[posthumanus]

hi all:

i’ve just bought a LaCie ext.firewire HD (yet to arrive) and among other things want to archive all my music to it

as the LaCie HD is much bigger than my old iMac’s (and i rarely play music on the iMac anyway) it would be ideal to have iTunes and its music library housed on this drive and nowhere on my computer (a non-burner)

i can see all manner of confusion if there are two iTunes, on two drives - even using SilverKeeper

can this be done?

i picture it like this: i slot a CD into my iMac, it opens iTunes on my ext.HD, i select the songs i want to archive, hit ‘import’ and the MP3’s get filed into iTunes’ music folder on the ext.HD

or do i need a home folder on the ext.HD and therefore maybe an OS?

then i want to make playlists up, plug my ext.HD into a friend’s (burning) iMac and burn myself some compilation CD’s

any problems/tips/websites/solutions you can think of will be appreciated

posthumanus

[typoon]

You can do this. All you need to do is move your music folder to the external drive then in the prefs change where the music is imported to. just direct it to the other drive.

[posthumanus]

yes. i was lazy

under 'advanced' prefs/change location

any ideas on having iTunes installed just on the ext.HD?

or is this pointless?

[proton]

Originally posted by posthumanus:
any ideas on having iTunes installed just on the ext.HD?

or is this pointless?

You could just drag and drop the iTunes application to the external hard disk, but it seems a bit pointless. If you can't spare 24.6 MB (as of iTunes 4.2) on your internal drive, then you've got big problems.

- proton

[JB72]

Originally posted by posthumanus:
yes. i was lazy

under 'advanced' prefs/change location

any ideas on having iTunes installed just on the ext.HD?

or is this pointless?

No need to move the application. Put your music wherever you want, just be sure to "tell" iTunes (via Preferences) where you keep your music.

GL

[posthumanus]

and when i take my ext.HD to my friend’s iMac to burn myself a CD, i'm guessing 'advanced/ preferences' are the best way to get his iTunes.app to source my music folder on my ext.HD and ignore/bypass his music folder...

yes/no?

posthumanus

[proton]

Originally posted by posthumanus:
and when i take my ext.HD to my friend�s iMac to burn myself a CD, i'm guessing 'advanced/ preferences' are the best way to get his iTunes.app to source my music folder on my ext.HD and ignore/bypass his music folder...

yes/no?

Yes.

- proton

[posthumanus]

thanx

i just didn't want to mess up his iTunes

end

posthumanus

[posthumanus]

am resurrecting this thread encase anyone else is considering keeping their music just on ext.HD and accessing it via iTunes.app on their computer

(have redirected iTunes’ preferences/advanced so it sources its Music folder from the ext.HD)

problem is: the next time i open iTunes it asks all sorts of ambiguous and confusing questions about re-organising itself

then goes ahead and re-creates another

iTunes 4 Music Library &
iTunes Music Library.xml

in my ~/Users/Music folder anyway

result: this then is always the most recently modified version

so the

iTunes 4 Music Library
iTunes Music Library.xml

on my ext.HD never modifies from day 1

(at the same time i am breaking in a troublesome new ext.HD that might end up having to be replaced - so i’m keen to hear your opinion on the following before risking it at home)

if i start afresh & copy my entire ~/Music/iTunes folder to the ext.HD

then empty the contents of my ~/Music/iTunes folder on the iMac

then create aliases (from the ext.HD) of

iTunes 4 Music Library &
iTunes Music Library.xml

& put ‘em in the ~/Music/iTunes folder on the iMac

when i open the iTunes.app

it should follow the aliases and not create any further confusion

anyway, that’s the theory

comments anyone?

posthumanus

(OSX.3.2/iTunes 4.2/LaCie Mobile FireWire HD)

[posthumanus]

bump

[Angus_D]

You're right, the iTunes Music Library files are always kept in your ~/Music/iTunes folder, it's just the MP3s that are stored on your external drive. An alias or a symbolic link would probably achieve what you want it to. You might also find this useful.