[Hatmann]

Looking for instructions to transfer songs in iTunes to a new computer.

The old computer is unusable, and the instructions I've found all require using both the old and the new computers.

I've installed iTunes on the new computer, and the music is stored on an external HD. I don't want to transfer the songs one at a time, which is about all I can figure out so far.

If you have done this successfully, please advise -- and thanks!

 

[Trapper32]

I'm probably not understanding you correctly but wouldn't you just open "file" in your new itunes....then click on " import folder" and navigate to your folder on your external HD (if your music on the external hard drive is in one folder for instance)

Thats what works for me if I understand your problem.

 

[hvu]

I am not sure what kind of methods you have found while searching the web but when I had to do something very similar a while back I found a very simple method that I still use up to this day when I have to change computers or format.

I would presume that you have something very similar to what I have setup on my computer since you said you have a external hd to store all your music. Something similar to the picture above but if now I left to 2 variations of my method to work with.

IMPORTANT SAFETY PRECAUTIONS: always copy your file never cut your file so in-case you screw up so you will have a backup to go back to. Never delete any file until you confirm everything is working correctly.

1. copy the itunes folder in your My Documents from your old computer. That should be located on ur C: drive or what you installed drive you installed itunes on. That itunes folder should not contain any music on it since your are using a external hard drive location. For people using the default location setup by itunes it will contain all your music files. This folder is very important because it contains all your itunes history, playlist and locations paths of songs on it. "red #1"

2A. take that copy and replace the new itunes folder that was created when you installed itunes on your new computer.
2B. for people not using a external drive to store music make sure when you install itunes back on the same drive letter now go back and do step 2A
people doing step 2B can skip step 3&4

NEXT PART VERY IMPORTANT

3. as you can see my all music files are all stored on my E: drive. "red #2" I am not sure what drive you have ur music files stored on it could be the D,E,F or etc but you have to make sure the path on your new computer is identical to old path on your old computer or it will not work.

4. plug in your external hard into your new computer make sure it is assigned the exact same drive letter it had in your old computer.

5. ur done, start up itunes and everything should be that way it was on your old computer.

GOOD LUCK

PS the reason "copy files to itunes media folder whening adding to library" is circled is because it keeps all the music stored in one place and makes the my method much easier to do.

 

[Hatmann]

Excellent instructions, HVU.

The problem: I can't use my old laptop -- the screen doesn't work.

I have my new laptop and the external HD with the music....and that's it. Haven't succeeded in making the transfer.

 

[hvu]

Ouch, well somehow u need to get the itunes folder off your old computer.
Probably the best way to do it is to buy a external hd enclosure and use your old hd on your new computer to extract the file.

 

[usf09]

This same thing happened to me, but does your video out (DVI, VGA, etc) still work? I connected my old laptop to my external monitor, found whatever files I needed, and then copied them to an external HD.

Then go into iTunes, click Add Folder (not files), and select the big file under which all your music is stored. For instance, I have a "Music" file on my desktop, which contains hundreds of subfolders, but when I wanted to add them all to my itunes, I just added the "Music" folder. Everything else worked out by itself. I'm just confused why you would need anything other than the external HD, though, if all your files are already on there...

 

[hvu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by hvu /img/forum/go_quote.gif 1. copy the itunes folder in your My Documents from your old computer. That should be located on ur C: drive or what you installed drive you installed itunes on. That itunes folder should not contain any music on it since your are using a external hard drive location. For people using the default location setup by itunes it will contain all your music files. This folder is very important because it contains all your itunes history, playlist and locations paths of songs on it. "red #1"

I have tons of playlist that make it easier to transfer files to my ipod. So by saving the itunes folder it transfer all that information to the new computer and I dont have to redo all my playlist and personal prefrence.

 

[d.g]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hatmann /img/forum/go_quote.gif Looking for instructions to transfer songs in iTunes to a new computer. The old computer is unusable, and the instructions I've found all require using both the old and the new computers. I've installed iTunes on the new computer, and the music is stored on an external HD. I don't want to transfer the songs one at a time, which is about all I can figure out so far. If you have done this successfully, please advise -- and thanks!

I had to do this a few months back, was a bit tricky, depends how your music is organised at present on the external drive, if its all sorted as you want it then i would recommend copying across your old itunes library files (From your old itunes folder) if you have them from your old pc?

I had to download itunes onto the new pc, then copied in the itunes library files, then added music using the "Add folder to library" option making sure the "keep itunes media folder organised" and "copy files to itunes media folder when adding to library" options were checked.

My collection was a mess, in all sorts of folders and it took me a few go's to get it right, needless to say dont delete anything until your'e happy everything works, I prefer to let itunes organise everything as it just seems to work better that way.

 

[Vinyl]

Hatmann, I'm assuming you are using a Mac (as I do), so things may be different for you. As far as I understand, you have managed to save your collection onto an external HD and now you want it stored into your new computer for use by iTunes. Drag the files from your collection into iTunes and organize them if you like. At this point, you can only play them from the external HD. If you want them on the internal HD, choose "Advanced>Consolidate library" and iTunes will copy the files into it's own special folders.

If this fails for any reason, please don't do this by hand: that's hours of extremely boring work that a machine ought to do instead (and machines don't get bored). A script is of course the way to go. If you tell me how the files are organized on the source drive and how you want them organized on the destination drive, maybe I can help you with that. If you are lucky, even a simple "find" command may do the trick

 

[dharel]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hatmann /img/forum/go_quote.gif Looking for instructions to transfer songs in iTunes to a new computer. The old computer is unusable, and the instructions I've found all require using both the old and the new computers. I've installed iTunes on the new computer, and the music is stored on an external HD. I don't want to transfer the songs one at a time, which is about all I can figure out so far. If you have done this successfully, please advise -- and thanks!

I don't get it. You say your music is stored on an external harddrive. Why can't you simply point your new iTunes install on your new computer to that location on the external hard drive. Granted, I haven't used iTunes in a while, but I do recall doing something similar back when I was.

 

[Hatmann]

Doesn't seem to work for me or two others who have tried.

Does anyone have experience transferring songs when one computer is unusable?

 

[Trapper32]

Take the hard drive out of the unuseable laptop and add it to the working computer temporarily to access the old itunes folder.

 

[Hatmann]

Um, they're both laptops.

 

[french2013]

if all the songs are on your ipod just plug it in to the good computer and itunes will ask you if you want it to take all the songs off the ipod and stick em in ur computer

 

[Hatmann]

Quote:

Originally Posted by french2013 /img/forum/go_quote.gif if all the songs are on your ipod just plug it in to the good computer and itunes will ask you if you want it to take all the songs off the ipod and stick em in ur computer

How sure are you of this?

I was told that if I sync my iPod to an iTunes without tunes, the iPod is likely to lose its music.