Transfer Itunes Library From Mac To External Hard Drive

Your Photos library holds all your photos, albums, slideshows, and print projects. If your library is large, and you want to free up storage space on your Mac, turn on iCloud Photo Library and use Optimize Mac Storage, or move your library to an external drive.

Before you start, be sure to back up your library.

Prepare your drive

You can store your library on an external storage device, such as a USB or Thunderbolt drive formatted as APFS or Mac OS Extended (Journaled).1 Find out how to check the format of your external storage device.

  1. Nov 10, 2019  iTunes will load that library and automatically adjust its settings to make that the default iTunes folder while you're using it. Assuming you followed all the steps in the backup process (most importantly consolidating and organizing your library), you'll be able to use your iTunes library on the external hard drive just like it was on your main hard drive.
  2. Mar 16, 2020 How to Transfer iTunes Library to New Mac via External Hard Drive or USB Drive – Step 6 If you do have iPod classic, iPod nano or iPod shuffle, you can also use it as a hard drive in iTunes on Mac. Connect the iPod to your computer Click the device icon on your iTunes Summary Select “Enable disk use” Click Apply.
  3. How to free up your Mac's internal storage by moving your iTunes Library to an external drive. By Malcolm Owen Monday, March 05, 2018, 10:51 am PT (01:51 pm ET).

Jan 16, 2020 External hard drives offer more storage capacity for lower prices than ever before. You can get a large external hard drive at an affordable price. These drives provide another simple option to move your iTunes library to a new computer, especially if you have more content than will fit on your iPod. Apr 03, 2018 How to move your iTunes library to an external hard drive Download 'CleanMyMac' to cleanup and speed up your Mac - Note. Jan 08, 2020 This wikiHow teaches you how to move your iTunes music library from one computer to a new computer. You'll need to use a USB drive or an external hard drive to do this. On the computer from which you want to copy your iTunes. Nov 17, 2013  There's a difference between moving your iTunes media to a different drive (reference in another post) and moving your whole iTunes library. It's up to you but some prefer to keep it all intact versus media on one drive and library files on another.

To prevent data loss, Apple doesn't recommend storing photo libraries on external storage devices like SD cards and USB flash drives, or drives that are shared on a network.

Move your Photos library to an external storage device

  1. Quit Photos.
  2. In the Finder, go to the external drive where you want to store your library.
  3. In another Finder window, find your library. The default location is Users > [username] > Pictures, and it's named Photos Library.
  4. Drag your library to its new location on the external drive. If you see an error, select your external drive's icon in the Finder, then choose File > Get Info. If the information under Sharing & Permissions isn't visible, click , then make sure the 'Ignore ownership on this volume' checkbox is selected. If it's not selected, click to unlock it, enter an administrator name and password, then select the checkbox.2

  5. After the move is finished, double-click Photos Library in its new location to open it.
  6. If you use iCloud Photo Library, designate this library as the System Photo Library.

Delete original library to save space

After you open your library from its new location and make sure that it works as expected, you can delete the library from its original location.

In a Finder window, go back to your Pictures folder (or whichever folder you copied your library from) and move Photos Library to the trash. Then choose Finder > Empty Trash to delete the library and reclaim disk space.

Open another Photos library

If you have multiple libraries, here's how to open a different one:

  1. Quit Photos.
  2. Press and hold the Option key while you open Photos.
  3. Select the library that you want to open, then click Choose Library.

Photos uses this library until you open a different one.

Learn more

If you have a permissions issue with your library, you might be able to resolve the issue by using the Photos library repair tool.

1. You can't move your library to a disk that's used for Time Machine backups.

2. If the volume isn't formatted APFS or Mac OS Extended (Journaled), or has been used for Time Machine backups but hasn't been erased, this checkbox will either not be present, or won't be selectable after unlocking. Erase and reformat the drive for this option to be available.

