Hi Lou, Thanks for this suggestion. I had never really taken the time to investigate the use of that folder until you mentioned it. You are totally correct and if one was to use that method, it would be even easier than I had originally outlined. You are also correct in saying that my original #4 should have been done before the original #3, I was just in too much of a hurry, I guess, to do a good job of proofing my response. The following steps could be better used instead:
> 1. Hold down the Option key while starting iTunes. This will force iTunes > to bring up a Library chooser dialog. > 2. Select "Create New Library" and tell iTunes to place the new Library on > your external HD. This will create an iTunes folder on the external with all > the necessary folder locations and database files. > 3. In iTunes, press cmd-comma to bring up the iTunes Preferences. In the > Advanced pane, make sure that both the Keep iTunes Media folder organized and > Copy items to the iTunes Media folder items are checked. This should ensure > proper placement of the media. > 4. In the Finder, move your entire media collection into the "Automatically > Add to iTunes" folder. Note that I say "move" instead of "copy". This will > ensure that you do not run out of space if iTunes started duplicating the > media. Also note that there is no need to pre-organize any of the media as > iTunes will figure everything out for itself and place the media in the > appropriate folders and iTunes Library locations. This can be accomplished even when iTunes is running as it will notice items placed in that folder and start the process right away. If iTunes is not running, it will start the organization process upon iTunes next start. Remember to be patient depending on the size of your media Library and realize that proper organization will partially depend on the accuracy of the original tags. Thanks again Lou for your insight. Tim Kilburn Fort McMurray, AB Canada On 2012-12-10, at 11:09 AM, BlindMacMan <blindmac...@mac.com> wrote: > Hello Tim... First off, thank you for all your assistance over the years in > this forum! Question: Instead of step 3, couldn't you just drop everything > onto the "Automatically Add to Itunes" folder? Wouldn't that take care of > everything (except for maybe step 4 which should probably be done before step > 3)? Or, am I missing something here? I am interested in this because I can > see this being a To Do" item for me in 2013. Thanks for your sage advice! Lou > (Blind Mac Man). > > > On Sunday, December 9, 2012 9:49:10 AM UTC-8, Tim Kilburn wrote: > Hi, > > Four drives not including the internal one on my iMac. > > You should create the Library first then move the media into the new iTunes > Library location. > > 1. Hold down the Option key while starting iTunes. This will force iTunes > to bring up a Library chooser dialog. > 2. Select "Create New Library" and tell iTunes to place the new Library on > your external HD. This will create an iTunes folder on the external with all > the necessary folder locations and database files. > 3. Move your media into the iTunes Media folder that was created from step > #2. > 4. In iTunes, press cmd-comma to bring up the iTunes Preferences. In the > Advanced pane, make sure that both the Keep iTunes Media folder organized and > Copy items to the iTunes Media folder items are checked. > 5. In iTunes, press cmd-o to Add files. > 6. In the dialog, navigate to the iTunes Media folder within the iTunes > folder on the external HD then press return. > > iTunes will get busy re-organizing all your media into appropriate folders > and will add all tags into it's Database. this could take a while since you > have such a large collection of media. Just be patient and let it do its > thing. You may need to fix a few things after iTunes has completed its task > depending on how well and accurate your media was tagged. Overall, it's not > a difficult thing, just may take some time. > > Later... > > Tim Kilburn > Fort McMurray, AB Canada > > On 2012-12-08, at 7:27 PM, Kliphton <klip...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> Wow, 10TB? How many drives was that? I want to go about this the second >> way, I just want to make sure I put the media there properly. So do I move >> the library and then drop the media in there? Or do I just delete the >> directory, redirect the source, and let iTunes do the rest? Thanks for your >> informative answer. My main point for doing this is so my iTunes library is >> ready when my apple TV arrives. This is the only device missing from my >> Apple collection. >> >> From: macvisi...@googlegroups.com [mailto:macvisionaries@googlegroups.com] >> On Behalf Of Tim Kilburn >> Sent: Saturday, December 08, 2012 7:40 PM >> To: macvisi...@googlegroups.com >> Subject: Re: iTunes Library location? >> >> Hi, >> >> There's two ways of approaching this. >> >> First is to leave the media where it is and let iTunes simply mark where >> everything is in its Library Database file. In theory, this could be >> accomplished by first going to iTunes Prefs in the Advanced pane and >> unchecking the box that tells iTunes to Copy items to the iTunes Media >> folder. Next, you would go under the File menu and choose "Add to Library" >> (cmd-o), navigate to the external HD where all your media is, then pressing >> the Open button on the parent directory of all the media on that drive. The >> only issue with this method is that I seem to recall that iTunes does not >> always pay attention to that preference when your importing from external >> HDs. If it works as this plan suggests though, you'd have everything >> accessible to iTunes and all your devices with only the Database file >> residing on the Mac's internal HD. >> >> In the second option, you'll need to create either a new iTunes Library on >> that external HD or move your existing iTunes folder over to that external >> HD. In this case, when you add the media to iTunes, it will copy everything >> into the iTunes folder and place them all into the proper locations that >> iTunes needs in order to work properly and properly share with the Apple TV >> and other iDevices. This is the method that I use myself. The only problem >> could be that iTunes will try to copy all your media into the new iTunes >> media location. If you have enough space on your external HD to handle >> multiple copies of the media during this Library creation process, then >> you'll be OK. If you do not, you will need to be creative with where you >> put media prior to this process so that only one copy of the files are on >> your external HD. I did this myself by making sure that the drive was first >> empty then created an iTunes Library folder onto it. I then spent time >> placing portions of my media on other drives, essentially dividing it up >> prior to iTunes building the Library. Then when I added the media to >> iTunes, it copied items to the new iTunes Library location and placed >> everything where iTunes needed it to be. I did have the advantage of having >> 10 TB of HD space to play with so moving things around was possible. >> >> Hope that this sort of makes sense, it does to me but I'm the writer so >> that's expected. Good luck. >> >> Later... >> >> Tim Kilburn >> Fort McMurray, AB Canada >> >> On 2012-12-08, at 3:37 PM, Kliphton <klip...@gmail.com> wrote: >> >> >> Okay. I have over 3TB of media. Of course I don’t have that much space on >> my mac. But how do I tell iTunes to point to this location so it will play >> this media from my apple TV and when I want to add stuff to my iPhone, iPad, >> or iPod? I looked at the iTunes folder, and I see that it has a media >> folder. Do I move this folder to the drive destination, and then put the >> media in here separated by music and videos? Thanks in advance! >> >> Kliphton Senior >> (Email&iMessage) klip...@gmail.com >> (Twitter&Skype) kliphton72 >> (Personal blog-read at your own risk!) http://kliphskorner.wordpress.com >> (Life Journal) kliphton.wordpress.com >> (face book) http://facebook.com/kliphandsharrie >> >> >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "MacVisionaries" group. >> To post to this group, send email to macvisi...@googlegroups.com. >> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >> macvisionarie...@googlegroups.com. >> For more options, visit this group at >> http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en. >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "MacVisionaries" group. >> To post to this group, send email to macvisi...@googlegroups.com. >> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >> macvisionarie...@googlegroups.com. >> For more options, visit this group at >> http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en. >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "MacVisionaries" group. >> To post to this group, send email to macvisi...@googlegroups.com. >> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >> macvisionarie...@googlegroups.com. >> For more options, visit this group at >> http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en. > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "MacVisionaries" group. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msg/macvisionaries/-/cEI0UlM5znsJ. > To post to this group, send email to macvisionaries@googlegroups.com. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. 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