag them in everytime. I guess it's not that bad of a work around.