Transfer Itunes To New Computer

Run out of storage on your computer? Thinking about removing iTunes library and sending it to the external hard drive? Well, this article can help you out with two simple solutions on how to move iTunes library to external hard drive.

By iMobie | Posted on: Nov. 22, 2018, Last Updated: Nov. 22, 2018
Home > AnyTrans for iOS > iTunes Manager >How to Move iTunes Library to External Hard Drive

When we get a large collection of music in our iTunes library, it would be not easy for us to delete certain songs from the whole collection. However, when you are confronting that there is not enough space on your computer, it would be a better option for you to move it to an external hard drive. Besides, for these beloved songs, you may just like the question above want to transfer your iTunes library from one device to another.

Then here comes the problem: how to move iTunes library to external hard drive? This post can render you two possible ways to achieve it. Read on to learn more.

How to Move iTunes Library to External Hard Drive with iTunes

Step 1To find the location of your iTunes media folder, launch iTunes on your computer > Then click “Edit” (PC) or “iTunes”(Mac) on the menu bar > Preferences > Advanced > Here you will see the “iTunes Media folder location” in your computer.

Transfer Itunes Library From Mac To Pc Using External Hard Drive

How to Move iTunes Library to External Hard Drive with iTunes – Step 1

Step 2Then click File > Library > Organize Library > Check the box named as “Consolidate files” > Click OK.

How to Move iTunes Library to External Drive with iTunes – Step 2

Step 3Quit iTunes > Connect your external hard drive to the computer > Open the iTunes media folder from the location in step 1 > Drag the folder to the external hard drive.

If you intend to delete the original iTunes media content in your computer, to make iTunes still work with this iTunes library, you have to open iTunes > then click “Choose Library” in the pop-up window > select the iTunes library folder in your external hard drive.

Remember you have to connect your external hard drive to your computer every time you want to use iTunes with this iTunes library.

How to Move iTunes Library to External Hard Drive with AnyTrans for iOS

Besides using iTunes to move the music from your iTunes library to external hard drive, there is an easier way for you to achieve it – AnyTrans for iOS. It is a professional iOS data manager that allows you to simply transfer your iOS data from one device to another.

  • Transfer music directly from iTunes to your hard drive or another iDevice without hassle.
  • Transferring music speedily. AnyTrans for Android supports you transfer more than 1000 songs in minutes.
  • Manage and transfer almost all your iOS data like contacts, photos, ringtones, music, calendar, from one iDevice to another or from iDevice to computer and vice versa.
  • No leak or loss of data. AnyTrans for iOS assures that all the data in the process of transferring would not be leaked or lost.
AnyTrans for iOS – iTunes Library Manager

Thinking about a good way to transfer your iTunes library to an external hard drive? AnyTrans for iOS can be your perfect helper. You can easily move iTunes Library to external hard drive or computer or another iDevice without any trouble.

Download AnyTrans for iOS now on your PC/Mac and follow the below steps to know how to move iTunes library to external hard drive.

Step 1Launch AnyTrans for iOS > Click the button in the middle of the top bar > Choose iTunes Library in the drop-down menu.

How to Move iTunes Library to External Hard Drive with AnyTrans for iOS – Step 1

Step 2Select all the items at once or some of them > Click on Send to PC/Mac button.

How to Move iTunes Library to External Hard Drive with AnyTrans for iOS – Step 2

Step 3Click “view files” to find the exported files in your computer > Then connect your external hard drive to the computer > Drag the folder to your external hard drive.

How to Move iTunes Library to External Hard Drive Windows with AnyTrans for iOS – Step 3

The Bottom Line

That’s the two methods on how to move iTunes library to external hard drive. As you can see, with the help of AnyTrans for iOS, you can manage your iTunes library or iPhone data easier than ever. You can also back up your iOS app and restore them to your iDevices at any time. Download it now and enjoy your free trial!

How To Transfer Itunes Library From Mac To External Hard Drive

Itunes

Download Itunes To External Drive

Product-related questions? Contact Our Support Team to Get Quick Solution >