How to run iTunes off Ext HD

[margotb822]

Ok, so I got an EHD and I moved all my pics over, so now, when I click on the iPhoto widget, it opens and loads all my pics. I'd like to do the same for my iTunes, but when I moved all my songs over and opened iTunes, it was empty.

Any help?

How can I move my music to the EHD and still operate the program as close to normal as possible?

Thanks!

[gmoney]

1. simplest thing is to trick it with an alias...

1) Quit iTunes

2) copy the folder named "iTunes Music" from your internal hard drive to the external.

3) once it's copied, slightly rename the original folder on your internal drive to like "xiTunes Music" until you get things established on the external

4) on the external, select the "iTunes Music" and hold down cmd-option-shift then drag the alias to the folder on your internal drive where your "xiTunes Music" is located

5) launch iTunes... it should launch normally, and should find the songs on the external drive, but think it's the folder on your internal, so it shouldn't have to rebuild its database, and you shouldn't lose your rankings, last played, playlists, etc.

6) to verify that it's finding the songs on your external drive, select any song from the list, right-click and select "reveal in finder" which should show you that the song file is located on the external drive

7) as good practice, under iTunes Preferences > advanced, I would check the boxes for "Keep iTunes Music folder organized" and "Copy files to iTunes Music folder when adding to library"

8) once you're confident it's working properly off the external drive, delete or archive the original "iTunes Music" folder from your internal drive

9) go to the library and check out dozens of CDs you have a vague interest in exploring and rip those mothers

[margotb822]

2. Awesome!

Thanks