Want to move my iTunes music folder and photos off external onto new iMac...

[VoodooDaddy]

Ill try to keep this brief and understandable.

Currently I have a 20" iMac. I want to get a 24. I have all my music and all my photos on an external drive. Within iTunes and iPhoto all the files are pointed to that hard drive.

When/if I get the 24 I want to move pics and tunes off the external onto the iMac, but maintain my libraries. What is the best way to do this if it can be done? Im not worried about iTunes as much as iPhoto. I have spent HOURS sorting pictures and creating events and confirming faces. Im just not sure how to dump all that into a clean iPhoto and maintain everything.

 

[VoodooDaddy]

No one has any idea if this can be done? I just hate to think about re-importing all my pictures into iPhoto, sorting into albums and events, and go through all that face recognition stuff again.

 

[bozz2006]

migration assistant.

 

[RemarkabLee]

I'm sure there are other ways of doing it, but as long as you copy your main iTunes folder to the new iMac to ~/Music/iTunes, iTunes should by default on the new Mac pick that up and use it for your default library.

Same deal with iPhoto. Just copy the entire iPhoto Library folder into the default location on the new machine and it should use it by default. The iPhoto help pretty much confirms this. Did you check the help reference?

 

[VoodooDaddy]

I'm sure there are other ways of doing it, but as long as you copy your main iTunes folder to the new iMac to ~/Music/iTunes, iTunes should by default on the new Mac pick that up and use it for your default library.

Same deal with iPhoto. Just copy the entire iPhoto Library folder into the default location on the new machine and it should use it by default. The iPhoto help pretty much confirms this. Did you check the help reference?

I dont think that will work though because all the pictures and music are on an external drive. So if I just copy over my iPhoto library all it will see is shortcuts to the pics on the external. I want to put the music/pictures on the iMac itself this time instead of an external.

Maybe Im over thinking all this.

 

[alphaod]

Make sure both programs are closed (CMD+Q).

Then move both folders: the iPhoto photo Photos and iTunes to Music

Go to your Applications folder, while holding OPTION (on keyboard), double-click to open iPhoto. You have to be in the Applications folder, not the dock icon. It should say something about not having a library; now browse and go to the new location of your library and select the folder.

Then repeat for iTunes, though instead of pointing at the folder, you select the file inside the folder that says 'iTunes Library' when prompted to select a library.

 

[VoodooDaddy]

^ thank you. Will give that a shot when my new iMac gets here.

 

[VoodooDaddy]

Make sure both programs are closed (CMD+Q).

Then move both folders: the iPhoto photo Photos and iTunes to Music

Go to your Applications folder, while holding OPTION (on keyboard), double-click to open iPhoto. You have to be in the Applications folder, not the dock icon. It should say something about not having a library; now browse and go to the new location of your library and select the folder.

Then repeat for iTunes, though instead of pointing at the folder, you select the file inside the folder that says 'iTunes Library' when prompted to select a library.

Decided to make a test account on my iMac and try this. It works, sort of, but still doesnt copy over the actual file. It kept all my events and albums intact, but instead of having the actual file inside my iPhoto package contents its still just the shortcut to the file on the external hard drive.

 

[Icaras]

Oh no. I've been following this thread because I'm trying to do the same exact thing. I followed alphaod's advice when moving my iphoto library, but now I can't empty its trash! Everytime i quit and reload iphoto the trash is back to the state before i tried emptying it!

After a few seconds, iphoto gives me this error message:

An error occurred while trying to save your photo library.

Some recent changes may be lost. Make sure your hard disk has enough space and that iPhoto is able to access the iPhoto Library.

Any idea whats happening and how I can resolve this?

 

[iamoneagain]

I know for itunes, you can change the destination of the itunes library. This will not copy the files. You then need to click on consolidate library and that will begin the copying process. Not sure how to do this with iPhoto but it might have a similar feature. I use Aperture so not as familiar with iPhoto anymore.

 

[VoodooDaddy]

I know for itunes, you can change the destination of the itunes library. This will not copy the files. You then need to click on consolidate library and that will begin the copying process. Not sure how to do this with iPhoto but it might have a similar feature. I use Aperture so not as familiar with iPhoto anymore.

Excellent, thank you. This worked precisely like I wanted for iTunes. Now iPhoto is another matter. Looks like if I wanted it done the way I want I will just have to manually import all the pictures again