How to Move iTunes Music From a PC to a Portable Hard Drive
The popular music management software iTunes categorizes music, movies, podcasts and TV shows and features a built-in music store for downloading content. Making a backup of your music files within iTunes or transferring them to another computer via a portable hard drive is a good way of keeping your music with you during a change of computers. Moving your iTunes library to a portable hard drive from a PC is a simple task, but the amount of time it takes will depend on how much music is in your iTunes library.
Other People Are Reading
Instructions
-
-
1
Open iTunes and click "Edit" > "Preferences."
-
2
Select the "Advanced" tab.
-
-
3
Click the "Keep iTunes Media Folder Organized" box if it is un-checked.
-
4
Click "OK."
-
5
Click "Edit" > "Preferences" > "Advanced" again.
-
6
Click the "Change.." button next to the "iTunes Media Folder Location" pane.
-
7
Select a location from the new window on your external hard drive to move the music to. Click "Make New Folder" and enter a name if necessary. Click "OK."
-
8
Click "OK" from in the "Preferences" window.
-
9
Select "File" > "Library" > "Organize Library". In earlier versions of iTunes this process may be "File" > "Library" > "Consolidate Library" or "Advanced" > "Consolidate Library."
-
10
Check "Consolidate Files" in the message box. In older versions of iTunes, simply click "Consolidate."
-
11
Wait as iTunes copies your library to the external drive. This can take a considerable amount of time if you have a large library of music.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
When the transfer of music is complete you can delete your old iTunes media folder.
Make sure you have enough room on your external hard drive to hold all your music.
References
- Photo Credit headphones image by Sergey Lukianov from Fotolia.com
