Running Out of Room On Hard Drive - HELP, Advice Needed

[elistoughton]

I'm running out of room on my 60gb notebook hard drive, and am considering moving my music to my external. I already have as h264 videos on my external, but still have photos & music on the notebook. I just wanted to get people's advice on this as I'm sure people are using their external to sync. It just seems a drag to have to always have the external with you to listen to music & to sync. Do some people keep the itunes library database & xml file on their notebook. I just would like the ability to download music & sync it to my ipods without the need to have the external hard drive. Any insight on itunes storage philosophy is welcomed and appreciated!

[fuzzyhair]

I'm running out of room on my 60gb notebook hard drive, and am considering moving my music to my external. I already have as h264 videos on my external, but still have photos & music on the notebook. I just wanted to get people's advice on this as I'm sure people are using their external to sync. It just seems a drag to have to always have the external with you to listen to music & to sync. Do some people keep the itunes library database & xml file on their notebook. I just would like the ability to download music & sync it to my ipods without the need to have the external hard drive. Any insight on itunes storage philosophy is welcomed and appreciated!
If all your music is on your 60 gb. ipod you should be fine. put the stuff you don't listen to much on the external, and then keep the stuff you care about. If your external ever fails, just get the songs off the iPod.

[elistoughton]

if I put music on my external, it wont come off my ipod when i auto sync it?

[fuzzyhair]

if I put music on my external, it wont come off my ipod when i auto sync it?
Not if the iTunes library has all the files accounted for. Make sure it knows the new files are on the external. As long as the id3's for the tracks are in your library, it won't delete them.

[elistoughton]

So what will I need to do when I move the songs to my external, to make sure that they are still going to be synced properly and that I can play them in iTunes with the external plugged in.

[elistoughton]

I'd like to know what I need to do to make sure that the songs are still going to be synced properly and that I can play them in iTunes with the external plugged in.. And, also if if there would be a big advantage just having everything for itunes on my external?

[snowdog99]

If you plan on moving all your music to the external you can do it in iTunes.

Just change the iTunes music folder location in Edit>Preferences>Advanced>General to a folder on the external drive. Then click Advanced>Consolidate Library.

[elistoughton]

If you plan on moving all your music to the external you can do it in iTunes.

Just change the iTunes music folder location in Edit>Preferences>Advanced>General to a folder on the external drive. Then click Advanced>Consolidate Library.

Oh okay,and that justs moves it. do a lot of people keep their library on their external?
would there be a way to keep copies of some music on the notebook, to be able to listen on the go?

[elistoughton]

Alright, I've consolidated the library on my external, but would there be a way to keep copies of some music on the notebook, to be able to listen on the go without messing the library up?

[shopgirl1]

Did you move all of your music to your external? I am trying to find out how I can keep my iTunes and music library on my laptop, but make a copy of it for a backup on an external drive? I'm afraid to do anything at this point, because I don't want to screw anything up!

[elistoughton]

I did but it is kinda messed up now. See : http://forums.ilounge.com/showthread.php?t=185920.

If want you want to do is keeping using your notebook for itunes & all your music, then all you need to do is copy the entire itunes folder to your external (if all you want to do is back it up). Make sure you get the whole folder because the itunes library database & xml file are really important because the have all your playlists, playcounts, etc.

[shopgirl1]

Thanks; yes that is exactly what I want to do ^^. I still want to keep everything on my laptop, but have a copy on my external "just in case" the laptop crashes. That way, I should be able to restore everything (hopefully). I'm so paranoid about doing anything with iTunes and my ipod because it usually ends up with me deleting everything. :shake: