Tag Archives: CNET

Offload Your iTunes Library to an External Drive

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If your like me and your music collection continues to grow, you may find that your iTunes library is starting to take up a large amount of space on your internal hard drive. There is an easy and simple way to free up that space by directing your iTunes folder to a external hard drive. Donald Bell from CNET breaks down the steps to accomplish this task, both on OS X and on Windows.  Follow the step by step instructions found in this PDF.  Like always, make sure to backup your iTunes folder before making any changes.

Move the iTunes Music Folder to an External Drive

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Honestly I don’t think I could explain this any better. CNET’s Donald Bell put together the below how to video.

Here are the written directions in case you missed anything.

  1. File > Preferences > Click on the Advance Tab on a Mac or Edit > Preferences > Click on the Advance Tab on Windows.
  2. Check “Keep iTunes Music Folder Organized” and Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library.
  3. Click on the Change Button and select the folder Destination. It may be helpful to create a new folder labeled iTunes on the external hard drive.
  4. Click OK.
  5. Next Click File > Library > Consolidate Library. This will copy your current iTunes contents to the folder created in step 3.
  6. Once the music is copied over (I recommend completing a thorough check of the new folder to ensure all the files were transferred) delete the iTunes Music file resting on your computers internal hard drive.

***Note do not delete the any of the other contents residing in that folder as they contain information that is handy, like playlists and iPhone applications.***

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 3:11 — 0.0KB)