computer help

JERSEYTEX7

JERSEYTEX7

Joined
Dec 3, 2005
Messages
405
:D The people in this forum have been a great help to me. (helped me to get the other half to agree to DSL!). Now, I have an external hard drive for my laptop. I have filled my laptop with ITunes vidoe and audio content. Can I run my Itunes from the external hard drive? And how do I transfer the Itunes mechanisam to the external hard drive? The ITunes site was no help. Many thanks in advance.:)
 
Your best bet would be to run iTunes from its original location on your C: drive but store your music, pictures, etc. on the external hard drive. There is a setting in iTunes that tells the program where to look for the files. I really wouldn't try to run apps off an external drive.

Is it a USB drive or is an ethernet-capable drive? Are you going to use the external drive as a removable drive (usually designated as E: ) or are you going to set it up as a network drive?
 
:thumbup: Thanks-as always bladeforums members to the rescue. Could you please tell me where that setting in itunes is? I have ollked and cannot find it. Thanks again.
 
i've had a few cases where customers tried to install software onto their external drives then carry that software around with them so that they can use it on other computers... although this is "technically" possible its not suggested because it requires a lot of work to do this.

like mycroftt suggests leave ur itunes in C: because that is the native directory of the windows installation.

transfer all your music and everything else onto your external harddrive.

usually when i customer asks about doing something like this i point them towards an ipod Video... just as a suggestion.. the ipod Video can act as an external harddrive in which you can store other data file formats but also play and view all your music, photos and videos too.

just a thought.

but ya.. mycroftt is right on the money with this one.

cheers
 
The external hard drive is USB. My library is primarily derived from cd's but it is the movies that have eaten my hard drive space. When I download from cd's or movies from itunes how do I get it to go from the source to the external hard drive?:confused:
 
make seperate folders for each of them (i.e. movies, music, pictures)

once that is done. transfer all your files to the appropriate folders.

hit file --> add file to library

then just browse your way to the appropriate directories on your external to load them onto your itunes list.

be warned you wont be able to use/play anything without having the external harddrive plugged in.

other then that it should work fine.

cheers
 
:eek: I tried transfering my files and lost half my audio and most of my video files from Itunes. I went from about 9800 songs to 6000 and lost most of my video files. I should have left well enough alone. Iam no good at this.:confused:
 
Even a move is supposed to verify the file has been copied before deleting the source. :confused:

Anyway, now is the time to look in your trash folder for the deleted files. Now, before you overwrite them with something else.
 
eh...

what do you mean you've lost all your music? :|

regardless of whether u move to or copy to they should still transfer properly...

sometimes some computers are set to transfer "shortcuts" to the original files locations when you do either a drag and drop or transfer...

post computer specifications and we'll see what we can do.

perhaps you should take cougar's advice and rumage through the trash... because its never emptied or deleted unlesss YOU ok'd it

cheers mate sorry to hear your having problems.
 
Sorry for the delay. 12 hr shifts began. I am an idiot (obviously) when it comes to computer issues even tho I love technical stuff. OK- for some reason when I transfererred the itunes music library to my usb external hard drive, I could not get it to "connect" with the Ipod. Then when the ipod was synching I noticed my song count was going down and storage capacity on the device was in creasing (normally a good thing). Whe I checked my library, an explanation point was beside the song title and said the original file could not be found. I honestly think I copied but not moved them. Do you think it would be worth it to have a member of the "geek Squad" to come over and help me salvage my music and video files? I had splurged on the first season of Battlestar Galactica and hate to pay for it over again. Thanks for any input.:o
 
First - find out where the files are. They are out there somewhere. Look in your trash folder. Look for a folder named Previous iTunes Music and see if they are in there. Look in your original iTunes library folder.

Take another look in the folder on your external drive - the files may be in there but are not being found by iTunes. If you find them in there you can manually drag them into iTunes and the problem will be solved. I believe that you will lose the metadata (play counts, ratings, etc.) if you do this.

I'm pretty sure you still have your files. You are not the only one who has had this problem when putting iTunes files on an external drive. If you do some searches on your error message or phrases like "itunes music on network drive" you will get literally hundreds of hits describing the exact same problem as you have. It may take some effort but don't despair - I really don't think you have lost everything.
 
I will try. Thanks to all. At least I am getting a learning curve out of this. I promise to let you know how I am doing in Digital Music for Dummies 101. Again, thanks to all.
 
Not to throw another wrench into the mix but try doing a Google search for ITunes replacements. A program like Floola or Anapod will allow you to treat your Ipod like a hard drive, dragging and dropping songs on and off of it. No jumping through hoops or dealing with those crazy synchronization issues with ITunes.

This applies to you mainly if you don't buy songs off of ITunes and rip your own CDs instead. I've got a huge CD library ripped and have no need for ITunes but find the Ipod easy to use regardless of my feelings towards Apple.
 
funny you should mention geeksquad jersey...

i just happen to be a member of the geeksquad department at my local bestbuy store...

although my position is only as a CIA agent there (computer intelligence agent)... what a gimmick eh?

most of the time if you just take your laptop in to the store with your harddrive and explain the problem they'll be happy to help you... well atleast at my store anyways.. we can do free 5 min diagnostics to try and help figure out whats going on with the computer and usually fix it for u on the spot..we also provide tutorials so that you dont have the same problem again... not that we dont want you back in the store but just so that you wont be frustrated with your computer :)

dunno about the bestbuy/geeksquad in your area.. usually comes down to whether or not the technician is a decent guy.. however the guy could be a total dick and refuse to help you.

but i'd say give them a call and ask if you can bring the laptop in and if they can take a free quick look.. especially if you bought the system at that store and/or had service/warranty on the laptop... if the case is that yes they can and yes they fix your problem for free then hooray! you've saved yourself some cash to put towards a knife rather then having geeksquad come over :)

cheers mate. good luck
 
It's a little late now, but search Apple support for "changing itunes music location." After you change the location, you also need to hit the advanced tab in itunes and click consolidate.

You can also call Apple. They charge for support, but they answered simple questions or gave me guidance on where to find support for free.
 
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